“Monday 24th this day some kind of mettle was found in the tail race that looks like gould first discovered by James Martial, the boss of the mill.” This barely legible entry by a workman at John Sutter’s sawmill on the American River in Northern California recorded the moment in January 1848 that started the Gold Rush. James Marshall’s gold discovery focused the world’s attention on California and changed the course of history by hastening the state’s admission to the Union in 1850.
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