The California Gold Rush

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at how the Gold Rush was a frenzied surge of greed and power into a beautiful serene land that was virtually without laws. The paper further looks at how people, determined to find great wealth, stepped out of their normal lives and values and plundered the land. It also discusses how California still suffers from the effects of this pollution and devastation.

From the Paper:

"Although the small mining towns proved to be a source of jobs for some, there was atrocious racial prejudice on the part of westerners toward, primarily toward Native Americans and Chinese. If there happened to be Native Americans living in the area of a claim, they were quickly driven away from their homes so that a settlement could be established. Although many Indians were employed as paid labor in the mines and diggings, the "Gold Rush incited ambushes, massacres and deliberate extermination campaigns of native peoples in Calfornia" (Project Underground)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Bowman, Chris "No one tracked the cost in environmental damage" Sacramento Bee, January 18, 1998.
• Marks, Paula Mitchell Precious Dust, The American Gold Rush Era 1848-1900 William Morrow and Company, Publisher. New York: 1951.
• Project Underground Gold, Greed and Genocide http://www.moles.org/ProjectUnderground/motherlode/gold/env.html

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• Analytical Essay # 136111 : "The California Gold Rush"
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• Essay # 49755 : "Causes and Effects of The California Gold Rush"
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