Indigenous Erasure

Though it was fairly easy to rustle up gold at the beginning of the rush, by 1850 prospectors had to turn to more high-risk methods of extraction. On top of that, although it was getting harder to strike gold, there was still an influx of would-be prospectors flooding the state. Each of those factors coupled to eventually result in Native Americans being driven off their own land.

Some tried to resist, but this only led to increased violence as non-Native people launched attacks on Native villages. Pushed from their homelands, on which they relied for shelter and food, many starved to death.

The above woodcut shows members of a youth gang, the “Hounds,” attacking Chinese and Chilean contract laborers’ encampments.