

The California Gold Rush by Bryce
Table of Contents How it started.........................……………………………………………1 Overland...................................................................................................2
By sea.............…………..………………………………………………….3 Mining for gold ........................................................................................4 Life of a 49ner...........................................................................................5
Here are good informational W e b s i t e s www.Wikipedia.com www.history.com www.kidrex.org www.google.com


How it Started There was rumors of gold in California before the gold rush. Gold was found at Shutters mill. On January 4,1848, James Marshall saw something shiny in the water he picked it and looked at it and it looked like gold to him so he brought it to a examining center to see if it is real gold. It turned out that it was gold. Sutter was scared that the news of gold wold bring his workers off the fields and it wold bring prospectors to his land and practically destroy his property. He asked his workers to keep the discovery a secret. In late1848 the word got out and it spread all over the country.


Overland Trail Many people came to California in covered wagons. This was a long and difficult journey including dangerous. Travelers had to travel across difficult land they had to travel across deserts and climb mountains with there wagons and oxen. Travelers had to start very early if they did not want to git stuck in the Sierra mountains in the snow because many people would freeze to death. Coming by wagon had it's advantages. It also men't that travelers could pack more stuff. Travelers packed a cooking stove, silverware, rice, bacon, ham, dried fruit, bread flour, and sugar. Overland travelers would take mining tolls and farming. One of the things most of the men took guns and ammunition, every buddy brought clothes and also blankets. Every thing they carried they had to put it in the wagon. The wagon was 9 by4 feet so they need to fit all the things noted in the wagon.


By Sea People also traveled by sea. Their were two water main routes to California. There is a 17,000 mile route around the South America. Cape Horn took 5 to 7 months. The travelers had to deal with big storms and deadly diseases and sicknesses. That happens because of poor living conditions and limited fruits and vegetables that causes scurvy. The other rout is coming by steamship via panama. That rout was much faster but it much more expensive. The ships had very crowded living spaces and there were many sicknesses to. At one time there were more then 500 ships in San Francisco harbor. Lots of ships were abandoned because the crew left in search of gold. Lots of people expected to find gold right away but unfortunately they they still had to travel 150 miles inline which they soon realized. They spent all of there money and they were to tired and hungry trying to reach San Francisco. Most were not prepared for this extra journey.


Mining for Gold Many people that arrived at California were expecting to fined random pieces of gold on the ground. They were not prepared for the hard work that they had to do. Especially in the later days of the gold rush. In the the early days of the gold rush it was easy to fined gold. All you needed was a pickax and a pan, a knife, and a shovel. Then they pried pieces of gold off of rocks and out of crevices. The dirt shoveled from creeks cold be swirled in a pan to fined gold. Once easy gold is found there were more inventive ways to get gold. The Long Tom was a 8 by 20 foot rocker. Miners wold need to shoveled dirt into it then pour water in it. Then you wold rock it like a rocker. The dirt wold be washed away


The Life of a 49er In the early days of,1848 and 1849, it was not uncommon to dig $2000 of gold a day. The average miner wold be lucky to fined $10 worth of gold a day. As the time went on there wold be less and less easy to fined gold. Some people did make fortunes. Some were lucky a nuff gold to by something to eat. Most of the miners lived in tents and also cooked their food over a open fire. Mel's were mostly beans bacon. Rain and snow in the winter months were hard for the miners to mine. There also were sicknesses and colds that you wold git by sleeping on cold damp ground. The food they eat was not very nutritious which was poor health. Scurvy was common from not eating a nuff fruits and vegetables.


The Rush Begins By1849 the gold rush started. People from all over the United States and the world cumin to California. People got gold fever in hop of striking it rich. Sum people who cam were expecting there to be a river overflowing with gold. Unfortunately most people found rivers full of miners. Most prosecutors were store owners or cooks , teachers , and farmers. By 1850 mining country became more populated. Some immigrants became store owners. In mid1850s gold became much more difficult to find sins people have token most of the gold. Lots of people made fortunes by ceiling equipment to the miners then the miners themselves. When silver was discovered in Nevada 1859 miners headed to Nevada which ended the California gold rush.


The California gold rush was a beg part in the w e s t w a r d expansion.