In 1849, the United States experienced a different event closely related to commodities. Gold was discovered in California. Thousands of people traveled across the continent to attempt to get a crack at the gold. Gold has been a coveted commodity for thousands of years. Even Egyptian, Mayan, and other ancient cultures understood the value of gold as a means of trade. Gold was not easy for people to excavate and eventually most of the gold was too deep for the average miner to reach. However, there were lasting impacts of the Gold Rush on California. Specifically, the people who had traveled there to strike it rich, didn't tend to rush back home, they often settled in the area and by the 1860s California had a population of around 380,000 people. People even tried to make money by sharing their secrets to finding gold. Below is a newspaper article with the "secret art of finding mines."
People also utilized people's desire to get rich quick by charging money for quick transport to the "gold regions" of California. Check out the advertisement below. Would you pay to get to California faster and try to get your share of the gold?
Sources:
http://www.history.com/topics/gold-rush-of-1849
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