Where was gold first discovered in California (the amount of the find does not matter), just the first place!?

Answer 1

March 9, 1842 by Jose Francisco de Gracia Lopez in Placerita in Santa Clarita Valley... six years before James Marshall's discovery at Sutter's Mill.

"At about noontime, (Lopez) was deep in Cañon de los Encinos (Live Oak Canyon), picking a spot under an ancient oak tree for lunch and a siesta.. After his nap, Lopez dug up some wild onions with his knife and was surprised to discover gold clinging to their roots."


The first documented discovery of gold in California occurred in 1842 when Francisco Lopez, then a resident at Rancho San Francisco [later known as Newhall Ranch], found the placer deposits in Placerita Canyon. ... A variety of lines of historical evidence suggest, however, that gold may have been mined in the Santa Clara Valley region one to three decades before the Placerita Canyon discovery.


According to a local tale [published by St. Francis Dam chronicler Charles Outland in 1986], a group of about twenty men, led by one Santiago Feliciano, left Mission San Fernando in 1820 to explore the Castaic region. After reaching the Castaic Junction area, they traveled up Hasley Canyon for about 10 miles. There they discovered gold, and the mining camp "San Feliciano" was born. The region from San Feliciano to Soledad Canyon was subsequently prospected and mined, mostly for placer deposits, for a number of years.
Although there is no clear verification of this tale, there is, nonetheless, fairly strong evidence that the Placerita discovery in 1842 was by no means the first in this region. In 1832, for example, Ewing Young discovered an old ore smelting oven in San Emigdio Canyon, suggesting that gold mining in the area had occurred for one or two decades prior to the 1842 event. A number of other sources [referenced in this report] indicate that the presence of gold in the area was known at least a few years prior to the famous Francisco Lopez discovery.

Answer 2

Sutters Mill'

Answer 3

coloma