A History of the California Gold Rush

"The California Gold Rush was the significant national event of its time" ("California Gold Rush: A Look to the Past"). This legendary story begins with one man. John Sutter, one of the richest people in the area, moved to California 1839 with the intent on building his own private empire. Sutter welcomed newcomers to the area because he viewed them as subjects for his self-styled kingdom. In the late 1840s, James Marshall and about 20 men were sent to the river by Sutter to build a sawmill ("The Gold Rush"). It took him a while to find the right spot because, "nothing but a mule could climb the hills; and when I would find a spot where the hills were not steep, there was no timber to be had" (Holliday). Marshall had finally found an area where he could build a sawmill, and managed to get his team through the steep hills of California. The sawmill was almost complete when Marshall caught a glimpse of something shiny out of the corner of his eye. He took samples back to Sutter and after testing discovered it was gold. Neither of the men was happy about the discovery. Sutter viewed it as competition from gold-seekers, and Marshall viewed the potential gold hunters as an obstacle in building his sawmill. Both decided to keep this discovery a secret.

It was not long before news started to make its way to the east. Many were skeptical about this gossip, but a man by the same of Sam Brannan was this new discovery as a way to make money. Brannan ran through the streets yelling, "gold is in the River." Instead of becoming wealthy by digging for gold, he purchased every tool necessary for gold mining at pennies and sold them at more than triple the cost; within "just nine weeks he made thirty-six thousand dollars" ("The...

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Lewis, Robert. "Photographing the California Gold Rush" History Today 52 (2002) Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. Georgia Perimeter Coll. Lib., 30 Mar 2005. http://www.galileo.usg.edu/cgi-bin/homepage.cgi.

Quaife, Milo Milton, ed. Pictures of Gold Rush California New York: Citadel, 1967.

"The California Gold Rush" 30 Mar 2005 http://cogweb.ucla.edu/Chumash/Goldrush.html

"The Discovery of Gold, by John A Sutter" 30 Mar 2005 http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist2/gold.html

"The Gold Rush" 30 Mar 2005 http://www.pbs.org/goldrush /intro.html

Upham, Samuel. Notes of a Voyage to California via Cape Horn Ed. Ray Billington. New York: Arno, 1973.