1 / 57

Elusive Eden: A New History of California, fourth edition

Elusive Eden: A New History of California, fourth edition. CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE NEW EL DORADO. May 12, 1848, Sam Brannan announced gold discovery --Emptied San Francisco . The Great Discovery 1847 Sutter, James Marshall began building sawmill

rusty
Download Presentation

Elusive Eden: A New History of California, fourth edition

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Elusive Eden: A New History of California, fourth edition CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE NEW EL DORADO

  2. May 12, 1848, Sam Brannan announced gold discovery --Emptied San Francisco

  3. The Great Discovery • 1847 Sutter, James Marshall began building sawmill --1844 Marshall joined wagon train Ohio to Oregon --Came to California, worked for Sutter --Joined Bear Flag revolt, California Battalion

  4. Sited mill at South Fork American River --30 miles from New Helvetia --Near Maidu village Cullumah --Crew Maidu, Mormon Mexican War veterans --Let river clear millrace

  5. January 24, 1848, Marshall found gold in millrace --Tests proved gold --Swore workers to secrecy --Rumors surfaced, few believed

  6. Disaster for Sutter --Died broke in 1880 --Squatters, speculators stole land

  7. Disaster for Marshall --Lost investment, land claims --State refused pension --1885 died broke

  8. Sam Brannan gained, lost fortune • 1846 brought 200 Mormons to Yerba Buena • Brigham Young planned to relocate church to Cal • Brannan started 1st newspaper, California Star • Made fortune in SF real estate with church money, labor • 1847 started store at Sutter's Fort • 1848 workers paid in gold • Confirmed strike, stockpiled goods • May 1848 announced discovery in SF • Daily gross $5,000 • 1861 bought land in Napa, called Calistoga • Divorce, bad debts, speculation consumed fortune • 1889 died broke

  9. Sources of La Bonanza • Most California gold "placer" --Placed by water • Formed in Mesozoic Era (200 to 70 million years ago) • Rivers redistributed gold • 70 to 3 million years ago beds shifted • Created band 100 miles long, +20 miles wide on western slope of Sierras, Feather-Yuba River, Trinity-Shasta-Siskiyou

  10. Spaniards looking for gold since 1519 • 1841 Francisco Lopez found gold near Mission San Fernando --Minor gold rush --Quickly ran out • Missionaries downplayed

  11. The Gold Rush of 1848 • Word leaked out when Sutter registered claim in Monterey --Employees used gold nuggets as currency --Sutter told John Bidwell, Mariano Vallejo • Newspapers discounted --March 15 1848 small news item Californian --California Star compared to earlier small strike

  12. Visitors to Sutter's mill investigated, went home to look for similar features --Mill worker found gold, told friends in Mormon Battalion --Searched near Mariposa, found gold --John Bidwell found gold near home in Chico, set off Feather River rush --Pierson B. Reading found gold on Trinity River, Mt. Shasta --Charles M. Weber prospected on Stanislaus, Mokelumne rivers

  13. Sutter's mill barely finished --By April, mill workers gone --Logging crews prospecting --Flour mill, tannery abandoned --Lost clerks, teamsters, carpenters • Local miners dominated January to May

  14. Brannan emptied SF in May --Businesses shuttered --Soldiers left posts --Same in LA, San Diego

  15. Spreading the News • Word out by end of 1848 • Closest arrived first: Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Mexico, Hawaii, China --Most from Hawaii, Mexico --December 1848 non-Indian population 20,000

  16. Few Americans from East Coast • Eastern newspapers discounted --September 1848 New Orleans Picayune published interview Lt. Edward F. Beale --Bringing confirmation, gold samples to Washington DC

  17. December 7, 1848, messenger delivered report from Col. Richard B. Mason, 230 ounces of gold --President James K. Polk sent report to Congress --Displayed sample in War Office --Convinced Americans discovery real • By December 1849 non-Indian population 100,000 --1852 census: + 200,000

  18. By Sea to California • East Coast miners traveled by sea • Two routes: around Horn, across Isthmus of Panama • Horn journey 5 months, 17,000 miles • Isthmus shorter, open year round --40 miles up Chagres River, 20 overland to Pacific --Passengers easily reached eastern side --Too few ships available on western side

  19. February 1849 1000s stranded • More ships available 1850 • Isthmus rr completed 1855 --1855 to 1869, easterner's preferred route to California • Many east-coast groups formed joint-stock companies --Bought ships, merch to sell in SF --Abandoned in SF Bay

  20. Horn travelers disappointed --Seasickness, bad weather, spoiled water, food --Often arrived sick --Opportunity to write about adventure • 1849 about 40,000 traveled by sea

  21. Crossing the Plains • Smart overland miners joined large groups, waited until spring • Journeyed to "jumping off points" in Missouri • Assembled wagons, provisions, hired guides --Always took too much --Trails littered with supplies, furniture, graves

  22. Fatalities on trail common --cholera from New Orleans, infected water holes --accidents with weapons, wagons --drownings --"short-cuts"

  23. 1849 25,000 to 30,000 crossed Great Plains --Stopped at govn posts, Salt Lake City --3000-4000 more from Mexico, Southwest • 1850s, +200,000 traveled overland • Created diverse society --Most young (-30) --Male (+90%) --Expected brief stay, great wealth

  24. Searching for La Bonanza • Few professional miners • Most professionals back home --Too expensive for working poor --Transportation, equipment $750 to $1,000 ($20K-$25K in 2010 dollars) --most unused to manual labor

  25. learned from experienced miners --gold miners from Mexico, Georgia, Carolinas --coal miners from Pennsylvania and Britain • Easy to find 1849 --Equipment simple: pan, pick --Process simple but uncomfortable

  26. Georgians, Carolinians introduced "rockers" • By 1852, surface deposits gone • Long-toms, teams of men processed tons of dirt --Organized companies --Investors supplied capital • Built dams, flumes, sluices

  27. Mechanized Mining • 1852, Anthony Chabot attached cloth hose to flume --water pressure removed topsoil • 1853 Edward E. Matteson added tin nozzle • Result: Hydraulic mining --Washed away mountainsides --Revealed buried ore

  28. Tunnel or quartz mining too expensive --Sunk shafts into hillsides --Used Mexican arrastra to crush ore --Mercury, quicksilver extracted gold

  29. Required machinery stimulated iron works --San Francisco's Risdon, Union, Vulcan plants sold drilling, tunneling equipment --More important when silver discovered in Nevada

  30. Life in the Mines • Mining hard on newcomers • Camps boring, crude • Miners tried to reproduce familiar society --Drafted mining camp codes --Created rules for staking, protecting claims --Elected judges, officials • Extra legal punishments: fines, banishment, flogging, hanging

  31. Crime, competition increased miner demands for justice --January 1849 Dry Diggings (Placerville) mob flogged 5 French, Hispanic men for theft, then lynched 2 --July 4 1851 Downieville mob hanged Josefa • 1850-1855 similar episodes in San Francisco, Los Angeles --Most frequent targets people of color

  32. Bonanza to Borrasca • 19th c gold worth $16 an ounce • Men in mines steadily increased: --5,000 in 1848 --40,000 in 1849 --50,000 in 1850 --100,000 in 1852 • 1852 to 1860, number of miners stabilized, but gold production fell

  33. Best discoveries 1848-1850 • Gold mining comparable to eastern wages -- $1.00 - $1.25 / day for skilled worker --Living costs 10x higher in California • Individual prospectors replaced by wage-earning employees • Frustrated Argonauts blamed Californios, Chinese, Indians

  34. Californios in the Mines • Americans brought "Manifest Destiny" to California • Many veterans of US-Mexican War --Considered land in California theirs --Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo said different

  35. 1848 about 1,300 Hispanic miners at work --Coronel, Sepulveda, and Carrillo families prospected on Stanislaus River -- Antonio Coronel found 45 ounces in one day --Sold claim, new owner found 52 pounds in one week --Went home for winter -- A third owner of the site also became rich

  36. By 1849, Americans controlled gold fields --Bear Flagger attacked Coronel party, injured one --Americans threatened "foreigners" --Coronel observed Placerville lynching --Gave up mining • Hispanics who stayed employees of Americans • Mining camp codes forbade mining by "foreigners"

  37. The Foreign Miners' Tax Law of 1850 • Miners convinced first state legislature to exclude "foreigners" • 1850 law charged $20 license fee • Selectively enforced --non-English speakers common targets --Spanish-speakers refused to pay --Hispanic workers, restaurant, hotel, store patrons left gold fields

  38. Merchants, mine owners petitioned legislature to repeal --Late 1850 governor reduced fee --Early 1851 law repealed --Too late --Failed to bring back Hispanics

  39. "Diggers" in the Mines • 1848 Col. Mason reported 5,000 men digging for gold --Half were Indians --Most worked for Marshall, Sutter, Californios • Early settlers employed most Indian miners --Charles M. Weber had 1,000 Indians workers

  40. --John M. Murphy put 600 Indians to work on Stanislaus --John Bidwell's Indians worked his Feather River claim • Some Indians mined for themselves --Exchanges usually favored Europeans

  41. Solving the "Indian Problem" • Americans objected to Indians in the mines • Oregonians among early arrivals --Familiar with 1847 Whitman massacre at Walla Walla, Cayuse wars --March 1849 attacked Maidu village on American River

  42. --Maidu killed 5 Oregonians --Oregonians attacked another village, killed residents, took 7 captives to Coloma for execution • Many Americans genuinely feared Indians --1850 Governor Peter Burnett claimed 100,000 armed braves preparing to exterminate whites --Whole native population fewer than 100,000

  43. Indian resistance exacerbated fears --Bear Flagger beat Suisun man with a cat-of-nine-tails --Sinao lassoed him, dragged him out of town --Two whites killed in assault on Clear Lake Pomo • In Napa American shot Manuel Vera, he returned fire

  44. Americans responded forcefully --Clear Lake killing brought U.S. Army, killed + 500 Pomo men, women, children --Americans in Napa lynched Manuel Vera • Lost cattle provoked raids --In Napa, settlers attacked Wappo-, Patwin-, and Pomo-speaking villages, rancherías --Killed entire communities of men, women, children --Napa newspapers commended white hunters

  45. 1850, state legislature adopted Law for the Protection and Government of the Indians --Solved ranchers' labor/cattle thieving problem --All Indians must prove local employment --Those who couldn't arrested, fined as vagrants --White settlers could pay fines, indefinitely indenturing Indians

  46. --White settlers could "adopt" minors, hold to age 21 or older • Federal govn, state legislature raised militias to control Indians --By 1860s militias killed + 15,000 Indians --Paid $5 per head, $0.50 per scalp

  47. 1850 U.S. Indian Bureau sent treaty commission to California --Commissioners to meet with leaders of main tribes --Negotiate treaties exchanging valuable land for lands elsewhere --Dozen + tribes accepted treaties

  48. Californians protested --Gave too much land (12,000 sq. miles) to Indians --exchange lands too valuable --Indians only available labor force --Preferred system of missions to assimilate Indians! --convinced Congress to leave Indians to California

  49. 1852 U.S. Senate rejected treaties • 1853 Congress approved plan by Edward F. Beale --U.S. Indian Superintendent for California --established series of small reservations --most successful Fort Tejón in San Joaquin Valley --abandoned 1868 --System mismanaged, underfunded, looted

  50. Some Natives resisted reservations --1872-1873 Modocs refused relocation --Chief Kientepoos (Captain Jack) led 50 warriors and families into lava beds near Tule Lake --US Army sent 400 soldiers to deliver to Klamath reservation --Modocs held out for months, 75 soldiers, 5 Indian men, dozens of Indian women, children killed --Jack captured, executed • By 1870, Indian population reduced to 30,000

More Related