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Title
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Mexicans and the Gold Rush, 1848-1855, continued
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Description
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Many Anglo and Mexican residents in and around Santa Clara Valley made their fortunes selling supplies to the gold miners. At the end of the Mexican American War, Thomas Fallon returned to San José and then to Santa Cruz, where he established a saddle business. At the beginning of the Gold Rush, Fallon took iron picks to the Sierras to sell to the miners. With his profits he bought a business/residence on the Santa Cruz Plaza and in 1849 married into a prominent Californio family that owned Rancho Soquel. Similarly, Don Antonio María Suñol, who owned a dry goods store in San José, supplied beef and dry goods to the miners. Other Californio rancheros, such as the Bernal brothers Juan Pablo and Agustin, joined Suñol and his family driving cattle to sell to hungry miners.
Businesses prospered as would-be miners passed through Santa Clara, Milpitas, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, and San José, needing supplies on their way to the goldfields. Often, miners waited out the winters in the warmer Santa Clara Valley. Discouraged miners also left the Sierras for good and settled in agricultural valleys like Santa Clara County in search of new livelihoods. This influx of settlers initiated a decline in Mexican culture and political influence, in contrast to Southern California, which retained its Mexican majority through the 1870s.
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Scholar Talk
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https://vimeo.com/811383418/8499406996?share=copy
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Identifier
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B4SV Exhibit Topic One: Slide 011
