California Gold Rush Essay, Research Paper
CALIFORNIA
GOLD RUSH
GOLD IS DISCOVERED AT SUTTERS MILL.
Gold is a precious metal that people sometimes will go crazy
over. When there is a case in which there is a great amount of gold
even the most responsible people might just leave their homes, and
business.They will run and crawl just to put their fingertips in the all
mighty rock.
In 1839 John Augustus Sutter migrated from Switzerland into
California. While in California, Sutter met a Spanish Governor who
believed Sutter was a European noble. For this reason Sutter was
able to persuade the governor to give him a very large piece of land
which was located in the part of California known as the Sacramento
River Valley. Sutter then cultivated it and held a large amount of
sheep, cattle and horses. Ultimately, he became very successful. It
was at this time that Sutters’ life took an unusual turn that would affect
all of America. There would be some happy stories, some sad
stories, and tales of great journeys. There would be chaos among
the most sophisticated of people. There would be a GOLD RUSH.
After a great amount of success Sutter wanted more. He
was soon due to get much more. In 1848 Sutter decided to
increase his wealth with a saw mill. On January, 24,1848,
during construction of the mill, one of Sutter’s carpenters,
James Marshall, saw something glistening. He picked it up,
examined it, and picked up a few more. He was sure he
had found gold.
James Marshall took a 40 mile journey to Sacramento where
Sutter was dwelling, and told him about his fabulous discovery.
The rise of the gold rush
Word got out about this wild discovery. Everyone was
screaming”Gold!Gold from the American river!” In one year 25,000
people from the eastern part of America had traveled to California by
sea. Others took faster but more expensive rides.Some would just
take ride after ride any transport to make the trip to California.
Tales of the rush
Not everyone got rich. Most journeys were so long most of the
gold was gone by the time they came. Although even the amount
they made was enough for them.The price for food went up in
California.And since everyone was dependent on commercial food
they had to pay out.
After Marshalls discovery, and word getting out people went to
California and searched for gold few people got very rich the rest got
much more than they usually did. Many people took advantage of the
fortune seekers by selling them food at a high price. Of course there
is always an inevitable end to these historical moments.
Foreigners started coming in and big mining companies started
to set up and the other small farmers were no match for the big who
were able to extract more.They still had that “gold fever” of theirs so
they decided to go search for gold elsewhere. Within a short period
almost all the gold was extracted from California. So ended the
“California Gold Rush.”