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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

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Elusive Eden: A New History of California, fourth edition

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  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

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