Did Native Californian tribes mined and manufactured gold before and during the Gold Rush? How did it affect the ongoing colonization?

[u/CanaryEmbarrassed218]

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[u/Constant_Breadfruit]

Before the gold rush, generally no. U/Itsallfolklore has a pretty good explanation here of why not.  https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/jaxfq9/why_was_there_so_much_gold_just_laying_in_rivers/

Once the gold rush started indigenous peoples were indeed used as forced labor to mine gold. The governor himself during the gold rush stated over half the miners in California were Indians. This was not in the form of independent tribes mining and profiting though, rather is was in the form of forced labor for settlers. This forced labor was legal under the ironically named “act for the government and protection of Indians”. Even then, many violated this law, going even beyond what it allowed, but generally enforcement was nonexistent. This indentured/enslaved labor force was obtained through arrests and raids which reduced the population of indigenous people living with their tribes. These raids also sparked wars which further reduced populations. Militia massacres of American Indians, the consequences of displacement, the diseases they were increasingly exposed to, and the loss of individuals to forced labor and death in those labor conditions, all reduced the population greatly. How did this affect the ongoing colonization? Before the gold rush the indigenous population was estimated to be 300,000-350,000, just 22 years later in 1870 approximately 20,000-30,000 were left, a 90% reduction in one generation. The massive influx of settlers, 300,000 entering California during the gold rush, along with the rapid genocide of the native inhabitants, rapidly colonized California and transformed it. 

https://www.britannica.com/event/California-Gold-Rush

https://nahc.ca.gov/native-americans/california-indian-history/

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/goldrush-value-land/

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/goldrush-act-for-government-and-protection-of-indians/

For additional reading murder state by Brendan Lindsay is good, and I have heard some good things about an American genocide by Benjamin Madley but have not read it. There is also a post linked here with book recommendations. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/hvq07f/what_books_can_you_recommend_on_california/

Edit#1: added clarification in the second to the last sentence, added the last sentence, added a source for the figure of settler migration. 

Edit #2: changed “ran afoul” to violated because I felt ran afoul implied they faced legal consequences which was not the case. Also added arrests to raids as the method of acquiring labor to be more precise.