California Gold Rush
Despite what most people believe gold was not first discovered in California in 1848. Even Sir Frances Drake, said that gold was "occurring in abundance" It is well documented that Spanish and Mexican settlers reported finding gold in southeastern California in 1775, 1812, 1814, and 1824. But it was not until 1842 that it caused great public interest. Francisco Lopez Rancho may have started the great exploration for gold when he found a gold nugget while farming onions. Within weeks of the discovery, hundreds of gold seekers arrived, mostly from Los Angeles. In the following years it was estimated that somewhere between 80,000 and 100,000 in gold was taken to Mexico and even Philadelphia. At first gold was sold in Philadelphia for 19.00 an ounce. The California gold rush began in 1848 at John Sutter's Mill. James Marshall was an employee at Sutter's mill, whose job was to supervise the operation and construction of the mill. Marshall had a work crew camped on the American river in Coloma building a sawmill for John Sutter. On January 28, 1848 Marshall was the first to discover gold at Sutter's Mill and did so by accident. While fixing a wheel on a machine Marshall stumbled upon an odd lookin
------------------------------------------------------------------------**Bibliography**. S and eventually across the entire world. The California gold rush was a great reform in United States history. The president at the time was James Polk who in December of 1848 addressed congress stating that great wealth could be found by the means of gold in California. Miners lived in camps with harsh living conditions, poor food and a lack of medical supplies. Forty-Niners,or gold hunters traveled to California in January of 1848 immediately following the discovery of gold. Brannan set up a camp at Mormons Island and demanded to collect what he called the " the lords tithe" or 10% of all gold mined on the American River. Which later of course turned out to be gold. Mining was not as easy at it seemed. Immigrants from Europe Asia and South America joined Americans in the search for new wealth. Brannan spread the news of gold on May 12, 1848. Very few tools were needed to extract gold from these rivers, in fact many of the men searching for gold were not even miners at all.
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Acceptance Essays
