Editing California gold rush (section)

===Marshall's discovery===
[[File:James W. Marshall.jpg|thumb|left|upright|1855 illustration of [[James W. Marshall]], discoverer of gold at [[Sutter's Mill]]]]

In January 1847, nine months into the [[Mexican–American War]], the [[Treaty of Cahuenga]] was signed, leading to the resolution of the military conflict in [[Alta California]] (Upper California).<ref>{{cite web |last=Meares |first=Hadley |date=July 11, 2014 |title=In a State of Peace and Tranquility: Campo de Cahuenga and the Birth of American California |url=http://www.kcet.org/socal/departures/columns/lost-landmarks/in-a-state-of-peace-and-tranquility-campo-de-cahuenga-and-the-birth-of-american-california.html |url-status=live |access-date=June 25, 2021 |website=[[KCET]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140717202819/http://www.kcet.org/socal/departures/columns/lost-landmarks/in-a-state-of-peace-and-tranquility-campo-de-cahuenga-and-the-birth-of-american-california.html |archive-date=July 17, 2014 }}</ref> On January 24, 1848, [[James W. Marshall]]{{efn|A [[New Jersey]] native, Marshall came to California in 1844, worked for [[John Sutter]], and began farming. In 1846, he fought against [[Mokelumne River|Mokelumne]] Indians and participated in the [[Bear Flag Revolt]] (an attempt to claim California as an independent republic). He then joined [[John C. Frémont]]'s [[California Battalion]], followed by further military service. When he returned to [[Sutter's Fort]], most of his livestock had vanished.{{sfnb|Rolle|1987|p=165}} }} found shiny metal in the [[water wheel|tailrace]] of a lumber mill he was building for [[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]] pioneer [[John Sutter]]—known as [[Sutter's Mill]], near [[Coloma, California|Coloma]] on the [[American River]].<ref name="BancroftDiscovery">{{harvb|Bancroft|1888|pp=[https://archive.org/details/bancrohistofcali23huberich/page/32/mode/2up 32–34]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Gold Nugget |url=https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_741894 |website=National Museum of American History |access-date=January 22, 2021 |language=en |quote=This small piece of yellow metal is believed to be the first piece of gold discovered in 1848 at Sutter's Mill in California, launching the gold rush. James Marshall was superintending the construction of a sawmill for Col. John Sutter on the morning of January 24, 1848, on the South Fork of the American River at Coloma, California, when he saw something glittering in the water of the mill's tailrace. According to Sutter's diary, Marshall stooped down to pick it up and "found that it was a thin scale of what appeared to be pure gold." Marshall bit the metal as a test for gold. |archive-date=April 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220422073041/https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_741894 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="CAMap">For a detailed map, see [http://www.consrv.ca.gov/CGS/minerals/images/Big_AUMap.pdf California Historic Gold Mines] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061214035847/http://www.consrv.ca.gov/cgs/minerals/images/Big_AUMap.pdf |date=December 14, 2006}}, published by the state of California. Retrieved December 3, 2006.</ref> Marshall brought what he found to Sutter, and the two privately tested the metal. After the tests showed that it was gold, Sutter expressed dismay, wanting to keep the news quiet because he feared what would happen to [[New Helvetia|his plans for an agricultural empire]] if there were a gold rush in the region.<ref>{{harvb|Bancroft|1888|pp=[https://archive.org/details/bancrohistofcali23huberich/page/39/mode/2up 39–41]}}</ref> The Mexican–American War ended on May 30 with the ratification of the [[Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo]], which formally transferred California to the United States.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Today in History – February 2 |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/february-02/ |url-status=live |access-date=June 25, 2021 |website=[[Library of Congress]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170715083236/https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/february-02/ |archive-date=July 15, 2017 }}</ref>

Having sworn all concerned at the mill to secrecy, in February 1848, Sutter sent [[Charles H. Bennett (soldier)|Charles Bennett]] to [[Monterey, California|Monterey]] to meet with Colonel Mason, the chief U.S. official in California, to secure the mineral rights of the land where the mill stood. Bennett was not to tell anyone of the discovery of gold, but when he stopped at [[Benicia, California|Benicia]], he heard talk about the discovery of coal near Mount Diablo, and he blurted out the discovery of gold. He continued to San Francisco, where again, he could not keep the secret. At Monterey, Mason declined to make any judgement of title to lands and mineral rights, and Bennett for the third time revealed the gold discovery.{{sfnb|Bancroft|1888|pp=[https://archive.org/details/bancrohistofcali23huberich/page/42/mode/2up 42–44]}}

By March 1848, rumors of the discovery were confirmed by San Francisco newspaper publisher and merchant [[Samuel Brannan]]. Brannan hurriedly set up a store to sell gold prospecting supplies,<ref name=HollBran>{{harvb|Holliday|1999|p=[https://archive.org/details/rushforrichesgol00holl/page/60 60]}}</ref> and he walked through the streets of San Francisco, holding aloft a vial of gold, shouting "Gold! Gold! Gold from the American River!"{{sfnb|Bancroft|1888|pp=[https://archive.org/details/bancrohistofcali23huberich/page/55/mode/2up 55–56]}}

On August 19, 1848, the ''[[New York Herald]]'' was the first major newspaper on the East Coast to report the discovery of gold. On December 5, 1848, US President [[James K. Polk]] confirmed the discovery of gold in an address to [[United States Congress|Congress]].<ref name=StarrCongress>{{harvb|Starr|2005|p=[https://archive.org/details/californiahistor00star_0/page/80 80]}}</ref> As a result, individuals seeking to benefit from the gold rush—later called the "forty-niners"—began moving to the [[Gold Country of California]] or "Mother Lode" from other countries and from other parts of the United States. As Sutter had feared, his business plans were ruined after his workers left in search of gold, and [[squatting|squatters]] took over his land and stole his crops and cattle.{{sfnb|Bancroft|1888|pp=[https://archive.org/details/bancrohistofcali23huberich/page/103/mode/2up 103–105]}}

San Francisco had been a tiny settlement before the rush began. When residents learned about the discovery, it at first became a [[ghost town]] of abandoned ships and businesses,{{sfnb|Bancroft|1888|pp=[https://archive.org/details/bancrohistofcali23huberich/page/59/mode/2up 59–60]}} but then boomed as merchants and new people arrived. The population of San Francisco increased quickly from about 1,000<ref name=HollidaySF>{{harvb|Holliday|1999|p=[https://archive.org/details/rushforrichesgol00holl/page/51 51]}} "800 residents"</ref> in 1848 to 25,000 full-time residents by 1850.<ref name=RawlsSF>{{harvb|Rawls|Orsi|1999|p=[https://archive.org/details/goldenstateminin0000unse/page/187 187]}}</ref> Miners lived in tents, wood shanties, or deck cabins removed from abandoned ships.<ref name=HollInfra>{{harvb|Holliday|1999|p=[https://archive.org/details/rushforrichesgol00holl/page/126 126]}}</ref> There were no churches or religious services in the rapidly growing city, which prompted missionaries like [[William Taylor (missionary)|William Taylor]] to meet the need, where he held services in the street, using a barrel head as his pulpit. Crowds would gather to listen to his sermons, and before long he received enough generous donations from successful gold miners and built San Francisco's first church.{{sfnb|Taylor|1895|p=195}}