NAME OF DATE | NAME OF EVENT | DESCRIPTION |
January 1848 | James Marshall finds gold | James Marshall was working in California to build a water pump. While in the river he found a shiny metal which turned out to be gold. |
March 1848 | Reports about gold aren’t believed | A local newspaper heard about the gold discovery and reported about it. Most people in the area didn’t believe it. |
August 1848 | The gold rush begins | James Marshall tried to keep his discovery a secret, but word quickly spread. By August there were 4000 gold mines in the areas. |
November 1848 | The first minted gold | The first shipments of gold sent to the mint left from San Francisco. The ship carried over $500,000 of gold. |
1849 | The coming of the 49’ers | The year of 1849 brought travelers from all over the world. They all came to get rich. |
February 1849 | Women come to get a husband | Papers advertised for women to come to San Francisco to get husbands among the miners. |
June 1849 | A government is formed | The lands were wild and lawless because of so many people arriving at once. The people attempted to set up a government to rule the land. |
December 1849 | San Francisco becomes a booming metropolis | San Francisco became the central city for the gold mining towns. Businesses popped up all over the place to accommodate the gold miners. |
January 1850 | The Compromise of 1850 is passed | California wanted to become an official state, but they wanted to be free from slavery. The Compromise helped smooth out the anger of those who wanted to keep slaves. |
May 1850 | Another gold shipment leaves San Francisco | This time the shipment carried a whopping 1.5 million dollars’ worth of gold. |
1850 | The gold runs out | Most of the gold on the surface was picked clean by 1850. Men kept coming, though, hoping to get lucky. |
December 1850 | The fires of San Francisco
| Four huge fires swept the area during the year, burning hundreds of buildings and killing many people. The citizens raised money to set up a fire station. |
1853 | Hydraulic Mining is Introduced | Mining with machines became the preferred way to mine because the machines could dig deeper into the ground. Miners began working for mining companies who owned the machines. |
1857 | The gold rush stabilized | The gold rush finally fell off in 1857, when the gold output stabilized at around 45 million dollars a year. |
1884 | Hydraulic mining is outlawed | A California judge finally outlawed hydraulic mining because it tore up the land. |