The World Rushed In
James Wilson Marshall, a moody and eccentric master carpenter, found "some kind of mettle" in the waters of the American River on January 24, 1848. The "mettle," of course, proved to be gold. As news of Marshall's discovery began to spread, Californians rushed to the site. These eager "forty-eighters" were seized by a gold fever that soon swept the nation and the world.
Hundreds of thousands of newcomers rushed to California from around the world. Those who came from the eastern United States traveled by various sea routes or across the overland trail. Jim Beckwourth of Beckwourth Pass was one of the many frontier scouts who helped guide immigrants through the Sierra Nevada. Gold seekers flooded into San Francisco and other boom towns throughout the interior. Forces were unleashed, for good and ill, that would transform California forever into a Golden State.