Gold Rush of California

Wouldn't you like to strike it rich? Well on january 24, 1848, in Coloma, California Someone did. James W. Marshall found gold at Sutter's Mill. When word got out, people flocked to california to find their own gold. This began what was known as the California Gold Rush. This rush brought over 300,000 people to the California. These seekers were called 'forty-niners' taken from the date 1849. At the start of the rush, gold nuggets could be picked up off the ground. Later, it had to be removed from streams and riverbeds by panning.  As time went by, new, more intricate techniques were used to collect the gold. Due to high costs many returned home having made very little profit.

Marshall, who was working for Sutter, found shiny metal while working in the mill. When they discovered it was gold, Sutter wanted to keep it a secret. However, rumors spread and by March was published in the San Francisco newspaper.  These rumors continued to spread and soon immigrants flocked to the Gold Country. This ruined Sutter's ambitions of ruling an agricultural empire. They took over his land and stole his crops. This rush caused San Francisco to flourish
as the population went from around 1000 people in 1848 to 25,000 by 1850. As gold was discovered in other parts of California, the forty-niners would rush to the areas to beat the others. Because of the value of the gold, Greed ran rampant.

By 1850 all the easily accessible gold had been collected and people began to turn to the more difficult locations.  Due to difficult retrieval, the Americans began to drive out the foreigners to keep the rest for themselves. Some American miners began organized attacks on foreign miners. The increase in poputlation drove the Native Americans out of their hunting, fishing and food-gathering spots, which resulted in them attacking the miners as well. These attacks provoked counter-attacks on Native Villages. Due to being out-gunned, the Native Americans were often slaughtered. The ones who escaped were unable to survive andstarved to death. All of these Vile acts were caused
from the Greed buried within the Human Race.