Would you travel, live, and work under harsh conditions for months to fulfill a dream? Thousands of gold hunters from all corners of the world did so in hopes of striking rich after a brief discovery of gold in the American territory of California. This huge worldwide flock of people became known as the California Gold Rush of 1849. The Gold Rush granted riches to and a handful of miners, but provided Americans as well as many foreigners a new homeland and life.
At the start of the 1839 decade, about 500 people resided in California. One of the settlers was John Sutter (Boyer 336). Sutter was an immigrant who came to California in 1839 intending to build his own private empire. On January 24th of 1848, Jame Marshall, an employee of Sutter, was assisting with the construction of a lumber mill on American river in Sacramento valley. A bright glint in the river caught Marshall eye. It appeared to be a bright, soft metal. In disbelief, Marshall and Sutter tested this metal and concluded it to be gold. Sutter made a pact with Marshall and his employees to keep the discovery convert due to the fact that gold hunters will get in the way of constructing the lumber mill. However, the promise was broken and the world was leaked out to the public (the gold rush noe3). News spread rapidly along the west coast including Mexico and Hawaii of the discovery of gold (the gold rush of 1849 noe1). Whispers of a gold strike had progressed need eastward. However, most of these were disregarded. The gold discovery needed validation. In the late December of 1848, President James Polk confirmed the accounts of gold to congress and the nation (noe4).
After the confirmation of gold by President Polk, the subject of old was discussed in every household, large flock of people including farmers, merchants, soldiers, and many others left their current education occupation and made their way to California. These adventures were called forty-niners, due to the departure