California Gold Rush | The First Strike | 1

American History Tellers

Wondery

Society & Culture, Kids & Family, History, Education For Kids

4.7 • 18.3K Ratings

🗓️ 11 January 2023

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

After the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in 1848, hundreds of thousands of prospectors poured into California, hoping to strike it rich. In the early days, rather than coming from within the U.S., most miners arrived from places like China, Hawaii, Chile, and Australia. But when President James K. Polk confirmed that newspaper reports of vast gold fields were true, it would kick the Gold Rush into high gear, transforming America and establishing California as a place for grand ambitions and big dreams.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, prime members, you can listen to American History Tellers add free on Amazon Music,
0:05.6	download the app today.
0:18.0	Imagine it's January 1848.
0:20.0	You're a construction worker building a timber mill in the western foothills of the Sierra
0:24.7	Nevada Mountains in California. Lush pine trees surround you on all sides. It's a bright winter day,
0:31.2	but cold. You can smell frying sausages nearby as the cook prepares lunch.
0:36.5	Your team is digging a canal to divert water from a local river to power this new mill and
0:41.5	it's nearly complete. You're eager to get the work done. So you continue thrusting your shovel
0:47.3	back into the dirt when a strange site catches your eye. Your boss is about 20 yards away,
0:53.8	splashing around frantically in the water running through the canal. At first, it looks like he's
0:58.7	lost something important, but when he finally stops splashing, all he's holding is a handful of
1:04.0	pebbles. Next thing you know, he's down on his knees pounding on one of the pebbles with a large
1:09.2	rock. This gets you too curious. You put down your shovel and walk over. Uh, you need help with
1:16.4	anything boss? He looks up at you smiling and opens his palm. Hey, what do you think these are?
1:22.1	He holds several yellow nuggets each about the size of a pea. You study them frowning.
1:28.7	Oh, to me, it looks like iron pie right. Fool's gold, you know? That's what I thought too.
1:34.3	But look at this one. Your boss points and you see that he's pounded one of the nuggets into a
1:39.9	crude coin shape. Well, what does that mean? How will most minerals shatter when they're pound?
1:44.9	Only certain ones flatten out like this. Certain ones like gold. Oh, I don't know.
1:50.7	We could compare. You got anything we know is gold? Your boss reaches into his pocket and pulls
1:57.9	out a five dollar gold piece. You admit it seems to be the same color, but you're not convinced.
2:03.5	And then you remember a supposedly sure fire test you heard about once. Well, hold on, wait here.
	...

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