1. The California Gold Rush

2. January 24, 1848 Discovery of gold nuggets in Sacramento Valley Population of non- natives 1848: 1,000 By 1849: 100,000 1848-1852: $2 BILLION DOLLARS!

3. Discovery at Sutter’s Mill James Wilson Marshall 1.American River at the base of Sierra Nevada Mtns, San Fransisco 2.Coloma, CA 3.Found just days after Treaty of G-H was signed

4. Journey by land Journey by land Journey spreads; by mid June ¾ of San Fran left to work in gold mines Miners reach 4,000 by August Polk spreads news of gold mine-starts “Gold Rush” “ The accounts of abundance of gold are such an extraordinary character as would scarcely common belief were they not corroborated by the authentic reports of officers in the public service.”

5. ‘49er’s Arrive Throughout 1849 travelers (men) sell their things and head to CA  49’ers Travelled by land and by sea Est. pop by end of the year: 100,000

6. Techniques for retrieving gold At first a technique called panning was used to retrieve gold from streams and riverbeds. Hydraulic mining was later invented in California. This technique was created for larger scale gold mining

7. Lasting Impact Gold Mining towns pop up Overcrowded mining- led way to lawlessness Prostitution Gambling Banditry Violence Bustling Economy Entered as the 31 st State Troubles? Slavery-entered as Free Compromise of 1850: Proposed by Clay; CA would enter as Free, Utah/NM could choose how they entered Industrialization drove more and more miners from independence into wage labor 1852: 81 million pulled yearly 1857: leveled off at 47 million

9. Gadsden Purchase 1853 Last bit of territory gained to complete the US (minus Alaska, Hawaii) US pays Mexico $10 million dollars for strip (AZ/NM) James Gadsden; provided favorable route to CA by train https://www.youtube.com/watch?v =gn2FzuPyFlY