History of the area and why people migrated here…….The California gold rush

 

In January 24, 1848 while mining with a crew at the American river near Sacramento, James Marshall discovered the precious metal gold.  News of Marshall’s discovery marked the beginning of one of the largest human migrations in history, as a half-million people from around the world descended upon California in search of the piece of the pie. By 1849 the population in California had increased to about 100,000 (as compared with 20,000 at the end of 1848 and around 800 in March 1848) due to the gold miners known as the 49ers (history.gov). Due the population influx California was able to apply for admissions into the union and was admitted as a free state in 1850 making it the 31^st state.