Meaning and Significance of the California Gold Rush

Running Head : The California Gold Rush

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Meaning and Significance of the California Gold Rush

Before the gold rush started in California , there were always suspicions that the region could have mineral wealth just like the rest of Mexico The Spanish had already occupied California at the end of the 18th century but this occupation was entirely for strategic reasons as they sought to exploit mineral wealth in the New World . A cowboy by the name Francisco Lopez had in 1842 brought gold nuggets

with him and presented them to Mexican authorities in Los Angeles (Monroe 2002 , generating interest in the prospect of striking large deposits of the precious metal in the area

When the governor of California , Juan Bautista Alvarado , sent samples of gold mined from the Placerita canyon requesting the government to send scientists to prospect for gold in California , the Mexican interior minister replied to the effect that the mineral wealth in Mexico was enough and that any gold that could be found in California would not amount to much . He was so wrong seven years later , California would be home to the largest gold strike in the history of gold mining (Goff Anderson 2006

The California Gold Rush started when James Marshall discovered gold at a saw mill he was working on the 28th of January 1848 (Monroe 2002 . He together with his partner John Sutter , tried to keep the discovery secret but word quickly spread out . Marshall 's discovery was briefly...