The California Gold Rush

By: Addison Rogers

The great California Gold Rush began on

January 24, 1848, when James W. Marshall discovered a gold nugget in the American River. News of the discovery brought thousands of immigrants to California.

The Beginning

Many people have said before that the

California Gold Rush put the state on the map. California was acquired by the United States until gold came along. People came by the thousands. This led to the population boom. Growth exceeded tremendously in several states.

The Effect

San Francisco went from 1,000 people in 1848,

which soon became 3,500 in 1850. Only London, at the time, had more newspapers than San Francisco. Theaters and businesses sprung up and with those, wages increased, and the economy was put into motion.

The Effect

Chart

In 1848, the Gold Rush brought in people to

work labor on the Erie Canal. The average daily wage was 88 cents. This was a development of better transportation.

Industrialization

California’s overall population growth was so

swift that it was put into the Union as the 31st state in 1850. This was 2 years after the US had acquired it from Mexico under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican-American War.

Benefits of the Rush

By 1864, California’s gold rush had ended. The

rich surface and river placers were exhausted. Hydraulic mines were the main sources of gold for the next 20 years.

The End