The Gold Rush of 1849 Origins of the

The Gold Rush of 1849

Origins of the Gold Rush ◊ Westward Expansion • Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark of the United States Army were commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson in 1804 to explore the possible expansion of the US territory to the west. • The Corps of Discovery (as the expedition was called) lasted from 1804 till 1806. • This journey gave the US Government a knowledge of the geography of that territory. • It also promoted commerce in this region, prompting many people to move across the country.

Striking Gold! ◊ Forty two years after Lewis and Clark’s expedition gold was discovered in Northern California ◊ On January 24, 1848 James Marshall found gold while mining ◊ The land was owned by Captain John Sutter and was near the place where San Francisco would be built soon.

January 24, 1848 ◊ The California Gold Rush began when gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill ◊ As the news of discovery had spread over 300000 people came to California from the rest of the United States and abroad.

The Rush is On! ◊ Northern California became a very popular place in 1849. ◊ Thousands of people travelled west during the “Gold Fever” to reach the region of their hope. ◊ These people were known as “ 49 ers” because they left everything and moved west in 1849.

How did I get to California? ◊ Three main routes were taken during Gold Rush in 18491850 • Overland Route ◊ Groups left from Midwest and travelled across the Plains • Water Route ◊ Groups left from Eastern port cities (Boston, New York, and Philadelphia) and travelled around South America • Water and Land Route ◊ Groups left from Eastern port cities for the East Coast of Panama and went from the West Coast of Panama in different boats to California

Choosing your way: Overland ◊ They travelled by Covered Wagon in groups called “Wagon Trains” ◊ Approximately 40, 000 people chose this route from 1849 till 1850 ◊ Travellers had to cross over rivers, mountains, prairies, and deserts

? ? ? Overland Route Water Routes

Choosing your way: Water Route ◊ Large Clipper Ships were used to travel around South America ◊ They stopped in Brazil and Chile to take new supplies and fuel; ◊ More than 15, 000 people chose this route to travel to California

Choosing your way: Water and Land Route ◊ Large ships sailed from northeast to the Isthmus of Panama in the Gulf of Mexico ◊ Then travellers made their way sixty miles through the jungle of California ◊ Panama City was the port for their second ship to California

THE MINERS

Ethnical Conflicts By 1850 most of the easily accessible gold had been collected and attention turned more difficult Massacre in to extracting gold from Woman defends deposits. Americans Latino camp began to drive out foreigners herself to get the most accessible gold that remained. The new California State Goverment set a tax of twenty dollars per month foreign miners. Americans began to organize attacks on foreign miners, particularly Latin Americans and Chinese. In addition, a great number of newcomers occupied the Native Americans’ traditional hunting, fishing and food-gathering areas.

Ethnical Conflicts with Native Americans To protect their homes and territories some Native Americans attacked the miners. This provoked counter-attacks on native villages. The Native Americans, who had no guns, were often slaughtered. Those who escaped massacres were forced to survive without access to their food-gathering areas, and they starved to death.

Gold recovery techniques Because the gold in the California gravel beds was so richly concentrated, the early forty-niners simply panned gold in California's rivers and streams. However, panning could not be done in a large scale. And some groups of miners developed new technologies such as "cradles" and "rockers" or "long-toms" to process larger volumes of gravel. The workers canneled water from one river to another and then dug for gold in the newly exposed river bottom.

A LONG TOM

MINERS AT WORK WITH LONG TOMS

Techniques for retrieving gold ◊ At first a technique called panning was used to get gold from streams and riverbeds. Hydraulic mining was later invented in California. This technique was created for larger scales of gold mining

Hydraulic technologies At the next stage, by 1853, hydraulic mining was used on ancient goldbearing gravel bed. A high-pressure hose directed a powerful stream or jet of water at gold-bearing gravel beds. The loosened gravel and gold would then pass over sluices with the gold settling to the bottom where it was collected by "hydraulicking". This style of hydraulic mining later spread around the world.

WATER WHEEL AND HYDRO PRESS

Famous People - 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 organized the first school ◊ Brannan was elected to the California State Senate in 1853. He also gave money for developing banks, railroads, and telegraph companies.

Famous People - H. Wells & W. Fargo They decided to profit from Gold Rush by providing services to miners. They created Wells & Fargo Co. for banking, mail, and stage coach services.

Famous People - Levi Strauss *He ran a successful drygoods store *He patented canvas pants with riveted pockets which are now called jeans.

The negative effects of the Gold Rush Native Americans became the victims of diseases, starvation and genocidal attacks. - The Native American population in 1845 was 150, 000 - The Native American population in 1870 was less than 30, 000. Many people who went to California from around the world never reached it. The Donner party- A group of 87 people from various families set out for California and became snowbound in the Sierra Nevada. Only 48 of the 87 pioneers survived.

The positive effects of the gold rush ◊ Towns and cities were founded. ◊ Roads, schools, and churches were built. ◊ Transportation was improved between California and the east coast All of these developments led to the statehood of California on September 9 th, 1850 as the 31 st state.

THE DREAM OF A MINER