Editing California gold rush (section)

===Path of the gold===
[[File:SanFrancisco1851a.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Portsmouth Square, San Francisco, during the gold rush, 1851]]

Once extracted, the gold itself took many paths. First, much of the gold was used locally to purchase food, supplies and lodging for the [[miner]]s. It also went towards entertainment, which consisted of anything from a traveling theater to alcohol, gambling, and prostitutes. These transactions often took place using the recently recovered gold, carefully weighed out.<ref name=RawlsScales>{{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|pp=[https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/212 212–214]}}</ref>{{sfnb|Young|1970|pp=[https://archive.org/details/westernmininginf0000youn/page/109 109]}} These merchants and vendors, in turn, used the gold to purchase supplies from ship captains or packers bringing goods to California.<ref name=RawlsPack>{{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|pp= [https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/256 256–259]}}</ref>

The gold then left California aboard ships or mules to go to the makers of the goods from around the world. A second path was the Argonauts themselves who, having personally acquired a sufficient amount, sent the gold home, or returned home taking with them their hard-earned "diggings". For example, one estimate is that some US$80 million worth of California gold (equivalent to US${{inflation|US|.08|1855|r=1|fmt=c}} billion today) was sent to France by French prospectors and merchants.<ref name=HollFren>{{harvb|Holliday|1999|p=[https://archive.org/details/rushforrichesgol00holl/page/90 90]}}</ref>

A majority of the gold went back to New York City brokerage houses.<ref name="Stiles 2009"/>

As the gold rush progressed, local banks and gold dealers issued "banknotes" or "drafts"—locally accepted paper currency—in exchange for gold,<ref name=RawlsCurr>{{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|pp=[https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/193 193–97], [https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/214 214–215]}}</ref> and private mints created private gold [[coin]]s.<ref name=RawlsCoins>{{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|p=[https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/214 214]}}</ref> With the building of the [[San Francisco Mint]] in 1854, [[Gold as an investment|gold bullion]] was turned into official United States [[California gold coinage|gold coins]] for circulation.<ref name=RawlsMint>{{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|p=[https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/212 212]}}</ref> The gold was also later sent by California banks to U.S. national banks in exchange for national paper currency to be used in the [[economic boom|booming]] [[economy of California|California economy]].<ref name=RawlsNatBank>{{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|pp=[https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/226 226–227]}}</ref>