Masa's Report #6
Gold Rush Reflections
Today, I got the feeling of the Gold Rush spirit. Most people have a strong feeling for gold, but I can not forget the following story of the gold rush in Georgia.
In 1828 thousands of white
people came to the Cherokee land of Dahlonega in America's first gold rush. (In the
Cherokee language, "Dahlonega" means "the color gold.")
"Gold!!," the whites with gold fever yelled as the gold rush began. 10 years
later in 1838, the whites forced the Cherokee Indians off of their land. This was the
beginning of the Cherokee Indian "Trail of Tears." They moved from Georgia to
Oklahoma in the winter. I heard this story at the Dahlonega Gold Museum.
In Japan, we have a similar story. When the rulers of KAI, the old name for Yamanashi-ken, found gold in ENZAN, they killed the local people who lived there to take the gold.
Why is it that--even though the Cherokee Indians were
humans just like the Europeans--they did not mine the gold which was so abundant on their
land. I want to learn much more about the Cherokee
civilization.
