The Gold Rush
"Gold! Gold! Gold from the American
River!“—Samuel Brennan
The Beginning…
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January 24, 1848—A
few gold nuggets are
found by John Marshall
in the American River
near Sacramento, CA.
News of the discovery
soon spread by
newspapers—around
300,000 men, women
and children from the
US and abroad flocked
to California. These
people were called
“The Forty-niners.”
Travel Routes:
 People came to California
by land and sea.
 A sailing journey around
Cape Horn, South America.
This took 5-8 months and
covered 15,000 miles.
Disadvantages: diseases
like Cholera and Scurvy.
Cramped and long journey.
 The Panama Shortcut:
Covered 7,000 miles and
took 2-3 months.
Disadvantages: diseases
like yellow fever and
malaria. High cost for
passage.
Travel Routes Continued…
 The California Trail: in 1849 almost 32,000 gold-seekers
travelled in covered wagons, pulled by mules or oxen.
 Advantages: cheaper than by ship.
 Disadvantages: extreme weather, diseases: cholera,
diphtheria, animals dying of exhaustion/thirst.
Locations of Mining Towns:
Methods of Mining
Gold:
Initially, 49ers simply
panned for gold on a small
scale.
 Eventually groups of miners
used more efficient
methods:
 Hydraulic mining—high
pressured jets of water
would move the sediment.
 Then, loosened gravel and
gold would pass over
sluices, with the gold
settling to the bottom where
it is collected.
Sluice: an artificial channel that
quickly filtered out gold with
water. Similar to a sieve.
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Characteristics of Boomtowns:
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Areas that experienced
rapid population and
economic growth due to
the discovery of a natural
resource: gold.
Began with a few tents
around mining sites. As
more people learned about
the presence of gold,
merchants and mining
companies increased.
A general store, saloons,
hotels, and restaurants
would be quickly
established. (not properly
built)
No real law and order in the
boomtowns—vigilante
committees kept the peace.
(e.g. Wyatt Earp in AZ)
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Economics in Mining Towns:
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Miners weighed out the
gold and paid merchants
and vendors for food,
supplies, and lodging
Frequent entertainment
for miners included
drinking, gambling,
traveling theater, and
prostitutes.
Merchants and vendors
then used the gold to
purchase their supplies
from ship captains
packers bringing goods to
California.
Effects of the Gold Rush:
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Ecological: sediment and toxic substances from the
Sierra Nevada Mountains washed into the San
Francisco Bay by mining activities. Sediment
smothered plants and animals living at the ocean’s
bottom.
The wealth and population increase led to
significantly improved transportation between
California and the East Coast.
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The First Trans-Continental Railroad was completed in
1869.
The Panama Railway was created to span the Isthmus of
Panama.
Trans-Continental Railroad Photo
More Effects of the Gold Rush…
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The rapid population increase allowed California to become
a state in 1850.
Attacks on Native Americans by gold-seekers. The Native
American population dropped from 150,000 in 1845, to less
than 30,000 by 1870.
Racist laws, taxes, and attacks occurred with the aim of
driving out Chinese and Latin American immigrants.