1. Gold Rush Presentation 1
Taylor Queen

2. Leading up to Gold Rush…
 US-Mexican War: California under loose control
of Mexican Government
 Population: 100,000 Native Americans in Sierra
Nevada Mountains, 10,000 Californios in towns
and ranches, 2000 US Citizens, and a few
hundred Europeans
 Californios lived on huge ranches that had been
granted by the Mexican Government.
 February 2, 1848: Treaty of Guadelupe Hidalgo
signed to end the US-Mexican War

3. GOLD!!
 James w. Marshall discovered gold on January
24, 1848
 He worked for Jon Sutter—a major landowner
trying to create an agricultural empire in California
 News that James Marshall had spotted gold at
Sutter’s Mill spread to San Francisco first in May
of 1848
 People from the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii),
Oregon, Mexico, Chile, Peru, and China headed
for California in Summer-Fall 1848
 People along the East Coast were the last to hear
about the Gold Rush.

4. Gold and Goodbyes
 Thousands of men left their homes and families
behind and headed for California
 Women would move in with relatives or fended for
themselves
 Children wrote letters to their fathers traveling to
California
 The Gold Rush really took off in 1849

5. Journey to California
 By 1849, the non-native population grew to
100,000 people.
 Mainly men from all over the world attempted
journeys to California to mine for gold and make
their families rich.
 There were three main routes the forty-niners
took to California
 The Oregon-California Trail
 The Panama Shortcut
 Around Cape Horn
 These three routes contributed to Westward
Expansion in the US

6. Chart of Westward Expansion

7. Farmers Search for Prosperity
 Even a prosperous farmer might make two-three
hundred dollars a year
 Mining for gold presented the chance of taking
$25 - $35 of gold a day.
 Gold was free to anyone who could find it
 Businesspeople in California began making
significant money by charging miners for supplies
and services.

8. Competition for the Gold
 Competition for gold became greater and greater
 Lack of success in mining for Americans began to
be blamed on foreign miners rom Mexico, Chile,
Peru, and China
 Violence towards them became quite prominent
during the gold rush
 Many miners ended up going home penniless
 Even John Sutter and James Marshall fell into
poverty

9. What Next?
 For the miners who stayed, some started
businesses in boom towns or farmed in fertile
valleys
 San Francisco became the largest and most
important city in the West
 Some miners struck at rich
 Sadly, many miners died of diseases like cholera,
from accidents in the gold fields, or on their
journey to California

10. Conclusion
 The Gold Rush transformed California in many
ways
 Population grew dramatically
 Towns, cities, and businesses thrived
 Made California the most famous American
state—or “Golden State”

11.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG_KO-
UnXBU
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igHIfPy4CeE