The Gold Rush By Libby

Around 1848, James Marshall Wilson found gold in California. It was a hot summer day. James was looking at his workers as they were digging a trench. He walked across and saw something shiny in the water. This was the start of the Gold Rush. Finding the gold was easy at first, but it got harder. This meant that only a few got rich from Gold Rush, but California.

Marshall discovered gold at Sutter’s Mill. The Sutter’s Mill is located in the Sierra Nevada mountains. In 1848 when Jame Marshall first founded gold he tried to keep a secret. Around 1849 the secret got out. Marshal had an idea that if you come to Sutter Mill you have to pay a fee. When people came they refused to pay the fee. Around that time Marshal, was pushed aside. The Sutters Mill was near mining sites like Mormon island, Weber Creek, and Bidwell Bar.

If you were going mining you would need supplies right well if you keep reading then you will find out what you needed back then. You would need a pick, Water canteen, pan, bucket, and you would need a shovel. Now I will tell you why you needed those things. You needed a pick because if you want to go in a cave and try to find gold there then you would need a pick. You would of also needed a water canteen because as you know people get thirsty easily. If you went to go find gold in the river then you would need a pan. If you put the pan in the water then you swirl it around and if you're lucky you might find gold. If you would of found gold it was a little piece and you would like to look for more. Than you would probably have a bucket because as I said, when you find a little piece of gold you would probably what more then you just put it in the bucket. The last thing is a shovel if you want to look for gold in the ground then you would have a shovel. As you know people came to California and did you know that a lot of people quit their jobs. People had to quit their great jobs and went to go west. Did you know that a lot of people had to leave their families?

After the Gold rush in 1853 The city of California was packed. The roads where trashed. There was about 15,000 people in California before the gold rush and after the gold rush there was about 100,000 people. Many people who didn’t find gold were farmers or ranchers. The gold rush helped stores in california get bigger on one of thoughs stores is. Levi Strauss sold imported items for people in the gold rush.



As you now people in the gold rush had a lot of pressure on them. The Gold rush was a very important time in 1848. Now you have learned all about the gold rush. Thank you for reading my essay I hope you learned a lot.