• The first two nuggets of gold were found in 1848 when a sawmill worker by the name of James Marshall happened to glance down and see something sparkling in the waters of the American River.
• The wealthiest man during the California Gold Rush era wasn’t a prospector, but rather a prominent Mormon store owner by the name of Samuel Brannan. He bought up all of the shovels, pans, and pick axes in the area, then sold them for ten to twenty times what they were worth.
• Between 1848 and 1849 the nonnative population of the California Territory grew from just under 1,000 to over 100,000.
• The first batch of prospectors who rushed to California were known as 49ers (Forty-Niners) because they arrived in 1849.
• Many of the 49ers arrived by ship and had not purchased return tickets to their homelands.
• Chinese prospectors arrived in California by the thousands. Many were killed by claim jumpers. Others (worried for their safety) opted to open restaurants and laundries, where they were paid with gold nuggets. In a roundabout way, they got the gold they were seeking.
• Many of the ships that carried prospectors to the California Territory were abandoned and then repurposed as inns/hotels or stores. Some were stripped for lumber.
• Prices in the gold rush territories were outrageous. Hotels, food, and supplies could bankrupt a miner in a hurry.
• Get-rich schemes were rampant during the gold rush era.
• Women were in the minority until long after the gold rush era. Only 3% of California’s nonnatives were women. Many of those were saloon girls.
• During the gold rush era, a pound of coffee sold for the equivalent of $1200 in today’s market.
• Saloons were found in abundance and their owners often diluted the whiskey with turpentine, ammonia, or gunpowder. These drinks went by some fascinating names: Tanglefoot, Tarantula Juice, Red Eye, or Rotgut.
• The first American “gold rush” took place in North Carolina, fifty years prior to the discovery in the California Territory.
• The San Francisco 49ers, an American football team, was named after the prospectors who came to California during the 1849 rush for gold.
• Pioneer Steam coffee would eventually become the Folgers brand.