Chapter 17.4 The California Gold Rush
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Transcript of Chapter 17.4 The California Gold Rush
Chapter
17.
4
The
Californi
a
Gol
d
Rush
• In the early 1840’s – Something bright and
shiny would catch America’s attention
– Gold…
John Sutter finds something shiny…
• 1848, California
– Sutter’s Mill• Owned by John Sutter
– Employee finds a nugget of gold about the size of a pea
– Worth thousands of dollars!!!
The California Gold Rush• 1849
– People go to California as fast as they can! • How fast?
– Population:» 1848 = 812» 1849 = 81,000
– Become known as the forty-niners
• What are they looking for? – The American dream…
» GET RICH QUICK!
People abandon their lives back East…
• Once people heard there was gold out west:– Farmers left their plows
– Blacksmiths left their forges
– Tailors left their needles
– Sailors left their ships
– Doctors left their patients
– American economy stalls!!
Prospectors look to get rich
• Prospectors– People who search for
gold along the banks of streams or in shallow surface mines.
– How do you find gold? • By playing in the mud!
– Called a sluice box.» Separates mud
from gold
Heading to California
• Failure to Prepare• Men put on their best
clothes and bought a few fancy tools
• Without preparation many men died
• Disease• Fatigue• Indian Attack• Rattlesnake Bites• Starvation• Freezing to death
The Gold Myth
• Once you were in California, your cares were over….right?– You could bend down
and pick up gold in the streams!
– You’ll be rich in no time at all.
– Not exactly.• By 1850
– The gold had run dry…
The Growth in Population
• 1848– 812 people living in San
Francisco
• 1849– 80,000 people came to
California in search of gold
• 1850– 25,000 people living in San
Francisco• Leave to go find gold elsewhere
– Oregon– Utah– Nevada
So Who Got Rich?
• The Storekeepers– The people who sold things
to all those miners who poured into California
– Prospectors had to eat
– They needed items:• Tents• shovels• shirts• Pants
– Richest man = Levi Strauss
Lasting Effects of the California Gold Rush…
• How did the gold rush help California?– Brought people from
around the world to California• Cities become mixed
between cultures– Splits towns into
neighborhoods» China Town» German Town» Little Italy
– Gave California enough people to become a state!• Happens in 1850