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Gold discovered in California

Gold discovered in California
01/24/1848 AD Observed

In the morning, Marshall was examining the channel below Sutter's Mill, which he was constructing on the American River, when he noticed some shiny flecks in the channel bed.

As later recounted by Marshall:

I picked up one or two pieces and examined them attentively; and having some general knowledge of minerals, I could not call to mind more than two which in any way resembled this, iron, very bright and brittle; and gold, bright, yet malleable. I then tried it between two rocks, and found that it could be beaten into a different shape, but not broken. I then collected four or five pieces and went up to Mr. Scott (who was working at the carpenter's bench making the mill wheel) with the pieces in my hand and said, "I have found it."

"What is it?" inquired Scott.
"Gold," I answered.
"Oh! no," replied Scott, "That can't be."
I said,--"I know it to be nothing else."
— James W. Marshall, Owen Cochran Gray et al, Gold Days (1929), p. 344

News of the discovery soon reached around the world. The immediate impact on Marshall was negative. His sawmill failed when all the able-bodied men in the area abandoned everything to search for gold. Before long, arriving hordes of prospectors forced him off his land. Marshall soon left the area.

Coloma, CA
Lattitude: 38.8025° N
Longitude: 120.8947° W
Region: North America
North America
Modern Day United States
Subjects Who or What Observed?
Objects To Whom or What was Observed?
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