In the United States, there would be a new overhaul to its identity. By 1848, businesses would eventually see a new and prosperous way to make money. The U.S. also began to see a few cultures begin to spark and the attitudes of people would change, especially their views about taking risks. This overhaul is known as the Gold Rush of California. The Gold Rush made an impact on American society through diversity and people. The traditional beginning of the Gold Rush was the story of James Marshall. Marshall was instructed by John Sutter, a business man, to find an area to build a sawmill. Marshall, traveled with a few workers, 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 56). Marshall had finally found an area where he could build a sawmill, and managed to get his team through the steep hills of California. One morning he came upon an area of the camp to check the status of the camp. When he was observing the water flow, he noticed something really shiny. Marshall picked up the gold pieces, assuming that this was a fluke, but as the day grew older, he found a few more pieces of gold. Then there was that famous quote that people tend to still say today: "Boys, by God I believe I have found a gold mine. (Holliday 58)” This story was taken in to account as the first story to hit the globe about gold being found in California. Actually, there is another story. This one is about a Mexican, who found gold in the hills of California, long before news had spread about gold being found by James Marshall. His name was Francisco Lopez. He was traveling in the San Fernando Valley, in 1842, during the time California was still a territory. Lopez was taking a rest, when he found a few pieces of gold, as he continued to dig, he found more gold. Ironically enough, the gold mines that Lopez had discovered were in the south of California towards Los Angeles and the gold that was found by Marshall was in the north towards present-day San Francisco. Also the mines that were used to dig up the gold found by Lopez were rarely used during the great Gold Rush in the north, despite a rush
In Salinas Valley around the 1850s, gold was found by a man named James W. Marshall in California. The first people to hear and be familiar with the “Gold Rush” were the people in Oregon, Hawaii, and Latin America who started to flock to the state. Everyone told and the word spread which led around 300,000 people to California from the US. At first, gold was found on the ground and was to be picked up. Later on, gold was discovered from streams and riverbeds.
These two passages “There’s Still Gold in These Hills” and “Letter From a Gold Miner” help the reader understand the history and process of gold mining in the US. Both passages give detailed information, specific instructions, and an interesting background about gold mining. These passages use different strategies to help the reader perceive the history and process. These strategies may include using specific dates of when the gold rush took place, information to help the reader picture the setting of where to find gold, and also teaches the process step by step.
The expansion to the western lands of the United States created a number of benefits for the economy and its citizens. With the expansion to these lands, Americans gained the added land area along with the resources that the land possessed. One of these valuable resources that attracted Americans to the West was gold. During the mid-1800s, gold was discovered in northeastern California. This inspired a movement of many Americans to leave their homes to settle in the West in the hope of discovering gold. This gold rush attracted primarily single men into the uncharted western lands.
In 1799 young Conrad Reed, a 12 year old boy, found a big shiny rock in Little Meadow Creek on the family farm in Cabarrus county North Carolina. Conrad lugged it home but the Reed family had no idea what it was and used it as a clunky door stop. Thinking that it must be some kind of metal, John Reed, Conrad’s father, took it to Concord North Carolina to have a silver smith look at it. The silver smith was unable to identify it as gold. John Reed hauled it back home. Three years later in 1802 he took the rock to Fayetteville North Carolina where a jeweler recognized it for what it was right away. The jeweler asked him if could smelt it down to a bar for him, John agreed. When John returned to the jeweler had a gold brick measuring six to eight inches long. It’s hard to believe but John Reed had no idea of the metals worth. The jeweler asked him what he wanted for it and John thought that a week’s wages would be fair so he sold it to the jeweler for $3.50. It is rumored that John purchased a calico dress for his wife and some coffee beans with his wi...
James Marshall discovered gold in the American River in northern California which caused a great migration to California. Due to this discovery, the United States commodity prices increased and raise in commodity prices urged workers to go on strike in order to protect their standard of living. The U.S. provided 45 percent of the world's gold production between 1851 and 1855. Many people benefited from finding gold because the amount of gold that was found will determine how well they succeeded in becoming rich. The Gold Rush led to the exploration of different territories in California, the encountering of gold, and the exchange of different cultural ideas. The exploration of gold in California during the 1800's affected immigration, the exchange of cultural ideas and shaped the social structure during this period also known as the "Gold Rush."
Sylva, Seville A. A Thesis-Foreigners in the California Gold Rush. California: University of Southern California. 1932.
Long before the Gold Rush of 1849, the Chinese had known about the wealth that lay in America, or “the Mountain of Gold” (Sung 1-4; Howard 225). Legend told of a place where the precious metal was bountiful. They dismissed this until a few daring men found wealth in America. Many were drawn to the prospect of easy money and by 1850 nearly 25,000 Chinese had immigrated to California (Sung 5; Daley 26-27). Some searched the deserted land claims for overlooked gold, while other Chinese were hired by successful gold miners as cooks, houseboys, gardeners, farmers, and laundrymen (Sung 10-11; Howard 224-226). Unfortunately th...
This mass rush of people all started in the summer of 1897; George Carmack was back from the Klondike with the gold he discovered in the summer of 1896 (SV; SV) (“The Klondike Gold Rush”). There was another ship, named Excelsior, which docked in San Francisco it also brought another miner and their riches from the Klondike (Stefoff). After the ships docked in Seattle and San Francisco, the word was out. “Even in those pre-Twitter days, word spreads fast.” (Martel). Thanks to the telegraph and many newspapers the gold rush drew many people looking for instant wealth (Stefoff). Once the people heard these telegraphs or saw the newspapers the prospectors were off to the Klondike (Glasner). The newspapers wrote an article on the boats coming to town saying “ A Ton of Gold from the Fabulous Klondike” Actually it was closer to two tons (Wharton).
In 1839 a man by the name of John Sutter arrived in California. Sutter appeared to be somewhat of a drifter, and had failed to establish himself before arriving in California. However, in the land of great promise, he planned to establish an empire for himself. Sutter was granted eleven square leagues, or 50, 000 acres, in the lower Sacramento area. This was a common land grant for the times. Sutter got to work and began to improve his land. He went on to build a fort, accumulated over 12,000 cattle and hired hundreds of workers to hel...
Originally Spain found success with finding gold or other mineral wealth not by colonizing, but by conquering and enslaving the local population, such as the Aztecs. As a result, Spain discovered that there was no gold or other mineral wealth to be found past t...
Rohrbough, M. (1997). Chapter 17: The California gold rush and the American nation, days of Gold, University of California Press: Berkeley
...iches? Evidence from the California Gold Rush." The Journal of Economic History 68.04 (2008): 997-1027. Print.
Bartlett, John. Famous Quotations Fourteenth Edition. Ed. Emily Morison Beck. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1968: 641-644.
"California Gold Rush (1848–1858)." Harvard University Library Open Collections Program: Immigration to the United States, 1879-1930. N.p., n.d. 17 May 2014. .
...he Gold Rush A Primary Source History of the search for gold in California. New York: Rosen Publishing Group, 2001. Print.