1. California and Utah
By: Ms. Astle

2. California Gold Rush
The discovery of gold along California’s American River at Sutter’s Mill in early 1848 set off a gold rush that brought thousands or people into California from all over the world. Those who arrived in 1849 were called forty-niners.
Americans made up 80% of the forty-niners. Others came from Mexico, South America, Europe, and Australia. About 300 men arrived from China and were the first large group of Asian immigrants to settle in America.
Some arrived by sea and others traveled on the Oregon or Santa Fe Trails.

3. The Californios
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo made Californios—Mexicans living in California—citizens of the United States. It also gave them rights to their lands.
If a settler claimed land that was held by a Californio, the two parties had to go to court. The Californio had to prove his ownership of the land. Some could prove their claim, others could not and lost their land.

4. The Life of a Forty-Niner
Boomtowns sprang up almost overnight in northern California as a result of the Gold rush. The gold rush also was responsible for the growth of San Francisco, which served as a port of entry for gold-seekers arriving in California by ship. San Francisco went from a small village to a city of 20,000.
Very few miners achieved lasting wealth, and most people found little or no gold. Of those that did strike it rich, most lost their money through gambling or wild spending. Merchants did make lots of money charging miners inflated prices for things they needed.

5. The Life of a Forty-Niner
Miners attacked the hillsides with pickaxes and shovels and spent hours bent over streambeds “panning” for gold dust and nuggets. The gold rush doubled the world’s supply of gold.
Mining towns had no police or prisons. Citizens known as vigilantes formed committees to protect themselves. They took the law into their own hands and acted as police, judge, jury and sometimes executioner.

6. Economic and Political Progress
The gold rush lasted just a few years but had lasting effects on California. The gold rush expanded trade, shipping, and agriculture to meet the miners’ needs for food and other goods. The population also soared when many people who had come looking for gold decided to stay in California.
Rapid growth in California brought the need for move effective government. Californians wrote a state constitution in 1849 and applied for statehood in March 1850.
Because California’s constitution banned slavery, representatives from slave states did not want California to join the Union. California, as a free state, would upset the balance between the free and slave states in Congress. As a result California had to wait six months for statehood, while a compromise was worked out.

7. A Religious Refuge in Utah
The Mormons, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, were the first non-Native American settlers of the Utah area.
Joseph Smith founded the Church in 1830 in New York State. He formed a religious community which was unpopular with its neighbors. The Mormons were forced to move several times, from New York to Ohio, to Missouri, and then to Illinois.
Picture from: Wikipedia: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

8. A Religious Refuge in Utah
In 1839 they built the town of Nauvoo, Illinois. It became a prosperous community on the banks of the Mississippi. It became a stopping place on the Mississippi.
The Mormons continued to suffer persecutions. In 1844 a mob in Illinois killed Joseph Smith. Brigham Young took over as head of the church, and moved the Mormon community to an area near Great Salt Lake in what was then the New Mexico territory of Mexico.

9. A Religious Refuge in Utah
About 12,000 Mormons began the journey in It was the single largest migration in American History. The Mormon’s route became known as the Mormon Trail.
In 1847 the Mormons finally reached the Great Salt Lake. In the midst of the harsh desert of Utah, they founded a community called Deseret, later changed to Salt Lake City.
The Mormons soon built a farming community. They built irrigation canals to water their farms and started local industries so they could be self-sufficient. Mormon merchants also sold supplies to the forty-niners who passed through Utah on their way to California.

10. A Religious Refuge in Utah
The United States acquired the Salt Lake area in 1848 with the Mexican Cession. Two years later, Congress established the Utah Territory. Brigham Young was named governor.
While most areas in the West wanted to be part of the United States, the Mormons preferred their independence and often had conflicts with federal authority.
Utah did not become a state until 1896 after the Mormons officially gave up the practice of polygamy.

11. Resources
American History Picture Packs Collection D: Expansion, Development, Sectionalism, and Division, CD-Rom (2002) History Pictures at URL:
Blank Maps for Quizzes ( ) Pearson Education, Inc. at URL:
American History Picture Packs Collection C: The American Revolution and the Early Republic, CD-Rom (2002) History Pictures at URL:
Wikipedia: Sutter’s Mill (2009) Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. at URL:
Wikipedia: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (2009) Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. at URL:

12. Resources
Wikipedia: California Gold Rush (2009) Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. at URL:
Wikipedia: Brigham Young (2009) Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. at URL:
Heather Astle Postcards
Wikipedia: Utah Territory (2009) Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. at URL:
Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection (2008) The University of Texas at URL:
Heather Astle Photographs Nevada City, MT Mining Town (2010) Heather Astle.
Heather Astle Photographs Virginia City, MT Mining Town (2010) Heather Astle