MINERS IN CHILE, AND HOW IT AFFECTS THE WORLD

Miners in Chile, and how it affects the world

Miners in Chile, and how it affects the world

The discovery of gold in Sutter's Creek in January of 1848 altered the development of California as well as the lives of emigrants who came from around the world lured to the region by “gold fever.” These individuals risked everything to take their chances in the goldfields to find fortune and a better life. Once they arrived, many found a very different reality in California. Chilean Argonauts were among the first foreign adventurers filled with hopes and aspirations to arrive in San Francisco Bay. However, because of the massive influx of miners and the enormous overcrowding, Chileans were also among the non-Natives targeted by growing antiforeigner sentiment. Their fantasy of wealth rapidly became a nightmare as whites viciously attacked Chilean settlements and the relationship between the two groups deteriorated into violence. Chileans were taxed and then expelled from the gold mines. Although a few Chileans chose to remain, most, fearful of the hostile environment and disillusioned by their experiences in California, returned to their homeland. (Whitaker, 1967)

News of Gold Reaches Chile

Chileans traveling to California came from all regions and social classes. Most of them departed from the strategically positioned port of Valparaiso and nearly all were filled with illusions. They had heard tall tales written in newspaper accounts, trumpeted in local theaters, or spread through town gossip. The stories described not only the gold in California, but also “the endless pine trees in the San Joaquin Valley, the thousands of cows that roamed the vast plains without owners, and the fields which had an eternal supply of vegetables.” To Chileans, California was the embodiment of the Garden of Eden, and America was the land of opportunity and equality, beckoning industrious men and women to wealth. (Rosales, 1973)

The port of Valparaiso, Chile, was one of the first in South America to send gold seekers to California. Not only were they first, but Chileans left other nations far behind. The Peruvian Argonauts set sail 79 days later than the first Chilean ships bound for California's gold.

News of the gold rush arrived in the trading port of Valparaiso on August 18, 1848, when a ship by the name of JRS entered the harbor and the captain reported that nearly half of his men had deserted their duties as sailors in San Francisco due to rumors of gold. Ten days later, his report was confirmed when the vessel Adelaide arrived with more than $2,500 in California gold dust aboard. Suddenly, gold fever struck the local populous with great force.

The journey from Valparaiso to San Francisco is about 6,700 miles and usually took less than two months. Travelers departing from Valparaiso enjoyed an advantage because they were perched on the Pacific Ocean. Their journey was considerably shorter and easier than that of people traveling around Cape Horn, via the Isthmus of Panama, or overland using the Oregon and California ...