California
Gold Rush 1848 - 1853
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| 49ers Panning |
It all started
in 1848 in Coloma, California. A man named John Sutter was building a sawmill,
when his workers found two gold nuggets. Almost immediately word spread of the
discovery. Americans got caught up in gold fever and started heading towards
northern California by the thousands. They were called 49ers, because they left
home in 1849. The Trip to California was
long and dangerous. That’s why the majority of 49ers were young men. Most left
their families behind, promising to come back rich. Some went by horse and
covered wagon over land routes, like the Famous Oregon Trail. Many people died
of thirst in the deserts. Others went by sea. They faced months of rotten food,
seasickness, disease, and just plain boredom. Either way, it was a hard journey
that could take up to six months., and it wasn’t just Americans who were drawn
to California. People from Mexico, China, and Europe made their way there, too. Those who made it
often settled in mining camps with other gold prospectors. A prospector is
someone who explores an area looking for minerals, in this case gold. A lot of
the California gold was located in placers. Those are deposits of minerals
found in the bends of rivers. So some gold prospectors used a method called
panning, which is a way of separating gold from river by swirling it with water
in a metal pan. The gold would stay in the pan because its denser than soil.
Others used more complicated techniques, like the long tom and the cradle and
some just went digging up land with a pick and shovel. However, you planned to
strike gold, it was hard work. Those who made it out west first did find gold
but because California was still a wilderness, they had to pay incredibly high
prices for basic supplies like food and clothing. Others lost their hard-earned
gold through gambling. All in all, not many 49ers got rich and the mining camps
and towns they stayed in were dangerous places to live. It wasn’t long before
most of the easy-to-find gold was gone. By 1853 the rush was over but the
impact of this huge movement of people continued. California was made into a
state in 1850. That wouldn’t have happened without the hundreds of thousands of
people the gold rush had attracted. You can still see towns with colorful Gold Rush
names all over California. Names like Placerville, Gold Hill, Whiskey Town, and
Hangtown and the memory of California gold fueled other rushes. Over the next
50 years, there were gold and silver rushes in Colorado, Idaho, Arizona, New
Mexico, and Alaska. Westward Expansion is a very important part of history because it made a ginormous impact on the U.S. and even on other countries. For example it
made an effect when the California gold rush came and the gold rush made
California a state, brought settlers and made a long impact.
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| Oregon Trail |
TimeLine!
1848: James
Marshall discovers gold at Sutter's sawmill
1849: Gold
Rush starts to attract people from around the world
1850: California
becomes a state
1852: Gold becomes more scarce and there’s development
of better mining techniques.
1853:
Population of California
exceeds 300,000
1859: Discovery
of silver in Nevada officially ends the California Gold Rush
My Thoughts
on “Westward Expansion”
I think Westward
Expansion is a very important part of history because it made a HUGE impact on
the United States of America and even other countries. For example it made an enormous
effect on America and other countries because when the westward expansion started
there came the California gold rush and the gold rush made California a state,
brought settlers, and had a lasting impact on California’s population and
economy. It basically makes America how it is today; if none of this happened,
who know what it’d be like today.
