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Gold is found!
Many people in California figured gold was there, but it was James W. Marshall on January 24, 1848, who saw something shiny in Sutter Creek near Coloma, California. He had discovered gold unexpectedly while overseeing construction of a sawmill on the American River. -
The Gold Rush begins
The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. -
President James K. Polk verifies the discovery of gold in California
On December 5, 1848, President James K. Polk confirmed in his State of the Union address that large quantities of gold had been discovered in California. -
Sutter's Mill sells lots near the river to prospectors.
Sutter's Mill sells lots near the river to prospectors. -
The Steamship Oregon arrives in San Francisco.
The Oregon was from the Pacific Mail Steamship Co and it carried passengers and the first mail to California -
The first wagon trains depart from Iowa and Missouri
For purposes of protection and efficiency, traders and emigrants of the trans-Mississippi West before 1880 customarily gathered their wagons into more or less organized caravans or trains. William L. Sublette, a partner in the reorganized Rocky Mountain Fur Company, conducted a ten-wagon, mule-drawn train over the Oregon Trail from St. Louis, Missouri, as far as the company's Wind River rendezvous (in present-day Wyoming) between 10 April and 16 July 1830. -
A small gold rush occurs on the streets of Sacramento.
Gold flakes are discovered on J street in Sacramento but the town is destroyed by a 10 day flood. -
California passes a foreign miner's tax.
Miners have to pay $20 a month for a gold mining licence fee. -
State Born!
Due to the gold rush, California has enough money to become a state! So without the gold rush, California would become part of the Spanish. Also on this same date, California was declared a slave-free state! -
The Gold Rush Ends
It played a huge impact on populations in California and the surrounding areas. It was the discovery of gold by James Marshall in Coloma in 1848 that started the whole thing.The Gold Rush, and the increase in population density, directly led to California's admittance into the nation as a free state.
