California Gold Rush

California became a part of the United States of America in 1850.  Only 2 years earlier one man found some tiny, shiny rocks in the water called gold. They tried to keep it as a secret, but it did not last long.  The word spread and people started coming in from all around America, especially from the eastern part. In December 1848, it was announced that there was a lot more gold in California than people thought, and people got “gold fever”, everybody was desperate for gold. By 1849 more than 80,000 people joined the Gold Rush, they were called the “forty-niners”. It all kept going on for several years, by 1854 about 300,000 people came to California, including many immigrants from Chile, China, Great Britain, and many other countries; which led to the change of the culture in California and has always made it a diverse state.

Personally, I think that people made the right choice to go to California in 1849.  If I would have that opportunity now; I wouldn’t hesitate for a second to dig for gold. It is something that was given to the people by the mother nature, why not take advantage of it before the government does; as usual?  Moreover, the people that actually started the gold rush were the people who were actually in need of it; so they just decided to take advantage of something for once before the same people who always takes everything started coming over. It was like a competition, and at the end of the day they all those who went home with some gold were winners. The trouble started when the gold started to run out and the mining boom towns were full of people.   people started fighting each other over the gold till they realized it’s over now. The lucky ones changed their lives to the better  but all of them were part of the early history of the state of California.  Manifest Destiny did not treat everyone the same because many felt they deserved it after the hard work, and the rest were satisfied with whatever life gave them.

http://www.shmoop.com/california-gold-rush/summary.html

http://www.history.com/topics/gold-rush-of-1849