California Gold Rush

“California presented to people a new model for the American dream—one where the emphasis was on the ability to take risks, the willingness to gamble on the future” (Historian H.W. Brands). Throughout the first half of the 19th Century, the state of California, and the cities in between were exceptionally low populated. As a matter of fact, all of this changed within a few years. The California Gold Rush was a “rapid influx of fortune seekers in California that began after gold was found at Sutter’s Mill in early 1848 and reached its peak in 1852. According to estimates, more than 300,000 people came to the territory during the Gold Rush” (Encyclopedia Britannica). Within the mid 1800s, the cities of Sacramento and Los Angeles had little to

In the beginning, before the gold rush, many Native Americans ruled California. For example, the Cherokee were located in California, and the land had been inhabited by others. This is when California grew immensely. The Gold Rush sparked when the first ever gold nugget was found, and this was just the beginning of what most people believe is one of the most important events in American History. Pre-Gold Rush, California was very hilly and had very nice scenery. Ever since people started to mine the grounds, it got all destroyed. Later on, machines were built for much more facilitated extirpation. The California Gold Rush was the main reason that California acquired population in the 1800s which later on led to the development of California as a

This directly lead to the expansion of California. The expansion of California was the most important aspect of this remarkable moment in history. In just two years, the population increased by tens of thousands. This generous amount of people increased the poplulation of San Francisco and neighboring cities by an extraordinary amount. What most people do not know is that this amount of people is over 40,000. In 1852, during the gold rush, California had a population of just about 92,000. 40,000 of those people had just arrived due to the California Gold Rush. California’s population increased by just about 43.5%. In today’s perspective, California has 39.25 million people, so they would then have an additional 16.95 million added onto it. California would then have 56.2 million people. The population in California keeps on growing and growing until there is no more gold. “By August 1848, 4,000 gold miners were in the area, and within a year about 80,000 “forty-niners” (as the fortune seekers of 1849 were called) had arrived at the California Goldfields. By 1853 their numbers had grown to 250,000. Although it was estimated that some $2 billion in gold was extracted, few of the prospectors struck it rich. The work was hard, prices were high, and living conditions were primitive” (Encyclopædia Britannica). In a few years, the population went up by thousands and thousands until there was