What effect did the Gold Rush have on the lives of most forty-niners? What effect did it have on the lives of many boomtown entrepreneurs

Environmental Impact. The Gold Rush had an effect on California's landscape. Rivers were dammed or became clogged with sediment, forests were logged to provide needed timber, and the land was torn up - all in pursuit of gold.

A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, prolonged droughts, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, pollution, or nuclear disasters.