On January 24, 1848, James Marshall, was helping build a lumber mill for John Sutter in Coloma, California. He found a shiny lump of gold in the American River. The news triggered a massive rush of gold-seekers flocking from all over the world. They came to California in hopes of striking it rich. These people were called "forty-niners" because many of them arrived around the year 1849. California was originally nicknamed the Grizzly Bear State, but after the gold rush, it became known as the Golden State.