Miners
- Created by: Katie
- Created on: 17-02-14 10:57
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- Miners-'49ers
- How it all began
- In January 1848, a group of men were building a sawmill in the Sierra foothills.
- James Marshall noticed a glint of yellow at the bottom of the ditch.
- He collected samples and they tested positive for gold.
- After finishing the sawmill James Marshall and his co-workers, some of which were Mormons, started digging.
- In May 1848, Sam Brannan opened a store new to the sawmill and when he returned to San Francisco, he told everyone about the gold.
- General Facts
- 2/3 of the able bodied people in Oregon joined the search for gold.
- The news of the gold didn't reach the East until December 1848
- Guidebooks informed people that some people were making $1000 a day.
- 25,000 people reached California by boat, and 5,000 people died on the way to California by wagons, mainly due to cholera.
- By the time most people reached California, most of the gold was gone, leaving them with earnings of $3 a day.
- By 1849, they yielded about $10 million of gold.
- Life in the mining towns
- Full of dust and mud
- They lived in shacks made from old blankets spread over wooden frames.
- Diseases such as scurvy, diarrhoea, dysentery and malaria were common.
- Gambling was common.
- Those of different nations were treated badly.
- People didn't bring their families out until later.
- Short-term consequences of Gold Rush
- Gold was running out and big pieces of machinery were having to be used to reach the gold.
- Many left after they couldn't find any surface gold.
- Over population
- Very dirty
- Long-term consequences of the gold rush
- The discovery of the Black hills of Dakota which was the Sioux's most sacred ground.
- On their way home, some of the miners found gold in other places.
- Big business' set up
- Miner's brought their families out, causing towns to develop.
- Big companies moved over to use machinery and employ miners so they weren't working for themselves.
- The miners helped settle the west as towns began to develop and the population increased
- How it all began
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