lesson two “the march of emigration is to the west, and

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Lesson Two

LESSON TWO

“The march of emigration is to the west, and naught willarrest its advance but the mighty ocean”

I. OBJECTIVES

♦ To use primary source documents to draw conclusions about the culturaland physical setting of the Gold Rush.

♦ To assess the advantages and disadvantages of various routes to the goldfields.

II. BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Little did Alfred Robinson, a pre-Gold Rush California merchant, know howsoon his words (lesson title) would become descriptive, not predictive. By

modern standards, the news of a gold strike traveled slowly; the response to thenews was much faster.

The discovery of gold by James Marshall took place on January 24, 1848, on JohnSutter’s American River property. Sutter, eager to finish construction of hissawmill, talked Marshall into keeping the find quiet, but the immediate murmursof excitement at the mill presaged the frenzy that was to come.

The San Francisco newspaper The Californian reported the rumor on March 15, butit was not until after trader Sam Brannan waved around a bottle of gold dust on May12 that the true Gold Rush began. By May 29, The Californian had to suspendpublication for lack of readers—they’d gone to the gold fields. By June, servantswere disappearing from Monterey, and soldiers were deserting in San Jose. OnDecember 2, President Polk, in his annual message to Congress, confirmed therumors that had been flying around the eastern United States. By spring of 1849,plans for departures reached feverish proportions. The Gold Rush was on; all thatremained was to figure out how to get to California.

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III. MATERIALS

Part A� Document 1—California lettersheet, “Captain Sutter’s Account”� Document 2—Letter from John Sutter to William Leidesdorff, March 25, 1848� Document 3—Three Years in California, Walter Colton, 1851

Part B� Document Set 4—Overland Routes

Journal of Cave J. Couts, entries from December 9, 1848(transcription) and September, 1848 (illustration)

Letter from Samuel Nichols to Sarah Nichols, May 6, 1849Diary of Harriet Ward, June 1, 1853

� Document Set 5—Routes through Central AmericaLetter from Mary Jane Megquier to Milton Benjamin, May 14, 1849Letter from Luther Fitch to his sisters, July 12, 1850

� Document Set 6—The Route around Cape HornDiary of John Grambart, May 2 & 3, 1849Letter from Robert W. Butterfield to his mother, August 23–September 5,

1852

IV. LESSON ACTIVITIES

Part A

I. Use the Sutter lettersheet (Document 1) and Sutter’s letter to W. A.Leidesdorff (Document 2) to investigate the setting of the find and thoseinvolved. After the students have read Sutter’s account, use the followingquestions to lead a class discussion (suggested answers are in brackets).

a. Sutter was writing to his family back home. Where was home?

[Sutter was German-born but had been raised in Switzerland. Notethat while California was at the time a province of Mexico, it alreadyhad something of an international flavor. Note also that Sutter isquoted as using the Spanish term “siesta” and uses the Spanish nameAmericanos for the river.]

b. The lettersheet is presented as an exact quote of Sutter’s words.Comparing the two documents, what evidence is there that thelettersheet is not an exact quote?

Lesson Two


Lesson Two

[usage and spelling differences]

c. To what legend is Sutter referring in his comment regardingMarshall’s initial belief about the source of the gold?

[El Dorado]

d. Sutter wrote of his Indian employees. How were the NativeAmericans of the region likely to be affected by the discovery of gold?

[employment and displacement—See Lessons 5 and 6]

e. Note that by March 25 (Document 2), Sutter’s mill is completed,and he is just forming a gold mining company. What does this suggestabout the degree to which the news has spread?

[not far as there does not yet appear to be significant competition]

II. Have the students read Document 3 and describe the consequences thatmight result from these absences.

III. Using a world map, have the students predict in what order people fromvarious areas would respond to the news and appear in the gold fields.

[In general the order was:

a. Californios, Indians, and local Anglos

b. Hawaiians (called Kanakas), Chinese, Sonorans (from NorthernMexico), and Chileans—all of whom had heard the word fromthose aboard trading vessels.

c. U.S. residents from throughout the eastern half of the country,spurred by President Polk’s December 2 confirmation of the ex-citing rumors.

d. Australians and Europeans—By late 1849–early 1850, Gold Rushdiaries and guides had been published in French, German,Russian, Swedish.]


Part B

Once the decision to go had been made, travel routes became a primary concern.Using a world map, have the students describe possible routes from the easternhalf of the United States. Inform them that while a few travelers took other routes(across Mexico, for example), most took one of the existing overland trails, wentvia Panama (or Nicaragua), or sailed around Cape Horn.

I. Divide the class into small groups to read the sets of materials (Documents4–6), assigning several groups to each set. Each of the small groups shouldmark their route on a map and list the pluses and minuses of that option andlikely time required. [Information on overland routes is available in anytextbook or the group can be given a physical map of the U.S. to deducelogical routes—that is, near water, through passes, etc. The Cape Horngroups can use any historical atlas to find probable ports.]

II. Each group should then create an advertising poster for the route assigned,minimizing the disadvantages. Finally, the groups can make presentationsto interested residents, simulating the kind of town meeting held throughoutthe eastern United States at which local groups often formed to make theirown journey to the gold fields.

Part B Answer Guide*[Some of the following items are clear from the readings; others arenot but may be deduced by the group members. This is not anexhaustive list.]

1. Overland routes from the MidwestTime: 3 ½–6 months

(+) �immediately accessible(+) �could be done fairly cheaply if you traveled independently, though

it was risky to be without backup(-) �hard traveling—deserts, flooding, and mountains made for a very

difficult wagon transit(-) �northern routes limited to certain times of the year; you had to leave

late enough that the mountain passes were free of snow and therewas enough grass for your animals but early enough to be out of themountains before the snow fell again.

(-) �diseases, especially cholera

Lesson Two


2. Via Central AmericaTime: 6 weeks to 6 months, depending primarily on weather andsteamer availability in the Pacific

(+) �regular steamer connections and some services for travelers alreadyexisted in Panama and Nicaragua

(+) �cheaper and faster than route around South America(-) �Panama both rough-edged and unhealthy(-) �travelers often stranded on the Pacific Coast

3. Around Cape HornTime: 5–8 months

(+) �steamers available(+) �entire voyage set before departure(+) �generally safe(-) �boring(-) �passage, especially around Cape Horn, could be very rough

*NOTE: The most popular route was via Central America, and itencouraged people to think about the construction of a canal.

V. VOCABULARY

auriferousdebtordoggedextricating

VI. EXTENDED ACTIVITY

Have the students research the legend of El Dorado, to which Sutter referred in hisletter to William Leidesdorff.

Lesson Two


Document 1Lesson Two

Captain Sutter’s AccountJohn Sutter’s account of the discovery of gold was printed along with his picture onstationery of a kind that was commonly referred to as a California lettersheet.


Capt. Sutter’s Account of the First Discovery of Gold(transcription from lettersheet)

“I was sitting one afternoon,” said the captain. “Just after my siesta, . . . writing a letterto a relation of mine at Lucerne, when I was interrupted by Mr. Marshal, a gentlemanwith whom I had frequent business transactions— bursting hurriedly into the room.From the unusual agitation in his manner I imagined that something serious hadoccurred . . . had but two days before left to make some alterations in a mill for sawingpine planks, which he had just run up for me, some miles higher up the Americanos.When he had recovered himself a little, he told me that, however great my surprisemight be at his unexpected reappearance, it would be much greater when I heard theintelligence he had come to bring me. ‘Intelligence,’ he added, which if properlyprofited by, would put both of us in possession of unheard-of-wealth, millions andmillions of dollars in fact. . . . Suddenly all my misgivings were put at an end to by hisflinging on the table a handful of scales of pure virgin gold. . . .’ His first impression was,that this gold had been lost or buried there, by some early Indian tribe—perhaps someof those mysterious inhabitants of the west, of whom we have no account, but whodwelt on this continent centuries ago, and built those cities and temples, the ruins ofwhich are scattered about these solitary wilds. On proceeding, however, to examine theneighboring soil, he discovered that it was more or less auriferous. This at once decidedhim. He mounted his horse, and rode down to me as fast as it would carry him with thenews.

At the conclusion of Mr. Marshal’s account, and when I had convinced myself, fromthe specimens he had brought with him, that it was not exagerated, I felt as muchexcited as himself. I eagerly inquired if he had shown the Gold to the workpeople at themill and was glad to hear that he had not spoken to a single person about it. We agreednot to mention the circumstance to any one and arranged to set off early the next dayfor the mill. On our arrival, just before sundown, we poked the sand about in variousplaces, and before long succeeded in collecting between us more than an ounce of gold,mixed up with a good deal of sand. I stayed at Mr. Marshall’s that night, and the nextday we proceeded some little distance up the South Fork, and found that gold existedalong the whole course, not only in the bed of the main stream, . . . but in every littledried-up creek and ravine. Indeed I think it was more plentiful in these latter places, forI myself, with nothing more than a smal knife, picked out from the dry gorge, a littleway up the mountain, a solid lump of gold wich weighed nearly an ounce and a half.

Notwithstanding our precautions not to be observed, as soon as we came back to themill, we noticed by the excitement of the working people, that we had been doggedabout, an to complete our disappointment, one of the indians who had worked at thegold mine in the neighborhood of La Paz cried out in showing to us some specimenswhich he picked up by himself, —Oro!—Oro—Oro!!!—”



John Sutter to William LeidesdorffMarch 25, 1848

Dear Sir!

The launch “Dicemi Nana” arrived here on the 17th. inst evening. My Wagons has allbeen in the Mountains then, and I thought it would be the best to sent her up to myfarm “Hock,” as the house is right on the river banck. I furnished the Canaea’simediately with a good pilot and crew to take them up, likewise plenty of provisions.

We has had last Sunday, and several other day’s in this week, very bad stormyweather, that they had to lay by, and one day they lost themselves in company withtheir countymen. I furnish them again with provision, for which I charge nothing.The Launch have 180 fanegas of Wheat. To complet the 1500 fanegas for theRussians, I have to send 416 ½ fanegas more.

My launch has not arrived yet, but I hope she will be in the river.

My sawmill in the mountains is now completed. She cuts 200 feet of plans in 12hour’s. The Grist mill is advancing.

We intend to form a company for working the Gold mines, which prove to be veryrich. Would you not take a share in it? So soon as if it would not pay well, we couldstop it at any time.

I have the honnor to beYour

Obedient ServantJ A Sutter

John Sutter and San Francisco merchant William A. Leidesdorffwere frequently involved in business ventures together.



Three Years in CaliforniaWalter Colton, 1851

Walter Colton was the alcalde (mayor) of Monterey.

. . . The excitement produced was intense; and many were soon busy in theirhasty preparations for a departure to the mines. The family who had kepthouse for me caught the moving infection. Husband and wife were bothpacking up; the blacksmith dropped his hammer, the carpenter his plane, themason his trowel, the farmer his sickle, the baker his loaf, and the tapster hisbottle. All were off for the mines, some on horses, some on carts, and some

on crutches, and one went in alitter. An American woman, whohad recently established a board-ing house here pulled up stakes,and was off before her lodgershad even time to pay their bills.Debtors ran, of course. I haveonly a community of women left,and a gang of prisoners, with hereand there a soldier, who will givehis captain the slip at the firstchance. I don’t blame the fellow awhit, seven dollars a month,while others are making two orthree hundred a day! that is toomuch for human nature to stand.



Overland Routes

Journal of Cave Johnson Couts [a U.S. Army Dragoon officer], December 9, 1848

“Marched from Colorado (River) on 29th ult., making about 18 miles, to asand hill, which we have to pull the wagons over by hand.”

Document Set 4Lesson Two

Page of the journal from September*

*In order to preserve the fragile pages, one part of the journal will be on display the first halfof the exhibit, another part during the second half.


Letter from Samuel Nichols to Sarah A. Nichols, May 6, 1849


I was advised . . . to give george thirty grains of calonell I did soand he then vomited a great portion of the medicine up thegentelmen from St Louis had these medicins all prepared by therefamily physicians & they had every confidence in there colleramedicins we then resorted to there medicins and he did not vomitany more but had three free discharges downwards he had verysevere cramping through all parts of his body and particularly inarms hands fingers his Legs & feet and those St Louis friendsinformed me that he was out of danger. [Despite all his father’sefforts, George Nichols died of cholera.]


Diary of Harriet Ward, June 1, 1853

It is six weeks today since we left our dear ones at home, & not oneword have we heard. . . . The clouds of last eve threatened not in vainfor soon after we retired the wind commenced blowing a perfect gale& the heavens were overspread with a constant sheet of liquid fire &such thunder no one ever heard except upon Platte River we soonfound that our united strength would fail to hold our tent down, &away it went, & we felt like night wanderers indeed, the storm wasraging with remorseless fury & the water over Father remainedholding on to the demolished tent & we ran as fast as possible to thewagon, which we found fastened down & it was with much difficultywe succeeded in getting in, but in the meantime we were stripped ofall superfluous clothing, such as cloaks, shawls &c . . . . all other Tentsin our encampment were blown down except Mr. Fox’s The younggentlemen were left hatless.



Routes through Central America

Letter from Mary Jane Megquier to Milton Benjamin, May 14, 1849

Mary Jane Megquier was a Maine doctor’s wife who made three roundtrips to California, where she at one point ran a boarding house. Herextensive letters are published in the book Apron Full of Gold, whichgives a unique view of the Gold Rush experience from a woman’s pointof view.

. . . we were stowed in a canoe . . . twenty feet long two feet wide with all ourluggage which brought the top of the canoe very near the waters edge. Weseated ourselves on our carpet bags on the bottom of the boat, if we attemptedto alter our position we were sure to get wet feet, notwithstanding our closequarters the scenery was so delightful the banks covered with the mostbeautiful shrubbery and flowers, trees as large as our maple covered withflowers of every colour and hue, birds of all descriptions filled the air withmusic while the monkeys alligators and other animals varied the scene, thatwe were not conscious of fatigue. Two natives pushed the boat with polesunless the water was too swift for them they would step out very deliberatelyand pull us along . . . There are ranchos every few miles where you can get a

cup of miserable muddy coffeewith hard bread of which we madedinner, then we doubled ourselvesin as small compass as possibleand started, under a broiling sunthe thermometer at one hundred . .. Our part thought it best to havethe natives cook their supper, itwas rich to see us eating soup withour fingers, as knives, forks,spoons tables, chairs are amongthe things unknown, they have nofloors, the pigs, dogs, cats, ducks,hens are all around your feet readyto catch the smallest crumb thatmay chance to fall. . . . Would toGod I could describe the scene . . .the natives grunting as theypushed us along through therapids was enough to drive onemad with delight when we got



tired sitting, we would jump out and walk . . . we could never see more thanten rods, sometimes we would find that we were going northeast when ourproper course was directly opposite. At four in the evening we reachedGorgona, another miserable town, where you will find the French New Yorkand California Hotels, but you cannot get decent food, nor a bed to lie upon ateither house. . . . After spending two nights and a day at Gorgona we resumedour journey for Panama on the backs of the most miserable apologies forhorseflesh that you could conceive off, they were completely exhaustedcarrying heavy loads over one of the roughest roads in the world, nothing buta path wide enough for the feet of the mule, which if he should make a mistakeyou would go to parts unknown. . . . On top of one of those high hills we founda nephew of Rev. Joy dishing out beans coffee and pancakes in a comfortableway as there was no way of getting to Cal. he thought he would make a littlemoney where he was.

Letter from Luther Fitch to his sisters, July 12, 1850

The Cruces road, as it is called, from C. to Panama, was once a good pavedroad which carriages might pass over, and even now there is occasionally apiece of a dozen rods where the paving is entire, but most of the way the

stones are torn up, and lying inconfusion about which of course arenot so pleasant to walk over, insome places the present road isdiverted from the old, and tis therewe found the mud, sometimes sodeep that we would find somedifficulty in extricating ourselves—occasionally we did come out minusboots. . . . I occupied myself inexamining the flowers, some ofwhich are splendid, throwing stonesat the monkeys and receiving inreturn limes, oranges &c when theyhappened to be in those trees. Thesefruits were green but tasted well inthe water, which is not good on theroad. Parrots & Parroquetts arevery abundant there.



The Route around Cape Horn

Diary of John E. Grambart, May 2 & 3, 1849


Had boiled Mackeral & Short Cake & Butter for breakfast, Having a largesupply of dirty Shirts on hand & a Washwoman not being convenient I thismorning commenced washing my own clothes by taking a Flannel shirt &making a Rope fast to it threw it overboard & Towed it about an hour &then hung it in the Rigging to dry, it beats all the Washing Machines . . .that was ever invented . . . Flannel cannot be washed clean in Salt Waterwhen Soap is used in consequence of the Flannel absorbing the Soap andthere it remains. . . . Had Baked Peach Dumplings & Junk for Dinner, thishas been a lovely day, the Sun has shone clear all day, the wind light butfair Lat 42. 59 Long

May 3 Weather fine & our fair wind continues with us & we go at the rateof about 6 miles the hour all in good health & spirits thinking we shall bein Valparaiso by 10thInst. The women have had a very uncomfortablepassage of it, the deck over their Berths leak & their Beds and clothing havebeen wet nearly all the time Since we have left Rio, the wonder is that theyhave not been Sick



This delay added to the rest of the time which we must necesarily spendin this vicinity getting to and going from it made nearly 4 weeks, whichwas something more than was really agreeable.

I must now tell you a little something of the manner in which we spentour time and how we lived. A day at the horn in the winter is but 5 hourslong or rather there is only so many hours of sun. The {missing word}would of course be a little longer. The sun rises a little after nine o’clockin the morning and sets before 4 o’clock in the afternoon. To find someway of spending the daylight would not be so very difficult, but toconjure up employment and diversion for the 16 or 17 hours of darknesswas work and perplexity enough of itself without anything else.

Imagine yourself situated in a dull and unattractive building of a stormynight in the last days of November, with no fire, and darkness just madevisible by the glimmering here and there of long intervals from eachother of dull lanterns, with the angry winds howling around you,making the every joint, brace & timber creak, squeak & crackle—causingthe doors to slamn and the windows to rattle and you have a scene notunlike the condition in which the passengers of the “Splendid A No.1Copper bottomed, Clipper Ship North American” found themselvesupon the nights and days of these times of which I am now speaking.

Letter from Robert W Butterfield to his mother, August 23–September 5, 1852