History
1
Caught up in frenzied news of the gold discovery, thousands of gold seekers from around the world flooded into Coloma, drawn by California’s gold fields and the hope of a brighter future. Many left their homes for Coloma, including San Francisco residents who rushed out of the city and Oregon farmers who soon joined them. Desperate to reach California quickly and stake claims, some traveled overland by wagon, oxcart, or on foot, while emigrants from Hawaii, Australia, Mexico, Peru, Chile, and Europe endured grueling ocean voyages sustained by the dream of gold. For many men in China, the choice was to starve at home or risk everything in California, and in 1852 more than 20,000 fled famine and unrest there. By the end of the 1850s, Chinese immigrants made up 20 percent of some mining communities, laboring in “Gum Saan,” or the Golden Mountain, in search of gold flakes to support families left behind.
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Coloma, California · United States
