Finding Gold in Cali: California Gold Rush

Throughout history, gold has been discovered many times. It was discovered by not only the Egyptians but the Romans and the Greeks as well. But never in history has there ever been a gold rush, because when the gold was discovered, it was typically all owned by the leaders of the nations, such as the pharaohs and kings of the time. But, when gold was discovered in California, it changed completely.

Since California was unclaimed land, people could travel west, dig it up, and put in bags, and the best thing about this was that they didn’t even have to pay taxes on it either, so you could go home with it without any issues. When was this discovered you ask? Well, on January 24th, 1848, a carpenter by the name of James Marshall discovered gold in a river in California. This would jumpstart the Gold rush and the creation of the state of California as well, making America an economic world power.

Finding gold in Cali was considered to be a big lottery, there was a limitless amount of opportunity to go and find gold. This caused the California Gold Rush to be one of the most impactful events in the 19th century, along with the Civil War. Within the decade, 500,000 people or more had moved to California, making it one of the largest migrations that the world has ever seen. This big amount of people moving toward had only one thing in mind, money. Therefore, everyone of the people that were moving were moving on the idea of greed.

In December of 1848, President James Polk decided to make an announcement about the gold that had been discovered in America’s California territory, which had already been recently acquired in the Mexican-American war. The amount of gold found in the territory was mind-blowing that it was too good to be true. The idea that a person could go to this territory and come back with wealth struck the imaginations of the people in the nation, so they felt like they were finally able to make a choice. They could make their way to California by ship, the trip all together would total to be about 5 months, or they could go across the country on the Missouri Frontier. During this time, there was not a single bridge, and no schools, and no source of medical care.

California, at the time, was one of the most remote areas in the world. Many people didn’t have any idea where it was located. It was a fairly new territory, only be acquired by the United States the year before. It was odd for it to so suddenly have thousands of people who wanted to leave their home life to go to this unknown territory. For example, a man named William Swain was a typical middle-aged man, much like the other citizens that lived in America at the time, was excited about the discovery of gold. Along with thousands of others, he would become known as the 49ers.

He was newly married and had a daughter. He had placed his family in the care of his brother George, and he set off for California. He had high hopes that he would find gold to use to invest in his farm. The newspapers all across America were chocked full with the news that people were flooding into California. He decided then that he needed to go, so he felt the need to go, saying it was the right thing to do.

It took many months to get from New York to Independence, Missouri. For many that were coming from the East, this is where the real challenge would begin. Thousands of people were camped out for miles and miles. They were preparing themselves for the long road ahead, anxiously waiting for the signal that they could leave. Another family, by the name of Sarah and Josiah, were also among the thousands of people who had already come west in search of a chance at a greater life.

Much like the other people around them, they were tempted by the gold and it motivated them to continue their journey westward. Sarah was just 30 years old when she had set out on the trail, leaving her home in Iowa behind with her husband and her young son. Since Sarah was religiously inclined, she wanted to observe the Sabbath, so they didn’t travel on Sundays, causing them to be at the very end of the migration. Because of this, they ended up leaving salt lake city alone. They averaged about 15 to 20 miles a day.

As you can see, every family that traveled to get to California had many obstacles and ways of traveling. Others observed the Sabbath, while everyone else was keen on getting to where they needed to go. The craze of the Gold Rush caused not only for the population of the nation to grow but also caused economic growth as well, making The United States having one of the best economies of the world at the time. The Gold Rush was one of the most fundamental events of our nation, and shaped us as a whole and built us up for many years to come.