important people
Alfred Doten (1829-1903)
On February 1st, 1849, the Plymouth Rock printed a letter from James Gleason, who resided in Monterey Bay, California. In the letter, Gleason explained that a new gold mine opened up, and that it would produce riches; a few men were selected to go sail to California for free in exchange for two-thirds of their mined gold, that would be given to the company’s investors. (1) Alfred Dontes, an educated, respectable, nineteen-year old boy was selected. However, he underwent a massive change in California, where he became exposed to alcohol, women, and gambling. Dontes became a gambling alcoholic; in a few months, he lost the entirety of his father's’ fortune due to the disbanding of the company and his problems. (2) Later, he joined a crowd of tough miners, and then opened a store. Although Alfred Dontes later followed the gold rush to Nevada, he never hit it rich. Dontes is a prime example of how if one gets involved with gambling and alcohol, then he will not succeed. Due to his problems, he wasted away his fortune and any other potential finances that could have been gained from mining. (3) |
Antonio Franco Coronel (1817-1894)
Just before the initial gold rush toward California, the United States and Mexico were ending a war that was being fought over territory. Antonio Franco Coronel was born in Mexico City, and he fought for Mexico during the war. After Mexico lost the war, he rode into the Sierras along with 30 other hopeful miners. There, he dug alongside Native Americans, a few Anglo Americans, and some Mexican miners. While he was there, Coronel was considered a Californio, since he was a Mexican living in California. After his small mining stint, Coronel travelled to San Francisco where he saw a shadow of the rush coming. (4) There were hordes and hordes of people, desperate for fortunes. At this point, Antonio Franco Coronel witnessed the turning point of San Francisco. San Francisco went from 800 to over 20,000 people in a single year. (5) While digging Coronel encountered the many nationalities that now populated at the time; in fact, there was so much competition that Americans asked foreigners to leave. Lastly, during his time mining, Coronel witnessed pure brutality by Americans, such as attacks and massacres on Indian villages and unjust stealing of lands. Despite all of this, he still ended up as mayor of Los Angeles. (6) |
Samuel Brannan
The man responsible for spreading the news about the discovery of gold is Samuel Brannan. Prior to that, he was an ambitious leader, in California, who opened up stores, flour mills, and even start the state’s first newspaper, The California Star. (7) While controlling all of this, Brannan attempted to convince Brigham Young to come to California; at the time, Young was leading a group of 15,000 Mormons across the overland trail. When Brannan heard news of the discovery of gold, Brannan quickly made plans to open up a second store. (8) Rushing with exhilaration, his next plan of action was to fill a bottle with gold dust and take it to San Francisco, where he excitedly shouted, “"Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold from the American River!" Soon, seventy-five percent of the young male population headed to work in the mines. (9) Although he never actually dug for gold, Brannan made a fortune and became the richest person in California by merely providing services to gold miners from all around the globe. (10) |
Vicente Perez Rosales (1807-1886)
Another one of the various countries that came to California in search of gold was Chile. A former small businessman that once smuggled cows, named Vicente Perez Rosales, was one of these men that came over. The convincing factor that persuaded him to come was in the fall of 1848 when ships came to Chile with Californian gold; Rosales made immediate plans to regain his lost fortune. In wake of the discovery, there were so many eager prospectors that Chile doled 3,000 passports out in the mass exodus. (11) When he entered the country, a former Chilean gave Rosales good news about panning for gold. Sam Brannan owned boats as well, and Rosales took one of Brannan’s boats to the mines, where whites tried to convince him to help them murder African Americans. (12) Rosales was horrified. Overall, Chileans were not well-liked by Americans; in return, Chileans believed Americans were cowards. Rosales posed as a Frenchman for his safety. A short while later, Rosales returned to San Francisco to see that it had changed dramatically in a short time while he was away. He discovered that the wealthiest people there were not miners- they were the ones who serviced the miners. Service of miners is a secret of the California Gold Rush, as it was where the major fortunes were made. After his adventures, Rosales heard even more atrocities about Chileans, so he decided to return to his homeland with his brothers, who were robbed. (13) |
James Marshall and John Sutter
Perhaps the most important man to the California Gold Rush could be James Marshall, also known as the man who first found gold on January 24, 1848. (14) Marshall, a New Jersey prospector, spotted gold flakes with his eyes in the American River, located in Northern California, on the Sutter’s Mill. (15) Sutter’s Mill was a new sawmill owned by a man named John Sutter. Unbeknownst to them, they single-handedly started the greatest migration in American history, and initiated a chain of occurrences that changed both California and the United States for good. While men raced to spread the news of the discovery, Marshall and Sutter attempted to keep the news secretive because they realized the potential wealth to be gained. (16) John Sutter knew how far men would go to gain vast amounts of wealth, and he did not want that to happen; they both wanted to keep miners from rushing to the scene. They never envisioned what happened in the Gold Rush; in fact, it was the opposite of what they desired. Without James Marshall and John Sutter’s mill, there might have never been a rush of cultures to the States, economic prosperity in California, and the Golden State may have never earned its nickname. |