California Gold Rush ( 1848 – 1855 ) began on January 24 , 1848 , when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter 's Mill in Coloma , California . The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the United States and abroad . The sudden influx of gold into the money supply reinvigorated the American economy , and the sudden population increase allowed California to go rapidly to statehood , in the Compromise of 1850 . The Gold Rush had severe effects on Native Californians and resulted in a precipitous native population decline from disease , genocide and starvation . By the time it ended , California had gone from a thinly populated ex-Mexican territory , to having one of its first two U.S. Senators , John C. Frémont , selected to be the first presidential nominee for the new Republican Party , in 1856
genocide
California Genocide
California Gold Rush