As determined by Rawls, the paradox of expectations means that the person who comes to California hopes that their lives here will be better than what they left behind back home, where ever home may be (25). Rawls goes as far saying that the “gold rush experience itself was forged on this paradox of expectations” (26). That assumption is backed up by the numerous accounts of miners complaining about California and its lack of gold. One miner is so upset, he writes a letter advising everyone to not come to California. He claims that Northern California is “inferior” to New England and the southern portion of California is just a “baked and burned” territory (Notes of… 37).
Many people decided to abandon their jobs and leave their family to come and seek gold and hoping to “get rich fast”. Unfortunately, finding gold wasn’t as easy as it seems. First, gold seekers had to stake claims, then sink mine shafts down to the bedrock. Most land was taken up already when new arrivals got there. So they had to work for claim holders instead of mining themselves.
News of gold spread very quickly. An old mountain trader named John Cantrell found a sack full of gold and spread news to Kansas City, Missouri of the event and other traders brought the news to New Mexico, Fort Laramie, and Kansas. Within a short amount of time before winter arrived, Cherry Creek had gained about one hundred new people. The first arrival of gold was on August 26, 1858, which had poor people sweeping in from Kansas City, Lawrence, St. Louis, Omaha and Leavenworth to jump on the chance of changing their
A town born in a mining boom at Pikes Peak in 1858, Denver was to become an unlikely thriving metropolis by the end of the nineteenth century. What now is the capital and largest city in Colorado had the humblest of origins. General William Larimer, a land speculator from eastern Kansas, hadn’t the slightest idea of the chain reaction he put into motion when he discovered gold along the South Platte River. The Pikes Peak Gold Rush brought thousands to Colorado for instant riches. Although, scattered camps of miners settled throughout the Rockies and did not congregate in a high concentration in any particular area.
Bryan Gates ENG 101 Mr. Ric Hoeben December 3, 2013 A Day In The Life It all started on a cold January day in 1848 when the sounds of ‘eureka’ filled the mountain air. A farmer by the name of James Marshall found six shiny, golf ball sized rocks on the bank of the American river near Coloma, California. Mr. Marshall had his rocks tested and the results would change the United States forever. James Marshall made the first discovery of gold that would start the California gold rush. Stories of the gold rush fortunes have always been fascinating to me.
In Virginia, people were gold seekers, and their main motives was to find gold and become wealthy. Document 4 describes how important finding gold was, and how there was only talk about gold, “dig gold, wash gold, refine gold, load gold.” 2. The economy in New England depended on fishing, trade, and the labor industry. Document 3 concerns tradesmen and laborers, and is about oppression, and the difficulties of regulating standard of pay and prices. The economy in Virginia focused on agriculture and searching for gold.
20 that “The poor cannot be expected to save, because they need every dollar for basic needs such as food and shelter. Middle class people will save something for emergencies, children's education, or old age. But they have many immediate needs and desires, and in any case their savings will eventually be consumed, especially after retirement. The rich, however, are different. They have so much money that, in aggregate, they simply cannot spend it all.
The Gospel of Wealth was the most influential of his writings, however, in that Carnegie stressed that the wealthy had a moral obligation to give to philanthropic causes and serve as stewards of society. Four years later, in 1901, Carnegie was nearing the end of his business career and allowed J.P. Morgan to buy out his steel empire for an astonishing price of $480 million dollars (Ibid.). Morgan was able to create U.S. Steel, and Carnegie became the richest man in the world. Carnegie did not want to remain a shareholder in the steel company, however, so he put the $300 million in gold bonds that he received from the deal into a specially-built vault in New Jersey. He never wanted to see or touch any of the money (Swetnam and Smith 1993,
Nevada became a popular gold digging location after the Comstock Lode had been uncovered and 340 million dollars worth of gold and silver had been found. Small findings of gold occurred in parts of Montana, Idaho and other western states that led to huge groups of gold lusting men and women. This want for gold eventually led to numerous Boomtowns showing up all over the place. These Boomtowns grew very quickly with almost every few buildings being a saloon. After the “easy to find” gold was gone mining operations were set up all over the West.
One thing I enjoyed most was stories about people in my family I didn’t know. My great grandfather name is Lee Merriweather, he was born on December 7 1889. He worked as a janitor at Booker T. Washington high school. He worked there for 10 years and he got another job at The Spaghetti Warehouse in Memphis Tn. There he was a stocker, so he loaded and unloaded the trucks that came in with inventory.