Gold Fever

Gold Fever - The Gold Rush

In 1848, when gold was discovered in California, John Sutter was already one of the wealthiest people in the state. By 1850, he was aruined man.

A Private Empire

Sutter was a Swiss immigrant who came to California in 1839, intent on building his own private empire. At that time, the state was a distant outpost that only a handful of Americans had seen. San Francisco had just a few hundred residents. Sutter built a fort. Soon he had 12,000 head of cattle and hundreds of workers.

By the mid-1840s, more and more Americans were trickling into California by wagon and ship. Sutter welcomed the newcomers. He saw them as subjects for his new kingdom. But he had no idea that the trickle would become a flood. A deluge of humanity that would destroy his dream.

Discovery

At the beginning of 1848, Sutter sent James Marshall and about 20 men to the American River to build a sawmill. It was nearly complete when a glint of something caught Marshall’s eye. Later, he wrote, “I reached my hand down and picked it up. It made my heart thump, for I was certain it was gold. The piece was about half the size and shape of a pea. Then I saw another.”

The Forty-Niners

By the end of the year, whispers of a gold strike had drifted eastward across the country. But few Easterners believed it, until President James Polk made a statement to Congress on December 5th, 1848. The discovery, he declared, was a fact. Within days, gold fever descended on the country.

The news was telegraphed to every city, to every town. Hundreds of thousands of people, almost all of them men, began to prepare for the epic journey west. They sold possessions, mortgaged farms, borrowed money, banded together with others from their towns to form joint stock companies. They said their goodbyes and streamed west. Thousands of young adventurers, willing to take a chance on gold. A year of pain in return for a lifetime of riches. They were called ’49ers, because they left home in 1849.When they would return was another matter entirely.

By early 1849, gold fever was an epidemic. By the end of 1850, Sutter’s grand empire had completely collapsed. Sutter did not have gold fever. He wanted an agricultural empire, and refused to alter his vision. In the new California, he was simply in the way. The ’49ers trampled his crops and tore down his fort for the building materials. Disillusioned, he eventually left the state. The man who had the best opportunity to capitalize on the discovery of gold never even tried.

Febre de ouro - A corrida do ouro

Em 1848, quando o ouro foi descoberto na Califórnia, John Sutter já era uma das pessoas mais ricas do estado. Em 1850, ele era um homem arruinado.

Um império privado

Sutter foi um imigrante suíço que veio para a Califórnia em 1839, com a intenção de construir o seu próprio império privado. Naquela época, o Estado era um posto distante que apenas um punhado de americanos tinha visto. San Francisco tinha apenas algumas centenas de moradores. Sutter construído um forte. Logo ele tinha 12 mil cabeças de gado e centenas