John Sutter's Gold: The Rise Of The California Gold Rush

It is well known that industrialization in America started in the east. However, the gold rush was the reason why California industrialized much faster than the east. With the technological improvements, that the gold rush demands it helped California industrialize much faster. James Marshall first discovered gold on January 24 1848 on the south fork of the American river. A not so well know part of California history is that James Marshall was not the first person to discover gold in California. Francisco Lopez was the first documented gold rush in California. It is less know because right after Lopez had discovered gold the war between Mexico and US had begun. Moreover, like everyone knows Mexico lost and lost California and other territory to the US. After James Marshall had found gold and after everyone had started to hear the news, few people started rushing to the minefields. The gold rush fever had not started yet because many people were hesitant. It wasn’t until president, President Polk at that time, confirmed that there really was gold found in California after the announcement by Polk was heard. Massive amount of people from all over the world rushed to California. States were not the first to hear about the news. Actually, people in Hawaii were the first to find out. As trading ships were leaving the San Francisco port on their trips across the pacific. Was when the Hawaii found out about the news? When the states

There was many challenges individuals faced such as harsh punishments for stealing a miner’s gold, or someone else’s gold. If a miner’s piece of gold was stolen or someone decided to claim the miner’s gold then that person would

Before the Gold Rush of 1849, California was a sparsely populated, unimportant territory of the United States mostly inhabited by the people of Mexico. However, that all changed when on January 24, 1848; carpenter and small time sawmill operator James W. Marshall discovered a gold nugget in the American River that would forever change the history of California and America1. Not only did the Gold Rush lead to California’s admittance into the Union in 1850, it also rekindled the idea of the American Dream. Hundred’s of thousands of people poured into the state by the lure of quick and infinite riches. As a result of the Gold Rush, California

The California Gold Rush was a period of time when thousands of people from all over the world came to California for gold, some were lucky, most were not. California was owned by Mexico 1600-1846. Mexico soon allowed the U.S. to have California as it’s own state, and that is when they found the gold. The California Gold Rush was a difficult time with the challenges people faced traveling to California, the way the Forty-Niners lived, and the way they used the gold.

Gold was found in the capital of California today Sacramento also called the Sacramento Valley in early 1848 to around 1857. The Mexican province governor gave John Sutter 50,000 acres of land to make a place his was going to call New Switzerland this land stretched from the Sacramento and the American Rivers (“Gold Rush”). John Sutter the owner of the new asked a man by the name of James Marshall to help him build a sawmill that would be located 50 miles east on Sutter's land. (Blashfield 1). So Marshall and his men went to work when Sutter came by to check the progress he found something sparkling in the water of one of the rivers near the sawmill and extracted a lump of gold from a nearby gorge and shouted Gold! Gold! We have found it! But Marshall didn’t really believe him until he threw down a handful of golden flakes on the table. This is how the gold rush started and had them thinking how to keep it a secret.

The newcomers changed by their experience in California with different expectations. First, the gold-seekers only thought about money in their mind. They tried to use different way to gain the profit as fast as they could. Even though the gold-seekers lost their

The commencement of the California Gold Rush was on January 24th, 1848 and ceased in the year of 1855. The Gold Rush migration began when James W. Marshall, originally a sawmill operator, discovered a piece of gold at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California. He was shocked to find gold because he was initially at the sight trying to build a sawmill. After news broke out of his finding, others wanted in on the luck. Within just one year, the mass migration quickly began to grow, attracting approximately three hundred thousand people from other states and abroad to search for gold like

The California Gold Rush of 1849 was a major point in history that involved the colonization of the far west, the hunt for gold, and many issues to go along with it. During a period where nothing was really advancing or happening, many people began to look for a new job or a new way to make some form of money. In times like that, there are little to no jobs available. Some people managed to fine gold in the west, and a lot of it, specifically located in California. As people began telling others about it, the information eventually spread throughout the continent. Eventually, thousands of people were migrating out west in search of gold to get rich on.

Letters, journals, and reminiscences written by adventurers during the Gold Rush vividly illustrate the internal struggle which people experienced.

The struggles of the California Gold Rush You are in California hoping to become wealthy. You see a small, yellow, shimmery pebble sparkle out of the corner of your eye, you pick it up. The California Gold Rush was a world wide rush to get to California to seek its riches beneath its rich soil. It all started on January 24, 1848 when James Marshall discovered gold in California.

Gold found in California starting the Gold Rush, happened to not be the first discovery of gold in there. “But gold had been found in 1843 near the Mission San Fernando in Southern California”. Although this discovery did not spark much attention, reason being. At that the time the country was under Mexican rule. “ The great California gold rush began on January 24,1848, when James W. Marshall discovered a gold nugget in the American River while constructing a sawmill for John Sutter, a Sacramento agriculturalist”. Discovery of this gold generated the Gold Rush, which is one of the most significant events that

An average prospector could mine $25 a day in gold, a lot of money for the times. However, prices were high, and the food, equipment and tools a miner needed would swiftly extract most of that gold from his pockets. Drinking, gambling and whoring took the rest.

In 1845, James W. Marshall arrived in the Sacramento valley of California and began living in Sutter’s fort. In 1847, he began work on the saw mill where in January of 1848 he would discover gold. When he first discovered the small pieces of gold in the American River next to his mill, he himself did believe it was real. “He picked up one and examined it attentively. He knew of but two minerals that were like it: one was sulphuret of iron, which was bright and brittle, and the other gold, which was bright, heavy and malleable. The specimen he held was bright and heavy. He tried it between two stones and found he could hammer it into different shapes without breaking it.” (Hittell 2). When Marshall told his workers of his discovery, they refused

All that gold was discovered in the mid - August 1896 by George Carmack and Joseph Ladue , an American who had been

Gold was used for many different things and it was valued very much during the past and even now it is valued. A common use of gold was when it had been turned into