The California Gold Rush began in 1848 when James W. Marshall struck gold at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, Ca. Thousands of people traveled to California by sea or by land to end their financial hardship. The discovery of gold in California spread like wild fire, at least once the message reached populated cities because there were no cell phones and social media. Once the news of gold was discovered and spread throughout the world there was an increase of population in San Francisco. The city of San Francisco consisted of a merely 200 people at the beginning, since California was far West from the East coast, but increased to about 36,000 people during the Gold Rush. This also forced San Francisco to expand and build new buildings and infrastructure
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The population in other states decreased because so many people left for the California Gold Rush, talk about taking a big risk and hoping to strike some gold in California. The year 1849 is when the Gold Rush became best known for as “The Gold Rush and the Forty Niners”, not the National Football League team, but the 1849 miners, people who left their home for California. Everyone knew about the Gold Rush by 1849 and California’s population had tripled with a total of about 90,000 people compared to 36,000 in 1848, and that was within a few months. The population increase also helped California become a state, since California no longer belonged to Mexico after the Mexican-American war of 1848 and was now just a territory. Being a miner during the Gold Rush wasn’t quite so easy, but instead was actually difficult. Miners had to face issues such Gold shortages, competition, long hours of work, terrible living conditions, theft, and taxation. The gold rush itself was a race against …show more content…
Thievery was also high during the gold rush. Bandits would roam the California countryside and attack miners by stealing their gold. If the bandits didn’t steal your gold then it was the state. The Gold Rush attracted thousands of immigrants inland and by sea, which led to a lot of competition for gold. Miners who were born within the states thought it was unfair for foreign immigrants to take gold that belonged to California. Therefore California created the 1850’s Foreign Miner’s tax that targeted the Latinos. The tax didn’t affect native born or American citizens. In order for foreign miners to mine for gold in the state of California they had to pay a fee. “Required all persons who were not native born or who had not become American citizens … to pay twenty dollars for licenses allowing them to mine” (Neumann). Many immigrants had no idea what the “Foreign Tax” was about because they didn’t speak the language. Tax collectors would then use this to their advantage and abuse the foreign miners. Eventually, another tax law was passed that targeted the Asian immigrants. The Asian miners refused to pay the tax because of the high fee per month. “If they failed to pay the monthly tax, the Chinese workers were forced to give up their property and personal possessions” (Chen). The tax caused
The population in other states decreased because so many people left for the California Gold Rush, talk about taking a big risk and hoping to strike some gold in California. The year 1849 is when the Gold Rush became best known for as “The Gold Rush and the Forty Niners”, not the National Football League team, but the 1849 miners, people who left their home for California. Everyone knew about the Gold Rush by 1849 and California’s population had tripled with a total of about 90,000 people compared to 36,000 in 1848, and that was within a few months. The population increase also helped California become a state, since California no longer belonged to Mexico after the Mexican-American war of 1848 and was now just a territory. Being a miner during the Gold Rush wasn’t quite so easy, but instead was actually difficult. Miners had to face issues such Gold shortages, competition, long hours of work, terrible living conditions, theft, and taxation. The gold rush itself was a race against …show more content…
Thievery was also high during the gold rush. Bandits would roam the California countryside and attack miners by stealing their gold. If the bandits didn’t steal your gold then it was the state. The Gold Rush attracted thousands of immigrants inland and by sea, which led to a lot of competition for gold. Miners who were born within the states thought it was unfair for foreign immigrants to take gold that belonged to California. Therefore California created the 1850’s Foreign Miner’s tax that targeted the Latinos. The tax didn’t affect native born or American citizens. In order for foreign miners to mine for gold in the state of California they had to pay a fee. “Required all persons who were not native born or who had not become American citizens … to pay twenty dollars for licenses allowing them to mine” (Neumann). Many immigrants had no idea what the “Foreign Tax” was about because they didn’t speak the language. Tax collectors would then use this to their advantage and abuse the foreign miners. Eventually, another tax law was passed that targeted the Asian immigrants. The Asian miners refused to pay the tax because of the high fee per month. “If they failed to pay the monthly tax, the Chinese workers were forced to give up their property and personal possessions” (Chen). The tax caused