Mining was an important factor in the development of the West during the 1800s. When people got wind of a discovery of gold or silver, they would flock to the area with hopes of striking it rich due to the high value of these minerals. These prospectors would use pan and placer mining to sift the minerals out from streams or the shallow surface of the land. After these shallow resources of the minerals were depleted, commercial mining outfits would come in and extract the gold and silver from deep underground. “The thousands of people who flocked to the mining towns in search of quick wealth and who failed to find it often remained as wage laborers in corporate mines after the boom period” (Brinkley, 2007).
In 1859-60 an unknown explorer went up the Arkansas River and found gold in it’s sand and gravel. Explorers, miners, railroad expansionists, farmers and ranchers flooded the area. Railroad pushed west to serve thousands of miners. The Denver & Rio Grande Western battled for the Royal Gorge route up the Arkansas, establishing Salida in late May 1880. Economics: Salida is the service, supply, and tourism center for the Upper Arkansas Valley.
They started the smelting process at the bottom of the mountain as well as other things that had to be down to prepare the silver for economic use. One down side to doing all these processes on site increased risks that the slaves could be hurt and killed by. As expected the number of deaths increased over the next three centuries and mercury had a large role in that. For one process of the smelting mercury would be used to help contain the silver and limit it to expanding. With this process could only come injury and death since mercury is a toxic element to the human
It brought a lot of jobs to the west and also brought immigrants. When the gold rush first started people flocked to California to get a part in the rush. The strongest men from every city left their homes to find wealth. The people who made it to California first found plentiful gold, but it was hard work, and there were many people trying to get the gold. Immigrants form all over the world came to find instant wealth, so during the rush California became the most diverse state in the country.
The first wave of Chinese Immigration was spurred by the Gold Rush of 1849 in California. Similar to other foreign gold-seeker, those Chinese immigrants came across the Pacific Ocean looking for Gold. Also, in 1850s, there was a civil war called TaiPing Rebellion going on in China that was tearing the country apart. Many people survived from
Part A One of the most significant geographical factors that contributed to the expansion of the United States was the existence of gold in California. Prior to the Gold Rush of 1849, California was primarily a Mexican province where to a few adventurous Americans had made their way. However, once the news of gold spread east and the New York Herald printed the news of gold within its pages, the slow passage of people to the west “accelerated into a stampede.” (The California gold rush, 2003) This explosion of pioneers was small by no means. In the spring of 1849, over 30,000 people assembled at launch points along the plains ready to make the long hard journey to California in hopes of striking it rich. The promise of gold seemed great
However, as Australia became a more and more free settlers country, the government wanted to attract more and more migrants so encouraged the people to look for gold - E.H. Hargraves find gold in Bathurst – in newspaper - 8th August 1851, gold is found in Ballarat Victoria, gold rush begins - Many miners in the Victorian gold rush came from California Impact on Victoria - Melbourne became a ghost town - People left their work and see the gold rush as an opportunity to make fortunes - Almost everyone went to the goldfields - People from all over the country came to Victoria to find gold. They paid huge sums because merchants inflated their prices of
In the next twenty years gold discoveries attracted fortune-seekers also to other parts of the far West. The first mining settlements were just untidy collections of tents and huts, scattered along rough tracks that were muddy in winter an dusty in summer. But some grew later into permanent communities. The present city of Denver
Like all change, it is the pioneering few who dare to go where few have gone before. Whether intentional or unintentional, others will follow by example as the risks become more acceptable. The California Gold Rush in the mid-1800s caused a mass migration of people heading West following news that prosperity and a new life and could be obtained with comparative ease. To be sure, at first gold was readily available and nuggets could be picked up off the ground with little
This essay will be discussing the gold rush that happened in Australia, 1851. In 1823, James McBrien was working as a road surveyor when he noticed small particles of gold in the creek near by. This was most likely the first gold discovery in Australia, this discovery took place in Fish Creek near Bathurst. Likewise in 1839, an explorer named Paul Strzelecki made another discovery of gold on the east of Bathurst in Hartley. Strzelecki took his findings to the government but they did not seem interested in it because of the risk that many convicts may leave their posts to come and make a fortune out of finding this gold.