![]() Gold Fever at San FranciscoĪs word got out about the discovery at Sutter’s Mill, there was a frenzied rush among current residents of Pacific settlements to the newly discovered gold fields. The first published announcement of the discovery of gold was made on March 15, 1848, in the San Francisco weekly newspaper The Californian, and no longer could the discovery be withheld from the whole world. Upon his return to San Francisco he did not hesitate to proclaim the discovery.Įven Sutter, who most wanted the secret maintained, confided the news to General Vallejo. Upon hearing of gold, Sam Brannan, the Mormon elder, could not curb his curiosity and visited Sacramento. Charles Bennett, sent by Sutter to Monterey to secure a grant of the Coloma area from Governor Mason, could not restrain himself from showing the gold in Benicia and San Francisco. The ex-soldiers at the Coloma millsite confided the secret to their associates at Natoma. The plans of Sutter and Marshall to keep the discovery quiet came to naught, for the secret of gold could not be kept. Water wheel powers machinery at a placer mine Boulders were blasted out and the decomposed granite was being dug out manually by both the Indian laborers and the Mormons. Additional excavation was done during the daytime, and at night the gates of the forebay were opened and the running water assisted the work by clearing away the loose dirt. Upon his return to the mill, Marshall found that his orders had been carried out, but the race was still not sufficiently deep. Leaving the mill in the same month, Marshall ordered that this work should be accomplished in his absence. This necessitated the deepening and widening of the race to expedite the run-off of the water. It was determined by test in December 1847, that the mill foundations had been set too low and therefore the water did not escape sufficiently into the tailrace. The sawmill constructed by Marshall was operated by diverting the water of the river through a headrace into the forebay of the mill, whence it was directed to the waterwheel, flowed under the length of the mill and escaped back into the river through a tailrace. “the discovery which electrified the world, altered the course of western history, greatly accelerated the development of California, and had national and international ramifications” The population grew so quickly that in September 1850, California became a state without going through the usual territorial status. Between 18, and estimated 300,000 people from around the globe arrived in California. The rush to the California gold fields transformed both California and the nation. Men by the thousands began preparations for the trek to California, and by the Spring of 1849, the great Gold Rush was on. Polk confirmed the discovery of gold in an address to Congress. ![]() ![]() However, that all changed on December 5, 1848, as US President James K. California might as well have been the other side of the world at that time, and few were willing to risk everything to chase rumors. When news of the gold discovery arrived in the East, people were initially skeptical.
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