California Gold Rush Research Paper

The California Gold Rush of 1848 was a very significant event because the California Gold Rush had a big influence as it brought together the Eastern and Western nations. This situation did not divide the two nations instead it united them together. The Gold Rush created a large flow of people who decided to take the voyage to California because they were out looking for the gold that had been discovered there, and thought that by doing this they would be wealthy and successful. This was one of the biggest migrations in the United States. As many people came to reach California to find gold, they started to realize that it was much harder than they thought it would be. Even though it only lasted roughly a couple of years, however, the impact

When the news broke out, the population of California skyrocketed as hundreds of people made arrangements to leave their homes and families to go to California to conquer what everyone’s dream was, which is to become rich, but this trip was very costly and there was no easy way to get to this destination. Transportation at this time was very limited for people, and they were not a lot of railways to travel on, many had to come by sea. Forty-niners, also known as the miners, who were the participants in the gold rush came to face many problems and unfortunate deaths on this vigorous journey to California. The reason for these miners being called “forty-niners” was because the arrival of people began on the date of 1849. Lawrence Bliss and James Bills, for example, were two distant cousins who both took very different journeys to the California Gold Rush. James’s trip to California was very grand, while Lawrence’s trip to find gold was unsuccessful. (Martin 2016) Also, many of the people started to realize that the gold was harder to find and not located all in one place. Before all this excitement began, California was a very small town, with many abandoned companies and

Since the immense influx of people who migrated to California, this also opened up many great opportunities through the economic growth of things, but there was also an economic downfall. The economy was able to develop through the distributing goods, trade, businesses, and farming. The economy nationwide was greatly affected by the gold rush as well because many of the industries in California helped in a way in the gold rush. Due to the high amounts of gold in California, people started to develop jobs and working industries and began to raise prices for a higher value on goods. The economy also created a work shortage poverty, since so many individuals had migrated to California, people left their jobs to go into the fields. Many of the immigrants who did travel to California, took the jobs of those that people fled from. Furthermore, the Gold Rush made a vast majority of the Americans rethink their decision about coming to California as they were under the impression that they would find gold and become wealthy and get money faster by doing this. Many of the Mexicans that were working in the mining fields failed to find gold because they were faced with financial issues which prevented the finding of gold. (Dewitt 1997) The money was not their only goal, many thought they would have a better and less worry some life. (Stock 2014) The economy for California opened up many job opportunities,