MAP 13.5 The California Gold Rush, 1849–1857
Traveling from all parts of the world — South America, Europe, China, and Australia, as well as the eastern United States — tens of thousands of bonanza-seekers converged on the California goldfields. Miners traveling by sea landed at San Francisco, which mushroomed into a substantial city; many other prospectors trekked overland to the goldfields on the California Trail. By the mid-1850s, the gold rush was over: almost as many people were sailing from San Francisco each year as were arriving to seek their fortune.