Definition:
The California Gold Rush was a mass migration of people flocking to northern California following the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill on January 24, 1848.
The sighting of a gold nugget at the sawmill owned by John Sutter was a closely guarded secret at first, but by mid-1848 word of the discovery was appearing on the east coast. Newspapers helped fan rumors, which were confirmed when President James Polk mentioned the California gold discovery in his annual address to Congress in December 1848.
It was estimated that as many as 100,000 people arrived in California during 1849, at the height of the California Gold Rush. The would-be prospectors became known as "Forty-Niners."
