After the Mexican-American War, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo allowed America to expand and occupy western territories. One of the more prominent territories acquired from the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was California. Flakes of gold were found floating along the American River at the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. After news got out, people from across the sea traveled to America looking for wealth in the mines of California. The discovery of gold nuggets in the Sacramento Valley in early 1848 sparked the California Gold Rush that will lead to an increase in population, immigration, and innovation in technology. The Gold Rush helped America’s economy by the creation of Boomtowns, innovation in technology, and the flourishing of industries.
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Placer miners relied mainly on moving water and the heaviness of gold, which caused it to settle to the bottom of whatever recovery device they used. Soon, the development of new technology would revolutionize the process of mining and harvesting gold. One of the innovative technology was hydraulic mining. Hydraulic mining uses a powerful water jet to dislodge minerals present in unconsolidated material. In the hydraulic mining of gold, the water jet breaks up material and suspending it in a slurry form known as sluicing. Most of the large profits fell into the hands of corporations who could afford hydraulic mining. However, according to document D, Hydraulic and quartz mining lead to dramatic environmental destruction on California landscape. Hydraulic mining would be able to change the river course and cause Cities and towns in the Sacramento Valley to experience a mounting number of devastating floods. Traveling improved due to the Gold Rush’s wealth, and the increase in population led to significant improvement of transportation between California and the East Coast. Document E shows the increase in sailing as people would travel via sea to get to other places. Additionally, ships were used for trading overseas as trading would become an important part of the Americans
Placer miners relied mainly on moving water and the heaviness of gold, which caused it to settle to the bottom of whatever recovery device they used. Soon, the development of new technology would revolutionize the process of mining and harvesting gold. One of the innovative technology was hydraulic mining. Hydraulic mining uses a powerful water jet to dislodge minerals present in unconsolidated material. In the hydraulic mining of gold, the water jet breaks up material and suspending it in a slurry form known as sluicing. Most of the large profits fell into the hands of corporations who could afford hydraulic mining. However, according to document D, Hydraulic and quartz mining lead to dramatic environmental destruction on California landscape. Hydraulic mining would be able to change the river course and cause Cities and towns in the Sacramento Valley to experience a mounting number of devastating floods. Traveling improved due to the Gold Rush’s wealth, and the increase in population led to significant improvement of transportation between California and the East Coast. Document E shows the increase in sailing as people would travel via sea to get to other places. Additionally, ships were used for trading overseas as trading would become an important part of the Americans