California Goldrush

Kristen Carter                                                                                                                         Carter 1
Mrs. Sandling
English II C.P.
5 March 2012
The Transfer over Time
On the cold, clear morning of January 24 1848, James Wilson Marshall found a few tiny gold nuggets along the American River near Sacramento (Gold). This began one of the largest human migrations in history, knows as The California Gold Rush (Gold). A half-million people from around the world descended upon California in search of instant wealth (The). The mid 1800’s were major growing years for California. Not only did California grow in population but along with greater amounts of people also came greater amounts of buildings and farms. The California Gold Rush began abruptly, changed very quickly, and impacted California forever.
In January, Mr. Marshall discovered gold while constructing a saw mill along the American River. The discovery was reported in the San Francisco newspapers in March but caused little because most did not believe something so rare could be so close by (Mining). The spark that ignited the gold rush occurred in May 1848 when Sam Brannan, a storekeeper in Sutter's Creek, came across a bottle filled with gold dust around San Francisco shouting, “Gold! Gold! Gold! From American River!” (Mining). The residents of the city now had proof of the discovery and the stampede to the gold fields was on. San Francisco's harbor was soon cluttered with ships deserted by their crews. Workers abandoned their jobs. San Francisco's two
                                                                                                                                             
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newspapers were forced to close their doors as their staffs were struck by gold fever (PBS). The populations of the...