How has the gold rush affected these figures

Reference no: EM133344376

Assignment:

The Gold Rush brought California into world history as more than 100,000 people from as far away as China and Australia descended upon the mother lode -- a 120 mile strip at the foot of the western Sierras. Of those who worked their claims, 1 of 12 perished. Many more came up penniless. A few hit it big and then lost it just as quickly. Some have argued that the Gold Rush was a paradigm of the American Experience itself in its frantic dash for sudden riches, the taking of huge risks, the wagering of everything on one throw of the dice. We have been here before. Such an expectation of quick wealth and great risk echoed the dreams of the Spanish conquistadores, explorers, and maritime adventurers of the 16th and 17th centuries. The Spanish quest for El Dorado was now being Americanized with its psychological and mythic hold as powerful as ever.

It is 1850. The place, let's call it Last Dollar, is a California mining camp on the South Fork of the American River. Imagine a chance meeting among the following characters:

a Peruvian miner (call him "Piero")
an Irish merchant based in San Francisco (call him "Flannery")
a Chinese day laborer (call him "Sung")
a landed Californio ("Mariano")
a mining-camp laundress ("Beatriz")

How would each of the five persons above answer the following questions:

1. What route did each of these figures probably take to find themselves on the southern fork of the American River? (Where is the American River?) If needed, consult a map. What mode or modes of transportation would they most likely use? Draw on Rawls, be specific, and speculate with an imagination informed by the historical record.

2. In this hypothetical mining camp in 1850, how has the Gold Rush affected these figures and their fortunes? Take each figure separately and avoid generalizations. Taking each figure separately, have they 'succeeded' in what they set out to do in California? How so? How not so?

3. What would each figure put in a letter to their families in answer to the question, "What has been most surprising (even shocking) about their experiences so far in the goldfields of California?" Taking each figure separately, describe and discuss his or her surprise or revelation. Be specific. Use historical evidence to speculate intelligently.

4. Taking again each figure separately, what do you believe each figures' fate will likely be?

Reference no: EM133344376

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