The History of the California Gold Rush

Introduction

The gold rush started along the American river , at a mill (Sutter 's Mill , near Coloma . The gold was discovered by a man known as Marshall who was building a lumber mill for the Sacramental pioneer , John Sutter During this time , 1848 , Marshall found glittering pieces of stone on one part of the mill , a section where water passed and secretly took it to Sutter . The two of them made private investigations on the pieces and they were found to be gold . The two , wanted to keep this as a secret but

br the rumor spread fast and in March 1848 , a San Francisco news publisher and merchant confirmed the rumor of gold findings . The New York Herald later reported of a Gold Rush in California . On December 5th , the then president addressed a congress and made a confirmation that there was gold discovered on the American River . It did not take long before the rumor went round and immigrants from all over the world started making their way into California . Sutter 's fears of being ruined by the discovery of the Gold came alive when his workers abandoned him and left in search of gold . Squatters too invaded his land and stole his produce and livestock

In the approach of 1849 , the word had gone round the world and many gold seekers and merchants started arriving from virtually every continent of the world . This was the Gold Rush . In 1849 , it is estimated that 90 ,000 people arrived in California , some by sea , others by land . By 1855 , an estimate 300 ,000 people arrived in California , both merchants and gold seekers

The largest groups were Americans though others like Mexicans , Chinese Britons , French , and Latin Americans also arrived . A number , though not large , of miners of African ancestry also arrived from American states including the Caribbean and parts of Brazil

San Francisco , one time a tiny settlement before the Gold Rush , now became an abandoned town . People left their ships and their businesses This changed after other people started arriving to the town in large numbers to such an extent that the population of San Francisco shot from 1 ,000 in 1848 to 25 ,000 residents by 1850 . This invasion stressed the available resources in San Francisco and others arriving the town started living in tents , shanties or deck cabins from abandoned ships

The journey to California from different parts of the world , were not a smooth sail . This applied to both those who went by sea and to those who went by land . All routes were filled with hazards such as shipwrecks typhoid fever and cholera . Those determined to live , eventually made to California for the Gold

The gold rush was not milk and honey for the Native Americans . The enormously growing population of foreigners was chasing the Native Americans away from the grounds that acted as their hunting , fishing and food gathering grounds . They Natives moved in quickly to stop the miners protect their homes and way...