Diane & John Glamuzina National Park Service, Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, KLGO Library SS-32-10566. Two men were hung for stealing two hundred dollars, and a little boy had his ears cropped close to his head, for stealing 1400 dollars. Reading, Vicente Perez Rosales: The gold nuggets aroused in the minds of the tranquil Chileans an explosion of feverish activity. Narrator: Sam Brannan who had done so much to spread the word of gold was doing especially well. Jerry McGonigle The work at hand is horrendous. Which movie genre matches your own resolution for 2014? Reading, Alfred Doten: The houses cannot be built fast enough, and half the houses and stores are tents. Lisbeth Haas, Historian: It was a land-rich society, versus a money-rich society. Ravi Jain One of them was 30-year-old Luzena Wilson, who refused to be left behind when her husband came down with gold fever. According to estimates, more than 300,000 people came to the territory during the Gold Rush. Narrator: Newspapers ratcheted up the excitement. More than a decade after he came home, he was still talking of the Golden State, and laying plans to return there, buy a farm, and give mining another go. Cannons boomed. And as Alfred Doten explained in one letter home, justice was often astonishingly harsh. "The Gold Rush transformed California, but more importantly, it transformed America," says historian J.S. So when a fire burned them out of Nevada City, in early 1851, Luzena and her husband gave no thought to going back home. Rigoberto Estrella Dan Fraser 1849: The coming of the 49'ers Now, it was "an actual metropolis," one newspaperman marveled, "that seemed to have accomplished in a day the growth of half a century.". The Gold Rush was characterized by violent clashes among settlers, miners, and Native Americans over access to the land and its natural resources. Holliday, Historian: Miners were not concerned with law and order and a societal structure such as you would have had back east, where you're talking in terms of the future. He gets mixed up with some burly characters and falls in love with the beautiful Georgia. Our daily harvest varied between ten and twenty-two ounces of gold. The second act, in which the Tramp gives up prospecting, returns to town and becomes infatuated with Georgia, was probably inevitable, as Chaplin realized he couldn't sustain the entire film at the cabin. Gold mining towns sprang up to take care of the miners. Dwain Baughman Narrator: To many of the young men who had spent the Sundays of their lives in hard-backed church pews, the miners' day of rest was a revelation. Christina Ramirez Richard White, Historian: These are people who come out for the Gold Rush, promising to come back, but end up drifting from mining rush to mining rush, each time thinking this new place is going to be the place they get their stake. Dug eight dollars. Narrator: On May 12, 1848, an ambitious merchant named Sam Brannan shocked the tiny port town of San Francisco, California with an electrifying announcement: Re-creation of Sam Brannan: "Gold! Steve's woman played on a grinding organ, and we danced to the music. But time and time again, in his letters home to Sara, he had been forced to admit defeat. And the shoe-eating scene is so famously funny that even people watching it for the first time may feel that they've seen it already: this is in no way a bad thing, but merely reflects the fact that the best silent films long ago entered into the collective memory of our culture.I don't say this to sound pretentious. Nine insurance companies, the consulates of 27 foreign governments, brick buildings six stories high where there used to be sand dunes. Lou Verrico, Full House Productions Narrator: By the time Hiram Pierce arrived, in July 1849, the entire world seemed to have converged on San Francisco, and its streets were thronged with a more motley assemblage of humanity than ever could have been encountered in Troy, New York. 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. And to have the Gold Rush happen that very same year, was almost as if there was a sign from God, a divine sign of approval of this process of expansion of the United States across the continent. Brian Roberts, Historian: As soon as he arrived, Hiram discovered, like virtually all forty-niners did, that gold mining was enormously hard work. Narrator: Anglo threats soon turned to actual violence -- but many foreign miners, like Perez Rosales and his brothers, refused to be intimidated. Richard White, Historian: Miners are moving into lands that Indians are using for fishing, they're using for hunting. Men are coming and going. Nancy Farrell Dacia Kornechuk Callie Thorne -- Sara Pierce You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Reading, Luzena Wilson: I thought where he could go I could go, and where I went I could take my two little toddling babies. The head was later sent on a touring exhibit around the gold country. Larry Baumgardner Narrator: Ever since the first American miners had arrived in California, they had been trying to expel foreigners from the gold fields. Sue Siegel But interracial violence is going to continue on through the 1850s. California now had a greater concentration of immigrants than any other place in the United States. It may not be my fortune to get much, but I shall make an honest effort. Soon, even more gold was discovered in what would become the neighboring state of Victoria. H.W. The California Gold Rush On January 8, 1848, James W. Marshall, overseeing the construction of a sawmill at Sutter’s Mill in … By the end of September, the entire eastern United States was buzzing with talk of gold. But the sight of gold in the rushing waters of the American River sent a ripple around the world and set the stage for an event that would forever change a city, a fledgling state, and the nation. One paper estimated that it would take 100,000 men ten years to deplete the gold in California. Narrator: The news was astonishing, and it traveled swiftly around the world: gold -- precious gold -- had been discovered in California. Two Americans searching for work in Mexico convince an old prospector to help them mine for gold in the Sierra Madre Mountains. You have to realize that the timid stayed home. Nick Kane But if you kept at it, you might finally strike it rich. But they can't admit the failure. Stephen Haigh American flags flew from every staff and rooftop. Sherene Ing Every one seemed impelled by the frenzy of fever, so intent upon their work they scarcely had time to breathe. He was an adventurer and a writer at a time when being a writer was like being a -- I don't know -- something weird. It transformed obviously California, but more importantly, it transformed America. You see from this how grossly things have been misrepresented. Narrator: Lured by the promise of gold, by the chance to change their lives in an instant, they would come: an impoverished aristocrat from Chile, anxious to recoup his family's fortune, and a strong-minded pioneer woman, who refused to be left behind in Missouri when her husband came down with gold fever ... a California school teacher with dreams of becoming a land owner, a sea captain's son from New England with everything to prove ... and a blacksmith from New York, who wrenched himself away from his wife and children, and risked all that he had in the hopes of securing a more prosperous future. It's hard to approach his work with fresh eyes only because so many people have watched his movies for so many years. J.S. A delightful blend of slapstick humor, poignant emotion, and social commentary, The Gold Rush encapsulates Chaplin's strengths as a writer, director, and star. Narrator: Under pressure from whites, state lawmakers forced the Chinese to pay the Foreign Miners Tax, which by now had been greatly reduced. Van Gordon Any white person under this law could declare Indians who were simply strolling about, who were not gainfully employed, to be vagrants, and take that charge before a justice of the peace, and a justice of the peace would then have those Indians seized and sold at public auction. Floyd Oydegaard John McCabe WGBH Archives But dashed hopes did not drive Doten back east. Then, disaster struck. Randall MacLowry Narrator: On a bright spring morning, the Wilsons abandoned their small log cabin in Missouri, and joined the ever-growing caravan bound for California. At the end of 1853, San Francisco was a city on the fast track. Brian Roberts, Historian: As Hiram's absence continued, you can see Sara becoming more confident with her abilities. But with the shift in racial balance, came unthinkable acts of racism. I will send money back. This began the Australian Gold Rush, which had … Long Island Museum of American Art, History & Carriages This was supported by a group of armed men, ready to make good this declaration. JoAnn Levy, Writer: Supposedly, you could rub it all over your body, go to the top of the mountain, and roll down, and the gold would adhere to your body. © 2006 George Eastman House That was what gold accomplished. Beverly Lewis, Placer-Lake Tahoe Film Office Coll Anderson M.P.S.E. When there is power with impunity, people do horrible things. Brands, Historian: One of the striking features of the Gold Rush was that it took place when there really hadn't been an effective American authority to replace the Mexican authority. Antonio Franco Coronel, a 30-year-old Californio, was among the first to pull up stakes and head for the hills. Int’l Critics Line: Anna Smith On Zhang Yimou’s ‘Cliff Walkers’, Piece of Magic unites with mk2 for global release of Charlie Chaplin classics (exclusive), Paul Greengrass on His Tom Hanks Western and ‘the Road to Healing’, 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (2020 Edition). Its members had thrown their charter into the fire and disbanded. Most forty-niners opted for the more affordable third route: the grueling, often dangerous journey overland. Reading, Antonio Franco Coronel: The campsites were almost separated by nationality. And immigrants were not the only people to suffer at the hands of white miners. Reading, Alfred Doten: There are between two and three hundred sail vessels at anchor around us, to say nothing of those up the river. Diane Curry San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Julie Rattey Additional EFX Recording Dana Hunter - James Marshall, 1848 At a time when restless Americans were already itching to go west, the discovery of gold in California in 1848 was like gasoline on a fire. Drama, Certificate: Passed Wm. West Virginia University Division of Theatre and Dance Susan Lee Johnson, Historian: Whatever it was that men wanted from women, was in great demand in the early years of California. Isabel Allende, Writer: At the beginning, San Francisco was a male place -- shooting and drinking and betting and gambling and that's what it was about. But nothing was more scarce than a woman. 65 of 87 people found this review helpful. That right from the beginning, there were those who envisioned the California that would be there after the Gold Rush, the California that could be this great new Pacific commonwealth. Narrator: In 1847, the United States defeated Mexico in a two-year conflict known as the Mexican War. It was like some kind of a mania. Brian Roberts, Historian: Sara really counted on the gold to come at a certain time as her family's needs became pressing. During THE GOLD RUSH, a nameless "Lone Prospector" (Charlie Chaplin), small, accident-prone and underprovisioned, is a long-shot among the roughneck maverick miners to strike it rich.In a remote, snowbound cabin he stays with Big Jim (Mack Swain), a prospector who has, in fact, discovered a mountain of gold ore. I believe that because Chaplin had such influence on the development of movie comedy, that to a certain extent people today may take him for granted. Doug Quigley Luzena, the one-time pioneer from the Missouri frontier, lived out her last years in a hotel in San Francisco, buying and selling real estate and socializing with some of the city's most fashionable ladies. Narrator: Perez Rosales had returned alone to San Francisco to get mail from home when he heard that Chileans had been attacked on the American River, near where his brothers were mining. The Tramp is an escaped convict who is mistaken as a pastor in a small-town church. So, as time goes on, California betrays them. Narrator: On February 18, 1849, after 51 days at sea, Chilean Vicente Perez Rosales, his brothers and companions, arrived in San Francisco. Steve & Jeannie Kistler Reading, Hiram Pierce: My dear but I hope not lonely wife, I have made an honest effort but the Lord has for some cause unknown to me ordered it otherwise. Reading, Luzena Wilson: The old-time Sabbath amusements of riding bucking mustangs into the saloons, drinking all day at the various bars, playing poker, and finishing the day with a free fight are things of the past. They were doing new polka steps. Brian Roberts, Historian: The California Gold Rush is really America's first large-scale media event. Narrator: For several weeks, Pierce and the others worked the riverbed furiously. California had been admitted to the Union as the nation's 31st state. A former officer in the Mexican army and a respected civic leader, Coronel had been lured north by reports of immense fortunes dug out of the ground with nothing more than a spoon. He was so changed by the hardships he had suffered that few of his friends even recognized him. And they say, "Well, how do you know he's a orphan?" It's a metaphor for hope. Jim Mitchell Narrator: Throughout the foothills of the Sierra Nevada -- some 100 miles north and south of Coloma, the site of the initial discovery -- the story was the same. He's formerly a schoolteacher. Reading, Alfred Doten: Oct 2, 1900. Each year a new river would be flumed; a new hope would be nurtured to dig out a fortune. April Moore These are not things which normally would take place in New England. Instead, they headed west toward the coast. San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library Virginia B. Johnson, Wardrobe Assistants By chance, Brannan had opened a general store in Sacramento, not far from where the first nuggets were later discovered -- and now, he saw an easy path to riches. And when he came to California, he found discrimination against Chileans, regardless of their economic background. They heard stories of people finding gold nuggets like misshapen billiard balls, or the size of hen's eggs. Narrator: Staggering sums continued to be pulled from the California ground -- an average of nearly 60 million dollars a year throughout the 1850s -- but now, corporate investors pocketed most of it. Curtis Medina Phillip Beck It was gold that was lying essentially free in the gravel of streambeds. Title: But as his daughter put it: "he never got over his California fever." National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution Gold Is Found in California Gold was first discovered in California by James Marshall at Sutter's Mill near the city of … A lone prospector ventures into Alaska looking for gold. J.S. Made a small show. The gold was easy to find, competition was not particularly intense, everyone was just focused on getting gold and often getting out. Mystic Seaport Isabel Allende, Writer: Gold represented the possibility of starting anew, of being a new person, inventing a new self. © Kathy Weiser-Alexander / Legends of America, updated April 2021. You know, why not build a railroad to the moon? Reading, Antonio Franco Coronel: The head of their party addressed me. From a single store in Sacramento he'd built an empire of hotels and warehouses and retail shops, and was on his way to becoming California's first millionaire. Edwin Sims Erin Fleming All around, men stooped in the icy river, swirling sand and water together in baskets or washbowls and finding gold -- "nuggets the size of hazelnuts," Perez Rosales remembered. Prospected and dug ... and got nothing. Miners of all nationalities indulged in the Gold Rush's most ubiquitous forms of entertainment: drinking and gambling. NARRATOR: Nearly two years after he had left home, Hiram Pierce was finally reunited with his family in Troy. Narrator: Six days a week the miners dug and washed and dug some more. ", Produced by Pedro Moreno And you get the feeling that Doten has kind of reinvented himself in California, cut himself off from his past, cut himself off from his father. Gold Rush BBQ, offers an excellent variety of dry rubbed, hickory smoked Ribs, Chicken, Pulled Pork and Beef Brisket. This is the kind of joke that could only work in a silent movie, because no door-slamming sound effect could be quite as funny as the piano score imitating the noise, as rendered by Neil Brand on the DVD. Brian Roberts, Historian: This was a young man who was really expected to do well in life. People were living, uh, on the edge. John Allegra, Production Assistants Dena R. Mathias Brian Roberts, Historian: The forty-niners definitely had a sense that they were embarked on this great adventure. The next step was to divert the river and mine the riverbed. And I think that's what the gold represented. Narrator: But first, the Pierces and others would have to address crucial questions: Where would the money for the journey come from? Narrator: By the middle of 1849, four thousand gold seekers were arriving in San Francisco each month. Narrator: When gold was discovered, California was in transition. For much of the previous century, it had been a distant outpost on the edge of first the Spanish empire and then the Republic of Mexico. Narrator: Rumors had been circulating for months about a group of laborers who had been building a sawmill in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, some 100 miles east, when one of them spied the gleam of gold in the racing water. Need some help finding the best things to watch on Netflix? Jim Miller Narrator: Wilson was soon doing so well that her husband decided to give up gold mining and come on as her business partner in the El Dorado. Reading, Vicente Perez Rosales: What remained? It would have been devastating. November 1848: The first minted gold The first shipments of gold sent to the mint left from San Francisco. Patrick Ruth They felt that they had privileges and rights that the others did not. He cheerfully granted it, and the result was I obtained seventeen ounces in some two hours of work. Isabel Allende, Writer: Joaquin Murieta was like the symbol of all bandits, the metaphor for crime. Businessmen prepared their cargoes; those who had little sold all for what it would bring in order to make the trip; those who had nothing either paid their passage by serving as sailors or pledged themselves to work on contract in exchange for the price of the trip to El Dorado. He became a drunk, a womanizer; he pursues sexual relationships, particularly with women of color, native women, Mexican women. What a shame.Rating: 10 (One of the best movies of 1925.). The plan was to stake a claim there, and try out a costly new technique known as river mining. Reading, Alfred Doten: After they had hung about half an hour, we left them to swing in the wind till morning. A fading comedian and a suicidally despondent ballet dancer must look to each other to find purpose and hope in their lives. Virginia P. Street and Janet Powell Pinci I rather fear for the future. Money is nothing here. And there is this fear that they will let their worst instincts come out. Matt Karsen Richard White, Historian: The most common metaphor about the Gold Rush is gold fever. The California Gold Rush took place between 1848 and 1855. Now, in 1850, there were more than 80,000 Anglo American miners in California, competition was at a fever pitch and anti-foreign sentiment was on the rise. Doug Scougale Brands, Historian: What the gold rush did was to give people permission to take risks, to gamble on life, in a way that they hadn't been willing to gamble before. Betsy Bacon There was probably a lot of stress on Hiram, especially in thinking about what the future was for blacksmithing. Gold Rush: Dave Turin's Lost Mine Dave Turin spent years working alongside Todd Hoffman and earned the nickname “Dozer Dave.” Now, Dave is planning a spectacular return to gold mining, as he searches for a lost and abandoned mine to resurrect, and chase the gold the old-timers left behind. People who were very decent teachers, for example, in Massachusetts or someplace like that -- turn out to be brutal people in California because it was allowed. Reading, Alfred Doten: This morning, the most sublime scene was presented to my view that one can well imagine. Cheryl A. McIntire, Costume Designer Reading, Alfred Doten: Sunday, August 15 -- Had a small bit of a scrape in the evening with Bob Paine, he being drunk, and as he darned and insulted me somewhat, I made him see stars and put him out of doors. I shall burst some of these diggings wide open this summer. It's not me. Reading, Hiram Pierce: I am more anxious to get home than you are to have me come. They were living, I would say, an abundant life. As time went by, he would slip further and further from his family in Plymouth, and drink more and more heavily. David Burkhart, Anchor Brewing Co., San Francisco A kept woman runs into her former fiancé and finds herself torn between love and comfort. 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