All language subtitles for Gold Rush s01e04 Birth of California.enl

(powerful music)

(racy music)

(calm music)

- [Voiceover] It was
a splendid population

for all the slow,
sleepy, sluggish brains

lost stayed at home.

You never find that sort
of people among pioneers.

It cannot build pioneers out
of that sort of material.

It was that population
that gave to California

a name for getting up
astounding enterprises

and rushing them through
with a magnificent

dashing, daring
and a recklessness

of cost or consequences

for which she bares
unto this day.

And when she projects
a new surprise,

the grave world smiles
as usual and says,

well, that is
California all over.

- [Voiceover] No other
state had come into being

quite like California.

Before California's
admission to the union,

each state had to
pay its dues first

by spending years
as a territory.

The US Government required a
population of 60,000 residents

before territory could become
eligible for statehood.

Immigration to California
prior to the Gold Rush

had been so slow that it
would have taken decades

for the territory to
reach the 60,000 mark.

Once the quiet discovery
of gold at Sutter's Mill

broke loose in the
early months of 1848

and the word spread
across the globe,

the booming people
traversing the nation

and the oceans to
enter California

made the population
explode in a way

no other place on earth
had ever encountered

up until that time.

When it came time for
California to become a state,

congress wanted the eastern
border to be at the crest

of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

This did not sit well
with the Californians

because they knew all too well

that the Sierras
were full of gold.

They drew their own border

running in a line just to the
east of the Sierra Nevada's.

They were keen on keeping
all the gold that their state

had to offer.

To the south,

they drew their border
along the Colorado River

out of concerns for water.

Congress was reluctant to agree

but feared that if they did not,

they would be at risk at losing
all of the territory west

of the Colorado Mountains.

They could not risk
California attempting to form

its own republic.

California got to
create its own borders

and the United States brought

its 31st state into the union.

The spoils of the Mexican
American War were plentiful

for Americans in terms of land.

They purchased
California along with

Alta California, New
Mexico which contain

what would one day
become Arizona,

Nevada, and Utah.

And they set Texas' southern
border at the Rio Grande

once and for all.

While Mexico's defeat stung
the pride of that nation,

they had never
colonized their lands

to their full potential.

California and the neighboring
territories were sparsely

populated at vast by
the Mexican people.

One can only speculate
whether Mexico would have

signed the treaty
of Guadalupe Hidalgo

if they had known that
just a few days earlier,

gold had been discovered
in the land that they had

fought to keep.

The war may very
well have continued

and America's landscape might

have been drastically different.

The growth and rapid change
in California can be best

symbolized by one of
its most bustling cities

during the gold
rush, San Francisco.

San Francisco grew
so fast that often

the legs it was standing on
could not support the weight

the city had to bear.

Before the gold rush,
this sleepy little city

had less than 1,000 inhabitants.

A few nuggets of gold created
a shock wave around the globe.

The city was hurriedly built
to accommodate all of those

that flooded into the bay area.

The city would pay the price
for such hasty construction.

It would burn to the
ground, be rebuilt again,

only to reach the same
fate as it had before.

Ships in the harbor
that were abandoned

by their gold hungry
crews would often be suck

and made into landfill helping
to further extend the city

out into the bay or they
would be used as storage

for a city that was growing
at an alarming rate.

The harbor would be
so crowded with ships

that it sometimes took days
for crews to unload their cargo

and passengers.

Some of the abandoned
ships that were not turned

into landfill would
be disassembled,

and those timbers would be used

in the hasty
construction of buildings

such us inns, dry
good stores, saloons,

restaurants, and hotels.

All just to accommodate
the ever growing number

of miners entering the city.

The people came first
but the thought towards

the infrastructure they
would need came second.

If you left Gold Rush era
San Francisco for a month

and returned, you
would return to a city

you could barely recognize.

Change and growth were
happening at a dizzying pace.

Those immortal words
of Sam Brannan,

"Gold!

"Gold in the American river,"

would ring out across
the world and people

of every nationality would
crowd into San Francisco.

The small sleepy city
grew seemingly overnight.

The rapid growth and the
transient nature of the people

who inhabited the
city would forever

be a city planner's nightmare.

- [Voiceover] "There is a
fast mode of doing business

"in California which
had to be adopted,

"to keep up with times."

- [Voiceover] The
city was booming

and the rush for gold
permeated every aspect

of the lifestyle of the
California in the 1850's.

Fortunes were made
and lost overnight

and the landscape of
one of its great cities

was fluctuating
right along with it.

From the start of San
Francisco's accelerated growth

at the beginning of
the Gold Rush in 1848

to just three years
later in 1851,

various parts of the
city would be consumed

by six great fires.

The first place occurs
on December 24th, 1848,

and it would take over
one million dollars

worth of property
and reduce it to ash.

A mere six months later,
a second fire breaks out

in the early hours
of the morning.

And this time, the flames take
three blocks of the city's

most valued buildings
at a cost of around

four million dollars.

This fire was
suspected to be arson

and would cause
several city ordinances

to be put into immediate action.

These ordinances
were put in place

in the hopes that
they would keep

any future blazes in check

by being both a deterrent

to anyone who might
think of setting one

and to keep the citizens
of the city better prepared

if another blaze
should breakout.

Households were required
to keep six buckets

of water on hand and
that they're ready

in the event of another fire.

Citizens were also expected
to assist in the extinguishing

of fires or to help in
the removal of items

from a burning building or a
building that was in danger

of catching fire.

If they refuse to this charge,
each citizen could be fined

no less than $5 but
no more than 100.

Despite these measures,
the blazes continued.

Just one month
later on June 14th,

a third major fire broke
out inside the city.

This time the cause of the
fire was a defective chimney

in a bakery.

The wind was blowing that
morning and it did not take long

for several blocks of the city

to become engulfed in flames

and lost to any
hope of salvation.

Slowly but surely, San
Franciscans began to realize

that they could not keep
constructing buildings

and live in a way that they did.

Fireproof brick buildings
were more expensive to erect

than the more
traditional wooden ones,

but in the long run they
became the cheaper option

because of their stability
and resistance to the flame.

Some houses would be
erected with walls

over two to three feet
thick of solid brick.

In addition to the changing
tide of the architectural style,

more firefighting
departments began to form

but still the city of San
Francisco would see more fires.

On the anniversary of the
first great fire of the city,

a sixth blaze would occur.

This time it was estimated
that there was more damage

from this one fire than
from all the others

that came before.

Ont his particular occasion,

the blaze begins in a
paint and upholstery store

that was located on the
south side of the plaza.

Yet again, malfeasance
was suspected.

And again, to aid in
the destruction, the wind was blowing.

The wooden planked
streets are consumed

and the wind soon
carries the fire

into the business district.

It was said that the
light from the fire

could be seen as far
as 100 miles out sea.

In a matter of only 10 hours,

between 1,500 and 2,000 houses
had been completely lost.

An 18 blocks of the
main district are completely destroyed

by the sixth fire.

The damage extended
three quarters of a mile

north to south and a third
of a mile east to west.

The total damages amount to
more than 12 million dollars.

Only five brick buildings
in the areas hit

would survive the flames.

Not even the fireproof buildings
could escape the inferno.

Still the city and its citizen's
resilience shines through

and they continue on.

Fires were not the only events
that would test the metal

of the city of San Francisco
and its inhabitants.

The city would face a
banking collapse in 1855

that would see the citizens
of the city panicking

and rushing to the
doors of their banks

demanding that they'd be
allowed to withdraw their funds.

Banking was a relatively
new concept to be introduced

to California.

Before the Gold Rush, the
hide and tallow trade ruled

the California coastal commerce.

When Mexico
controlled California,

sailors from around
the world would swap

their finished goods for
the prepared cattle hides

and tallow that was plentiful.

The hides would then
be safely stored

below the decks of the ships.

This direct exchange
eliminated the need for a bank

to be present.

The tallow will be taken
to South America to be sold

and made into soap and candles.

And the hides will
be taken back east

to be made into
finished leather goods

such as shoes and boots.

With the discovery of
gold in California,

the need for these new
found riches to be stored

in a secure place skyrocketed.

But in those days, the
term banker could mean

anyone who had possession
of a secure safe.

They legally could go
into business as a bank.

Once again though, the
Gold Rush illustrates

how it's a major catalyst
for change in the lifestyle

and way of doing business
for the people living there.

The innovation and
adaptation of the people

in a rapidly
changing environment

was a sight to behold.

One of the few banks that
escaped the damage of the panic

was Lucas, Turner and Company,

a Saint Louis based operation.

The San Francisco branch
was being managed by a man

named William Tecumseh Sherman.

In just a few short years

the nation would come
to know this man's name

as one of the leading
generals of the Civil War.

He would lead thousands of men

into perilous battle
and emerge victorious.

For generations after,

many in the south would
recollect with much disdain

Sherman's march to the sea

where he took his
troops of the Union Army

from the captured city of
Atlanta to the port of Savannah.

They destroyed almost all
that crossed their path,

military targets as well
as civilian property

and the south's infrastructure.

Years later, upon recounting
his time as a bank manager

in San Francisco, he
was quoted as saying--

- [Voiceover] "I can handle a
hundred thousand men in battle

"and take the city of the sun,

"but I'm afraid to manage a lot

"in the swamp of San Francisco."

- [Voiceover] Apparently,
the unpredictable nature

of the city was
powerful enough to cause

even a man such as Sherman
to become unsure of himself

if only for a moment.

Sherman would also be pulled
onto the city's committee

of vigilance for a time
when it reemerged in 1856,

five years after it
was first established.

The committee was
an organization that was constructed

to combat the rampant
crime that was blatantly

being committed in
the city streets.

The 1856 version of the
committee of vigilance

also set its gaze towards
squelching political crimes

as well as political corruption.

Despite many upheavals
and rapid changes,

the city would
continue to rebuild

in every sense of the word.

The resilience and
perseverance of the citizens

of this young city would
work to counterbalance

the haste in which it
was first directed.

The city began as a sleepy
little town on the bay

but the California Gold Rush
would do more than anything

previous to spur San
Francisco on to grow

and to become one of
the largest cities

in the United States.

It will continue to thrive
impart fueled by the aspirations

of the multitudes that
were drawn into the region

because of gold and
the promise of a better

brighter tomorrow.

With every passing month,

California was
growing in population.

The placer gold was getting
harder and harder to find

but the stories of riches
being pulled from the hillside

were still in great abundance.

Prospective miners
travel to the gold fields

and would quickly learn that
the game was rapidly changing.

It was less and less
common for a single man

or a small outfit to be
able to pull enough gold

from the earth to
sustain a living

let alone save money
to return back home

and be able to while away their
remaining days and luxury.

Large corporations
were taking over

and companies were extracting
the ore from beneath

mountains or hydraulically
washing away the hillsides.

These kinds of operations
required lots of manpower.

Discouraged miners found
themselves signing on

to these larger operations
and working for a day's wage.

They'd come so far,
traversed the nation,

only to be back to
working in a situation

that was most likely no better

than the one they'd
left at home.

In 1858, news of hope
and a new el dorado

spread throughout California

because gold had
been discovered north

in Canada's British Columbia.

In the Fraser River canon
discoveries of fine flower gold

had been made.

There had been miner rushes
in this area in the past

but word has not spread
quite like this before.

The Cariboo Gold Rush
of 1860 would attract

more Canadians than the
Fraser River discovery,

thus, this discovery
was more of an extension

of the California
Gold Rush mining

and the culture
that surrounded it.

30,000 men who had given up
hope to make their own riches

in California now had a
new lease on life up north.

The Argonauts quickly flooded
the village of Victoria

which up until that time was
inhabited by only 500 people.

Many of these men were
unable to stay claims

because of the high
water on the river

during the summer time months,

but by autumn, many simply
returned disheartened

to California.

They convinced themselves
that the Fraser rush

held not weight.

Despite this, more men
would come in to replace

the disappointed once who left.

All of these men who would
enter the short lived

Fraser River Gold Rush would
disrupt the natural order

of the environment
as well as the lives

of the indigenous
people who inhabited it

just as they were
doing in California.

Many of these men
returned to California

and continued to labor in
the mines for corporations

and men with larger
purse strings.

The placer gold was
beginning to dry up

and along with it
many of the stories of

larger than life nuggets which
fueled the hearts and minds

of thousands during
the Gold Rush era.

Advanced mining techniques
such as hydraulic

and river dredging were
quickly becoming the norm

and the every man's
chance at striking it rich

was dwindling with
every passing day.

Entire sections of
rivers would be diverted

and massive amounts of
earth would be crushed

to get to the smallest
deposits of gold locked inside.

The instantaneous discovery
of pay dirt large enough

to set you up for
life was giving way

to a more pain staking and
methodical kind of mining.

The strike it rich
moment was almost gone.

Located in Northern California,

just 15 miles northeast
of Chico, Dogtown.

This small town with an odd
name would be the discovery site

of the largest single
nugget of gold on earth

at that time.

Dogtown got its namesake
because of its abundance

of K9 inhabitants.

Some of the first
settlers of the area

were the Basset family.

And when Mrs. Basset
first arrived to the area

she came on foot and had
almost no worldly possessions

saved for three dogs:
two female and one male.

Mrs. Basset had no
luck as a prospector

yet she still had to find
a way to make a living.

When one of her dogs gave
birth to a liter of puppies,

she had an idea.

She began selling her pups
for a pinch of gold dust

to the lonely miners
who were setting up camp

all around the area.

These men were at a loss for
some kind of companionship

and she provided it at a
reasonable enough expense.

As the town grew,
there are soon dogs

in every tent in cabin.

Shop keeps and saloon
owners kept them as well.

The name of Dogtown seem
natural and fitting.

Until 1859, Dogtown
remained a place

that was not widely known

and the population
seems sparse at best.

That all changed
when A.K. Sterns,

a work man, discovered
a large gold nugget

in the Willard Claim on
the slopes of Sawmill Peak.

The nugget weighed
in at 54 pounds.

And its value was
set at $10,690.

That would be in the $350,000
range for modern day money.

The dog town nugget
quickly made headlines

on many papers all
across the nation.

And this single find started
a small gold rush of its own

within the Dogtown area.

The name and the legend
of the Dogtown nugget

would live on but
the town's name

was not long for this world.

The female population of
Dogtown resented the name

and especially so when
they needed to use it

in correspondence.

The women of Dogtown,
California petitioned to have

the town's name
changed to Magalia,

which is Latin for cottages.

A plea for a name
change appeared in the Marysville Appeal

by a local resident.

"We should hate to live
in a place called Dogtown

"particularly if we had
a large correspondence

"and had to write
the name frequently."

The name was forever
changed and gold continued

to be prospected there
until the 1890's.

Soon, only the old timers
knew the origins of Magalia,

the namesake of
the Dogtown nugget.

Some 174 miles
southeast of Dogtown,

another gold nugget was
literally stumbled upon

by John William Hats as he was
chasing after a runaway mule.

The nugget he finds
weighs in at 14 pounds,

nothing compared to
the Dogtown nugget

but it would lead to one of
the largest slabs of gold

that the California Gold
Rush would ever see.

James H. Carson fought in
the Mexican-American War

as part of Colonel
Stevenson's regiment

of first New York volunteers.

The regiment arrived
in California in 1847.

Carson saw a little action
during the course of the war.

There were no plans made for
the soldiers to turn back east

so by the end of the war the
soldiers found themselves

stranded in California.

Carson was living in Monterey
which is just under 300 miles

south of Coloma where
marshal discovers the first

nuggets of gold in
the American river.

It did not take long
for word to reach him

about the findings.

He quickly packed up
his belongings along with some supplies

he purchased and set out
for the virgin gold fields.

Carson first stopped
at Weber Creek

in Placerville, California.

He was successful in his digging

but the itch for something
more led him to look elsewhere

for bigger and better prospects.

He joins a party of men
which included the Angel

and Murphy Brothers, and
they collectively decided

to head south.

They prospected every
stream they came across

until they came to a
creek some 60 miles south

of where they'd started.

Here, the group of men parted
ways of what is now known

as Angel's Creek.

The Murphy's headed eastward.

Carson continues south while
the Angels stayed at the creek.

Carson found luck a few miles
south at a small tributary

of the status laws.

This area, rich in gold,

they decided to
name Carson's creek.

Despite having the success
in all of these places,

James H. Carson still
remained restless

and his desire for
something bigger

pulled him further south.

After several years of
unsuccessful prospecting,

Carson decided to
return to Carson's Creek

and acclaims that
he had laid there.

He goes on to be elected to
the state assembly in 1852.

But rheumatism which had
plagued them for years

left him bed-stricken.

The creek and the hill
which pulled his namesake

were still successfully
being mined for gold

while Carson lay ill in bed.

He succumbs to the illness
before he can take office

and dies very near poverty.

James H. Carson would not
live to see the largest nugget

of gold pulled from the
hills that bore his namesake.

John William Hats, the
man who would discover

the 14-pound lump of
gold up on Carson Hill

while chasing a runaway mule
four years earlier in 50,

immediately returned to the
site to stake his claim.

At that time, he did
not know that the nugget

which he stumbled
across had broken a way

from a much larger quartz
fane which was rooted deep

within the hillside.

John Hats takes a group of
six partners up to the newly

stated claim.

There, they decide
to call themselves

The Carson Creek
Consolidated Mining Company.

Soon thereafter, the
claim becomes known as the Morgan Mine,

thusly named after
Colonel A. Morgan,

the most prominent figure
in the partnership.

The Morgan Mine was
so abundant with gold

that the prospectors used
a very unusual technique

to extract and retrieve the
gold from the quartz bedrock.

One of the partners described
the method and process

as such.

When the quartz fane
was first worked,

the method adopted
was to put in a blast

and after the explosion, to
go around with hand baskets

and pick up the pieces.

Implementing this method,

the partners of the
Morgan Mine pulled out

$110,000 in gold for
one single blast.

On another occasion,

the party found a lump of ore
that weighed in at 112 pounds.

The Morgan Mine kept producing.

On November 22nd, 1854,

a slab of golden
quartz was discovered.

While technically not a
nugget, it was massive in size.

It was over 15 inches
long, six inches wide,

and four inches thick.

The slab held a value
of over $43,000.

It was one of the largest
ever discovered in California

yet it was only a fraction
of the total bounty

which miners would ultimately
reap from the hill.

Carson Hill of Calaveras
County would produce

26 million dollars
in gold in total.

There were countless stories
of larger than life finds

throughout the Gold Rush.

In the summer of 1858,

a young boy of 14
in Calaveras County

discovered a nugget
of gold and quartz

the size of a coconut
near waterwheel in the bed of a stream

that have been
worked over by miners

who head just happened
to miss finding that gold

after all those years.

A 52-pound heap of
golden quartz was found

in the Diltz Mine
in Mariposa County

and Woods Creek in Sonora County

would claim one weighed
in at 75 pounds.

Before a single European
soul set foot in California,

it's estimated that there are
over a 300,000 native peoples

living in small tribes
throughout the area.

These people lived in
harmony with the land,

but by 1870, the number of
Native Americans in California

had been reduced to
1/10th of the original.

The roughly 30,000 who
remained in the state

were, for the most
part, displaced.

And a majority of them now
resided on reservations,

cut off from their homelands.

Disease, conflict over gold,

along with the assimilation
and an unwavering difference

in their outlooks on how
the land should be treated

and who it belonged to would
contribute to the schism

that forms between the
native peoples of California

and the Americans and
immigrants who crossed over

into their borders.

With the discovery of
gold at Sutter's Mill,

a whirlwind of change
was brought upon

all the indigenous
people of California.

Until European settlers had
come and now the Americans,

the diverse indigenous
people of California

had lived in relative peace.

There were conflicts between
tribes, but for the most part,

these native peoples
lived in villages

that were sparsely populated
and functioned in harmony

with the world around them.

The land is sacred to
the native inhabitants

of this great land.

They take only what they
need and do it in such a way

that works in a delicate
balance with their surroundings.

The 40 miners' desperate
hunger for gold

runs in stark contrast to the
practices of these people.

The Argonauts scourged the
land and pulled from it

only what they deemed to value

and then they left the
remnants to be cast aside.

So often, these remnants
were the contents of rivers

that have been
damaged and dredged,

hillsides that have been
stripped of their top soil

by hydraulic water hoses and
the entrails of mountains

which have been excavated
by men who dove deep

into the interior
seeking a metal

which would bring them wealth.

The effects of these attitudes
and the actions of those

who mined the gold
fields of California

during this rush can
still be seen today.

The damage these men
caused was irepairable

and devastating in so many ways.

The hunger for gold caused
so many to look no further

into the future than
the next payload.

The land was not
something they wished

to live in harmony with, it
was something to be conquered.

It was a safe to be cracked.

The natives even
knew about the gold

long before the Whites did
but it held no value for them.

With the advent
of the Gold Rush,

Americans and people
from across the world

would flood into
the native lands

and impose upon them
their lifestyles

as well as their
beliefs and values.

1850 was the year that saw
the new California legislature

pass an act for the government
and protection of Indians

that did march to
further America

down the path of
marginalizing, displacing,

and in many
instances eradicating

the native people of California.

The aAct allowed Whites to
regard any American Indian

that was not obviously
gainfully employed

and deemed him a grant
before justice of the peace.

These Indians could then
be sold at public auction

and become temporary
slave laborers to whomever

purchased them for a
period of four months.

This Act also allowed Whites
to indenture native children

and they were often
sold as apprentices.

Whites continued to move
Indians off their native lands

and on to reservations.

These people would be
rounded up like cattle

and forced to live in camps
where they were promised

food and shelter
but all too often,

the white men would
break their promises

once the Indians were
on the reservation.

The American Indians lived
in balance with the land

and the food that are
provided for them.

Being carded off to reservation
which was almost always

on attractive land that
Whites deem to below them

to use.

Through off this balance for
the self-sustaining Indians,

they could no longer
provide for themselves

and therefore they became
dependent upon the very men

who operated them them
in the first place

for food.

This tragic
displacements of people

tore them from
their native lands

and took their dignity forever
changing their cultural

landscape much in a
way that the miners did

to the gold fields and the
California wilderness itself

with their hunger for gold

which in many cases was
born out of greed and

short-sightedness and haste.

The entirety of the act
allowed all of the following.

Number one, the justice
of the peace would have

jurisdiction over all complaints
between Indians and Whites;

but in no case shall a white
man be convicted of any offense

upon the testimony of
an Indian or Indians.

Two, land owners would permit
Indians who were peacably

residing on their land
to continue to do so.

Three, Whites would be
able to obtain control

of Indian children.

This section would
eventually be used to justify

and provide for Indian slavery.

Four, if any Indian were
convicted of a crime

any white person could
come before the court

and contract for the Indian
services, and in return,

would pay the Indian's fine.

Five, it would be illegal to
sell or administer alcohol

to Indians.

Six, Indians convicted of
stealing a horse, mule, cow,

or any other valuable could
receive any number of lashes

not to exceed 25, and
fines not to exceed $200.

It should be noted that the
law provided that abusing

an Indian child by Whites
was to be punished by no more

than a $10 fine.

It is hard to compare the
penalty with the crime.

Seven, finally, an Indian
found strolling or loitering

where alcohol was sold,
begging, or leading a profligate

course of life would
be liable for arrest.

The justice, mayor, or recorder
would make out a warrant.

Within 24 hours, the services
of the Indian in question

could be sold to
the highest bidder.

The term of service would
not exceed four months.

With all of the restrictions
and harsh punishments,

along with the ability to
turn free natives into slaves,

this Act left those natives
who managed to stay off

of reservation no better
of than their brethren.

If this Act was not enough to
make their lives troublesome

at every turn, the impact that
miners had on the ecosystem

added insult to injury.

The huge influx of
people into California

threw off the relationship
the Indians had with the land.

Food supplies ran short,

game would disappear,

and places were food was
gathered would replaced

with mining camps and
other settlements.

Run off from the camps would
spill into rivers and streams

further disrupting the land.

What game in
agriculture did remain

was battered and
beaten to a pulp

by the harsh mining techniques
that were implemented

during the rush.

Gravel, silt, and
chemicals such as mercury

would destroy habitats
and kill off fish.

The Americans traveled
west carrying more than

pick axes and hopes,

they also brought
with them illness.

They introduced diseases
such as small pox,

influenza, and measles,
diseases that the Indians had

no natural defense against.

The decimation of their
population by foreign diseases,

destruction of natural habitat,

mountains, valleys,
rivers, and streams,

along with the slow
genocide on all fronts

from the invading Americans
and the government behind them

is one of the low points
in American history.

As California struggled
with the question of slavery

of Blacks, they were
already treating

the original inhabitants
as if they were less

than equal to Whites.

Many came to California
would open their hearts

and faith that they would
return home to their families

able to provide a better life.

All too often this
did not happen.

And as a result,

the best of intentions can
become twisted and shaped

into darker forces than
their initial iteration.

Violence toward Indians was
born out of a simple racism

and fear, but it also
manifested itself

in the Argonauts'
frustrations and failures

when the easy placer
gold becomes played out

just making ends meet
in the gold fields

gets harder and harder.

The California dream
for so many Argonauts

that sought California's
riches begins to fade.

They turn their
frustrations with their own

personal failures and
misguidedly take them out on the

indigenous people.

Indians would be killed
and chased away from claims

in the baseless fear that
they would steal the gold.

If an Indian struck
against a white minor,

the retaliation was
tenfold, and most often

it would be directed at
other Indians that had

absolutely nothing to do
with the original dispute.

The Indians were an easy
scapegoat for the Whites.

Instead of facing the truth
about their own personal lots

and accepting that they
have to return home,

no better off than
when they set out,

they chose instead to
lash out again and again

at those who looked, acted, and
lived differently from them.

In a mere 20 years
from 1849 through 1870,

the population of indigenous
peoples living in California

would drop from 150,000
to fewer than 30,000.

The pre European numbers
were in the 300 thousands

so by the time of the Gold Rush,

their population has
already been decimated.

Disease, displacement,
government sanction enslavement

and eradication were
all contributing factors

to the sharp decline.

The California Gold Rush
changed the lives of millions of

people around the world
but not all of that change

was for the better, and not
all of the people changed

began their journey willingly.

There are many, many dark
days on the United States

and its Americans would
treat would fellowmen

as less than equal and
would cast them aside

out of ignorance, pride, and
for their own personal gain.

Manifest destiny, a
simple nebulous idea

which was given its name
by a newspaper editor,

John O. Sullivan in 1845,

continues to fuel
the subconscious of thousands of Americans

that when an idea
becomes so powerful

that it sparks
people into action,

it can be a very potent thing
to be reckoned with indeed.

(dramatic music)

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