History of Gold in the U.S.

Gold is considered one of the most valuable precious metals and has been praised around the world for centuries. In the United States, we first started seeing and using gold in the 1500’s, and the “gold standard” was set in the late 1700’s and remained the same until 1934. Between the end of the American Revolution and 1823, the United States purchased 20 million dollars worth of gold. Spanish soldiers were using gold as a means of barter in California around 1824 and the buying price for gold rose in 1837.

In 1842, the gold rush saw its beginning when Francisco Lopez stopped for a rest in San Feliciano Canyon and dug up onions to eat. In the roots of the onions, he found particles of gold and discovered gold deposits nearby as well. Locals came in search of gold and within the year, experienced miners had been coming from Mexico in order to extract the gold for profit. Excitement over the gold had not been generated as there was not a lot of publicity regarding the gold. In 1848, gold was discovered on the South Fork of the American River and it was intended to be kept a secret, but in March, the newspaper The Californian published an article about it. With this article, the news of the discovery of gold became known worldwide and led to the beginning of the Californian Gold Rush.

By 1852, the amount of people that were engaged in mining had gone from 4,000 to roughly 100,000 and had stayed that way for a few years. The Gold Reserve Act had been put in place after the Great Depression in order to encourage people to spend their money to improve the economy rather than hoard it and damage the economy further. Throughout the following years, the price of gold had increased with the economy and in more recent years, it has reached an all time high price, showing the true value and importance of gold in the United States today.