The California Gold Rush
January 24, 1848
• The California gold
rush began when
gold was discovered
at Sutter’s Mill
• As the news of
discovery spread,
some 300,000
people came to
California from the
rest of the United
States and abroad
These early gold
seekers called
“49ers” traveled to
California by sailing
ships and covered
wagons across the
continent.
Journey By Land
• Most “overlanders” began their journey on
the Mormon or Oregon trails. The major
trailheads for these routes were in Council
Bluffs, Iowa, St. Joseph, Mo., or
Independence, Mo. The overland trip
typically took five to six months. Ten to 15
miles of travel in one day would be a good
day.
Journey By Land
Journey By Land
Supplies might include:
Cooking stove made of sheet metal, cows, bacon, ham,
rice, dried fruit, molasses, packed butter, bread,
coffee and tea, tools for mining, farming and
repairing wagons, vegetable and flower seeds,
medicines,
quilts,
musical
instruments,
guns,
ammunition, awls, needles strengthened for mending
clothes and tents, bedding, including buffalo robes,
waterproof india rubber blankets to keep things dry,
lock chains to hold wagons back on steep hills.
Journey By Land
Journey by Sea
• Sail around South America and up the Pacific
coast or sail to Panama and cross the Isthmus
by mule train and wait for a ship on the Pacific
side.
• If the many diaries kept are to be believed, as
many as nine out of 10 captains were
incompetent and the promised travel time of 30
days was rarely met. In spite of this, and the
unavoidable crowding of travel by sea, 15,000
people took this route in 1849 and investors for
the journey were easy to find. Total per-person
documented costs ranged from under $600 to
over $1,200.
Journey by Sea
Supplies might include:
Salt pork, salt beef, ham, hard
bread, salt, 40 pounds of butter and
cheese, tea, sugar and spices.
Problems with supplies:
Salt meat often went bad.
Wine turned to vinegar.
Bottles of fruit juice blew up.
Candles melted near the equator.
Rats ate cheese.
Butter and lard went rancid.
Weevils got into flour, rice and
hard bread.
Journey by Sea
Diseases common to
the
Panama
route
Diseases
common
to
the Cape Horn route
Yellow fever
Malaria
Dysentery
Cholera - an epidemic in Panama
City killed many as they waited.
Scurvy - due to lack of fresh
fruit and vegetables.
Cholera
Techniques for Retrieving Gold
• At first, a technique
called panning was used
to retrieve gold from
streams and riverbeds.
• “Long Toms” were
developed to speed up
the extraction of gold
from the land.
Techniques for Retrieving Gold
• Hydraulic mining was later invented in
California. This technique was created
for larger scale gold mining
Samuel Brannan
• Samuel Brannan was the first
millionaire because of the
California gold rush
• Brannan established the first
newspaper in San Francisco
called the California Star and
also established the first school
in San Francisco
• Brannan was elected to the
California State Senate in 1853.
He was also credited with
developing banks, railroads, and
telegraph companies.
The Negative Effects of the Gold Rush
Native Americans became the
victims of disease, starvation,
and genocidal attacks.
-The Native American
population in 1845 was 150,000
-The Native American
population in 1870 was less than
30,000.
Chinese and Mexican workers
faced discrimination.
Environmental impact
Many people that journeyed to
California from around the world
never made it.
-The Donner party- A total of 87
people from various families set out
for California and became
snowbound in the Sierra Nevada
Mountains. Only 48 of the original
87 pioneers survived.
The Positive Effects of the Gold Rush
• As the population grew,
towns
and
cities
expanded.
• Roads,
schools,
and
churches were built.
• Improved transportation
developed
between
California and the east
coast
All of these developments
led to the statehood of
California on September
9th, 1850. California was
admitted as the 31st state.