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Gold Rush History
The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) initiated on January 24, 1848, when gold was revealed at Sutter’s Mill. James Marshall’s finding of a gold nugget that was the size of a dime in the tailrace of Sutter’s Mill was what initiated this craze. A man named Sam Brannan was the one that made known that gold had been found in the American River by showing the people a bottle full of gold nuggets that had been found in the American River. James Marshall found a gold nugget that was the size of a dime in the tailrace of Sutter’s Mill.
To begin the story the right way we should explain who Sam Brannan was. Sam Brannan was an elder in the Mormon Church and the owner of a general store in Sutterville that was a little town on the Sacramento River. Given the fact that Sam was aware that gold seekers were going to start invading Sutterville after hearing there was gold, he included a large stock of shovels, picks and a lot of other mining equipment the people were going to need to mine because he knew that these people were going to have to make a stop at a store that had mining equipment before going to get the gold.
Sam Brannan was a clever business man and decided he would do some publicity about the gold that had been found in the American River so the next thing he did was go through the town and let every one in on the wonderful news and when people started hoarding into Sutterville his business increased from one day to the next; he evidently turned into a rich man very quickly because of this well thought up preparation.
John Sutter went through a completely different thing though. John Sutter was born in February 15 of 1803 in Kandern, Baden, a few miles from the Swiss border. He was an apprentice to a firm of printers and sitesellers but it was not long until he discovered that this was not the business he wanted for himself.
His future wife’s name was Annette D'beld, the two were married in Burgdorf in October 24 of 1826.
John Sutter had tried unsuccessfully at a series of different businesses that did not work out for him so he decided to look for his fortune in America. At the age of thirty-one, he left his wife and four children back and headed to America.
His original name was Johann Augustus Sutter but he wanted a name that seemed a bit more American so he changed it to John Sutter. When he arrived to America he worked as a merchant and innkeeper for several years but he always kept in mind the stories he had been told about the rich land that was located in the west in California and had been told a man was able to own as much land as he wanted.
Upon finding out about this he decided it was time for him to leave his job and set out to California. In California he turned into a rancher in 1838. It took him around a year before he actually got to California.
