To most Americans, the new lands in the West seemed too distant for rapid settlement. But in early 1848, workers at John Sutter’s sawmill found flecks of gold in the American River east of Sacramento, California. News quickly spread about the discovery, and by 1849 thousands of people began the journey to California in search of fortune.
The California Gold rush was between 1848 to 1857, where people from across the world traveled to California to search for gold. In 1848, James Marshall found gold near Sutter's Mill. He tried to keep it a secret but word spread out quick. In 1849, groups of people traveled to California, known as the 49'ers. The golden news also attracted miners from around the Pacific Rim. Many fortune seekers came from South America, especially Peru and Chile. Another 25,000 laborers migrated from China to California during the 1850s. From a mere 14,000 in 1847, California’s population of settlers surged to 225,000 in just five years.