After the Gold Rush

It is a commonly held belief that there are three main categories of precious metals, so-called because of how often one finds them, how much one pay’s for them and whether they are metallic and are borne from the earth’s crust. 

Their use and application seem limitless; from art and design to medicine and electronics, it is fascinating to realise that their practical applications extend far beyond the vanity of adornment.

In the olden days of 3100 B.C, archaeologists say there is evidence of a gold/silver value ratio to be found in the codes of Menes, a clever Pharaoh and the founder of the first Egyptian dynasty, who stated that one part of gold is equal to 'two and one half' parts of silver. This is the earliest indication of a value relationship between gold and silver. 

Of all of the metals we deem precious, one could say with a degree of confidence, that is it gold that has extended the deepest and most pervasive influence on our modern lives. The Californian Gold Rush (1849 - 1855) shaped not only California and America, but also some of the world we know today. 

Taking place in the foothills of the Nevada Mountains, the fast dash for precious metal took place against the backdrop of the Industrial Revolution, a time when everyone was cheerful and optimistic about the big, new, shiny country called America. Old nations, Europe and Asia, were yesterday’s news and the immigrant influx to the Wild West was unparalleled.

All those nuggets resulted in the rapid expansion of manufacturing, transportation and the service industries, as entrepreneurial newcomers took advantage of the demand for mining materials, lumber, hardy clothing and the means through which to move them. Levi Strauss invented denim which remains a popular fabric today.

However, the economic, socio-demographic and social outcomes present today as being a mixed blessing.

Regular losers in the forging of America, the Native American’s, were rounded up and regularly butchered, as white people demanded ‘security’ and more 'civilised' governance. Purification and refinery was a toxic business and the environmental impact was profound, but ignored. To be fair, no-one had a scooby-do about concepts like non-renewable resources and when you looked out the door of your little tent, everything must have seemed vast and infinite. It was not.

Boomtowns came and went but within a decade San Francisco had established itself as a vibrant metropolis with a population of almost 60,000 peoples from right across the globe. With the apparent religious freedoms offered, it was the foundation of a type of liberalism that still extends its influence in the 21st century, even though that now seems a bit hidden.

Some of the greediest miners established long-standing familial legacies that extend today into American and International politics, commerce, and industry, whilst the revolution in transportation paved the way for national and international interconnectivity and infrastructure across the globe. It is now much easier to purchase seasonal summer fruits in the middle of the British winter.