There are many rivers around the world, on whose banks gold particles are found. Because of this quality, the entire city was settled on the banks of many rivers. It started in California, when pieces of gold started being found in the sand along the banks of the Sacramento River. This news spread like wildfire, after which lakhs of people started reaching California. After this, gold rush started appearing in many parts of the world.
On January 24, 1848, James Wilson was working at a mill on the banks of the Marshall River when he found several pieces of gold. He immediately informed the mill owner, who was a Swiss citizen. Upon investigation, the pieces were confirmed to be gold. Both of them tried their best to keep this matter secret but the news got leaked. After this it seemed as if an earthquake occurred. There were six thousand people in California at that time. Apart from this there were only seven hundred foreigners. But after the discovery of gold, the population changed suddenly.
It started with an incident in San Francisco. A shopkeeper there went to the river bank to find out the news and he also found gold. As soon as this was known, the whole of San Francisco became empty. All the shopkeepers and big businessmen had reached there. A report in The History says that in June of the same year, three-fourths of the city’s population had disappeared. Everyone had settled on the river bank in search of gold. This was the gold rush.
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But did this gold make everyone rich? No. But a new thing happened. What actually happened was that in the year 1849, a large majority of the male population of America had taken loans from people, or had mortgaged their houses or land. After this, the entire responsibility of raising the family had fallen on women. She started working outside the home. Started handling the business. In this way, the scope of women increased for the first time in America.
In this gold rush, more than seven and a half lakh pounds of gold was extracted through mining. But by then the gold found above the surface had been exhausted. Hydraulic mining started during this period. More gold could be extracted from this. The gold was slowly running out but the excavations were going on. Seeing its dangers, the court banned hydraulic mining and farming started in California. Now, historic parks have been built in large parts of it, which tell the story of the Gold Rush to the visitors.
The gold rush did not end on the banks of Californian rivers, but gold started being found on the banks of rivers in many countries of the world. This was the result of geological processes, which had already been there, but after California it got everyone’s attention.
Why is gold found in the river
– There are already traces of gold in the mountains. With changes in weather, when mountains break, the gold present in them breaks into small particles.
– Gold particles reach the bottom through mountain rivers and heavy particles start settling at the bottom. This process is called sedimentation.
– Often the soil and sand of the rivers also act as filters, due to which the gold particles reach different banks of the river.
In which rivers is gold found in the country?
Here also gold is found in some rivers, especially in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand. There are gold mines around the Kolar river in Karnataka. Jharkhand’s Subarnarekha river itself is named after gold. Apart from this, other minerals like uranium and chromium are also found here. Gold particles were also found in the Damodar River spread between West Bengal and Jharkhand.