Gold Rush in California

Karina Ledesma

LBS 375
Professor Kristal Cheek
October 19, 2015

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Before the statehood and discovery of gold in California, the region was seen as a place
to rest and trade goods within other countries. People did not want to come to California because
it was tough to get through. The region had just finished a war between the Mexicans and the
region was even less attractive. California was not the place to live or in the minds of anyone. It
was until early morning on January 24, 1849, a man by the name of James Marshall that grasped
the attention of everyone from different parts of the world. He discovered gold in California. The
news spread quickly throughout the world, and everyone was now packing their belongings to
come to California and find some gold. The discovery of gold made an impact in California with
increasing population that made California a state within two years, a change in environment and
a gender role switch.
The gold rush made an impact in population. The increase was so big that it made
California a state in 1850. According to Chan and Olin, By midcentury the population of the
region had grown dramatically, as nearly 100,000 eager gold-seekers arrived from other parts of
the United States, Latin America, Europe, China and Australia. The news spread very fast and
encouraged many to leave their homes with the hope to be rich with the gold discovery.
According to the New York Herald, Poets, philosophers, lawyers, brokers, bankers, merchants,
farmers, and clergymen-all were feeling the impulse and were preparing to go and dig for gold
and swell the number of adventures to the new El Dorado. People with different professions
took the risk and left it all behind for gold. People came to California through three different
routes; one route was through the Atlantic Ocean and Panama in wagons. The second route was
through the Atlantic Ocean, around Cape Horn and North on the Pacific Ocean to San Francisco.
The third route was through either the Santa Fe Trail or the Oregon Trail in station wagons.

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The gold rush also made an impact on the environment. With the vast population increase
and the urge to find gold, the miners had to find ways to get more gold. Some miners would
carve mountains and others, according to Gould Buffum, Dams are then to be erected and
pumps employed in keeping the beds dry. This process gave gold, but it affected the land
because it was being forced out of its form in nature. Panning for gold would cause back pains
and would take longer. Instead, some miners would use hydraulic mining to get more gold.
Another method was, Powerful steam machines are to be set in operation for the purpose of
tearing up the rocks, and separating the gold from them. The miners were doing anything they
could to get the most gold without realizing that they were making the environment weak.
A third impact that the gold rush had in California was gender roles. The majority of
people who came to the mines were males because the mining job was tough labor. Not many
women traveled with their husbands to California; the men stayed in their homes to take care of
their children or businesses. Joseph Crackbon said, Got nearer to a female this evening than I
have been for six months. Came near fainting. In the mines, the men were not used to many
women being around them anymore. The men in those times were used to their wives doing
everything for them. The men had to switch roles and do laundry and cook for themselves.
According to Kalamazoo Gazette, They can get for cooking sometimes as high as $30 per day,
and for washing the can get even as high as $50 to $60. The women started selling their services
and earned some money from the men who would not have their wives with them.
The gold rush gave California life and was now the state of dreams. The impacts on
population, the environment and gender roles all shape what California is present day. Men
learned that they could also do the duties of women. Without the gold rush, California would
have taken longer to become a state and would have probably not been as diverse as today.

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Works Cited

1. Chan, Sucheng, and Spencer C. Olin. "Conflicts over Land in a New State 1850s1870s." In Major Problems in California History: Documents and Essays, 111.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997. undefined.

2. Oakland Museum of California, www.museumca.org

3. E. Gould Buffum Exults in Golds Discovery, 1850 From E. Gould Buffum. Six Months

in the Gold Mine: From a Journal of Three Years of Residence in Upper and Lower
California, 1847-8-9.Philadelphia: Lea and Blanchard, 1850, pp. xiv-xvi, 107-8.
4. ibid
5. Reprinted by permission of the California State Library in J.S. Holliday, The World
Rushed In: The California Gold rush Experience, Copyright 1981 by J.S. Holliday.
6. Kalamazoo Gazette, March 29, 1850.