The California Gold Rush

In January 1848, a man named James Marshall was building a sawmill for John Sutter in Coloma, California. While checking the water channel, he spotted something shiny. It was gold! Although they tried to keep it a secret, the news spread like wildfire. By 1849, thousands of people from all over the world—including China, Europe, and South America—were heading to California. These hopeful travelers became known as the forty-niners because most left their homes in the year $1849$.

Life for a miner was incredibly hard. They spent all day standing in icy cold water, bending over to 'pan' for gold. A pan was a simple metal dish used to swirl water and gravel; the heavy gold would sink to the bottom. For faster work, they used a cradle (or rocker), which was a wooden box they rocked back and forth to sift through large amounts of dirt. Most miners lived in tents, ate nothing but beans and dried meat, and rarely struck it rich. In fact, many items were so scarce that a single egg could cost $\$1.00$—which would be like paying$\$35.00$ for one egg today!

The Gold Rush changed California forever. Small villages turned into boomtowns almost overnight. San Francisco grew from a tiny hamlet of $200$ people to a bustling city of $36,000$ in just a few years! This rapid growth meant California had enough people to apply for statehood. In 1850, just two years after the discovery, California became the 31st U.S. state. While the gold eventually ran out, the new businesses, farms, and diverse groups of people stayed, building the foundation of the West.