19.1 California Gold Rush

Main IdeaGold was found in California, and thousands rushed to that territory. CA quickly becomes a state.

Why It Matters NowThe gold rush made CA grow rapidly and helped bring about CA’s cultural diversity.

Standards• 8.8.2 Describe the purpose, challenges, and economic

incentives associated with westward expansion, including the concept of Manifest Destiny (e.g., the Lewis and Clark expedition, accounts of the removal of Indians, the Cherokees’ “Trail of Tears,” settlement of the Great Plains) and the territorial acquisitions that spread numerous decades.

• 8.8.3 Describe the role of the pioneer women and the new status that western women achieved (e.g., Laura Ingalls Wilder, Anne Bidwell; slave women gaining freedom in the West; Wyoming granting suffrage to women in 1869).

• 8.8.4 Examine the importance of the great rivers and the struggle over water rights.

• 8.8.6 Describe the Texas War for Independence and the Mexican-American War, including territorial settlements, the aftermath of the wars, and the effects the wars had on the lives of Americans, including Mexican-Americans todays.

Daily Guided Questions

1. How did the gold rush lead to changes in the west?

2. Why were water rights an important issue in the west?

3. How did the gold rush permanently alter the make-up of California’s population?

1848• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

formally ends war.• Mexican Cession, territory lost

California, Nevada, Utah, parts of Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico.• USA gives Mexico $18 million.

California Gold Rush

• In 1848, about 10,000 Californios (Mexican- Californians) lived on large ranchos.

• 1849, gold is found at Sutter’s mill.-80,000 people seek their fortunes, known as forty-niners (people coming to California in search of gold).• Over 100,000 people living in California by

1851.

Life in Mining Towns• Sprung up as fast as they would emptied,

due to gold strikes.• Rough living and expensive.-Food, supplies, and entertainment.• Punishment for crimes were quick and

brutal.• Vigilantes (self-appointed law enforcers)

punished people for crimes, but had no legal right to do it.

• Ratio of Men to women was 20 to 1.-Women worked in boarding houses, hotels, restaurants, laundries, and stores.• Few 49er’s became rich, many

continued to search for gold or silver throughout the west.

California Changing Population

• By 1860, 40% of California’s population was foreign-born.

• 45,000 Chinese, worked doing menial work, cooking, or doing laundry.

-Built railroads or farmed.• African-Americans faced discrimination

and segregation. Slavery banned.

• Native Americans-Lands taken away.-Vigilante gangs killed them.-2/3 died during the gold rush.

• Californios-Lost political power.-Heavily taxed.-lands taken away.

Statehood

• California becomes a state in 1850.-As part of the Compromise of 1850.• Lead to national crisis.

Primary Source pg. 633

• Read the primary source, Gold Rush Journal by David Rohrer Leeper on textbook pg. 633.• Make sure to read everything on

the page and answer the questions at the end.

Water Rights• Legal rights to use water in a river, streams, or

other body.• Water needed for irrigation and mining.• Range Rights-Ownership of a stream meant control of all the land around it.• People could use the water on their land the

way they want to and it was illegal to cut off water to one’s neighbors.

• Laws were ignored.

Law of Prior Appropriation

• Water belongs to the 1st person who uses it.• Use it only for beneficial purposes.• Community good outweighs

individual good.• Rule followed in most western states.

Bureau of Reclamation, 1902

• Gov. agency that constructed irrigation works which enabled farmers to settle and grow more crops on western lands.

WHAT/WHY IMPORTANT/AS A RESULT

• Create a vocabulary chart using the WHAT/WHY IMPORTANT/AS A RESULT graphic organizer. • Choose three of your own words.• Use pages 318-341.

Study Guide pg. 151

• For deeper understanding and review, complete a study guide for the section on the Mormon settlement of Utah and the California Gold Rush.

• Copy and complete the study guide on pg. 151.

• Use your notes or textbook pg. 336-341 to complete it.