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The California Gold Rush

History through the Collections Series PA RT I

The Cali f orni a H is to ri cal S oc i ety

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hen James Marshall picked up a shiny bit of gold that cool January morning in 1848, he was not the first person in California to ever find the precious metal. The Native American peoples of California had known about the existence of gold in the Sierra Nevada Mountains for years, and there is an account of gold being discovered in southern California a full six years before James Marshall and his workers made their discovery.

Perhaps what gave James Marshalls discovery importance was the timing. The 1840s was a decade of increasing change for California. Settlers from the eastern United States had been moving into the California territory to take advantage of its rich land for farming and cattle. Settlers, feeling resistant to the rule of the distant Mexican government, clashed with californios, native citizens of Mexican lineage, over land issues. By 1846, the U.S. was at war with Mexico, and in 1848, as part of the treaty that ended the war, California became part of the United States. In the rest of the United States there was a sense of expectancy and curiosity about the new Western territories. California increasingly was looked to as a place of new beginnings, new possibilities. It would only take a special moment or event

to turn that curiosity and hope into all-out excitement . . .

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n the morning of January 24, 1848, James Marshall wasted no time getting to work at his job as foreman of John Sutters Mill. John

What started the Gold Rush?

Above: Artist unknown, The World in California. Hutchings California Magazine, 1857. Library collection. Right: Maker unknown, John Sutter. Photography collection. Facing page, clockwise from top: John A. Todd, James Wilson Marshall, ca. 1884. Photography collection, FN-13223, VIP05409. Marshall in front of Sutter's Mill, gelatin silver copy photoprint from a daguerreotype. Artistic Source: Carleton E. Watkins after an 1849 daguerreotype attributed to Robert Vance. Photography, Martin Behrman Collection, FN-12015, VIP01403. Gold Nugget. Fine arts collection.

Sutter, who had estabdays, he and his workers tested the lished a successful fortnuggets. Marshall pounded a nugget like community at the and it flattened out, just as gold should. present-day site of He had Mrs.Wimmer, the camp cook, Sacramento, was dip a nugget into a pot of lye. q planning to use his The nugget came out unscathed, lumber mill to Lye: just as gold should. Sure beyond expand his empire. a harsh chem- doubt, Marshall hurried to tell ical made The mill was being his boss, John Sutter, of the from wood built along the remarkable find. ashes and banks of the used to make Marshall and Sutter tried at first American River in soap to keep the discovery a secret. the scenic, tree-covSutter knew that once the word ered foothills of the Sierra was out ,h is land would be Nevada. On that cool January morning, howev- overrun with gold hunters. When er, Marshall took no a secret is as notice of the beautiful mountain setting. His gaze was focused downward big as a river however, it as he inspected the channel of river is impossiwater. It was there, standing at the ble to hide channel, that Marshall saw the morning light sparkle off something shiny in it for long. Word of the the water. He scooped up some tiny, gleaming nuggets, not much more than find made its way down the mere flecks. mountains all Marshall was fairly certain that he held the way to the sleepy John Sutter gold in his hand. Over the next few town of San Francisco.

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Sam Brannan ,w ho had a supply store at Sutters fort and would later open a store at the mill site ,s aw the chance to make a fortune of his own by selling supplies to gold hunters as they headed up to the foothills. Brannan published reports of the find in his San Francisco newspaper, The California Star, and visited several popular gathering places in the city, waving a jar of Gold! Gold from the American River! Within days San Francisco was seized with gold fever and the town emptied of citizens as everyone rushed to the hills. In the eastern United States, rumors and stories of California gold began to circulate. Then, in his 1848 State of the Union speech, President James K. Polk confirmed the existence of gold in California. If the president spoke of gold, then the rumors and stories must be true! Excitement swept throughout the nation and beyond. The secret was a secret no longer. The world was on its way to California!

James Marshall

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The Largest Nugget
The largest gold nugget found in the California Gold Rush weighed 195 pounds! Oscar Bennet, a miner, wrote a letter to his brother reporting that a 15 pound nugget sold for $3,250 in 1850. Imagine what a 195-pound nugget would be worth today!

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Francisco Lopez
James Marshall was not the first person to find gold in California. The first recorded gold discovery was in 1842. While gathering wild onions for his lunch in the Placerita Canyon in the southern portion of California, Francisco Lopez noticed glimmering flakes of gold stuck to the roots of the onions. Though his find did not develop into a gold rush, there were miners who came in search of gold in the Placerita Canyon. In fact, the first 20 ounces of California gold to be processed at the United States Mint came from Franciscos gold discovery.

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eople came to California in droves. They came from nations all over the globe: France,Australia, China, and Mexico, to name a few. Ninety-thousand gold seekers came in 1849 alone, forever earning them the name 49ers. In the age before airplanes and automobiles, most of the gold seekers traveled one of three main routes to California: From the Eastern states and central territories, people traveled the Overland Route. The majority followed the California-Oregon Trail out of Independence, Missouri,while others headed south along trails such as the Santa Fe. The overland journey was a long, hard ordeal that took from 5 to 7 months to

How Did 2 People Get to the Land of Gold?

complete. Traveling by foot, horse, or wagon, overlanders had to endure extremities of weather, scarce water, disease, and accidents.

chose the Cape Horn Route, traveling by steam or sailing ship around the tip of South America and north to California. The Cape Horn, like the Overland route, was a long journey (6 to 8 months), and had its own set of perils. Passengers suffered from overGold seekers living crowding, poor diet, and stormy seas within reach of that sometimes sank the ships. the Atlantic coast often

Nathaniel Currier, The Way They Go to California, 1849. Lithograph. Fine arts collection, FN-00033.

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The most impatient gold seekers chose a third, and supposedly faster route, through the Isthmus of Panama. A ship from the East Coast would transport passengers a to Panama. Then, after crossIsthmus: ing the isthmus, east to west, a narrow travelers boarded a steamship strip at Panama City and headed of land north to San Francisco. The whole journey took no more than a couple of months. In truth ,c rossing through miles of jungle and waterways often proved more difficult than anticipated. Besides hardships such as heat, humidity, mosquitoes, and malaria, travelers, upon reaching Panama City, often had to wait weeks before finding space aboard a ship. Overland, by sea, or through jungles: whatever route they chos e ,w hatever difficulties they faced, gold seekers were determined to reach California and mine the promises of wealth and well-being.

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Californias First Recycling Project
Photographs of San Francisco during the Gold Rush show a waterfront crowded with dozens of tall-masted ships. Most of those ships were sitting abandoned. So great was the lure of gold, as soon as a ship arrived in the San Francisco harbor, the entire crew would often run away to the gold fields! Even back then, Californians knew better than to waste a good resource. In San Francisco, abandoned ships were hauled up on land and turned into stores, warehouses, and hotels. The mast poles, lighting fixtures, and planking from some ships were even transported to Benicia, California, for the construction of Californias first capitol building!

Maker unknown, Panorama of San Francisco, Spring 1851. Taken from First and Howard Sts. Five of seven whole plate daguerreotypes. Photography collection. FN-08429.

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Shreve, Treat, & Eacret, The Clipper Ship "Flying Cloud." Calendar illustration from a historic wood-cut. Printed by The Kennedy-ten Bosch Company, San Francisco. Photography collection.

Clipper Ships
These long narrow ships with extra large sails got their name from the term clip meaning to move swiftly. Originally these fast ships carried tea from China to the United States before the tea spoiled. During the Gold Rush, clipper ships brought many passengers around the Horn in 100 days or less. The fastest trip around the Horn, from New York to San Francisco took place in 1851 when the clipper ship the Flying Cloud completed the journey in 89 days.

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fter the long, difficult journey to reach California, gold seekers arrived to discover that the hardest part of their adventure was about to beginfinding the gold! In the early years of the Gold Rush ,m iners looked for gold in the surface dirt of riverbanks. Miners soon figured out that water, swirled over and through a quantity of dirt, would flush away the lighter material, such as sand, while the heavier

How did people live and mine in the land of gold?

gold would settle to the bottom of the container. The first and most basic container used by miners for this process was a shallow pan or basket. Only a small amount of dirt at a time, however, could be sifted this way. Miners invented larger box containers, called

rockers and long toms, that allowed them to sift greater quantities of dirt. Most of the surface gold had been found by the early 1850s, so miners began digging deeper, using hydraulic and hard-rock mining. For hydraulic mining, water was channeled down flumes (long, wooden canals) into hoses attached to giant nozzles, called monitors. Water shot out of the moni-

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tors at tremendous force, washing away entire hillsides of soil and releasing the gold within. Hard-rock mining involved tunneling deep into the earth to find layers of rock embedded with rich veins of gold. Hunting for gold by any method was hard work, and left little time for anything else. Yet miners did try to create a life for themselves in the midst of their toils. Wherever more than a few miners gathered to work claims, a gold-rush town would spring up. Dwellings were canvas tents or roughly constructed shacks. Every town had at least one camp store and one drinking and gambling establishment. Drinking, gambling, and fighting were the main forms of recreation for the weary miners. Occasionally entertainers would travel to the larger

gold-rush towns to perform. Miners, isolated for months from larger society, would mob the performances, tossing gold to the performers as an expression of appreciation. Separated from their families, working hard, and rarely getting rich from their labors ,m any of the gold seekers found that the Gold Rush changed their lives forever, and in the process, changed the life of an entire state as well!

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Facing page: Left: C. Nahl, Mining for Gold in California. Hutchings California Magazine, 1857. Library collection. Right: I.W. Taber, Man dressed to the nines uses a rocker to mine for gold. Albumen photoprint. Photography collection. FN-19327, VIP01205. Above: Maker unknown, Mining in Nevada City, 1850. From a daguerreotype showing a 30-foot shaft for gold mining. Photograpny collection. FN-24881. Below: Monitor drawing. "Hydraulic Gravel Mines of California." Photography collection. FN-12748.

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Oscar Bennet came to California to mine for gold in 1849. In one letter he reveals the lonely reality of a miners life. If the suffering among the thousands that are here laying sick destitute of friends and money was only known at home, my word for it, the emigration to this country would be small to what it is now.

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Lotta Crabtree
As a child singer and dancer, Lotta became very well known and much loved in the mining towns. In 1852 she moved to Grass Valley, in the gold country, and was soon tutored in the performing arts by Lola Montez, a glamorous, eccentric and popular dancer during the Gold Rush. Lotta traveled all over the gold country performing for enthusiastic miners. As an adult, she started her own touring company and became the highest paid American actress of her day. In 1875 she presented San Francisco with a fountain, known as Lottas Fountain, which still stands at the intersection of Market, Geary, and Kearny streets.

Left: Maker unknown, Group of Miners. Daguerreotype. Photography collection. FN23581, VIP05302. Above: Maker unknown, Lotta Crabtree. Photography, Clift Collection. Facing page: Maker unknown, View of Dutch Flat, ca. 1860. Photography collection. FN-1922.

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A Town by Any Other Name The gold-rush towns that often sprang up overnight were given imaginative names by the miners. Some town names reflected the harshness of mining life: Rough and Ready, Hangtown, Sucker Flat, and Murderers Bar. Other towns were named after individuals, groups of people, or geographic features of the region: Fosters Bar, Knights Ferry, China Camp, Dutch Flat, Dry Gulch, and Steep Hollow. The towns often had reputationstrue or notas colorful as their names. Angels Camp became famous as the setting for Mark Twains tale about a jumping frog contest. Hornitos was supposedly the hideout for the legendary bandit Joaquin Murieta. San Andreas earned its fame when the elusive stagecoach robber, Black Bart, was finally captured, jailed, and tried in the town courthouse. The miners of Coulterville gave their town an interesting identity by turning the towns streets into trenches when a rainstorm washed up gold in the road dirt!

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Cost of Living When the mines were first opened they were rich and those that were first on the mines made a fortune but those that work the mines now have got to work the whole day very hard and will average from $5 to $20 per day. Board is $5 . . . Flour is worth $90 per lb. Pork $1.30 per pound a small pie is worth $1 . . . a common pair of pegged shoes are worth $10.
Excerpted from Oscar Bennet letter from the North Fork of the American River, ca.1849. Manuscript collection.

Most gold-rush miners did not find great quantities of gold, and what they did find often went right out of their pockets into the hands of merchants and saloon keepers! The cost of living in California was outrageously expensive for its day. Basic foods such as butter and eggs, which in the 1840s normally sold for a few cents each, often cost from $6 to $10 in gold-rush territory! Hotel owners in San Francisco charged hundreds of dollars to rent a room, and dinner in a good restaurant could wipe out a miners entire pouch of gold. With the cost of everything so high, it is no surprise that the majority of gold-rush miners had very few riches to send back home to their families!

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he Gold Rush changed California in ways no one could have imagined. Californias population soared from less than 20,000 in 1846 to over 200,000 by the end of the 1850s. For these new Californians, the Gold Rush was an opportunity to branch out in new directions. Women who had cooked meals and mended clothes daily for their families found they could sell such services to miners and make as much or

How did the Gold Rush change California?

more profit than the men digging for gold. One gold-rush immigrant, Levi Strauss ,m ade his fortune by turning tent canvas into miners pants, while another immigrant, Domingo Ghirardelli, found his wealth in chocolate bars rather than bars of gold.

territories and cultures further encroached upon by hordes of miners. The Gold Rush changed California environmentally as well. Hillsides were stripped of trees as miners used the lumber to build towns and mining tools. Rivers were dammed or diverted

Sadly, the Gold Rush was not a time of opportunity for everyone. When California became a state in 1850, Californios Mexican land grants were no longer honored and they lost their lands and status. In the gold fields, greed led to discrimination in the form of unfair laws and taxes that made it virtually impossible for Chinese, Mexican, and other foreign miners to own or work gold claims. Californias Native American population, already ravaged by the Spanish and Mexican settlers, found their

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from their channels in order to reach the gold in river bottoms. Hydraulic mining clogged rivers and buried acres of good farmland under rocky sludge. So great was this destruction that it spurred Californians to pass laws banning the use of hydraulic mining. The changes, both good and bad, that shaped the California of the gold-rush years also helped to shape the California we know today. California continues to be a place of new ideas, new beginnings .G old rushes still occur, though the gold this time around may be in the form of movies, computers, medicine, or automobiles. Californians continue to speak out and pass laws to protect their states natural environment. And Californias people, still some of the most diverse in the nation, continue to work toward equal opportunity and rights for all.

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Facing page, lower left: Ludovik [Louis] Choris (1795-1828), Habitants de Californie, 1822. Engraving. Library, Templeton Crocker collection. FN-30510. Near left: Artist unknown, The World in California. Hutchings California Magazine, 1857. Library collection. Above: Carleton E. Watkins, Hydraulic Mining. Malakoff Diggins, North Bloomfield, Nevada Co. Photography collection. FN-29110.

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eople who lived during the Gold Rush left us many clues about what life was like in the 1850s. These clues can be found in letters, paintings, drawings, photographs, newspapers, artifacts, costumes, and even folklore. Today, hundreds of libraries, museums, and historical societies, including the California Historical Society, preserve and study the objects and even the folklore from the Gold Rush so that we can pass on the stories and information about this exciting time in California history.

How do we know about the Gold Rush?

There have also been many books, for all ages, written about the Gold Rush. Some of them are listed in the bibliography on page 16.

Harriet Booth Griswold (1814-1906). Overland Diary, April 25October 19, 1859. Manuscript collection. Gift of Mrs. Charles A. Fletcher, Mrs. Annie Root Frost, and Mr. George Root, Jr.

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You might even have gold-rush stories that were passed down in your family. Check with your family, look through family scrapbooks and albums, and forage through those old boxes in the attic (with your familys permission, of course).

Above left: Kelloggs & Comstock, California Gold Diggers. Mining Operations On The Western Shore Of The Sacramento River, n.d. (ca. 1849-52), lithograph. Fine arts collection. FN04108. Above: Artist unknown, A View of the [Elephant], ca. 1850. Publisher Cooke & LeCount, San Francisco. Lithograph. Fine arts collection.

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Discover the Gold Rush for yourself!

There are many places to visit in the gold country. Here are a few places to start your journey through the Gold Rush.

Angels Camp
This small gold-rush town is located in Calaveras County and is probably most known for its Frog Jumping Jubilee. This famous contest is held every year in May in honor of Mark Twain. He lived nearby in 1864, and though he was a successful writer, it was the publication of The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County that made him famous. The neighboring town of Murphys is one of the most popular towns in goldrush country. Visitors can stroll down the main street to see many historic buildings including the Murphys Hotel where Mark Twain, U.S. Grant, and even Black Bart had once been guests. More information can be found at http://www.angelscamp.com/ and http://www.murphyshotel.com/.

oldest surviving original California state capitol. Many elements of the building were constructed using parts from abandoned ships in the San Francisco Bay during the Gold Rush. The pillars in the chambers room are from mast poles. Even the whale oil lamps and the floor planking are from gold-rush era ships. Next door to the capitol is the Fischer-Hanlon House that is an example of gold-rush architecture and furnishings. Both sites are open daily for tours. Visitor information can be found at http://parks.ca.gov/north/silverado/bcs hp221.htm or by calling (707) 7453385.

Bodie State Historic Park

Originally filled with 10,000 residents mining for gold and silver, Bodie is today a ghost town. It was known as one of the wildest and wickedest cities of the California Gold Rush. The buildings that remain have been a state park since 1962 and are kept in a state of arrested decay. Information on Bodie State Historic Park can be found on

Benicia Capitol State Historic Park

The Benicia City Hall building was Californias first state capitol. It was only used from 1853-1854, but it is the

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their website at http://ceres.ca.gov/ sierradsp/bodie.html or by writing to Bodie State Historic Park, P.O. Box 515, Bridgeport, CA 93517.

Located in the town of Coloma, this In the nearby town of Grass Valley you tranquil setting was the site of John In 1945 the State of California purcan also visit the sites of Lotta Crabtree Sutters Mill where James Marshall chased Columbia and created the spotted those historic gold nuggets in and Lola Montezs homes. Columbia State Historic Park. It is the January 1848. This state park, estabbest preserved of the old mining towns Please visit the California State Parks lished in May 1890, was Californias website for more information at in California where visitors can ride first historic monument. Visitors can stagecoaches, pan for gold, and visit the http://parks.ca.gov/north/goldrush/em see a replica of Sutters Mill, James 343/emshp.htm. historically re-created fire stations, Marshalls cabin, and his memorial shops, and banks. Costumed docents overlooking the American River, where operate all of the businesses to recreate Malakoff Diggings he made a discovery that changed State Historic Park the gold-rush town. California forever. This 3,000-acre park serves as a For more information visit their webFor more information please visit their reminder of the devastating environsite at http://www.sierra.parks. state. mental damage done by hydraulic min- website at http://parks.ca.gov/ north/ ca.us/cshp.htm. ing. Thousands of acres of mountain- american/mgdshp/mgdshp.htm or call sides were washed away with water as (530) 622-3470. Empire Mine State Historic Park miners tried to get beneath the rock to Located in Grass Valley off Hwy 49 in the gold deposits. This practice was Nevada County is the Empire Mine eventually banned in 1884, but the State Historic Park. This was one of the severe destruction can still be seen. largest gold mines in the world and was in operation from 1850-1957. The More information is available by calling the Nevada City Chamber of Empire Mine offers visitors a glimpse Commerce at (530) 265-2692 or tollinto the life and industry of quartz

Columbia State Historic Park

mining. You can travel partially into a shaft and peer into about 100 feet of the 367 miles of tunnel that run below the surface. Visitors can also tour the mine owners mansion and gardens.

free (800) 655-NJOY.

Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park

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Bibliography
Armento, Beverly J. et al. Oh California. Boston, Mass. Houghton Mifflin Co.,1991. Braasch, Barbara. Californias Gold Rush Country: A Guide to the Best of the Mother Lode. Medina,Wash. Johnston Associates International,1996. The California Gold Rush. Cobblestones, vol .1 8 . December 1997. Gold! California Cobblestones. Charter Issue. Holliday, J. S. Rush for Riches: Gold Fever and the Making of California. Oakland, Calif. Oakland Museum of California & University of California Press,1999.

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Holliday, J. S. The World Rushed In: The California Gold Rush Experience, an Eyewitness Account of a Nation Heading West. New York ,N . Y. TouchstoneSimon & Schuster, 1981. Kelly, Leslie A. Californias Gold Rush Country, 1848-1998. Huntington Beach, Calif. LesKelly Publications,1997. Levy, Jo Ann. They Saw the Elephant: Women in the Gold Rush. Norman, Okla. University of Oklahoma Press,1990. Martin, Don & Betty Woo Martin. The Best of the Gold Country. Columbia, Calif. Pine Cone Press,1992. Stein, R. Conrad. Cornerstones of Freedom: The California Gold Rush. Chicago, Ill. Childrens Press,1995.

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Front cover: Artist unknown, A Gold Hunter on His Way to California, via St. Louis, ca. 1849. Henry R. Robinson, New York, Publisher. Hand colored lithograph, 17 x 13 in. Fine arts collection. FN-16057. Inside front cover: Detail. John Haven, Map of the United States and Mexico, Including Oregon, Texas, and the Californias, 1846. Published by Haven and Emerson, No. 3 Broul St., N.Y. Map collection.

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The California Historical Society is a statewide membership based organization. Its mission is to engage the publics interest and participation in collecting, preserving, and presenting art, artifacts and written materials relevant to the history of California and to support historical research, publication and educational activities.
The California Historical Societys museum, bookstore, and the North Baker Research Library are located in San Francisco, California. This booklet was written by Diane Barclay for the California Historical Society, with contributing text by Chelsea Pickslay; graphic design, Marian Ueki. All images are from the California Historical Society collections. Special thanks to the Fine Arts, Photography and North Baker Research Library staff for their assistance.

This project was made possible by the Silver Giving Foundation and The Pacific Foundation Services.

California Historical Society

678 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105 Voice: 415.357.1848 Fax: 415.357.1850 E-mail: info@calhist.org Web: www.calhist.org Hours: Administration M-Fri, 9am-5pm Museum & Bookstore Tu-Sun, 11am-5pm