RV Lifestyle California is called the Golden State for many reasons, including its abundant sunshine and the Gold Rush with its exciting and colourful history. “Boys, by God, I believe I’ve found a gold mine,” said JamesW. Marshall to his mill workers on January 24, 1848 after he discovered shining flecks of gold in the tailrace of the sawmill he and John Sutter were constructing on the South Fork of the American River. Gold! The cry went up from Sutter’s Mill and brought a mass migration of people into California from the four corners of the world. By August, the hills above the river were strewn with wood huts and tents as the first wave of miners lured by the gold discovery scrambled to strike it rich. Prospectors from the East sailed around Cape Horn. Some hiked across the Isthmus of Panama and, by 1849, about 40,000 came to San Francisco by sea alone. Most of the 49ers never intended to remain in California permanently. Most meant to seek their fortune and return to wherever they called home. But many sent for their families and stayed, causing a culturally diverse population to grow rapidly. Between 1848 and 1852 – four short years – California’s population grew from 14,000 to 223,000. The Gold Rush expended 125 million troy ounces of gold, worth more than $50 billion by today’s standards. It is estimated that more than 80 per cent of the gold in the Mother Lode is still in the ground. These 49ers established hundreds of instant mining towns along the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Most mining camps were nothing more than temporary encampments established where a section of a river was panned or sluiced until the gold ran out. The Gold Rush Trail: California Highway 49 Placerville circa 1849 22 | www.snowbirds.org
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