Gold Rush in Nevada City California
The gold rush in Nevada City California started in 1848 and continued until 1855. James Marshall was responsible for discovering the gold. Once people got the news about the gold, they started flocking in California. Approximately 300,000 people across the United States got the information and gathered in California by 1848. Of all these people, fifty percent arrived by the east overland and others by sea. The trip to California proved to be quite challenging for the gold seekers. Even though, a larger percentage of the gold seekers were of American origin, some came from Australia, Europe and China. Initially, people could pick the gold from the ground, but later got the gold from riverbeds and streams by applying techniques like panning (Stanley 26). After some time, there was the development of complicated technologies. With the climax of gold mining, technological advancement had reached a point that required significant financing. Valuable gold was mined, and a number of people got wealthy.
History of San Juan, California
San Juan community started in the California Gold Rush and it flourish during the time of Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park mining between 1850 and 1884. From 1867, the community was incorporated as the path for the first long distance telephone line. This was a chronological landmark, between French Lake and French Coral. In 1880, the populace of San Juan was approximately 675. The original name San Juan was given by the Mexican-American who settled in 1853 because he thought that the sight resembled San Juan de near Veracruz.
The gold rush had a substantial effect on the people who came for it. The residents California augmented from mere 200 citizens to 36,000 from 1846 to 1852. Several schools, churches and roads were built in California. California drafted a state constitution, and it became a state in 1850. There was the development of new transportation methods like railroads from California to the rest of USA. Ranching and agriculture expanded within California to meet the settlers’ requirements. Initially there were no laws of property rights, but later the property rights were developed (Blashfield 156). Some Native Americans were attacked by foreigners and forced out. Approximately one hundred thousand California Indians perished between the years 1846 and 1868. Lakes and rivers were also damaged because of gold mining.
When gold was discovered in, Nevada City California was part of Mexico. The New York Herald newspaper reported the gold discovery on 19 August 1848. President James Polk announced the discovery in December of the same year. Within a short period, immigrants from all over the globe invaded California. San Francisco used to be lowly populated before the gold rush had started. When gold was discovered, it was abandoned, but later was populated with merchants (Andrist 213). San Francisco population increased from 1000 people to 25,000 people from 1848 to 1850. Miners resided in deck cabins, wood shanties and tents. Numerous miners would team up to create their camps. These presented the need to establish measures to define the historic moment.
There was a rush of prospectus to Northern California. Sacramento River and Portuguese flat settlements started but later stopped after some days. The gold that was discovered in south California was not on a large scale. By 1850, most the gold that was accessible was already collected, and the miners thought of extracting the gold from locations that were quite challenging. Americans decided to chase the foreigners because they were stubborn. The new legislature for California required the foreign miners to pay taxes of twenty dollars every month. American prospectus started to attack the foreign investors, principally the Latin and Chinese Americans. Additionally, also other foreigners were forcing Native Americans from their land. Some of the Native Americans retaliated by fighting the foreigners. This resulted to counter attacking to the Native Americans. Most of the Native Americans were beaten and some killed. Most of the Native Americans who escaped the wrath of the foreign miners were not able to survive because they lacked enough food to sustain them.
The first people to start the gold mining were San Juan residents and later some people from Northern California plus some other Native Americans. The first miners were mostly families. There were men, children and women of all ethnic groups. The message of the gold rush was slow to spread at first, but later spread faster. The earliest seekers of gold were people who resided within California. The first Native Americans to arrive were Oregonians. Other people came from, Chile, Peru and Mexico (Andrist 217). In 1848, only a small population came from across the U.S. The freight and amount of gold that an individual would get within a month was equivalent to the amount that he would make within six years of his salary. Some people thought they would get rich quickly, and others thought of opening businesses within California.
Towards the end of 1849, the message of the gold rush had spread to most countries across the globe. This message attracted a number of merchants and gold seekers across the world. The forty-niners consisted of tens of thousands of Native Americans who arrived in San Juan ca. There were several from the east coast and others from Appalachian Mountains who would sail in boats. Some Native Americans came from Panama. New Zealanders and Australians got the news from the Hawaiian newspapers and started their journey San Juan ca. They came with ships to California. Latin Americans were the main constituents of the forty-niners.
Works Cited
Andrist, Ralph K. The California Gold Rush. New York: American Heritage Pub. Co, 1961.
Print.
Blashfield, Jean F. The California Gold Rush. Minneapolis: Compass Point Books, 2001.
Internet resource.
Stanley, Jerry. Hurry Freedom: African Americans in Gold Rush California. New York: Crown
Publishers, 2000. Print.
