What year did the California Gold Rush begin?

The California Gold Rush began in 1848.

The event is conventionally dated to January 24, 1848, when James W. Marshall discovered gold at Sutter’s Mill near Coloma, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Marshall was supervising construction of a lumber mill for John Sutter when he noticed the shiny material in the mill’s tailrace.

News spread locally during 1848, but the discovery became an international sensation after newspapers reported it and President James K. Polk confirmed California’s gold discoveries in a message to Congress on December 5, 1848. Large waves of migrants arrived in 1849, giving them the enduring nickname “forty-niners.”

The rush is generally dated from 1848 to 1855. Approximately 300,000 prospectors, merchants and other migrants came to California from across the United States and overseas. San Francisco expanded rapidly, while mining settlements, roads, farms and commercial networks transformed the region.

A common mistake is choosing 1849 because that was the peak migration year, not the beginning. Another neighbouring date is 1850, when California entered the United States as a state. The rush brought rapid economic growth but also severe dispossession, violence and population decline among Native Californians.