LESSON FIVE Legacies of El Dorado I....

56 The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens

Lesson Five

LESSON FIVE

Legacies of El Dorado“Here you can step out of your house and see the

whole world spread out before you”

I. OBJECTIVES

♦ To identify California’s increasing linkages to a wider world of trade,commerce, and transportation as encouraged by the Gold Rush.

♦ To trace the explosive development of an urban California, driven bythe Gold-Rush boom.

♦ To comprehend the effects of the Gold Rush on future developmentof California.

II. TEACHER BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Hundreds of thousands of sojourners from around the world flocked toCalifornia in search of wealth in this new El Dorado. Finding gold was

always uncertain. Many who came as prospectors found more reliable op-portunities for achieving wealth in service industries to support those de-termined to search for gold. Scarcity of goods, coupled with ever-increas-ing demand stimulated by new arrivals, produced premium prices andhelped enrich merchants and craftsmen. Entrepreneurs gravitated to min-ing camps and towns, and towns became magnets for miners working claimsin the surrounding countryside. Restaurants, dry goods stores, and hard-ware shops shared the main streets of new communities with saloons andgambling parlors. Frank Marryat, an English traveler, observed that gam-bling dens proliferated in all mining towns. “Chandeliers threw a brilliantlight on the heaps of gold that lay piled on each monté table, while thedrinking bard held forth inducements that nothing mortal is supposed tobe able to resist.”

Merchants like Collis Huntington found that their greatest difficulty wasnot in selling goods but the reverse, being able to obtain merchandise forsale. Marryat comments that merchants were well served by coming toCalifornia since “the diggins will be replenished by newcomers, and high

57The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens

Lesson Five

prices, whether for potatoes or trousers, will still . . . be maintained in a fairproportion to the yield of gold; . . . for it is an extraordinary fact that, letthe diggins fall off as they will, the miners will still require bread andbreeches, and will find money to pay for them.”

The growth of Gold Rush cities depended on the richness of mineral depositsin the environs. As quickly as some of these new communities grew, they allbut disappeared as miners, hearing of richer claims, moved overnight tostake out a new claim. The countryside soon became dotted with ghost towns.Some communities survived and became thriving urban centers as California’spopulation grew. In the summer of 1848, a few months after gold was dis-covered, California had an estimated population of 15,000. By the end of1849 the population had increased to 100,000, and by 1852 it had grown to225,000. Sutter’s New Helvetia became the bustling city of Sacramento, asupply center for miners in the foothills of the Sierras. San Francisco grewfrom a dreary tent city to a terminus of trade, a port of entry for goodsdestined to be transported to the mining communities of the interior, and aplace of embarkation for trade between the United States and the Pacificcoast ports of Latin America, the Hawaiian Islands, and Asia.

Many of the sojourners recognized that California’s climate provided op-portunities for new wealth in agriculture. As mining became more special-ized and large companies were formed to extract deposits through quartzmining, many argonauts pulled up stakes and rushed to Canada and Ne-vada on hearing rumors of discovery of gold and silver deposits. The migra-tion to California was far from over. Newly arrived residents wrote home,urging their families to sell the farm and move to California where the soiland growing season would produce good returns for honest labor. Entre-preneurs cultivated new business ventures, farmers tilled the soil, andCalifornia continued to grow. In 1874 John S. Hittell wrote the followingpreface to his book, The Resources of California: “I am so much attached toCalifornia, that I could not live contentedly elsewhere; and I imagine thatneither the earth, the sky, nor the people of any other country, equal thatof this State.”


Lesson Five

III. MATERIALS

Document 1Memorial of the Senators and Representatives Elect fromCalifornia (31st cong. 1st session), Washington, 1850

In this petition for admission to the union, representativesprovided statistics to illustrate the rapid emigration to SanFrancisco by sea between April and December, 1850. Note themale/female ratios.

Document 2“Street in San Francisco” Joseph Warren Revere, water-color drawing in manuscript autobiography, 1848

This image is important because of its visual depiction of SanFrancisco as a tent city in the early part of the Gold Rush.Also, since this image shows the burgeoning diversity of thecity it is a reflection of the diversity in gold country.

Document 3Lettersheet published by Marvin & Hitchcock, “San Fran-cisco”

San Francisco, as seen in this lettersheet view of the waterfront,rapidly developed into one of the busiest ports in the world, thecenter of what the author Bayard Taylor described as the “dizzyvortex of bold, spirited, unwearied action.”

Document 4Lettersheet published by Britton & Rey, “San Francisco,1858”

Gold seekers who had watched San Francisco’s phenomenalgrowth created a market for lettersheets portraying the sametopic. By combining a panoramic view of the city in the late1850s with an insert depicting it at the beginning of the GoldRush, this 1858 lettersheet produced an especially strikingdepiction of the changes over time.


Lesson Five

Document 5Letter from Mary Jane Megquier to “My Dear Children,”April 8, 1853

Mary Jane Megquier emigrated with her husband from Maine,arriving in San Francisco in June 1849. She watched SanFrancisco explode into a cosmopolitan city where demand forgoods was high and where luxury items such as ice cream andfancy silk dresses were commonplace.

Document 6San Francisco Custom Ledger volume for 1854–1855, U.S.Treasury Department

An alphabetical registry of ships arriving in the port of SanFrancisco during these two years that are carrying goods forimport, with each entry containing the name of the ship, itsnautical classification, its date of arrival, its nationality, andthe cargo declared for import—useful because the variousentries highlight the world-wide commercial connections ofCalifornia and the incredible variety of goods brought in tomeet the needs of not merely the miners but the urbanpopulation and the new industries of the Golden State.

Document 7“California, The Cornucopia of the World,” California Im-migration Commission, Chicago, 1833 (Broadside)

Despite gold mining’s continued importance to California’seconomy through the 1860s and 1870s, California’sagricultural possibilities took on greater significance. Duringthe 1870s and 1880s, broadsides and brochures describingthe marvelous opportunities available for farmers proclaimedthat a new golden age was at hand for the Golden State.


Document 8Alonzo Delano, The Central Pacific Railroad, or ‘49 and‘69, San Francisco, 1868

A pamphlet published as the first transcontinental railroadapproached completion. This pamphlet is important because ofDelano’s importance as a chronicler of the Gold Rushexperience, and because of his reflections about the greatchanges in California and the significance of the soon-to-becompleted railroad.

IV. LESSON ACTIVITIES

1. Give students copies of Document 1, statistics on emigration to SanFrancisco compiled by the Senators and Representatives elect. Basedon this chart, have students create a graph showing the arrival ofemigrants to San Francisco each month. Ask students to add up thetotal number of female and male Forty-Niners who arrived during thisperiod, and to determine the ratio between males and females.

2. Ask students to compare and contrast the images of San Franciscoprovided in this lesson. (Documents 2, 3, and 4) Have students workin groups to design an illustrated lettersheet depicting the growth ofSan Francisco in words and images.

3. Show students Documents 5 and 6, Mary Jane Megquier’s letter,and the U.S. Treasury Department, San Francisco Custom LedgerVolume for 1854–1855. On the board, work with students tocategorize the types of goods coming in to San Francisco by 1854.(Luxuries, necessities, etc.). Ask students to comment on the natureof those goods and what this tells us about life in San Francisco by themid-1850s. Does Megquier’s letter provide further evidence about lifein San Francisco? How? Use the “Questions to Consider” as a guideto this discussion.

4. The California seal was designed in 1849. Ask students to draw agraphic organizer indicating which symbols depict the period prior tothe Gold Rush, which symbols predict the period of the Gold Rush,and which symbols depict California throughout the ages. In groupsask students to create a modern seal depicting California today.

Lesson Five


5. Using Document 7, have students create an illustrated brochure forCalifornia or their community. Do students still consider California tobe the “Cornucopia of the World”? Do students want to encouragepeople to come to California, or keep them away? Why?

6. In pairs, ask students to take the role of a reporter interviewing ashopkeeper or boarding house proprietress in San Francisco to seehow the Gold Rush is affecting their business.

7 Distribute Document 8, the brochure on the Central PacificRailroad. Have students draw a Venn diagram comparing andcontrasting how the overland journey to San Francisco had changedin just a few short years. Have students predict what effects theproposed railway would have on California.

Lesson Five


Memorial of the Senators and Representatives Electfrom California

(31st cong. 1st session), Washington, 1850

. . . The following statistical table, compiled from therecords of the harbor master’s office at San Francisco,presents a more reliable and satisfactory account of theemigration which arived there by sea from the 12th ofApril to the 31st of December, 1849, viz:. . . .

[Chart is adapted from the original].

Questions to Consider

1. What is the total number of emigrants arriving by sea in SanFrancisco between April and December, 1849?

2. What is the ratio of males to females?

Document 1Lesson Five

Month(s) Males Females

April–June 5,677 209July 3,565 49August 3,806 87September 5,680 122October 3,950 119November 2,155 81December 3,436 133

[*NOTE: The data is replicated from the original document but has beenreformatted for this lesson.]



“Street in San Francisco”Joseph Warren Revere, Watercolor Drawing,

in manuscript autobiography, 1848


1. What does this drawing show? Describe the scene in detail.

2. What is a “tent city?”

3. What evidence is there of “western,” or American influence?

4. What evidence is there of Chinese influence?

5. What does the illustration show about the settling of San Francisco?



“San Francisco”Lettersheet published by Marvin & Hitchcock


1. Describe the scene depicted in this lettersheet.

2. What activities are depicted?

3. Why are there so many ships in the port?



“San Francisco 1858”California lettersheet

published by Britton & Rey


1. Describe the scenes depicted in the 1858 lettersheet.

2. How are the people dressed in the top image?

3. How has San Francisco changed since 1848, as depicted in theRevere drawing? (Document 2)

San Francisco1858

San Francisco1849 & 1850

FrFrFrFrFrom Tom Tom Tom Tom Telegraph Hillelegraph Hillelegraph Hillelegraph Hillelegraph Hill



Letter from Mary Jane Megquier to“My Dear Children”

April 8, 1853

. . . Here you can step out of your house and see the whole worldspread out before you in every shape and form. Your ears are filledwith the most delightful music your eyes are dazzled with everythingthat is beautiful the streets are crowded the whole city are in thestreet We have near us a splendid ice cream saloon which surpassesanything I have seen in the states, very large windows withmagnificent buff silk damask curtains with lace like those thatNewhall Sturtevant boasts so much of two large rooms are connectedby an arch hung with the same material, marble tables, floors andcounters and as light as day at all hours of the night, the homeliestman in the city treated me to an ice cream there a few nights since atone dollar a glass.

I wish you could be here a short time it is so pleasant to have a plentyof money we cannot seem to get a thousand together but if I want tenor twenty it is always ready that I want five dollars to go to P[ortland],it will be hard work to raise it. I have been making me a brown silk,and next week I am going to make me a black one, to day I have beenmaking a pink thibet sack trimmed with velvet ribbon but I am sureI do not know when I will wear it. I shall send you some pieces of themby Mr. Adams who has promised to take a package for me, he goes inMay I had a line from Artie one page just the same number of lines andsentences in every one, Give abundance of love to him and Charlie,Bettie, Johny and all the Aunts, cousins and the Turner folds,

Mother



Questions to consider

1. In the few short years between 1849, when San Francisco was a “tentcity,” and 1853, when Mary Jane Megquier wrote this letter, how hadSan Francisco changed?

2. According to Mary Jane Megquier, how did the delights of SanFrancisco compare to those of Maine?

3. How do you imagine Mary Jane’s children felt about Mary’s life inCalifornia?

68T

he H

un

tington

Library, A

rt Collections, and

Botanical G

ardens

Docum

ent 6Lesson Five

Questions to consider

1. Describe the goods aboard these ships.

2. What items would you consider to beluxury items?

3. What do these shipments suggestabout how life had changed in SanFrancisco since 1849?

San Francisco Custom Ledger, Volume for 1854–1855U.S. Treasury Department



“California, The Cornucopia of the World”California Immigration Commission, Chicago, 1833 (Broadside)


1. Describe this broadside in detail. What does it say about California?

2. What does “cornucopia” mean?

3. What part of the Californian economy does this poster describe?

4. Why do you think the immigration commission decided to makethis broadside?


The Central Pacific Railroad, or ‘49 and ‘69Alonzo Delano, San Francisco, 1868

A pamphlet published as the first trans-continental rail-road approached completion.

. . . from the length of time consumed in making our way acrossarid deserts, in building rafts and bridges to cross streams, or makingroads over mountains, where floods drove us from river valleys to thehills. At that period our march resembled in some measure that of anarmy. Owing to the hostility of the Indians we were under thenecessity of traveling in large companies, and of establishing guardsat night to protect our animals and property from midnight forays ofthese mountain robbers, who, in spite of all our care, wouldsometimes swoop down and stampede our stock. Cases occurredwhere families were shipwrecked from this cause alone, and weredependent for further locomotion upon other and more fortunateemigrants.

Six months upon the Plains, nineteen years ago, and California awilderness. What is it now? The Californian has only to cast his eyeover our land, and see its growing cities, its beautiful towns, itsimmense commerce with the whole world, its magnificent farms, itsthousands of neat and comfortable homes, its manufactories, itsrailroads and its overflowing abundance of comforts and luxuries oflife, the produce of its rich soil through the energies of our people. Toan old pioneer, whose memory of his early trials is still fresh, thesechanges seem like the enchantment of the magician’s wand.

But a few years had passed before the growing condition of ourState made the necessity apparent of having a more direct and speedycommunication with the Atlantic States. In all business matters, andfor an important part of our emigration, we were forced to pass over aforeign territory, subject to such restrictions as the caprice of a foreigngovernment might impose upon our people; and it required nearlythirty days, through the slow steamers of those days, for letters andbusiness advices to reach their destination, while it took anothermonth to get a reply, however urgent the business might be. We werein comparative isolation with the world. As California increased in




population, and in prosperity, this need was more severely felt, and bydegrees a railroad across the continent began to be earnestly talked of,and its feasibility considered. The General Government, foreseeingthat in case of war, our Pacific possessions would be in a great measureat the mercy of a foreign fleet, which might blockade our harbors, anddo immense damage, even if they could not overrun our territory,earnestly set about investigating the possibility of opening a directcommunication with the Pacific coast, and in the years 1853 and 1854instituted a commission to survey the uninhabited country betweenthe Missouri river and the Pacific Ocean, to ascertain the feasibility ofconstructing a railroad over its own territory. It was found by surveyscontinued to 1856, that no serious obstacle to a great national work (forthis was worthy of being the work of the whole nation) existed, untilthey came to the bold front and stupendous wall of the Sierra NevadaMountains; the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains afforded an easygateway through that rocky barrier, while the track across the desertof the Great Basin opposed no obstacle as great as many of the roadsalready built on the Atlantic board; but the snowy mountains with theirsummits covered with eternal snows, and reaching to the clouds—could they be passed?


1. How had the journey to San Francisco changed with the coming of therailroad?

2. What were the obstacles to laying the railroad across the nation?

3. Predict how commerce and communication across the nation wouldchange with the transcontinental railroad.

LESSON FIVE Legacies of El Dorado I....

Documents

Transcript of LESSON FIVE Legacies of El Dorado I....