The period of the Gold Rush was marked by the California Genocide . Under US sovereignty , the indigenous population plunged from approximately 150,000 in 1848 to 30,000 in 1870 and reached its nadir of 16,000 in 1900 . Thousands of California Native Americans , including women and children , are documented to have been killed by non-Native Americans in this period . The dispossession and murder of California Native Americans was aided by institutions of the state of California , which encouraged indigenous peoples to be killed with impunity
California Genocide
California Genocide
History of Native Americans in the United States