California Gold Rush Research Paper

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The California Gold Rush is a big part of California’s history and is taught to 4th graders. As a future teacher, it is important to understand why and how topics like this one can help benefit our students. Settlers like John Sutter came from other countries to find a place on the expanding west coast, but in the early harsh terrain of California it didn’t come easy. A gold rush is defined as a rapid influx of fortune seekers rushing to the site of a newly discovered gold deposit (pocket of land). While there were many gold rushes in the 19th century the one that is being focused on happened in California in 1848. In 1848, James Marshall an employee of John Sutter at the time was testing the Sutter’s mill as usual. However, this time James noticed something different about the water running over gravel and sand. There seemed to be something sparkling in the sand, when he went to investigate he picked up some small yellow beads/flakes of metal. Those flakes of metal, turned out to be gold. James told John the news, that they gold at his mill. John and James tried to keep it …show more content…

John was an immigrant from Switzerland who was born on February 15th, 1803 in kandern, a town a few miles from the Swiss border. Sutter’s time in Switzerland consisted of working for a paper business and meeting his wife, Annette D’beld. However, Sutter’s luck wasn’t as great as it would be in California. After a business failure, he decided to seek fortune in American. Leaving his wife and four children behind in Germany. After arriving in the united states Sutter worked as a merchant in Missouri for several years. All the while, dreaming of having his own agricultural settlement out in the west. It was in April of 1838, that John joined a trading expedition to the pacific coast. The traders made their way to Fort Vancouver that October, where they then sailed upon the “Columbia” to

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