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The California Gold Rush. Chapter 13, Section 4 ( p . 439-443). Forty- Niners. People who went to California to find gold Began in 1849 Mostly men www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDkqvqqjMAA. A Discovery Changes California. Before 1849 Native Americans
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The California Gold Rush Chapter 13, Section 4 (p. 439-443)
Forty-Niners • People who went to California to find gold • Began in 1849 • Mostly men • www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDkqvqqjMAA
A Discovery Changes California • Before 1849 • Native Americans • Californios – settlers of Spanish or Mexican descent • Mostly cattle ranchers
The Rush for Gold • One month before the Mexican Cession became part of the USA • “My eye was caught be a glimpse of something shining….It made my heart thump for I felt certain it was gold.” ~James Marshall, 1st discoverer • Sparked one of the greatest migrations in US history www.youtube.com/watch?v=r03DKbVhfvU
The Rush for Gold, cont. • Travel Options • Sail 18,000 miles around South America and up the Pacific Coast • Storms, Seasickness, Spoiled Food • Sail to Panama, cross overland, and sail to California • Tropical disease in Panama • Travel the trails across North America • Rivers, prairies, mountains, hardships
The Gold Seekers • 2/3 American • Mexican, European, South American, Australian, Chinese • Chinese miners focused on “played-out” sites • Mined the more difficult-to-find gold • Mining Camps • Exhaustion, poor food, disease • High prices for supplies
Impact – Opportunities and Turmoil • Admitted as a free state in 1850 • African Americans could not vote • Californios • Few, if any, legal rights • Lost land
Native Americans and Foreigners • Native Americans • Thousands died from disease and killed by settlers • Miners’ destruction of the environment affected Native Americans’ survival • Foreigners • Often forced out by Americans to reduce competition • Foreign Miners Tax • $20 per month • Many (Chinese) opened businesses in response
Effects of Statehood • Economic • San Francisco grew to become a center of banking, manufacturing, shipping, and trade • Sacramento became the center of an important farming region • Government • California tipped the balance of slave and free states in the USA