The Famous Gold Rush of California

The term gold rush refers to earlier times in history, when a large vein of gold was discovered and people rushed to the area expecting to get rich quickly. One of the more famous historical gold rushes occurred in 1848 in California.

The Discovery Of Gold

John Sutter was an early settler in California who despite his great debt was considered one of the wealthiest men in the area. He sent off his men to build a sawmill and when the mill was almost completed, James Marshall, one of the workers, spotted a large piece of gold in the water. For reasons of their own, both Sutter and Marshall wanted to keep the gold a secret because they knew it would bring outsiders to the area.

Stories spread anyway and Sam Brannan figured out if people rushed in to get the gold that, he could make a profit from the influx of people. One day, Brennan rushed through the San Francisco area yelling about the gold that had been found after he had bought up all the tools in the area that are useful in prospecting for gold. Brennan made an estimated thirty-six thousand dollars because of his promotional run.

After President James Polk made a comment about the amount of gold in the area, people began to abandon their lives to rush out to California. By 1949, gold fever and the gold rush had struck and that immense rush out to California caused the participants to be called "forty-niners".

Forty-Niners Head West

Easterners could travel out west by taking a six months long journey by ship around South America or by walking out to California. The sea route was eventually shortened by a taking a trip through Panama although the land travels through the rainforest was arduous.

Many of the travelers were stranded in Panama for long periods waiting for a ship to California. People from the mid-States walked west to California. Their route was also treacherous especially when the travellers ran out of water.

The Place Gets Crowded With Panners

With all the gold panners who kept coming in, there came to be a lack of goods and supplies for everyone in the gold rush area. Even though many people had lots of money, just paying for food, water and other things necessary to life became very expensive. Rough camps were a common site in the area. Many women came out to California because women were scarce in the area and they could earn good money for their needed domestic skills. There were enough success stories to keep people interested in panning for gold in California.

The Gold Runs Out

By mid-1949, the gold ran out yet still travellers came to the area expecting to make their fortune. Frustration set in and many of the forty-niners were getting desperate. There were fewer success stories yet enough so some people just would not give up on their dreams of striking it rich. Some of the forty-niners never made it back home despite their promises of returning home rich someday.

The gold rush of California is a striking example of what people are willing to do in order to strike it rich. The broken dreams and getting rich experiences are both extreme experiences that resulted from the gold rushes.