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  • Essay / History of the California Gold Rush and its Effects

    After watching "Gold Rush", I learned a lot about how the Gold Rush affected not only the past, but also the present. The discovery of gold in California affected immigration/migration, ethnic relations, and social and political developments in the United States in the mid-1800s. Watching the Gold Rush really opened my mind and made me understand to what extent it has had economic and structural impacts on our society today. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essay On January 24, 1848, a carpenter named James Marshall discovered gold in a California river. In a decade, more than a quarter of a million people descended on California, making it one of the largest migrations of its kind. It was a rush of people immigrating across the world in the name of greed. In December 1848, President James Polk announced that gold had been discovered in the U.S. Territory of California, newly affected by the Mexican-American War. It was believed that California's population did not include Indians. There was no bridge, no school, no hospital. William Swain was typical of the thousands of ordinary Americans driven by the discovery of gold who would become known as the 49ers. It took months to get from New York to the U.S. border and then to Missouri. For many coming from the East, this is where the real journey would begin. Thousands of people camped for miles around these towns, preparing, anxiously waiting to leave. Sarah Royce was a cultured and religiously refined woman. They traveled over 15 to 20 miles a day. In 1849, 25,000 people all left at about the same time. It was a trip that lasted 5 to 6 months. It was hard to get lost as the trail was half a mile wide. When there was a river crossing, there was a traffic jam. Sometimes you had to wait 2 or 3 days for more than 50 cars to cross. William Swain settled in unfamiliar territory along the Santa Fe Highway, crowded with immigrants and their wagons. Travel conditions in California were very difficult. The trail and a final line of immigrants and their carts were filled with debris, including old food. Some water sources were often impure and the collar burst. By the time the gold prospectors reached Fort Laramie, halfway to California, 1,500 of the 25,000 migrants would die of cholera and yellow fever. There were also accidents and gunshot wounds. Indians had lived in these areas for a long time. People had no idea what they were getting into. Weather was a problem and they didn't have much food. The migrants had to face the Sierra Nevada, which was the great barrier behind which California stood, and with the arrival of October came the risk of finding themselves stuck in the snow. They were exhausted and in pain as they had to climb the mountains and come back down. Unfortunately, Sarah Royce took the wrong path leading them to the desert. The search for gold for her has become more difficult. In late October, the Royces finally reached the summit of the Sierra Nevada and arrived in California. William Swain also arrived. Both sides ultimately managed to narrowly escape the threat of winter. They still didn't know if they would see a grain of gold. The first miners arrived in Oregon, Mexico and South America, followed by 90,000 people by boat from the East. Within five years, a quarter of a million would arrive. They didn't realize that a group of peoplewere going to look for gold on the ground. Getting gold was the hardest part. People had to dig rocks and sand to find gold. It was difficult to recover the gold from the gravel. Gold was a very precious word that people kept searching for. People wouldn't expect California to hold the wealth. Five years before James Marshall's discovery, gold was successfully mined in Southern California. On September 9, 1850, California became the 31st American state. This had never been done before, and it was all due to the gold rush, but it wasn't just about the gold, there was a unique culture in California. Californians left behind an important part of their culture and society. A man named Mariano Vallejo was the most famous Californian. He owned 66,000 acres of land. He was very powerful, optimistic and wanted a stable government with unjust laws. He wanted California to become strong. Vellego wanted the people to be prosperous, happy and free. Californians were shocked because all kinds of people were building on their land. There were many mining camps in California. They had names like blue tent, and one of them was called ladies crevasse. Sarah Royce describes the frontiersmen as ignorant, strange and reckless bravado. California Gold attracted people from all over the world, from 30 states and as far away as China. Merchants were really rich, as were people who started businesses. They sold accessories and built restaurants. Eventually, Sara's husband Royce gave up prospecting for gold and opened a business in Weaverville, and Sarah helped him run it. The gold rush created a booming real estate market and towns sprung up overnight. There was real estate in every city. In 1849, everyone described San Francisco as the tent city. At the end of 1853, more than 600 brick and stone buildings. 12 daily newspapers, 9 insurance companies, 27 foreign government councils. In 4 years, it was the city of the world. The ships were docked in San Francisco to unload what they needed. It was also a port city. People wanted to be there, but it was violent and lawless. James Casey of the Vigilance Committee killed a journalist who denounced him. The girls had a role to play as they played the piano and entertained, the gentlemen paid a lot for the champagne. San Francisco had sheriffs. The large number of men descending on California had soon emptied its rivers of their gold deposits. The search now turns to the gold hidden in the landscape. The gold was buried in 10 or 15 layers of gravel and sand. Hydraulic mining used pressure by damming the river higher, bringing the water under pressure up to iron pipes and releasing it with large nozzles against the gold-barred banks, and it washed it all away. It took a lot of risks. Millions of gravels and sands have been washed by hydraulic mining into river and stream beds where they accumulate. The 49ers' devastation of the land was accompanied by the destruction of California's Native American tribes in the Gold Rush. Many were eager to steal their gold-rich lands. Chief Tenaya decided to resist, to which they fought what became known as the Mariposa War. In the end, they were outmatched. The Yosemites were the last to surrender. The treaties were never ratified because the land was too valuable to the Indians, which left the people overwhelmed by miners. Without land, food sources were lacking, rivers were destroyed, and people were starving. They became.