1849 The California Gold Rush

1849 The California Gold Rush

Gold! It is January 1848. A man looks over the new mill his crew is building. In the mill's water, he spots something shiny. He collects several pieces and shows his crew. They test the pieces. It's gold! The man shows John Sutter, who owns the mill. Sutter doesn't want anyone else to know. They agree to keep the secret: gold has been discovered in California.

Keeping a Secret In 1848, the world was very different from today. There were no phones, TVs, or radios. There were no roads or railroads connecting California with the states back east. It took months to get a message from one coast to the other. Still, the secret got out when a man named Sam Brannan heard the news. He wasn't interested in mining. Instead, he bought all the shovels in San Francisco. He filled a bottle with gold dust. He ran through the streets, yelling about the great discovery. Then he sold his shovels for a lot of money!

Panning Unlike in most places, the gold in California was not locked deep under the ground. Erosion had long ago washed the metal down the mountains into the rivers. All people needed to mine it was a shovel and a flat pan. The prospectors stood in the rivers and shoveled gravel into their pans. They removed large rocks, then carefully swirled the pan. Gold is much heavier than gravel. The dirt and gravel spilled over the sides with the water. The shiny flakes of gold stayed at the bottom of the pan.

People from along the West Coast soon showed up to work the rivers near Sutter's Mill. Next came prospectors from South America and Asia. At that time, it was easier to get to California from China than from the East Coast.

The Forty-Niners It took longer for people in the eastern states to hear about the gold. They didn't start coming west until 1849. That year, ninety thousand people joined the gold rush. These were the forty-niners. Nine out of ten of them were men. Many couldn't cook, wash a shirt, or build a shelter. Many left behind families. They planned to quickly make a fortune and come home. Around the Tip About half of the forty-niners went by ship. The tickets were expensive. The ships were crowded, the trip was boring, and many got sick. Ships took from five to eight months to make the journey.