Key Takeaways
You ’d believe that findinggoldon your property would stand for the end of all your troubles . But forJohn Sutter , it was just about the risky thing that could have happened . In the nineteenth century , Sutter was an entrepreneur and owner of a large tract of land in Coloma , California . He rent a carpenter named James Marshall to build a water cycle for a mill on his property . Then in 1848 , Marshall discovered flakes of gold in the river .
Although the two men try out to keep the discovery a secret , they failed miserably . The news spread like a modernCalifornia wildfire . Especially after an enterprising gentleman’s gentleman namedSam Brannanparaded around carry a vial of gold and announcing the whereabouts of the new discovery . He himself did n’t go prospecting . He knew of a smarter way to make his fortune , as we shall see .
In just four years — by 1852 — Sutter would be belly-up , his property overproduction and his livestock stolen by grabby prospectors . It ’s grueling to exaggerate the enormity of the amber rush ’s demographic impingement on California . In a few short long time , it transformed from a sparsely populated , newly acquired territory of the U.S. to a fully formed state with a thriving economy . Between 1848 and 1849 , the influx of settler exploded from just 400 to 90,000 .
History of the California Gold Rush
To oblige theflood of ' 49ers(as these new , would - be gold miner were called ) , amber minelaying towns sprung up all over . store , ginmill , bordello and other businesses coiffe up in these towns to process the ' 49ers and make money of their own . bedlam and disorder were common , as were gambling , prostitution and violence . San Francisco became the middle of the prospering newfangled economy .
But understand from other slant , the aureate rush was not a happy event . In particular , for the indigenous people who lived there , it was anunmitigated catastrophe . Thousands of new immigrants pushed the aboriginal populations off their land , depriving them of their hunting earth . tearing confrontations broke out and the newcomers slaughtered as many as16,000 of California ’s first peoplesin what amounted to state - sanctionedgenocide .
The immense majority of the early gilt thrill immigrants were men , or at least they seem to be . In fact , there were legion instances in which women dressed as men . " This phenomenon was so usual in gold rush California that when a newspaper lensman advertised for a ' lad ' to serve him , he was compelled to specify that ' no untested women in disguise need apply,'“Clare Sears , familiar prof of sociology at San Francisco State University , says via email .
Meanwhile , the minelaying ingroup were populate almost exclusively by gentleman , or at least by hoi polloi dressed as men . At refugee camp saltation , this led to a cross - gender pattern . " Several men became women for the night , wearing a sackcloth darn to point their young gender , " Sears says .
Who Got Rich?
Many prospectors did well at first . There was a batch of gold to be launch . There are estimate that over the grade of the gold rush1,750 pounds(793.7 kilogram ) of the buttery metal were unearth . But few hoi polloi were able-bodied to bear on to their newfound wealthiness . Life in a boomtown was notoriously expensive and there were so many ways to fall back what you ’d found — inebriant , brothels andgamblingbeing the primary enticements .
Still , there were a few characters who got rich and stayed that way . One of them wasGeorge Hearst , the father of publishing baron William Randolph Hearst . By the metre he died , George Hearst was worth $ 19 million , but interestingly he did n’t prospect for gold when he arrived in California . alternatively , he mined quartz . Building on his earnings , he went on to invest in silverish mine across the country , amassing a vast fortune and ending up a U.S. Senator .
Jean - Baptiste Charbonneauprobably did n’t strike it plenteous , but he must have made enough to afford the exorbitant cost of experience in amber - crazed California because he stick it out there for year and finish up running a hotel . Charbonneau was an intriguing figure , in part because he was the son of the famousSacagaweaand a Frenchman name Toussaint Charbonneau . As a child , he accompanied his parents on theLewis and Clark expedition , and after his female parent ’s death he was adopted by Clark .
One of Charbonneau ’s fellow prospectors end up running the hotel with him . The man ’s name wasJim Beckwourth , and his story is at least as colourful . birth a hard worker , Beckwourth was free by his master , who was also his father , and guide west where he became a successful fur trapper . live with the Crow Nation for years , he married several Crow women and was oil a war headman . He was also credit with discovering the Beckwourth Pass through the Sierra Nevada Mountains , and for helping to establish the Beckwourth Trail , which thousands followed on their room to California .
The Merchant Millionaires
The people who really made money on the California Gold Rush were merchants . TakeLevi Strauss . When he pick up news of the California Gold Rush , he maneuver to San Francisco where heestablished his wholesale dry goodsbusiness in 1853 . Then in 1872 , Strauss partnered with one of his customers , a Reno , Nevada , tailor list Jacob Davis , who was plan enceinte cotton work knickers hammered with rivets in the pocket corners to make them more long-lived . The ship’s company , " Levi Strauss & Co. " could n’t betray enough of their " waistline gamey overalls " to the miner , lumberjack and Farmer . And , well , you bonk the rest of the history .
And remember Sam Brannan from the rootage of our tale — the one who essentially kicked off the gilded rush by exhibit around with that vial of precious metal ? Rather than staking a title on the Au , Brannan purchase up all the equipment that prospector would need ; then , when the rush begin , re - sell the product at a unconscionable markup . His store made tremendous profits , selling as much as $ 5,000 ( about$155,000 in 2020 dollars ) in goodsper dayto miners . He becameCalifornia ’s first millionaire , perfectly illustrating the old maxim , " during a gold rushing , sell digger . "
