Farmers during the Gold Rush
In the beginning of the Gold Rush, a huge amount of miners settled in California. Cattle became a popular source of food to feed this growing population, and California ranchers were very successful. However, in 1856, a severe drought in California caused heavy losses of Californian cattle. As a result, California ranchers began to struggle to make a living. In addition, cattlemen from Texas, Mexico, and the Middle West began bringing herds of cattle into California, hoping to sell them to hungry miners. This competition caused California ranchers to go into debt. As a result, the cattle industry began to further decline, and California cattle was worth less.
When the California cattle industry declined, a great deal of the miners and farmers of California took action. Many miners had traveled to California in hopes of becoming rich, but were dissapointed to find that most of the gold mines were exhausted. They, instead, chose to become farmers. These new farmers, as well as those who had been farmers prior to the start of the Gold Rush, typically worked on wheat farms. Due to the high population boom of California and the decrease in cattle, wheat was at very high demand. In fact, since thousands of miners depended on eating wheat and had no other option but to buy it, the farmers had the opportunity to raise the price of wheat. Both the original and the new farmers were extremely successful, and in most cases earned more money then those who tried to find gold.