California Gold Rush, Essay Example

People from all over the world headed to California, the “Golden State” in 1849 in the hope of becoming rich fast by digging for gold, but most found failure, disorganized communities, poverty, and struggle instead of treasures. Holliday (1998) describes how different the gold mining communities awaiting new adventurers was from what they imagined it. Rohrbough, however, talks about the emotional struggles of failing miners, who were disappointed, felt guilty about leaving their family behind for “nothing”. The below essay will cover both the motivations of 49-ers, their struggles, and the communities’ social characteristics based on the above two articles.

I would like to examine the thesis that 49-ers’ conception about success and failure changed as a result of moving to a new land. While they were generally disappointed by the circumstances awaiting them, they still felt freedom and independence without the traditional social norms, and many decided to stay instead of going back to their old lives. Their motivation to stay was driven by the desire for freedom and the sense of duty for their families.

Journey to the Unknown Land

49-ers risked everything and left behind their family and their security to enter the unknown land. Holliday (1998) describes the mining camps dangerous and without organization. As the author states, the newly formed communities were representing “California’s wildly free and rough capitalism”. There was no local government, nobody had to pay taxes. The scenery was so much different from miners’ homeland’s, it was bare and without civilization. There was not one cathedral or mansion. The equality among minders, the free competition has provided an extreme amount of motivation for the thousands of men to succeed. It is, however, evident that there were disappointing aspects of the new land, too. As there was no police force, no law, crime was thriving. Without monetary regulation, traders could freely set the price of every building material, based on demand. The conditions in gold mines were dangerous, and work was hard. Still, miners had something that kept them going: hope to provide fortune for their family. As Holliday (1998, p. 12) describes, many men were trying to run to California from their old lives: “Maybe California did offer the means to escape from the toil of fields, the drudgery of factories, from life as lived by fathers and grandfathers, from famine in Ireland, conscription in German duchies, boredom in Buffalo“. Another reason why many minders stayed despite their failure is stated by Rohrbough (1997, p. 4): “They found no native aristocracy in California”. They saw unlimited opportunities in California, while back home their social status would have limited their wealth or prosperity. There were many factory workers among 49-ers, and small farm owners, peasants, who had no means of making something of themselves back at home. They felt that they were not restricted by the society to succeed, and were happy to dig day and night in the freezing cold water hoping that they would find the riches.

Dealing with Failure

After initial failure, there were three different choices miners made: some returned home, complying with the request of their family. These people were ashamed of not succeeding, but their homesickness was stronger than their motivation to carry on. They were somewhat disappointed in the new country, missed their family, and lost hope. Others kept on making promises about their return date, and pushed it further into the future in every letter. They were still hopeful, and motivated to stay instead of giving up and returning empty headed. Finally, some miners tried to support themselves through hard times by setting up a trade in the new cities. Builders, carpenters, and other tradesmen were needed, and people worked for a wage for the day, returned to the gold mines in the evening, and dreamed about gold pieces at night.

Emotional Conflicts

Miners also had to come to terms with their family and often had to make promises they new would be broken. One of the miners’ letter quoted by Rohrbough (1997, p. 3) describes the emotional struggle clearly: “If I had gone home then without looking in other places, I should not have been satisfied or thought l had done my duty to you or to my children.” This means that miners were motivated to take risks by their sense of duty for their families. Miners often tried to defend their decision to stay for their families. However, this became harder the longer they stayed. They made investments in the free, uncontrolled markets of California towns, had their resources tied up. Similarly, determining how much money would be accepted by the family as “worth” for the years of absence, lack of support was difficult. It is likely that many men who went to California to seek riches were simply refusing to admit failure to themselves. They might not have succeeded in mining, but they found a profitable business, established themselves in a trade. Many were owed money, and they did not want to leave debts behind.

The Californian Dream

In many ways, the American dream was somewhat different from the Californian dream. People who managed to become rich or simply started a new life in America did not know the term “failure”. As Rohrbough (1997, p. 6) confirms: “Failure was not something that had been much a part of the lexicon of young America because even those who struggled on the land for years ended up with something, if only an eighty-acre tract”. “Agronauts”, however, came not to settle down, but to become rich. They had a slight chance of finding a large enough piece of gold that would provide their family. When they arrived, they faced many dangers, difficulties, and failure was more common than success. 49-ers believed the newspaper reports that inflated success and kept quiet about the many failures. Mining for gold, Indeed, was like gambling, unlike starting a new life, as  Holliday (1998) confirms. Success did not depend on hard work, like for many living the “American Dream”, but luck.

References

Holliday, J. S. (1998) Gold Fever! The Quest for California’s Riches. Humanities, Jan/Feb 1998, Vol. 19, Issue 1. pp. 12-17.

Rohrbough, Malcolm (1997) The permanent lure of success; The enduring shame  of failure.  In: Days of Gold. The California Gold Rush And The American Nation. University of California Press. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California