The Gold Rush by Cav

The Gold Rush

 By Cav

  11/30/2017

The  gold rush started out in 1848 and was an important time because they found gold, they figured out that California wasn't an island, and it moved lots of people west.

 

The First Gold Nugget Was Found

To begin, James Marshall was hired to build a saw mill.  He built a saw mill over a river with a lake behind it. He found gold in the river and he was dazzled. Marshall wanted to keep it a secret, but people in California knew because the secret got out. For 6 months California knew this but a captain on a ship  taking goods across the United States of America spread the word.

 

The Secret Spreaded  

The secret spreaded all around the United States of America. Some took boats and some took wagons. People back then thought that California was a big island so more people took boats. Rarely some people faced indians and I mean Rarely.

How Mining Camps Worked

You had to be careful at mining camps  There were a lot of crimes, diseases, and alot of law breaking. Rules were set at the camp but this did not help crimes stop. There was a lot of stealing. There was a lot of gold at mining camps. Some people worked day and night. They worked for 6 out of 7 days a week for 16 hours. The dream of then becoming rich motivated them to work longer. Most prospectors did not find that mutch. Some only got $ 30 a day some found $300 a day. How they would find gold is they would get dirt and water and shake it for a while. Then they would dump the water out and the gold would fall to the bottom of the pan.

How The Gold Rush Ended

The gold rush ended in 1858. Finding gold just came to expensive for average people. Companies started mining for gold. People were now using hydraulic mining. Hydraulic mining is when people would blast dirt with very high pressure water. Some other people in different countries used this method years ago before the Gold Rush. San Francisco’s population increased from 1,000 to 35,000 in 2 years because of the amount of gold found there. The Gold Rush also stopped because gold was found in different states.  

The Gold Rush was a very important time in history. Now that  you know all about the Gold Rush. Now you can

teach anyone you know. Hope you enjoyed this time in history.

Bibliography

http://www.ducksters.com/history/westward_expansion/california_gold_rush.phpFriedman, Mel. The California Gold Rush. Children's Press, 2010