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an essay on polk
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William Bowers Bourn II was born on May 31, 1857 in San Francisco, California. His father, William Bowers Bourn I was a successful Massachusetts merchant who brought his wife, Sarah Esther Bourn, west to San Francisco in search of wealth. It was not long after their arrival in 1850 until he established himself in the financial world of San Francisco. His investments included a commercial banking business, mining stock and the San Francisco Gas Company. William developed a special interest in mining, and took full control and ownership of the Empire Mine in Grass Valley, California. In 1874, William suffered a tragic accident with a pistol, shooting himself in the stomach to his death. His legacy and empire was left to his son, William II, for a future of greatness.
Following her husband’s death, Sarah took control of the family’s business and sent William II to Cambridge to further his education. It was around this time that mining business began to falter, and mining engineers were reporting that the famous Empire Mine in Grass Valley no longer had a future. When William returned from Cambridge, he refused to accept this idea, knowing that the Empire Mine had been one of the richest deep mines in California. In 1884, he persisted to examine the mine with the latest mining technology and found the Empire Mine’s richest vein yet. His prosperity continued, as he followed his father’s footsteps by investing in the First National Bank of Grass Valley.
In 1888, tragedy hit the Bourn family once again, as Sarah Bourn’s country home in St. Helena had burned to the ground. Even through all of the family’s priceless possessions were ruined, the Bourn’s moved forward and rebuilt the estate larger than before. William gave attention ...
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...ney to the planning of the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1914 and 1915. During World War I, he was president of an organization called Friends of France, and organized the American League of California with professor Charles Mills Gayley to assist allies in Europe. France had awarded Bourn with the L' Ordre National de la Legion d'honneur for his war efforts.
Towards the end of his career, Bourn commissioned Willis Polk to build his estate, Filoli, in Woodside, California. Construction finished in 1917, but unfortunately Bourn suffered a stroke at his Empire Cottage in 1922. He would be confined to a wheelchair until his death. The Empire Mine was sold to Newmont Mining Company in 1929, and the City of San Francisco bought the Spring Valley Water Company in 1930. William Bowers Bourn II died at his Filoli estate on July 5, 1936.
On December 25, 1845, Andrew Borden married Sarah Morse. After Andrew and Sarah got married they moved in to a house on 2nd Street in Fall River, Massachusetts. Sarah gave birth to her first born child Emma Borden in 1851 and then 1960 her second born child is born, her name is Lizzie. Sarah Morse Borden was a loving and caring mother to her two daughters. Her daughters were Lizzie and Emma Borden. On September 19, 1863 at the age of thirty nine she passed away. Lizzie and Emma Borden were only small when she died. Lizzie was only three years old and Emma was fourteen years old. After this happened Lizzie and Emma were very upset and depressed. Andrew Borden then waited two years and, he got remarried. Andrew married Abby Gary on June 6, 1865. Lizzie could not accept this fact, she did not feel that her father, Andrew should have remarried someone new, because it was such a short period of time and she was still young (“Lizzie Borden”).
Porter, Edwin H. The Fall River Tragedy: A History of the Borden Murders. Portmand, Maine: King Phillip Publishing, 1985.
“ I wonder what this family thought about when their mortgage finally outgrew their crops, and thus gave the signal for their eviction. Many thoughts, like flying grouse, leave no trace of their passing, but some leave clues that outlast the decades. He who, is some unforgotten April, planted this liliac must have thought pleasantly of blooms for all the Aprils to come. She who used this washboard, its corrugations worn thin with many Mondays, may have wished for a cessation of all Mondays, and soon.” (Leopold
The Senior Hearst quickly made himself wealthy through his investment in mining operations in the United States. Doing all of the research into these sites himself he owned some of the largest claims in the nation, “including the Comstock Lode in Nevada, the Ontario silver mine in Utah, the Homestake gold mine in South Dakota and the Anaconda copper mine in Montana” (Loe). The Comstock, Homestake and Anaconda claims would become three of the largest mining discoveries in American history. (Swanberg)
William A.H. Loveland of Golden, Colorado was the president of the Colorado Central Railroad alongside Edward L. Berthoud and Henry M. Teller. These businesspeople worked together and proposed the Colorado Central Railroad as a way to rekindle the territory’s growth. Their idea was to build a railroad from Golden to Cheyenne. The construction of this railroad would be linked to the Union Pacific and would take way in 1868. Though the construction of this railroad began right before the 1870s, it is still an essential piece of Colorado’s territory and growth (Abbott, Leonard, Noel, pp. 72, 2013). Amongst these men were other key players that contributed to the growth of Colorado’s territory. One of these men was William Jackson Palmer.
Smith-Baranzini, Marlene, Richard J. Orsi, and James J. Rawls. A Golden State: Mining And Economic Development In Gold Rush California. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1999. eBook (EBSCOhost). Web. 26 Mar. 2014.
William Randolph Hearst, who lived to the age of 88, was born on April 29th, 1863 in San Francisco California, and died on August 14th, 1951 in Beverly Hills California. Hearst studied at Harvard with his mind set on writing, inspired by Joseph Pulitzer. Hearst strived to become a better writer through out his life. After Harvard, Hearst met Marion Davies and eventually moved in with her, living in a very elaborate mansion nicknamed Hearst’s Castle. (http://www.zpub.com/sf/history/willh.html). Hearst and Davies were known for their costume parties and big bashes held at their house, until Davies, who lived through polio, died after the long struggle of cancer. Hearst, who loved the theater, met Millicent Willson there and often escorted her and her sister out at night. Knowing Willson for years, Hearst and her soon became wedded on April 28th, 1903 at Grace Church in New York City. (William Randolph Hearst, Nancy Frazier p. 62) Not but a year later, George Randolph was born on April 10th, 1904, William’s first son. Hearst said to be an amazing father, raced around the city getting fans, and ice buckets to make an air conditioning system for George during his first heat wave. (William Randolph Hearst, Nancy Frazier p. 63) Eventually the Hearst family would consist of five sons.
In 1848 word started to spread like wildfire about Sutter’s mill and the very precious metal that was found nearby. In 1849 George, now in his early thirties, and fifteen other anxious miners packed up their things and made the long trek towards California via the California-Oregon trail. This trek was more than 2,000 miles and took them more than 6 months in a wagon train. George became very ill not long after departing Missouri with cholera. A lesser, undetermined man would have died. George was bound and determined to start his new life with a huge fortune. George was very unsuccessful for nine whole years until he joined some friends and they all went in on the Comstock Lode. This cost them 450 dollars between them and made all of them extremely wealthy. By now George was a seasoned miner and by “reputation had a uncanny sixth sense about mines—some miners and prospectors called him the best judge of a mine in the country(p.14 W.R.H). Everything was going so well for George until he heard his mother was ill and was needed back home. George headed back home to Missouri at the age of forty. While tending to his family he met a young woman named Phoebe Apperson. She was only eighteen years old. They married in 1862 just after the civil war broke out. George and Phoebe made their way back to California by way of boat through the Panama Canal and on April 29, 1863 they gave birth to William Randolph Hearst. Williams’s mother was very loving and attentive. She never left his side. George, willies father, was not. He was very preoccupied with his mining interest and his new business adventures. He owned property all over the western states and was a senator too. Meanwhile, when Williams mother wasn’t taking care of him at home in California, they were traveling the world. Phoebe loved to see Europe.
In “Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson”, the author writes about her time in captivity in 1682. This document is considered an autobiography, as it was a firsthand account of the author. She is trying to show the brutal tactics used by the Native Americans. They would ut...
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...
Louisa Collins, from the first reading, lived and worked at a farm in Nova Scotia with her family during late 1815, post War of 1812. From 1815 August 14th, beginning of her journal, people’s lifestyle in the rural area, after the War of 1812, is shown in Louisa's perspective. The Treaty of Ghent, after War of 1812, allowed both English and United States government to regain peace and restore civilization
Both James and John were left without any fortune from their discovery. A San Francisco businessman, known as, Sam Brannan was responsible for spreading the announcement of the gold located at Sutter's Mill, mainly because he ran down the streets of the small towns in California announcing the two men's discoveries. After the news quickly began to spread, travelers invaded Sutter's Mill and overran his region. Miners primed up tents outside of the primal mining camps, which were ambient to where they were hunting for gold. In the first ten years of the Gold Rush, more than five-hundred mining camps were launched. Sometimes these camps would quickly develop into towns known as “boomtowns”. Cities located in both San Francisco and Columbia are two instances of where boomtowns could be located during the gol...
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.
John Augustus Sutter was born in Baden, Switzerland on the 15th of February in 1803. Sutter is the reason for the California Gold Rush that began in 1848. Sutter had a fort called “New Helvetia” beginning in 1842 that ended quickly in 1844. A man named James Wilson Marshall was planning to build John Sutter a water-powered sawmill, when he came across flakes of gold in the American River near Coloma, California in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. This Discovery happened on January 24th in 1848 causing the town to have no till afterwards. Once the discovery got out it was soon the center for merchants and miners. In John Sutter’s earlier years, he claimed to have had a military background being a captain in the Royal Swiss Guard to the French King.
The first gold findings were found at a mill business in stream beds in 1848. Gold mines were immediately put into action underground and above. Easy gold extraction reeled in the inexperienced and experts knowing they could find large quantities of the valuable mineral making them richer faster. Also the actions of cutting class lines with the skilled upper class men and the unskilled lower class laborers working at the same gold fields next to one another(Gold Rush 1849). The extremely wealthy anxious to get more rich than they already were. The poor and middle class to find gold and wealth for a better