How Did The California Gold Rush Of 1849

California Gold Rush of 1849 “Gold, Gold in the American River” these remarkable words were once spoken by Sam Brannan (Allenj52). Brannan was a famous store owner from San Francisco that greatly influenced the California Gold Rush of 1849 that lead to westward expansion and the belief of Manifest Destiny. All of the thousands of immigrants rushing into California from the years of 1848 to 1853 all trying to “strike it rich,” greatly influenced the population of California that lead it to be such a thriving economy and statehood in the mid-1850s. The California Gold Rush all began at a place called Sutter's Mill at the American River near Coloma, California (Tikkanen, Amy). Close to present day Sacramento. James Marshall, a foreman at
But soon many people were beginning to find out about their recent discovery. Eventually all of John Sutters employees were not at work and they were constantly in the mines. The California Gold Rush did not have the initial spark that everyone thought it would. Its beginning was actually rather slow. It took several days for news to travel and even then some people throughout California had no source to go off of. People throughout California had heard of the initial gold discovery at Sutter’s Mill and thought it was a hoax and found it very unlikely. Until a man by the name of Sam brannan decided to change his fate and that of America forever. Sam Brannan was a mormon from New York (Allenj52). He owned a store near Coloma, California close to Sutter’s Mill. No one was mining for the gold, because no one thought it was there, but Sam Brannan had an idea. He bought all of the mining supplies he could get his hands on. Raised the prices tremendously, and then went to San Francisco with a jar of gold dust and wandered the street shouting “ Gold, Gold in the American River.”(Allenj52) Not that the locals had proof and seen that there was actually gold in the River. They made the roughly 130 mile trip to Sutter's Mill and started mining for gold. Within a week most of the male population within San Francisco had disappeared, everybody went to the mines
Thousands of people fled to California trying to find gold. They came from Britain, Europe, China, Australia, North and South America(Tikkanen, Amy). If people were coming by sea they made the long trip around Cape Horn or through the Panama Canal and would have to defend against the deadly west nile virus and all the diseases that the mosquitoes brought. Or if the immigrants were coming from anywhere on the east side of Asia or Australia they would travel through the (Sandwich Islands) present day Hawaii. The biggest problem that was encountered with all of the immigrants coming by sea, was all of the ships. By the summer of 1849 all of the San Francisco harbor was stacked full of ships with the people who traveled aboard having no near sign of return(Beilharz, Alan). Hundreds of abandoned ships left lay in the harbor and eventually most were taken down and sold for lumber or used for shops, stores and other buildings. The news of gold in California did not make it to the big cities in the east coast for nearly 6 months. But when the news finally did reach the trail was on. Thousands of people made the 2,500 mile journey across the United States and thus the California Trail was built. The biggest problems that the people traveling across the United States had to face was cholera, and the dangers of the Native Americans that they often caused with stealing and murder (History.com