On January 24, 1848, a thin of metal the size and thickness of a corn flake altered the history of California. By , the history of the United States was also affected.
That day, in a remote region of the Sierra Nevada foothills, a man named James Marshall was the construction of a sawmill on the American River. He was building the mill for his boss, John Sutter. As he looked in the millrace, a fast moving stream that the mill wheel, Marshall spotted a glint of color. After picking up the flake and applying rudimentary tests to the metal, Marshall came to a : he had discovered gold! Four days later, Marshall informed Sutter, who urged him to keep the discovery so that work on the sawmill would be completed. Eventually, word of the gold across the region like a Western wildfire, igniting the curiosities of the citizens of the nearby city of San Francisco. By the spring of 1848, people poured out of San Francisco to strike it rich. It is said that San Francisco emptied after businessman Sam Brannan walked down the city’s Montgomery Street with a bottle containing gold flakes, grains, and dust, shouting: Gold! Gold! Gold from the American River!