Why was the ‘California Gold Rush’, so called?

Why was the ‘California Gold Rush’, so called?

The state of California became a part of the United States in 1848. However, it came into the limelight only on January 24, 1848, when gold was discovered by a carpenter named John Marshall, at a place called Sutter’s Mill. Soon more nuggets were found nearby. By 1849, news of the gold strike reached the East Coast… and the Gold Rush began!

These early gold-seekers, called “forty-niners”, traveled to California by sailing ship and in covered wagons across the continent, often facing substantial hardships on the trip. While most of the newly-arrived were Americans, the Gold Rush also attracted thousands from Latin America, Europe, Australia and Asia.

The effects of the Gold Rush were substantial. San Francisco grew from a tiny hamlet of tents to be a boomtown and roads. Its harbour became known as the Golden Gate.

In 1850, most of the easily accessible gold had been collected and attention turned to the fold from more difficult locations. Americans began to drive out foreigners to get at the most accessible gold that remained.

The Gold Rush stimulated economies around the world. It transformed California from a sleepy, little-known backwater to the centre of the global imagination and the destination of the hundreds of thousands of people.