The search for the California Dream has long been associated with the state’s identity. Since the Spanish discovery of the region in 16th century, its history has been largely romanticised. The name California itself is derived from Spanish literature and was a name of a fictional paradise.
The notion of the California Dream was created by the imagined vision of a quick success and vast fortunes that could be made there during the 1848-1855 Gold Rush. To this day California remains in the imagination of many as the land of ambition, achievement and endless opportunities – a place where dreams come true. But how exactly were these ideas born and how did the events of the mid-19th century help shape California into what it is today?
Before the 19th century, very little was known of the Western side of continental America. It was through the discovery expeditions of people such as Lewis and Clark – the first Americans to explore the Wild West, sent by president Thomas Jefferson – that understanding was gained of this mysterious landscape. In the early 1800’s, people began to move Westward of the Missouri River to claim land and establish settlements there.
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Such man was John Sutter, a German-born, Swiss pioneer who established a settlement in California in 1841. He was a kind and generous man, who never amounted to much but had high hopes for the future. It was there, in California, that Sutter employed a man called James Marshal and a group of Mormon Battalion veterans to construct a water-powered sawmill for him – otherwise known as Sutter’s mill – in 1847.
The planning of the sawmill went smoothly and showed great potential – a promising site was found along the south bank of the American River, which could easily be reached by a wagon and where the current of the river was strong enough to power a mill. The construction began just a few months later and under Marshall’s gentle guidance the veterans proved themselves to be hard-working, keen and energetic men.
Sutter was a kind employer, who often boasted about the skilled labour of his workers and provided them with all the tools they needed.
One day, when the men were working in the ditch, something glimmering caught Marshall’s attention. Something lying at the bottom of the ditch, just a few inches under water. In his account of the event, Marshall recalls this memorable moment:
‘I reached my hand down and picked It up; it made my heart thump, for I was certain it was gold. The piece was about half the size and shape of a pea. Then I saw another piece in the water’
The men initially agreed to keep this finding secret between themselves and the veteran workers, but the news got out when some of the veterans visited their friends in a camp not too far from Sutter’s land. From then on, news of gold in the American River spread quickly around the Country – and soon, the world – and thus sparked a major event in the history of the United States: the California Gold Rush.
The massive wave of migration to California that followed the news of the gold discovery played a big role in shaping the state into what it is now. A recent 2018 report shows that California is the number one state in terms of diversity today. This large cultural and ethnic diversity of the state has its roots in the Gold Rush.
The vision of vast fortunes to be claimed encouraged people from all over the world to come and exploit the landscape for themselves. Many Americans who lived in the Eastern states abandoned their every-day jobs and responsibilities and headed to the West to become rich. In just the first year since the discovery of gold by James Marshall, tens of thousands of fortune seekers have arrived there. In total, over 300,000 people made their way to California during the Gold Rush years. This growth in population allowed California to be declared a state in 1850 – just two years after the region was obtained by the United States through a Treaty with Mexico.
For the foreign immigrants in the Western mining towns life wasn’t easy. American miners were often dissatisfied with foreigners claiming their jobs, which led to racist discrimination and exploitation developing within mining societies. Additional steps were taken by the Americans to exclude the foreigners even further, as reported by S. Thornton, writer for the National Geographic.
