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California Gold Rush Pros And Cons

2707 Words11 Pages

Jake Montgomery

The Gold Rush

Mr. Lewis

December 2, 2014

On January 24, 1848, James W. Marshall changed the course of America while overseeing construction at Sutter’s Mill on the American River in Coloma, California when he discovered gold flakes at the bottom of the river. The news of gold quickly spread throughout the world triggering the largest mass migration of people ever seen since the Crusades. Within months, over a hundred thousand Americans along with thousands of emigrants from around the world flocked to California in search of gold. The emigrants exposed the American to new ideas and cultures and helped develop new technologies. These new ideas and technologies helped bring America to its height of power, and developed the American Dream. Despite the positives, the Gold Rush produced several negative side effects which are still visible today. Thus the American gold rush of 1848 was one of the most important events that shaped the United States. …show more content…

In many ways the Californian Gold Rush benefited Americans, but it also displayed the cruelty of man and damaged the land. An example of this would be the extermination of the Indian tribes. Many Native American tribes would be eradicated during the Gold Rush and their land taken in search of gold. Another drawback of the Californian Gold Rush is that it ruined the land for agriculture. During the Gold Rush miners would dig up whole plots of land and search through them using a dredge, river or stream. This harmed the land and many areas are still ruined today, or pose an environmental threat. Mexicans and Asians came to California as laborers and were treated poorly. They were also exploited and had been taken advantage. All of these negative effects of the Gold Rush were caused by the Americans search of mineral

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Farmers and miners would not be able to get their crops to the market because most of the Americans lived east, and the only way for them to get it across the country were the railroads. Gold also played a role in developing United States. Known as the Forty Niners, one hundred thousand U.S. citizens moved West to find gold at Sutter’s Mill to make money. The gold rush played a factor in the Western Expansion. The Western expansion also guided by the Homestead Act, which offered citizens 160 acres of free land in the west, if you lived there for 5 years.

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Many died of disease or by accident” (PBS 2019). All these hardships led to endless death and agony for almost every miner who stepped foot in a gold mine during the California Gold Rush. Therefore, even if a miner struck it rich, the physical and mental burden that the miners faced made their jobs substantial. Additionally, the California Gold Rush was a negative event for the United States because of the discrimination of various ethnic groups in California. “It is common to hear vulgar Yankees say of the Spaniards, 'Oh, they are half-civilized” (Shirley 1850).

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The Gold Rush, beginning in 1848 and ending in 1855, was a period in American history which opened the doors of opportunity to a new group of immigrants, the Chinese. The discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill, California, in 1848 was the cause of mass Chinese immigration that would last for decades to come. When James Marshall discovered gold in 1848, there were fifty-four recorded Chinese in California, this number quickly rose to 116,000 by 1876. Title (Chinese Immigration During the Gold Rush: The American Encounter) The California Gold Rush allowed for immigrants, such as the Chinese, to encounter the various beliefs and suspicions of the American society.

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In regards to positive impacts, the mass of immigrants brought new religions into the American culture as many of the immigrants were Catholic or Jewish. As the push westward continued, the discovery of gold and silver gave hope to many who were poor that they could stake a claim and strike it rich. However, unknown to them, their chances of striking it rich were slim. Hence, the California Gold rush.

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It left behind many legacies, ideas, and opinions. If the California Gold Rush never happened, perhaps California wouldn 't be a state and most definitely wouldn 't be the diverse area it is today. In California there is diversity, economy, and hope which wouldn 't be here if it weren’t for new races migrating to California. On the flipside, without the Gold Rush California would have a more stable population of Native Americans in California, and it would have mountains and rivers that we don 't have today. The California Gold Rush did, however, change the United States and the American Dream

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