13.5 A Rush to the West

I. A Refuge for the Mormons

A.  Were the largest group of settlers to move into the Mexican Cession area.

B.  Were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The church was founded by Joseph Smith.

C.  The Mormons were a highly disregarded group because of their beliefs in communal ownership and polygamy.

I. A Refuge for the Mormons (con’t)

D.  In 1844, Joseph Smith was killed by an angry mob and Brigham Young was chosen as their new leader.

Brigham Young

I. A Refuge for the Mormons (con’t) E. Young believed that the Mormons needed to move

to a safe location to practice their religious beliefs freely. Young, and the Mormons chose the Great Salt Lake in Utah.

F. In 1847, thousands of Mormons began the long

emigration to the Salt Lake Area. The path followed was known as the Mormon Trail.

The Mormon Trail

I. A Refuge for the Mormons (con’t)

G. Emigrants came by wagon and when oxen ran short many used handcarts to make the journey.

Handcarts used by settlers along the Mormon Trail.

I. A Refuge for the Mormons (con’t)

H.  The Mormons prospered in the Utah desert by developing an irrigation system and developing a major city called Salt Lake City.

I.  Utah was admitted as a state in 1896.

II. California Gold Rush A. On January 24,

1848 gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill near Sacramento, California by James Marshall.

Sutter’s Mill

Sutter’s Sawmill and James Marshall.

II. California Gold Rush (con’t)

B.  The discovery of gold created a “rush” by prospectors from all over the country. In 1849 more than 80,000 people moved to California. These people became known as the “forty-niners”.

C.  People came from as far as Europe, China, Australia, and South America hoping to strike it rich.

II. California Gold Rush (con’t)

D. Very few miners actually struck it rich, but the gold rush helped California settle rapidly and gain admission as a new state in 1850.

California Gold Miners

III. California’s Unique Culture

A.  The majority of miners during the gold rush were white Americans.

B.  The population was diverse because of the variety of places people came from.

C. Mexican Americans lost large tracks of land but managed to preserve their culture. Example: California’s constitution was written in English and Spanish.

III. California’s Unique Culture (con’t)

D. Native Americans fared worst of all groups with their populations dropping from 100,000 in 1850 to less than 17,000 in the 1870’s.

E. Chinese and other Asian settlers settled in California but faced heavy discrimination. Asians helped mine and eventually farmed and irrigated vast stretches of land.

III. California’s Unique Culture (con’t)

F. Many free blacks and escaped slaves settled in California. These people were denied equal rights to whites but arrived in large numbers and contributed to California’s unique culture.