What if gold hadn't been found in california

There would be an economic cascade effect that greatly influences the United States because of the gold that pretty much laid the foundations for the Union to wage war against the Confederacy.
 
Then again, there wouldn't have been large scale migrations to California. Without a swelling of population, entrance as a state into the Union would probably be butterflied away until a later time. Thus it would not cause a tip in the balance in the Free-Slave state issue in Congress.

Correct me if I am wrong.
 
There would be an economic cascade effect that greatly influences the United States because of the gold that pretty much laid the foundations for the Union to wage war against the Confederacy.

The CSA began the war, remember.

The biggest effect would be the California tribes don't suffer through genocide, losing 90% or more of their people.

Also large scale migration of Chinese to the US comes later.
 
When would gold be discovered? If it's sometime in the 20th Century, then giant corporations would go in and strip mine Sutter's Mill. Only those miners employed by them stand much of a chance reaping any reward.
 
When would gold be discovered?

It might be quite a long time, actually. The whole discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill was a freak accident. Basically they made the tailrace portion (tailrace-a ditch that drained water away from the sawmill) of the sawmill they were building too narrow. James Marshall decided to use the natural force of the river to widen the tailrace/ditch. It was this activity which uncovered the gold...which would not have occurred if the tailrace had been constructed properly in the first place. There's not a lot of reason to suspect that the gold would have been found without that accident of poor construction occurring.

And if you look at the other discoveries of gold or silver in the West, they all were butterflies from the discovery of gold in California...people who accidently discovered gold while on the way overland to California, or people who had been inspired by the discovery in California, caught gold fever, and set off looking for their own discoveries. Take away the California gold discovery, and none of that happens.

Indeed, it would probably be the late 1890s, when gold was accidentally discovered in the Yukon, before there would be a major western gold rush. Once that occurs, people will start fanning out over the west looking for other veins.
 
If there's no Gold Rush, the Panama Railway and Panama Canal will probably be delayed several decades.

The Panama Railway may still come about within a reasonable time difference. The overland route between the oceans is pretty self evident to anyone having a map. However, the canal itself will also emerge as a likely commercial venture once steamships come into service and particularly after the opening of the Suez Canal.
 

mowque

Banned
You'd have less of that 'colony' aspect that CA had in OTL. Also, slow down the transcontinental railway.
 
You'd have less of that 'colony' aspect that CA had in OTL. Also, slow down the transcontinental railway.

That is possible, tho I think that there are two likely outcomes regarding the transcontinental railway.

1. There is still a drive to build it as a means to transfer goods to Pacific ports in order to ship them to the Orient.

2. The transcontinental railway is built by private business and funds, perhaps by the likes of James Hill.
 
Politically, California (and probably the entire west coast) would be more conservative, not too much different the rest of the Southwest.
 
perhaps if California dosen't become a state until a few decades later, we might see less of an urge to get the Oregon Territory?
 
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