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Gold Rush Challenges

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Challenges Faced on the Journey The California Gold Rush affected the individuals involved in many ways. Many people had traveled to California for one thing. Gold. They went for the gold because of the money that came along with it. Men had left their jobs and families to travel to California by sea or trail. The individuals of the Gold Rush faced many challenges traveling to California such as diseases, lack of supplies needed, and time it took to get there within the environment they chose to travel.
One of the many challenges faced in the Gold Rush was sickness and disease. Different travelers faced different illnesses. In the text it states, “Often people tied themselves to their beds to keep from being tossed about. Seasickness abounded.” …show more content…
In the text it states, “Much of this equipment was too heavy to transport easily, and had to be discarded on the way to the gold fields.” (Saffer, 5) That is an explanation on why they had a lack of supplies. The discarded equipment was put to waste because of understandable reasons, but they lacked very important items. Another reason they had lacked equipment was because of money. “The price of everything from meat to champagne to shovels and explosives depended on the needs and the successes of the miners…” (Holliday, 10) The prices were higher for everything, so the miners could not afford to buy many supplies for the journey in the first place. Mentioned in the text, “Forty-niners could leave equipment, food, and sacks of gold in their tents with little fear of theft. As more and more miners arrived, however, crime increased.” (Saffer, 1) Crime and theft was also a cause of the lack of supplies because of the increase of miners, the increase of crime. The individuals faced many challenges in the Gold Rush such as a lack of …show more content…
In the text it claims, “The 40 mile journey through dense, muggy, jungles filled with shrieking parrots and jabbering monkeys took about three days,” (Saffer, 12) 40 miles and 3 days was a challenge especially in the rainforest type of environment they had traveled through. With all the miners that had attended, it was difficult to keep up with. The text adds, “This rough trail lead prospectors on a four month trip across the country. Others left the East Coast by boat and sailed all the way around the tip of South America to get to california. It was a dangerous journey that had also took 4 months.” Either way taken to get there, it took four months. That took a long time to travel across the country and not everyone had made it to the final destination. Another example is, “Trail leaders had tried to cover the 2,200 mile journey in approximately 123 days.” If the trail was too long to cover in 123 days, they would begin to rush to get there and felt pressured to stick to their word. 2,200 miles in 123 days was a struggle.
The individuals of the Gold Rush had faced many challenges throughout the California Gold Rush such as illnesses, lack of needs, and amount of time to get there within the area they had traveled. The California Gold Rush was a great experience to some, but to others it was a great amount of suffering through the challenges mentioned. The California Gold Rush affected the

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