All language subtitles for Gold Rush s01e02 The Fever Begins.engg

(dramatic drum beats)

(intense instrumental music)

(bright orchestral music)

- [Voiceover] John
Augustus Sutter,

born Johann August Suter,

is a Swiss born pioneer,

who leaves his wife
and five children

and comes to America to escape
his personal debts back home.

Like many who came to America,

the country lent them the
opportunity to start over.

A new life on a new soil.

Sutter eventually settles
himself in California,

which at this time is
still a province of Mexico.

So he ventures to the capital
at Monterrey to ask permission

from the governor Juan Bautista
Alvarado in order to settle.

To be able to qualify
for land ownership,

Sutter becomes a Mexican
citizen on August 29, 1840.

He soon thereafter
receives title to

48,827 acres of land

on the Sacramento River.

He names his new settlement

New Helvetia, New Switzerland.

With the help of
the Maidu indians,

Sutter builds the
fort that one day

the doomed Donner Party
would reach out to for aid.

His sights are set on
building his New Switzerland

and creating an
agricultural empire.

James W. Marshall
is a New Jersey born farmer and carpenter,

who, much like John
Sutter, finds himself

in the middle of the nation,

seeking to find a way
to establish himself.

After droughts foiled
his attempts at farming

and falling ill with malaria,

Marshall joins an immigrant
wagon train that's headed West,

destined for Oregon's
Willamette Valley.

Marshall makes his way
down into California,

where he reaches Sutter's Fort.

John Sutter places
him under his employ

and Marshall finds his financial
fortunes on the upswing.

He once again becomes a farmer.

Soon after though, the
conflict and tensions

between Mexico and the US begin,

and James Marshall joins

Captain John C. Fremont's
California Battalion,

in the short lived
Bear Flag Revolt.

He returns home to his ranch,

and finds that his cattle
have either strayed

or have been stolen.

With no source of income,

he loses his land.

Marshall soon enters into
partnership with John Sutter,

to build and operate a
sawmill in Coloma, California,

on the American River,

just 40 miles upstream
of Sutter's Fort.

While under construction
in January 1848,

it's discovered that the ditch
which drains the water away

from the water wheel
is much too narrow

and shallow to handle
the amount of water

that is needed to keep
the saw operational.

Marshall opts to use the
river's natural force

to do the excavating for him,

in order to enlarge
the tailrace.

There was no other choice

but to take this action
over the course of the night

because if done
during the work day,

the process could
endanger the lives

of his men working on the mill.

On the morning of January 24th,

Marshall goes out to
examine the progress

of the channel below the mill.

As he is surveying
the developments from the night before,

he notices a few
flecks in the water,

catching the light of the
sun and shining back at him.

He would later recount,

- [Voiceover] "I picked
up one or two pieces

"and examined them attentively,

"and having some general
knowledge of minerals,

"I could not call to
mind more than two

"which in any way
resembled this.

"Sulfrite of iron, very
bright and brittle,

"and gold, bright yet malleable.

"I then tried it
between two rocks,

"and found that
it could be beaten

"into a different
shape, but not broken.

"I then collected
four or five pieces

"and went up to Mr.
Scott, who was working

"at the carpenter's bench
making the mill wheel,

"with the pieces in
my hand and said,

"I have found it!"
James W. Marshall.

- [Voiceover] James
Marshall's primary focus

and responsibility
would remain to be

the completion of the saw mill,

so he sees no harm in permitting

his crew to search for gold
during their free time.

Perhaps this is why it
takes him four whole days

before he travels
to Sutter's Fort

to show his findings to
his partner John Sutter.

There, the two men
examine the gold further,

and even reference
an encyclopedia

to make sure of the properties.

They agree to keep
the discovery quiet,

but little do they know
that it's already too late.

A young journalist by the name

of Samuel Brannan who
owns a general store,

has employees of John Sutter
purchase goods from him,

and these men pay
with gold flecks

that they have taken from the
American in their spare time.

This encounter ignites
Brannan's curiosity,

and he travels to the
mill as a representative

of the LDS church
where he receives

tithes of gold from
the LDS workers.

Soon, the news that there
is gold being harvested

from the American River
will spread far and wide,

faster than the metal can
be pulled from the ground.

Samuel Brannan takes his
newly acquired information,

and wastes little
time in molding it

into a means by which
he can turn a profit.

His general store
would soon be selling

picks, pans, and shovels

to any and all who
crossed his threshold

with their glints of gold
swirling in their eyes.

The events that take place in
the coming years is perhaps

one of the greatest human
migrations in modern times.

The world is in love, obsessed,

and enchanted by
the promise of gold.

Never before in the
years that follow

has the world been
mobilized and drawn

to one place with such speed,

zeal, and recklessness.

An accidental discovery
in the American River

will end up seducing
the entire world.

- [Voiceover] "There are
two times in a man's life

"when he should not speculate.

"When he can't afford it,

"and when he can." Mark Twain.

- [Voiceover] One
of the many ironies

of the California Gold Rush,

is that the two men who
make the initial find,

would end up losing their
land to hordes of squatters

who would swarm in from
all corners of the world

and, in some cases,
indiscriminately tear up the land

in order to search for gold.

They did this on lands that had

little to no regulation
put upon them,

and those lands that
did have regulation,

had no one to do the regulating.

Meanwhile, there's a shopkeep
by the name of Samuel Brannan,

a Mormon and also a reporter,

who gains knowledge of
the discovery of gold

in the American River
purely by accident,

because of the
imprudent purchase by a few of Sutter's men.

The men come into Samuel
Brannan's general store,

and pay for goods with the
gold dust that they found.

This seemingly
innocuous transaction

would result in Samuel
Brannan becoming

the first millionaire of
the California Gold Rush.

Brannan ends up
selling picks and pans

to those squatters
and prospectors,

and he builds his fortune

on the hopes and dreams
of those travelers

eager to find that same fortune

in the streams and in the hills.

His money was not made
in the gold fields,

Brannan's riches were harvested

from the much more
abundant fields

of prospectors and adventurers.

"Gold! Gold!

"Gold from the American River!"

Samuel Brannan shouts
through the streets

of San Francisco, holding
high a vial of nuggets

and dust that he has found.

His claim was in fact true,

and another truth was that
he had the only general store

between San Francisco and
the burgeoning gold fields.

His marketing ploy worked,

and he turned the ears
of all those around him.

One vial of gold
and one ton of hype,

and he got the
adrenaline pumping

in the hearts of
everyone within earshot.

The picks and pans he
purchased for pennies a piece

he was able to turn
around and resell

for upwards of up to
15 to 20 dollars each,

supply and demand in its
rawest and purest form.

His timing and industrious
nature would carry him far.

Samuel Brannan's
general store provided

a much-needed service
for all of those

hungry to get their hands dirty

and pull gold nuggets and dust

from the pristine
California landscape.

- [Voiceover] "The
whole country,

"from San Francisco
to Los Angeles,

"and from the seashore

"to the base of
the Sierra Nevadas

" resounds with the sordid
cry of Gold, gold, gold!

"While the field is left half
planted, the house half built,

"and everything neglected

"but the manufacture of
shovels and pickaxes."

The Californian.

- [Voiceover] Within
a matter of days,

most of the 800 residents
of San Francisco

rushed off to the gold
fields in search of riches.

Their sudden evacuation

leaving the city
a near-ghost town.

The newspaper, The Californian,

even announced that it would
be suspending publication

because its staff had
left for the gold fields.

- [Voiceover] "California
has a mine of gold

"and without allowing
any golden hopes

"to puzzle my prophetic
vision of the future,

"I would predict for
California a Peruvian harvest

"of the precious metals
so soon as sufficiency

"of miners, minerologists,
and metalogists

"find their way hither

"and commence dispersing
her hidden treasures."

The New York Herald.

- [Voiceover] Seven months
after James Marshall

discovered gold in the water

near Sutter's Mill in
Coloma, California,

the news would finally begin
to break on the East Coast.

Before anyone back East
could even pack a bag,

let alone make a plan
to venture westward,

thousands of souls were already

knee-deep in a river or stream,

toiling under the
yellow California sun,

each one of them
searching for an element

of much the same hue,

but which perhaps burns in
the mind all the brighter.

Residents of California
and Native Americans

were the first ones
to start pulling

the precious metal
from the ground.

Their knowledge of why the gold

was where it was was
virtually non-existent,

and that ignorance was
very much reflected

in their mining techniques.

They were simple and crude,

and relied very much on luck,

but in the early days
of the Gold Rush,

all one needs is
a pickax, a pan,

or a blanket to find success.

There were no permits
or regulations.

All kept what they found,

and there was much to be found,

just waiting beneath
the silt and the sand.

The American Indians had
known of gold for centuries,

but it carried no
value in their culture.

Quickly though, they caught
on to the trade value

with the whites that this
rich yellow metal yielded.

In the early days
of the Gold Rush,

they were very successful
in mining for gold.

Men, women, and children alike

would take part
in the excavation.

Soon though, white miners
were pushing the natives

out of the mines or
taking advantage of them,

and using them as
underpaid laborers.

Many were even killed,

and few whites paid
the consequences

of their short-sighted and
ruthless transgressions.

The next peoples
to try their luck

were Americans from Oregon

and those from the
Sandwich Islands,

along with many people
from Latin America,

ranging from Chile to
Mexico and even Peru.

The majority of these
early prospectors

found gold easily in the
stream beds and under rocks.

Their future
counterparts would have

to delve much deeper,

and utilize more
knowledge of the science

of why and where the
gold was where it was.

In the meantime though,
these early prospectors

would become wealthy
almost overnight.

There was little competition
between those digging for gold,

everyone was focused
on becoming rich

and many had little
trouble doing so.

Seven months of digging

by over 6000 hands had commenced

before the New York Herald
broke the story back East.

While they were late
in being informed,

the masses were now roused
and began mobilizing.

A great change in the country
was about to take place,

both in the geographical
aspects of its population,

as well as the mindset
of those Americans

who would soon traverse
the unsettled nation

in search of gold.

The notions of risk, luck,
and a new kind of ambition

was coming over the
people of the East.

The discovery of gold
on the Western edge

of the continent practically
sealed the notion

of Manifest Destiny
in many of the minds

of those who held that belief.

What more evidence
did we need to see?

The nation was meant to stretch

from the Atlantic
to the Pacific,

and that bright
new land was there

for any and all who would
risk the chance to claim it.

It was almost as if
the very Earth itself

was urging Americans onward,

tempting them to come claim
their collective birthrights.

- [Voiceover] "I remember
one day in the Spring of 1848

"that two men, Americans,
came into the office

"and inquired for the governor.

"I asked their business,

"and one answered that
they had just come down

"from Captain Sutter
on special business,

"and they wanted to see
Governor Mason in person."

William T. Sherman.

- [Voiceover] Sherman and
Mason examine the gold

that these two men
from Sutter's Mill

have brought to their attention.

In July of 1848, General
Richard Barnes Mason

along with Captain
William T. Sherman

visit the gold fields
to procure information

that will go into a report
for the US government.

- [Voiceover] "The discovery
of these vast deposits

"of gold has entirely changed

"the character of
upper California.

"Its people, before
engaged in cultivating

"their small patches of ground

"and guarding their herds
of cattle and horses,

"have all gone to the mines,

"or are now on
their way thither.

"Laborers of every trade
have left their work benches,

"and tradesmen their shops.

"Sailors desert their ships

"as fast as they
arrive on the coast,

"and several vessels
have gone to sea

"with hardly enough
hands to spread a sail."

General Richard Barnes Mason.

- [Voiceover] On
December 5th, 1848,

President James K. Polk
confirms the discovery of gold

in California during
his address to Congress.

General Mason's findings
are just too overwhelming

for the President to do anything

but announce the full
measure of the findings.

- [Voiceover] "The accounts
of abundance of gold

"are of such an
extraordinary character

"as would scarcely
command belief,

"were they not corroborated
by the authentic reports

of officers in the
public service."

James K. Polk.

- [Voiceover] Once the
information is announced,

it does not take long for the
masses to become mobilized.

Soon in the new year,

San Francisco and
the surrounding areas

became inundated with
these prospectors,

these 49ers, which were
so named for the year

in which the swarm began.

It's a name that
they would continue

to be called for years to come.

By the time the Gold Rush ends,

the United States
would see more than

300,000 of its people
uproot their lives,

and place themselves in the
hills and valleys of California.

Some would give up the land

that provided
sustenance for them.

Some abandoned promising and
stable careers back East,

leaving families on their
own until they returned.

Some never returned.

Still others had
nothing to lose,

or no one to leave behind,

and only adventure ahead.

These numbers were matched

by those peoples
from around the globe

who made the arduous
journey to the gold fields,

some of whom remained
in the country

and shaped not only
the ethnic diversity

of San Francisco and California,

but the entire nation.

The stories of the riches
being pulled from the land

were all they needed to
emancipate themselves

from the lives they were living

and reach for something new,

something hopeful,
something brighter.

- [Voiceover] "By this
sudden discovery of the gold,

"all my great plans
were destroyed.

"Had I succeeded for a few years

"before the gold was discovered,

"I would have been
the richest citizen

"on the Pacific shore, but
it had to be different.

"Instead of being rich, I
am ruined." John Sutter.

- [Voiceover] What began
as an accidental find

in the waters near James
Sutter's burgeoning mill,

would shape the decisions

of thousands of people
around the world.

It would make some rich
beyond their dreams,

and leave many more

with less than what
they started out with,

only to return home and
begin their old life again.

Thousands had
nothing to return to,

and they would stay
on in California,

and shape the cultural diversity

that it continues
to have to this day.

Lives would be lost to the
inherent dangers of mining,

the raw living conditions,

and lifestyles that many
of the miners endured

while they relentlessly
dug for gold.

It's unfortunate as well

that many others would be abused

and discriminated against

purely because of their race.

The discovery of
gold would hasten

the introduction of
California into the Union.

The rush for gold
rapidly shaped the fate

of California statehood
as much as the actions

of those who came to
reap from the land.

The ravenous miners
would leave scars upon it

that are still very much
present to this very day.

The horde was coming,
and James Sutter

was not able to keep
them from squatting

on his now
highly-valuable property.

He would fight for
years over the validity

of his land claims
that were established

with the now-absent
Mexican government.

Because of the exchange of power

after the Mexican-American War,

ownership of property at
the time in that location,

was a line that was
all-too-easily blurred,

and with the United States
government back East,

there was no way to
enforce such claims.

The prospectors and
squatters would move

on to James Sutter's
precious New Helvetia,

slowly destroying
his pastoral dream,

one body at a time.

They would claim their findings
in the land for their own,

and when they had
taken all they could,

they would move on.

Prospectors would come from
all corners of the world,

and from every walk of life.

The hopeful would come by land,

and the would come by sea.

Choosing to venture westward

by land meant a shorter trip

if you left at the
proper time of year,

but it did not
mean an easier one.

One advantage that those

who traveled to
California by land

held over those choosing
to sail by ship,

was that they were able to take

many of the supplies
and provisions

they needed with them,

because many, if not all,
traveled by covered wagon.

Often, these people
would travel in groups

to provide a sense of security

against the unknown
elements ahead,

and help ensure a
safer overall journey

from the Native Americans,

which many knew little
of and blindly feared.

The jumping off
point for the trails

were much the same
as the fur trappers

who came before them:
Independence, Missouri,

St. Joseph, Missouri,
or Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Many traveled along
the Oregon Trail

until splitting off towards
their individual destinations.

The story of the
Donner-Reed Party

was still fresh in the
minds of Americans,

and it was by now well-known

that if you were
going to travel west,

you were well-advised to
choose the proper time of year.

After the early spring rains,

the grass would grow
to sufficient lengths

so the oxen and
other livestock taken

could sustain
themselves upon it.

If you left too late, you
ran the very real risk

of having snow fall
in the mountain passes

by the time your
party reached them.

The Donners had made a mistake

that no one wanted
to make again.

The trip was long
and exhausting.

Many chose to walk
alongside their wagons

because the rough trail

made the wagon seats
too uncomfortable,

but an uncomfortable wagon seat

was the least of the future
prospector's problems.

Many fell ill with dysentery
from drinking bad water,

and cholera took the lives
of many along the way.

All the preparations
and knowledge

of those who took
the paths before them

could not keep these simple
infections and disorders

from ravaging the
ranks of travelers.

Those crossing the Great
Plains would have to make do

with the materials
that nature provided.

Wood for a fire was a scarce
commodity along the trail,

but it was discovered
that oxen patties

made a clean and odorless fuel.

It was an inevitability
that some traveling

to California for the Gold Rush

would fall on hard
times along the way,

and for a multitude of reasons.

Most who made it to California

made it carrying a
much lighter load

than the one they departed with,

whether it was a wagon that
was broken beyond repair,

dead livestock, or simply
having to leave gear

that was unneeded and only
weighing them down on the trail.

These Americans had to
purge some of their gear

only to have to repurchase it
from now-flourishing merchants

once they made it
to the gold fields.

Thousands crossed the nation
and risked their lives,

and they would
continue to take risks

once on California soil.

If an American
from the East Coast

chose to make their way
to California by sea,

then they had two main
options before them.

The first option was to travel

all the way down to the
tip of South America,

and maneuver around the
treacherous Cape Horn.

This was the cheaper and
longer of the two options.

This route often took
upwards of six months

to complete the over
13,000 mile journey.

The obsession to hasten

towards the gold fields
as quickly as possible

brought about a
shorter, second option.

This route would
mean to take a boat

down to Panama and then cross

the 70 mile isthmus
of jungle on foot,

where, if the
passengers were lucky,

another ship would
not be far off

to take them the rest of
the way to San Francisco.

Neither option offered the
traveler much comfort or safety.

Many of these ships were
converted old cargo vessels,

whose owners hastily made crude
repairs and modifications.

The owners sometimes
installed holes in the deck

to better ventilate
the spaces below,

and where the cargo
once was stored,

they created cramped bunks
to fit as many people

into the ship as they could.

As if the inherent natural
danger of such a trip

or the sheer boredom
induced from months at sea

were not enough to test the
mettle of these travelers,

they often found themselves
sailing with spoiled provisions

such as salted
meats, rancid lard,

and pests that got into
anything they could.

The list of diseases that
plagued the passengers

was long and included scurvy,

which was brought on by the
lack of a balanced diet,

and more deadly, cholera
that claimed many souls

who traveled both the land path

as well as the water routes.

For those who made it to
the port in San Francisco,

many expected to find gold
right where they landed.

Their knowledge of
California's geography

was almost non-existent,

and the news about
the discovery of gold

did not provide
many small details.

Instead of finding
gold where they landed,

these men quickly
learned that it was

another 150 miles inland

to reach the gold fields.

Many were already exhausted

and in less-than ideal
health after the trip.

They would learn
a valuable lesson.

They had come so far only
to have to go farther.

These men trudged on toward
their most desirous goal.

The seemingly endless
journey by sea

was only the first
of many hurdles

these adventurers would face.

Hundreds of ships from
all over the world

landed in San Francisco

throughout the course
of the Gold Rush.

Time and time again, ships
would be utterly abandoned

by both passenger and crew as
they feverishly headed inland

towards the promise of gold.

These ships would sit in
the harbor nearly forgotten.

Sometimes, they were used
as store ships or hotels,

They were also often
purposefully sunk.

The two abandoned ships
that General Mason saw

in July of 1848 and reported on

in his letter to
the US government

was only the
beginning of a trend

that the harbor would
endure for years to come.

San Francisco became a
boom town nearly overnight.

From 1848 through 1850,

the city would see
its population rise

from 1000 to over 20,000.

The influx of new
citizens was so great

that the surrounding
area could not supply

enough timber to build
the city fast enough.

This is where the many
forgotten ships found new life.

They would be repurposed
and turned into

shops, hotels, homes,
and other structures.

Pieces of the ships
were used as landfill,

and the ever-expanding city

was built right on top of them.

The most iconic and simplest way

to extract gold from the
earth was to pan for it.

This method was also the
cheapest and least effective.

Panning involved the use
of a shallow metal bowl,

if one could be procured

from such establishments
such as Samuel Brannon's,

or if the miner
could not find one,

then any bowl would suffice.

Panning required little to no
research or preparation time.

You could begin in the morning

and potentially have
results in minutes.

The prospector would
crouch beside the water,

scoop out a helping
of the soil and stone.

They would then swirl
it around in the pans

in the hopes that the heavier
gold would sink to the bottom

as they gradually worked off

the undesirable material
at the top of the pan.

Winnowing was another
early technique

where the paydirt
would be dug up

and set out to dry on a
large piece of canvas.

Once dried, the material
would be crushed

into finer particles
and then tossed

into the air on the canvas,

where the wind would blow
away the lighter material

and ideally, the gold dust
would fall back into the canvas.

These techniques were
among the first used

by those searching for
riches during the Gold Rush,

and many had good
fortunes with them

because the gold
was easy to find

and at the surface of
these rivers and streams.

But in order to search deeper

into the waters
and the hillsides

where there was no natural water

to aid in the separation
of sediment from gold,

the miners would have to develop
complex methods and devices

in order to extract the
precious metal from the earth.

It was not long before
miners came to the conclusion

that use of the pan
and the pan itself

was a most inefficient
approach to searching for gold.

More soil and sediment
needed to be moved,

and it needed to be moved faster

and in a less laborious manner.

The rocker box or cradle
was soon invented.

It got its name as it
resembled a child's cradle.

The cradle is a
device that separates

the gold from sand and gravel

by rocking the device
back and forth.

It's made of a high-sided box

with an open end
and an open top.

The top of this box
contains a sieve

for classifying the material.

Usually, the openings will be
a half inch or a quarter inch,

and this lets the smaller pieces

of rock and material through

while keeping out the
unwanted, larger chunks.

Inside, the bottom of
the box is often lined

with baffles that
separate out the material.

This works to catch
pieces of gold

as they are washed through
the classifier box.

The final stage of
this process reverts

back to the panning method.

After many shovels
full of dirt and rock

have been put
through the cradle,

the miner than takes
the heavier material

that has been collected
in the slats or riffles

on the bottom of the box
and sorts them by hand.

Ideally, it would take four men

to efficiently run a cradle.

One to dig the material
from the ground,

one to carry it from
the claim to the cradle,

one to put the dirt
into the cradle itself

and pour water over it,

and one to rock the cradle

and remove unwanted
larger stones.

The Long Tom and the sluice
were the last methods

that could be employed by a
small operation of miners.

The Long Tom was much
like an expanded rocker,

often having a ten
to twenty foot trough

though unlike the rocker box,

agitating of the paydirt
was not done by hand,

but by gravity and the
force of the running water.

The length of the sluice
was dependent upon

how refined the
material needed to be.

They were often linked together,

and could be many yards long.

Miners would often dam and
divert streams great distances

in order to direct the
constantly moving water

that was needed in order
for the sluice to work.

The water would come in at the
highest point of the sluice,

and gravity would carry it down,

pushing and separating
the material as it went,

first separating out
the largest pieces

through metal bars
called grizzlies,

and as the material
moved downward,

the heavier gold would
be caught in the riffles

and eventually panned by hand.

The rocker box and the
sluice of the Gold Rush era

were deficient in
catching the finest

of gold particles called flour,

so miners often put mercury,

or quicksilver, at the
base of these contraptions

because the chemical
composition of mercury

would trap fine gold.

The miners would
heat the mercury,

and as it vaporized, it
would leave the gold behind.

Often, the mercury was
trapped and reused.

It wasn't long into the Gold
Rush before the placer miner

slowly gave way to
the larger operation.

Many men who set out on
an ambitious journey west

to stake a claim for themselves
and to strike it rich,

found that they
were either too late

in finding the easy gold,

or were just in the wrong place.

A journey that was
born of independence

soon transformed into
one of paid labor.

These miners found themselves

working for larger operations

run by the very wealthy
or for corporations.

These men were no longer
working for the same end goal,

which was to excavate
gold from the earth.

Now, they were simply
working for a day's wage,

while someone else reaped
the rewards of their work

under the sun or
under the earth.

As the easy gold in
the rivers and streams

started to disappear,
miners recognized

that their tactics
needed to change.

With the advent of
hydraulic mining,

miners could blast
away large expanses

of sediment and rock.

Water would be
forced through a hose

that grew narrower and narrower

until it led to a
nozzle called a monitor.

At first, the hoses
were made of canvas,

but soon crinoline replaced
it as the material of choice.

In such instances where
the miners found themselves

up against a particularly
stubborn piece of hard rock,

they would create
a hole in the rock

and fill it with black powder.

They would then touch
off the black powder

to blast the hole and continue

pummeling the sediment
with the hose.

The excavated rock was
then run through a sluice

to acquire any gold that
the mountain had released.

With the advancements in mining,

the environment was being
altered at an alarming rate,

and the consequences
of hydraulic mining

would last for years.

The sediment that would wash
downriver into the valley

would cause the riverbanks
to rise and flood.

Dredging was another
technique used

once the gold in the
surface of a river or stream

had been gleaned from the
top layer of sediment.

These machines would
scoop up the sediment,

either with a single bucket or
a continuous loop of buckets,

which then would
run the material

through various phases
of classification,

such as in a rocker box.

The smaller pieces
of rock and sediment

were then run
through the sluice.

All the remaining material
would be dumped out

the rear of the
dredger into piles

along the banks called tailings.

It was not unheard of for
some of these tailings

to grow to be
seven stories high.

The third large-scale
technique for mining gold

during the Rush was
underground hard rock mining.

Corporate mining was
never more prevalent

than it was in this
version of gold mining.

It took a much larger
bankroll of money

and many more hands
to run this mine.

The process involved extracting
the gold from the hard rock.

In this case, the
rock was quartz.

The miners would
trace the veins,

and blast the gold and rock
at the appropriate locations.

The shaft was then mucked out,

and the ore was brought

to the surface for
further processing

where the gold-bearing
quartz would be crushed

until it was a
sand-like consistency.

This would be done with
something called a stamp.

These stamps were large
slabs of steel or cast iron,

which would be
raised and dropped

over and over onto
the pieces of ore,

until they were small
enough to be passed over

to the amalgamation process.

It was a large undertaking
to build a stamp mill,

so most were owned and operated

only by larger mining companies.

Individuals and smaller
operations may have used

an arrastra for
grinding the metal ore.

The arrastra is a primitive
mill introduced to the New World

by the Spanish
around the year 1500.

It consists of one or two
flat-bottom drag stones

that are placed
in a circular pit

which is covered with
smaller flat stones.

The drag stone is connected

to a center post by a long arm,

which is powered by a
horse, a man, or a mule.

The gold-bearing ore
is placed in the pit,

and the drag stone
slowly grinds it

between itself and
the paving stones.

Both the stamp mill technique

and its more rudimentary
cousin the arrastra

needed the same final stage
to pull the gold from the ore.

Once again, quicksilver was
used to bond with the gold,

and leave the unwanted
quartz behind.

While this technique
was effective,

and miners attempted to collect

as much of the quicksilver
for reuse as possible,

much of it was lost,
and caused damage

to the surrounding environment.

Mercury deposits can still
be found at the bottom

of the San Francisco
Bay to this very day.

Because of man's great haste

to become rich from mining gold,

much of the land was torn apart

with little to no
forethought as to the

long-ranging consequences
of these actions.

The Gold Rush not
only helped shape

California into the state
that it soon became,

but it fundamentally
altered the size and scope

of cities such as San Francisco.

In some cases, it grew too fast,

and in careless directions.

The miners and their
machines forever altered

the surrounding landscapes
and environment.

The resourcefulness of man

has often been able
to move mountains,

but man's greed often overlooks

how to replace and repair them.

Too often, once
the gold is gone,

we leave only wreckage behind.

(dramatic orchestral music)

Repair and Synchronization by
Easy Subtitles Synchronizer 1.0.0.0