The California Gold Rush 加州淘金热

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The discovery of gold nuggets in the Sacramento Valley in early 1848 sparked the California Gold Rush, arguably one of the most significant events to shape American history during the first half of the 19th century. As news spread of the discovery, thousands of prospective gold miners traveled by sea or over land to San Francisco and the surrounding area.

1848年初在萨克拉门托山谷发现的金块引发了加利福尼亚淘金热，可以说是19世纪上半叶塑造美国历史的最重要事件之一。随着消息传开，数以千计的金矿商通过海路或陆路前往旧金山及其周边地区。

By the end of 1849, the non-native population of the California territory was some 100,000, compared with the pre-1848 figure of less than 1,000. A total of $2 billion worth of precious metal was extracted from the area during the Gold Rush, which peaked in 1852.

到1849年底，加州境内的非本地人口约为10万，而1848年以前的数字不到1000。在1852年达到淘金热顶峰期间，该地区共开采出价值20亿美元的黄金。

Discovery at Sutter's Mill 萨特磨坊的发现

On January 24, 1848, James Wilson Marshall, a carpenter originally from New Jersey, found flakes of gold in the American River at the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains near Coloma, California. At the time, Marshall was working to build a water-powered sawmill owned by John Sutter, a German-born Swiss citizen and founder of a colony of Nueva Helvetia (New Switzerland). The colony would later become the city of Sacramento. As Marshall later recalled of his historic discovery, "It made my heart thump, for I was certain it was gold."

1848年1月24日，一位来自新泽西的木匠，詹姆斯·威尔逊·马歇尔，在加利福尼亚州科洛马附近内华达山锡拉山脚的阿美利加河里发现了金片。当时，马歇尔正为出生于德国的瑞士公民约翰·萨特建造一家水力锯木厂；萨特是纽瓦·赫尔维蒂亚（新瑞士）殖民地的创始人。马歇尔后来回忆起他的历史性发现时说，我的心怦怦直跳，因为我确信那是金子。

Did you know? Miners extracted more than 750,000 pounds of gold during the California Gold Rush.

你知道吗，在加利福尼亚淘金热期间，矿工们开采了超过75万磅的黄金。

Days after Marshall's discovery at Sutter's Mill, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, ending the Mexican-American War and leaving California in the hands of the United States. 

马歇尔在萨特磨坊发现黄金后的几天，美国和墨西哥签署了《瓜达卢佩伊达尔戈条约》，结束了美墨战争，自此加利福尼亚由美国掌控。

At the time, the population of the territory consisted of 6,500 Californios, people of Spanishor Mexican descent; 700 foreigners (primarily Americans); and 150,000 Native Americans, barely half the number that had been there when Spanish settlers arrived in 1769.

当时，该地区的人口包括6,500名加利福尼亚人，主要是西班牙裔或墨西哥人；700名外国人（主要是美国人）；150,000名土著美国人，仅仅是西班牙殖民者1769年到达的人数的一半。

News Spreads 新闻传播

Though Marshall and Sutter tried to keep news of the discovery under wraps, word got out, and by mid-March, at least one newspaper was reporting that large quantities of gold were being turned up at Sutter's Mill. 

尽管马歇尔和萨特试图保密关于黄金的发现，但消息还是传出了，到3月中旬，至少有一家报纸公开报道说，萨特的磨坊里发现了大量黄金。

Though the initial reaction in San Francisco was disbelief, storekeeper Sam Brannan set off a frenzy when he paraded through town displaying a vial of gold obtained from Sutter's Creek. By mid-June, some three-quarters of the male population of San Francisco had left town for the gold mines, and the number of miners in the area reached 4,000 by August.

在旧金山，尽管人们最初的反应是不相信，但当小店主萨姆·布兰南在镇上展示从萨特溪获得的一小瓶黄金时，引起了一阵狂热。到6月中旬，旧金山约四分之三的男性人口前往金矿；到8月，该地区的矿工人数达到4000人。

As news spread of the fortunes being made in California, some of the first migrants to arrive were those from lands accessible by boat, such as Oregon, the Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii), Mexico, Chile, Peru and even China. When the news reach the East Coast, press reports were initially skeptical. 

随着加利福尼亚财富的消息传开，首批到达的移民是那些来自坐船可以到达的地方，比如俄勒冈、三明治群岛（即现在的夏威夷）、墨西哥、智利、秘鲁，甚至中国。当这一消息传到东海岸时，新闻报道最初持怀疑态度。

However, after December 1848, when President James K. Polk announced the positive results of a report made by Colonel Richard Mason, California's military governor, in his inaugural address, gold fever kicked off there in earnest. As Polk wrote, "The accounts of abundance of gold are of such an extraordinary character as would scarcely command belief were they not corroborated by the authentic reports of officers in the public service."

然而，1848年12月，美国总统詹姆斯·波尔克在就职演说中宣布了加州军事总督理查德·梅森上校的一份报告的积极成果，此后，黄金热就在那里真正掀起。波尔克所写道：“黄金储量的记载具有非凡的性质，如果没有公职人员的真实报告加以证实，几乎无法令人信服。”

The ’49ers Come to California “49年人”来到加利福尼亚

Throughout 1849, people around the United States - mostly men - borrowed money, mortgaged their property or spent their life savings to make the arduous journey to California. In pursuit of the kind of wealth they had never dreamed of, they left their families and hometowns. 

1849年，美国各地的人们（大多数是男性）通过借钱、抵押财产或用毕生积蓄，长途跋涉到来到利福尼亚。为了追求他们从未梦想过的那种财富，她们离开了家庭和家乡；

In turn, women left behind took on new responsibilities such as running farms or businesses and caring for their children alone. Thousands of would-be goldminers, known as '49ers, traveled overland across the mountains or by sea, sailing to Panama or even around Cape Horn, the southern most point of South America.

结果，留守妇女承担起了新的责任，如经营农场或企业，独自照顾子女。数千名被称为“49年人”的未来金矿商，通过陆路或海上航行，前往巴拿马，甚至绕过南美最南端的合恩角（来到加利福尼亚）。

By the end of the year, the non-native population of California was estimated at 100,000, as compared with 20,000 at the end of 1848 and around 800 in March 1848. To accommodate the needs of the ’49ers, gold mining towns had sprung up all over the region, complete with shops, saloons, brothels and other businesses seeking to make their own Gold Rush fortune. 

到年底，加州的外来人口估计为100000人，而1848年底为20000人，1848年3月约为800人。为了满足49年人的需求，这个地区到处都涌现出了金矿镇，商店、酒馆、妓院，和其他寻求自己淘金发财的商业场所应有尽有。

The overcrowded chaos of the mining camps and towns grew ever more lawless, including rampant banditry, gambling, prostitution and violence. San Francisco, for its part, developed a bustling economy and became the central metropolis of the new frontier.

采矿营地和城镇过度拥挤的混乱变得越来越无法无天，包括猖獗的土匪、赌博、卖淫和暴力。旧金山则发展了繁华的经济，成为新边疆的中心城市。

The Gold Rush sped up California's admission to the Union as the 31st state. In late 1849, California applied to enter the Union with a constitution that barred the Southern system of racial slavery, provoking a crisis in Congress between proponents of slavery and anti-slavery politicians. 

淘金热加速使加州成为美国第31个州。1849年底，加州申请加入联邦，宪法禁止南方种族奴隶制制度，引发了奴隶制支持者和反奴隶制政客之间的国会危机。

 According to the Compromise of 1850, proposed by Kentucky’s Senator Henry Clay, California was allowed to enter as a free state, while the territories of Utah and New Mexico were left open to decide the question for themselves.

根据肯塔基参议员亨利·克莱提出的1850妥协方案，加利福尼亚被允许作为自由州加入，而犹他和新墨西哥的领土则保持开放，让他们自己决定自己的问题。

California's Mines After the Gold Rush 淘金热后的加州矿山

After 1850, the surface gold in California largely disappeared, even as miners continued to arrive. Mining had always been difficult and dangerous labor, and striking it rich required good luck as muchas skill and hard work. Moreover, the average daily take for an independent miner working with his pick and shovel had by then sharply decreased from what it had been in 1848. 

1850年之后，加州的地表黄金基本上消失了，尽管淘金者还在陆续抵达。采矿一直是一项艰苦而危险的劳动，要想一铲暴富，除了技术和艰苦的工作外，还需要好运。此外，一个独立的矿工用他的镐和铲子工作的平均每日消耗量从1848年的水平急剧下降。

As gold became more and more difficult to reach, the growing industrialization of mining drove more and more miners from independence into wage labor. The new technique of hydraulic mining, developed in 1853, brought enormous profits but destroyed much of the region's landscape.

随着黄金越来越难以获得，采矿业日益工业化，迫使越来越多的矿工从独立淘金者变成雇佣劳动力。1853年开发的水力采矿新技术带来了巨大的利润，但破坏了该地区的大部分地貌。

Though gold mining continued throughout the 1850s, it had reached its peak by 1852, when some $81 million was pulled from the ground. After that year, the total take declined gradually, leveling off to around $45 million per year by 1857. Settlement in California continued, however, and by the end of the decade the state's population was 380,000.

尽管黄金开采在整个19世纪50年代都在继续，但在1852年达到了顶峰，当年从地上开采了8100万美元的黄金。在那一年之后，总收入逐渐下降，到1857年稳定在每年4500万美元左右。然而，加州的定居仍在继续，到十九世纪五十年代末，该州人口为38万。

Things You May Not Know About the California Gold Rush 关于加州淘金热你可能不知道的事情

California did not have the first gold rush in American history.

美国历史上，第一次淘金热并不是发生在加州。

That honor actually belongs to North Carolina. Fifty years before gold was discovered at Sutter's mill, the first gold rush in American history got underway after a 17-pound gold nugget was found in Cabarrus County, North Carolina. Eventually, more than 30,000 peoplein the Tar Heel state were mining for gold, and for more than 30 years all gold coins issued by the U.S. Mint were produced using North Carolina gold.

这个荣誉实际上属于北卡罗来纳州。在萨特磨坊发现黄金50年前，在北卡罗来纳州卡巴鲁斯县发现一块17磅重的金块后，美国历史上第一次淘金热就开始了。最终，有超过3万人在焦油脚跟州开采黄金，30多年来，美国造币厂发行的所有金币都是用北卡罗来纳州的黄金生产的。

The Gold Rush was the largest mass migration in U.S. history.

淘金热是美国历史上规模最大的大规模移民。

In March 1848, there were roughly 157,000 people in the California territory; 150,000 Native Americans, 6,500 of Spanishor Mexican descent known as Californios and fewer than 800 non-native Americans. Just 20 months later, following the massive influx of settlers, the non-native population had soared to more than 100,000. And the people just kept coming. 

1848年3月，加利福尼亚境内人口大约是157,000，150,000的美洲土著人，6,500的西班牙人或墨西哥人，也叫做加利福尼亚人，只有不到800的非美国裔人。仅仅20个月后，随着大批定居者的涌入，外来人口激增至10万多人，并且还有更多的人正在来的路上。

By the mid 1850s there were more than 300,000 new arrivals - and one in every 90 people in the United States was living in California. All of these people, and all of this money, helped fast track California to statehood. In 1850, just two years after the U.S. government had purchased the land, California became the 31st state in the Union.

到了19世纪50年代中期，美国有超过30万的新移民，每90个人中就有一个住在加州。所有这些人（和所有这些钱）帮助加州快速发展成为一个州。1850年，在美国政府买下这块土地两年后，加州成为美国第31个州。

More fortunes were made by merchants than by miners.

商人比矿工赚的钱多。

▲John Studebaker

约翰·斯图德贝克

As the boom continued, more and more men got out of the gold-hunting business and began to open businesses catering to newly arrived prospectors. In fact, some of America's greatest industrialists got their start in the Gold Rush. Phillip Armour, who would later found a meatpacking empire in Chicago, made a fortune operating the sluices that controlled the flow of water into the rivers being mined. 

随着经济的持续繁荣，越来越多的人从淘金行业中脱身，开始为新来的探矿者开设服务业务。事实上，美国一些最伟大的实业家是从淘金热开始的。如芝加哥肉类加工帝国创始人菲利普·阿莫尔，就是靠经营水流控制闸挖了第一桶金。

Before John Studebaker built one of America's great automobile fortunes, he manufactured wheelbarrows for Gold Rush miners. And two entrepreneurial bankers named Henry Wells and William Fargo moved west to open an office in San Francisco, an enterprise that soon grew to become one of America's premier banking institutions. One of the biggest mercantile success stories was that of Levi Strauss. 

约翰·斯图德贝克在创造美国汽车业的一大财富之前，他先是为淘金者制造手推车。两位企业家银行家亨利·威尔斯和威廉·法戈也是此时搬到西部，在旧金山开设了一家办事处，这家企业很快就成长为美国首屈一指的银行机构之一。利维施特劳斯则是商业上最大的成功案例之一。

A German-born tailor, Strauss arrived in San Francisco in 1850 with plans to open a store selling canvas tarps and wagon coverings to the miners. After hearing that sturdy work pants - ones that could withstand the punishing16-hour days regularly put in by miners - were more in demand, he shifted gears, opening a store in downtown San Francisco that would eventually become a manufacturing empire, producing Levi's denim jeans.

施特劳斯出生于德国，1850年来到旧金山，计划开一家商店，向矿工出售帆布防水布和马车覆盖物。听说那些能经受住矿工们16小时的日常劳作的结实的工作裤更受欢迎，他改变了主意，在旧金山市中心开了一家商店，这家商店最终成为一个制造业帝国，生产Levi's 牛仔裤。

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