Mexican American war and Gold rush eras in new America

A perception and reflections on the book Connecting California, after perusing the relegated segments in the Mexican American war and Gold rush eras in modern America six areas seemed very vital to me. The sections prompted me to new data about California’s history, the data was likewise astonishing, and the information in the areas identified with what I realized before about California’s history.

California Gold Rush

The revelation of gold chunks in the Sacramento Valley in mid-18400 started the California Gold Rush, ostensibly a standout amongst the most noteworthy occasions in the American history amid the primary portion of the nineteenth century (Gastil & Harris, 2013). As individuals came to know about the discovery, a large number of forthcoming gold excavators traveled via ocean or overland to San Francisco and the encompassing zone; In 1849, the non-local populace of the California region was somewhere in the range of 100,000. This section caught my attention due to how it describes the origination of the California Gold Rush and the discovery of the gold nuggets. This was a very vital event in the history of America, one that is remembered to date. This section gave me more insights about the American people back in the nineteenth century, their ambitious nature and way of life. This is portrayed by how they traveled to San Francisco and its neighboring area after the discovery of the gold nuggets.

Discovery at Sutter’s Mill

This section encompasses details from the late 1840s when James Wilson Marshall, a woodworker from New Jersey, discovered chips of gold in the American River at the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains close Coloma, California. Marshall was attempting to assemble a water-powered sawmill that belonged to Sutter, who was from Swiss though born in Germany, he was the organizer of a settlement of Nueva Helvetia (Gastil & Harris, 2013). The settlement then later on turned into the city of Sacramento. Afterward, Marshall reviewed his remarkable discovery, and he was very excited that he knew it was gold that he had discovered. The section is vital as it provides details of the discovery of Gold at Sutter’s Mill. The section further gives insights and explains about the origin of the city of Sacramento. What excites me most about this section is how Marshall discovered the gold chips and his reaction afterward, he was very excited about the discovery for he was sure that was gold.

Gold extracted in the California Gold Rush

The third section that caught my attention was on how gold was extracted in the California Gold Rush. Few days after Marshall had discovered gold at Sutter’s Mill, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was marked, bringing the Mexican-American War to an end and surrendering California to the United States. By then, the number of inhabitants in the region comprised of 6,500 individuals of Spanish or Mexican conventional; 700 individuals from foreign lands who were predominantly Americans; and about 150,000 Native Americans hardly a large portion of the number of individuals that were present when Spanish pilgrims touched base in the late 1760s (Gastil & Harris, 2013). This section provides information on the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, a settlement between the United States and Mexico that brought the Mexican War to an end. This treaty was marked at Villa de Guadalupe Hidalgo, a northern neighborhood of Mexico City. What interests more on this section is the amount of gold that was extracted by miners in the California Gold Rush, the amount was estimated to be about 750 000 pounds of Gold.

News Spreads

This section majors on how the information about the discovery of Gold was spread across. Even though Marshall and Sutter endeavored to hold news of the discovery of gold, it still went out, and by mid-March one paper was announcing that extensive amounts of gold were being extracted at Sutter’s Mill (Gastil & Harris, 2013).  It is quite interesting how as this information spread out about the fortunes in California, people started to migrate and the first to arrive came from terrains accessible by boat, for example, Oregon. Afterward, the news reached the East Coast, where press reports were at first wary. Gold fever commenced there decisively. What interested me more in this section was how people migrated at a fast rate after the discovery of the gold.

The ’49ers Come to California

I found a lot of insights on this section concerning how individuals lived in the late 1840s in America. A lot of people especially men borrowed money and even mortgaged their property to get money to migrate to California in search of more wealth through gold mining. Thousands of individuals moved, and women were left to take care of the family. This section also provides information on how the population of California rose five times more within a short period, to accommodate the rising population, the town grew at a fast rate providing essential services to the miners (Gastil & Harris, 2013). This explains the growth and development of California to date. The section is important because it portrays how the Gold Rush without a doubt accelerated California’s admission to the Union as the 31st state and later on it was allowed to enter as a free state. This section is also essential as it highlights the origin of the ’49ers

Lasting Impact of the Gold Rush

This section caught my attention because it highlights how the surface gold in California considerably disappeared in the early 1850s. This section also highlights how it became harder for the miners to reach gold; their average daily takes reduced overtime. The developing industrialization of mining led an ever increasing number of excavators from autonomy into paid labor. The new system of water driven drilling started in 1853, and it brought enormous benefits; however, obliterated a significant part of the locale’s scene (Gastil & Harris, 2013). This highlights the peak of mining as well as how mining declined to forty-five million per year in the year 1957. It additionally highlights how the population in California continued to rise and impact. It is interesting how as gold turned out to be increasingly more hard to achieve, the developing industrialization of mining drove an ever increasing number of excavators from freedom into pay work.

References

Gastil, G., & Harris, B. M. (2013). Connecting California: Selections in early American history, volume 1. San Diego, CA: Cognella.