On this day in 1848, while constructing a millrace for a saw mill on the South Fork of the American River, James Wilson Marshall, a carpenter from New Jersey noticed a sparkle in the dark mud. Looking closer he noticed that the entire millrace was speckled with small flakes of gold and he rushed to tell his boss, John Sutter.
Sutter’s claim to the US government for mineral rights was investigated by Joseph Libbey Folsom, who issued confirmation of the gold discovery in June. The first flake found by Marshall was shipped to President James K. Polk in Washington D.C., arriving in August 1848. It is now on display in the National Museum of American History.
Ironically, the California gold rush was a disaster for Sutter. Though it brought thousands of men to California, the prospectors had no interest in joining Sutter’s despotic agricultural community. Instead, they overran Sutter’s property, slaughtered his herds for food, and trampled his fields. By 1852, New Helvetia was ruined, and Sutter was nearly wiped out. Until his death in 1880, he spent his time unsuccessfully petitioning the government to compensate him for the losses he suffered as a result of the gold rush he unintentionally ignited.
As news of the gold spread, settlers flocked to the new US territory of California. The population expanded from 14,000 non-natives to an estimated 85,000 newcomers in just a year. There were roughly 85,000 newcomers in 1849 and another 91,000 in 1850.[9] Many settled at the new town of Coloma, California, which sprung up close to Sutter’s Mill. Numerous further discoveries of gold in California were made. During the next seven years, approximately 300,000 people came to California (half by land and half by sea) to seek their fortunes from either mining for gold or selling supplies to the prospectors. This California Gold Rush permanently changed the territory, both through mass immigration and the economic effects of the gold. California became a US state in 1850.
Yet more signs!!!
Today is the birthday, in 1941, of American singer-songwriter Neil Diamond. He has had ten No. 1 singles on the US chart including ‘Cracklin’ Rose’, ‘Song Sung Blue’ and ‘You Don’t Bring Me Flowers’ and has sold more than 130 million records worldwide. Diamond wrote ‘I’m A Believer’, the No.1 for The Monkees. Many acts from Elvis Presley, Lulu, Cliff Richard and Deep Purple have all covered his songs. With his 2008 album ‘Home Before Dark’ Diamond became the oldest artist to have a US No.1, the record was previously held by Bob Dylan in 2006 with ‘Modern Times’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utBKv9ZMojM
