Bartlett Community Partnership School
The Gold Rush: Did the hype match reality?
Overview: The American Gold Rush, beginning in 1849, brought tens of thousands of people to the territory of California. While some struck it rich, others were left penniless, or worse. This DBQ ask if the tremendous risks associated with getting to California and living there were worth the potential reward or if the chance of a huge payoff was too small to hazard the gamble of the journey to California.
STUDENT GUIDE SHEET
The Gold Rush: Did the hype match reality?
Directions: January 24, 1848 saw the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California. In the years that followed, several hundred thousand people would make their way to the territory in order to seek their fortune. They were inspired by stories, reports and articles that painted a particular picture of California. This DBQ ask whether or not the reality of life in California during the Gold Rush matched the hype.
It is suggested that you follow these steps:
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Do the Hook Exercise.
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Read the Background Essay
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Skim through the seven documents to get a sense of what they are about.
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Read the documents slowly. In the margins, or on a Document Analysis Sheet, record the main idea of each document.
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Organize the documents by analytical category or bucket.
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Develop a thesis and, using the evidence in the documents, argue whether reality on the ground in California matched the hype associated with the Gold Rush.
The Documents:
Document A: Official U.S. Government Report on the Gold Discovery - 8/17/1848
Document B: Arkansas Weekly Gazette clipping - 2/22/1849
Document C: Miner’s Commandment II and VII - 1855
Document D: Daniel B. Woods diary excerpt - 8/20-9/18/1849
Document E: Enos Christman diary excerpt - 2/15/1850
Document F: Alex van Valen letter – March 1850
Document G: Gold Rush Merchants: Everything has a Price – 1850/1851
Hook Exercise: 3/15/1848 Newspaper Clipping
News Report from The Californian 3/15/1848
Questions:
1. What features of this report might make someone think they could strike it rich in California?
2. This article was located on page 2 of the newspaper and did not have a headline. What does that say about the lure of the gold fields?
3. Why would this short article spark a mad rush to the gold fields?
The Gold Rush: Did the hype match reality?
Approximatley, 4,000,000 years ago underground volcanoes, located in what we now know as California, erupted. These eruptions deposited minerals, including gold, onto the ocean floor. Over millennia, some of the gold was forced to the surface by shifting tectonic plates. Eventually, erosion and rushing water carried that gold downstream where it settled in gravel beds alongside rivers where it remained hidden for many years until January 24th, 1848.
A man named John Marshall discovered the existence of the gold deposits in California. Marshall picked up a few pieces of yellowish metal from the ground near the lumber mill he was operating. After a few tests, the metal was confirmed to be gold and the rush began. It was a slow build, but as rumors circulated, people began to trickle in like water through a crack in a dam, and eventually the floodgates opened and people poured into the region. Not yet a state, the territory of California would, within six years, see an influx of 300,000 people from all around the world journey there to seek their fortune.
The “49ers” came from countries around the world including Australia, China, Hawaii, France, England and Chile. They came from all walks of life, including merchants, farmers, adventurers, city dwellers and country folk. The people arrived via land, traveling in wagons across the Great Plains. They also arrived via the sea, sailing around the Cape of Good Hope. Some combined land and sea travel, sailing to Panama, crossing the isthmus and taking another ship north to San Francisco. No matter the route to California, the journey was an expensive and dangerous undertaking.
Once they arrived, the miners faced many hardships. Gold mining was tremendously difficult work. Backbreaking labor for 16-18 hours did not even guarantee financial success. Housing was scarce, dirty and often thrown together. Disease was rampant. Criminals and gangs roamed the streets. Fire was a constant danger. San Francisco had six major fires between 1849 and 1852.
Despite the trials of the journey to California and the hardships they faced once there, the possibility of striking it rich remained a strong attraction. Initially, gold could be found lying on the ground. As more and more people arrived, new mining techniques were developed and more and more gold was extracted. Tens of billions of today’s dollars worth of gold was removed from the California gold fields. Some were lucky enough to make a fortune. Others left penniless. Most people made a modest profit. Examine the following documents to answer the question: Did reality match the hype during the Gold Rush?
Background Essay Questions
1. What were some of the risks involved in traveling to California between 1849 and 1855?
2. What were some of the hazards of living in California during the Gold Rush?
3. Why was there a rush to get to California as quickly as possible?
Document A
NCSS Theme VI – Power, authority and governance
Source: http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist6/masonrpt.html
The most moderate estimate I could obtain from men acquainted with the subject was, that upwards of 4,000 men were working in the gold district, of whom more than one-half were Indians, and that from 30,000 to 50,000 dollars’ worth of gold, if not more, were daily obtained. The entire gold district, with very few exceptions of grants made some years ago by the Mexican authorities, is on land belonging to the United States. It was a matter of serious reflection to me, how I could secure to the Government certain rents or fees for the privilege of securing this gold; but upon considering the large extent of country, the character of the people engaged, and the small scattered force at my command, I resolved not to interfere, but permit all to work freely, unless broils and crimes should call for interference.
The discovery of these vast deposits of gold has entirely changed the character of Upper California. Its people, before engaged in cultivating their small patches of ground, and guarding their herds of cattle and horses, have all gone to the mines, or are on their way thither. Labourers of every trade have left their work-benches, and tradesmen their shops; sailors desert their ships as fast as they arrive on the coast; and several vessels have gone to sea with hardly enough hands to spread a sail. Two or three are now at anchor in San Francisco, with no crew on board. Many desertions, too, have taken place from the garrisons within the influence of these mines; twenty-six soldiers have deserted from the post of Sonoma, twenty-four from that of San Francisco, and twenty-four from Monterey. I have no hesitation now in saying, that there is more gold in the country drained by the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers than will pay the cost of the present war with Mexico a hundred times over. No capital is required to obtain this gold, as the labouring man wants nothing but his pick and shovel and tin pan, with which to dig and wash the gravel, and many frequently pick gold out of the crevices of rocks with their knives, in pieces of from one to six ounces.
Document Analysis
1. This document is an official report from the US Army. Would people be more likely to believe this account of the conditions in California?
2. According to this document, what is needed to make a fortune in California?
3. The author claims there is enough gold to pay for the Mexican War ten times over. The Mexican War cost about $150 million dollars. Is this
estimate an exaggeration?
Document B
Source: http://blog.genealogybank.com/tag/california-gold-rush
Document Analysis
1. What would this article from Arkansas do to people’s view of the opportunities in California?
2. What exaggerations are seen in this article? Do you think people believed them?
3. The article describes the gold regions as “inexhaustible.” Should people have known better than to think there was limitless gold?
Document C
NCSS Theme I - Culture
Source: http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist7/tencom.html
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Miner’s Commandments
II
Thou shalt not make unto thyself any false claim, nor any likeness to a mean man, by jumping one: for I, a miner, am a just one, and will visit the miners around about, and they will judge thee; and when they shall decide, thou shalt take thy pick, thy pan, thy shovel and thy blankets with all thou hast and shall depart seeking other good diggings, but thou shalt find none. Then when thou hast paid out all thy dust, worn out thy boots and garments so that there is nothing good about them but the pockets, and thy patience is like unto thy garments, then in sorrow shall thou return to find thy claim worked out, and yet thou hath no pile to hide in the ground, or in the old boot beneath thy bunk, or in buckskin or in bottle beneath thy cabin, and at last thou shalt hire thy body out to make thy board and save thy bacon
VII
Thou shalt not grow discouraged, nor think of going home before thou hast made thy "pile," because thou hast not "struck a lead," nor found a "rich crevice," nor sunk a hole upon a "pocket," lest in going home thou shalt leave four dollars a day, and going to work, ashamed, at fifty cents, and serve thee right; for thou knowest by staying here, thou mightst strike a lead and fifty dollars a day, and keep thy manly self respect, and then go home with enough to make thyself and others happy.
FORTY-NINER.
These "commandments" were actually written in 1853 by James M. Hutchings (1818-1902), and first published in the Placerville Herald newspaper. This was the most popular of the hundreds of letter sheets published in the 1850-1870 era, and was so profitable for Mr. Hutchings that he was able to publish the successful Hutching's California Magazine.
Document Analysis
1. What is the sentiment of these “Miner’s Commandments?
2. What does the language used in this document say about the attitudes of miners?
3. Before James Hutchings found success as a publisher, he was a miner who made a fortune, but then lost it. What does this say about
the general view toward success and failure in the US at this time?
Document D
NCSS Theme IV – Individual Development and Identity
Source: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/calbk:@field%28DOCID+@lit%28calbk090%29%29:
8/20/1849 - After my last date I was prostrated at once by the acclimating disease of the country, and rendered as helpless as a child. All day and all night long I was alone under my oak, and without those kind attentions so necessary in sickness, and which can not be had here. I was reduced to a very low state, with but little hope, under the circumstances, of recovery. It did seem hard to lie down to die there, and to think that I was no more to see my beloved family. Yet I feared not to die. Indeed, I marked off the spot under the oak where my grave should be, and prayed for submission to God's righteous will, and that his love would protect and bless those dear to me.
8/23/1849 - One young man near us has just died. He was without companion or friend--alone in his tent. Not even his name could be discovered. We buried him, tied down his tent, leaving his effects within. Thus is a home made doubly desolate. Years will pass, and that loved son, or brother, or husband still be expected, and the question still repeated, Why don't he come? Right below me, upon a root of our wide-spreading oak, is seated an old man of threescore and ten years. He left a wife and seven children at home, whose memory he cherishes with a kind of devotion unheard of before. He says when he is home-sick he can not cry, but it makes him sick at his stomach. He is an industrious old man, but has not made enough to buy his provisions, and we have given him a helping hand. Is it surprising that many fly to gambling, and more to drink, to drown their disappointments? To-day I have weighed my little store of gold, after paying all expenses, and find it amounts, after over six weeks of hard labor, to $35
9/8/1849 - Our damming operation has been an entire failure. We spent many days in constructing the dam, which, when completed, drained a large portion of the river. When this was done, we thoroughly prospected the whole, and found nothing. The banks and bars of the river were rich in some places, but there was not a grain of gold in the channel.
9/18/1849 - There is but little dirt upon this bar, and it is now regarded as “worked out,” and the miners are leaving as fast as they came. Our company have made upon the bar $65 each. I have been now three months in the mines, and have made $390. There is much sickness here. One half of the whole population are sick. I have to-day been informed of the mournful death of a merchant from Philadelphia, a fellow-voyager from Cape San Lucas. He was the object of anxious solicitude to his friends soon after his arrival at San Francisco. He had come on with bright hopes, which were sadly disappointed. To drown his sorrows and disappointments, he had given himself up to drink. Many times had they expostulated with him, but in vain. He died at San Francisco.
Document Analysis
1. When he is sick and think he might die, why do you think Mr. Woods is resigned to his fate?
2. What is Mr. Woods income after expenses?
3. What commentary does Mr. Woods give regarding gambling and drinking?
Document E
NCSS Theme IV – Individual Development and Identity
Source: http://mrkash.com/activities/goldrush.html
Friday, February 15, 1850
--Tuesday, February 12th, we were landed with our baggage on the beach at a place called Happy Valley, about a mile east of the city, where we soon cleared a place and put up our tent and removed our trunks and bedding into it. We then cooked our supper of tea and fried bread, and although this meal was quite humble and prepared by our own hands, I never partook of any that I enjoyed more, not even the best cured fowl. Being determined to have as lively a time of it as circumstances would permit, we soon after introduced the violin and enjoyed ourselves in the giddy mazes of a real Spanish fandango for an hour or two. About nine o'clock we arranged our trunks and placed our beds upon them. Two of our party had to lie upon the ground, but Atkins and I had trunks enough to form a platform for our beds. We then turned in without a single weapon by us, they all being locked up in our trunks, feeling quite as secure as when surrounded by thick and massive walls, and enjoyed as good a night's repose.
My comrade and I have rambled the city from center to circumference in search of Mr. Jonathan Griffith, to whom we had letters of introduction from Judge Strickland of West Chester. At length we found him and he gave us a most welcome reception and treated us with great hospitality. We were not long enquiring about our friends and learned that a few of them were in the city, not more than paying expenses, while the greater number were at the diggings where they had been almost ever since their arrival. At the last accounts Mr. Griffith had from them, they had done but little in the way of making money.
Whitaker had been taken ill at the mines and sent to this place with sufficient funds to winter, and recruit his health if possible. But, alas! A melancholy tale must now be told. Poor Whitaker grew worse and worse and had to be removed to the hospital. After suffering there for some time, he at length yielded his spirit up to his Maker, never uttering a murmur against his hard fate. And thus died a young man who a few months before had been filled with the brightest hopes for the future. He was young, intelligent, amiable, kind and gentle, industrious and enterprising. He was beloved, respected and esteemed by all who knew him, and was never guilty of a mean action. His body was interred at the public burying-ground a little to the west of the city, near the seashore, where the howling wind and roaring surf will sing him a suitable requiem.
But his is the case of thousands. Every neighborhood in the States will yet have to hear of the bones of some of their best beloved and respected young citizens bleaching on the plains of California. A bitter wail of lament will be echoed from house to house, by parents, wives, brothers, sisters and lovers, the anguish of which cannot be repaid by all the glittering ore that covers every hill and valley in this new El Dorado, this Land of Promise. Thousands will curse the day that brought them to this golden land. The gold will be a curse instead of a blessing.
Document Analysis
1. What is Mr. Christman’s attitude upon arrival in Happy Valley?
2. Do you think Mr. Christman is surprised that his friends “had done littlein the way of making money?
3. Why does Mr. Christman believe gold will be “a curse instead of a blessing?
Document F
Source: http://amhistory.si.edu/onthewater/goldrush/gold_rush_7.html
...I can now see that I have done wrong. I ought to have remained at home, and endeavoured to fullfil my pledge to love, cherish And protect. I know that I have erred, and hope you will pardon my misconduct and neglect, and may I never, (if permitted to return once more), be induced to follow the golden bubble again. at the time I thought I was doing for the best, prompted by the hopes of realizing a speedy Fortune, blinded by the dazzling prospects of obtaining a little Gold, slighted her who it was my duty not to neglect and whom it was my good fortune to be connected with, though undeserving mortal as I am, if you can pardon me this time, I shall feel gratefull, and if it should ever be my lot, to visit a distant country again in hopes of bettering our condition in life, may we be united in the enterprise, and perhaps success will follow the undertaking, if not we can at any rate enjoy the pleasures of each others society.
, Wm H Van Siclen has boarded with us since October last, he paid us $10 a week for Board untill Jany 1st and then we raised it to $14 a week-on the first of March he left us and joined Reynolds & Sawyer and have gone to Murphys new diggings about 25 Miles south from here to sett up and Eating House, untill we go at the River which will be the middle of June. I think that they will do well with a business of that kind. I think it is better than Gold digging. I suppose all of you believe what you see printed in the papers, and of large Fortunes obtained in a few days, and large lumps being found, as being all true. It was reported that a 94 pound lump was found at Murphys diggings. I have been in the place and saw the persons who have seen it. One man says that there was about 2 ounces of Gold in it and that the rest was white Quartz Stone. about the large Fortune Mr Higgins got that you speak of in your letter we have heard nothing about. where there is one man that gets a pile or has good luck in a place, there are thousands who do not earn a living. it is only the extreme cases that are published they are much exaggerated. We have got now on hand about 8 pounds, and we have done better than the average. Cornells party have done better than we have during the Winter. Mat is our Capt now and he feels proud of the Office, but it ammounts to nothing...at present I think I shall start for home by the 1st of Dec or Jany next. I do not intend to remain another Winter in California alone at all events. Kiss the Children for me, and tell them not to forget me, and give yourself a good hug on my account. I wish I could do it myself——
From your Affectionate Husband
Alex Van Valen
Document Analysis
1. What regrets does Mr. Van Valen have about his experiences in California?
2. What example does Mr. Van Valen give describe the misrepresentation of huge gold discoveries?
3. What venture does Mr. Van Valen think would be more profitable than gold seeking?
Document G
Source: http://historyengine.richmond.edu/episodes/view/5126
There was gold in California and everyone wanted their share. In that spirit, in early September, 1850, 17-year old Stephen Chapin David and his older brother Josiah arrived in Gold Rush California. Entrepreneurial skills showed quickly as Stephen purchased newspapers before boarding the ship to sell to the other sailors. While early searching for gold did not prove as lucrative as hoped, they turned to jobs such as cooks and storekeeping. On October 25, 1850, the brothers purchased a store from Mr. Stones for $260 and all its goods at cost value.
Selling goods such as ham, flour, sugar or quicksilver proved profitable for Stephen and Josiah. Many items could be sold for more than double their original cost. Seasons often affected the profitability of the store, but other avenues were always available that insured a stable income. First, they fixed up their store in order to host boarders at $11 a week. Going into town to buy supplies for the store was no reason to have lost out on money; they would often collect mail from the miners to send out for them, charging $1.25 per letter that cost 40 cents to post. Return mail was also brought from the cities to the mining camps. Often miners only received mail from home once a month, so while the brothers did make a profit from the miners, they also provided a valuable service that gave them a small sense of security from home that they had not been forgotten about.
Many early gold seekers left with the intention of becoming merchants. Robert M. Senkewicz reveals they left home with things to sell and relationships with big city merchants that could send goods to their aspiring businesses on a regular basis once they had settled in California. Communication was important with the suppliers. They had to make sure that goods were packed properly for shipment so they could be sold at full value instead of discounted rates for damaged goods, as well as insuring which goods to ship that were in the greatest need and would make the most money. Too much of any one item on the market forced lower prices and burdening quantities of unsold stock. The influx of miners and merchants alike that flocked to California, many whom stayed on after the gold rush had ended, began the diversified population that California still has today.
Document Analysis
1. Why did the Chapin brothers decide to open a store instead of looking for gold?
2. Why do you think there was so much profit in supplying the miners?
3. Why do you think more people did not abandon the gold fields and set up a shop as a merchant?
Bucketing – Getting Ready to Write
Bucketing
Look over all the documents and organize them into your final buckets. Write final bucket labels under each bucket and place the letters of the documents in the bucket where they belong. It is legal to put a document in more than one bucket. That is called multi-bucketing, but you need a good reason for doing so. Remember, your buckets are going to become your body paragraphs.
These Development and Roadmap
On the chickenfoot below, write your thesis and your roadmap. Your thesis is always an opinion and answers the Mini-Q question. The roadmap is created from your bucket labels and lists the topic areas you will examine in order to prove your thesis.
From Thesis to Essay Writing
Mini-Q Essay Outline Guide
Working Title:
Paragraph #1
Grabber:
Background:
Stating question with key terms defined
Thesis and roadmap
Paragraph #2
Baby thesis for bucket one
Evidence: supporting detail from documents with documents citation
Argument: connecting evidence to the thesis
Paragraph #3
Baby thesis for bucket two
Evidence: supporting detail from documents with documents citation
Argument: connecting evidence to the thesis
Paragraph #4
Baby thesis for bucket three
Evidence: supporting detail from documents with documents citation
Argument: connecting evidence to the thesis
Paragraph #5
Conclusion: Restatement of main idea with possible insight or wrinkle
