Which of the following is one of the main impacts of the Gold Rush? A. Most miners became very rich.
B. The United States went to war to claim California.
C. California became home to many cultural groups.
D. California broke away from the United States.
Back

Which of the following is one of the main impacts of the Gold Rush?

Explanation:

The Gold Rush, positive for California in so many ways, had a devastating effect on the state's environment. Many of these problems were directly related to gold-mining technology. The process of hydraulic mining, which became popular in the 1850s, caused irreparable environmental destruction. Two images show California's largest hydraulic mine — Malakoff Diggings, in Nevada County — in action. (Malakoff Diggings is now a state park and open to visitors.)

Dams (such as the English Dam in Nevada County, shown in one photograph), which were constructed to help supply water to the mines during the dry summer months, changed the course of rivers. The sediment washed away by hydraulic mining clogged riverbeds and lakes, threatening agriculture throughout the Central Valley. Conflicts over water arose between mining and farming interests. Hydraulic mining essentially came to an end in 1884 with the Sawyer Decision, legislation passed to resolve this conflict.

The mining industry also needed a great deal of wood, both to fuel the boilers at the mines and to build extensive canal systems. This demand for lumber helped create the logging industry. California's forests had plenty of trees to log, many quite large. The lithograph "The Stump and Trunk of the Mammoth Tree of Calaveras" depicts a society ball at which 32...

the awenser wuold be slaves