The California Gold Rush

Words: 674
Pages: 3

"Marshall arrived in the evening, it was raining very heavy, but he told me he came on important business. After we was alone in a private room he showed me the first specimens of gold, that is he was not certain if it was gold or not, but he thought it might be; immediately I made the proof and found that it was gold.” On January 24th, 1848 James Marshall found gold near John Sutter’s Mill, while constructing it. The Gold Rush started in San Francisco but gold was found all across the United States. The founding of the gold was very significant and had several effects, some good and some bad. After gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in 1848, Americans began traveling and settling west, which also led to lawless actions rising in the west, and leading to thousands upon thousands of immigrants arriving in America. …show more content…
Thousands upon thousands of citizens began traveling and settling west hoping to strike gold in the effect to become rich. However not everyone that moved west was looking for gold, some opened up shops for miners that sold picks, tools, jeans, and canteens. The population from 1848 to 1850 went from 1,000 to 25,000. The borders for the city of San Francisco were expanded because of so many citizens. In fact there was so many citizens were in California that it was able to become the 31st in 1850. San Francisco had the title of being the largest city west of the Mississippi River until it was lost to Los Angeles in 1920(Open Collections Program). On the other hand not all effects were