Early Settlers:The Gold Rush How it began. In 1848 James Marshall was building a mill in the Sierra Nevada. When he inspected the channel he saw something gleaming that looked like gold. It was confirmed the next day. Once news leaked out it caused a mass migration to the West. End of 1848, 10,000 men were digging for gold in California. By 1849 there were 90,000. These new settlers came from all over the world. Some dug for gold themselves while others setup businesses there. The diggers became known as the forty-niners.

Early Settlers:The Gold Rush Did everyone make money? Only a few individuals were lucky. Thousands worked in vain because the sources of gold were limited The mining towns were wild, lawless and living conditions were poor. This due to most gold diggers being under the age of 30 and intending to move back home once they ‘struck it rich’ A gold digger might earn $20 a day finding small quantities of gold but it cost him $18 to live and therefore he had no money to return home and became desperate. Difficulties were in extracting the gold using the panning process and the fact there were large numbers of prospectors all searching for gold. Those who found large amounts of gold found it underground. Extracting the gold cost money so it was usually mined by mining companies from the East. The miners they employed worked in dangerous and unhealthy conditions.

Early Settlers:The Gold Rush Costs of its discovery. Racial conflict– there were people from all over the world and some white Americans considered themselves superior. E.g. Taxes were imposed on foreign miners and some miners refused to work with Chinese miners who they thought were superior Law & order – gambling and drunkenness were everywhere as miners relieved their boredom and misery of their lives. Claim-jumping (the act of stealing a man’s claim to a mine once he had found gold) & murder thrived as there was no formal system of law enforcement although the miner’s did have their own courts Vigilante groups – were set up in some areas. These were just gangs of men who took it upon themselves to uphold the law. Justice was rarely fair. The gangs were almost as bad as the lawbreakers. Frequently, vigilantes were no better than lynch mobs that spreading terror. Some of these groups even took control of town governments e.g. San Francisco 1851, 1856

Early Settlers:The Gold Rush Benefits of its discovery Developed the West – California 1848 and then later Dakota and Nevada Developed economy of USA as a whole Increased supply of money, encouraged more investors – developing light industry more mines, ship building etc Stimulated rapid growth in San Francisco which soon rivalled New York as a financial centre Ensured that when the railroad was built in the 1860’s it passed through Oregon and California The wealth created allowed the USA to lead in world trade, making the purchase of essential materials possible e.g. steel for railway construction