AMERICA THE PLACES AND PATHS THAT MADE US
Credits
SPECIAL THANKS WRITERS & PHOTOGRAPHERS Ivan Pierre Aguirre, Thad Allton, Bill Atkinson, Terry Baddoo, Craig Bailey, Ed Balint, John Beifuss, H. Darr Beiser, John Bethel, Kevin Blevins, Ayrton Breckenridge, Tanya Breen, William Bretzger, Aram Boghosian, Kathy Borchers, Zach Boyden-Holmes, Andre Byik, Chadd Cady, Sam Caravana, Benjamin Chambers, Michael Chow, Jasper Colt, Terry Collins, Nigel Cook, Andrew Craft, Nicole Higgins DeSmet, Alicia Devine, Robert Deutsch, Liz Dufour, Charles Dunlap, Steve Dykes, Doug Engle, Gayle Eubank, Jazmin Evans, Samantha Foster, Tony Giberson, Baron Gonsoulin, Fred Greaves, Michelle Grisales, Michael Gulledge, Seth Harrison, Mark Henle, Nicole Hester, Ron Holman, Bryon Houlgrave, Trevor Hughes, Alisha Jucevic, A.J. Kaufman, Gary C. Klein, Martin Klimek, Dorothea Lange, Brooke LaValley, Tina MacIntyre-Yee, Calvin Mattheis, Melinda Martinez, Maddie McGay, Emma Rose Milligan, George ‘Clay’ Mitchell, Roger Naylor, Evert Nelson, Patrick Oehler, Omar Ornelas, Jay Paul, Josh Peter, Chris Pietsch, Kelly Puente, Sarah Riley, Lauren Roberts, Ken Ruinard, Patrick Ryan, Michael Salerno, Tania Savayan, Corey Schmidt, Shelby Slade, Jill Schensul, Rob Schumacher, Keith Sharon, Molly J. Smith, Susan Stapleton, Randy Tucker, Maggie Tyner, Zach Urness, Brad Vest, Lauren Villagran, Mickey Welsh, Daniel De Visé, Karissa Waddick, Karen Weintraub, Kevin R. Wexler, Kevin Whitlock, Robert Williams, Sarah D. Wire.
Duane Gang, Jeremy Redmon and Karen Weintraub USA TODAY – JOURNEYS Kelli Leonard, David Baratz, Kaila Curry, Steve Feitl, Alia Rau and Josh Rivera USA TODAY – TREASURED VIEWS
USA TODAY CO. DIRECTOR OF COMMERCE OPERATIONS Kate Ellsworth BOOK EDITORS Andy Harper Gene Myers E-COMMERCE SPECIALIST Clarissa Shine PARTNERSHIPS & MARKETING ASSOCIATE Rivka Holler PROJECT COORDINATOR Andy Harper
SUPPORT TEAM DESIGNERS Lee Benson, Joey Schaffer
ADDITIONAL ART & GRAPHICS Michael De Angelis, Emilio Madrid, Algernon Quashie.
PROOFREADER Heather Hewitt
RESOURCES Brigham and Women’s Hospital Archives, Getty Images, Joby Aviation, Library of Congress, Massachusetts General Hospital, Providence Journal Staff, Chris Fenison and Pediment Publishing.
COVER PHOTO: TREVOR HUGHES / USA TODAY (SEE PAGE 6)
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior written permission of the copyright owner or the publisher. Published by Pediment Publishing, a division of The Pediment Group, Inc. • www.pediment.com Printed in the United States of America. Copyright © 2026 USA TODAY All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-63846-215-6 2 • AMERICA
Journeys
Treasured Views
About This Book.....................................................................5
WEST
The Oregon Trail.................................................................... 7
Painted Hills. Crystal Cave................................................................15 The Grand Canyon. Canyon de Chelly........................................... 23 Monument Valley. Arches National Park. ....................................31 Route 66. Dinosaur Ridge................................................................. 43
The Gold Rush...................................................................... 17 The Changing American Border.....................................25 Route 66.................................................................................33 A Baseball Journey.............................................................45 Lewis and Clark ..................................................................53 Aviation..................................................................................63 Paul Revere........................................................................... 71 A Medical Journey.............................................................. 81 Regards to Broadway......................................................... 91 Soccer as an American Sport........................................ 101 A Trail of Tears..................................................................109 The Underground Railroad.............................................119 The Mississippi River....................................................... 129 Tale of Blues....................................................................... 139 Elvis’ Long Trip Home..................................................... 149 The Space Race.................................................................. 159
MIDWEST
Minnehaha Falls. National Churchill Museum. Kansas Statehouse.............................................................................................51 Fort Snelling. Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Liberty Memorial.........................................................................61 Iowa State Capitol. Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library. Ohio University. ......................................... 69 NORTHEAST
Weehawken Dueling Grounds. Monmouth. Roger Williams Park Botanical Center..........................................79 The Tower of Victory. St. Paul’s Chapel. Fraunces Tavern................................................................................. 89 Mill Manor House. West Point......................................................... 99 Church of the Presidents. Lewes Waterfront. ...........................107 Fort Delaware. Ocean City. The Liberty Bell, Independence Hall.............................................127 Lady Liberty........................................................................................168 SOUTH
LEFT: The Falls Park photographed from the five-story visitor’s tower just north of downtown along the Big Sioux River in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. SAM CARAVANA / ARGUS LEADER
Riverwalk. Virginia Capitol. Elkmont Fireflies.......................... 117 Cane Creek Falls. Burgwin-Wright House. Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. Sassafras Mountain...........................................................................137 Spruce Flats Falls. Edmund Pettus Bridge.................................147 Florida Capitol. St. Augustine Catholic Church.........................157 Gulf Islands National Seashore. Castillo de San Marcos.........167
ABOVE: The Maid of the Mist takes visitors on a tour of the American, Bridal Veil and Horseshoe Falls at Niagara Falls State Park in Niagara Falls, New York. TINA MACINTYRE-YEE / DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE
4 • AMERICA
About This Book AMERICA TURNED 250 IN 2026,
fortification of our nation, remind-
but some of its greatest treasures
ing us of American resilience and
don’t sit behind museum glass.
spirit. Museums, charming cities
Incredible journeys def ine our
and attractions showcase the inge-
country’s history and awe-inspir-
nuity and delightful weirdness that
ing scenes fill our great land. Places
make the United States unique.
and memories that can take your
To celebrate the nation’s semiquin-
breath away and remind you where
centennial, the USA TODAY Network
we came from are hidden along
is pleased to present you with this
winding roads, tucked into moun-
compilation, recommended by local
tain valleys, perched atop sea cliffs
editors in hopes that they inspire
and preserved in places that tell the
travelers to see our land — one un-
story of who we are.
forgettable view, one historic land-
Landmarks, historical sites and dedicated sacred ground honor the
mark, one significant destination at a time.
sacrifices made in the creation and
TOP: An Amish teenager plows a field with a team of horses in Walnut Creek, Ohio, in 2025. K EVIN WHITLOCK / MASSILLON INDEPENDENT BOTTOM: The S.S. Badger sits along the Lake Michigan waterfront during a stop in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, in 2024. G ARY C. KLEIN / USA TODAY NETWORK AMERICA • 5
6 • AMERICA
We traveled the Oregon Trail. We found the ‘spirit of America’ Nearly half a million Americans — just over 1% of the population — headed west in one of the largest voluntary mass migrations in human history. It helped define who we are as a nation. TREVOR HUGHES | JAN. 3, 2026
retired North Carolina pastor with
country’s entire population, in one
degree,” Zieber wrote in her trail di-
a deep love of history, has always
of the largest voluntary mass migra-
ary, as recounted by Albert Belanger
SCOTTSBLUFF, NE — JOHNNY
wondered if he would have been bold
tions in human history. And it helped
in his 2011 book “On the Oregon Trail
and Vicki Blevins stepped out of
enough to try it himself.
define who we are as Americans.
in 1851.” “We gazed upon it in per-
their pickup and gazed down at the
On a recent cross-country drive to
Even today, hundreds of high school
fect delight, but suddenly the whole
thin ribbon of the old Oregon Trail
visit Yellowstone National Park, the
and college teams call themselves
scene was enveloped in darkness,
below them.
Blevinses stopped by Scotts Bluff to
“Pioneers.”
completely hid from our view.”
A nation on the move
ing school in the East, Zieber trav-
After graduating from a finish-
Over the course of several de-
consider those travelers who came
cades, beginning in the mid-1800s,
before them. Enjoying their comfort-
perhaps as many as 500,000 mi-
able retirement after raising kids,
In her Oregon Trail diary of 1851,
eled with family members from
grants walked and rode along this
the Blevinses doubt they would have
pioneer Eugenia Zieber recorded
Maryland in search of healthier
risky route from “civilization” west
had the courage to sell everything
looking out upon Scotts Bluff 63,605
living conditions in Oregon.
to the fertile lands of Oregon and the
they owned to seek a better life thou-
days before the Blevinses visited.
gold fields of California, or sought re-
sands of miles from home.
ligious freedom in Utah. Thousands died along the way. And although the worn-in tracks of the route are slowly fading into the
Like most people who headed
Passing through the newly opened
west on the trail, the Ziebers joined
“Would I have done it?” Johnny
route between the bluffs — an earlier
a larger group for safety during the
Blevins asked aloud as he looked
route took travelers further from
five-month journey, their oxen plod-
down, marveling at the landscape.
the North Platte River — Zieber, 18,
ding six days a week. They rested on
“I don’t think so.”
recorded an approaching storm.
the Sabbath.
“A dark cloud hung over the bluffs,
Travelers followed the North Platte
had traveled the Oregon Trail west
increasing or heightening the gran-
for hundreds of meandering miles,
represented more than 1% of the
deur of their appearance to a great
depending on the water for both
landscape, the journey they repre-
When it was all over, those who
sent still looms large in our collective consciousness. Johnny Blevins, a
OPPOSITE: The evening light highlights the rock formation of Scotts Bluff National Monument in Gering, Nebraska, along with a display of the different kinds of wagons used by travelers on the trail during the 1850s. TREVOR HUGHES / USA TODAY AMERICA • 7
RIGHT: An estimated 500,000 pioneers
braved the Oregon Trail, seeking a better life in the West. ICHAEL DE ANGELIS, M ALGERNON QUASHIE / USA TODAY
OPPOSITE: A family of Oklahoma sharecroppers sits in a car loaded with belongings and supplies near Bakersfield, California, on April 7, 1935. DOROTHEA LANGE /
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
people and livestock, and the grasses
they turned over virgin earth with their
little equal on the world stage, as peo-
growing alongside for feed.
plows, grazed their cattle on lands then
ple continue seeking more affordable
Walking westward — most everyone
roamed by buffalo, and forcibly dis-
housing, better weather and new job
on the trail walked — the pioneers were
placed Native Americans who had lived
opportunities. Experts say our relent-
headed to new opportunities: land,
there for centuries. They chopped down
less moves are driven in part by the
work and wealth. Fleeing crowded
trees for railroad ties, dammed rivers
fact that this nation of immigrants is
Eastern cities, Americans sought to
for irrigation — and laid the foundation
less tied to a specific community than
better their lives and, in the process,
for Earth’s most powerful nation.
are people elsewhere.
transformed the young nation. Many
And while we tend to think such mass
Today, demographic experts say
migrants were themselves recent de-
migrations are over, modern-day popula-
there’s a growing migration trend driven
scendants of European settlers who
tion shifts from the Northeast, Rust Belt
by climate change, with people leaving
had journeyed to the United States in
and, more recently, California, to states
hurricane-prone coastal states like
the previous decades.
such as Texas, Arizona and Florida, show
Florida and Texas, the heat of Arizona
we are still a nation on the move.
and the wildfires across the West. While
Those who made the journey west irrevocably changed the landscape as 8 • AMERICA
America’s population mobility has
still small, that climate-driven migration
to the Rust Belt appears poised to once again reshape America, as did the Dust Bowl of the 1930s and even 2005’s Hurricane Katrina.
Wolves, stampedes, storms and death ever-present on the trail
families brought along enslaved people. While most schoolchildren learn
Used for years by trappers and trad-
about the Oregon Trail, historians
ers following game trails and Native
say there was no single route, and no
“I don’t think people self-identify as
American routes, the Oregon Trail as
single destination. Instead, what we
climate refugees,” said Jeremy Porter,
we know it was primarily active from
call the Oregon Trail is shorthand for
a sociology professor at City University
about 1836 until the transcontinental
the multiple routes, cutoffs, shortcuts
of New York and a senior lecturer in de-
railroad linked the coasts in 1869. Tens
and varying destinations of those leav-
mographics at Columbia University. “I
of thousands died making the journey
ing behind the existing United States.
think when people leave, they associate
west, of ten from now-easily treat-
California became a state in 1850,
it with the cost of insurance and they’re
able illnesses, infections and broken
and Wyoming and Nebraska formally
moving to reduce costs.”
bones. The vast majority of travelers
joined the Union only after migrants
were White, although some wealthier
mostly stopped using the trail. AMERICA • 9
shining sea. “You had tornadoes, you had lightning strikes, you had snakes — just sim-
RIGHT: David Wolf, the executive
ply getting run over by a wagon, a gun
director of the Legacy of the Plains Museum in Gering, Nebraska, along the route of the Oregon Trail. REVOR HUGHES / USA TODAY T
discharging because it fell off. You falling down and breaking your leg. Then what do you do next?” Wolf said. “And of course, then you’ve got the diseases,
OPPOSITE: From left, Andrew Engel
and Jeff Meek watch as Michelle Bruhn and Serianna Rosberg work together to pitch a tent at Fort Laramie Station during the Oregon Trail Live event at the Willamette Heritage Center in 2017. Engel and Meek are on the Northwest Civil War Council, and volunteered as characters.
right? You’ve got cholera, you’ve got dysentery … it was no piece of cake. You really have to admire the people that sold everything — it’s ‘Oregon or bust.’” Congress helped shape the migration by granting White settlers free land in Oregon, up to 640 acres for a married
MOLLY J. SMITH / STATESMAN JOURNAL
couple, depending on when they arrived. That government decision helped spur a mass migration with few historical parallels, especially for European im-
10 • AMERICA
In many ways, the Zieber family’s
as 10 people died for every mile of the
migrants who rarely had opportunities
journey mirrored the challenging expe-
roughly 2,000-mile trail — perhaps
for private land ownership back home.
riences of many of the trail’s migrants,
as many as 20,000 travelers, plus an
In subsequent years, Congress has
from livestock stampedes to illnesses
unknown number of Native Americans
continued to shape where Americans
like cholera and dysentery, the gastro-
killed during skirmishes. And yet the
live, in part by subsidizing flood insur-
intestinal illness now known to many
pioneers kept heading west for decades.
ance, electricity rates and development.
Americans from the Oregon Trail video
Wolf said he’s often wondered what
That’s why states like Florida, Arizona
game. Wolves howled outside their
it would take for Americans today to
and Texas have seen such rapid growth
nightly camps. Storms appeared with-
sell virtually everything they have and
over the past few decades, said Porter,
out warning. Native Americans, angry
begin a long, hard journey to a new
the demographer, as people sought
at the invasion, threatened violence.
home. During the Oregon Trail times,
cheaper land and better jobs than those
Diaries kept by Zieber describe the
he said, Americans were lured by the
available in the Northeast and the Rust
privations of the trail, chief among
promise of free or cheap land. Many
Belt of the Midwest.
them the frequent deaths of fellow
were spurred on by religious fervor
California saw a boom following
travelers.
and the concept of Manifest Destiny,
the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, as about
David Wolf, the executive director
the belief that the Christian God had
300,000 Americans headed west down
of the Legacy of the Plains Museum in
ordained that White settlers should
Route 66 from Oklahoma, Texas and
Gering, said experts estimate as many
colonize North America, from sea to
Kansas. They had been driven from
“You really have to admire the people that sold everything — it’s ‘Oregon or bust.” DAVID WOLF
their farms by drought and poor ag-
to move back to the Midwest and
“The same weather that pulled people
ricultural practices that left topsoil
Northeast to escape the higher costs of
there is turning into a ‘push’ factor and
vulnerable to erosion.
living driven by climate factors: flood-
pushing them back out of the area,”
ing, hurricane damage, intense heat
Porter said.
Porter said people at the time didn’t consider themselves climate refugees,
or wildfires.
“I think you are going to see people
even though the environment clearly
Many of those people don’t neces-
move away from the Gulf Coast as sea
played a role in their decision to seek,
sarily realize their high insurance and
levels continue to rise, and there will be
literally, greener pastures. And he said
housing costs are being driven in part
a movement to the Midwest and parts
climate considerations today are driv-
by billion-dollar disasters fueled by cli-
of the Northeast,” he said. “What peo-
ing an increasing number of Americans
mate change, emergency managers say.
ple are looking for is opportunity and AMERICA • 11
avoidance of risk, and a future that avoids the financial concerns that come RIGHT: Visitors to Multnomah Falls
wave to friends from the bridge overlooking the viewing area in Oregon’s Columbia River Gorge. HRIS PIETSCH / THE REGISTER-GUARD C OPPOSITE TOP: Ruts carved by
travelers on the Oregon Trail remain visible more than 100 years after the last people passed this way in wagon trains, their metal-rimmed wheels wearing deep grooves in the rock near the North Platte River at the Oregon Trail Ruts State Historic Site near Guernsey, Wyoming. TREVOR HUGHES / USA TODAY OPPOSITE BOTTOM: A plaque at
Register Cliff Historic Site along the Oregon Trail commemorates travelers who passed through during the westward expansion of the 1850s. REVOR HUGHES / USA TODAY T
from climate risk.”
The pioneer spirit — then and now Zieber’s father cited the East Coast’s weather as a factor in seeking his fortune in Oregon, and the family successfully made the transit, eventually settling near Salem. Her father, a printer, quickly found work for the newly founded Oregon Statesman newspaper, and Zieber soon married the paper’s editor, Asahel Bush. In her trail diary, Zieber recorded both the daily tribulations but also the optimism of a better life ahead. She had been attending finishing school in the East when her father made the decision to head west. The family ate dried meat, bread and crackers, along with what meat they could hunt along the way, passing by barely marked graves, abandoned wagons and unfamiliar landscapes. “This, or what we took of it, we held in our hands and sat on logs, stumps, etc., to partake of it. Many would look upon this as a most awkward way of eating, but I think it really pleasant. The sky above you clearly seen, not kept from your sight by any obstructing roof. The trees looking fresh & happy around you, and flowers peeping up from the bright grass, as though desirous of taking notes of your proceedings,” Zieber wrote. “Who would then not prefer this
12 • AMERICA
to a table profusely covered with dishes
over with the promise of fertile land,
filled with dainties of every kind, shut
free land, cheap land. It’s that kind of
up in a house, the work of art! Give
just pioneer spirit that America just
me rather fair Nature’s beauties shed
kind of had from the beginning, all the
abroad to my view, and ‘twill lend a
way to its present day. … I think it really
charm to everything.”
captures what it is to be an American.”
Zieber and her new husband had four
Atop Scotts Bluff, Johnny Blevins and
children in rapid succession, but she
his wife marveled at that pioneer spirit,
died in 1863 at age 30 from tuberculosis.
which marked the land with wagon ruts
Her family’s legacy lives on, however,
still visible today.
in Oregon parks and historical sites
Blevins said they spent their summer
named in their honor. Her husband,
vacations dragging their kids to na-
who had traveled to Oregon in 1850 —
tional parks and other historical sites
from Massachusetts via the Isthmus of
around the country — never the beach.
Panama — used his paper to advance
The couple has remained fascinated
his political positions, among them sup-
by the gumption it took pioneers to
port for Oregon’s 1857 ban on Black
give up everything for a chance at a
immigration to the state.
better life, an approach Blevins said
In 1850, there were only 13,000 people living in all of Oregon, according to
he sometimes wishes he’d used more often when younger.
the census. A decade later, there were
“I regret the things I didn’t do more
52,000, including just 128 people of
than the things I did. I wish I had been
African descent.
more adventurous,” he said.
Many of those new settlers helped lay
Laughing with his wife, Vicki, Blevins
the groundwork for Oregon’s present
recounted how their kids complained
success — from Nike to tech companies
about staying in cheap hotels on their
like Intel, along with farming, logging
summer trips.
and agriculture.
“Our kids would complain, ‘Why can’t
Historians say American innovations
we go to the beach like everyone else?’”
in medicine, science and technology
he said. “And I would say to them, ‘(At
today are being driven by the same
least) it’s not a wagon — and we’re not
can-do attitude that prompted their
walking.’”
forebears to travel the trail.
But those travels instilled in them
“I think it’s the spirit of America,”
a deep love for America, he said, and
Wolf said. “We talk about Manifest
one of their children is now a history
Destiny and people just picking up from
teacher.
what they know, immigrants coming AMERICA • 13
14 • AMERICA
TREASURED VIEWS: WEST PAINTED HILLS MITCHELL, OREGON
NOTHING QUITE COMPARES TO OREGON’S JOHN DAY FOSSIL BEDS National Monument. Home to multicolored hillsides, towering cliffs and canyons, and numerous fossil-rich areas, it’s an excellent place to explore with children.
ZACH URNESS / STATESMAN JOURNAL
— Zach Urness, Statesman Journal
Crystal Cave is tucked into a canyon near the Giant Forest in Sequoia National Park, California. Unlike most caves, which form in limestone, Crystal Cave is etched entirely out of 200-millionyear-old marble. RON HOLMAN / VISALIA TIMES-DELTA AMERICA • 15
16 • AMERICA
We prospected for gold in California’s past and present The discovery of gold in California transformed what would become the most populous state. The quest continues today. What was the Gold Rush?
ANDRE BYIK AND TERRY COLLINS |
working for $1 a day plus room and
NOV. 10, 2025
board, soon abandoned their jobs to
of another quest: Instead of pros-
Just days after Marshall’s discov-
search for gold.
pectors armed with pickaxes and
ery, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The state is now the epicenter
COLOMA, CA — ANKLE-DEEP IN
Marshall’s Jan. 24, 1848, discov-
gold pans, tech workers in Silicon
was signed, ending the Mexican-
a stream, James W. Marshall bent
ery at Sutter’s Mill sparked the
Valley hunt for riches on computer
American War and ceding California
over and grabbed a shiny object that
California Gold Rush, one of the
screens, server farms and complex
to the United States. Newcomers be-
caught his eye. He placed it on a rock
most significant events in America’s
algorithms.
gan to arrive almost immediately,
and began striking it with another.
nearly 250-year history. The news
“I can see a similarity between the
with the growth driven by the for-
The shiny material pounded f lat,
of readily accessible gold attracted
Gold Rush and the tech hub of the
ty-niners—the gold-seeking pioneers
which told him nearly everything
prospectors from across the country
Bay Area — people from all over the
who began flocking west in 1849.
he needed to know.
and around the world, launching
world coming there, the education
T h e t e r r i t o r y ’s n o n - N a t i v e
He had struck gold — literally.
a mass migration and a quest for
level that is concentrated there,” said
American population at the time of
Looking down at his feet, Marshall
success, the spirit of which lives on
Allen, the park historian at Marshall
Marshall’s discovery stood at about
in the region today.
Gold Discovery State Historic Park.
14,000. By 1852, with California
the next half hour, the carpenter
California historian Ed Allen sees
Standing in front of a replica of the
newly named a state, there were
and businessman filled his hat with
connections between the Gold Rush
riverside sawmill where Marshall
250,000 non-Native Americans, ac-
gold worth about $15 (the equivalent
era and the state’s entrepreneur-
discovered gold, Allen continued:
cording to California State Parks.
amount would now be worth about
ial culture, which has propelled
“The Gold Rush was a f lash in the
Boomtowns like Coloma sprang
$2,500). He must have felt rich: At the
California into a global powerhouse—
pan, and I think we’re on to a whole
up to support the new arrivals. San
time, he was leading construction
the nation’s most populous state and
’nother track with AI and, basically,
Francisco transformed from a “sleepy
of a sawmill by the river. His men,
the world’s fourth-largest economy.
the Silicon Valley.”
port town” to a bustling city “filled with
saw more glimmering particles. Over
OPPOSITE: Ed Allen, park historian at Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park in Coloma, California, holds pieces of gold similar to those sought by Gold Rush miners in 2025. FRED GREAVES / USA TODAY AMERICA • 17
ABOVE: Daguerreotype titled “View of San Francisco harbor” by photographer Sterling C. McIntyre, circa 1851. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, RN LC-USZC4-7421 ABOVE RIGHT: Said Ouissal, CEO of
ZEDADA, says artificial intelligence will create opportunities for diverse and innovative minds. TERRY COLLINS/ USA TODAY OPPOSITE: Ed Allen, park historian at the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park in Coloma, California, stands next to a replica of Sutter’s Mill in 2025. FRED GREAVES / USA TODAY
18 • AMERICA
makeshift tent-houses, hotels, stores,
But getting to California wasn’t easy.
“Panama had a railroad on it after
saloons, gambling halls and shanties,”
It could take as long as six months to
1854, and so you didn’t have to walk
according to the National Park Service.
cross the country by covered wagon in
through the jungles and catch all kinds
And Sacramento became a supply hub
dreadful conditions with limited food
of diseases,” Allen said.
and staging ground for gold-seekers.
and water, he said.
Those who made it west more often
The rest of the country benefited, too.
“In fact, most of the people that got
Businesses back East provided supplies
rich in California, if they crossed the
But even a small amount of gold could
and profited from the gold the prospec-
prairies and so forth, they were going
make the poor farmhands who rushed
tors brought back. In 1852, at the peak of
to go home by boat,” Allen said.
west feel wealthy.
struck out than struck it rich.
the Gold Rush, an estimated $81 million
A route had recently opened through
“They had never had money,” Allen
worth of gold was found in California.
the isthmus of Panama, making the
said, “and of course, this first money
journey from the West Coast to the East
you get, you’re most likely going to
Coast faster.
spend it and have a good time.”
“Our economy just went through the roof,” Allen said.
“Most of the people that got rich in California, if they crossed the prairies and so forth, they were going to go home by boat.” ED ALLEN
Rush led to a devastating bust The rush for gold was devastating for the region’s Indigenous people.
Indian.
to mine in the state. It was primarily
The discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill
enforced against miners of Mexican,
brought “one of the darkest episodes of
Latin American, Chinese and German
The 1900 census recorded the Native
dispossession, widespread sexual as-
descent, who often worked together
American population in California at
sault and mass murder against the na-
while facing intense discrimination
15,377, which Allen said was a historic
tive people of California,” reported the
and violence, said Gregorio Mora-
low point, compared to the estimated
California Native American Heritage
Torres, a retired Mexican American
300,000 Native Americans living in the
Commission.
studies professor at San Jose State
region at the start of the Spanish mis-
In 1850, California passed a Foreign
sion era in 1769. Much of that decline
Miners’ License Tax intended to drive
“You also had people coming from
came between 1846 and 1870, during the
foreigners out of rich mining areas.
South America, Chile and Peru who
University.
height of the Gold Rush, according to
The ta x ordered non-A mer ica n
ha d this incredible k nowledge of
the National Museum of the American
miners to pay upward of $20 a month
mining,” Mora-Torres said. “But they AMERICA • 19