California Gold Rush Research Paper

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The California Gold Rush When an American thinks about the history of the state of California, what exactly comes to mind? An article written on the website of http://www.history.com/topics/gold-rush-of-1849 explains, “The discovery of gold nuggets in the Sacramento Valley in early 1848 sparked the Gold Rush, arguably one of the most significant events to shape American history during the first half of the 19th century.” With this event beginning on January 24, 1848, the history of the United States would forever be altered. The California Gold Rush is known in common households all over the United States. The topic is taught in school classes of all education levels all around the country. People from all over creation, numbers as high as …show more content…

During the 19th century, this mill was owned by a man under the name of John Sutter. It is known to have been located on the banks of the South Fork American River, which was located in Coloma, California. Coloma, California is located in more of the northern portion of the state of California. The city itself that was built around the Sutter’s Mill and still to this day celebrates its history with the Gold Rush and just how much successfulness was brought to the community of the town. However, while the city itself is a huge topic, the heart of the discovery was at Sutter’s Mill. Mr. John Augustus Sutter was born on February 15, 1803 in Germany and moved to California in 1839 after receiving a grant from the Mexican governor. This grant wished him lands along the Sacramento River. Sutter hoped to build a sawmill on this land, but little did he know that this land would soon become a complete madhouse. Thousands of people would soon be raiding this land over the next few years and the town would spark to an all-time …show more content…

Its outcomes will also play a tremendous role in the way the state of California was created and continued on into the 21st century. While negative consequences did come about such as the ruining of the environment, sometimes miners were struck with not finding any gold, and some Indians were forced into slavery, positive things did surface as well. Some of the most important positive outcomes still come into effect today. San Francisco for example, has grown into one of the biggest cities in the country. Another fun fact to go along with this is that a National Football League team is based out of San Francisco and their name is none other than the San Francisco 49ers. Not only did the growth of cities bring effect into the modern times, but transportation made a tremendous boom during the time and still progressed to this very day. So, as anyone can tell, the California Gold Rush is an extraordinary event that took the world by storm and is doing many things for the country as a