In January 1848, James Marshall was inspecting his employer’s sawmill in the Sierra Nevada, California, when he noticed something glittering in the water of the millstream. He picked it up: it was gold. The news of the discovery of gold in California soon spread. People came from all over America, and many parts of the world, to seek their fortunes in the goldfields of the West. Some travelled overland across the continent; others came by sea to San Francisco. By 1849 over 90,000 men, called “forty-niners” after the year, had flocked to the area hoping to make their fortune. Very few succeeded.

Panning for gold

To extract gold dust from the mud and gravels found on or near the banks of a stream was simple. Miners used metal pans to scoop up a likely pile of gravel along with some water. They swirled the mixture round a bit, allowing the muddy water to slop out of the pan. Gold dust was heavier than sediments, so, if they were lucky, any gold in the mixture would show up in the bottom of the pan. Even when prospectors found gold, they did not usually make their fortunes, as the price of the gold found did not often add up to much more than a miner's living expenses at the fields.