Research on Gamm Saan (Gold Mountain):
Originally, in the mid-1800’s, there was much rumor about the gold rush taking place in California. Many Chinese immigrants at the time viewed this place as Gamm Saan or “Gold Mountain”. Somewhere around 1851, at least 25,000 Chinese peoples had immigrated to the U.S. in search for opportunity in rare minerals. This included being separated from their friends, family, businesses, money, and homes. Unfortunately, the morale of the people dropped when little or no actual gold was found. It was also too late to turn back to their home country; so in short, these people were stuck in this strange land with few natural resources to utilize. However, the Chinese people had a history of settling in faraway lands and successfully establishing themselves in businesses or jobs so they also had a chance of setting themselves up in California.
