Gold Rush

11 Pages 2802 Words

lesome. The mercury spreads, and skin and mucous membranes waste away. To prevent this catastrophe, the California government has placed fish advisories in numerous places such as the San Francisco Bay, Alamden Reservoir, and Guadeloupe Creek, to name a few. No matter what laws and regulations are passed, it is too late to fully repair the rivers of northern California because of the avarice of the 49ers.
Intense racism resulted from the California gold rush. Miners directed their frustration and bad luck in the form of discrimination towards the foreigners. The news of gold had attracted people of Chilean, Mexican, Colombian, Hawaiian, French, German, Irish, Turk, and Chinese backgrounds. The once plentiful gold reserves declined rapidly, inciting anger in the American miners who had already faced much hardship. They resented the numerous Chinese laborers they felt were stealing "their" gold. In 1852, 25,000 Chinese pulled into "Gold Mountain," their designation for California. These people were taking a big risk in an alien land, but figure...