California Gold Rush - Assignment Example

California Gold Rush Introduction The California Gold Rush would begin in 1848 by the discovery of gold at Sutter’sMill in Coloma, California. The news would spark a massive rush of around thirty thousand people coming to California from the rest of the Unites States and abroad. The early good seekers traveled to California by sailing ship and covered wagons. They faced many hardships on the trip. Many of the newly arrived people came from the United States, Europe, Asia, Australia and Latin America. Simple and sophisticated techniques like panning were adopted by the people. Gold was recovered which was worth billions of today’s dollars. Many people became wealthy but many returned home with very little money. The Gold Rush transformed San Francisco from a tiny village consisting of tents to a town with roads, churches and other buildings. Laws were created and government was established in the region. New transportation methods like steamships and railroads were created. Agriculture became widespread throughout the state. There were negative aspects of the Gold Rush as Native Americans were attacked and confined to the reservations. The gold mining also caused environmental harm. This paper explores the meaning and nature of the Gold Rush by examining the first hand accounts of James ayers and William Shaw. James Ayers had a brief career as a miner and visited California in 1849. William Shaw was an Englishman living South Australia when he heard of the California gold rush. He visited San Diego and San Francisco. He began a long trip to the gold fields and as prospectors in the international community of the camps. San Francisco San Francisco was a tiny settlement before the start of the rush. The residents would leave their ships and businesses to join the Gold Rush. Many merchants and new people also arrived in the city. The population of San Francisco exploded from one thousand in 1848 to twenty five thousand in 1850. James Ayer says that gambling was the main business at the Portsmouth Square. The streets of San Francisco in 1849 were alive with people from all parts of the world. San Francisco had a magnificent harbor which had no level ground beyond the narrow rim that formed the crescent beach (Ayers 31). Thousands of profiteers were more than willing to separate a miner from his gold. Gold was a magnet that attracted many people from all over the world. San Francisco is described as a cultural mecca by Ayer (Pg. 31). The city had theaters, opera and more newspapers than any city in the world except London. The collision of cultures was its greatest strength. San Francisco attracted people of different social and educational backgrounds. Professors from Harvard, Lawyers and politicians were all busy trying to earn a stake in the gold mines. James Ayer provides a vivid account of San Francisco in which the gamblers were the capitalist bankers of the town (Ayers 34). They would provide loans to aspiring miners and would provide accommodation to merchants. In 1849, San Francisco was bustling with people in hurry. Native Californians rode into town on fine horses equipped with expensive saddles and bridles. The gambling saloons are described as a meeting place for people of all social classes. Miners, merchants, lawyers, mariners and professors mixed with each other on a common plane. There were a few duels because everyone kept firearms. However duels are not common because quarrels could lead to death. Many people were also discouraged from engaging in duels because they could be executed for murder. Gold mining Panning was a simple technique used by the miners to extract gold because it was richly concentrated in the California gravel beds. This method consisted of placing a mined ore in a large metal or plastic pan combined with a generous amount of water. This allows the gold particles to settle at the bottom of the pan. Lighter gauge material such as sand, mud and gravel are washed over the side of the pan leaving the gold behind. James Ayer in his account says that mining was performed in the simplest way. A rocker with three smooth boards was nailed closely together with a square hopper. A screen made of sheet iron with holes was fitted. The rocker was allowed to catch the gold as it was separated from the dirt by the action of the water. The gold was placed in a pan taken to the river and carefully manipulated which allowed the sand to wash away and only the gold remained in the pan. Panning could not be done on a large scale which resulted in groups of miners using placer mining rockers to process larger volumes of gravel. Groups of prospectors would divert the water from an entire river into a sluice alongside the river. Gold would be dug in the exposed river bottom. An estimated twelve million ounces of gold were removed in the first five years of the Gold Rush which were worth an estimated seven billion dollars. Hydraulic mining was popular on hillsides and bluffs in the gold fields. Chileans and California Gold Rush The famous announcement in San Francisco about gold being discovered also attracted many Chilean miners to California. The J.R.S was a ship that had purchased large quantities of gold from San Francisco. Many Chilean gold seekers boarded for ships to California. All elements of society had joined the flow of people to California. Partnerships were formed and wealthy entrepreneurs financed parties of laborers who agreed to work for wages. Chileans had an experience of mining gold and many were experienced gold miners. Many of the Chileans were ahead of the first wave of American miners. The Chileans were young, uneducated and did not speak English. Many of them would head to the gold fields. Their better experience and expertise in gold mining allowed them to occupy the best places for gold. They also managed to extract respectable quantities of gold. Many of them left for Chile but the majority of them stayed in California. The arrival of Anglo-European miners created racial tensions as they did not like the success of the Chileans. They considered Latin Americans to be inferior people who had no right to mine American gold. Violence between the Anglo-Americans and Chileans was sporadic and between individual miners. The Chileans could fight very well in hand to hand fighting but as a group they were no match for the Anglo-Europeans. By the end of 1849, large numbers of Chilean miners were driven off their claims. Many of these miners retreated to San Francisco. On July, 1849 riots broke out in San Francisco between Chileans and Anglo-Americans. The beating of Chilean courtesan led to destruction of property and violence. Most of the gangs were Anglo-European as they targeted Hispanics. The Californian authorities sentenced the perpetrators to ten years imprisonment. But this did not satisfy the Chileans. News of the riots reached Chile where strong anti American sentiments developed. James Ayer mentions a conflict between Anglo-European miners in Calaveras County after they drew up a local code which called for the expulsion of all foreign miners. The resulting “Chilean War” led to the expulsion and deaths of Chilean miners. Ayer also writes about the massacre of American sailors by a mob in Chile as a reaction to the treatment of Chilean miners in California (Ayers 47). Asians and Women in California Gold Rush The Gold Rush attracted many Chinese emigrants usually peasants who had fled their country due to crop failures and unemployment. California was considered a “Gold Mountain” for the Chinese as they were offered passage for as little as forty dollars. Many Asians who were working in the gold field were organized by companies owned by Chinese merchants who provided supplies and transportation to the diggings. These miners used loose flakes and pebbles to find gold. Native American tribes like the Maidu, Miwok and Yalesummi did not pay attention to the men who began to dig for dust and rocks. They understood the value of gold to the miners. Many of them joined digging and washing gold teams. They engaged in trade as they exchanged gold for food, jewelry and blankets. They quickly adapted to the commercial environment and learned the values of the gold system. They became good bargainers as they demanded a reasonable rate of exchange or pay for their labor. Women were rarely seen in the California Gold Rush but there were many examples of successful women entrepreneurs. Many of them set up boarding lodges and restaurants for the new miners. James Ayers describes the failure of many miners who were constantly on the search for new gold digging sites (Pg. 70). The euphoria of surviving the harsh environment and life threatening journey created a communal spirit in which men were generous with one another and with information. However this would change as rumors and increasing number of miners would result in competition for space. Many miners would race through the short summer months of prime prospecting. Many of them did not succeed because if they heard better stories of gold claims they would go in search of them. Most of these stories were exaggerated rumors. Failure of mining There were other reasons for failure because many miners did not have a logical theory about the distribution of gold (Ayers 71). Rich deposits of gold were found in the least expected places. Some prospectors would find hill diggings by chance while others would go under the surface to find gold. California had witnessed global forces operating for hundreds of millions of years which resulted in a large concentration of gold in the state. The early miners focused on extracting deposits of gold which had been gathered in the gravel beds by hundreds of millions of years of geologic action. California during the gold rush had deteriorated as social institutions were frail and began to crumble under continuous pressure. An environment of lawlessness had been created with theft, fraud and violence. The miners in California were not bound by the laws of Mexico or the laws of the United States of America. Vigilante committees were gathered to solve problems and dispense justice. Competition and decreasing resources were bringing worse conditions as much vigilante activity was focused on driving out non whites from valuable mining sites. Non Americans were forced to pay high fees and taxes. Native Americans, Chinese and Hispanics were chased out by the vigilantes. Many Native Americans were driven out of their homes. The gold fields had created a wasteland of heaped debris and tree stumps. Hydraulic mining had carved up the land and washed mud into the rivers. Streams had been dammed and rerouted. This causes extensive damage to the fish and wildlife. The worst affected were the Native Americans who saw their rivers and fishing sites cut off. Many of the hunting and gathering grounds had been destroyed. Miner settlements William Shaw describes diggers working at distances apart or together along the banks of a river for two miles (Pg 80). He describes the settlements of the diggers which consist of numerous tents owned by the diggers. A few large tents are stores which sell dry and wet goods. Private tents accommodated six men which were often crowded. The miners lived in poor conditions as their diet was poor. Diseases like scurvy were very common in the cabins. Many of them had lost their health and contracted lethal diseases. The settlements also had bad behavior like gambling, stealing, lying, drinking and murder. Disturbances were common as Shaw describes an encounter in which a company of eighty people who were digging a fresh channel which caused the diggings of others to be flooded (Pg 82). Attempts to obtain compensation were rebuffed by the company. Other parties began attacking the company’s camp but were defeated because of the great strength of the company. Miners in the gold field used to hunt in the forests to get deer for the weekends. Usually they would go to the towns in night for music and women. Gambling was everywhere with miners struggling to get a chance to throw down a nugget on the roulette tables. There were numerous camps of various nationalities working on their own account. The American settlers were becoming more aggressive as they relied on their numerical strength to expel miners from other nations. Many miners from other countries were subjected to beatings and assaults which led to the flight of thousands from the country. Native Americans and California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush had a deleterious effect on the Native American population in California. Alcohol and disease became widespread amongst the population during the interaction with the early miners. Their lands were invaded by prospectors who covered every corner and canyon in search of gold. Soon the settlers would outnumber the natives as they slaughtered the animals and polluted the clear waters with mining debris. Trees were destroyed to create the cabins of the miners. Salmon which had flourished in the rivers were replaced by debris from the miners. The entire population was decimated within a decade of contact with the miners. Previously the natives had lived on roots and acorns but contact with the miners led them to purchase beautiful clothes and products. Some of the natives who worked as natives were cheated by storekeepers who charged them twice for the gold. The huge influx of prospectors and miners led to clashes between the natives and settlers. Many of them began to fight back in response to the abuses perpetrated towards them. Open warfare would break out in which villages would be burned and natives would be killed. Many militias were formed by the settlers to hunt down the natives as they received better pay fighting the natives. Shaw describes an encounter with the natives as a raiding party is formed in response to the killing of two miners by the natives. Following this attack, a raiding party of twenty men attacks the native camp where they kill or wound many of the natives. The raiding party however does not stay long in the camp and retreats to prevent an attack by larger numbers of natives (Shaw, 103). Guns, Law and Order Guns played an important role in the settlement of California during the gold rush. Many people had guns which allowed crimes to take place. There were also many duels between prospectors and miners. Guns offered a good defense against hostile natives and miners. Guns were issued to California militia units. As crooks, bandits and professional gamblers entered California, guns were an adequate defense against such bad elements of society. California was not a state and did not have any laws. Anyone who found gold could be surrounded by other prospectors. Many camps had guards to patrol and secure the digging sites. Law and order could be taken by the people. Punishment was swift and brutal. Small crimes were punished by flogging. Serious offenses like murder and robbery were punishable by murder. Sometimes mobs could get out of control and lynch someone without a trial. Vigilante groups were created to track down fugitives and punish them. California in that era was a land beyond the reach of established law. The tribal law of the Californian natives was ignored while Mexican rule was not respected. The mining regions were not affected by American military governors and officials of the newly formed state government. Many miners were concerned about regulating and securing the mining claims. An estimated five hundred self governing mining districts were formed. Each district had an elected person who was in charge of keeping the records of claims on gold mines. He also had to settle disputes over contested claims.   Conclusion The California Gold Rush was a mass migration of thousands of new people within a few years. The human and environmental costs were substantial. The Native Americans were decimated by starvation, disease and warfare. An estimated one hundred and fifty thousand Native Americans in 1845 were reduced to thirty thousand by the 1870s. Many racist laws and attacks were initiated to drive out Chinese and Hispanic immigrants. American immigrants also suffered due to death and crime rates. Life was brutal in the areas as vigilante gangs would dispense justice. Another negative aspect was the deterioration of the environment due to the gravel, silt and toxic chemicals which killed fish and wildlife. The Gold Rush would however transform California from a backwater into a global destination for thousands of people. Many immigrants used their innovation and brilliance to the development of the state. Many towns and cities were chartered during the course of the gold rush. A constitution for the state was created and representatives were sent to Washington DC. Large scale agriculture would also be created. Roads, schools, churches and civic organizations came into existence. California would eventually become a state of the United States as political connections and better communications allowed it to be connected with the rest of the United States. San Francisco was transformed from a settlement of tents and cabins into a large city with a population of one hundred and fifty thousand people. The Gold Rush also helped increase and improve transportation between California and the East Coast. Steamships became an important means of transporting people and goods. The Gold Rush also helped stimulate the economies of other countries. Works Cited: Ayers , James J. . Gold and sunshine, reminiscences of early California.. R. G. Badger, 1922. Shaw, William. Golden Dreams and Waking Realities. Smith Elder, 1851. Read More