THE RUSH FIRST BEGAN IN 1848 WHEN A CARPENTER NAMED JAMES MARSHA...

1849.

The rush first began in 1848 when a carpenter named James Marshall discovered gold on the property of John

A. Sutter in the Sacramento Valley. Hired to build a sawmill on the banks of the American River, Marshall had

hardly begun work when he started finding nugget after nugget of gold. News of the discovery at Sutter’s mill

spread quickly, and soon thousands of persons were laying claims in the area. These people, called ‘forty-niners’

rushed in from all over the world.

In just two years, the population of California increased from about 26,000 to 380,000. consequently,

California was officially admitted to the Union as a state in September of 1850. The free-spending style of the

successful miners helped to turn communities such as Sacramento and San Francisco into prosperous towns.

Those who were not so lucky became farmers and ranchers in the Central Valley of California.