Gold Discovered Today

News of the California treasure quickly spread causing the population of San Francisco to grow from about 800 in 1848 to, just one year later, over 50,000.

American gold was discovered on this day, January 24, 1848, in California by a man named James Marshall. The location is known as “Sutter’s Mill” for the man Marshall was working for, John Sutter at the time of the discovery. News of the California treasure quickly spread causing the population of San Francisco to grow from about 800 in 1848 to, just one year later, over 50,000.

Finding nuggets of gold made people wealthy overnight and other business owners became rich in their own right supporting the needs of these “49rs”. Named for the year of the great American gold rush, 1849. Getting to the gold was not an easy journey. People came across the ocean and others came across the land. Prospecting for gold was labor intensive work and nearly 20% of the miners died within six months of their search for gold.