Profile America: CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH

CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH

An accidental discovery at a construction site on this date in 1848 changed the course of U.S. history. James Marshall was building a sawmill for his boss, John Sutter, near Coloma, California, when he found gold. The pair tried to keep the discovery secret, but word got out, and by the following year, the famous Gold Rush was on, drawing some 100,000 fortune-seekers to the California territory. About $2 billion of gold was mined during the rush, which spurred construction of railroads and hastened statehood for California. While the 49er image is long gone, about 200,000 workers at more than 6,400 establishments in the U.S. still make their living by mining metals, minerals and ores. The value of gold mined in America is over$12 billion annually.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

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