Gold rush history1/18/2024 The low investment, the high value per unit weight of gold, and the ability of gold dust and gold nuggets to serve as a medium of exchange, allow placer gold rushes to occur even in remote locations.Īfter the sluice-box stage, placer mining may become increasingly large scale, requiring larger organisations and higher capital expenditures. Winning the gold in this manner requires almost no capital investment, only a simple pan or equipment that may be built on the spot, and only simple organisation. Once it is clear that the volume of gold-bearing sediment is larger than a few cubic metres, the placer miners will build rockers or sluice boxes, with which a small group can wash gold from the sediment many times faster than using gold pans. At first the gold may be washed from the sand and gravel by individual miners with little training, using a gold pan or similar simple instrument. They may also progress from high-unit value to lower-unit value minerals (from gold to silver to base metals).Ī rush typically begins with the discovery of placer gold made by an individual. Within each mining rush there is typically a transition through progressively higher capital expenditures, larger organizations, and more specialized knowledge. Swedish gold panners by the Blackfoot River, Montana in the 1860s Gold prospecting at the Ivalo River in 1898 Jets of water at a placer mine in Dutch Flat, California sometime between 18 Rocks line the outside of the wood boards that create the sluice. Panning for gold on the Mokelumne River in California. ![]() ( February 2014) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Gold rushes occurred as early as the times of Ancient Greece, whose gold mining was described by Diodarus Sicules and Pliny the Elder, and probably further back to ancient Greece. During the time, many books were published including The Call of the Wild, which had much success during the period. The Gold Rush was a topic that inspired many TV shows and books considering it was a very important topic at the time. At a time when the world's money supply was based on gold, the newly-mined gold provided economic stimulus far beyond the goldfields, feeding into local and wider economic booms. Activities propelled by gold rushes define significant aspects of the culture of the Australian and North American frontiers. Gold rushes helped spur waves of immigration that often led to the permanent settlement of new regions. Gold rushes were typically marked by a general buoyant feeling of a "free-for-all" in income mobility, in which any single individual might become abundantly wealthy almost instantly, as expressed in the California Dream. Historians have written extensively about the mass migration, trade, colonization, and environmental history associated with gold rushes. The resulting increase in the world's gold supply stimulated global trade and investment. ![]() While gold mining itself proved unprofitable for most diggers and mine owners, some people made large fortunes, and merchants and transportation facilities made large profits. ![]() In the 19th century, the wealth that resulted was distributed widely because of reduced migration costs and low barriers to entry. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Greece, New Zealand, Brazil, Chile, South Africa, California, the United States, and Canada while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere. Ī gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold-sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals-that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. The fastest clipper ships cut the travel time from New York to San Francisco from seven months to four months in the 1849 California Gold Rush. ![]() For other uses of the term "gold rush", see Gold Rush (disambiguation) and California Gold Rush.
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