California Gold Rush: The Discovery and its Impact

In the early part of 1848, gold nuggets were discovered in the Sacramento Valley in California. The news of this incredible discovery led to thousands of miners coming from land and sea to San Francisco and areas close by. It not only brought white Americans, but also Blacks, Mexicans, Chinese men, and Indians. The thought of the discovery of gold encouraged and kept an optimistic view of hope to a better future and life. Before the initial Gold Rush was discovered, the exploration to California was limited to a small population. An early pioneer of the 1840s, John Bidwell, was well on his way to California before the Gold Rush began. “The party whose fortunes I have followed across the plains was not only the first that went direct to California

But what came along with most male settlements, was the misbehaving and rule breaking. For example, due to the gender imbalance “it is safe to argue that women became scarcer than gold, which motivated various kinds of social conflicts” (Hanging). Social conflict refers to fights or disagreements between the men. In order for more positive behavior to be a part of their settlements, they had “to bring order and justice to the camps” by allowing miners creating their own rules for their settlements (Hanging). Also due to the wide range of ethical backgrounds, arguments among those men were brought to the attention of rules needing to be enforced. If one was to murder or steal lynching was among the topic way to solve the crime. As stated in an article, “lynching was effective in terrorizing many non-white foreigners and attracting large crowds of Anglo- Americans during the God Rush” (Hanging). Lynching was not only effected during this time, but it attracted whites from other settlements. Criminal behavior was not tolerated among the men in the settlements and was handled to the

“Those who survived told the best stories, read books, sang songs, wrote letters to family members back home, visited the more culturally sophisticated towns, and waited for women to arrive” (Gold!). For many settlers at this time, this was their home. What they knew in the past, was just the past. This California life was the start of a new one. As time passed women would begin to come to the town. Also, the ones who left their family behind would soon be able to welcome them to California. Because the Gold Rush began in 1849, the settlers were often referred to as the forty-niners. By the end, settlers would look back there time during the Gold Rush period. When they look back on the Gold Rush, it is perceived as something different. For example, “however one judges California’s golden era, today many former forty-niners doubtfully looked back on the gold rush with the passage of time as a romance period of lost innocence” (Gold!). Because the mining of gold took so much labor and misfortunes, the Gold Rush is looked at as a disappoint to