The 49ers and the California Gold Rush

The Gold Rush of 1849 was sparked by the discovery of gold in early 1848 in Californias  Sacramento Valley. Its impact on the history of the American West during the 19th century was immense. Over the next years, thousands of gold miners traveled to California to strike it rich, and, by the end of 1849, the population of California had swelled by more than 86,000 inhabitants. James Marshall and Sutters Mill The discovery of gold is attributed to James Marshall, who found flakes of gold in the American River while working for John Sutter at his ranch in northern California on January 24, 1848. Sutter was a pioneer who founded a colony he called Nueva Helvetia or New Switzerland. This would later become Sacramento. Marshall was the construction superintendent who had been hired to build a mill for Sutter. This place would enter American lore as Sutters Mill. The two men tried to keep the discovery quiet, but it was soon leaked and news quickly spread of the gold that could be found in the river. First Arrivals The first lucky arrivals—those who emptied out the California cities over the first few months—were able to find nuggets of gold in the stream beds. The American River and other nearby streams regularly gave up nuggets the size of pumpkin seeds, and many were as large as 7–8 ounces. These people made quick fortunes. It was a unique time in history where individuals with literally nothing to their name could become extremely wealthy. It is no surprise that gold fever hit so heavily. The individuals who became the richest were in fact not these early miners but were instead entrepreneurs who created businesses to support all of the prospectors. Sam Brannans store in Sutters Fort grossed more than $36,000 between May 1 and July 10th selling equipment—shovels, picks, knives, buckets, blankets, tents, frying pans, bowls, and any kind of shallow dish. Businesses sprang up to meet the essentials this mass of humanity would need in order to live. Some of these businesses are still around today, such as Levi Strauss and Wells Fargo. The 49ers Most of the treasure seekers outside of California left their homes in 1849, once word had spread across the nation, which is why these gold hunters were called by the name 49ers. Many of the 49ers themselves picked an appropriate name from Greek mythology: Argonauts. These Argonauts were in search of their own form of a magic golden fleece—wealth free for the taking. Yet the majority of those who made the long trek out West were not so lucky. It was hard work to get to Sutters Mill: California had no roads, no ferries at river crossings, no steamships, and there were no hotels or inns on the few trails that did exist. The trek was arduous for those who came over land. Many made their journey on foot or by wagon. It could sometimes take up to nine months to get to California. For the immigrants who came from across the ocean, San Francisco became the most popular port of call. In fact, after the early decimation, San Franciscos population exploded from about 800 in 1848 to over 50,000 in 1849. The individuals who made their way out West during the Gold Rush met with numerous hardships. After making the journey, they often found the work to be extremely hard with no guarantee of success. Further, the death rate was very high. According to Steve Wiegard, staff writer for the Sacramento Bee, one in every five miners who came to California in 1849 was dead within six months. Lawlessness and racism were rampant. Manifest Destiny An estimated 60,000–70,000 people rushed into an area that had not long before supported 6,000–7,000 Yaqi, Mayo, Seri, Pima and Opata Native Americans. The would-be miners came globally, but selectively: Mexicans and Chileans, Cantonese speakers from South China, African-Americans, French came in droves, but not Brazilians or Argentineans, not Africans, not people from Shanghai or Nanjing or Spain. Some Native Americans joined in the free-for-all but others fled the massive influx of people. The Gold Rush reinforced the idea of  Manifest Destiny, forever entwined with the legacy of President James K. Polk.  America was destined to span from Atlantic to Pacific, and the accidental discovery of gold made California an even more essential part of the picture. California was admitted as the 31st state of the Union in 1850. Fate of John Sutter But what happened to John Sutter? Did he become extremely wealthy? Lets look at his account. By this sudden discovery of the gold, all my great plans were destroyed. Had I succeeded for a few years before the gold was discovered, I would have been the richest citizen on the Pacific shore; but it had to be different. Instead of being rich, I am ruined.... Because of the United States Land Commission proceedings, Sutter was delayed in being awarded the title to the land which he had been given by the Mexican Government. He himself blamed the influence of squatters, people who immigrated to Sutters lands and took up residence. The Supreme Court eventually decided that parts of the title that he did have were invalid. He died in 1880, having fought for the rest of his life unsuccessfully for compensation. Resources and Further Reading Gold Rush Sesquicentennial. The Sacramento Bee, 1998.  Holliday, J. S. The World Rushed In: The California Gold Rush Experience. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2002.Johnson, Susan Lee. Roaring Camp: The Social World of the California Gold Rush. New York: W. W. Norton Company, 2000.  Stillson, Richard Thomas. Spreading the Word: A History of Information in the California Gold Rush. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2006.  Sutter, John A. The Discovery of Gold in California. The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco. Reprinted from Hutchings California Magazine, November 1857.

Consumer Behaviour and Perception Essay - 2228 Words

2.0 CONTENTS CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR AND PERCEPTION 2.1 WHAT IS CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR? It is necessary to understand consumer behaviour; this is based on the activities leading to the acquisition and use of goods or services, including decision-making processes that determine a purchase. In this process the consumer performs actions such as search, purchase, use and evaluation of products expected to be used to meet their needs (Solomon Michael, 2007). The activities, processes and social relations to which reference has been made include various actions of the consumer: knowledge of a need, when you make a comparison between stores, the simple reasoning of information that are available in regard to the benefits and risks of the desired†¦show more content†¦It is important to analyse each group to determine their specific behaviour and thus guide strategies to stimulate product sales (Afizah Hashim, 2009 ). 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People - Organizations and Leadership Experience and Age

Question: Discuss about thePeople,Organizations and Leadership for Experience and Age. Answer: Case Study Analysis The Problem with the case study of Google is that in spite of legendary achievements the company tried to measure performance, satisfaction of the member and conflict as well as level of cohesion. In that view, the company invested millions of dollars for collecting data from 180 teams all through the company. The company also evaluated the beliefs, views and contributors of each team. Further, the problem is also because of dividing the team according to personality, experience, age, gender and education of the employee in the organization. The project also examined based on some assumption of popular wisdom. In the research conducted puzzles have been observed with an evaluation done by the identical makeup and overlapping membership, but with various level of effectiveness. Despite having the good and achievable performance, the company moved for creating a project with the aim of getting best and more satisfaction level for achieving the target of the company. Causes: While evaluating the project of the team performance the evaluator thought of slicing and dicing the team for observing the patterns which will be distinguishing the successful and unsuccessful team. Further, the evaluation was done by optimizing team profile by combining the characteristics of the team member. The evaluation also observed the various pattern like how frequently the members of a team were having the lunch together, with whom they were getting engaged in the free time, whether they were getting engaged with the office people or with the other outsider. There were various reasons, of then issues in the company. The case study also has a problem with the leadership style, team managers of the company. Moreover, the company has done an evaluation by demography of the company. The researcher has done an evaluation by some assumption. While evaluating a performance of the team assumptions should not be taken into consideration. Solutions: Performance can be evaluated by comparing and aligning the strategic business goal of the company. A visibility needs to be provided for clarifying the accountability of the expectation of the performance. A document needs to be present in a case of every employee for measuring the expectation and performance of the employees. The establishment needs to be by focusing on skill and improvement of the activity which has been chosen by the company. Further, it can be said that a support team needs to be present for taking care of the evaluation performance should be by each and every category of employee. It is suggested that fundamental strategies, indirect measurement and interval timers with cycle counters can be used for measuring the performance of the team. On overall the analysis of the case study it has been noticed that company has taken an inappropriate decision in the context of evaluating a performance of the team. The performance of the team should be evaluated through some statistical method and some tools for measuring the performance can be utilized for highlighting the team effectiveness in the organization. There is various process involved in measuring the performance of the team members in the company.