American West

• Gold was discovered in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California

  1848
• California is on the west coast of the USA, just beyond Oregon
• News of the gold discovery spread rapidly throughout the country
• The gold discovery became the greatest 'pull' factor attracting migrants to the west
• Thousands of migrants rushed to California to try and find their fortune

  1849
• The population of California grew rapidly from just 15,000 in 1848 to 300,000 by 1855
• Though some lucky prospectors did become very rich, the vast majority failed to find any gold and either returned home or settled permanently in California as farmers
• Consequences of the Gold Rush


  • New prospectors needed somewhere to buy food, drink, equipment and entertainment
  • Provided a great opportunity for Californians to become shopkeepers and tradesmen
  • Californian became the perfect advertisement for western settlement
• The huge population boom led to problems of law and order with many resorting to taking the law into their own hands
• There was also a lot of racial tension as white miners clashed with Hispanics, Californian Indians, free African Americans and the Chinese
• Sheriff

  • Responsible for tax collection, law enforcement, and for employing their own officers
  • Territories were huge making it difficult to police effectively
  • Law enforcement officers were poorly paid which made it was difficult to attract honest, hard-working people to the job
  • Sheriffs had no official legal training and often favoured their friends, thus causing disputes
• Vigilante committee

  1. Identify suspects

  2. Hold a trial

  3. Punish them if found guilty

  4. Often criminals were hanged

  5. Trials were not fair, with the suspect being deemed guilty before they were even captured
• Racist attacks were rife in the American West, especially in the mining camps where there were lots of Chinese migrants
• Plains Indian's who lived near the mining towns also suffered from racist attacks
• The state government was as racist as the citizens
• There was even a law in California, which stated Chinese miners should be taxed more than white miners
• Lawlessness

  Many settlers disregarded official laws and committed crimes such as theft and murder
• Mass migration caused by the 1848 Gold Rush

  Increased lawlessness in the American West
• Before the Gold Rush, the population of the American West was very small so settlers had to rely on each other for survival, meaning the population lived relatively peacefully with one another
• By 1855, 300,000 people had settled in California
• The existing law enforcement systems did not keep up with this huge population increase, and lawlessness became rife
• Gold Miners

  • Demonstrated complete disregard for the law
  • Would 'stake a claim' to a patch of land, meaning they had the rights to any gold that they found there
  • Many miners would steal other miner's claims if they looked promising, this was known as 'claim jumping'
  • Would sometimes 'salt a claim' by sprinkling some flakes of gold on the land and sell it to an inexperienced prospector for a huge profit
• Mining camps were also rife with alcohol and prostitution, which led to violence
• As prospectors came from all over the world, racial tensions were also high
• The population boom continued into the 1850's and thus the problem of lawlessness continued to grow
• It was not uncommon for gangs to walk into a saloon, kill people, rob them and then walk away with no consequences