…by sea Many took what they assumed was the easy way, by sea. The trips typically began anywhere along the Atlantic Coast with ships sailing southward around Cape Horn at the tip of South America and back up to San Francisco. It was along these seagoing journeys that many first experienced life in the tropics and learned about Latin or Catholic cultures. Malcolm J. Rohrbough noted in his history of the era, Days of Gold, The California Gold Rush and the American Nation, "The voyage to California provided most seagoing 49ers with their first contact with the tropics, new cultures and new values … The revelations included flying fish, swarms of birds, strange aromas, and brilliant sunsets and sunrises." Others chose to "cross the isthmus" by sailing only as far south as Panama, where they then made a three-day trip by mule and canoe across land—the isthmus of Panama—to the Pacific side, where they boarded another ship for the trip north to San Francisco. Those who traveled this route were treated to even more exotic sights, including snakes, howling monkeys and parrots, and types of fruits and other foods they had never experienced before. Still others sailed around Florida and through the Gulf of Mexico to Texas, where they disembarked and made their way across Mexico's harsh deserts and into California. One group that included James McClatchy, who made that 4,000-mile journey, and said he and his traveling companions survived by eating everything from toads to berries to rattlesnakes to mules as they walked for 26 days before reaching San Diego. The sea voyages continued year-round without regard to season and could last for months, depending on the winds and the weather. …by land  The 2,200-mile overland trips had to be timed properly, with most typically beginning in mid-May in places on "the edge of the prairies outside St. Joseph or Independence, Missouri," Rohrbough wrote. Many of these wagon trains were made up of people from the same area, traveling together for safety and comfort, but there were just as many who signed on with professionals who would agree to guide them across the Plains for fees of about $200 each. Some fell for advertisements for gold-digging devices or machines that they tried to transport by wagon or pack mule across the nation, and the result was inevitable as they realized how overloaded they were. "The 49ers littered the California Trail with discarded food supplies and heavy gold-mining equipment, often fancy gold-washing machines," Rohrbough wrote. "They began to throw things away at the beginning of the journey, littering the trail for a thousand miles to and past Fort Laramie." You're in California, now what?  Ships in San Francisco Bay during the Gold Rush No overland trip was easy, but just getting to California did not mean the end of their journey, especially for those who came by ship, because the gold fields were still far inland near Placerville, a great distance from the port of San Francisco where the ships docked. It was very common for a ship's crew to abandoned their ships as soon as they were docked and join the crowds going to the gold fields. San Francisco Bay was crowded with abandoned ships and once it was discovered ships could make their way up the Sacramento River from the San Francisco Bay to Sacramento, the Sacramento riverfront also became awash in abandoned ships that started being used for many other purposes. Comments are closed.
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I often struggle to find websites with thorough explanations in simple language to help kids understand historical events or scientific concepts, so I decided to create some of my own! -Cookie Davis
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