Jason Hong
Mr. O’Donnell
Honors American History
December 11, 2017
The California Gold Rush
During the first half of the 19th century, the United States were engaged with the notion of
“Manifest Destiny”, the idea that America is called by God to expand westward. Clinging onto
this idea, the U.S. set out to find opportunities to spread American culture and ideas to the west.
By doing so, in 1846, America declared war against Mexico due to land disputes, thereby igniting
the Mexican-American War. After two years of war, the United States and Mexico brought an end
to the Mexican-American War through the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo. This treaty entitled the
U.S. not only the land of Texas but also all western land and territories that Mexico claimed and
the recognition of the Rio Grande River as the southern border between the U.S. and Mexico. One
of these territories was the Californian territory. This particular territory was barren and
unresourceful until the miraculous discovery of gold. In early 1848, when Mexico still controlled
the west, James Marshall, a carpenter from New Jersey, moved to the Californian territory to work
for John Sutter. Along the American River in the Sacramento Valley, Marshall found gold flakes
and was eccentric but he and Sutter attempted to keep this overwhelming discovery surreptitious.
However, after the treaty was signed by the Americans and Mexicans, the news of gold in
Californian spread throughout American states and territories and spurred massive immigration
into the Californian territory, in which thousands of Americans and foreign immigrants traveled
there with the hopes of striking fortune. This is known as the California Gold Rush of the 1850s
and 1860s and it has caused lasting impacts to California in this era. Although the California Gold
Rush caused the development of government and commerce in California and the stimulation of
global economies, it created substantial dilemmas for the indigenous Native Americans.
The California Gold Rush gave way to the admission of California to the Union. In fact,
the Gold Rush accelerated the the process of statehood of California. Prior to the discovery of gold,
the population of California consisted of a majority of Native Americans and rarely any Americans
and other foreigners. However, after the gold discovery, a significantly large number of
immigrants migrated from their homeland to California, hoping to become gold-miners and search
for fame and fortune. These people were called the 49-ers (history.com). The 49-ers moved to the
Californian territory and set up many gold-mining towns around the land as settlements (See
Appendix 1). These towns had shops, saloons, brothels, and numerous businesses seeking to gain
fortune, therefore developing commerce and an economy. Unfortunately, these towns engaged in
crime and lawlessness such as banditry, gambling, and prostitution (history.com). These disorder
and chaos called for a sense of government and local order. A prime gold-mining town was the
city of San Francisco. San Francisco had a population of only 1,000 before the discovery of gold
but after the discovery, with more and more immigrants making their way to find gold, the
population exponentially increased to more than 20,000 residents, making it the biggest goldmining city (harvard.edu). E. Gould Buffum, a resident of San Francisco at the time, described the
growth of the city as “enormous” and then stated that due to the immense immigration, “at least a
thousand houses of all sizes and forms have been erected. The hills around the town are now
covered with buildings and every spot of ground near the centre is occupied” (Six Months in the
Gold Mines 335). Because of this emergence of these various gold-mining towns, the large number
of gold prospectors moving to these towns, and the lawlessness of these towns, a bigger and more
centralized government was needed and there the Californian state government was formed,
ultimately forging its way to statehood. After being admitted into the Union, California, under the
Compromise of 1850 of Henry Clay, must be a state without slavery, making it the first free state
of the West (Woodworth 341-342). In only two years was the Gold Rush able to make California
a state of the Union.
The California Gold Rush also stimulated economies around the globe. European, Pacific,
and Asian economies prospered substantially through trade and commerce.With millions of dollars
of unearthed gold, a system of banking was created and exchange of gold and paper currency
sparked an economic revolution in California. California used its gold to buy and trade with foreign
nations in exchange for foreign goods and imports. In Great Britain, British exports to California
exceeded $2 million annually and the British economy profited as wages increased more quickly
than prices (The Gold Rush's International Economic Impacts). French companies invested in
California real estate, agriculture, and mining industries, leading to economic growth and job
growth (The Gold Rush's International Economic Impacts). In Asia, China and Japan shipped
clothing and prefabricated houses to El Dorado, California. With more trade came lower prices
which inevitably resulted in economic stimulation in Asia (The Gold Rush's International
Economic Impacts). In Hawaii, the economy engaged California with trade and new exports.
Hawaii redirected its trade from their Atlantic ocean ports to the San Francisco ports and shipped
an incredible number of ships with goods worth about $380,000 to San Francisco (The Gold Rush's
International Economic Impacts). Australia exported wheat, beef, and horses and New Zealand
exported lumber to California. As a result, the trade stimulated their economies with jobs and
economic growth in different industries (The Gold Rush's International Economic Impacts).
Additionally, the gold rush money funded the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad which
was designed to connect the West with the East. This project employed a vast majority of foreign
immigrants from different countries, thereby creating job growth and increasing investments from
private companies (harvard.edu). This economic stimulation and growth in the U.S. and foreign
nations is ultimately due to the Gold Rush.
During this time period, the Gold Rush triggered a conflict between the people of California
and the indigenous Native Americans. Before the settlements in California, there were
approximately 300,000 Native Americans in the area living as hunter-gatherers (The Gold Rush
Impact on Native Tribes). They lived peacefully until gold seeking settlers arrived, invading their
homeland and destroying their way of life. Some settlers used hydraulic mining, the process in
which uses water to move sediment and dislodge rocks, in search for gold (National Geographic).
This process greatly affected the Native Americans because according to Malcolm Rohrbough, a
Gold Rush historian, “the major impact it had was on agriculture, because the mining involved
digging up the rivers and producing all this silt.” It was the environmental pollution from hydraulic
mining that disrupted the Native Americans’ agricultural way of life. Furthermore, Native
Americans encountered many violent conflicts with the incoming white settlers. The Bridge Gulch
massacre is a primary example. In this armed conflict, the indigenous Wintu Tribe killed Colonel
John Anderson. In response to Colonel Anderson’s unfortunate death, the Americans tracked the
Wintu to Bridge Gulch and attacked them in broad daylight, killing over 150 Wintu people (Bridge
Gulch Massacre). Moreover, following the establishment of California’s statehood, the Californian
state government sought to eradicate the Native American population. The governor of California,
Gov. Peter Burnett, declared “A war of extermination will continue to be waged between the two
races until the Indian race becomes extinct, must be expected”(Charlie Perry), therefore showing
support for waging war against the natives. The state government offered $10-$25 to those who
bring actual evidence of dead Indians such as scalps, bodies, and head (Charlie Perry). Even bounty
hunters participated in this state funded genocide. Bounty hunters could earn 25 cents for an Indian
scalp and $5 for a severed Indian head (Charlie Perry). The contempt of the government towards
the Native American has no limits, as state officials have attempted in many ways to rid California
of the natives. In addition to a state-supported genocide, the white settlers in California brought
upon foreign diseases to Native Americans so the natives had no defense to those diseases. This,
in turn, resulted in a significant decrease in the Native American population (The Gold Rush
Impact on Native Tribes). As a result of agricultural disruption, genocide, and disease, the Native
American population subsequently declined from about 300,000 to 30,000, most of whom do not
live on their homeland but on reservations (The Gold Rush Impact on Native Tribes).
In conclusion, the California Gold Rush fostered the establishment of the state of California
and the economic stimulation of foreign nations, but engendered serious complications for the
natives of California. Following the gold rush, the amount of surface gold largely disappeared and
many miners and gold seekers vacated the areas. The gold mining industry slowly diminished as
gold became more difficult to find (history.com). The process of hydraulic mining, used to mine
for gold, utterly destroyed the environment and natural habitats for many animals and indigenous
natives (history.com). At the end of the 1850’s, California’s population was nearly 380,000 of
different races and ethnicities. This diversity generated feelings of racism and discrimination. For
instance, the government passed the Foreign Miners License Law which was a piece of legislation
that deliberately charged foreign miners $20 a month (National Geographic). Despite the
incredible racism in the 19th century, California has slowly become more and more accepting and
less xenophobic while moving towards the 21st century. As a result, the California Gold Rush
unified the nation, fulfilled the duty of Manifest Destiny, and has spawned great influence and
culture in the state of California. As Malcolm Rohrbough once said:
“...the California Gold Rush was the decisive influence in bringing together the east with
the newly acquired western extensions of the American empire, especially California. In other
words, the Gold Rush didn’t separate the nation by creating an east and a west. It united the nation
by bringing the west into the rest of the nation” (National Geographic).