History Of The California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush, which lasted from 1848 to 1855, started when gold was discovered by James W. Marshall in Sutter’s mill. As the news of discovery spread, thousands of prospective gold miners gave up their professions and flocked to California by land and by sea, hoping to make a fortune from digging gold. Reverend Mr. Walter Colton, then the alcalde (chief magistrate) in Monterey, witnessed the rush to California by gold miners and wrote, “The blacksmith dropped his hammer, the carpenter his plane, the mason his trowel, the farmer his sickle, the baker his loaf, and the taster his bottle. All were set off for the mines, some on horses, some on carts, and some on crutches, and one went in a litter.” Although these miners were in the
quest to obtain gold, they brought with them a view of California as a vast, unoccupied land, a misconstrued belief which eventually impacted all California Indians. This brings up the question—did the advent of the California Gold Rush in 1848 negatively impact the lives of Native Americans in California? The California Indians’ suffering from forced labor, their lost of land to the white settlers, and the appalling number of California Indian deaths all serve to support the idea that the advent of the California Gold Rush did negatively impact the lives of Native Americans in California.
quest to obtain gold, they brought with them a view of California as a vast, unoccupied land, a misconstrued belief which eventually impacted all California Indians. This brings up the question—did the advent of the California Gold Rush in 1848 negatively impact the lives of Native Americans in California? The California Indians’ suffering from forced labor, their lost of land to the white settlers, and the appalling number of California Indian deaths all serve to support the idea that the advent of the California Gold Rush did negatively impact the lives of Native Americans in California.