OLarkins Gold rush
... The author, an influential merchant of Monterey who was the first and only American Consul to the Mexican government and a confidential agent of the United States, writes an account of the gold discovery from San Francisco and keeps close watch over all that went on. ... Larkin gave a precious insight of the fever which took hold of California when gold was discovered in first monthes of 1848 at the end of the war against Mexico, which lasted two years. He gives a lot of details about the aspects of this phenomenon and informs the reader of the uncertain future of the Gold Rush. In a first part, it will be interesting to lay the stress on the caracteristics of the Gold Rush in the Sacramento Valley, and then, we will concentrate on the impact of this frantic rush on the region. In this document, the author deals with the aspects of the Gold Rush. ... Since January 1848, when Sutter and Marshall, who worked in a sawmill in the area of Sacramento valley discovered gold in the river, people never stopped to arrive there with the purpose of makig a fortune. Larkin insists on the easiness for people to find gold freely, thanks to everyday implements, and to become rich in a few weeks contrary to the difficulty for miners to find some the underground. ... References to money are numerous in the letter: gold has become a new currency – being at the basis of trade – and disproportional prices appear.