Rushing Toward Gold

Gold has long been seen as valuable. Some gold coins are dated as far back as 500 B.C. and were used as money.

In the 1800s, gold was found in California. Many people rushed to California to try to find gold of their own and become rich.

The Mini Page learns about the California Gold Rush this week.

How it started

The California Gold Rush took place from 1848 to 1855. It began in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, which are in central California, and expanded to include a northern area later.

A man named James W. Marshall discovered gold while he and his crew were building a mill called Sutter’s Place. They used the river on the property to help move dirt while building, and one morning he found gold.

While Marshall’s primary concern was constructing the mill, the crew was allowed to pan for gold during their free time. Soon, however, word spread of gold being found on the property, and workers were no longer interested in building the mill. They wanted to search for gold. Later that year, people from Oregon, Latin America and Hawaii showed up at Sutter’s Mill to try their luck at striking it rich by finding gold.

People

More than 300,000 people rushed to California during the gold rush. They were called forty-niners because many of them arrived in 1849.

A long with the influx of people came a need for towns, so people quickly built homes, businesses, schools and churches. San Francisco began as a small town with 200 residents in 1846. By 1852, however, nearly 36,000 lived there. This population explosion is why it was called a boomtown.

Food and other supplies were needed, so opportunities for ranchers and farmers flourished. In order to care for fields and deliver goods, mules became an important resource.

Mules

Mules were used by firemen to pull equipment. Farmers who settled in California used them for fieldwork, and the Pack, Mule Express was established to carry mail to gold miners along riverbanks and mining sites while they panned for gold.

More than 31,000 mules were in gold rush areas by 1855.