Gold Rush

One major problem the Gold Rush caused was the disrupting of the lands natural flow. They had to build dams so that the water supply would be there for the mines during the dry summer months. This, however, changed the course of the rivers. Another problem it caused with the water is pollution to that water. The main cause of water pollution was the hydraulic mining. Hydraulic mining is a form of mining that uses high-pressure jets of water to dislodge rock material. This would cause some sediment to get washed away with the water.  It caused a large scale mercury contamination of California’s watershed created by hydraulic mining techniques. Some of the sediment that got washed away clogged riverbeds and lakes. Scientists have said that even now at least four billion cubic meters of material was disturbed during the miners’ quest for the gold. They also stated that mercury was found in some California streams which is the result of many early-day mining operations. This threatened agriculture throughout the Central Valley. Another great problem that arose with the pollution of the water was the use and demand of wood. As more and more people came for the Gold Rush, more and more wood was needed. They needed it to fuel the boilers at the mines and to build extensive canal systems. This demand also helped create the logging industry, and also California’s forests had plenty of trees to log. Also with logging for those reasons came logging for making cities and other small towns.  Three California cities were transformed by the Gold Rush. One of the big cities was San Francisco. It went from being a quite hamlet with less than five hundred inhabitants to booming city and the commercial and financial center of the West Coast. Along with the cities that grew larger, transportation was in need.  Railroads were built in California to help transport gold. This caused some air pollution problems.  The Gold Rush left areas that are still scared by piles of mining debris.  Another environmental effect it had is California now has major cities there with little wildlife. It also about destroyed the Native Americans who were already living in California. These Native Americans were introduced and became victims to disease and starvation. The pollution from the mining killed the fish and destroyed habitats. Native Americans couldn’t find anywhere to hunt because the miners built settlements in their hunting grounds. Since the Native Americans were starving, this caused them to steal the food of the miners. The miners did not like this and decided to retaliate causing the Native Americans to become slaves to the miners. This destroyed the environment because the Native Americans cherished the land and respected it while the miners came only for the gold and did not realize what damage they were actually doing.