In 1849, John Sutter struck gold at his mill in Sacramento, California, beginning one of the most pivotal events in United States History. During the next few years, hundreds of thousands of Americans pioneered out west hoping to become prosperous, and strike it rich. Many of these men would lose all of their money, and live in poverty for the rest of their lives. A very small percentage; however, would strike it rich and never have to work again. This influx of people during the Gold Rush led to the development of a new state, but also ruined the lives of thousands and thousands of people. Almost all resources of the west coast were depreciated, and the gold was virtually gone within 2 years. The pioneers arrived to California very unprepared …show more content…
Miners would spend their free time gambling, and playing card games such as poker. Though the miners may have won a few times, in the end, they would lose the majority of their profit. According to J.S. Holliday, “Men would make and lose thousands in a night & frequently small boys will go up and bet $5 or $10.” This quote from J.S. Holliday shows that even those who managed to find a gold deposit would sometimes be plagued by a gambling addiction. Even young children would go into town and gamble away their profits. The lack of morals and restrictions allowed the miners to gamble as much as they wanted. As a result of this, the miners’ original image of California was ruined, and proved to be a very corrupt, unethical environment. This gambling would also affect those who had never gambled, and never intended to. Those who gambled would steal from those who didn’t and it ended up affecting everyone. JS Holliday also explains that during the prime years there was a great deal of wickedness, including lying, stealing, gambling, and murdering. This piece of evidence from JS Holliday portrays how serious the gambling problem in these camps was getting. Men would kill each other if it meant they could gain more gambling funds. The desperateness of these camps resulted in a violent community being formed. This community was a polar opposite of the community the miners had imagined when they travelled west. This realization that the gold rush was not an ideal or prosperous community struck fear in the hearts of the miners. This fear ultimately lead to the downfall of the gold rush, resulting in the majority of the miner population to evacuate. This fear and excessive gambling was directly influenced and aggravated by the unreasonable amount of drinking that was going on inside the camps. According to H.W. Brands, “Alcohol claimed some of the others, who got