The california gold rush?

Question

Is it true that Francisco Lopez was the first won to discover it

Answer 1

Hey Genesis,

It is not true according to everything I have read.

The Gold Rush started in January 1848, when James W. Marshall found shiny pieces of metal in the tailrace of a sawmill he was building; tests showed the metal was gold. Word of the find spread quickly. Within a few years, hundreds of thousands of prospectors and merchants came to California from around the world, drawn by “gold fever” and the lure of easy wealth.

Answer 2

Correct answer about James Marshall discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in California.

California set the pattern for other gold rushes throughout the West. The Pike's Peak gold rush in 1859 opened Colorado, launched the city of Denver and started a great mining industry. Gold rushes also brought people to Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. They were important to the development of the West.

Also, some interesting information. Gold was discovered in Australia in 1851, and their population almost tripled in the next nine years. An 1861 gold rush in New Zealand doubled that country's population in six years. The city of Johannesburg, South Africa was founded as a result of gold rush as well as Klondike region of Canada's Yukon Territory during the 1897. So, it wasn't just exclusive to California, but had effects on the World.