The California Gold Rush
by Charlotte Rothamel
Table of Contents Table of content......2 Introducing...............3 How it started..........4 Traveling................ 4-5 Money......................6 Work........................ 7 Food .....................7-8 Sleep.........................9 Gold fever................ 8
Introduction
Hello my name is Charlotte Rothamel and I am writing about the California Gold Rush. I hope that with the information I have gathered you will learn something about the California Gold Rush. I'm positive that after you read this you will want to learn more about this exciting time in history. I hope you will share all the interesting facts of how some lucky people made millions of dollars. Also I hope that this book will answer any questions that you could of hade. Like how much distance did people cover and how much gold did they get. Well
I'm positive that you find out the answers to you
questions. I personally love the California Gold Rush and I hope YOU WILL TOO!!!!
How It All Started
In 1849 on January 24th a man named James Marshall
was the first person to Find gold in the American river next Sutter mill. After he announced that there was gold in California, over 300,000 people came to try to find gold. So many people came, it was hard to find a place to sleep. Most men came and some women did to. Some of the people that went they they got there they went right to work trying to find gold and setting up there tents and eating and getting ready to look for gold. Some even went to sleep. I probably would of to because I bet I would be very tired after a very long trip like that. I bet everyone was very tired.
Traveling
People herd of James Marshall and how he found the
gold and a lot of them who herd it went to California. For some People they had to travel for months on ship Most Americans traveled 3,000 miles to get to there that is about 4 months if you or fast or it could take 6 months if you go slow. and 6 months is Half of a year! Most 49 res that were from the Midwest or the east traveled 3200 miles. That's a lot I suppose they were very tired when they got to California. The Gold seekers traveled through Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho and Nevada to get to California. To travel by ship it costs to much so many of them travels by wagons pulls by oxen or mules and very few came by horse. Some people took the panama shortcut it only took 700 miles to get
there and that's only about 2 to 3 months to get to California. A other sorter way was the way Cape Horn it took 1500 miles to get There. Some women and the men had to start a business or traveling farm to Get money. And for you some people it was very hard to get to California. Mostly Women because first it was a lot of distant to cover and lots of them hade kids that they hade to bring . They could not just Leave there kids. Oo but some did. Not just like a 7 year old like a 17 year old some left them and they went with hope that when they came back every thing would be all right.
Money
Lots of people got lucky and fund more that 80 pound of
gold Too day that wold be worth $1,420,841. to Day Even 1 pound is $17,757. lots of people got tuns of gold like won Man how got $890,000. in only nine weeks. That he built a pool for hem self and a mansion it took lots of money to get to California But it was worth ti. Lots of people got a lot of money like there was a Another man how got a lot of money he got $123,345 that is a lot of money and won more there was a man that got $321,233 that is so much. I wont another gold rush to happen in bend Oregon we're I live that wold be Awesome. Lots of people did not have to work for the rest of there lives. They went from poor to rich so fast they went to not eating to eating at the most expensive restaurants ever with very expensive thing like dinner drinks and stuff like that. They eat like queens
Work
Almost all of the people that went to the California for
the gold rush had supplies like shovels, picks, pick hammers, wheel barrows, and a wash pen. The wash pen was a bowl that had little holes. The miners would get a shovel full of stuff from the river and than put it in the wash pen and shake it. The gold was heavy so it would go to the bottom and all the other stuff would fall out.Then
the gold would remain
because it was larger than the sand and the pebbles that were around it. The people would work very hard. They wold get up at 5:00 or 6:00 am and go to sleep at 6:00 or 7:00pm. They probably would have worked more but at 6:00 or 7:00 it was already dark and they could not see. Then the could not work as much. It was hard to be there all day shoveling rock. They were like the dwarfs in Snow White. I would like to have gold but it was a lot of work. I would get so tired. I don't think that I could work as hard as they did.
Food
During the California gold rush the people did not have a
lot of food because it was very expensive . A loaf of bread cost $2. But the one's that hade a lot of gold ate very well. The miners ate a lot of beans, corn, eggs, rice, wheat, pork, boiled potatoes, dried apples, and bread.They drank a lot of
water, coffee and tea. Lots of the women that were there were paid to cook them meals. The rich paid a lot for food. They also would go to fancy restaurants not that far away so they could be back soon. Food cost a lot of money like 300 dollars for the whole time they were there. Some people only found $200 worth of gold.I bet that It was very hard for the one's that did not have a lot of money. Some nights they could not afford food and would have to wait till the morning. After a long day of looking for gold they were very worn out and hungry. Some people had to sell there stuff to make money and Bye food .some people brought a lot of food with them I mean a LOT so that did not have to by food for a while. Until now id never noticed that they hade to suffer so much for the gold rush like not getting diner every night and things like that. And also that some people cam back with no money because they hade to spend it all on food or they wold get sick or starve and die I love chicken !!!
Sleep
The people in the California gold rush did not get much sleep only a about 6 or 7 Hours a day. We need at least 10 hours of sleep each day.The sleep conditions were not that comfortable for the poor, they slept in tents but the rich had a more comfortable sleeping place some even paid people to build them a cabin to sleep in. Some rich stayed in tents to save there money but probably bought better tens. How much seep they got really affected them. Like if they got a lot of sleep they could work a lot harder the next day. But if they only got a little sleep they can work as hard because they are so tired and then that effects them the next day and the next day and so on. I could not live with that. Until now i'd never noticed how hard the people work to try to find a better life for them a and there family. And for the next generation and the next.
Gold Fever Now I know that you might think that gold fever is a type of a fever but it is not. Gold fever is when a person turns very selfish and tries to take others gold from them. Lots of people went to different places in California, and one group got a gold washer. A gold washer is were you get a bucket of rock's and sand and then put it in the washer and the gold would come out. They would push and shove and pull to be the first one to get the gold washer and would not share it. Then they all got gold fever. A type of gold fever is when people started to steal other peoples gold and then they would get in fights and steal more gold and more gold and finally they all have hardly any gold left. Lots of people did not get gold fever but the one's that did, well to bad for them. In my opinion they should go to jail. In there opinion they would not want to go jail but that dose not mater almost all of them are
dead. A Other type of gold fever was wen people started to find silver and silver has a chemical called mercury and it was toxic. At that time the miners did not now that and it wold get in to there skin and blood and wold make them go crazy. And then they would steel and stay up all night and punch themselves and other people and get in big fights. And they wold even kill other people and just crazy stuff like wen they wold go a cross a river they would jump in and die. And what is so sad is that a bit of people got that type of gold fever and died. So sad. But luckily not everyone got that that type of gold fever. Thank goodness. Now I'm going to tell you about one more type of gold fever. This one is when people start to work so hard to try to find gold. And they would not stop they just kept going and going until they cannot go any longer. Most people got cold feet or at least one of the times that I had mentioned in this chapter of the golfing for gold fever most people got one of the types of gold fever that I had mentioned in this chapter of the gold fever.
Did you now that almost half of the people died during the gold rush
How It Ended
Well it ended wen people could not find any more gold. When that happened lost of the Chinese that came started to try to find more ways to make money. Like some started to farm and would sell there food door to door. Some other Chinese went to the rivers and started to fish. Many of the Chinese were experts at fishing. They would fish cod, flounder and shark. Also they look for oysters, mussels and shrimp. Then they would sell them. All of there hard work pays of. Also they help
a lot with the railroad. The railroad was build from 1863 to 1869. It was the first won one to connect the West and the East. And that a story about the Chinese and how the gold rush ended.
Websites
maps.com kidrex.org wikipedia.com Who got the most gold in the California gold rush.com
Conclusion
So I hope with the information that I have gathered that you have learned a lot about the California gold Rush and its secrets. Also I hope that you have answered all the the question that you might of had about the California Gold Rush. Also one more thing, I hope that you, well share all the thing that you have learned from reading this book with all your friends!!!!
The End