The Gold Rush

Shoup, Kate. The Gold Rush. Part of the Primary Sources of Westward Expansion. 2018. 64p. ISBN 978-1-5026-2640-0. Available at 979.4 SHO on the library shelves.

In the early 1800s, as the United States was expanding westward, Mexico was freeing itself from Spanish rule. Seeking to add population to sparsely developed territory in the country’s north, Mexico actively encouraged Americans to move in, provided they followed Mexican law. In practice , this influx of people who then demanded rights and civil society similar to those of the United States led first to the independence of Texas, then to the Mexican-American War. As a result of this war a large area of Mexico was added to the United States as the territories of New Mexico, Arizona, California, and parts of Nevada and Colorado in the peace settlement that followed.

However, nine days before the peace treaty was signed, and unknown to both signatories, gold had been discovered in California. The news spread like wildfire, and triggered a massive population shift from the eastern United States to California, with the population of the area growing a hundred-fold from about one thousand non-Native people in 1848 to over 100,000 in 1849. Traveling by boat to San Francisco from New York or Boston took six months. Crossing the continental United States by wagon was faster, but it was also more dangerous.

This speedy growth led to the state entering the Union as a free state, and ultimately led to the Civil War. Local Native populations were dislodged and decimated to allow for the exploration and exploitation of the land. The free-for-all of the first year was replaced by an organized process, but the depletion of the gold vein was so thorough that by 1855 no gold remained but an ecological mess had been created. Over 300,000 people moved to California during this period, seeking to strike it rich. Though most didn’t and many left when the gold ran out, the majority stayed behind and helped the state grow.

Fans of history will appreciate how the gold rush shaped California and altered the history of the United States.

Books in the Primary Sources of Westward Expansion series include Native American Resistance, Homesteading and Settling the Frontier, The Gold Rush, The Transcontinental Railroad, Lewis and Clark and Exploring the Louisiana Purchase, and Manifest Destiny and the Mexican-American War.