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The California Gold Rush
January 24, 1848
• Discovery of gold nuggets in Sacramento Valley
• Population of non-natives 1848: 1,000• By 1849: 100,000• 1848-1852: $2 BILLION DOLLARS!
Discovery at Sutter’s Mill
James Wilson Marshall
1. American River at the base of Sierra Nevada Mtns, San Fransisco
2. Coloma, CA
3. Found just days after Treaty of G-H was signed
Journey by land
Journey spreads; by mid June ¾ of San Fran left to work in gold mines
Miners reach 4,000 by August
Polk spreads news of gold mine-starts “Gold Rush”
“ The accounts of abundance of gold are such an extraordinary character as would scarcely common belief were they not corroborated by the authentic reports of officers in the public service.”
‘49er’s Arrive
Throughout 1849 travelers (men) sell their things and head to CA 49’ers
Travelled by land and by sea
Est. pop by end of the year: 100,000
Techniques for retrieving gold
• At first a technique called panning was used to retrieve gold from streams and riverbeds.
• Hydraulic mining was later invented in California. This technique was created for larger scale gold mining
Lasting ImpactGold Mining towns
pop up
Overcrowded mining-led way to lawlessness
Prostitution
Gambling
Banditry
Violence
Bustling Economy
Entered as the 31st State
Troubles?
Slavery-entered as Free
Compromise of 1850: Proposed by Clay; CA would enter as Free, Utah/NM could choose how they entered
Industrialization drove more and more miners from independence into wage labor
1852: 81 million pulled yearly
1857: leveled off at 47 million
Gadsden Purchase 1853
• Last bit of territory gained to complete the US (minus Alaska, Hawaii)
• US pays Mexico $10 million dollars for strip (AZ/NM)
• James Gadsden; provided favorable route to CA by train
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn2FzuPyFlY