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.”