1. What was happening
in America during
the early/mid 1800's?

2. Social Changes - Immigration
Growing movement of people to America
Britain, Ireland, Germany, China
Many ‘Push/Pull Factors’ bring people to America
Overcrowding in cities leads to prejudice
“The Know-Nothing Party” enjoys brief success

3. Discovery of gold in
California tips the
balance of power!

4. The California Gold Rush
John Sutter was a Swiss immigrant to California in 1839 – owned 1000’s of acres, cattle, and many people working for him
In late 1847 Sutter hired James Marshall to build a saw mill
on the American
River to provide
lumber for Sutter’s
growing ranch

5. The California Gold Rush
On January 24, 1848 with the sawmill almost finished Marshall looked down and …"I reached my hand down and picked it up; it made my heart thump, for I was certain it was gold. The piece was about half the size and shape of a pea. Then I saw another."

6. California Gold Rush
News of the gold was not spread by Sutter or Marshall
News was spread by San Francisco merchant Samuel Brannan
News spread to the
east coast and was
published in
newspapers

7. The California Gold Rush
Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune: "Fortune lies upon the surface of the earth as plentiful as the mud in our streets. We look for an addition within the next four years equal to at least One Thousand Million of Dollars to the gold in circulation."

8. The California Gold Rush
By 1849 the country was gripped in gold “fever”
Farmers left their fields, merchants closed their shops, soldiers left their posts – and all made plans to go to California

9. The California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush was a mass migration of people from the eastern U.S. and around the world looking for easy riches
Called forty-niners, the gold seekers swelled the population of California from 14,000 in 1847 to 225,000 in five years

10. The California Gold Rush
Early miners able to pan for gold along the rivers of northern California – called placer mining
Conditions hard in the mining camps – no law, no sanitation, prices for food and supplies very high
Cholera, dysentery rampant

11. The California Gold Rush
Towns that started were accurately named
Hangtown, Gouge Eye, Rough and Ready, Whiskeytown – places to avoid, if not for the gold
Few miners got rich – merchants and service people got rich
When mining in the rivers played out, hard rock mining started

12. San Francisco
More than half of the forty-niners came to California by ship – through San Francisco
Miners needed supplies, San Francisco was where they were bought

13. What were the
effects on
San Francisco?

14. Effect of Gold Rush on SF
Legend spoke that you could walk from here to here without getting your feet wet, due to the number of abandoned ships
SF Bay became choked with hundreds of abandoned ships

15. More Ship Masts Demonstrate the Abandonment in SF Bay

16. Effects of the Gold Rush
American miners forced out Mexicans and Chinese miners to reduce competition,
legislature levied a $20/month “foreign miners” tax to discourage miners from other countries.
Discouraged Chinese miners moved to San Francisco and formed Chinatown.
Native Americans either died from European diseases or were hunted down by miners –
In 1870, their population declined from 150,000 in 1860 to 58,000 in 1870.

17. The Gold Rush
upset the delicate
balance between
free & slave - everyone
was affected, and no
one was spared
from its effects!