California Gold Rush Research Paper

Gold will always be and has been, a valid currency, that's what has made it so sought after for all these years (Daives). Just like freedom and the American dream, gold has been the subject of many people's life endeavors ( Leadbetter). This is shown during the American event the California Gold Rush. The gold rush started in Coloma, California January 24, 1848, when the 19-century pioneer John Sutter discovered gold in his sawmill (Sutter). This event slowly made it to the ears of many pioneers young and old, from all over the new America. As a result, many decided it was best to go to California and try their luck at maybe finding some gold. Most did eventually find some gold, and all that did was confirm that there was plentiful gold available

During the gold rush, the population of California skyrocketed. In March 1848, there were roughly 157,000 people. Then 20 months later more than 100,000. By the mid-1850s there were more than 300,000 new arrivals. This gold rush movement got so bad, that one in every 90 people who immigrated to the new United States was living in California searching for gold (Thompson). One good example of a type of development and expansion that both America as a whole and California experienced was the addition of railroad systems and train tracks (Longfellow). For America, these offered an easy way to import materials that you couldn't get elsewhere and export materials from across the US. In California this was also true, however, it was the railroads that offered a way to import new mining materials and technologies and export freshly mined gold.(Simple History). This is how the development and expansion of California to occupy the gold rush and keep the gold rush successful is very similar to the development and expansion of America to keep America

Much like how the American dream is one that is centered on hard work and a search for prosperity among your fellow Americans. The amount of work people put into mining and sifting to achieve prosperity was immense. Many days were spent with your fellow miners, tirelessly sifting through what was considered “high tech” technology at the time (Rohrbaugh). This is a lot like the collaborative hard labor that was needed to make America what it is like today. This is why the American dream and the California gold rush are alike in many different ways. The environmental impact the gold rush had on the Californian earth is much like the development of the US and its environmental