Gold rush is a rapid movement of people to a site where gold has been discovered. The discovery of gold fields has long attracted large numbers of prospectors and other people because of the traditionally high value of gold. Towns developed overnight, transportation networks were hacked out of the wilderness, and new territories were born within months.
Gold rushes in the United States.
The greatest gold rush in United States history began with the discovery of gold by James Marshall at Sutter’s Mill in California on Jan. 24, 1848. By 1849, a large-scale gold rush was underway. San Francisco, the nearest port, grew from a small town to a city of about 25,000 in a year’s time as people arrived from all over the world. By 1850, California had enough people to be admitted to the Union as a state.
California set the pattern for other gold rushes throughout the West. The Pikes Peak gold rush in 1859 opened Colorado, launched the city of Denver, and started a great mining industry. Gold rushes also brought people to Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. Some mining districts and camps died within a year, but others lasted more than a hundred years. These districts include several mining areas in Colorado and the Homestake mine near Lead, South Dakota.
Gold rushes played an important role in the development of the West. They led to clashes between white settlers and Indians, and to permanent cities, states, transportation systems, and varied economies. Many sites of gold rushes also have become important tourist attractions in the western United States.
Gold rushes in other countries
also have had important effects. Gold was discovered in Australia in 1851, and Australia’s population increased greatly in the next several years. An 1861 gold rush in New Zealand doubled that country’s population in six years. The city of Johannesburg, South Africa, was founded as a result of a gold rush in 1886. Another great gold rush sparked development in the Klondike area of Canada’s Yukon region during 1897 and 1898.
