Gold Rush

10 Days that Unexpectedly Changed America

1. Who is James Marshall and what did he discover? Why was his discovery so important?
What did it lead to?
He discovered gold in a River( in California) , it started the gold rush and eventually led to the
whole gold rush. It was so important because it's the first of its kind.

2. Who were William Swain and Sarah Royce? Are their stories typical of migrating Americans?
Did they find success once out on the frontier? If so, how did they find this success? Are you
surprised by their triumphs and tragedies?
He was a traveler who was seeking gold to pay for his farm. Many went to the frontier without
their families and come back to their families. Yes, his story is somewhat typical. Sarah Royce
and her family went to the west for the prospects of gold. Her journey was atypical because her
family went by themselves (in one wagen) near the tail-end of the trail. In the frontier many
people died to coerulea, drowned in the rivers, or died to indians. Around 6 percent mortality
due to the conditions. These tragedies are quite surprising and tragic

3. What did the Sierra Nevada Mountains signify to those who were moving west? What
challenges did these mountains and their obstacles present to gold-seekers?
When crossing the mountains many died due to the snows and hazardous conditions to cross
the mountains. They symbolized the hardest and last part of the trail. Many gold-seekers had
the obstacle of digging up all the gold hidden the river that took extreme amounts of effort to get
at.
4. What happened to California on September 9th, 1850? Why was the speed of this occurrence
so shocking?
California became a state (31st State) on September 9ht. It was a state extremely quickly. Due
to the gold rush. It took only a year for its statehood compared to the other developing states.
5. Who are the Californios? Who is Mariano G. Vallejo? What did Mr. Vallejo think of the gold
rush at first? Are you surprised at his economic demise after major industrialization and
commercialization eventually transformed California?
The descendants of the people living in California before it became a State. Marianao was a
famous California who had 66 thousand acres and was very wealthy. He was very welcoming to
the American because he was promised the land that was promised to him. He was very excited
about the Gold rush. The change in the economics of California is staggering. With the
change/focus of labor to technology caused california to focus on commerce/technology. After a
while he had to fight the squatters on his land and eventually lost all his property and died
penniless

6. What were mining camps? Was it easy to find gold upon arrival into the Sacramento valley?
They were numerous, it was very easy to find mining camps but it was very hard to find gold in
the valley. Some could find pounds a day and others will find nothing.

7. How did Sarah Royce describe her peers in mining towns? Do her descriptions and journal
entries strike you as surprising? Why?
She called them savages, who were not formal in any sense of the words. It doesn’t surprise me
because or their reasons for being there (greed) and what they called their towns.
8. What type of person had the best chance at finding success during the gold rush? What do
you think would have been the best way to support yourself if you were in the Sacramento valley
in 1849?
The merchants had the biggest success during the gold rush. THey have the best chance
because they are needed for the miners to survive, without them the survivors would die. The
men needed the merchants. If I were there, I would try to be a merchant.

9. What does the economic and socioeconomic evolution in San Francisco tell you about the
gold rush? Why was San Francisco an epicenter for commerce in California?
In four years it turned from a city of tents to 600 hundred brick homes. It turned into a booming
city. It became the epicenter because the merchant ships came to San Francisco to trade. THis
was the place that supplied the whole of california.

10. How did hydraulic mining work? Why was it needed? What did the need for hydraulic mining
mean for the individual miner who was trying to strike it rich on his own?
They used hydraulic pumps against lossed river to use the pressure of water to get at the gold.
It was needed to get at the hard to reach gold. This mean;t that the individual miner was out of
luck, they weren't needed or wanted.

11. What does William Swain’s story tell you about the gold rush? What do his letters say about
his character and the character of those who pursued their own American dream? How do you
think the west shaped his character?
He was like many miners in the Americas. His character of those of a wise man who took a
chance with his own freedom, to go somewhere in the hopes of striking rich. It shaped him to be
a hard-working man who was wise beyond his age due to the rough conditions of being a Gold
Rush Miner.