The reason for the gold rush was...gold. Everybody wants to get rich quick, and the people involved in the California gold rush were no different. They expected to dig a little gold, make a fortune, and never work again. Others devised plans that would quickly separate the miners from their gold, thereby making these others very rich, very quickly, so they would never have to work again. A comfortable life of wealth, free from poverty and need, was the motivation.
2007-11-12 14:43:50
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answer #1
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answered by claudiacake 7
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Hello
It's due to the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in Coloma way back January 24, 1848. When the news was spread (thanks to the New York Herald newspaper (August 1848), and the confirmation of Pres. James Polk that gold is really there), lot's of gold seekers from across different states and countries (about 300,000 of them called "forty-niners" - from the year the the migration peaked, 1849) migrated to the place on ships and wagons to take part of the nature's gift.
Anyone can mine, as long as you know how to. No laws to regulate minig just like today, so anyone got a chance.
It started from simple river panning until such time that some developed sophisticated ways to harvest this comodity. At that time the amount was valued up to today's billions of dollars. Of course some became so rich, others left with little more than what they had before.
Hope this helps...
2007-11-12 14:53:53
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answer #2
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answered by the_eejay 1
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Sutter's Mill, 1849 (I think), some dude in the middle of nowhere finds a chunk of gold in a creek, no kidding. Who wouldn't want a chance to find one? I've heard of some of the ridiculous rumors going around about California, they were telling tall ones about streets made of gold bricks, all you had to do was pry one up and go on home. I also heard that the mining industry was actually very beneficial to all the businesses on the side that popped up to gain from all the new customers. General stores, taverns, probably farming supply stores after a while. :)
2007-11-12 14:51:01
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answer #3
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answered by Anniekd 6
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Well, there was a saying in the diggings
California was taken from two Indian words; Cali meant gold and Fornia meant wouldn't you like some?
I think they intended it as a joke, but it illustrates why so many went so far to find so little.
In January of 1848, James Marshall was supervising a crew building a saw mill for John Sutter. It was a water mill, built along the American River, a tributary of the Sacramento River. He happened to look down into the mill race (A trough that moves the water so it will pour down on the wheel, which moves the gears that turn the saw) and saw flecks of gold. This was placer gold, washed down into the river by erosion over millenia. He said to his crew "Boys, I think I've found a gold mine".
They originally tried to keep this quiet, but that kind of secret is hard to keep. Gradually, people started moving in with dishpans and various other tools to wash the gravel until nothing was left but the gold. Then a Mormon, named Sam Brannon, who had been sent there to found a Mormon colony, and had established a store, selling all the things miners need, and filled a vial full of gold dust. He went down to San Francisco, called Yerba Buena then, and walked down Montgomery street yelling "Gold, Gold from the American River!". This caught people's attention, and they investigated. Before long, the ships in the Bay were crewless, soldiers were deserting their companies, and people were beginning to come in from Mexico, Hawaii, and Australia. By the time President Polk delivered his annual message to Congress, he confirmed that the stories of gold in California were true.
The population of California continued to grow with the miners, and with those who had come to town to earn their livings from the miners, not from the diggings: Gamblers, girls who choose their friends unwisely, lawyers and thieves.
Many people came west by crossing the Isthmus of Panama, and braving the yellow fever jungles, others travelled by boat around the tip of South America, still more came overland, on foot and in wagons, in the "days of '49" as the song says.
And some struck it rich, though most didn't. There were some who went home, discouraged, and others were hired by companies to dig the gold out of the mountains for a salary. Eventually hydraulic mining moved in, where they'd use high pressure hoses to blast the dirt away from the side of the mountain and get the gold out that way.
2007-11-12 14:59:58
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answer #4
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answered by william_byrnes2000 6
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would you be excited if (2007) you found a winning lottery
ticket - on the sidewalk
and all you had to do was to go to the store and get $5,000 (today's money)
would you not look for another ticket? - it's free
and it's a winner - and you will be rich!
other people are finding tickets - and there's plenty to go around!!!!!!!
all you have to do is find it - S I M P L E - isn't it
************
now apply to 1848
why would there have been a gold rush?
*********************************
ah heck - I'll just stay home and be poor
ain't no sense in leaving
PS don't let your head blow up - u r 2 cute!
-*******
all the best - MY TICKETT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2007-11-12 14:42:28
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answer #5
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answered by tom4bucs 7
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1. Gold.
2. Gold and Greed.
3. We were on the gold standard, silly. Get rich quick.
2007-11-12 14:46:32
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answer #6
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answered by rann_georgia 7
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i think of all the hundreds of Brewers followers have been on trip...I even have some Brewer followers as contacts that have been on hiatus. yet all communities did, so barring for lacking followers it particularly is as close as you may get great activity. and now and returned I do experience like the only time-honored Brewers fan on Y/A. BQ: Ryan Braun #a million fave yet in addition favorites (Yovani Gallardo, Prince, Corey Hart, Casey McGeHee...nicely very very nearly all different than the different 4 SP's and the Bullpen)
2016-12-08 20:13:14
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answer #7
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answered by ? 4
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Whatever happened to plagiarizing the encyclopedia, like we did in my day?
Do your own homework, kid.
2007-11-12 14:42:40
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answer #8
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answered by Anonymous
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Gold_Rush
skim through this...
2007-11-12 14:42:05
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answer #9
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answered by Anonymous
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