This Year in History

1855

Gold mine

 

1958

photo courtesy of California State Library

This Year in History - 1855

  • Most historians consider 1855 to be the final year of California’s Gold Rush. It is estimated that at least 300,000 gold-seekers, merchants and others had arrived in California by that time, extracting 750,000 pounds of gold.
  • The U.S. Army intervenes to end the Klamath and Salmon River War between settlers and Native Americans in far Northern California.
  • The preserved head of bandit Joaquin Murrieta and the hand of his lieutenant, Three-Fingered Jack, are sold at auction for $36.
  • A bank panic hits San Francisco when one-third of all deposits at Page, Bacon & Co. are withdrawn in a single day.