Samuel Thomas Gill's 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

How would you argue the Scopes Trial was a defeat for both sides? How did the personal agendas of those involved influence this trial?

The daily life of a miner was far from perfect. The way the papers and other means of propaganda had portrayed getting rich quick, but it was far from easy. All the equipment that was needed to start out as a miner was for the most part outrageous. The earning wages from gold was” sixteen dollars an ounce” pg.8. Even so, the work was backbreaking. There was swarms of minors trying to get rich quick. To many miners that traveled to get a piece of the precious metal they where resorted to taking land from previous land owner just to get ahead in the Gold Rush. Not to mention that the living conditions where also outrageous. The “rentals of hotels and other business structures, whether of boards or of canvas, reached even dizzier heights than did commodity prices” pg.8. This spaces where set prices at 3,000 dollars a month or 40,000 dollars for a year, there was also other prices around the area of San Francisco. And in some cases miners where resorted to living in a room filled to the brim with other miners. This lead to very poor conditions for any one to live in. But nothing was better then being rich in a few months or

In 1849, an inundation of Chinese immigrants came to the United States to take part in the California gold rush. Relations between the Chinese and Americans started off neutral, but soon conflicts arose. White workers saw Chinese as a threat to their status and tried to solve this issue by passing the Chinese Exclusion Act; this severely limited the number of Chinese allowed to immigrate into the country at the time. Although this compromise satisfied the white protests, it only lead to more conflicts with how the Chinese were treated during immigration. These conflicts would not be resolved for another 61 years.

The gold rush was the turning point of Australia’s history thanks to Edward Hargraves he discovered gold in New South Wales in April 1851 and soon the gold rush kicked off. Clear evidence has been provided on how Edward Hargraves started the gold rush started, Information on how push and pull factors influenced people to the gold fields. Stories have been recounted on how life during the gold rush was like in the gold fields. Information on how many numbers of migrants came and where they came and what transportation was used

Being a gold prospector during the Gold Rush was inarguably one of the most challenging obstacles a human being could ever face. Some might even consider the lengths people were willing to go to for gold rather reckless and idiotic because of how menacing these obstacles were. The challenges that people during the Gold Rush faced, while somewhat incomprehensible to people now, was an extremely important goal to people in the 1800’s. In the articles “Race to the Klondike” and All About the Klondike Gold Mines”, these challenges are thoroughly described and include examples of how people lived during the Gold Rush, one of the most terrifying journeys in history.

"Gold! Gold! Gold from the American River!” shouted Samuel Brannan, a newspaper publicist from San Francisco, following the discovery of gold in California (Rhodes 168). This event sparked a new era of immigration to California in 1848. The gold rush began on January 24, 1848 when gold was found by James Marshall, a foreman for John Sutter, at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California (Bancroft 32). Initially the news was kept a secret due to the risk of a massive wave of gold seekers interfering with Sutter’s land and agricultural plans. However, by March of 1848, Samuel Brannan’s flamboyant confirmation to the rumors created the California gold rush. Hordes of people from around the world traveled to California in search for gold and success. San Francisco’s population exponentially grew from a small settlement of about 200 residents in 1846 to a city of about 36,000 by 1852 (Johnson 12-14). As news spread, the event became known worldwide. The gold rush in California was a vital event that became the basis for the social and economic boom that subsequently fashioned global fame, an influx of settlers and, as a result, the 31st addition to the union as “The Golden State”.

Throughout American history there has been many instances of European settlers invading the land of the native peoples. This holds true for the state of Colorado. It appears as if the Gold Rush acts as a catalyst for this hostile relationship. Although there are many positives Colorado experienced from the gold rush, the native people experienced the downside of this historical event.

James Wilson Marshall, who was a carpenter originally from New Jersey, was working for John Sutter to build a water powered sawmill in early 1848. On January 24th, he probably didn’t realize he was about to make one of the biggest discoveries in American History. While working with his crew, he found little flakes of gold in a river near Coloma, California. Not knowing if it was “fool’s gold” , which would break if struck too hard, he “struck it between two rocks”1 knowing that real gold is malleable. He found that it could be moved into different shapes, but would not be broken. He struck gold. California would never be the same after this day. The California Gold Rush, more than any other historic event in this era, made California the state that it is now.

“Among those who flocked to the gold were soldiers who abandoned their posts in pursuit of wealth.” (61). They were only making a mere six dollars while some of the gold miners were making over seventy. One soldier even stated, “I had a violent attack of gold fever.”(61). The thought of

In 1874 gold was discovered in the Black Hills. President Grant was forced to make a harsh decision because the Black Hills were located in the Great Sioux Reservation that the Indians had gained under the Treaty of 1868. President Grant allowed miners to enter the Black Hills and insisted that this act would be legalized. Government attempted to acquire the Black Hills, where the gold was located however Sitting Bull was against the sale of the land. The Great War of Sioux 1876 resulted from a disagreement between miners and Indians. Miners had already begun to come to the Black Hills to mine for goal and the government allowed these things to happen. Because Sitting Bull and his army men were not sure of what would have happened when the white men entered they were forced to attack in fear. “They had not interfered with the gold rush, and although they had not signed the Treaty of 1868, in sanctioned their residence in the unceded territory” (Utley pg34). Sitting Bull gave orders to his young soldiers to harass whites at Yellowstone and in other areas all because he was trying to be proactive and attack them before they attacked him and his people. Sitting Bull was unaware that his actions were considered to be an improper thing to do. Because of the actions of Sitting Bull’s army, they were forced to leave the reservation or come face to face to the military. After all of these things occurred they were still naive to the fact that the Americans were trying to start a

The California Gold Rush of 1849 was a very influential event in U.S history. It all started in 1848, in Coloma, California, when a man named James Marshall (See Appendix A) was working on a sawmill for a man named John Sutter (See Appendix B). He was working near a river and something caught his eye. When he went to investigate, he realized that he had discovered pure gold! Marshall wanted to keep this a secret between him and his boss, but word spread quickly, and eventually the whole world knew about this discovery thanks to the New York Herald, which was the first newspaper to publish an article about the Gold Rush. Soon enough, many people started to immigrate to California to see if they could start a new life, and maybe, get rich. While the Gold Rush had many positive impacts to the State of California, which included economic benefits, they were not necessarily as a result of the mining of gold, but opportunities created by the influx of people looking to get rich. The economic opportunities experienced in the State of California as a result of the gold rush included manufacturing, trade, merchant business, agriculture, entertainment market, and newly formed banks and financial institutions (“The Impact of Gold” 2014). Also, people from different countries like China came by ship to see if they could strike it rich. People living on the Eastern side of the U.S only had two routes that they could follow to California, and both took many months and portrayed terrible

It’s December of 1850 and a fresh snow had drifted down upon the lush green hills of California. You kneel down and rub your hands together, ferociously at first but becoming gentler once you feel the friction heating up your palms. You glance down at your worn boots, torn denim pants, and exposed hands while pondering why you continued this madness of searching for gold. Maybe it was because you wanted to live life the easy way and bless your family with riches aplenty, or maybe it’s due to the fact that multiple of people have found happiness with their claims of gold. What ever the reason was, you knew that it was about to drive you to the breaking point. After this small thought you reach over and

In early 1848, cries of gold findings flooded the West. White settlers flooded the area like a hurricane in search of riches never seen before to the common man. It was the single greatest migration of people in a shortest amount of time. The gold rush was a very dark period in American history and it shouldn’t be celebrated; the Native American’s were slaughtered in American thirst for gold Explosions of violence from both natives and settlers were common in this environment of prejudice and greed. Between 1850 and 1890 eighty percent of the total number of Native Americans in California died due to murder and massacre, disease, starvation, and forced migration from their native lands. The destruction of the culture and lives of the people native to California and the Black Hills of South Dakota. Greed changed the morals and values of the miners and Americans alike in the Gold Rush. The gold rush brought riches and highlighted racism of white Americans, while systematically destroying Native Americans in that region.

I will discuss how the Gold Rush, more than any other single event, impacted the social, economic, and political nature of the West Coast and the United States. I will break down the social, economic, and political ramifications of the Gold Rush on (a) the region, and (b) the United States as a whole.