USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Gold seekers first boarded a ship on the East Coast of the United States, in New York City or Boston, Massachusetts. The ship traveled south around Cape Horn and then north to California, where passengers would get off at San Francisco. The voyage took about six months.

Detailed explanation-2: -Of the approximately 300, 000 people who came to California during the Gold Rush, about half arrived by sea and half came overland on the California Trail and the Gila River trail; forty-niners often faced substantial hardships on the trip.

Detailed explanation-3: -Overland Route The journey took emigrants across the northern Plains, over the Rocky Mountains, through the Great Basin, and finally over the Sierra Nevada Mountains into California. Miners risked sickness and accidents over their 2, 000 mile journey to reach the gold fields.

Detailed explanation-4: -As news spread of the discovery, thousands of prospective gold miners traveled by sea or over land to San Francisco and the surrounding area; by the end of 1849, the non-native population of the California territory was some 100, 000 (compared with the pre-1848 figure of less than 1, 000).

Detailed explanation-5: -California Gold Rush, rapid influx of fortune seekers in California that began after gold was found at Sutter’s Mill in early 1848 and reached its peak in 1852. According to estimates, more than 300, 000 people came to the territory during the Gold Rush.