Gold at Sutter’s Mill
Perhaps the most famous gold strike in American history occurred in January 1848 when a man named John Marshall found gold at Sutter’s Mill in northern California. The find set off a gold rush that reached a frenzied pitch and even attracted prospectors from Europe—but it ruined Marshall and John Stutter, the man who owned the land where gold lay for the taking. Sutter’s land was overrun by gold seekers, his cattle were stolen, and he was driven into bankruptcy. Marshall died drunken and penniless.