“California Gold Rush”
Introduction
A carpenter named James Marshall discovered gold by the Sutters sawmill in California, and when the word got out, the biggest westward expansion toward the California Gold Rush in 1848 commenced. People would go on foot and wagons till they hit the mining caves. After a few years the 3 main railways were made which were the North Pacific, Union Pacific, and South pacific traveling to and from the mining caves became easier to get back home. More than 300,000 people migrated west towards the “golden opportunity” for the opportunity to strike it rich.
The Journey
The journey the people endured to get to the mining lands was not an easy task. Many just stayed in certain spots on the way there because they were not able to continue whether it was wagon problems, illness, or life threatening complications many stayed to start their own community. The ones who followed through the rest of the way were on foot for about 2,000 miles over many different types of weathers and terrains. The journey was not short either it would take them anywhere from 5 to 6 months to reach California. Even though railways were later on established across the United States to travel long distances, without the hard labor of walking 2000 plus miles under excruciating conditions. After California is reached the miners first seek out for the gold, then claim it, and finally set up mining stations where they would extract the gold from the caves. Many would create towns close by the mining grounds as a community they would live on so they wouldn’t have to go back and forth from mining grounds to their homes.
Ending Profit
All though many traveled a long way they were not prepared for the hardships they were going to endure while picking for gold. Many miners would stay mining for gold for months and years at a time and would never get to strike it rich since big mining companies had vast amounts of the mining lands with more commercial size...