What’s that shiny yellow object glittering in the stream? Could it be a chunk of valuable gold? Imagine being James W. Marshall, said to be the first settler to discover gold at Sutter’s Mill in California.
Would you be so excited you’d tell everyone about it? What would you do with a chunk of the precious metal? That piece was only about the size of a pea, but it was big enough to launch the Gold Rush.
This event earned its name because of the many thousands of fortune-hunters who rushed to California between 1848 and 1858 in pursuit of gold. Marshall and his boss, James Sutter, wanted to keep their precious discovery a secret. Unfortunately for them, the news got out anyway and soon traveled across the country – and even around the world. Their “little secret” would go on to propel countless dreams and transform the population, land, and future of California.