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133-617: The Middle Fork was one of the richest gold mining areas during the California Gold Rush of the 1850s, and is still recreationally mined today. The river is dammed extensively to produce hydroelectricity and provide domestic water supply. Although long stretches of the Middle Fork have been dewatered by diversions, the portion of the river and canyon in the Auburn State Recreation Area is one of

266-471: A businessman who went on to great success was Levi Strauss , who first began selling denim overalls in San Francisco in 1853. Other businessmen reaped great rewards in retail, shipping, entertainment, lodging, or transportation. Boardinghouses, food preparation, sewing, and laundry were highly profitable businesses often run by women (married, single, or widowed) who realized men would pay well for

399-483: A few years, there was an important but lesser-known surge of prospectors into far Northern California, specifically into present-day Siskiyou , Shasta and Trinity Counties . Discovery of gold nuggets at the site of present-day Yreka in 1851 brought thousands of gold-seekers up the Siskiyou Trail and throughout California's northern counties. Settlements of the gold rush era, such as Portuguese Flat on

532-633: A gold rush in the region. The Mexican–American War ended on May 30 with the ratification of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo , which formally transferred California to the United States. Having sworn all concerned at the mill to secrecy, in February 1848, Sutter sent Charles Bennett to Monterey to meet with Colonel Mason, the chief U.S. official in California, to secure the mineral rights of

665-476: A large sea; underwater volcanoes deposited lava and minerals (including gold) onto the sea floor. By tectonic forces these minerals and rocks came to the surface of the Sierra Nevada, and eroded . Water carried the exposed gold downstream and deposited it in quiet gravel beds along the sides of old rivers and streams. The forty-niners first focused their efforts on these deposits of gold. Because

798-582: A lesser extent, grasslands. The Placer County Grove, located just northwest of the Middle Fork/Duncan Creek confluence, is the northernmost and most isolated grove of giant sequoias in California. It contains six trees, believed to range from 1,000 to 2,000 years old; the Joffre Tree is the tallest, standing 250 feet (76 m) high. Due to fire suppression since the beginning of the 20th century, white fir has become more prevalent in

931-623: A man-made tunnel blasted out during the California Gold Rush , in order to dewater part of the river bed for mining. The Middle Fork delineates the Placer County (north)–El Dorado County line from Oxbow Dam all the way until its confluence with the North Fork. Near Foresthill the Middle Fork leaves the western boundary of the Tahoe/Eldorado National Forests and enters the Auburn State Recreation Area in

1064-488: A method that involved digging a shaft 6 to 13 meters (20 to 43 ft) deep into placer deposits along a stream. Tunnels were then dug in all directions to reach the richest veins of pay dirt . In the most complex placer mining, groups of prospectors would divert the water from an entire river into a sluice alongside the river and then dig for gold in the newly exposed river bottom. Modern estimates are that as much as 12 million ounces (370  t ) of gold were removed in

1197-454: A possession of the United States, but it was not a formal " territory " and did not become a state until September 9, 1850. California existed in the unusual condition of a region under military control. There was no civil legislature, executive or judicial body for the entire region. Local residents operated under a confusing and changing mixture of Mexican rules, American principles, and personal dictates. Lax enforcement of federal laws, such as

1330-410: A previously claimed site. Disputes were often handled personally and violently, and were sometimes addressed by groups of prospectors acting as arbitrators . This often led to heightened ethnic tensions. In some areas the influx of many prospectors could lead to a reduction of the existing claim size by simple pressure. Approximately four hundred million years ago, California lay at the bottom of

1463-415: A prospector, but that claim was valid only as long as it was being actively worked. Miners worked at a claim only long enough to determine its potential. If a claim was deemed as low-value—as most were—miners would abandon the site in search of a better one. In the case where a claim was abandoned or not worked upon, other miners would "claim-jump" the land. "Claim-jumping" meant that a miner began work on

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1596-652: A series of long parallel ridges. With the Forest Hill Divide forming the northern boundary of the watershed, the major ridges heading south are Deadwood, Mosquito, Red Star, Ralston/Chipmunk and Nevada Point Ridges. The sole exception to this drainage pattern is the headwaters of the Rubicon River, which flow in a northwesterly direction before turning southwest. The watershed is sparsely populated. The largest communities are Georgetown and Foresthill, which respectively had populations of 2,367 and 1,483 as of

1729-413: A service done by a woman. Brothels also brought in large profits, especially when combined with saloons and gaming houses. By 1855, the economic climate had changed dramatically. Gold could be retrieved profitably from the goldfields only by medium to large groups of workers, either in partnerships or as employees. By the mid-1850s, it was the owners of these gold-mining companies who made the money. Also,

1862-624: A small gold nugget in the roots among the bulbs. He looked further and found more gold. Lopez took the gold to authorities who confirmed its worth. Lopez and others began to search for other streambeds with gold deposits in the area. They found several in the northeastern section of the forest, within present-day Ventura County . In November, some of the gold was sent to the U.S. Mint , although otherwise attracted little notice. In 1843, Lopez found gold in San Feliciano Canyon near his first discovery. Mexican miners from Sonora worked

1995-510: A small number (probably fewer than 500) traveled overland from the United States that year. Some of these "forty-eighters", as the earliest gold-seekers were sometimes called, were able to collect large amounts of easily accessible gold—in some cases, thousands of dollars worth each day. Even ordinary prospectors averaged daily gold finds worth 10 to 15 times the daily wage of a laborer on the East Coast. A person could work for six months in

2128-531: A state . At the beginning of the gold rush, there was no law regarding property rights in the goldfields and a system of "staking claims" was developed. Prospectors retrieved the gold from streams and riverbeds using simple techniques, such as panning . Although mining caused environmental harm, more sophisticated methods of gold recovery were developed and later adopted around the world. New methods of transportation developed as steamships came into regular service. By 1869, railroads were built from California to

2261-413: A tiny settlement before the rush began. When residents learned about the discovery, it at first became a ghost town of abandoned ships and businesses, but then boomed as merchants and new people arrived. The population of San Francisco increased quickly from about 1,000 in 1848 to 25,000 full-time residents by 1850. Miners lived in tents, wood shanties, or deck cabins removed from abandoned ships. There

2394-400: A tunnel through a ridge, diverting the Middle Fork away from the long oxbow of Horseshoe Bar and allowing the river bed to be mined for gold. This was the first mining tunnel driven in California. Over time, the river downcut its own bed, exposing a bedrock ledge that blocked the flow of water through the tunnel and reestablished its course through the oxbow. In order to force the river back into

2527-598: A way to cross the Sierra Nevada via the American River, though they later did cross the Sierra Nevada via Ebbetts Pass becoming the first non-natives to do so. After the discovery of gold on the South Fork American River at Coloma in 1848, miners soon flocked to the Middle and North Forks as well. Less than two years later, nearly 10,000 miners had staked claims on the Middle Fork, with some of

2660-480: A winding 100-mile (160 km) course through the canyons of the Middle Fork and its tributaries from Auburn to Squaw Valley . The first third of the trail from Auburn to Foresthill closely follows the Middle Fork canyon; parts of the trail were built on the alignment of old mining ditches, and are relatively flat. East of Foresthill the trail ascends into the North Fork Middle Fork before rejoining

2793-565: Is also larger, extending to the Desolation Wilderness and draining a large part of northern El Dorado County. Like the upper Middle Fork, the Rubicon is almost entirely diverted for power generation. The diverted water is returned to the Middle Fork at Ralston Afterbay (Oxbow Reservoir), located directly below the confluence of the Middle Fork and Rubicon River at an elevation of 1,168 ft (356 m). A short distance below

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2926-483: Is also very popular on both forks of the river, with Class II, III and IV runs. Auburn SRA is also known as the location of a number of endurance races that are hosted throughout the year. Auburn SRA comprises lands set aside for the proposed Auburn Dam . However a large earthquake at Oroville nearby was found to have been caused by the Oroville Dam at that location, which led to examination and discovery that

3059-400: Is at its lowest. The impact on the annual hydrograph is shown in the below charts (French Meadows and Hell Hole reservoirs were created in 1964 and 1996, respectively): Middle Fork monthly mean discharge at Auburn, 1911–1966 (cfs) Middle Fork monthly mean discharge at Auburn, 1966–1986 (cfs) The Middle Fork watershed contains numerous distinct plant communities. A study conducted by

3192-516: Is considered hardwood-conifer forests, which are dominated by oaks with more dispersed stands of conifers. White fir forests are the second largest group, comprising about 22 percent of the total area. Red fir forests, encompassing about 13 percent of the total, are found mostly at higher elevations. At lower elevations, hardwood forests cover about 11 percent of the watershed, mostly on hillsides and in canyons. Certain south-facing slopes at lower elevations are dominated by chaparral and to

3325-474: Is diverted for power generation. It receives Big Mosquito Creek from the right and makes a large bend around the north side of Tanner Point. The Middle Fork continues west towards the western end of Ralston Ridge, north of Balderson Station, where it is joined by its largest tributary, the Rubicon River . The Rubicon is significantly longer than the Middle Fork above their confluence, and its drainage basin

3458-564: Is located here at Ruck-A-Chucky Falls just north of Greenwood . Below Ruck-A-Chucky the Middle Fork makes an abrupt southward jog before turning west-southwest again, joining the North Fork at "The Confluence" at an elevation of 538 ft (164 m). The Confluence is just east of Auburn , directly upstream of Highway 49 and below the Foresthill Bridge . The Middle Fork American River watershed encompasses 616 square miles (1,600 km), which represents about 33 percent of

3591-622: Is now the Auburn State Recreation Area. It would have inundated numerous features along the Middle Fork including parts of the Western States Trail, American Canyon, the Mammoth Bar OHV area, and Ruck-a-Chucky Falls. During preliminary work on the dam, a unique curved cable-stayed bridge was proposed to span the Middle Fork arm of the reservoir at Ruck-a-Chucky. Rather than using support piers,

3724-513: Is routed from here down the Hell Hole–Middle Fork Tunnel. At the end of the tunnel water plunges 1,479 ft (451 m) to the 122.4 MW Middle Fork Powerhouse at Interbay Reservoir, which is located on the Middle Fork about 15 miles (24 km) downstream of French Meadows. The Interbay Reservoir intercepts tributary inflows that enter the Middle Fork below French Meadows, which together with flows from Hell Hole are diverted into

3857-416: Is that some US$ 80 million worth of California gold (equivalent to US$ 2.6 billion today) was sent to France by French prospectors and merchants. A majority of the gold went back to New York City brokerage houses. As the gold rush progressed, local banks and gold dealers issued "banknotes" or "drafts"—locally accepted paper currency—in exchange for gold, and private mints created private gold coins . With

3990-733: The Accessory Transit Company . Many gold-seekers took the overland route across the continental United States, particularly along the California Trail . Each of these routes had its own deadly hazards, from shipwreck to typhoid fever and cholera . In the early years of the rush, much of the population growth in the San Francisco area was due to steamship travel from New York City through overland portages in Nicaragua and Panama and then back up by steamship to San Francisco. While traveling, many steamships from

4123-614: The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 , encouraged the arrival of free blacks and escaped slaves. While the treaty ending the Mexican–American War obliged the United States to honor Mexican land grants, almost all the goldfields were outside those grants. Instead, the goldfields were primarily on " public land ", meaning land formally owned by the United States government. However, there were no legal rules yet in place, and no practical enforcement mechanisms. The benefit to

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4256-757: The Isthmus of Panama and the steamships of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company . Australians and New Zealanders picked up the news from ships carrying Hawaiian newspapers, and thousands, infected with "gold fever", boarded ships for California. Forty-niners came from Latin America, particularly from the Mexican mining districts near Sonora and Chile. Gold-seekers and merchants from Asia, primarily from China, began arriving in 1849, at first in modest numbers to Gum San (" Gold Mountain "),

4389-506: The Palisades Tahoe Ski Resort , and about 10 miles (16 km) west of Lake Tahoe . The headwaters are in a rugged granite basin fed by multiple streams including one flowing from Little Needle Lake. The river flows west, turning southwest where it receives Talbot Creek from the right, through the high mountain valley of French Meadows. Several campgrounds and numerous public trails are located along this upper reach of

4522-655: The Sacramento River , sprang into existence and then faded. The Gold Rush town of Weaverville on the Trinity River today retains the oldest continuously used Taoist temple in California, a legacy of Chinese miners who came. While there are not many Gold Rush era ghost towns still in existence, the remains of the once-bustling town of Shasta have been preserved in a California State Historic Park in Northern California. By 1850, most of

4655-543: The San Francisco Bay in 1849, only 700 were women (including those who were poor, wealthy, entrepreneurs, prostitutes, single, and married). They were of various ethnicities including Anglo-American, African-American, Hispanic , Native , European, Chinese, and Jewish. The reasons they came varied: some came with their husbands, refusing to be left behind to fend for themselves, some came because their husbands sent for them, and others came (singles and widows) for

4788-637: The Southern Pacific main line south of Auburn. In order to allow freight trains access to the quarry itself, a tunnel was excavated underneath the cave system near river level; the cave itself was left undisturbed. The railroad was abandoned in 1939 though most of its alignment, including the well known Mountain Quarries Bridge ("No Hands Bridge") just downstream of the Middle Fork-North Fork confluence, remains as part of

4921-416: The U.S. Forest Service , with the balance split between the U.S. Bureau of Land Management , the state of California, and private landowners. In the lower part of the watershed, below the confluence with the Rubicon River, about half of the land is privately owned, with rural residential and some logging as the major uses. The Middle Fork is one of the highest precipitation watersheds on the western slope of

5054-488: The tailrace of a lumber mill he was building for Sacramento pioneer John Sutter —known as Sutter's Mill , near Coloma on the American River . Marshall brought what he found to Sutter, and the two privately tested the metal. After the tests showed that it was gold, Sutter expressed dismay, wanting to keep the news quiet because he feared what would happen to his plans for an agricultural empire if there were

5187-403: The "first world-class gold rush," there was no easy way to get to California; forty-niners faced hardship and often death on the way. At first, most Argonauts , as they were also known, traveled by sea. From the East Coast, a sailing voyage around the tip of South America would take four to five months, and cover approximately 18,000 nautical miles (21,000 mi; 33,000 km). An alternative

5320-518: The 2010 census. There is also a number of smaller unincorporated communities including Todd Valley , Michigan Bluff , and Volcanoville , all of which began life as mining camps during the Gold Rush. The largest nearby city is Auburn, which with about 13,000 people is one of the northeasternmost communities in the Sacramento metropolitan area . About 75 percent of the watershed is managed by

5453-578: The Auburn dam site is situated on a geologic fault . This discovery halted the Auburn Dam project because of fears that constructing a dam and lake would cause a reservoir-induced earthquake which could lead to a dam's collapse, with catastrophic consequences for the city of Sacramento lying directly below. As such the project has been abandoned. The project had required the acquisition of 40,000 acres of land, much of it privately held, potentially against

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5586-421: The California foreign miners tax passed in 1851, targeted mainly Latino miners and kept them from making as much money as whites, who did not have any taxes imposed on them. In California most late arrivals made little or wound up losing money. Similarly, many unlucky merchants set up in settlements that disappeared, or which succumbed to one of the calamitous fires that swept the towns that sprang up. By contrast,

5719-559: The Georgetown Divide and by 1874 owned 300 miles (480 km) of ditches, flumes and pipes. Much of this water came from Pilot Creek, a tributary of the Rubicon River. Although many of these ditches fell into disuse after the Gold Rush, some remain in use as irrigation systems, while others have been converted to hiking or horse trails. Mining had a significant environmental impact on the Middle Fork and beyond, as entire hillsides loosened by hydraulic operations sloughed down into

5852-491: The MFP is French Meadows Reservoir, which impounds up to 134,993 acre-feet (166,511 ML) of water from the upper Middle Fork. The water is diverted through French Meadows-Hell Hole Tunnel to Hell Hole Reservoir , a 207,590 acre-feet (256,060 ML) impoundment of the Rubicon River. Nearly the entire combined flow of the Middle Fork and Rubicon Rivers, except for a minimum dam release for fish and occasional spill of floodwaters,

5985-546: The Methodist church deemed it necessary to send missionaries there to preach the gospel, as churches in that part of the state were not to be found. The first missionary to arrive was William Taylor who arrived in San Francisco in September 1849. For many months he preached in the streets to hundreds of people without salary, and ultimately after saving often generous donations from successful miners, he built and established

6118-688: The Middle Fork Project, the Upper American River Project (owned by Sacramento Municipal Utility District ) diverts a significant amount of water from the upper Rubicon River into a separate hydroelectric system along the South Fork of the American River. It operates several reservoirs in the upper Rubicon drainage, the largest being Loon Lake . The annual diversion from the Rubicon River is about 180,000 acre-feet (220,000 ML). The Western States Trail follows

6251-429: The Middle Fork and Rubicon rivers for power generation. There are five powerhouses with a rated capacity of 224 megawatts (MW), although average generation is about half of that. The highest annual generation was 1,815,000 MWh (6534 TJ) in 1983 and the lowest was 211,000 MWh (760 TJ) in 1977. All electricity produced by the project is distributed by Pacific Gas & Electric Company . The highest elevation reservoir of

6384-556: The Middle Fork at the top of Red Star Ridge overlooking French Meadows Reservoir. It then follows the northern ridge of the Middle Fork valley through the river's headwaters at the Sierra Crest before reaching Squaw Valley. The trail also links to the American River Parkway at its western end, allowing hikers and equestrians to travel all the way from Sacramento. There are many other trails that provide access from

6517-724: The Middle Fork begins to form the boundary between the Tahoe National Forest on the north and the Eldorado National Forest on the south, almost to its confluence with the North Fork. It turns south-southwest, flowing through an extremely steep canyon, descending about 1,600-foot (490 m) in 10 miles (16 km) to its confluence with Duncan Creek at 3,379 ft (1,030 m) above sea level. The Middle Fork's canyons, often exceeding 2,000 ft (610 m) in depth, are bounded by extensive high ridges on either side, with Red Star and Chipmunk Ridges to

6650-493: The Middle Fork between 1849 and 1863. The Middle Fork continued producing large amounts of placer gold into the 1880s, more than 20 years after most nearby streams had been exhausted. Prospectors exploring the side canyons of the Middle Fork soon discovered that the auriferous (gold-bearing) gravels originated from strata about 2,000 ft (610 m) above the river. These auriferous gravels are actually ancient river beds, which over millions of years were eroded away resulting in

6783-420: The Middle Fork is limited due to the rocky substrate, heavy sedimentation, and frequent flooding that scours the river channel; however, many smaller tributaries host healthy riparian zones. Except for the headwaters, the Middle Fork is generally a wide, gravel-bedded stream with a pool and riffle morphology. Water quality in the Middle Fork is considered fair to good, but fish spawning habitat has been reduced by

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6916-538: The Middle Fork of the American River Restoration Project (2011) identified five forest types in the upper Middle Fork and the North Fork Middle Fork watersheds. Mixed conifer forests, consisting mainly of ponderosa pine , sugar pine , Jeffrey pine , incense-cedar , white fir , Douglas fir , black oak and interior live oak , encompass 51 percent of this area, mostly at elevations below 5,000 feet (1,500 m). Some of this area

7049-466: The Middle Fork, although this represented only a fraction of the total since much of it has already been washed downstream in the preceding decades. In 1935 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was authorized to construct several dams in the American River basin to trap sediment. The North Fork was dammed in 1938–39 to form Lake Clementine . Nearby on the Middle Fork, the Army Corps began construction on

7182-533: The Middle Fork-Ralston Tunnel, and fall another 1,105 ft (337 m) to the 79.2 MW Ralston Powerhouse, located on Oxbow Reservoir at the confluence of the Middle Fork and Rubicon Rivers. Oxbow Reservoir (Ralston Afterbay) serves as a regulating pool to allow the hydroelectric plants to operate on a peaking schedule while releasing a relatively stable flow downstream. In addition to the two main powerhouses, there are smaller powerhouses at

7315-638: The Modocs . The first people to rush to the goldfields, beginning in the spring of 1848, were the residents of California themselves—primarily agriculturally oriented Americans and Europeans living in Northern California , along with Native Californians and some Californios (Spanish-speaking Californians; at the time, commonly referred to in English as simply 'Californians'). These first miners tended to be families in which everyone helped in

7448-639: The Native American population's decline from disease, starvation, and the California genocide . The effects of the gold rush were substantial. Whole indigenous societies were attacked and pushed off their lands by the gold-seekers, called "forty-niners" (referring to 1849, the peak year for gold rush immigration). Outside of California, the first to arrive were from Oregon , the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), and Latin America in late 1848. Of

7581-424: The North Fork confluence, is the most dangerous rapid on the Middle Fork and is portaged by all commercial outfitters and most private boaters. Commercial rafting trips were first done on this section in 1981 by three companies. Today multiple commercial rafting companies offer trips on this section May–September. The Mammoth Bar OHV Area is located next to the river near Auburn. The popular motorcycle/ATV riding area

7714-650: The North and Middle Forks of the American River . The state recreation area (SRA) is situated on the border of Placer and El Dorado Counties in the heart of historic Gold Country . The largest city with close proximity is the city of Auburn . Once teeming with gold mining activity, the area now offers a wide variety of outdoor recreational opportunities. Major recreational uses include trail running , hiking , swimming , boating , fishing , camping , mountain biking , gold panning , horseback riding , road bicycling, and off-highway motorcycle riding. Whitewater recreation

7847-497: The Rubicon River upstream of there. Various other wildlife species are found along the Middle Fork including deer, black bears, mountain lions, bobcats, river otters, golden eagles, and bald eagles. More than 20 endangered, threatened or sensitive wildlife species have been found in the watershed, including the Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog , California red-legged frog and California spotted owl . The Middle Fork canyon

7980-476: The Ruck-a-Chucky dam, but work was stopped in 1940 due to landslides at the dam site. The diversion of Army resources at the onset of World War II postponed this project indefinitely. In 1906 John C. Hawver, an Auburn dentist, discovered large limestone caverns along the lower Middle Fork canyon north of Cool at a height of some 700 feet (210 m) above the river. Some 400 specimens were removed from

8113-486: The Sierra Nevada, with an annual average of 50 inches (1,300 mm) with a range of 40 to 70 inches (1,000 to 1,800 mm) from the foothills to the mountains. Since the area experiences a Mediterranean climate , most of the precipitation occurs between November and March. At elevations higher than 5,000 ft (1,500 m), most precipitation falls as snow; elevations higher than 6,000 ft (1,800 m) are often covered in snow until late May or early June. Flows in

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8246-535: The Western States Trail. In the early 2000s, Hawver Cave was blocked off indefinitely by county officials after persistent vandalism. In 1863 William Brewer had crossed the Sierra Nevada via the Middle Fork and Squaw Valley, accomplishing what Jedediah Smith had failed to do almost 40 years earlier. The old Native American trail Brewer had followed was subsequently used by some miners during the silver boom in Nevada, but due to its ruggedness and lack of water along much of

8379-547: The adventure and economic opportunities. On the trail many people died from accidents, cholera , fever, and myriad other causes, and many women became widows before even setting eyes on California. While in California, women became widows quite frequently due to mining accidents , disease, or mining disputes of their husbands. Life in the goldfields offered opportunities for women to break from their traditional work. Because of many thousands of people flooding into California at Sacramento and San Francisco and surrounding areas,

8512-480: The approximately 300,000 people who came to California during the gold rush, about half arrived by sea and half came overland on the California Trail and the California Road ; forty-niners often faced substantial hardships on the trip. While most of the newly arrived were Americans, the gold rush attracted thousands from Latin America, Europe, Australia, and China. Agriculture and ranching expanded throughout

8645-996: The area under a contract with the United States Bureau of Reclamation . The state park is host to a number of sporting endurance events with the City of Auburn declaring itself as the "Endurance Capital of the World." Endurance held within the park include the Western States Endurance Run , Western States Trail Ride also known as Tevis Cup Equestrian Ride, American River 50 Mile Endurance Run , American River 50 Mile Equestrian Ride, Way Too Cool 50 Kilometer Endurance Run, Auburn International Half Iron Triathlon, Auburn Century 100 Mile Bike Ride, Coolest 24 Hour Mountain Bike Ride, Rio Del Lago 100 Mile Endurance Run, Sierra Nevada 50 Mile Endurance Run, and

8778-663: The bridge cables would have been anchored directly to bolts in the canyon walls. Due to concerns about earthquake safety and strong public opposition, Auburn Dam was never completed, and the bridge project ended with it. The Middle Fork is dammed in its upper reaches by the Middle Fork Project, operated by the Placer County Water Agency (PCWA) to provide domestic water supply and power for communities including Auburn and Roseville . The project generates an average of 1,030,000 megawatt hours (MWh) (3708 TJ ) annually, utilizing 452,000 acre-feet (558,000 ML) from

8911-587: The building of the San Francisco Mint in 1854, gold bullion was turned into official United States gold coins for circulation. The gold was also later sent by California banks to U.S. national banks in exchange for national paper currency to be used in the booming California economy . The arrival of hundreds of thousands of new people in California within a few years, compared to a population of some 15,000 Europeans and Californios beforehand, had many dramatic effects. A 2017 study attributes

9044-777: The city of Roseville, and the Sacramento Suburban Water District. Water is delivered from the American River Pump Station, and PCWA is required to maintain a minimum 75 cu ft/s (2.1 m/s) flow below the station at all times. In dry years, the California Department of Water Resources may require PCWA to release additional water to maintain stream flows in the lower American River. However, PCWA has estimated that due to urban population growth, water demand may exceed its allocation before 2057. In addition to

9177-538: The city of Sacramento from damage. The flood surge of 260,000 cubic feet per second (7,400 m/s) may have exceeded in magnitude any natural flood since the Pleistocene . The dam was rebuilt and completed in 1966. In 1965 the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation was authorized to construct the Auburn Dam , which would have backed water up the North and Middle Forks for some 40 miles (64 km), flooding most of what

9310-515: The clear intent to distinguish their higher class power over those that could not afford those accommodations. Supply ships arrived in San Francisco with goods to supply the needs of the growing population. When hundreds of ships were abandoned after their crews deserted to go into the goldfields, many ships were converted to warehouses, stores, taverns, hotels, and one into a jail. As the city expanded and new places were needed on which to build, many ships were destroyed and used as landfill. Within

9443-678: The construction of dams and water diversion for hydropower. The Middle Fork is home to many fish species; rainbow trout , brown trout , Sacramento sucker , and Sacramento pikeminnow are found along the length of the river, and smallmouth bass are present in most of the major reservoirs and lakes. Fish found only in the lower elevations of the river include hardhead , riffle sculpin , and prickly sculpin . At higher elevations, brook trout are found; cutthroat trout , lake trout and kokanee salmon also live at higher elevations but have only been reported in Hell Hole Reservoir and

9576-511: The dam the Middle Fork is joined by its second largest tributary, the North Fork Middle Fork American River, which drains an extensive area along the Forest Hill Divide, though lower in elevation than the upper Middle Fork or Rubicon Rivers. The North Fork Middle Fork is free-flowing with no significant dams or diversions. Just downstream, the Middle Fork flows through Tunnel Chute, where the river races through

9709-634: The dominant activity held throughout the steamships was gambling, which was ironic because segregation between wealth gaps was prominent throughout the ships. Everything was segregated between the rich vs. the poor. There were different levels of travel one could pay for to get to California. The cheaper steamships tended to have longer routes. In contrast, the more expensive would get passengers to California quicker. There were clear social and economic distinctions between those who traveled together, being that those who spent more money would receive accommodations that others were not allowed. They would do this with

9842-572: The easily accessible gold had been collected, and attention turned to extracting gold from more difficult locations. Faced with gold increasingly difficult to retrieve, Americans began to drive out foreigners to get at the most accessible gold that remained. The new California State Legislature passed a foreign miners tax of twenty dollars per month ($ 730 per month as of 2024), and American prospectors began organized attacks on foreign miners, particularly Latin Americans and Chinese . In addition,

9975-402: The eastern United States. At its peak, technological advances reached a point where significant financing was required, increasing the proportion of gold companies to individual miners. Gold worth tens of billions of today's US dollars was recovered, which led to great wealth for a few, though many who participated in the California gold rush earned little more than they had started with. Gold

10108-419: The eastern seaboard required the passengers to bring kits, which were typically full of personal belongings such as clothes, guidebooks, tools, etc. In addition to personal belongings, Argonauts were required to bring barrels full of beef, biscuits, butter, pork, rice, and salt. While on the steamships, travelers could talk to each other, smoke, fish, and other activities depending on the ship they traveled. Still,

10241-404: The effort. Women and children of all ethnicities were often found panning next to the men. Some enterprising families set up boarding houses to accommodate the influx of men; in such cases, the women often brought in steady income while their husbands searched for gold. Word of the gold rush spread slowly at first. The earliest gold-seekers were people who lived near California or people who heard

10374-431: The first Methodist church in California, and California's first professional hospital. When the Gold Rush began, the California goldfields were peculiarly lawless places. When gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill, California was still technically part of Mexico, under American military occupation as the result of the Mexican–American War. With the signing of the treaty ending the war on February 2, 1848, California became

10507-437: The first five years of the Gold Rush. In the next stage, by 1853, hydraulic mining was used on ancient gold-bearing gravel beds on hillsides and bluffs in the goldfields. In a modern style of hydraulic mining first developed in California, and later used around the world, a high-pressure hose directed a powerful stream or jet of water at gold-bearing gravel beds. The loosened gravel and gold would then pass over sluices, with

10640-565: The first supply stores in Sacramento, Coloma, and other spots in the goldfields. Just as the rush began, he purchased all the prospecting supplies available in San Francisco and resold them at a substantial profit. Some gold-seekers made a significant amount of money. On average, half the gold-seekers made a modest profit, after taking all expenses into account; economic historians have suggested that white miners were more successful than black, Indian, or Chinese miners. However, taxes such as

10773-422: The foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Its canyon is wider, less steep, and heavily forested, with depths of 1,000 to 1,500 ft (300 to 460 m) from rim to river. It receives numerous smaller creeks and canyons including Volcano Canyon from the north near Foresthill, and Otter Creek and Canyon Creek from the south near Georgetown . Although the river has a lower gradient in the foothills, its most dangerous rapid

10906-416: The foothills. Elevations range from 538 ft (164 m) at the river's mouth to over 9,900 ft (3,000 m) at the headwaters of the Rubicon River. More than half of the watershed is 5,000 ft (1,500 m) or more above sea level. The terrain is extremely rugged, with many areas of thin, rocky soils that pose a high erosion hazard. Drainage generally occurs in a southwesterly direction between

11039-400: The forty-niners was that the gold was simply "free for the taking" at first. In the goldfields at the beginning, there was no private property, no licensing fees, and no taxes . The miners informally adapted Mexican mining law that had existed in California. For example, the rules attempted to balance the rights of early arrivers at a site with later arrivers; a " claim " could be "staked" by

11172-454: The gold in the California gravel beds was so richly concentrated, early forty-niners were able to retrieve loose gold flakes and nuggets with their hands, or simply " pan " for gold in rivers and streams. Panning cannot take place on a large scale, and industrious miners and groups of miners graduated to placer mining , using " cradles " and "rockers" or "long-toms" to process larger volumes of gravel. Miners would also engage in "coyoteing",

11305-559: The gold settling to the bottom where it was collected. By the mid-1880s, it is estimated that 11 million troy ounces (340 t) of gold (worth approximately US$ 15 billion at December 2010 prices) had been recovered by hydraulic mining. A byproduct of these extraction methods was that large amounts of gravel, silt , heavy metals , and other pollutants went into streams and rivers. Court rulings (1882 Gold Run and 1884 "Sawyer Act" ) and 1893 federal legislation limited hydraulic mining in California. As of 1999 many areas still bear

11438-440: The gold-bearing quartz. Once the gold-bearing rocks were brought to the surface, the rocks were crushed and the gold separated, either using separation in water, using its density difference from quartz sand, or by washing the sand over copper plates coated with mercury (with which gold forms an amalgam ). Loss of mercury in the amalgamation process was a source of environmental contamination . Eventually, hard-rock mining became

11571-423: The goldfields and find the equivalent of six years' wages back home. Some hoped to get rich quick and return home, and others wished to start businesses in California. By the beginning of 1849, word of the gold rush had spread around the world, and an overwhelming number of gold-seekers and merchants began to arrive from virtually every continent. The largest group of forty-niners in 1849 were Americans, arriving by

11704-659: The hills near Genoa , Italy were among the first to settle permanently in the Sierra Nevada foothills ; they brought with them traditional agricultural skills, developed to survive cold winters. A modest number of miners of African ancestry (probably less than 4,000) had come from the Southern States , the Caribbean and Brazil. A number of immigrants were from China. Several hundred Chinese arrived in California in 1849 and 1850, and in 1852 more than 20,000 landed in San Francisco. Their distinctive dress and appearance

11837-638: The huge numbers of newcomers were driving Native Americans out of their traditional hunting, fishing and food-gathering areas. To protect their homes and livelihood, some Native Americans responded by attacking the miners. This provoked counter-attacks on native villages. The Native Americans, out-gunned, were often slaughtered. Those who escaped massacres were many times unable to survive without access to their food-gathering areas, and they starved to death. Novelist and poet Joaquin Miller vividly captured one such attack in his semi-autobiographical work, Life Amongst

11970-419: The incomplete dam was overtopped and destroyed, and a 60-foot (18 m) wall of water swept down the Rubicon, lower Middle Fork, and lower North Fork canyons, triggering landslides, uprooting trees, and obliterating any buildings and bridges along its path. However, since there were no permanent residences in the canyon, there was no loss of human life, and the floodwaters were contained by Folsom Lake , sparing

12103-402: The land where the mill stood. Bennett was not to tell anyone of the discovery of gold, but when he stopped at Benicia , he heard talk about the discovery of coal near Mount Diablo, and he blurted out the discovery of gold. He continued to San Francisco, where again, he could not keep the secret. At Monterey, Mason declined to make any judgement of title to lands and mineral rights, and Bennett for

12236-511: The late 1890s, dredging technology (also invented in California) had become economical, and it is estimated that more than 20 million troy ounces (620 t) were recovered by dredging. Both during the gold rush and in the decades that followed, gold-seekers also engaged in "hard-rock" mining, extracting the gold directly from the rock that contained it (typically quartz ), usually by digging and blasting to follow and remove veins of

12369-516: The main route of travel during the summer hunting season in the high Sierra. In addition to game such as deer, quail and rabbits, the rivers were a major food source, with salmon migrations in the spring and fall. Although the Spanish began exploring California in the 1700s, it was probably not until Jedediah Smith 's expedition in 1827 that Europeans entered the vicinity of the upper American River watershed. Smith's party searched, unsuccessfully, for

12502-400: The midst of the gold rush, towns and cities were chartered, a state constitutional convention was convened, a state constitution written, elections held, and representatives sent to Washington, D.C., to negotiate the admission of California as a state. Auburn State Recreation Area Auburn State Recreation Area is a state park unit of California , along 40 miles (64 km) of

12635-469: The mixed-conifer forests while some pines, especially yellow pine and sugar pine, have declined significantly. Fuel loading in forests has increased due to interruption of the natural fire cycle, leading to an increase in the number and intensity of fires in recent decades. Plant communities in the Middle Fork have also been impacted by grazing, mining, road construction, selection cutting of larger trees, and other human activities. Riparian habitat along

12768-553: The name given to California in Chinese. The first immigrants from Europe, reeling from the effects of the Revolutions of 1848 and with a longer distance to travel, began arriving in late 1849, mostly from France, with some Germans , Italians , and Britons . It is estimated that approximately 90,000 people arrived in California in 1849—about half by land and half by sea. Of these, perhaps 50,000 to 60,000 were Americans, and

12901-504: The news from ships on the fastest sailing routes from California. The first large group of Americans to arrive were several thousand Oregonians who came down the Siskiyou Trail. Next came people from the Sandwich Islands , and several thousand Latin Americans, including people from Mexico, from Peru and from as far away as Chile, both by ship and overland. By the end of 1848, some 6,000 Argonauts had come to California. Only

13034-467: The north and south of the river, respectively, between French Meadows and Duncan Creek. From there downstream to the El Dorado County line the canyon is bounded by Mosquito Ridge to the north, and Ralston Ridge to the south. At the confluence with Duncan Creek the Middle Fork begins to turn west, winding through its rugged canyon, and flows through the small Interbay Reservoir where more water

13167-423: The outlet of French Meadows-Hell Hole Tunnel, and below Hell Hole and Ralston Afterbay dams. There are no dams on the Middle Fork below Oxbow. PCWA has consumptive rights for up to 120,000 acre-feet (150,000 ML) from the Middle Fork, although as of 2007, it was only contracted for 84,000 acre-feet (104,000 ML) of water delivery. Its main clients are the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation , San Juan Water District,

13300-582: The placer deposits until 1846. Minor finds of gold in California were also made by Mission Indians prior to 1848. The friars instructed them to keep its location secret to avoid a gold rush . In January 1847, nine months into the Mexican–American War , the Treaty of Cahuenga was signed, leading to the resolution of the military conflict in Alta California (Upper California). On January 24, 1848, James W. Marshall found shiny metal in

13433-611: The placer gold deposits of the modern river. Hydraulic mining and hard-rock mining operations soon spread along the Middle Fork canyon; Georgetown, established in 1849 on the divide south of the river, became the hub of this mining district. Because operations in Georgetown and other camps along the various divides were so high above the river, they could not use water from the Middle Fork, so extensive flume and ditch systems were constructed to bring water from tributaries. The California Water Company operated numerous hydraulic mines along

13566-467: The population and economy of California had become large and diverse enough that money could be made in a wide variety of conventional businesses. Once extracted, the gold itself took many paths. First, much of the gold was used locally to purchase food, supplies and lodging for the miners . It also went towards entertainment, which consisted of anything from a traveling theater to alcohol, gambling, and prostitutes. These transactions often took place using

13699-560: The recently recovered gold, carefully weighed out. These merchants and vendors, in turn, used the gold to purchase supplies from ship captains or packers bringing goods to California. The gold then left California aboard ships or mules to go to the makers of the goods from around the world. A second path was the Argonauts themselves who, having personally acquired a sufficient amount, sent the gold home, or returned home taking with them their hard-earned "diggings". For example, one estimate

13832-466: The record-long economic expansion of the United States in the recession-free period of 1841–1856 primarily to "a boom in transportation-goods investment following the discovery of gold in California." The gold rush propelled California from a sleepy, little-known backwater to a center of the global imagination and the destination of hundreds of thousands of people. The new immigrants often showed remarkable inventiveness and civic mindedness. For example, in

13965-475: The rest were from other countries. By 1855, it is estimated at least 300,000 gold-seekers, merchants, and other immigrants had arrived in California from around the world. The largest group continued to be Americans, but there were tens of thousands each of Mexicans, Chinese, Britons, Australians, French, and Latin Americans, together with many smaller groups of miners, such as African Americans, Filipinos , Basques and Turks . People from small villages in

14098-599: The richest sites including Ford's Bar, Maine Bar, Murderer's Bar and Spanish Bar. During the 1850s, the "Grand Flume" was built along the Middle Fork from Oregon Bar to Mammoth Bar, dewatering a 6-mile (9.7 km) section of the river bed so it could be turned over for gold. North of the Middle Fork, the Michigan Bluff to Last Chance Trail – one of only a few "toll trails" in the state – was constructed and used by pack trains of mules carrying supplies to Michigan Bluff, Deadwood and Last Chance . In 1850, miners blasted

14231-529: The ridges above the Middle Fork below 3,500-foot (1,100 m) in elevation, especially along the Forest Hill and Georgetown Divides. Plant resources were gathered at lower elevations, with the primary staple being black oak acorns, but many native varieties of grasses, roots, herbs, seeds and berries were also used. Prescribed burns were used to clear brush and improve conditions for hunting game and oak growth. The Middle Fork and Rubicon River canyons provided

14364-500: The rim of the canyon to various points along the river. About 50 miles (80 km) of the trail has been designated a National Recreation Trail . The Middle Fork has whitewater rafting below Oxbow Reservoir; due to Federal hydroelectric licensing and the need to deliver water downstream for irrigation and consumption, boatable flows are released year-round, even in the most severe drought conditions. Releases of 1,000 cubic feet per second (28 m/s) or more typically begin at 7:00 am in

14497-490: The river and were carried into the Sacramento Valley during winter floods. The damage to navigation and flood control was such that the state legislature banned hydraulic mining in 1884, but even then the sediment continued to flow. A debris dam to contain sediment on the Middle Fork was first contemplated in 1891. By 1900, an estimated 10 to 15 million cubic yards (7.6–11.5 million m) of sediment had accumulated in

14630-461: The river. About 12 miles (19 km) from its source, it enters French Meadows Reservoir , 5,223 ft (1,592 m) above sea level, formed by the rockfill L.L. Anderson Dam. Almost the entire flow of the river at this point is diverted for hydroelectric generation, to be returned much farther downstream, with the consequence that the river immediately below the dam is reduced to a trickle except during periods of heavy snowmelt. Below Anderson Dam

14763-579: The route, it failed to become a major crossing of the Sierra Nevada. This route, which in its section incorporated the Michigan Bluff to Last Chance Trail, an abandoned mining ditch grade between Georgetown and Auburn, as well as the Mountain Quarries Railroad grade, came to be known as the Western States Trail. The 100-mile (160 km) long trail gained renewed attention in 1955 when Wendell T. Robie and several companions rode its entire length from Squaw Valley to Auburn in one day. Robie

14896-517: The scars of hydraulic mining, since the resulting exposed earth and downstream gravel deposits do not support plant life. After the gold rush had concluded, gold recovery operations continued. The final stage to recover loose gold was to prospect for gold that had slowly washed down into the flat river bottoms and sandbars of California's Central Valley and other gold-bearing areas of California (such as Scott Valley in Siskiyou County). By

15029-521: The single largest source of gold produced in the Gold Country . The total production of gold in California from then until now is estimated at 118 million troy ounces (3,700 t). Recent scholarship confirms that merchants made far more money than miners during the gold rush. The wealthiest man in California during the early years of the rush was Samuel Brannan , a tireless self-promoter, shopkeeper and newspaper publisher. Brannan opened

15162-644: The site, including fossils of saber-toothed tigers, mastodons, and giant ground sloths, as well as Ice Age-era human remains. Many of these specimens are now stored at the University of California, Berkeley . By 1912 the Pacific Portland Cement Company was operating a limestone quarry near the site. The 7-mile (11 km) Mountain Quarries Railroad was run through the lower Middle Fork and North Fork canyons, connecting with

15295-441: The state to meet the needs of the settlers. San Francisco grew from a small settlement of about 200 residents in 1846 to a boomtown of about 36,000 by 1852. Roads, churches, schools and other towns were built throughout California. In 1849, a state constitution was written . The new constitution was adopted by referendum vote; the future state's interim first governor and legislature were chosen. In September 1850, California became

15428-651: The state's most popular whitewater runs. Professional whitewater rafting companies offer guided trips on the Middle Fork American river from May to October. The Middle Fork canyon also has an extensive system of hiking and riding trails including the Western States Trail, which stretches 100 miles (160 km) from Auburn to Lake Tahoe. The Middle Fork begins at an unnamed spring in the Granite Chief Wilderness , 8,382 ft (2,555 m) above sea level, in eastern Placer County , west of

15561-427: The summer months and are ramped down gradually in the evening. Without the dams, river flow in late summer would average around 300 cubic feet per second (8.5 m/s) naturally. There are 15 miles (24 km) of Class III–V (intermediate to difficult) and 9 miles (14 km) of Class II (moderate) whitewater on this stretch of the river. The Class VI Ruck-A-Chucky Falls, located about midway between Oxbow Reservoir and

15694-621: The tens of thousands overland across the continent and along various sailing routes (the name "forty-niner" was derived from the year 1849). Many from the East Coast negotiated a crossing of the Appalachian Mountains , taking to riverboats in Pennsylvania , poling the keelboats to Missouri River wagon train assembly ports, and then traveling in a wagon train along the California Trail . Many others came by way of

15827-480: The third time revealed the gold discovery. By March 1848, rumors of the discovery were confirmed by San Francisco newspaper publisher and merchant Samuel Brannan . Brannan hurriedly set up a store to sell gold prospecting supplies, and he walked through the streets of San Francisco, holding aloft a vial of gold, shouting "Gold! Gold! Gold from the American River!" On August 19, 1848, the New York Herald

15960-494: The total American River drainage basin above Folsom Lake . The Rubicon River is the largest tributary watershed, at 315.4 sq mi (817 km), which is nearly three times the size of the Middle Fork's own drainage area above their confluence. Almost the entire watershed is forested, with the exception of the alpine zone at the highest elevations near the Sierra Crest , and some areas of grassland, range and shrub in

16093-520: The tunnel, a narrow channel was blasted through the ledge, creating the formidable rapid known today as Tunnel Chute. Horseshoe Bar turned out to be one of the richest gold deposits in the Middle Fork with $ 2.5 million of gold taken out from just 1.5 miles (2.4 km) of river bed. Overall, the Middle Fork was one of the richest gold-bearing streams in the Mother Lode. An 1890 report estimated an average take of $ 1 million of placer gold per mile from

16226-417: The upper Middle Fork and Rubicon Rivers are dominated by snowmelt; the North Fork Middle Fork is equally affected by snowmelt and rainfall, and tributaries of the lower Middle Fork depend mostly on rainfall. Water flow in the Middle Fork has been extensively modified by dams and diversions, with late spring-early summer high flows stored in reservoirs to generate hydropower later in the year when natural runoff

16359-508: The will of long-term inhabitants; prior to the end of the project, 20,000 acres was taken. There is an upside, as a result of the surplus land taken for the project, millions of people now enjoy the Auburn State Recreation Area in its natural state, with multiple wilderness canyons offering access to one of the last remaining natural river systems in Central California. The California Department of Parks and Recreation administers

16492-594: Was a founder of the Western States Trail Ride, now known popularly as the Tevis Cup , an annual endurance ride along this course. Part of the trail in the Auburn State Recreation Area has been named the Wendell T. Robie Trail. In 1974, Gordon Ainsleigh ran the course in 24 hours, and the first Western States Endurance Run was held in 1977. The Middle Fork Project (detailed in the next section)

16625-611: Was constructed by the Placer County Water Agency for water supply and hydropower generation, after receiving approval from the Federal Power Commission in 1963. L.L. Anderson (French Meadows) Dam, completed in December 1964, was the first major structure to be built. Hell Hole Dam on the Rubicon River was still under construction at that time when massive flooding struck northern California . More than 22 inches (560 mm) of rain fell within five days. On December 23

16758-457: Was discovered in California as early as March 9, 1842, at Rancho San Francisco , in the mountains north of present-day Los Angeles. Californian native Francisco Lopez was searching for stray horses and stopped on the bank of a small creek (in today's Placerita Canyon ), about 3 miles (4.8 km) east of present-day Newhall , and about 35 miles (56 km) northwest of Los Angeles. While the horses grazed, Lopez dug up some wild onions and found

16891-440: Was established in 1993. The Middle Fork is still a site for recreational gold panning, although it is not nearly as popular as the South Fork. There are about 400 active mining claims on the Middle Fork. Although the river is open year-round, the use of equipment such as metal detectors is restricted. California Gold Rush The California gold rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold

17024-623: Was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California . The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the United States and abroad. The sudden influx of gold into the money supply reinvigorated the American economy; the sudden population increase allowed California to go rapidly to statehood in the Compromise of 1850 . The gold rush had severe effects on Native Californians and accelerated

17157-476: Was highly recognizable in the goldfields. Chinese miners suffered enormously, enduring violent racism from white miners who aimed their frustrations at foreigners. Further animosity toward the Chinese led to legislation such as the Chinese Exclusion Act and Foreign Miners Tax. There were also women in the gold rush . However, their numbers were small. Of the 40,000 people who arrived by ship to

17290-410: Was no churches or religious services in the rapidly growing city, which prompted missionaries like William Taylor to meet the need, where he held services in the street, using a barrel head as his pulpit. Crowds would gather to listen to his sermons, and before long he received enough generous donations from successful gold miners and built San Francisco's first church. In what has been referred to as

17423-537: Was originally inhabited by the Nisenan people, whose territory extended over much of the American and lower Feather River watersheds from the east bank of the Sacramento River, high into the western Sierra Nevada. The Washoe people lived east of the Sierra Crest but sometimes ventured into the high elevations of the Middle Fork and its tributaries to hunt in summer. The Nisenan had permanent settlements on

17556-605: Was the first major newspaper on the East Coast to report the discovery of gold. On December 5, 1848, US President James K. Polk confirmed the discovery of gold in an address to Congress . As a result, individuals seeking to benefit from the gold rush—later called the "forty-niners"—began moving to the Gold Country of California or "Mother Lode" from other countries and from other parts of the United States. As Sutter had feared, his business plans were ruined after his workers left in search of gold, and squatters took over his land and stole his crops and cattle. San Francisco had been

17689-555: Was to sail to the Atlantic side of the Isthmus of Panama , take canoes and mules for a week through the jungle, and then on the Pacific side, wait for a ship sailing for San Francisco. There was also a route across Mexico starting at Veracruz . The companies providing such transportation created vast wealth among their owners and included the U.S. Mail Steamship Company , the federally subsidized Pacific Mail Steamship Company , and

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