Gold has always been a beloved and highly sought after commodity. Even the word gold brings people running to get their hands on it due to their greed and the power and money associated with gold. Prior to 1848 though, whenever gold was obtained, it was directly given to the king, pharaoh, czar, or the ruler of the nation in which the gold was discovered. The people would dig and dig for the gold and be rewarded with nothing. Then, on January 24, 1848, James Marshall struck gold, and this time there was nobody demanding they get their hands on it. He could just take the gold and enjoy it himself. This fact lead to thousands of people migrating so they could get rich in America, and that lead to vast industrial growth and ultimately helped make America a …show more content…
There were even people from as far away as China. Soon, to accommodate the miners, merchants migrated to San Francisco and bought and ran mines and shops which led that to becoming the cosmopolitan center in the world, when just four years prior there were around 12,000 non-Indians living in the California area. The population quickly grew while the Indian population shrunk with the whites shooting them for sport and out of fear. The Gold Rush definitely changed America for the better, from spreading its population, leading to a railroad, and starting the idea of obtaining the “American dream” of becoming rich and living in the land of free. Anybody could come in, from any nation and get rich. They could start a shop and get money rather than being oppressed by their home country. California quickly rose in population and consequently job opportunities opened up and the economy of California and the United States grew. It became evident that there should be a quicker way to travel from Boston to San Francisco and vice versa, so the building of the transcontinental railroad was