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Gold
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In April of 1846, two brothers in their 60's led a large group of friends and acquaintences from Illinois toward California. All was well until the Donner Party reached Fort Bridger (in the region that would later become Wyoming). There they heard of a new route that would shave 350 miles off their journey. That shortcut would cost nearly half of the group their lives, and the survivors would experience a living nightmare as one of the worst early snows in the Sierra Nevada Mountains cut them off 100 miles from civilization. Less than a year after the rescue of the surviving members of the Donner Party, James Marshall discovered gold at Sutter's Mill. Within another year, the once quiet Mexican province was teaming with 6,000 gold-seekers. But the gold ran out long before the prospectors did, and among many others, Marshall spent his golden years "bitter, lonely and poor." It was a rough time to live in the American West. |
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"When James Marshall was helping John Sutter build his saw mill, he discovered 'some kind of mettle found in the tail race' that he said 'looks like goald.' The tailrace is a streamway that takes water back into the river after it passes through the mill's water wheel."--Harrison |
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Experienced miners from Chile came in 1948-49 and used the Chilean Wheel (right) to crush ore. It was invented in the 16th century and based on machines used centuries earlier to crush olives. |
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Chinese workers came to mine too. They shopped at stores that had Chinese food and Chinese people selling it."--Amanda |
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"At Donner State Park I learned about the scary things that happened to the people in the Donner Party. There were 45 adults and 42 children. 42 people died on the trip and only 45 lived. They ran out of food and some of the people ate those that died."--Amanda |
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"Patty Reed had a doll that she kept under her dress when they traveled, even when her dad told her not to bring it. We saw her doll in the museum at Donner State Park. I'm glad she hid it so I could see it!"--Amanda
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"When the Donner Party realized they would have to wait for spring in the mountains, they made crude cabins to live in. They didn't have much food, but my dad thinks that they could have built a smokehouse to jerk the dead animals so they would last longer. But, maybe they just stuck them in the snow and froze them. Anyway, there wasn't enough food for all of them to survive."--Harrison |
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| http://www.teleport.com/~mhaller/ |
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PLEASE DONATE GENEROUSLY TO HELP THE VICTIMS OF HURRICANE KATRINA
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"Never
take no cut offs and hurry along as fast as you can." --Virginia
Reed, 12 years old
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