What’s that shiny yellow thing glittering in the stream? Could it be a piece of precious gold? Imagine being James W. Marshall, said to be the first settler who found gold at Sutter’s Mill in California.
Would you jump for joy and tell everyone about it? What would you do with a lump of the precious metal? It was just a small piece, about the size of a pea, but it was big enough to spark the Gold Rush.
This event took its name from the thousands of people who rushed to California between 1848 and 1858 to find gold. Marshall and his boss, James Sutter, wanted their discovery to stay secret. Well, the news got out anyway, and soon, it had traveled across the country. The news even traveled around the world. Their “secret” would go on to fuel many dreams. It would also change the population, land, and future of California.
