California Gold Rush
The famous California Gold Rush began on January 24th, 1848 when a man named James W. Marshall found a gold nugget in the American River. News of this discovery brought thousands of people to California. This "boom" in population caused California to be part of the Union as the 31st in 1850, just two years after the U.S. acquired the land from Mexico through the Mexican-American War.
Two different trails were taken by gold driven Americans. One way was a sea voyage from New York around the tip of South America, then docking in San Francisco or San Diego. This way, which included seasickness, bug-infested food, high expense, and boredom, was unattractive for would-be prospectors taking that route. The second route was made through covered wagons on the California-Oregon Trail, which also had it's faults including rugged terrain and hostile territory. These hardships sometimes were more than the benefit of finding gold. By 1850, the difficulty and length of both these routes led to the construction of the Panama Railway, the world's first transcontinental railway. This railway was built across the isthmus of Panama by private American companies, which lessened the journey by months.
Not only did the California Gold Rush trigger the emigration of the eastern U.S., but also the immigration of foreign countries such as China, Germany, Chile, Mexico, Ireland, Turkey, and France. The amount of Chinese immigrants was larger than the rest, but they did not intend on staying in the U.S. When they found gold, the Chinese would melt it into pots and utensils, then cover the pieces in soot to hide them from bandits. When the immigrants arrived back in China, they would melt the gold back down to use.
In 1850, California legislator enacted the Foreign Miners Tax, which made foreign miners pay a $20 tax because gold was growing scarce. This tax stopped many Chinese immigrants from prospecting for gold. In 1882, the campaign to restrict Chinese immigration was reached in the Chinese Exclusion Act, which halted Chinese immigration for ten years and prohibited Chinese immigrants from being U.S. citizens. The California Gold Rush transformed the nation by adding our 31st state to the union and by making California one of the most ethnically diverse state in the Union in the middle of the 19th century.
For more information about the California Gold Rush, click here.
Two different trails were taken by gold driven Americans. One way was a sea voyage from New York around the tip of South America, then docking in San Francisco or San Diego. This way, which included seasickness, bug-infested food, high expense, and boredom, was unattractive for would-be prospectors taking that route. The second route was made through covered wagons on the California-Oregon Trail, which also had it's faults including rugged terrain and hostile territory. These hardships sometimes were more than the benefit of finding gold. By 1850, the difficulty and length of both these routes led to the construction of the Panama Railway, the world's first transcontinental railway. This railway was built across the isthmus of Panama by private American companies, which lessened the journey by months.
Not only did the California Gold Rush trigger the emigration of the eastern U.S., but also the immigration of foreign countries such as China, Germany, Chile, Mexico, Ireland, Turkey, and France. The amount of Chinese immigrants was larger than the rest, but they did not intend on staying in the U.S. When they found gold, the Chinese would melt it into pots and utensils, then cover the pieces in soot to hide them from bandits. When the immigrants arrived back in China, they would melt the gold back down to use.
In 1850, California legislator enacted the Foreign Miners Tax, which made foreign miners pay a $20 tax because gold was growing scarce. This tax stopped many Chinese immigrants from prospecting for gold. In 1882, the campaign to restrict Chinese immigration was reached in the Chinese Exclusion Act, which halted Chinese immigration for ten years and prohibited Chinese immigrants from being U.S. citizens. The California Gold Rush transformed the nation by adding our 31st state to the union and by making California one of the most ethnically diverse state in the Union in the middle of the 19th century.
For more information about the California Gold Rush, click here.