New Settlers in California and Utah

Section 4

Chapter 12

Essential Questions

• Why is the Gold Rush considered one of the most important events in the 1800s?

• How was Utah settled and why was it so controversial for the time period?

California Gold Rush

• 80,000 people go to California in 1849 in search of gold---Forty-niners

• Oregon Trail and Santa Fe trail used in this great migration

• First large group of Asian

immigrants come from China

http://teachpol.tcnj.edu/amer_pol_hist/thumbnail163.html

The Californios

• Californios—Mexicans living in California are given American citizenship after the Mexican War.

• The Land Law of 1851—many Californios will lose their land holdings in court to white Americans

Life in California• Boomtowns---Towns/communities are formed

almost overnight

• San Francisco grows from a tiny village to a city of over 20,000 in less then 4 years

• The California Gold Rush more then doubled the worlds supply of gold

• Few 49ers actually achieved lasting wealth

• Merchants are the ones who made huge profits!!!

• Levi Strauss sold miners sturdy pants

Gold Rush Society• Very few women lived in mining camps

• Men spent their free time gambling, drinking, and fighting

• Lawless society---roaming gangs

• Vigilante Groups formed to protect themselves

– Acted as police, judge, jury, & executioner

Economic and Political Progress• Gold Rush ended quickly but it had lasting

effects

• Agriculture, shipping, and trade expanded

• Many decided to stay in California

• By 1848—population of 200,000

• President Zachary Taylor persuaded California to become a state

• Admitted as a Free State which caused some controversy in Congress (Balance of Power)

A Religious Refuge in Utah• Joseph Smith founded the Church of Jesus of

Latter-day Saints in 1830

• Become known as Mormons

• Believed that property should be held in common, supported Polygamy (more then one wife)

• Mormons will eventually give up the practice of Polygamy

• 1844, Smith is killed by a mob in Illinios

• Brigham Young took over the head of the Mormons

• Young moves the Mormons to the Great Salt Lake (Utah)

A Haven in the Desert• About 12,000 Mormons move to the Great Salt

Lake beginning in 1846• Largest single migration in American history• Set up communities in an area they called

Deseret• Become self-sufficient—sold supplies to 49ers• President Millard Fillmore makes Young the

governor of Utah Territory • Mormons had several conflicts with the federal

government and it takes until 1896 for Utah to become a state

Essential Questions

• Why is the Gold Rush considered one of the most important events in the 1800s?

• How was Utah settled and why was it so controversial for the time period?

DiBo’s Useless Facts• A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of

water which has a concentration of salts (mostly sodium chloride) and other minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least 3,000 milligrams of salt per liter). In many cases, salt lakes have a higher concentration of salt than sea water.

• Salt lakes form when the water flowing into the lake, containing salt or minerals, cannot leave because the lake is endorheic or terminal. The water then evaporates, leaving behind any dissolved salts and thus increasing its salinity, making a salt lake an excellent place for salt production. High salinity will also lead to a unique flora and fauna in the lake in question.