Gold Rush

When it all started
The discovery of gold nuggets in Sacramento Valley in early 1848 was one of the most economically historical events in U.S. history during the first half of the 19th century. Thousands of gold prospectors traveled across land and even by sea to get a taste of the gold that was waiting for them in the San Francisco area. By 1849, California was highly populated due to this event. A total of $2 billion was extracted from the area during this event, which peaked in 1852.

discovery at Sutter's mill
On January 24, 1848, a carpenter from new jersey known as James Wilson Marshall found flakes of gold in a river at the base of the Sierra Nevada mountains, nearby was the town of Coloma, California. Marshall was just working to build a water powered sawmill for John Sutter (a German-born Swiss citizen who founded a colony of New Switzerland, which would be later be known as Sacramento)at the time being. “It made my heart thump, for I was certain it was gold” Marshall later recalled. Soon, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed which ended the Mexican-American war and left California in the hands of the United States. California consisted of 6,500 Californio's, 700 Foreigners, and 150,000 Native Americans when the Gold Rush was happening. Even though James and Sutter tried to keep it secret, word eventually got out by mid March, and there was at least one newspaper that stated that large quantities of gold were found near Sutter's mill. At first the citizens of San Francisco didn't believe it, but one storekeeper frenzied through the town and paraded with a vial of gold obtained near Sutter's mill. Eventually, three quarters of the male population left town for the gold mines and there were over 4,000 miners by August. And soon, the news went overseas and people went across sea to find what they were all looking for. Thousands of men left their homes and spent their life savings on mining gold, while the women had to look after their farms and raise their children alone. By the end of 1849, the population reached 100,000. To accommodate 49er's, gold mining towns had sprung up all over, with set up shops, saloons, and everything they need to make a fortune. Unfortunately, that brought fourth overcrowded lawless camps, which included prostitution, rampant banditry, gambling, and violence. San Francisco became the leading metropolis of the time being. the Gold Rush most definitely caused California's admission to the union as the 31st state.

when it all came to an end
After 1850, most the gold on California's surface disappeared. Even though miners still came, it became incredibly rare to find anything. And more and more miners were driven into wage labor. Soon, they introduced a new form of mining called Hydraulic Mining, but all that did was destroy the landscape. Even though gold mining continued throughout the 1850's, it peaked in 1852. Soon after, gold mining declined rapidly with $45 million by 1857. The settlement in California continued, but by the end of the decade, all that was left was $380,000

sidenote:
Levi Strauss created durable jeans for miners during the time of the Gold Rush, and those jeans are still in use to this day.

references:
http://www.history.com/topics/gold-rush-of-1849