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It was 1848. James Marshall was working at Sutter’s Mill in California when he made a huge discovery! “My eye was caught with the glimpse of something shining in the bottom of the ditch…I reached my hand down and picked it up; it made my heart thump, for I was certain it was gold. The piece was about half the size and of the shape of a pea.” John Marshall told this story at a later date and after he told John Sutter of his findings, California would never be the same. JOHN SUTTER JAMES MARSHALL
Marshall revealed what was in his hands. It was a nugget of gold. At first Sutter didn’t believe Marshall, “I thought something had touched Marshall’s brain,” he had said. As soon as Sutter saw that nugget he immediately believed. After a brief discussion the two men decided to keep it to themselves. The next day they went out to the site to search for gold but they were too late. A Spanish-Speaking Indian worker was holding a nugget of gold and shouting, “Oro (gold) Oro!” From that moment on everything was chaos. Sutter’s workers quit to search for gold and the discovery spread across the states. Even the President got involved. President Polk confirmed the California Gold Strike in his farewell message to Congress in 1848. SUTTER’S MILL
After the discovery in 1848 The New York Herald printed the news of the discovery. In result of this, a stampede of miners came into California to search for gold. People often traveled over mountains or took a round-about sea route around Cape Cod. In 1849 there were approximately 100,000 people living in San Francisco. One of the miners was S. Shufelt. The only thing we know about Mr. Shufelt is that he boarded Panama on May 11, 1849 with 200 other gold seekers. We do know however that Mr. Shufelt was a very motivated individual because we have record of his saying, “I have left those I love as my own life behind and risked everything and endured many hardships to get here. I want to make enough to live easier and do some good with, before I return.” These same thoughts probably motivated most of the other miners because they didn’t wish to stay, they only wanted to make some money before they returned home. S. Shufelt
THE FIVE MOST IMPORTANT FACTS James Marshall and John Sutter were the first people to discover the gold in California. 100,000 people came to CA in 1849. These people were referred to as forty-niners. Around 80% of these people were American and the rest were from around the world. In 1853 California’s gold production was more than $60 million. California opposed slavery especially in the coal mines. The California Gold Rush helped travel between the states. Miners from the California Gold Rush
VIDEO TIME http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG_KO-UnXBU