Lesson One - The Huntington Library

1The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens

Lesson One

LESSON ONE

The Adventure Begins:“Boys I believe I have found a gold mine!”

I. OBJECTIVES

♦ To describe the society in California (Native Americans andCalifornios) that long pre-dated the discovery of gold, and to char-acterize the nature of its economy (based upon cattle raising andforeign commerce) in the 1840s.

♦ To analyze the growing tensions between the Californios and theU.S. settlers on the eve of the Gold Rush.

♦ To understand what the discovery of gold at Sutter’s sawmill waslike through the words and images of participants and contempo-rary observers.

♦ To trace how gold fever spread during the first year after golddiscovery.

II. TEACHER BACKGROUND INFORMATION

John Augustus Sutter, a German-born and Swiss-educated immigrant, cameto America in 1834. Sutter had been unsuccessful in business ventures in

Switzerland and believed that he would have better economic opportunitiesin the United States. After arriving in the United States, he purchased landin Missouri. In 1838, he gave up his Missouri homestead and ventured over-land on the Oregon Trail. After a brief stay he continued to move westward tothe Sandwich Islands (Hawaii). In 1839 he set sail for Alta California andpersuaded Mexican authorities to give him a substantial land grant. Sutterconvinced Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado that his colony in the interior ofCalifornia would be a reliable bulwark against foreign intruders and ‘hostile’Indians. Mexican authorities were concerned about the “mountain men” andsettlers who were coming into Alta California from the United States. Theyfeared that with continued migration California might separate from Mexicoas Texas had done just a few years earlier.

2 The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens

Lesson One

Sutter received over 40,000 acres of land and was given the title of “Com-missioner of Justice and Representative of the Government on the Frontierof the Rio del Sacramento.” The new Mexican commissioner brought inHawaiian laborers and constructed a fort near the junction of the Ameri-can and Sacramento rivers. Sutter was finally on the way to achievingsuccess as a businessman. From “Sutter’s Fort” he began to engage inother activities and before long his settlement, named “New Helvetia” afterhis native Switzerland (Helvetia), became a haven for American emigrantsand a concern to Mexican authorities. When the Bear Flag Revolt broke outin 1846, Sutter first maintained his allegiance to Mexico but when John C.Frémont arrived at New Helvetia, Sutter cooperated, providing Frémontwith a base during the Mexican-American War.

The community grew even more rapidly and Sutter decided to construct anew sawmill to meet the growing demand for lumber. He hired James Wil-son Marshall, a carpenter and mechanic from New Jersey, in 1847 to over-see the building of the mill on the south fork of the American River east ofSutter’s Fort. On the morning of January 24, 1848, while inspecting progresson the mill, Marshall observed tiny particles glistening in the water. Aneyewitness, Henry Bigler, described the scene in his autobiography. Hewrote that Marshall gathered the particles of gold in his old white hat andannounced, “boys I believe I have found a gold mine.” The adventure be-gins!

III. MATERIALS

Document 1View of laborers engaged in “trying the tallow” (rendering fat),Pencil and Watercolor, William Rich Hutton, 1848

In this 1848 watercolor, William Hutton captured an essentialpart of California’s cattle trade. The Indian laborers “try,” ormelt down, the fat of the cattle in cauldrons over open fires toproduce the substance known as “tallow” that would be used inproducts such as candles and soap. The watercolor providesfirsthand information about the process. (Captions areprovided, courtesy of the Huntington, Peter J. Blodgett, Land ofGolden Dreams: California in the Gold Rush Decade, 1848–1858[San Marino: Huntington Library Press, 1999]).


Lesson One

Document 2“California mode of catching cattle: with a distant view of themission of St. Joseph,” Forbes

This view of vaqueros lassoing a cow provides important visualevidence about the California cattle trade and the roots of thewestern cowboy in Mexican California.

Document 3Letter from John A. Sutter to San Francisco merchant WilliamLeidesdorff, May 11, 1846

In this letter, written by John Sutter to a San Franciscomerchant, notice the dependence on Indian labor, includingusing Indians as a commodity of exchange.

Document 4Autobiography of Henry W. Bigler

A description of the discovery from one of the handful ofwitnesses to Marshall’s find and whose diary has been criticalin helping us assign a date to the discovery.

Document 5AGold Rush lettersheet reproducing Sutter’s account of Marshall’snews, a portrait of James W. Marshall, and a small view of thesawmill

During the 1850s the San Francisco publishers Britton & Reyprinted and sold this lettersheet to capitalize upon Sutter andMarshall’s growing celebrity. It bears Sutter’s version of thediscovery, a portrait of Marshall, and a view of the mill itself.Lettersheets were used as illustrated stationery.

Document 5BTranscription of Captain Sutter’s account of gold discovery


Lesson One

Document 6Three Years in California, Walter Colton, New York, 1851(Open to a passage concerning gold fever in Monterey in June, 1848.)

This account by the American alcalde of Monterey depicts thefirst impact of gold fever, falling upon native Californian andimmigrant alike.

Document 7Letter from William Reynolds to his brother John, December 27,1848

In this letter a San Francisco resident describes the Gold Rushscene in California, including the great migration alreadyreaching California from Hawaii, Latin America, Guatemala,and Mexico. He also discusses how the Gold Rush has causedprice inflation.

IV. LESSON ACTIVITIES

1. Using an overhead projector, show students Documents 1, 2, and 3.Hold a class discussion about life in California on the eve of the GoldRush. Ask students to respond to the “Questions to Consider”provided on each document.

2. Distribute copies of the “Document Analysis Worksheet” (provided onpage ii) and use the overhead projector to guide students through theprocess of analyzing primary source documents. (After this guidedpractice, students should be able to analyze future documents ontheir own or in groups.) Using Documents 1, 2, and 3, make surestudents understand how to analyze both image and text documents.Have students point out some of the spelling, capitalization, andgrammatical errors found in Document 3. Explain to students thatletters written during the 19th century were full of grammaticalerrors because most people only had a grade-school education.However, in spite of the technical errors, the writing was often quiteeloquent.

3. Show students Documents 4, 5A, and 5B. Use the questionsprovided on the documents to guide a discussion of gold discovery,including the setting of the find, and the reactions of those involved.


(Explain to students that Document 5A is an example of a“lettersheet.” The lettersheet was a form of illustrated stationerycommonly used during the Gold Rush for writing letters home.Lettersheets usually consisted of illustrations depicting scenes fromGold Rush California, and text describing the scenes. Often thelettersheets were quite humorous. There was a growing market forlettersheets during the Gold Rush, and many printers made ahandsome profit by printing them. Lettersheets also served topromote the region.)

4. Show students Documents 6 and 7. Discuss with students how goldfever led to the depopulation of Monterey in 1848, yet at the same timeSan Francisco grew by leaps and bounds as emigrants from acrossthe nation and around the world rushed in.

Choose from among the following activities

a. Have students create an illustrated lettersheet portraying pre-Gold Rush California, the discovery of gold at Sutter’s fort, or theeffects of gold fever.

b. Have students create comic strips based on the Sutter lettersheet.

c. In pairs, ask students to take the role of a newspaper reporterinterviewing Sutter or Marshall. Devise a list of interviewquestions such as: What brought you to California before youdiscovered gold? Are you excited about the discovery of gold? Whatwill you do about the influx of people onto your land? How will thisdiscovery benefit you? What do you predict your future will be?

d. On a world map, ask students to trace Sutter’s travels fromSwitzerland, to the East Coast (probably New York or Boston), toMissouri, to the Sandwich Islands, and finally to California.

e. Have students write letters “home” describing the discovery of goldat Sutter’s fort or some other gold-mining claim.

f. Ask students to write a newspaper article describing the discoveryof gold in California, or the rush to find it.

Lesson One


Lesson One

g. Based on their textbook account of this period in Californiahistory, ask students to create a “3-Flags” bulletin board.

Flag One: 1826—Mexican CaliforniaFlag Two: 1846—the Bear FlagFlag Three: 1848—California under the U.S.

Display the flags on the bulletin board and have students list themajor events that occurred during each time period.

h. Based on their textbook account of this period, have studentswork collaboratively to design a “Three Flags Magic Mountain”theme park. What rides would they include representing the eventsthat occurred under each flag? How would they choose to repre-sent each event?

i. Some have referred to the Gold Rush as “nature’s lottery.” Askstudents to imagine a modern-day equivalent to discovering gold.What would their feelings be, for instance, if they were to win thelottery?

V. EXTENDED LESSON ACTIVITY

1. Have students go to the library and check out legends, fairy tales, folktales, or myths about gold, such as King Midas and the Golden Touch,Rumpelstiltskin, Jason and the Argonauts, Blackbeard’s Treasure,and Treasure Island. For their book reports, ask students to design alettersheet illustrating and describing their fictional “Gold Rush.” Asan alternative, have them make a comic strip.


Lesson One

VI. VOCABULARY

Have students create a “Gold Rush Pictionary,” using the gold mining termsprovided in this unit. Students can start the pictionary now and add to it asthey progress through the unit. Have students look up their own Gold Rushterms and add them to the pictionary as well.

1. alcaldeSpanish for mayor or chief judicial official

2. auriferouscontaining or yielding gold

3. Californiopersons of Spanish or Mexican heritage whose place of birth or residencewas California

4. claima tract of public land staked out by a miner

5. commencebegin, start

6. crevicegap, crack

7. EurekaGreek for “I have found it”

8. headgategate that controls the flow of water into a canal or passageway

9. lettersheetThe lettersheet was a form of illustrated stationery that was very popularduring the Gold Rush. Lettersheets usually consisted of drawings depictingscenes from Gold Rush California, and text describing the scenes.

10. lithographan image produced by pressing a piece of paper on an inked metal plate

11. quiretwenty-four sheets of paper

12. race (trail race)a small stream flowing behind the mill

13. ranchoSpanish word for ranch

14. reama bundle of 480 sheets of paper

15. sawmilla factory where timber is sawed into boards

16. tallowhard fat obtained from cattle, sheep, or horses

17. vaquero (vah-kar�-oh)Spanish word meaning ranch hand or cowboy


View of laborers engaged in “trying the tallow”Pencil and watercolor, William Rich Hutton, 1848

Questions to Consider

1. What is tallow? What animal provides tallow?

2. What products are made from tallow?

3. Who is providing the labor in this watercolor?

Document 1Lesson One



“California mode of catching cattle:with a distant view of the mission of St. Joseph”

Forbes


1. What scene is depicted in this image?

2. What does the word “vaquero” mean?

3. Who were the vaqueros in 1840s California?

4. What was the California economy based on in the pre-Gold Rush era?



Letter from John A. Sutter toSan Francisco merchant William Leidesdorff

May 11, 1846

W.A. Leidesdorff, Esq.

Dear Sir:

I received by the boat your favour of the 1st installment with the

Articles you was so good to send me. I found every thing conformed with

the bill except the writing paper large format was only 15 quires. Perhaps

some body made a Mistake and took it for a whole ream. Please have the

Goodness to send me 5 quires more to make the ream complet. I return

you the piece of grass linnen which will not answer for this place, for which

please give me Credit for the amount of $25 for the same.

I am very sorry that it layed not in my power to send you the 10

Indians this time, as I had only a few new hands from the mountains here,

only in harvest time You can select them, while they are all coming here to

work; but by the next Voyage of the Launch I will send you 10 selected

Indians or even 12 if you like, which will be of some service to you. I send 6

new hands for Vincente Peralta, and fine Saywers and Shingel makers to

Denis Martin.


1. Can you find many spelling and capitalization errors in this letter?Why do you think they occur?

2. How important was Indian labor to the California economy?

3. What effect would Sutter’s sale of Indians have on Indian families?

4. What do you predict might happen to the Indians when gold wasdiscovered in 1848?



Autobiography of Henry W. Bigler

Marshall had been in the habit of going down every afternoon to see how . . .

his Indians were progressing for they had struck the bed rock mostly of rotten

granite yet the work was slow but this time when he went down towards the

lower end of the race his eye caught the glitter of something laying in a crevice

on the bare rock a few inches under water. . . . before we went to bed Marshall

came in and began to talk and said he believed he had found a gold mine near

the lower end of the tail race and if I remember right he said he had been

trying to melt some of the particles and could not and before leaving for his

own quarters he directed Brown and me to “shut down the headgate in the

morning, throw in some sawdust and rotten leaves and make it tight and we

will see what there is.” The next morning we did as he directed and while doing

so we see him pass through the mill yard and on down the race. We went in for

breakfast and had scarcely commenced our day’s work in the mill yard. . . .

when Marshall came carrying in his arms his old white hat with a wide grin

and said, “boys I believe I have found a gold mine,” at the same time setting his

hat on the work bench that stood in the mill yard. In an instant all hands

gathered around and sure enough on the top of his hat crown, the crown

knocked in a little, lay the pure stuff how much I know not perhaps the most

part of an ounce for the size of very small particles up to the size of a grain of

wheat. . . .


1. Who performed the labor at Sutter’s fort?

2. According to this account, what did Marshall collect in his old whitehat?

3. What did Marshall say when he discovered gold?

4. Did Bigler believe Marshall? What evidence do you have?


Document 5ALesson One

Gold Rush lettersheetReproducing Sutter’s account of Marshall’s news,

a portrait of James W. Marshall, and a small view of the sawmill.


Document 5BLesson One

Capt. Sutter’s account of the first discovery of gold.(transcription from lettersheet)

“I was sitting one afternoon,” said the captain. “ Just after mysiesta, . . . writing a letter to a relation of mine at Lucerne, when I wasinterrupted by Mr. Marshall, a gentleman with whom I had frequentbusiness transactions— bursting hurriedly into the room. From theunusual agitation in his manner I imagined that something serioushad occurred, and, as we involuntarily do in this part of the world, Iat once went to see if my rifle was in its proper place. You should knowthat the mere appearance of Mr. Marshall at that moment in the Fort,was enough to surprise me, as he had but two days before left to makesome alterations in a mill for sawing pine planks, which he had justrun up for me, some miles higher up the river. When he had recoveredhimself a little, he told me that, however great my surprise might beat his unexpected reappearance, it would be much greater when Iheard the intelligence he had come to bring me. ‘Intelligence,’ headded, ‘which if properly profited by, would put both of us inpossession of unheard-of-wealth, millions and millions of dollars infact.’ . . . His first impression was, that this gold had been lost orburied there, by some early Indian tribe—perhaps some of thosemysterious inhabitants of the west, of whom we have no account, butwho dwelt on this continent centuries ago, and built those cities andtemples, the ruins of which are scattered about these solitary wilds.On proceeding, however, to examine the neighboring soil, hediscovered that it was more or less auriferous. This at once decidedhim. He mounted his horse, and rode down to me as fast as it wouldcarry him with the news.

At the conclusion of Mr. Marshall’s account, and when I hadconvinced myself, from the specimens he had brought with him, thatit was not exaggerated, I felt as much excited as himself. I eagerlyinquired if he had shown the Gold to the workpeople at the mill andwas glad to hear that he had not spoken to a single person about it.We agreed not to mention the circumstances to any one and arrangedto set off early the next day for the mill. On our arrival, just beforesundown, we poked the sand about in various places, and before longsucceeded in collecting between us more than an ounce of gold, mixedup with a good deal of sand. I stayed at Mr. Marshall’s that night, andthe next day we proceeded some little distance up the South Fork,and found that gold existed along the whole course, not only in the


bed of the main stream, . . . but in every little dried-up creek andravine. Indeed I think it was more plentiful in these latter places, forI myself, with nothing more than a small knife, picked out from thedry gorge, a little way up the mountain, a solid lump of gold witchweighed nearly an ounce and a half.

Notwithstanding our precautions not to be observed, as soon aswe came back to the mill, we noticed by the excitement of the workingpeople, that we had been dogged about, and to complete ourdisappointment, one of the Indians who had worked at the gold minein the neighborhood of La Paz cried out in showing to us somespecimens which he picked up by himself, —Oro!—Oro—Oro!!!—”

Questions to Consider—Document 5A

1. What is a “lettersheet?” What were lettersheets used for?

2. What images are depicted on this lettersheet?

3. How do these images serve as historical evidence for gold discovery?

Questions to Consider—Document 5B

1. How did Marshall break the news about finding gold?

2. Why was Sutter surprised by Marshall’s appearance?

3. What was Marshall’s first impression when he found the gold?

4. Why did Sutter want to keep the discovery a secret?

5. Did the Indians find out about the discovery? How?

6. What evidence can you find to support your last answer?

Document 5BLesson One



Three Years in CaliforniaWalter Colton, New York, 1851

Walter Colton was serving as the American alcalde ofMonterey when gold was first discovered. His letters werepublished in this 1851 volume, Three Years in California.

Tuesday, June 20. My messenger sent to the mines, has returned withspecimens of the gold; he dismounted in a sea of upturned faces. As he drew forththe yellow lumps from his pockets, and passed them among the eager crowd, thedoubts, which had lingered till now, fled. All admitted they were gold, except oneold man, who still persisted they were some Yankee invention, got up to reconcilethe people to the change of flag. The excitement produced was intense; and manywere soon busy in their hasty preparations for a departure to the mines. Thefamily who had kept house for me caught the moving infection. Husband andwife were both packing up; the blacksmith dropped his hammer, the carpenterhis plane, the mason his trowel, the farmer his sickle, the baker his loaf, and thetapster his bottle. All were off for the mines, some on horses, some on carts, andsome on crutches, and one went in a litter. An American woman, who hadrecently established a boarding house here, pulled up stakes and was off before

her lodgers had even time to pay their bills.Debtors ran, of course. I have only acommunity of women left and a gang ofprisoners, with here and there a soldier,who will give his captain the slip at the firstchance. I don’t blame the fellow a whit;seven dollars a month, while others aremaking two or three hundred a day! That istoo much for human nature to stand.


1. How did the people of Monterey find outabout the gold discovery?

2. What did the people of Monterey dowhen they heard?

3. Who was left in Monterey?

4. Predict who would now have to do thework in Monterey.



Letter from William Reynolds to his brother JohnDecember 27, 1848

San Francisco, California

California has at last proved to be the long sought for “El Dorado” of theSpanish adventurers that first settled Mexico. Gold is here in great abun-dance. It was found in May last, on one of the Tributaries of the Sacra-mento River, which is called the American Fork, where Mr. Sutter (the firstsettler on that River some ten years ago) was employing several men to diga Mill Race; they saw the small scales of Gold, and did not know what itwas,— they saw such quantities of it that one took a small piece and ham-mered on it, which satisfied him that it was the “Precious Metal” itself. TheParty then agreed to Keep it Secret and dig for themselves, which theyundertook—but in a short time their Avarice ran away with their prudenceand the Party split, when some of its number let it be known—there wasinstantly a tremendous rush from all parts of “Upper California” to the gold“Diggins.” Goods immediately rose some thousand per. Cent. To give youan Idea—Blankets were sold for 100 to 150 dollars a pair, Pickaxes andShovels from 20 to 30 dollars each. . . . Since the time of The Discovery,there has been, at the least calculation, 7,000,000 dollars taken from themines. Its Extent is all of 1000 square miles, and new veins are beingdiscovered every day each richer than the other. Nearly all the Foreignershave left the Sandwich Islands, and thousands are pouring in from allparts of South America, Guatamals, and Mexico, and when the mail steamerscommence running, which will be Feb. next, there will no doubt be thou-sands from the Atlantic States, if they credit it, for it is certainly almostincredible, were it not for the gold to speak for itself.

Questions to consider

1. When and where, according to this document, was gold firstdiscovered?

2. How did the secret get out, thereby causing the “Gold Rush?”

3. What happened to the price of certain products? Why?

4. According to Mr. Reynolds, what was the value of the gold discoveredby December 1848?

5. Why do you think San Francisco grew while Monterey emptied out?

Lesson One - The Huntington Library

Documents

Transcript of Lesson One - The Huntington Library