Sociedad A-Core Infraestructura y Tecnología Limitada
ACTIVE ENGLISH 17
Topic: Gold.
Date: October 14th to October 21st.
California Gold Rush
In
January
1848
gold
was
found
near
John
Sutter’s
sawmill
in
California. The discovery started the California gold rush, during which over
300,000 people from all over the world came to California to become
rich. Although most of them were Americans and European immigrants who
travelled to California overland from the eastern coast, many came from
South America and Asia by ship. When they got to California the 49ers, as
they were called, created their own camps with tents and huts.
At the beginning of the gold rush the gold nuggets lay on the ground and
just had to be picked up. Gold found in rivers was panned. Towards the end
of the 1950s most gold that lay on the surface had already been mined. New
companies started using machines to excavate gold and separate it
from rock. Many people became millionaires almost overnight, but other
gold diggers left California without having found anything.
The gold rush had a great influence on the American west. The population of
California grew very quickly and in 1850 it became an American state. Before
the gold rush people lived in small towns spread across the state. San
Francisco grew from a small settlement of only 200 people to a booming gold
town of over 30,000 by 1850. When gold diggers arrived they had to build
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roads and other infrastructure throughout the area. The gold rush helped
complete the first transcontinental railway in the middle of the century to get
people to the west coast as fast as possible.
At the start of the gold rush California was a lawless state. Whoever found
gold could keep it and had the right to dig it out of the earth. While only few
people became really rich digging for gold, California attracted thousands
of people who set up various kinds of businesses. One of them was Levi
Strauss who began selling jeans in San Francisco in the 1850s. Others opened
up stores and other shops for miners.
Gold turned out to be valuable for the settlers in California.
Nuggets
were exchanged for goods that miners needed. Foreigners often sent gold
back
home.
banknotes.
New
banks
emerged
that
exchanged
gold
for
Shortly after gold had been found the first gold coins
were minted.
The California gold rush also had many negative impacts. Native Americans,
who lived in areas where gold was discovered, were driven away by
white
settlers.
They
lost
much
of
their
habitat
and
food
supply because fish were poisoned and animals killed.
The “California dream” became closely associated with the gold
rush. Immigrants travelled to the Golden State to seek their fortune and
become
rich,
as
many
others
had
done
before
them.
In
the
following decades California was turned into a land of farmers, movie makers
and businessmen who invested in new technology. In the 20th century Silicon
Valley, America’s high-tech centre emerged.
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Sociedad A-Core Infraestructura y Tecnología Limitada
Vocabulary:
attract = to pull towards something
boom = grow and expand quickly
dig= to make a hole in the earth and get material out of it
emerge = grow, come up
food supply = the things you eat as food
hut = small house, mostly made out of wood
lawless = where there are no laws and nobody is in control
mine = to dig out of the earth
nugget = small piece of metal, found in the earth
overland = across land, not by sea or air
pan = to wash earth in a metal container in order to separate gold from other material
poison = harmful substances that can kill you or make you ill
sawmill = factory where trees are cut into flat pieces that can be used as wood
seek = find
set up = start
settlement = a place where people start living
settler = person who starts living in a faraway place
spread = reach
tent = object made up of poles with cloth over them; you can use it for camping
throughout = in all of
Answer the following questions: if it is possible give examples and opinions.
1.
How did California gold rush start?
2.
Explain The gold rush influence on the American west.
3.
What were The California gold rush negative impacts?
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