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{{Short description|Gold rush from 1848 to 1855}}
{{Redirect|California Gold Rush|the game|Gold Rush!|the film|California Gold Rush (film)}}
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{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Use American English|date=December 2022}}
{{Infobox event
| title          = California gold rush
| image          = 1850 Woman and Men in California Gold Rush.jpg
| image_size     = 
| caption        = Prospectors working California gold [[placer deposits]] in 1850
| english_name   = 
| date           = {{Start date|1848|01|24}}–1855
| venue          = 
| place          = [[Sierra Nevada]] and [[Northern California]] goldfields
| coordinates    = {{Wikidatacoord|Q17550|display=inline,title|name=Visitor Center of the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park}}
| also known as  = 
| type           = 
| theme          = 
| cause          = 
| organisers     = <!-- or | organizers = -->
| first reporter = 
| filmed by      = 
| participants   = 300,000 prospectors
| outcome        = California becomes a US state <br> [[California genocide]] occurs
}}
{{Periods in US history}}

The '''California gold rush''' (1848–1855) was a [[gold rush]] in [[California]], which began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by [[James W. Marshall]] at [[Sutter's Mill]] in [[Coloma, California]].<ref>"[E]vents from January 1848 through to December 1855 [are] generally acknowledged as the 'Gold Rush moment.' After 1855, California gold mining changed and is outside the 'rush' era."{{cite web |title=The Gold Rush of California: A Bibliography of Periodical Articles |publisher=[[California State University, Stanislaus]] |year=2002 |url=http://library.csustan.edu/bsantos/goldrush/GoldTOC.htm |access-date=January 23, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070701144431/http://www.library.csustan.edu/bsantos/goldrush/GoldTOC.htm |archive-date=July 1, 2007 }}</ref> The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people from the rest of the United States and abroad to California, which had recently [[conquest of California|been conquered from Mexico]]. The sudden influx of gold into the money supply reinvigorated the American economy; the sudden population increase allowed California to grow rapidly into statehood in the [[Compromise of 1850]]. The gold rush had severe effects on [[Indigenous peoples of California|Native Californians]] and accelerated the Native American population's decline from disease, starvation, and the [[California genocide]].

The effects of the gold rush were substantial. Whole indigenous societies were attacked and pushed off their lands by the gold-seekers, nicknamed "forty-niners" (referring to 1849, the peak year for gold rush immigration). Outside of California, the first to arrive were from [[History of Oregon|Oregon]], [[Hawaiian Islands|Hawaii]], and Latin America in late 1848. Of the approximately 300,000 people who came to California during the gold rush, about half arrived by sea and half came overland on the [[California Trail]] and the [[California Road]]; forty-niners often faced substantial hardships on the trip. While most of the newly arrived were Americans, the gold rush attracted thousands from Latin America, Europe, Australia, and [[Qing dynasty|China]]. Agriculture and ranching expanded throughout the state to meet the needs of the settlers. San Francisco grew from a small settlement of about 200 residents in 1846 to a [[boomtown]] of about 36,000 by 1852. Roads, churches, schools and other towns were built throughout California. In 1849, a [[Constitutional Convention (California)|state constitution was written]]. The new constitution was adopted by referendum vote; the future state's interim first governor and legislature were chosen. In September 1850, [[List of U.S. states by date of admission to the Union|California achieved statehood]].

At the beginning of the gold rush, there was no law regarding property rights in the goldfields and a system of "staking claims" was developed. Prospectors retrieved the gold from streams and riverbeds using simple techniques, such as [[gold panning|panning]]. Although [[gold mining|mining]] caused environmental harm, more sophisticated methods of gold recovery were developed and later adopted around the world. New methods of transportation developed as [[steamship]]s came into regular service. By 1869, [[California and the railroads|railroads]] were built from California to the eastern United States. At its peak, technological advances reached a point where significant financing was required, increasing the proportion of gold companies to individual miners. Gold worth tens of billions of today's US dollars was recovered, which led to great wealth for a few, though many who participated in the California gold rush earned little more than they had started with.

{{Anchor|Overview}}

==History==
{{See also|History of California before 1900}}

===Earlier discoveries===
Gold was discovered [[Gold in California|in California]] as early as March 9, 1842, at [[Rancho San Francisco]], in the mountains north of present-day Los Angeles. Californian native Francisco Lopez was searching for stray horses and stopped on the bank of a small creek (in today's [[Placerita Canyon]]), about {{convert|3|mi}} east of present-day [[Newhall, California|Newhall]], and about {{convert|35|mi}} northwest of Los Angeles. While the horses grazed, Lopez dug up some wild onions and found a small gold nugget in the roots among the bulbs. He looked further and found more gold.<ref name="blakely">{{Cite book |last1=Blakely |first1=Jim |first2=Karen |last2=Barnette |title=Historical Overview: Los Padres National Forest |date=July 1985 |url=http://lpfw.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/19850700_Blakley_HistoricalOverviewLPNF.pdf |page=31 |access-date=September 6, 2016 |archive-date=February 7, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160207165451/http://lpfw.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/19850700_Blakley_HistoricalOverviewLPNF.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Lopez took the gold to authorities who confirmed its worth. Lopez and others began to search for other streambeds with gold deposits in the area. They found several in the northeastern section of the forest, within present-day [[Ventura County, California|Ventura County]].<ref name="blakely" /> In November, some of the gold was sent to the [[U.S. Mint]], although otherwise attracted little notice.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Prudhomme |first=Charles J. |date=1922 |title=Gold Discovery in California: Who Was the First Real Discoverer of Gold in This State? |url=http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/prudhomme1922hssc.htm |url-status=live |access-date=June 25, 2021 |website=SCVHistory.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150310204450/http://www.scvhistory.com:80/scvhistory/prudhomme1922hssc.htm |archive-date=March 10, 2015 }}</ref><ref name="RawlsPlacerita">{{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|p=[[iarchive:goldenstateminin0000unse/page/3|3]]}}</ref> In 1843, Lopez found gold in San Feliciano Canyon near his first discovery. Mexican miners from [[Sonora]] worked the [[placer deposits]] until 1846.<ref name="blakely" /> Minor finds of gold in California were also made by [[Mission Indians]] prior to 1848. The [[friar]]s instructed them to keep its location secret to avoid a [[gold rush]].{{sfnb|Rolle|1987|p=164}}

===Marshall's discovery===
[[File:James W. Marshall.jpg|thumb|left|upright|1855 illustration of [[James W. Marshall]], discoverer of gold at [[Sutter's Mill]]]]

In January 1847, nine months into the [[Mexican–American War]], the [[Treaty of Cahuenga]] was signed, leading to the resolution of the military conflict in [[Alta California]] (Upper California).<ref>{{cite web |last=Meares |first=Hadley |date=July 11, 2014 |title=In a State of Peace and Tranquility: Campo de Cahuenga and the Birth of American California |url=http://www.kcet.org/socal/departures/columns/lost-landmarks/in-a-state-of-peace-and-tranquility-campo-de-cahuenga-and-the-birth-of-american-california.html |url-status=live |access-date=June 25, 2021 |website=[[KCET]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140717202819/http://www.kcet.org/socal/departures/columns/lost-landmarks/in-a-state-of-peace-and-tranquility-campo-de-cahuenga-and-the-birth-of-american-california.html |archive-date=July 17, 2014 }}</ref> On January 24, 1848, [[James W. Marshall]]{{efn|A [[New Jersey]] native, Marshall came to California in 1844, worked for [[John Sutter]], and began farming. In 1846, he fought against [[Mokelumne River|Mokelumne]] Indians and participated in the [[Bear Flag Revolt]] (an attempt to claim California as an independent republic). He then joined [[John C. Frémont]]'s [[California Battalion]], followed by further military service. When he returned to [[Sutter's Fort]], most of his livestock had vanished.{{sfnb|Rolle|1987|p=165}} }} found shiny metal in the [[water wheel|tailrace]] of a lumber mill he was building for [[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]] pioneer [[John Sutter]]—known as [[Sutter's Mill]], near [[Coloma, California|Coloma]] on the [[American River]].<ref name="BancroftDiscovery">{{harvb|Bancroft|1888|pp=[https://archive.org/details/bancrohistofcali23huberich/page/32/mode/2up 32–34]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Gold Nugget |url=https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_741894 |website=National Museum of American History |access-date=January 22, 2021 |language=en |quote=This small piece of yellow metal is believed to be the first piece of gold discovered in 1848 at Sutter's Mill in California, launching the gold rush. James Marshall was superintending the construction of a sawmill for Col. John Sutter on the morning of January 24, 1848, on the South Fork of the American River at Coloma, California, when he saw something glittering in the water of the mill's tailrace. According to Sutter's diary, Marshall stooped down to pick it up and "found that it was a thin scale of what appeared to be pure gold." Marshall bit the metal as a test for gold. |archive-date=April 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220422073041/https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_741894 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="CAMap">For a detailed map, see [http://www.consrv.ca.gov/CGS/minerals/images/Big_AUMap.pdf California Historic Gold Mines] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061214035847/http://www.consrv.ca.gov/cgs/minerals/images/Big_AUMap.pdf |date=December 14, 2006}}, published by the state of California. Retrieved December 3, 2006.</ref> Marshall brought what he found to Sutter, and the two privately tested the metal. After the tests showed that it was gold, Sutter expressed dismay, wanting to keep the news quiet because he feared what would happen to [[New Helvetia|his plans for an agricultural empire]] if there were a gold rush in the region.<ref>{{harvb|Bancroft|1888|pp=[https://archive.org/details/bancrohistofcali23huberich/page/39/mode/2up 39–41]}}</ref> The Mexican–American War ended on May 30 with the ratification of the [[Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo]], which formally transferred California to the United States.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Today in History – February 2 |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/february-02/ |url-status=live |access-date=June 25, 2021 |website=[[Library of Congress]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170715083236/https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/february-02/ |archive-date=July 15, 2017 }}</ref>

Having sworn all concerned at the mill to secrecy, in February 1848, Sutter sent [[Charles H. Bennett (soldier)|Charles Bennett]] to [[Monterey, California|Monterey]] to meet with Colonel Mason, the chief U.S. official in California, to secure the mineral rights of the land where the mill stood. Bennett was not to tell anyone of the discovery of gold, but when he stopped at [[Benicia, California|Benicia]], he heard talk about the discovery of coal near Mount Diablo, and he blurted out the discovery of gold. He continued to San Francisco, where again, he could not keep the secret. At Monterey, Mason declined to make any judgement of title to lands and mineral rights, and Bennett for the third time revealed the gold discovery.{{sfnb|Bancroft|1888|pp=[https://archive.org/details/bancrohistofcali23huberich/page/42/mode/2up 42–44]}}

By March 1848, rumors of the discovery were confirmed by San Francisco newspaper publisher and merchant [[Samuel Brannan]]. Brannan hurriedly set up a store to sell gold prospecting supplies,<ref name=HollBran>{{harvb|Holliday|1999|p=[https://archive.org/details/rushforrichesgol00holl/page/60 60]}}</ref> and he walked through the streets of San Francisco, holding aloft a vial of gold, shouting "Gold! Gold! Gold from the American River!"{{sfnb|Bancroft|1888|pp=[https://archive.org/details/bancrohistofcali23huberich/page/55/mode/2up 55–56]}}

On August 19, 1848, the ''[[New York Herald]]'' was the first major newspaper on the East Coast to report the discovery of gold. On December 5, 1848, US President [[James K. Polk]] confirmed the discovery of gold in an address to [[United States Congress|Congress]].<ref name=StarrCongress>{{harvb|Starr|2005|p=[https://archive.org/details/californiahistor00star_0/page/80 80]}}</ref> As a result, individuals seeking to benefit from the gold rush—later called the "forty-niners"—began moving to the [[Gold Country of California]] or "Mother Lode" from other countries and from other parts of the United States. As Sutter had feared, his business plans were ruined after his workers left in search of gold, and [[squatting|squatters]] took over his land and stole his crops and cattle.{{sfnb|Bancroft|1888|pp=[https://archive.org/details/bancrohistofcali23huberich/page/103/mode/2up 103–105]}}

San Francisco had been a tiny settlement before the rush began. When residents learned about the discovery, it at first became a [[ghost town]] of abandoned ships and businesses,{{sfnb|Bancroft|1888|pp=[https://archive.org/details/bancrohistofcali23huberich/page/59/mode/2up 59–60]}} but then boomed as merchants and new people arrived. The population of San Francisco increased quickly from about 1,000<ref name=HollidaySF>{{harvb|Holliday|1999|p=[https://archive.org/details/rushforrichesgol00holl/page/51 51]}} "800 residents"</ref> in 1848 to 25,000 full-time residents by 1850.<ref name=RawlsSF>{{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|p=[https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/187 187]}}</ref> Miners lived in tents, wood shanties, or deck cabins removed from abandoned ships.<ref name=HollInfra>{{harvb|Holliday|1999|p=[https://archive.org/details/rushforrichesgol00holl/page/126 126]}}</ref> There were no churches or religious services in the rapidly growing city, which prompted missionaries like [[William Taylor (missionary)|William Taylor]] to meet the need, where he held services in the street, using a barrel head as his pulpit. Crowds would gather to listen to his sermons, and before long he received enough generous donations from successful gold miners and built San Francisco's first church.{{sfnb|Taylor|1895|p=195}}

===Transportation and supplies===
[[File:California Clipper 500.jpg|thumb|Advertisement about sailing to California, {{Circa|1850}}]]

In what has been referred to as the "first world-class gold rush,"<ref name=HillWorld>{{harvb|Hill|1999|p=1}}</ref> there was no easy way to travel to California; forty-niners faced hardship and often death on the way. At first, most [[wikt:argonaut|Argonauts]], as they were also known, traveled by sea. From the East Coast, a sailing voyage around the tip of South America would take four to five months,<ref name=BrandsCape>{{harvb|Brands|2002|pp=[https://archive.org/details/ageofgoldcalifor00bran/page/103 103–121]}}</ref> and cover approximately {{convert|18000|nmi|mi km|}}. An alternative was to sail to the Atlantic side of the [[Isthmus of Panama]], take canoes and mules for a week through the jungle, and then on the Pacific side, wait for a ship sailing for San Francisco.<ref name=BrandsPan>{{harvb|Brands|2002|pp=[https://archive.org/details/ageofgoldcalifor00bran/page/75 75–85]}} Another route across [[Nicaragua]] was developed in 1851; it was not as popular as the Panama option. {{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|pp=[https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/252 252–253]}}</ref> There was also a [[Isthmus of Tehuantepec|route]] across Mexico starting at [[Veracruz, Veracruz|Veracruz]]. The companies providing such transportation generated vast amounts of wealth among their owners, including the [[U.S. Mail Steamship Company]], the federally subsidized [[Pacific Mail Steamship Company]], and the [[Accessory Transit Company]]. Many gold-seekers took the overland route across the continental United States, particularly along the [[California Trail]].<ref name=RawlsTravel>{{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|p=[https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/5 5]}}</ref> Each of these routes had its own deadly hazards, from shipwreck to [[typhoid fever]] and [[cholera]].<ref name = HollDeath>{{harvb|Holliday|1999|p=[https://archive.org/details/rushforrichesgol00holl/page/101 101], [https://archive.org/details/rushforrichesgol00holl/page/107 107]}}</ref> In the early years of the rush, much of the population growth in the San Francisco area was due to steamship travel from New York City through overland portages in [[Nicaragua]] and [[Panama]] and then back up by steamship to San Francisco.<ref name="Stiles 2009">{{harvb|Stiles|2009}}</ref>

While traveling, many steamships from the eastern seaboard required the passengers to bring kits, which were typically full of personal belongings such as clothes, guidebooks, tools, etc. In addition to personal belongings, Argonauts were required to bring barrels full of beef, biscuits, butter, pork, rice, and salt. While on the steamships, travelers could talk to each other, smoke, fish, and engage in other activities depending on the ship they traveled. Still, the dominant activity held throughout the steamships was gambling, which was ironic, since segregation between [[wealth gap]]s was prominent throughout the ships. Everything was segregated between the rich and the poor.<ref>Rohrbough, Malcolm. "No Boy's Play: Migration and Settlement in Early Gold Rush California." ''California History'' 79, no. 2 (2000): 25–43. Accessed December 7, 2020. {{doi|10.2307/25463687}}. pp. 32–33</ref> There were different levels of travel one could pay for to get to California. The cheaper steamships tended to have longer routes. In contrast, the more expensive ones would get passengers to California quicker. There were clear social and economic distinctions between those who traveled together, being that those who spent more money would receive accommodations that others were not allowed. They would do this with the clear intent to distinguish their higher class power over those that could not afford those accommodations.<ref>Rohrbough, Malcolm. "No Boy's Play: Migration and Settlement in Early Gold Rush California." California History 79, no. 2 (2000): 25–43. Accessed December 7, 2020. {{doi|10.2307/25463687}}. p. 33</ref>

[[File:SanFranciscoharbor1851c sharp.jpg|thumb|Merchant ships fill [[San Francisco Bay]], 1850–51.]]

Supply ships arrived in San Francisco with goods to supply the needs of the growing population. When hundreds of ships were abandoned after their crews deserted to go into the goldfields, many ships were converted to warehouses, stores, taverns, hotels, and one into a jail.<ref name = AbandonShip>{{harvb|Starr|2005|p=[https://archive.org/details/californiahistor00star_0/page/80 80]}}; {{cite web |title=Shipping is the Foundation of San Francisco{{snd}}Literally |publisher=Oakland Museum of California |year=1998 |url=http://www.museumca.org/goldrush/getin-pr01.html |access-date=February 26, 2013 |archive-date=December 27, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111227172242/http://museumca.org/goldrush/getin-pr01.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> As the city expanded and new places were needed on which to build, many ships were destroyed and used as landfills.<ref name = AbandonShip/>

===Other developments===
Within a few years, there was an important but lesser-known surge of prospectors into far Northern California, specifically into present-day [[Siskiyou County, California|Siskiyou]], [[Shasta County, California|Shasta]] and [[Trinity County, California|Trinity Counties]].{{sfnb|Bancroft|1888|pp=[https://archive.org/details/bancrohistofcali23huberich/page/363/mode/2up 363–366]}} Discovery of gold nuggets at the site of present-day [[Yreka, California|Yreka]] in 1851 brought thousands of gold-seekers up the [[Siskiyou Trail]]<ref name=DillonSiskiyou>{{harvb|Dillon|1975|pp=[https://archive.org/details/siskiyoutrailhud00dill/page/361 361–362]}}</ref> and throughout California's northern counties.<ref name=WellsYreka>{{harvb|Wells|1881|pp=[https://archive.org/details/historyofsiskiyo00well/page/60 60–64]}}</ref>

Settlements of the gold rush era, such as [[Portuguese Flat, California|Portuguese Flat]] on the [[Sacramento River]], sprang into existence and then faded. The gold rush town of [[Weaverville, California|Weaverville]] on the [[Trinity River (California)|Trinity River]] today retains the oldest continuously used [[Taoism|Taoist]] temple in California, a legacy of [[Chinese immigration to the United States|Chinese]] miners who came. While there are not many Gold Rush era ghost towns still in existence, the remains of the once-bustling town of [[Shasta, California|Shasta]] have been preserved in a [[List of California State Historic Parks|California State Historic Park]] in Northern California.<ref name=Bodie>The buildings of [[Bodie, California|Bodie]], the best-known ghost town in California, date from the 1870s and later, well after the end of the Gold Rush.</ref>

By 1850, most of the easily accessible gold had been collected, and attention turned to extracting gold from more difficult locations. Faced with gold increasingly difficult to retrieve, Americans began to drive out foreigners to get at the most accessible gold that remained. The new [[California State Legislature]] passed a foreign miners tax of twenty dollars per month (${{formatnum:{{inflation|US|20|1850|r=-1}}}} per month as of {{inflation/year|US}}), and American [[prospectors]] began organized attacks on foreign miners, particularly [[Latin American]]s and [[Han Chinese|Chinese]].<ref name = RawlsTax>{{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|p=[https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/9 9]}}</ref>

In addition, the huge numbers of newcomers were driving Native Americans out of their traditional hunting, fishing, and food-gathering areas. To protect their homes and livelihood, some Native Americans responded by attacking the miners. This provoked counter-attacks on native villages. The Native Americans, out-gunned, were often slaughtered.<ref name = RawlsGeno>{{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|p=[https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/8 8]}}</ref> Those who escaped massacres were many times unable to survive without access to their food-gathering areas, and they starved to death. Novelist and poet [[Joaquin Miller]] vividly captured one such attack in his semi-autobiographical work, ''[[Life Amongst the Modocs]].''<ref name=MillerModoc>{{harvb|Miller|1874}}</ref>

==Forty-niners==
The first people to rush to the goldfields, beginning in the spring of 1848, were the residents of California themselves—primarily agriculturally oriented Americans and Europeans living in [[Northern California]], along with [[Indigenous peoples of California|Native Californians]] and some ''[[Californios]]'' (Spanish-speaking Californians; at the time, commonly referred to in English as simply 'Californians').<ref name=BrandsFirst>{{harvb|Brands|2002|pp=[https://archive.org/details/ageofgoldcalifor00bran/page/43 43–46]}}</ref> These first miners were sometimes entire families, of all ethnicities, in which everyone helped in the effort. Women and children were sometimes found panning next to the men. Some enterprising families set up boarding houses to accommodate the influx of men; in such cases, the women could bring in steady income while their husbands searched for gold.<ref name="Moynihan">Moynihan, Ruth B., Armitage, Susan, and Dichamp, Christiane Fischer (1990). [[iarchive:somuchtobedonewo00moyn/page/n25|p. 3]].</ref>

Word of the gold rush spread slowly at first. The earliest gold-seekers were people who lived near California or people who heard the news from ships on the fastest sailing routes from California. The first large group of Americans to arrive were several thousand [[Oregon Territory|Oregonians]] who came down the Siskiyou Trail.<ref name="Starr48">{{harvb|Starr|Orsi|2000|pp=50–54}}</ref> Next came people from the [[Hawaiian Islands|Sandwich Islands]], and several thousand Latin Americans, including people from Mexico, from [[Peru]] and from as far away [[Chileans in the California gold rush|as Chile]],<ref name=BrandsChile>{{harvb|Brands|2002|pp=[https://archive.org/details/ageofgoldcalifor00bran/page/48 48–53]}}</ref> both by ship and overland.<ref name="Starr48"/> By the end of 1848, some 6,000 Argonauts had come to California.<ref name=Starr48 />

Only a small number (probably fewer than 500) traveled overland from the United States that year.<ref name=Starr48 /> Some of these "forty-eighters",<ref name="Caughey">{{harvb|Caughey|1975|p=[https://archive.org/details/californiagoldru00caugrich/page/17 17]}}</ref> as the earliest gold-seekers were sometimes called, were able to collect large amounts of easily accessible gold—in some cases, thousands of dollars' worth each day.<ref name=BrandsGold>{{harvb|Brands|2002|pp=[https://archive.org/details/ageofgoldcalifor00bran/page/197 197–202]}}</ref><ref name=HollDollars>{{harvb|Holliday|1999|p=[https://archive.org/details/rushforrichesgol00holl/page/63 63]}} Holliday notes these luckiest prospectors were recovering, in short amounts of time, gold worth in excess of $1 million when valued at the dollars of today.</ref> Even ordinary prospectors averaged daily gold finds worth 10 to 15 times the daily wage of a laborer on the East Coast. A person could work for six months in the goldfields and find the equivalent of six years' wages back home.<ref name=StarrAvg>{{harvb|Starr|Orsi|2000|p=28}}</ref> Some hoped to get rich quick and return home, and others wished to settle in California.

[[File:Independent Gold Hunter on His Way to California.jpg|thumb|left|''Independent Gold Hunter on His Way to California'', c. 1850{{efn|The gold hunter is loaded down with every conceivable appliance, much of which would be useless in California. The prospector says (in a caption on some versions): "I am sorry I did not follow the advice of Granny and go around the [[Cape Horn|Horn]], through the [[Strait of Magellan|Straights]], or by [[Chagres]] [Panama]."<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Gildenstein |first1=Melanie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DIphDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA36 |title=A Primary Source Investigation of the Gold Rush |last2=O'Donnell |first2=Kerri |publisher=[[Rosen Publishing]] |year=2015 |isbn=978-1499435115 |location=New York |pages=36 |language=en |access-date=June 25, 2021 |archive-date=July 31, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240731035728/https://books.google.com/books?id=DIphDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA36#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>}}]]

By the beginning of 1849, word of the gold rush had spread around the world, and an overwhelming number of gold-seekers and merchants began to arrive from virtually every continent. The largest group of forty-niners in 1849 were Americans from the East Coast, arriving by the tens of thousands overland across the continent and along various sailing routes<ref name="Starr49">{{harvb|Starr|Orsi|2000|pp=57–61}}</ref> (the term "forty-niner" was derived from the year 1849). Many from the [[East Coast of the United States|East Coast]] negotiated a crossing of the [[Appalachian Mountains]], taking to [[riverboats]] in [[Pennsylvania]], poling the [[keelboats]] to [[Missouri River]] [[wagon train]] assembly ports, and then traveling in a wagon train along the [[California Trail]]. Many others came by way of the [[Isthmus of Panama]] and the steamships of the [[Pacific Mail Steamship Company]]. Australians<ref name="BrandsAus">{{harvb|Brands|2002|pp=[https://archive.org/details/ageofgoldcalifor00bran/page/53 53–61]}}</ref> and New Zealanders picked up the news from ships carrying Hawaiian newspapers, and thousands, infected with "gold fever", boarded ships for California.<ref name="Starr1849">{{harvb|Starr|Orsi|2000|pp=53–56}}</ref>

Forty-niners came from Latin America, particularly from the Mexican mining districts near [[Sonora, Mexico|Sonora]] and Chile.<ref name=Starr1849 />{{sfnb|Johnson|2001|p=[https://archive.org/details/roaringcamp00susa/page/59 p. 59]}} Gold-seekers and merchants from Asia, primarily from China,<ref name=BrandsChina>{{harvb|Brands|2002|pp=[https://archive.org/details/ageofgoldcalifor00bran/page/62 61–64]}}</ref> began arriving in 1849, at first in modest numbers to ''Gum San'' ("[[Gold Mountain (Chinese name for part of North America)|Gold Mountain]]"), the name given to California in Chinese.<ref name = goldmountain>Magagnini, Stephen (January 18, 1998) "[http://www.calgoldrush.com/part3/03asians.html Chinese transformed 'Gold Mountain']{{-"}} ({{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101230005706/http://www.calgoldrush.com/part3/03asians.html |date=December 30, 2010 }}), ''The Sacramento Bee''. Retrieved October 22, 2009.</ref> The first immigrants from Europe, reeling from the effects of the [[Revolutions of 1848]] and with a longer distance to travel, began arriving in late 1849, mostly from France,<ref name=BrandsFrance>{{harvb|Brands|2002|pp=[https://archive.org/details/ageofgoldcalifor00bran/page/93 93–103]}}</ref> with some [[Germans]], [[Italy|Italians]], and [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britons]].<ref name=Starr49 />

It is estimated that approximately 90,000 people arrived in California in 1849—about half by land and half by sea.<ref name=Starr49note>{{harvb|Starr|Orsi|2000|pp=57–61}} Other estimates range from 70,000 to 90,000 arrivals during 1849 (ibid. p. 57).</ref> Of these, perhaps 50,000 to 60,000 were Americans, and the rest were from other countries.<ref name=Starr49 /> By 1855, it is estimated at least 300,000 gold-seekers, merchants, and other immigrants had arrived in California from around the world.<ref name=Starr300>{{harvb|Starr|Orsi|2000|p=25}}</ref> The largest group continued to be Americans, but there were tens of thousands each of Mexicans, Chinese, Britons, Australians,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/british/brit-1.html |title=Exploration and Settlement – John Bull and Uncle Sam: Four Centuries of British-American Relations – Exhibitions |publisher=Library of Congress |date=July 22, 2010 |access-date=December 29, 2017 |archive-date=January 9, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110109173456/http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/british/brit-1.html |url-status=live }}</ref> French, and Latin Americans,<ref name=BrandsPop>{{harvb|Brands|2002|pp=[https://archive.org/details/ageofgoldcalifor00bran/page/193 193–194]}}</ref> together with many smaller groups of miners, such as African Americans, [[Filipino people|Filipinos]], [[Basque people|Basques]]<ref name=StarrBasq>{{harvb|Starr|Orsi|2000|p=62}}</ref> and people from the [[Ottoman Empire]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/prback.html |title=The Oregon Trail |work=isu.edu |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513205758/http://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/prback.html |archive-date=May 13, 2008 }}</ref><ref name="neary">{{harvb|Neary|Robbins|2015|pp=226–248}}</ref>

People from small villages in the hills near [[Genoa]], Italy, were among the first to settle permanently in the [[Sierra Nevada foothills]]; they brought with them traditional agricultural skills, developed to survive cold winters.<ref name=Freguli49note>Freguli, Carolyn (2008), pp. 8–9.</ref> A modest number of miners were of African ancestry (probably fewer than 4,000)<ref name=RawlsAf>{{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|p=[https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/5 5]}} Another estimate is 2,500 forty-niners of African ancestry.</ref> had come from the [[Southern United States|Southern States]],<ref name=Wysinger>African Americans who were slaves and came to California during the Gold Rush could gain [http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/01/27/BAG8ANQ1OG1.DTL their freedom] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324122538/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2007%2F01%2F27%2FBAG8ANQ1OG1.DTL|date=March 24, 2012}}. One of the miners was African American [[Edmond Edward Wysinger]] (1816–1891), see also [[Moses Rodgers]] (1835–1900)</ref> the [[Caribbean]] and Brazil.<ref name=StarrAf>{{harvb|Starr|Orsi|2000|pp=67–69}}</ref>

A number of immigrants were from China. Several hundred Chinese arrived in California in 1849 and 1850, and in 1852 more than 20,000 landed in San Francisco.<ref name="Out of">{{harvb|Faragher|2006|p=411}}</ref> Their distinctive dress and appearance was highly recognizable in the goldfields. Chinese miners suffered enormously, enduring violent racism from white miners who aimed their frustrations at foreigners. Further animosity toward the Chinese led to legislation such as the Chinese Exclusion Act and Foreign Miners Tax.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/goldrush/ |title=The Gold Rush |work=[[The American Experience]] |date=2006 |access-date=October 4, 2019 |archive-date=July 31, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240731035851/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/goldrush/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Out of" />

There were also [[Women in the California gold rush|women in the gold rush]]. However, their numbers were small. Of the 40,000 people who arrived by ship to the [[San Francisco Bay]] in 1849, only 700 were women (including those who were poor, wealthy, entrepreneurs, prostitutes, single, and married).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Men_:_Women_in_Early_San_Francisco |title=Men : Women in Early San Francisco |publisher=FoundSF |date=August 26, 2016 |access-date=March 7, 2017 |archive-date=April 10, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170410184718/http://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Men_:_Women_in_Early_San_Francisco |url-status=live }}</ref> They were of various ethnicities including Anglo-American, African-American,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/hs/im/didyouknow1.asp |title=Key Points in Black History and the Gold Rush – Instructional Materials (CA Dept of Education) |website=Cde.ca.gov |access-date=March 7, 2017 }}</ref> [[Hispanic]], [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native]], European, Chinese, and Jewish. The reasons they came varied: some came with their husbands, refusing to be left behind to fend for themselves, some came because their husbands sent for them, and others came (singles and widows) for the adventure and economic opportunities.<ref name="Moynihan2">Moynihan, Ruth B., Armitage, Susan, and Dichamp, Christiane Fischer (1990). [[iarchive:somuchtobedonewo00moyn/page/n25|pp. 3–8]].</ref> On the trail many people died from accidents, [[cholera]], fever, and myriad other causes, and many women became widows before even setting eyes on California. While in California, women became widows quite frequently due to [[mining accidents]], disease, or mining disputes of their husbands. Life in the goldfields offered opportunities for women to break from their traditional work.{{sfnb|Levy|1990|pp=[https://archive.org/details/theysawelephantw00levy/page/n25 xxii], [https://archive.org/details/theysawelephantw00levy/page/92 92]}}<ref>By one account, in late 1850, the population of California was over 110,000, not including the [[Californios]] or the California Indians. The surviving US census counts in California add up to 92,600, not including the lost censuses of [[History of San Francisco|San Francisco]] (the largest city in California at that time), [[Contra Costa county]] and [[Santa Clara County]]. The [[Women in the California Gold Rush|women]] who came to California in the early years were a distinct minority, consisting of less than 10% of the population.</ref>

Because of many thousands of people flooding into California at [[Sacramento]] and San Francisco and surrounding areas, the Methodist church deemed it necessary to send missionaries there to preach the gospel, as churches in that part of the state were not to be found. The first missionary to arrive was [[William Taylor (bishop)|William Taylor]] who arrived in San Francisco in September 1849. For many months he preached in the streets to hundreds of people without salary, and ultimately after saving often generous donations from successful miners, he built and established the first Methodist church in California, and California's first professional hospital.<ref name=taylor103>{{harvb|Taylor|1895|pp=103, 131–132}}</ref><ref>[[#dictionary2024|Dictionary of African Christian Biography]], Essay</ref>

==Legal rights==
[[File:Joaquin Murieta.jpg|thumb|left|[[Joaquín Murrieta]], called the "[[Robin Hood]] of California", was a notorious [[outlaw]] during the gold rush.]]

When the Gold Rush began, the California goldfields were peculiarly lawless places.<ref name = Young>{{harvb|Young|1970|pp=[https://archive.org/details/westernmininginf0000youn/page/111 111–112]}}</ref> When gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill, California was still technically part of Mexico, under American military occupation as the result of the [[Mexican–American War]]. With the signing of the treaty ending the war on February 2, 1848, California became a possession of the United States, but it was not a formal "[[organized territory|territory]]" and did not become a state until September 9, 1850. California existed in the unusual condition of a region under military control. There was no civil legislature, executive or judicial body for the entire region.<ref name=HollidayRights>{{harvb|Holliday|1999|pp=[https://archive.org/details/rushforrichesgol00holl/page/115 115–123]}}</ref> Local residents operated under a confusing and changing mixture of Mexican rules, American principles, and personal dictates. Lax enforcement of federal laws, such as the [[Fugitive Slave Act of 1850]], encouraged the arrival of free blacks and escaped slaves.<ref name="neary"/>

While the treaty ending the Mexican–American War obliged the United States to honor Mexican land grants,<ref name=RawlsLandGrants>{{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|p=[https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/235 235]}}</ref> almost all the goldfields were outside those grants. Instead, the goldfields were primarily on "[[Public land#United States|public land]]", meaning land formally owned by the United States government.<ref name=RawlsPublic>{{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|pp=[https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/123 123]–[https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/124 125]}}</ref> However, there were no legal rules yet in place,<ref name = Young/> and no practical enforcement mechanisms.<ref name=RawlsEnf>{{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|p=[https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/127 127]}} There were fewer than 1,000 U.S. soldiers in California at the beginning of the Gold Rush.</ref>

The benefit to the forty-niners was that the gold was simply "free for the taking" at first. In the goldfields at the beginning, there was no private property, no licensing fees, and no [[taxation in the United States|taxes]].<ref name=RawlsFree>{{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|p=[https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/27 27]}}</ref><ref>The federal law in place at the time of the California Gold Rush was the [[Preemption Act of 1841]], which allowed "squatters" to improve federal land, then buy it from the government after 14 months.</ref> The miners informally adapted Mexican mining law that had existed in California.{{sfnb|Paul|1969|pp=[https://archive.org/details/californiagoldbe00rodm/page/210 211–213]}} For example, the rules attempted to balance the rights of early arrivers at a site with later arrivers; a "[[land claims|claim]]" could be "staked" by a prospector, but that claim was valid only as long as it was being actively worked.<ref name = Young/><ref name=ClayRights>Clay, Karen and Wright, Gavin. (2005), pp. 155–183.</ref><ref name=DameShirley>{{harvb|Clappe|1922|pp=[https://archive.org/details/shirleylettersf00russgoog/page/n262 207–221]}} "Dame Shirley" was the name adopted by [[Louise Amelia Knapp Smith Clappe]] as she wrote a series of letters to her family describing in detail her life in the Feather River goldfields. The letters were originally published in 1854–1855 by ''The Pioneer'' magazine.</ref>

Miners worked at a claim only long enough to determine its potential. If a claim was deemed as low-value—as most were—miners would abandon the site in search of a better one. In the case where a claim was abandoned or not worked upon, other miners would "claim-jump" the land. "Claim-jumping" meant that a miner began work on a previously claimed site.<ref name=ClayRights/><ref name=DameShirley/> Disputes were often handled personally and violently, and were sometimes addressed by groups of prospectors acting as [[arbitrator]]s.<ref name=RawlsPublic/><ref name=ClayRights/><ref name=DameShirley/> This often led to heightened ethnic tensions.<ref>The rules of mining claims adopted by the forty-niners spread with each new mining rush throughout the western United States. The U.S. Congress finally legalized the practice in the "[[Mining Act of 1872|Chaffee laws]]" of 1866 and the "placer law" of 1870. Lindley, Curtis H. (1914) ''A Treatise on the American Law Relating to Mines and Mineral Lands'', San Francisco: Bancroft-Whitney, pp. 89–92. Karen Clay and Gavin Wright, "Order Without Law? Property Rights During the California Gold Rush." ''Explorations in Economic History'' 2005 42(2): 155–183. See also John F. Burns, and Richard J. Orsi, eds; [https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=105960680 ''Taming the Elephant: Politics, Government, and Law in Pioneer California'' University of California Press, 2003] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100525144717/http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=105960680|date=May 25, 2010}}</ref> In some areas the influx of many prospectors could lead to a reduction of the existing claim size by simple pressure.<ref name="InformationSharing">[https://www.sfu.ca/~allen/klondike.pdf Information Sharing During the Klondike Gold Rush, pp. 13–14.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111227184556/http://www.sfu.ca/~allen/klondike.pdf|date=December 27, 2011}} Douglas W. Allen, Simon Fraser University</ref>

==Development of gold-recovery techniques==
[[File:Sovereign Hill - Normanby Street - Chilean mill and church.jpg|thumb|Replica of a horse-powered [[Chilean mill]] which [[Chileans in the California gold rush|Chileans introduced to California]] during the gold rush.<ref name=consulate/>]]
Approximately four hundred million years ago, California lay at the bottom of a large sea; underwater [[volcano]]es deposited [[lava]] and minerals (including gold) onto the sea floor. By [[tectonic plates|tectonic forces]] these minerals and rocks came to the surface of the Sierra Nevada,<ref name=HillLift>{{harvb|Hill|1999|pp=169–173}}</ref> and [[erosion|eroded]]. Water carried the exposed gold downstream and deposited it in quiet gravel beds along the sides of old rivers and streams.<ref name=HillRest>{{harvb|Hill|1999|pp=94–100}}</ref>{{sfnb|Young|1970|pp=[https://archive.org/details/westernmininginf0000youn/page/106 106–108]}} The forty-niners first focused their efforts on these deposits of gold.<ref name=HillShift>{{harvb|Hill|1999|pp=105–110}}</ref>

Because the gold in the California [[gravel]] beds was so richly concentrated, early forty-niners were able to retrieve loose gold flakes and nuggets with their hands, or simply "[[gold panning|pan]]" for gold in rivers and streams.{{sfnb|Young|1970|pp=[https://archive.org/details/westernmininginf0000youn/page/108 108–110]}}<ref name=BrandsMine>{{harvb|Brands|2002|pp=[https://archive.org/details/ageofgoldcalifor00bran/page/198 198–200]}}</ref> Panning cannot take place on a large scale, and industrious miners and groups of miners graduated to [[placer mining]], using "[[Cradle (mining)|cradle]]s" and "rockers" or "long-toms"<ref name=PlacerImage>{{cite web |url=http://www.goldrushtrail.net/indexgrt.asp?p=230 |title=goldrushtrail.net |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060514223457/http://www.goldrushtrail.net/indexgrt.asp?p=230 |archive-date=May 14, 2006 }}</ref> to process larger volumes of gravel.{{sfnb|Bancroft|1888|pp=[https://archive.org/details/bancrohistofcali23huberich/page/87/mode/2up 87–88]}} Miners would also engage in "coyoteing",{{sfnb|Young|1970|pp=[https://archive.org/details/westernmininginf0000youn/page/110 110–111]}} a method that involved digging a shaft {{convert|6|to|13|m|sp=us|ft}} deep into placer deposits along a stream. Tunnels were then dug in all directions to reach the richest veins of [[:wikt:pay dirt|pay dirt]].

In the most complex placer mining, groups of prospectors would divert the water from an entire river into a [[sluice]] alongside the river and then dig for gold in the newly exposed river bottom.<ref name=RawlsDiv>{{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|p=[https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/90 90]}}</ref> Mixed groups of Chileans and Mexicans were the first to apply this technique which required colaborative work which was something that was more common among Chileans when compared to Anglo Americans.<ref name=consulate/><ref name=brilla>{{Cite journal |title=El oro que brilla desde el otro lado: aspectos transfronterizos de la fiebre del oro californiana, 1848-1862 |journal=Secuencia |last=Taylor Hansen |first=Lawrence Douglas |volume=77 |trans-title=The Gold that Glitters on the Other Side: Transborder Aspects of the California Gold Fever, 1848-1862 |language=es|year=2010|url=https://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?pid=S0186-03482010000200002&script=sci_arttext#nota}}</ref>

Modern estimates are that as much as 12 million ounces<ref>The [[Troy weight]] system is traditionally used to measure precious metals, not the more familiar [[avoirdupois|avoirdupois weight]] system. The term "ounces" used in this article to refer to gold typically refers to troy ounces. There are some historical uses where, because of the age of the use, the intention is ambiguous.</ref> (370&nbsp;[[metric ton|t]]) of gold were removed in the first five years of the Gold Rush.<ref name=GoldValue>Hayes, Garry "[http://hayesg.faculty.mjc.edu/Gold_Rush.html Mining History and Geology of the California Gold Rush] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180908174814/http://hayesg.faculty.mjc.edu/Gold_Rush.html |date=September 8, 2018 }}", Modesto Junior College (accessed September 20, 2018).</ref>

[[Chileans in the California gold rush|Chilean miners]], coming from an area with a long mining tradition, were influential in California. Many Euroamerican miners learned from them and from [[Sonora|Sonorans]].<ref name=nuevom>{{Cite journal |title=Trabajadores y técnicas mineras andinas en las fiebres del oro del mundo en el siglo XIX |journal=Nuevo Mundo |last=Herrera Canales |first=Inés |url=https://journals.openedition.org/nuevomundo/67746 |language=es |doi=10.4000/nuevomundo.67746|year=2015}}</ref><ref name=accul/><ref name=brilla/> Chileans are credited to have introduced the ''batea'' [[gold pan]] (dish made of wood) and the ''trapiche'' to California.<ref name=accul/><ref name=consulate/> The ''trapiche'' became known as the [[Chilean mill]] and compared favourable to similar technology introduced by Mexicans.<ref name=accul>{{Cite journal |last1=Moore |first1=Jamie |last2=Parker |first2=Wendy |last3=Tibbetts |first3=Deborah |last4=Doering |first4=Brandy |last5=Correa |first5=Elisa |last6=MacKinnon |first6=Amy |title=Acculturation of Chilean Miners in the Sierra Nevada, Alta California |journal=California Archaeology |url= |volume=6 |issue=1|pages=47–64 |doi=10.1179/1947461X14Z.00000000025|year=2014}}</ref><ref name=consulate>{{Cite journal |title=Chileans in California during the Gold Rush Period and the Establishment of the Chilean Consulate |journal=California Historical Quarterly |last=Nasatir |first=Abraham P. |volume=53 |issue=1 |pages=52–70|year=1974 |doi=10.2307/25157486 |jstor=25157486 }}</ref>

===Hydraulic mining and dredging===
In the next stage, by 1853, [[hydraulic mining]] was used on ancient gold-bearing gravel beds on hillsides and bluffs in the goldfields.<ref name=StarrHydra>{{harvb|Starr|2005|p=[https://archive.org/details/californiahistor00star_0/page/89 89]}}</ref> In a modern style of hydraulic mining first developed in California, and later used around the world, a high-pressure hose directed a powerful stream or jet of water at gold-bearing gravel beds.<ref>Use of volumes of water in large-scale gold-mining dates at least to the time of the [[Roman Empire]]. (''See'' [http://www.mining.com/lidar-survey-discovers-roman-gold-mines-in-spain-99350/ Roman-era gold mines in Spain.] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129083203/http://www.mining.com/lidar-survey-discovers-roman-gold-mines-in-spain-99350/ |date=November 29, 2014 }}) Roman engineers built extensive [[Mining in Roman Britain|aqueducts and reservoirs]] above gold-bearing areas, and released the stored water in a flood so as to remove over-burden and expose gold-bearing bedrock, a process known as [[hushing]]. The bedrock was then attacked using fire and mechanical means, and volumes of water were used again to remove debris and to process the resulting ore. Examples of this Roman mining technology may be found at [[Las Médulas]] in Spain and [[Dolaucothi Gold Mines|Dolaucothi]] in South [[Wales]]. The gold recovered using these methods was used to finance the expansion of the Roman Empire. Hushing was also used in lead and tin mining in Northern [[Great Britain|Britain]] and [[Cornwall]]. There is, however, no evidence of the earlier use of hoses, nozzles and continuous jets of water in the manner developed in California during the Gold Rush.</ref> The loosened gravel and gold would then pass over sluices, with the gold settling to the bottom where it was collected. By the mid-1880s, it is estimated that {{convert|11|e6ozt|t}} of gold (worth approximately US$15&nbsp;billion at December 2010 prices) had been recovered by hydraulic mining.<ref name=GoldValue/>

A byproduct of these extraction methods was that large amounts of gravel, [[silt]], [[heavy metals]], and other pollutants went into streams and rivers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/176/ |title=Winged Mercury and the Golden Calf |author=Solnit, R. |date=September–October 2006 |publisher=Orion Magazine |access-date=December 3, 2007 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071005122256/http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/176/ |archive-date=October 5, 2007 }}</ref><ref name=RawlsHyd>{{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|pp=[https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/32 32–36]}}</ref> Court rulings (1882 Gold Run and 1884 [[Woodruff v. North Bloomfield Gravel Mining Company|"Sawyer Act"]]) and 1893 federal legislation limited hydraulic mining in California. {{As of | 1999}} many areas still bear the scars of hydraulic mining, since the resulting exposed earth and downstream gravel deposits do not support plant life.<ref name=RawlsGrav>{{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|pp=[https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/116 116–121]}}.</ref>

After the gold rush had concluded, gold recovery operations continued. The final stage to recover loose gold was to prospect for gold that had slowly washed down into the flat river bottoms and sandbars of California's [[California Central Valley|Central Valley]] and other gold-bearing areas of California (such as [[Scott Valley]] in Siskiyou County). By the late 1890s, [[dredging]] technology (also invented in California) had become economical,<ref name=RawlsDredge>{{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|p=[https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/199 199]}}</ref> and it is estimated that more than {{convert|20|e6ozt|t}} were recovered by dredging.<ref name=GoldValue/>

===Hard-rock mining===
Both during the gold rush and in the decades that followed, gold-seekers also engaged in [[Underground hard-rock mining|hard-rock mining]], extracting the gold directly from the rock that contained it (typically [[quartz]]), usually by digging and blasting to follow and remove veins of the gold-bearing quartz.<ref name=RawlsMine>{{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|pp=[https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/36 36–39]}}</ref> Chilean miners in particular had experience in this type of mining.<ref name=nuevom/><ref name=consulate/> Once the gold-bearing rocks were brought to the surface, the rocks were crushed and the gold separated, either using separation in water, using its density difference from quartz sand, or by washing the sand over copper plates coated with [[mercury (element)|mercury]] (with which gold forms an [[amalgam (chemistry)|amalgam]]). Loss of mercury in the amalgamation process was a [[Mercury contamination in California waterways|source of environmental contamination]].<ref name=RawlsStamp>{{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|pp=[https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/39 39–43]}}</ref> Eventually, hard-rock mining became the single largest source of gold produced in the [[Gold Country]].<ref name=GoldValue/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2005/3014/ |title=Mercury Contamination from Historical Gold Mining in California |access-date=February 26, 2008 |author1=Charles N. Alpers |author2=Michael P. Hunerlach |author3=Jason T. May |author4=Roger L. Hothem |work=[[U.S. Geological Survey]] |archive-date=February 22, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080222034946/http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2005/3014/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The total production of gold in California from then until now is estimated at {{convert|118|e6ozt|t}}.<ref name=GoldInCal>{{cite web |last=Hausel |first=Dan |title=California – Gold, Geology & Prospecting |url=http://californiangold.blogspot.dk/ |access-date=February 19, 2013 |archive-date=October 12, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141012202722/http://californiangold.blogspot.dk/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Image gallery===
<gallery mode="packed" widths="140" heights="180">
File:Placer miner on the Colorado River near Lees Ferry, ca.1930 (CHS-4707) (cropped).jpg|Forty-niner panning for gold
File:Wooden gold sluice in California between 1890 and 1915..jpg|Sluice for separation of gold from dirt using water
File:Gold seeking river operations California.jpg|Excavating a riverbed after the water has been diverted
File:Quartz Stamp Mill.jpg|Crushing [[quartz]] ore prior to washing out gold
File:California gold miners with long tom (cropped).jpg|California gold miners with long tom, {{Circa|1850–1852|lk=no}}
File:Mining on the American River near Sacramento, circa 1852.jpg|Mining on the American River near Sacramento, {{Circa|1852|lk=no}}
File:Mexican-Californio_miner_during_the_California_Gold_Rush.jpg|[[Californio]] miner processing ore, {{Circa|1862|lk=no}}
File:Hydraulic mining in Dutch Flat, California, between 1857 and 1870.jpg|Excavating a gravel bed with jets, {{Circa|1863|lk=no}}
File:Panning on the Mokelumne.jpg|Panning on the [[Mokelumne River]] (1860 illustration)
File:Chinese Gold Miners b.jpg|Chinese gold miners in California (illustration)
File:Henry Raschen - California Miner with Pack Horse.jpg|[[Henry Raschen]], ''California Miner with Pack Horse'', 1887, oil on canvas
</gallery>

==Profits==
Recent scholarship confirms that merchants made far more money than miners during the gold rush.<ref name="Migrating to Riches?">{{cite journal |first1=Karen |last1=Clay |first2=Randall |last2=Jones |title=Migrating to Riches? Evidence from the California Gold Rush |journal=Journal of Economic History |year=2008 |volume=68 |issue=4 |pages=997–1027 |doi=10.1017/S002205070800079X |citeseerx=10.1.1.163.572 }}</ref>{{sfnb|Rohrbough|1998}} The wealthiest man in California during the early years of the rush was [[Samuel Brannan]], a tireless self-promoter, shopkeeper and newspaper publisher.<ref name=HollProf>{{harvb|Holliday|1999|pp=[https://archive.org/details/rushforrichesgol00holl/page/69 69–70]}}</ref> Brannan opened the first supply stores in Sacramento, Coloma, and other spots in the goldfields. Just as the rush began, he purchased all the prospecting supplies available in San Francisco and resold them at a substantial profit.<ref name=HollProf/>

Some gold-seekers made a significant amount of money.<ref name=HollFeather>{{harvb|Holliday|1999|p=[https://archive.org/details/rushforrichesgol00holl/page/63 63]}}</ref> On average, half the gold-seekers made a modest profit, after taking all expenses into account; economic historians have suggested that white miners were more successful than black, Indian, or Chinese miners.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zerbe |first1=R. O. |last2=Anderson |first2=C. L. |year=2001 |title=Culture and fairness in the development of institutions in the California gold fields |journal=Journal of Economic History |volume=61 |issue=1 |pages=114–143 |jstor=2697857 |doi=10.1017/S0022050701025062 |s2cid=14379888 }}</ref> However, taxes such as the California foreign miners tax passed in 1851, targeted mainly Latino miners<ref>{{harvb|Sears|2014|p=68}} "In 1852 the California state legislature targeted Chinese residents for a 'foreign miners' tax [...]"</ref> and kept them from making as much money as whites, who did not have any taxes imposed on them. In California most late arrivals made little or wound up losing money.<ref name="Migrating to Riches?" /> Similarly, many unlucky merchants set up in settlements that disappeared, or which succumbed to one of the calamitous fires that swept the towns that sprang up. By contrast, a businessman who went on to great success was [[Levi Strauss]], who first began selling denim overalls in San Francisco in 1853.<ref>[[Levi's]] jeans were not invented until the 1870s. Lynn Downey, ''Levi Strauss & Co.'' (2007)</ref>

Other businessmen reaped great rewards in retail, shipping, entertainment, lodging,<ref name=JamesLick>[[James Lick]] made a fortune running a hotel and engaging in land speculation in San Francisco. Lick's fortune was used to build [[Lick Observatory]].</ref> or transportation.<ref name=BigFour>Four particularly successful Gold Rush era merchants were [[Leland Stanford]], [[Collis P. Huntington]], [[Mark Hopkins, Jr.|Mark Hopkins]] and [[Charles Crocker]], Sacramento area businessmen (later known as the [[The Big Four (Central Pacific Railroad)|Big Four]]) who financed the western leg of the [[First transcontinental railroad]], and became very wealthy as a result.</ref> Boardinghouses, food preparation, sewing, and laundry were highly profitable businesses often run by women (married, single, or widowed) who realized men would pay well for a service done by a woman. Brothels also brought in large profits, especially when combined with saloons and gaming houses.<ref name = Johnson>{{harvb|Johnson|2001|pp=[https://archive.org/details/roaringcamp00susa/page/164 164–168]}}</ref>

By 1855, the economic climate had changed dramatically. Gold could be retrieved profitably from the goldfields only by medium to large groups of workers, either in partnerships or as employees. By the mid-1850s, it was the owners of these gold-mining companies who made the money. Also, the population and economy of California had become large and diverse enough that money could be made in a wide variety of conventional businesses.<ref name=RawlsBusiness>{{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|pp=[https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/52 52–68], [https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/193 193–197]}}</ref>

===Path of the gold===
[[File:SanFrancisco1851a.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|[[Portsmouth Square]], San Francisco, during the gold rush, 1851]]

Once extracted, the gold itself took many paths. First, much of the gold was used locally to purchase food, supplies and lodging for the [[miner]]s. It also went towards entertainment, which consisted of anything from a traveling theater to alcohol, gambling, and prostitutes. These transactions often took place using the recently recovered gold, carefully weighed out.<ref name=RawlsScales>{{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|pp=[https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/212 212–214]}}</ref>{{sfnb|Young|1970|pp=[https://archive.org/details/westernmininginf0000youn/page/109 109]}} These merchants and vendors, in turn, used the gold to purchase supplies from ship captains or packers bringing goods to California.<ref name=RawlsPack>{{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|pp= [https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/256 256–259]}}</ref>

The gold then left California aboard ships or mules to go to the makers of the goods from around the world. A second path was the Argonauts themselves who, having personally acquired a sufficient amount, sent the gold home, or returned home taking with them their hard-earned "diggings". For example, one estimate is that some US$80 million worth of California gold (equivalent to US${{inflation|US|.08|1855|r=1|fmt=c}} billion today) was sent to France by French prospectors and merchants.<ref name=HollFren>{{harvb|Holliday|1999|p=[https://archive.org/details/rushforrichesgol00holl/page/90 90]}}</ref>

A majority of the gold went back to New York City brokerage houses.<ref name="Stiles 2009"/>

As the gold rush progressed, local banks and gold dealers issued "banknotes" or "drafts"—locally accepted paper currency—in exchange for gold,<ref name=RawlsCurr>{{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|pp=[https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/193 193–97], [https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/214 214–215]}}</ref> and private mints created private gold [[coin]]s.<ref name=RawlsCoins>{{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|p=[https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/214 214]}}</ref> With the building of the [[San Francisco Mint]] in 1854, [[Gold as an investment|gold bullion]] was turned into official United States [[California gold coinage|gold coins]] for circulation.<ref name=RawlsMint>{{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|p=[https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/212 212]}}</ref> The gold was also later sent by California banks to U.S. national banks in exchange for national paper currency to be used in the [[economic boom|booming]] [[economy of California|California economy]].<ref name=RawlsNatBank>{{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|pp=[https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/226 226–227]}}</ref>

==Effects==
[[File:The Heathen Chinee Prospecting 1852.jpg|thumb|1852 photograph, captioned "The Heathen Chinee Prospecting", indicating prejudice against Chinese gold miners]]

The arrival of hundreds of thousands of new people in California within a few years, compared to a population of some 15,000 Europeans and ''Californios'' beforehand,<ref name=StarrPrev>{{harvb|Starr|Orsi|2000|p=50}} Other estimates are that there were 7,000–13,000 non-Native Americans in California before January 1848. See {{harvb|Holliday|1999|pp=[https://archive.org/details/rushforrichesgol00holl/page/26 26], [https://archive.org/details/rushforrichesgol00holl/page/51 51]}}</ref> had many dramatic effects.<ref name=BancStarr>Historians have reflected on the Gold Rush and its effect on California. Historian [[Kevin Starr]] stated that for all its problems and benefits, the Gold Rush established the "founding patterns, the DNA code, of American California", and quotes from ''The Annals of San Francisco'' in 1855 that the Gold Rush advanced California into a "rapid, monstrous maturity". ''See'' {{harvb|Starr|2005|p=[https://archive.org/details/californiahistor00star_0/page/80 80]}} and {{harvb|Starr|1973|p=[https://archive.org/details/americanscalifor00star/page/110 110]}}</ref>

A 2017 study attributes the record-long economic expansion of the United States in the recession-free period of 1841–1856 primarily to "a boom in transportation-goods investment following the discovery of gold in California."<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |last1=Davis |first1=Joseph |last2=Weidenmier |first2=Marc D. |date=2017 |title=America's First Great Moderation |journal=The Journal of Economic History |volume=77 |issue=4 |pages=1116–1143 |doi=10.1017/S002205071700081X |issn=0022-0507 |url=http://www.nber.org/papers/w21856.pdf |doi-access=free }}</ref>

===Government and commerce===
The gold rush propelled California from a sleepy, little-known backwater to a center of the global imagination and the destination of hundreds of thousands of people. The new immigrants often showed remarkable inventiveness and civic mindedness. For example, in the midst of the gold rush, towns and cities were chartered, a state [[constitutional convention (political meeting)|constitutional convention]] was convened, a [[California Constitution|state constitution]] written, elections held, and representatives sent to Washington, D.C., to negotiate the admission of California as a state.<ref name=StarrConCon>{{harvb|Starr|2005|pp=[https://archive.org/details/californiahistor00star_0/page/91 91–93]}}</ref>

Large-scale agriculture (California's second "Gold Rush"<ref name=RawlsAg>{{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|pp=[https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/243 243–248]}}. By 1860, California had over 200 flour mills, and was exporting wheat and flour around the world. ''Ibid.'' at [https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/278 278–280].</ref>) began during this time.<ref name=StarrAgri>{{harvb|Starr|2005|pp=[https://archive.org/details/californiahistor00star_0/page/110 110–111]}}</ref> Roads, schools, churches,<ref name=StarrChurch>{{harvb|Starr|1973|pp=[https://archive.org/details/americanscalifor00star/page/69 69–75]}}</ref> and civic organizations quickly came into existence.<ref name=StarrConCon/> The vast majority of the immigrants were Americans.{{sfnb|Caughey|1975|p=192}} Pressure grew for better communications and political connections to the rest of the United States, leading to statehood for California on September 9, 1850, in the [[Compromise of 1850]] as the [[List of U.S. states by date of statehood|{{ordinal|31}} state of the United States]].

Between 1847 and 1870, the population of San Francisco increased from 500 to 150,000.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20000304073056/http://www.census.gov/population/documentation/twps0027/tab10.txt Population of the 100 Largest Urban Places: 1870], U.S. Bureau of the Census</ref> The Gold Rush wealth and population increase led to significantly improved transportation between California and the East Coast. The [[Panama Railway]], spanning the Isthmus of Panama, was finished in 1855.<ref name=HarpersPanama>{{cite journal |title=Monthly Record of Current Events |journal=Harper's New Monthly Magazine |date=March 1855 |volume=10 |number=58 |page=[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b000541557&view=1up&seq=557 543] |quote="From ''California'' we have intelligence to January 16. The railroad across the Isthmus of Panama is completed, and trains passed.. for the first time on the 28th of January." }}</ref> [[Steamship]]s, including those owned by the [[Pacific Mail Steamship Company]], began regular service from San Francisco to [[Panama]], where passengers, goods and mail would take the train across the Isthmus and board steamships headed to the East Coast. One ill-fated journey, that of the [[SS Central America|S.S. ''Central America'']],<ref name = CentAm>[http://www.sscentralamerica.com/history.html S.S. Central America information] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161124225358/http://www.sscentralamerica.com/history.html |date=November 24, 2016 }}; [http://www.pacificwestcom.com/klare/ Final voyage of the S.S. Central America] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070205042338/http://www.pacificwestcom.com/klare/ |date=February 5, 2007 }}. Retrieved April 25, 2008.</ref> ended in disaster as the ship sank in a [[hurricane]] off the coast of the [[Carolinas]] in 1857, with approximately three tons of California gold aboard.<ref name=HillCenAm>{{harvb|Hill|1999|pp=192–196}}</ref><ref name=WinfieldScott>Another notable shipwreck was the steamship [[Winfield Scott (ship)|''Winfield Scott'']], bound to Panama from San Francisco, which crashed into [[Anacapa Island]] off the [[Southern California]] coast in December 1853. All hands and passengers were saved, along with the cargo of gold, but the ship was a total loss.</ref>

===Native Americans===
{{Main|California genocide|Unfree labor in California}}
[[File:"Protecting The Settlers" Illustration by JR Browne for his work "The Indians Of California" 1864.jpg|thumb|upright|''Protecting the Settlers'', an illustration by J. R. Browne for his work ''The Indians of California'' (1864)]]

Urban indians had lived in California since Spanish times. The millrace where gold was first discovered had been dug by a crew of Indians hired by John Sutter.<ref>{{harvp|Levy1990|pp=xix–x}}: "In June of 1847 Sutter hired Wimmer to oversee a crew of Indians digging the race for his sawmill. ... Six months later, with the mill nearly finished, Marshall found gold..."</ref>

The human and environmental costs of the Gold Rush were substantial. Native Americans, dependent on traditional hunting, gathering and agriculture, became the victims of starvation and disease, as gravel, silt and toxic chemicals from prospecting operations killed fish and destroyed habitats.<ref name=RawlsHyd/><ref name=RawlsGrav/> The surge in the mining population also resulted in the disappearance of game and food gathering locales as gold camps and other settlements were built amidst them. Later farming spread to supply the settlers' camps, taking more land away from the Native Americans.<ref>{{cite web |title=Focus On the West |url=https://www.apstudynotes.org/us-history/topics/focus-on-the-west/ |work=apstudynotes.org }}</ref>

In some areas, systematic attacks against tribespeople in or near mining districts occurred. [[American Indian Wars#California|Various conflicts]] were fought between natives and settlers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nahc.ca.gov/califindian.html |title=California Indian History |year=1998 |first=Edward D. |last=Castillo |access-date=February 26, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100312042429/http://www.nahc.ca.gov/califindian.html |archive-date=March 12, 2010 }}</ref> Miners often saw Native Americans as impediments to their mining activities.<ref>{{cite web |title=Native History: California Gold Rush Begins, Devastates Native Population |url=http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/01/24/native-history-california-gold-rush-begins-devastates-native-population-153230 |website=Indian Country Today Media Network.com |date=January 24, 2014 |access-date=April 7, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150418110452/http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/01/24/native-history-california-gold-rush-begins-devastates-native-population-153230 |archive-date=April 18, 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Ed Allen, interpretive lead for Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park, reported that there were times when miners would kill up to 50 or more Natives in one day.<ref name="indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com">{{cite web |url=http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/01/24/native-history-california-gold-rush-begins-devastates-native-population-153230 |title=Native History: California Gold Rush Begins, Devastates Native Population |work=Indian Country Today Media Network.com |access-date=April 7, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150418110452/http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/01/24/native-history-california-gold-rush-begins-devastates-native-population-153230 |archive-date=April 18, 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Retribution attacks on solitary miners could result in larger scale attacks against Native populations, at times tribes or villages not involved in the original act.<ref name="bim">While the [[Bloody Island Massacre]] occurred during this time period, it did not occur in the Gold Rush era mining districts.</ref> During the 1852 [[Bridge Gulch Massacre]], a group of settlers attacked a band of [[Wintu]] Indians in response to the killing of a citizen named J. R. Anderson. After his killing, the sheriff led a group of men to track down the Indians, whom the men then attacked, killing more than 150 Wintu people. Only three children survived the massacre that was against a different band of Wintu than the one that had killed Anderson.<ref>{{cite web |title=Trinity County California |url=http://visittrinity.com/explore-history/natural-bridge/ |website=visittrinity.com |date=August 10, 2013 |access-date=April 7, 2015 |archive-date=October 16, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016100128/http://visittrinity.com/explore-history/natural-bridge/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Historian Benjamin Madley recorded the numbers of killings of California Indians between 1846 and 1873 and estimated that during this period at least 9,400 to 16,000 California Indians were killed by non-Indians, mostly occurring in more than 370 massacres (defined as the "intentional killing of five or more disarmed combatants or largely unarmed noncombatants, including women, children, and prisoners, whether in the context of a battle or otherwise").{{sfnb|Madley|2016|pp=11, 351}} Furthermore, California stood in opposition of ratifying the eighteen treaties signed between tribal leaders and federal agents in 1851.{{sfnb|Norton|1979|pp=[https://archive.org/details/genocideinnorthw00nort/page/70 70–73]}} The state government, in support of miner activities, funded and supported private militia groups, appropriating over 1&nbsp;million dollars towards the funding and operation of the paramilitary organizations.<ref>{{cite web |last=Smith |first=Chuck |work=Cabrillo College |url=http://www.cabrillo.edu/~crsmith/anth6_americanperiod.html |title=Indians of California – American Period (Anthropology Class 6) |date=1999 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181101135439/http://www.cabrillo.edu/~crsmith/anth6_americanperiod.html |archive-date=November 1, 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Peter Burnett]], California's first governor declared that California was a battleground between the races and that there were only two options towards California Indians, extermination or removal. "That a war of extermination will continue to be waged between the two races until the Indian race becomes extinct, must be expected. While we cannot anticipate the result with but painful regret, the inevitable destiny of the race is beyond the power and wisdom of man to avert." For Burnett, like many of his contemporaries, the genocide was part of God's plan, and it was necessary for Burnett's constituency to move forward in California.{{sfnb|Lindsay|2012|p=[https://archive.org/details/murderstatecalif0000lind/page/231 231]}} The [[Act for the Government and Protection of Indians]], passed on April 22, 1850, by the [[California Legislature]], allowed settlers to capture and use Native people as bonded workers, prohibited Native peoples' testimony against settlers, and allowed the adoption of Native children by settlers, often for labor purposes.{{sfnb|Lindsay|2012|p=[https://archive.org/details/murderstatecalif0000lind/page/148 148]}}

After the initial boom had ended, explicitly anti-foreign and racist attacks, laws and confiscatory taxes sought to drive out foreigners—in addition to Native Americans—from the mines, especially the Chinese and Latin American immigrants mostly from [[Sonora, Mexico]], and Chile.<ref name="Out of"/><ref name=StarrRace>{{harvb|Starr|Orsi|2000|pp=56–79}}</ref> Spanish-speaking immigrants tended to group together and among these Chileans tended to assume leadership which made outsiders call all of them "Chilean".<ref name=consulate>{{Cite journal |title=Chileans in California during the Gold Rush Period and the Establishment of the Chilean Consulate |journal=California Historical Quarterly |last=Nasatir |first=Abraham P. |volume=53 |issue=1 |pages=52–70|year=1974 |doi=10.2307/25157486 |jstor=25157486 }}</ref> This leadership was particularly visible when Spanish-speaking miners had to confront "Anglo" miners.<ref name=consulate/> Chilean miners are known to have resisted eviction by various means, both legal and by the use of revenge attacks culminating in the Chile War of 1849.<ref name=consulate/><ref name=biob>{{Cite news |title=Linchamentos y cortes de oreja: choza simboliza el cruel trato a inmigrantes chilenos en California |last=Lara |first=Emilio |date=2020-04-16 |url=https://www.biobiochile.cl/noticias/sociedad/historia/2020/04/16/linchamentos-y-cortes-de-oreja-choza-simboliza-el-cruel-trato-a-inmigrantes-chilenos-en-california.shtml |access-date=2025-11-12 |work=[[Radio Bío-Bío]] |language=es}}</ref>   

The toll on the American immigrants was severe as well: one in twelve forty-niners perished, as the death and crime rates during the Gold Rush were extraordinarily high, and the resulting [[vigilantism]] also took its toll.<ref name=StarrDeath>{{harvb|Starr|2005|pp=[https://archive.org/details/californiahistor00star_0/page/84 84–87]}}</ref><ref>Cossley-Batt, Jill (1928), [http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/california_rangers/california_banditti.html ch. 16: "California Banditti"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513161925/http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/california_rangers/california_banditti.html |date=May 13, 2011 }}. [[Joaquin Murrieta]] was a famous Mexican [[outlaw|bandit]] during the Gold Rush of the 1850s.</ref>

===World-wide economic stimulation===
{| class="wikitable" style="float:right; margin-left:25px; width:28%; font-size:90%; border:1px solid darkgrey;"
|+[[Chilean wheat cycle|Chilean wheat exports to California]] from 1848 to 1854 (in [[Hundredweight|qqm]])<ref name=villalobos>{{in lang|es}} [[Sergio Villalobos|Villalobos, Sergio]]; [[Osvaldo Silva|Silva, Osvaldo]]; Silva, Fernando and Estelle, Patricio. 1974. ''Historia De Chile''. [[Editorial Universitaria]], Chile. pp 481–485.</ref>
|-
| valign="top"|Year
| style="vertical-align:top; text-align:center;"|Grains
| style="vertical-align:top; text-align:center;"|Flour
|-
| valign="top"|1848
| style="text-align:right; vertical-align:top;"| 3000
| style="text-align:right; vertical-align:top;"| n/a
|-
| valign="top"|1849
| style="text-align:right; vertical-align:top;"| 87,000
| style="text-align:right; vertical-align:top;"| 69,000
|-
| valign="top"|1850
| style="text-align:right; vertical-align:top;"| 277,000
| style="text-align:right; vertical-align:top;"| 221,000
|-
| valign="top"|1854
| style="text-align:right; vertical-align:top;"|63,000
| style="text-align:right; vertical-align:top;"|50,000
|}

The gold rush stimulated economies around the world as well. Farmers [[Chilean wheat cycle|in Chile]], Australia, and Hawaii found a huge new market for their food; British manufactured goods were in high demand; clothing and even prefabricated houses arrived from China.<ref name=RawlsWorld>{{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|p=[https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/286 286]}}</ref> The return of large amounts of California gold to pay for these goods raised prices and stimulated investment and the creation of jobs around the world.<ref name=RawlsStim>{{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|pp=[https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/287 287–289]}}</ref> Australian prospector [[Edward Hargraves]], noting similarities between the geography of California and his home country, returned to Australia to discover gold and spark the [[Australian gold rushes]].<ref>Younger, R. M. 'Wondrous Gold' in ''Australia and the Australians: A New Concise History'', Rigby, Sydney, 1970</ref> Preceding the gold rush, the United States was on a [[Gold standard#Bimetallic standard|bi-metallic standard]], but the sudden increase in physical gold supply increased the relative value of physical silver and drove silver money from circulation. The increase in gold supply also created a monetary supply [[Shock (economics)|shock]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2015/08/crisis-chronicles-the-california-gold-rush-and-the-gold-standard.html |title=Crisis Chronicles–The California Gold Rush and the Gold Standard |last1=Narron |first1=James |last2=Morgan |first2=Don |date=August 7, 2015 |website=New York Fed |series=Liberty Street Economics |publisher=Federal Reserve Bank of New York |location=New York |access-date=August 8, 2015 |quote=The gold rush constituted a positive monetary supply shock because the United States was on the gold standard at the time. The nation had switched from a bimetallic (gold and silver) standard to a de facto gold standard in 1834. Under the latter, the U.S. government stood ready to buy gold for $20.67 per ounce, a parity that prevailed until 1933. That commitment anchored prices, but the large gold discovery functioned like a monetary easing by a central bank, with more gold chasing the same amount of goods and services. The increase in spending ultimately led to higher prices because nothing real had changed except the availability of a shiny yellow metal. |archive-date=August 9, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150809003039/http://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2015/08/crisis-chronicles-the-california-gold-rush-and-the-gold-standard.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Within a few years after the end of the gold rush, in 1863, the groundbreaking ceremony for the western leg of the [[first transcontinental railroad]] was held in Sacramento. The line's completion, some six years later, financed in part with Gold Rush money,<ref name=RawlsRR>{{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|pp=[https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/278 278–279]}}</ref> united California with the central and eastern United States. Travel that had taken weeks or even months could now be accomplished in days.<ref name=RawlsandBean>Historians James Rawls and Walton Bean have postulated that were it not for the discovery of gold, [[Oregon]] might have been granted statehood ahead of California, and therefore the first "Pacific Railroad might have been built to that state." ''See'' Rawls, James, J., and Walton Bean (2003), p. 112.</ref>

===Gender practices===
As the California gold rush brought a disproportionate population of men and set an environment of experimental lawlessness separate from the bounds of standard society, conventional American gender roles came into question.<ref name="Wide-open Town">{{cite book |last1=Boyd |first1=Nan Alamilla |title=Wide-open town |date=2003 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0520204157 |url=https://archive.org/details/wideopentownhist00boyd/page/26/mode/2up |access-date=April 12, 2021 }}</ref> In the large absence of women, these migrant young men were made to reorganize their social and sexual practices, leading to cross-gender practices that most often took place as [[cross-dressing]]. Dance events were a notable social space for cross-dressing, where a piece of cloth (such as a handkerchief or sackcloth patch) would denote a 'woman.'<ref name="muse">{{cite journal |last1=Sears |first1=Clare |title=All that Glitters: Trans-ing California's Gold Rush Migrations |journal=GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies |date=2008 |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=383–402 |doi=10.1215/10642684-2007-038 |s2cid=144533043 |url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/glq/article-pdf/14/2-3/383/414276/GLQ142-3_10_Sears.pdf |access-date=April 12, 2021 |issn=1527-9375 |archive-date=July 31, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240731035729/https://read.dukeupress.edu/glq/article-pdf/14/2-3/383/414276/GLQ142-3_10_Sears.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Beyond social events, these subverted gender expectations continued into domestic duties as well. Though cross-dressing occurred most frequently with men as women, the reverse also applied.<ref name="atlas">{{cite web |last1=Imbler |first1=Sabrina |title=The Forgotten Trans History of the Wild West |url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/trans-history-wild-west |website=Atlas Obscura |access-date=April 12, 2021 |language=en |date=June 21, 2019 |archive-date=July 31, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240731035729/https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/trans-history-wild-west |url-status=live }}</ref>

These miners and merchants of various genders and gendered appearances, encouraged by the social fluidity and population limitations of the Wild West, shaped the beginnings of [[LGBT culture in San Francisco|San Francisco's prominent queer history]].<ref name="Wide-open Town" />

===Longer-term===
{{External media|float=right|video1=[https://www.c-span.org/video/?172881-1/the-age-gold Presentation by H. W. Brands on ''The Age of Gold: The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream'', September 19, 2002], [[C-SPAN]]}}

California's name became indelibly connected with the gold rush, and fast success in a new world became known as the "[[California Dream]]".{{sfnb|Starr|1973}} California was perceived as a place of new beginnings, where great wealth could reward hard work and good luck. Historian [[H. W. Brands]] noted that in the years after the Gold Rush, the California Dream spread across the nation:

{{Blockquote|The old American Dream&nbsp;... was the dream of the Puritans, of Benjamin Franklin's "Poor Richard"...&nbsp;of men and women content to accumulate their modest fortunes a little at a time, year by year by year. The new dream was the dream of instant wealth, won in a twinkling by audacity and good luck. <nowiki>[This]</nowiki> golden dream&nbsp;... became a prominent part of the American psyche only after Sutter's Mill.<ref name=BrandsQuote>{{harvb|Brands|2002|p=[https://archive.org/details/ageofgoldcalifor00bran/page/442 442]}}</ref>}}
{{Multiple image
| header            = Legacy
| footer            = (1) State motto, "[[Eureka (word)|Eureka]]" on the [[Seal of California]]. (2) California state route shield, with the number 49 and shaped like a miner's spade. (3) The 1925 commemorative [[California Diamond Jubilee half dollar]].
| align             = right
| image1            = Great Seal of the State of California Colored.svg
| width1            = 150
| image2            = California 49.svg
| width2            = 150
| image3            = California diamond jubilee half dollar commemorative obverse.jpg
| width3            = 150
}}

Overnight California gained the international reputation as the "golden state".<ref>A perception of lawlessness also was connected with California. See {{cite journal |first=Robert A. |last=Burchell |title=The Loss of a Reputation; or, The Image of California in Britain before 1875 |journal=California Historical Quarterly |volume=53 |year=1974 |issue=2 |pages=115–130 |doi=10.2307/25157500 |jstor=25157500}} (stories about gold rush lawlessness deterred some immigration for two decades).</ref> Generations of immigrants have been attracted by the California Dream. California farmers,<ref name=StarrFarm>{{harvb|Starr|2005|p=[https://archive.org/details/californiahistor00star_0/page/110 110]}} "[A]griculture dominated the post-gold rush sequence of development, employing more people than mining by 1869&nbsp;... and surpassing mining in 1879 as the leading element of the California economy."</ref> oil drillers,<ref name=CalOil>''See, e.g.'', [[Signal Hill, California]], [[Bakersfield, California]]; [[History of Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles, California]]</ref> movie makers,<ref name=Movies>[[20th Century-Fox]], [[MGM]], [[Paramount Pictures|Paramount]], [[RKO]], [[Warner Bros.]], [[Universal Pictures]], [[Columbia Pictures]], and [[United Artists]] are among the most recognized entertainment industry names centered in California; ''see also'' [[film studio]]</ref> [[Aircraft industry|airplane builders]],<ref name=Aerospace>[[Douglas Aircraft]], [[Lockheed Corporation|Lockheed Aircraft]], [[Hughes Aircraft]], [[North American Aviation]], [[Convair]], and [[Northrop Corporation|Northrop]] were among the complex of companies in the aerospace industry which flourished in California during and after World War II.</ref> computer and microchip makers, and [[Dot-com bubble|"dot-com" entrepreneurs]] have each had their boom times in the decades after the Gold Rush.<ref name=YouTube>{{cite news |author1=Gaither, Chris |author2=Chmielewski, Dawn C |title=Google Bets Big on Videos |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=October 10, 2006 |url=http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-google10oct10,0,1747609.story?coll=la-home-business |access-date=October 10, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061010200549/http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-google10oct10%2C0%2C1747609.story?coll=la-home-business |archive-date=October 10, 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In addition, the standard route shield of [[state highways in California]] is in the shape of a miner's spade to honor the California gold rush.<ref>{{cite web |title=Economic Development History of State Route 99 in California |url=https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/economic_development/studies/sr99ca.cfm |publisher=[[Federal Highway Administration]] |access-date=September 7, 2012 |quote=In the 1960s, green and white CA-99 signs that resemble miners' spades replaced the black and white U.S. 99 shields }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://sd08.senate.ca.gov/news/2008-01-04-car-sales-curbed-along-el-camino-palo-alto-weekly |title=Car Sales Curbed Along El Camino |work=Palo Alto Weekly |publisher=Office of California State Senator [[Leland Yee]] |date=January 4, 2008 |first=Alexander |last=Papoulias |access-date=September 7, 2012 |quote=State routes can be identified by the green State Highway Route shield, which is in the shape of a spade in honor of the California Gold Rush, and bears the route's number |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019072433/http://sd08.senate.ca.gov/news/2008-01-04-car-sales-curbed-along-el-camino-palo-alto-weekly |archive-date=October 19, 2012 }}</ref> Today, the aptly named [[California State Route 49|State Route 49]] travels through the [[Sierra Nevada]] foothills, connecting many Gold Rush-era towns such as Placerville, [[Auburn, California|Auburn]], [[Grass Valley, California|Grass Valley]], [[Nevada City, California|Nevada City]], Coloma, [[Jackson, California|Jackson]], and [[Sonora, California|Sonora]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Your guide to the Mother Lode: Complete map of historic Hwy 49 |url=http://www.historichwy49.com/mainmap.html |work=historichwy49.com |access-date=December 30, 2008 |archive-date=November 23, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101123192529/http://historichwy49.com/mainmap.html |url-status=live }}</ref> This state highway also passes very near [[Columbia State Historic Park]], a protected area encompassing the historic business district of the town of [[Columbia, California|Columbia]]; the park has preserved many gold rush-era buildings, which are presently occupied by tourist-oriented businesses.<ref name="nrhpinv2">{{cite web |title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Columbia Historic District |url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NHLS/66000242_text |format=pdf |date=April 8, 1964 |author=Snell, Charles |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=July 31, 2024 |archive-date=October 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221008204950/https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NHLS/66000242_text |url-status=live }} and {{NHLS url|id=66000242|title=''Accompanying photos, exterior and interior''|photos=y}} {{small|(32 KB) }}</ref>

==Cultural references==
The literary history of the gold rush is reflected in the works of [[Mark Twain]] (''[[The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County]]''), [[Bret Harte]] (''A Millionaire of Rough-and-Ready''), [[Joaquin Miller]] (''Life Amongst the Modocs''), and many others.<ref name=MillerModoc/><ref>Watson, Matthew (2005) looks at [[Bret Harte]]'s notion of Western partnership in such California gold rush stories as "[[The Luck of Roaring Camp]]" (1868), "[[Tennessee's Partner (short story)|Tennessee's Partner]]" (1869), and "Miggles" (1869). While critics have long recognized Harte's interest in gender constructs, Harte's depictions of Western partnerships also explore changing dynamics of economic relationships and gendered relationships through terms of contract, mutual support, and the bonds of labor.</ref>

The [[San Francisco 49ers]], a professional [[American football]] team based in the [[San Francisco Bay Area]] and competing in the [[National Football League]], are named after miners.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.49ers.com/history/founder |title=San Francisco 49ers |access-date=January 11, 2024 |archive-date=May 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190508022442/https://www.49ers.com/history/founder |url-status=live }}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|California|United States}}
* [[Barbary Coast, San Francisco|Barbary Coast]]
* [[California Mining and Mineral Museum]]
* [[Pike's Peak gold rush]]
* [[Doré bar]]
* [[Gold in California]]
* [[List of people associated with the California Gold Rush]]

==References==
'''Footnotes'''
{{Notelist}}

'''Citations'''
{{Reflist|refs=Mora, Anthony. "California Gold Rush." American Culture 213: Introduction to Latino/a Studies. Tisch Hall, Ann Arbor. September 28, 2015. Lecture. "Home." Our Documents – Web. December 14, 2015.}}

===Works cited===
{{Refbegin|40em|indent=yes}}
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* {{cite book |last=Boyd |first=Nan Alamilla |url=https://archive.org/details/wideopentownhist00boyd |title=Wide-Open Town: A History of Queery San Francisco to 1965 |publisher=University of California Press |year=2003 |isbn=9780520204157 }}
* {{cite book |last=Brands |first=H. W. |author-link=H. W. Brands |title=The Age of Gold: The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream |url=https://archive.org/details/ageofgoldcalifor00bran |location=New York |publisher=[[Random House#Subsidiaries and affiliates|Anchor Books]] |year=2002 |isbn=0-385-50216-8 }}
* {{cite book |last=Caughey |first=John Walton |title=The California Gold Rush |publisher=University of California Press |year=1975 |isbn=978-0-520-02763-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/californiagoldru00caugrich }}
* {{cite book |last=Clappe |first=Louise Amelia Knapp Smith |author-link=Louise Amelia Knapp Smith Clappe |title=The Shirley Letters from the California Mines, 1851–1852 |publisher=T.C. Russell |location=San Francisco |year=1922 |url=https://archive.org/details/shirleylettersf00russgoog }}
* {{cite journal |last=Clay |first=Karen |author2=Gavin Wright |title=Order Without Law? Property Rights During the California Gold Rush |journal=Explorations in Economic History |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=155–183 |date=April 2005 |doi=10.1016/j.eeh.2004.05.003 |url=http://www-siepr.stanford.edu/workp/swp03008.pdf |access-date=November 1, 2017 |archive-date=August 9, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809035951/http://www-siepr.stanford.edu/workp/swp03008.pdf |url-status=dead }}
* {{cite book |last=Cossley-Batt |first=Jill L. |title=The Last of the California Rangers |publisher=Funk & Wagnalls Company |location=New York and London |year=1928}}
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* {{cite book |last=Faragher |first=John Mack |title=Out of Many: A History of the American People |edition=5th |publisher=Pearson |year=2006 |page=411}}
* {{cite news |last=Gaither |first=Chris |author2=Chmielewski, Dawn C. |title=Google Bets Big on Videos |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=October 10, 2006 |url=http://msl1.mit.edu/furdlog/docs/latimes/2006-10-10_latimes_google_youtube.pdf |access-date=October 10, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070616151921/http://msl1.mit.edu/furdlog/docs/latimes/2006-10-10_latimes_google_youtube.pdf |archive-date=June 16, 2007 }}
* {{cite book |last=Heizer |first=Robert F. |title=The Destruction of California Indians |publisher=[[University of Nebraska Press]] |year=1974 |location=Lincoln and London |isbn=978-0-8032-7262-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/destructionofcal00heiz }}
* {{cite book |last=Hill |first=Mary |title=Gold: The California Story |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |year=1999 |location=Berkeley and Los Angeles |isbn=978-0-520-21547-4}}
* {{cite book |last=Holliday |first=J. S. |author-link=J. S. Holliday |title=Rush for Riches: Gold Fever and the Making of California |publisher=[[Oakland Museum of California]] and [[University of California Press]] |year=1999 |location=Oakland, California, Berkeley and Los Angeles |isbn=978-0-520-21401-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/rushforrichesgol00holl }}
* {{cite book |last=Johnson |first=Susan Lee |title=Roaring Camp: The Social World of the California Gold Rush |url=https://archive.org/details/roaringcamp00susa |year=2001 |location=New York |publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]] |isbn=978-0-393-32099-2 }}
* {{cite book |last=Levy |first=JoAnn |title=They Saw the Elephant: Women in the California Gold Rush |url=https://archive.org/details/theysawelephantw00levy |year=1990 |location=Hamden, CT |publisher=Archon Books |isbn=0-208-02273-2 }}
* {{cite book |last=Lindsay |first=Brenden C. |title=Murder State: California's Native American Genocide, 1846–1873 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |location=Lincoln and London |year=2012 |url=https://archive.org/details/murderstatecalif0000lind |isbn=978-0803224803 }}
* {{cite book |last=Madley |first=Benjamin |title=An American Genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe, 1846–1873 |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-0300181364}}
* {{cite book |last=Miller |first=Joaquin |author-link=Joaquin Miller |title=Life Amongst the Modocs |url=https://archive.org/details/unwrittenhist00millrich/ |publisher=American Publishing Company |location=Hartford, CT |year=1874 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Neary |first1=J. |last2=Robbins |first2=Hollis |title=Mapping Regions in Early American Writing |chapter=11: African American Literature of the Gold Rush |publisher=University of Georgia Press |year=2015 |pages=226–248 |isbn=978-0-8203-4823-0}}
* {{cite book |last=Norton |first=Jack |url=https://archive.org/details/genocideinnorthw00nort |title=Genocide in Northwestern California: When Our Worlds Cried |publisher=Indian Historian Press |year=1979 |location=San Francisco }}
* {{cite book |last=Paul |first=Rodman W. |url=https://archive.org/details/californiagoldbe00rodm |title=California Gold: The Beginning of Mining in the Far West |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |location=Bison |year=1969 |orig-year=1947 }}
* {{cite book |last=Rohrbough |first=Malcolm J. |title=Days of Gold: The California Gold Rush and the American Nation |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley and Los Angeles |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-520-21659-4}}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Moynihan |editor1-first=Ruth B. |editor2-last=Armitage |editor2-first=Susan |editor3-last=Dichamp |editor3-first=Christiane Fischer |year=1990 |title=So Much to be Done: Women Settlers on the Mining and Ranching Frontier |edition=2nd |publisher=[[University of Nebraska Press]] |location=Lincoln |isbn=978-0-8032-8248-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/somuchtobedonewo00moyn }}
* {{cite book |last1=Rawls |first1=James J. |last2=Bean |first2=Walton |year=2003 |title=California: An Interpretive History |publisher=McGraw-Hill |location=New York |isbn=978-0-07-255255-3}}
* {{cite book |editor-last1=Rawls |editor-first1=James J. |editor-first2=Richard J. |editor-last2=Orsi |title=A Golden State: Mining and Economic Development in Gold Rush California |series=California History Sesquicentennial, 2 |year=1999 |location=Berkeley and Los Angeles |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-21771-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse }}
* {{cite book |last=Rolle |first=Andrew |title=California: A History |publisher=Harlan Davidson |year=1987 |isbn=0-88295-839-9 |edition=4th |location=Arlington Heights, IL |oclc=13333829 |orig-year=1963 }}
* {{cite book |last=Sears |first=Clare |title=Arresting Dress: Cross-Dressing, Law, and Fascination in Nineteenth-Century San Francisco |publisher=Duke University Press Books |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-8223-5754-4}}
* {{cite book |last=Starr |first=Kevin |author-link=Kevin Starr |title=Americans and the California Dream: 1850–1915 |url=https://archive.org/details/americanscalifor00star |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1973 |location=New York and Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-504233-7 }}
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* {{cite book |editor1-last=Starr | editor1-first = Kevin |editor2-first=Richard J. | editor2-last = Orsi |year=2000 |title=Rooted in Barbarous Soil: People, Culture, and Community in Gold Rush California |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley and Los Angeles |isbn=978-0-520-22496-4}}
* {{Cite book|last=Stiles|title=The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt|first=T.J.|date=2009|publisher=Knopf |isbn=9780375415425}}
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* {{cite journal |last=Watson |first=Matthew A. |title=The Argonauts of '49: Class, Gender, and Partnership in Bret Harte's West |journal=Western American Literature |year=2005 |volume=40 |issue=1 |pages=33–53 |doi=10.1353/wal.2005.0076 |s2cid=165279197}}
* {{cite web |first= |last= |title=Taylor, William |publisher=Dictionary of African Christian Biography |year=2024 |access-date=March 12, 2024 |url=https://dacb.org/stories/angola/taylor-william/ |ref=dictionary2024 }}
* {{cite book |last=Taylor |first=William |author-mask= |editor=Ridpath, John |title=Story of my life |year=1895 |publisher=W. Briggs |location=Toronto |url=https://archive.org/details/williamtaylor00tayluoft }}
* {{cite book |last=Wells |first=Harry L. |title=History of Siskiyou County, California |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofsiskiyo00well |publisher=D.J. Stewart & Co. |year=1881 |location=Oakland, California }}
* {{cite book |last=Young |first=Otis E. |title=Western Mining |url=https://archive.org/details/westernmininginf0000youn |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |location=Norman |year=1970 |isbn=978-0-8061-1352-4 }}
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
{{See also|Bibliography of California history}}
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite journal |last=Burchell |first=Robert A. |title=The Loss of a Reputation; or, The Image of California in Britain before 1875 |journal=California Historical Quarterly |volume=53 |issue=3 |pages=115–130 |date=Summer 1974 |issn=0097-6059 |doi=10.2307/25157500 |jstor=25157500}}
* {{cite book |last1=Durham |first1=Walter T. |author-link=Walter T. Durham |title=Volunteer Forty-Niners: Tennesseans and the California Gold Rush |date=1997 |publisher=Vanderbilt University Press |location=Nashville, Tennessee |isbn=978-0585170930 |oclc=44959444}}
* {{cite book |last=Eifler |first=Mark A. |title=Gold Rush Capitalists: Greed and Growth in Sacramento |location=Albuquerque |publisher=[[University of New Mexico Press]] |year=2002 |isbn=978-0826328229}}
* {{cite book |last=Hart |first=Eugene |title=A Guide to the California Gold Rush |publisher=Freewheel Publications |location=Merced |year=2003 |isbn=978-0963419729}}
* {{cite book |last=Helper |first=Hinton Rowan |author-link=Hinton Rowan Helper |title=The Land of Gold: Reality Versus Fiction |publisher=H. Taylor |year=1855 |location=Baltimore |url=https://archive.org/details/landofgoldrealit00help_2/}}
* {{cite book |last1=Holliday |first1=J. S. |author-link1=J. S. Holliday |first2=William |last2=Swain |title=The World Rushed in: The California Gold Rush Experience |url=https://archive.org/details/worldrushedinthe00holl |year=2002 |location=Norman |publisher=[[University of Oklahoma Press]] |isbn=978-0806134642 |orig-year=1981}}
* {{cite book |last=Hurtado |first=Albert L. |title=John Sutter: A Life on the North American Frontier |location=Norman |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0806137728 |url=https://archive.org/details/johnsutterlifeon00hurt}}
* {{cite book |last=Knorr |first=Lawrence |title=A Pennsylvania Mennonite and the California Gold Rush |publisher=Sunbury Press |location=Camp Hill |year=2008 |isbn=978-0976092582}}
* Ngai, Mae. ''The Chinese Question: The Gold Rushes and Global Politics'' (2021), Mid 19c in California, Australia and South Africa
* {{cite book |editor=Owens, Kenneth N. |title=Riches for All: The California Gold Rush and the World |location=Lincoln |publisher=[[University of Nebraska Press]] |year=2002 |isbn=978-0803286177}}
* {{cite book |last=Roberts |first=Brian |title=American Alchemy: The California Gold Rush and Middle-class Culture |location=Chapel Hill |publisher=[[University of North Carolina Press]] |year=2000 |isbn=978-0807848562}}
* {{cite book |last=Rohrbough |first=Malcolm J. |title=Days of Gold: The California Gold Rush and the American Nation |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley and Los Angeles |year=1998 |isbn=978-0520216594 |ref=CITEREFRohrbough1998-z}} [http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=acls;cc=acls;view=toc;idno=heb00571.0001.001 online edition] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191223084625/https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=acls;cc=acls;view=toc;idno=heb00571.0001.001 |date=December 23, 2019 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Watson |first=Matthew A. |title=The Argonauts of '49: Class, Gender, and Partnership in Bret Harte's West |journal=Western American Literature |year=2005 |volume=40 |issue=1 |pages=33–53 |issn=0043-3462}}
* Witschi, N. S. (2004). "Bret Harte." ''Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature''. Ed. Jay Parini. New York: Oxford University Press. 154–157.
* {{cite book |last=Witschi |first=N.S. |title=Traces of Gold: California's Natural Resources and the Claim to Realism in Western American Literature |publisher=University of Alabama Press. |year=2002 |location=Tuscaloosa |url=https://archive.org/details/tracesofgold0000unse |url-access=registration |isbn=978-0817311179}}
{{Refend}}

===Maps===
* [https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4361h.mf000057/?r=0.038,0.707,0.915,0.473,0 Ord, Edward Otho Cresap, Topographical sketch of the gold & quicksilver district of California, 1848.] from loc.gov accessed October 4, 2018.
* [https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/45039/lawsons-map-from-actual-survey-of-the-gold-silver-quicks-lawson Lawson's Map from Actual Survey of the Gold, Silver & Quicksilver Regions of Upper California Exhibiting the Mines, Diggings, Roads, Paths, Houses, Mills, Missions &c. &c by J.T. Lawson, Esq. Cala. ... New York, 1849.] from raremaps.com accessed October 4, 2018. Lawson's map of the Gold Regions is the first map to accurately depict California's Gold Regions. Issued in January 1849, at the beginning of the California gold rush, Lawson's map was produced specifically for prospectors and miners.
* [https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/44942/a-correct-map-of-the-bay-of-san-francisco-and-the-gold-regio-jarves A Correct Map of the Bay of San Francisco and the Gold Region from actual Survey June 20th. 1849 for J.J. Jarves. Embracing all the New Towns, Ranchos, Roads, Dry and Wet Diggings, with their several distances from each other, James Munroe & Co. of Boston, 1849] from raremaps.com accessed October 4, 2018. One of the earliest maps of the gold region made from personal observation, Jarves' map states on it that it was the result of a survey of the diggings made for him on June 20, 1849.
* [https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/0085bm/sketch-of-general-rileys-route-through-the-mining-districts-derby-hollingsworth George Derby, Sketch of General Riley's Route Through the Mining Districts July and Aug., J. McH. Hollingsworth, New York, 1849] from raremaps.com accessed October 4, 2018.
* [https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/55191/the-sacramento-valley-from-the-american-river-to-butte-creek-derby The Sacramento Valley from The American River to Butte Creek, Surveyed & Drawn by Order of Gen.l Riley ... by Lt. George H. Derby,... September & October 1849, Washington, 1849] from raremaps.com accessed October 4, 2018. Map by Lt. George H. Derby, from Tyson's Information in Relation to the Geology and Topography of California.
* [https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4361h.mf000060/?r=-0.655,0.502,2.309,0.963,0 Jackson, William A., Map of the mining district of California, Lambert & Lane's Lith., 1850.] from loc.gov accessed October 4, 2018.
* [https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/43035mp2/map-of-the-gold-region-of-california-taken-from-a-recent-sur-ellis Map of the Gold Region of California taken from a recent survey By Robert H. Ellis 1850 (with early manuscript annotations), George F. Nesbitt, Lith., New York, 1850] from raremaps.com accessed October 4, 2018. A later 1850 map showing the growing settlement in the goldfields and in that vicinity of the state.
* [http://omniatlas.com/maps/northamerica/18490211/ Map of North America during the California gold rush at omniatlas.com]

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist/chron1.html California gold rush chronology] at The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco
* [http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/Exhibits/Goldrush/introduction.html University of California, Berkeley, Bancroft Library] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111108003054/http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/Exhibits/Goldrush/introduction.html|date=November 8, 2011}}
* [http://archives.lib.byu.edu/repositories/14/resources/3169 Lewis B. Rush diary, diary of a gold rush miner, MSS SC 161] at [[L. Tom Perry Special Collections]], [[Harold B. Lee Library]], [[Brigham Young University]]
* [[hdl:10079/fa/beinecke.goldrush|Gold Rush Collection]]. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

{{California Gold Rush}}
{{California history}}
{{Gold rush}}
{{Financial bubbles}}
{{American frontier}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:California Gold Rush| ]]
[[Category:1848 in California]]
[[Category:1849 in California]]
[[Category:1850s in California]]
[[Category:History of mining in the United States]]
[[Category:Maritime history of California]]
[[Category:Hydraulic engineering]]
[[Category:1840s in economic history]]
[[Category:1850s in economic history]]
[[Category:1840s in mining]]
[[Category:American frontier]]