What was California like during the gold rush?

Question

I have to answer questions about the California Gold Rush in my packet.

Answer 1

nothin special

Answer 2

California was very wild, largely unsettled. The Spanish, later Mexicans had settled, mostly along the Pacific coast. As the Americans came in, what they generally found were very small settlement, supported by agriculture. Even most of that was limited to the two areas around Los Angeles, and the San Francisco/Monterey bay areas.

Sacramento was not a significant city until AFTER the gold rush. The Sierra Nevada mountains, which became the range where most gold was discovered was pretty much a wildernes, with the only settlements being situated along the main passes through the mountains. The influx of miners spread settlement up and down the range, but the range is LARGE, and even now, is mostly unsettled land, forested and rocky.

If any luxuries existed for the miners, it had to be imported from the East, shipped (mostly by ships, going the long way, around the tip of South America) landed on the coast, and hauled up the mountains on mule back.

Think about it. What did the miners eat? There were no farms in the mountains. What did they wear? There were no stores until the mining camps got big enough to support one. What did a miner do when he got sick? He either got over it or died.

A lot of good fiction has been written, which makes learning about the period much more fun. Look up stories by Mark Twain, Jack London, Owen Wister, Bret Harte and others. Willa Cather wrote about the pioneer experience from a woman't perspective.

There are a LOT of free ebooks available at a site called "Gutenberg Project" Do a google search and click into the site. It is free and easy. No registration required. The complete works of many of the authors I mentioned are available.

Someone might remind "Robert Redmtn" that California was largely Mexican, at the time. The Anglo-Saxon face was the rare one. If a white man wanted a civilized meal, a soft bed and a solid roof over his head, he had to get it at a Mexican Hacienda, or Rancho. Think about it, Robert. The Mexican sipped brandy, sitting in a soft, cushioned chair at a sturdy, carved table while the "white" man drank stagnant water, or cheap rotgut whiskey, if he could get it, sitting on a rock, wrapped in rags (or Mexican sarape, if he could afford it) in the cold sleet-driven open air.

Answer 3

Wikipedia has a good entry on the California Gold Rush.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Gold_Rush

Basically, it was a lot like the Internet Rush of the late 1990s. There were lots of opportunities for people to get rich, but not many of them did.

JMB

Answer 4

Very busy. So many people went to Cali during this time that it only took about ayear after becoming a territory of the US for it to be annexed as a state.

Answer 5

Few made money in gold. Every sort of corruption and vice was sold around the mining towns. Law was almost not there, and it was tough for most.

Answer 6

There was only one mode of transportation from China to America back then. I bet if you get a map out, you'll be able to figure this one out for yourself. Hint: Commercial airplanes were not available yet...

Answer 7

Just like every place was back in the day. Nothing like it is now. Just a dirt path, lots of land just residing with nothing on it, no cars, no Hummers, no adult film stars or celebs, no rich people most where dirt poor, picture it in black and white where the buffalo roam :-)

Answer 8

Less Mexicans. Dusty. Unpaved roads. Dentists everywhere. Prostitution. Price gouging.

Answer 9

Busy, very busy.

Answer 10

Boring because Paris Hilton was not around...

Answer 11

Wasn't born then lol but if you open your history book wow it tell you what it was like ok!!!!!!!!!