The Reshaping of California through the Gold Rush
            
             The California Gold Rush affected not only California, but also the entire outcome of our nation. It created the expansion of our nation into Western America and California. It brought one of the largest and maybe craziest mass migrations in human history. It brought hundreds of thousands of Americans (and foreigners) to flock to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada's with hopes of striking it rich. Yet an extreme few of the many of amateur miners even struck it rich. The gold rush shaped California history. It gave California it's motto, "Eureka" which means, "I've found it", pertaining to the finding of gold. Although it was the first of it's kind, it would not be the last of it's kind in American history.
             The California Gold Rush began on a small mill on the American River at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, on a property of John Sutter. John Sutter was a Swiss who'd come to Mexican California with his eye on its potential agricultural wealth. He had purchased the small plot of land next to the river to build the mill for him. However Marshall soon encountered a problem that the river was not deep enough to power the mill. Marshall then decided to deepen the river in order to allow the mill to be constructed. However in this process he made one of the most influential discoveries in our history, he discovered on January 24, 1848, a small fragment of gold no larger than a pearl. That small fragment of gold gave birth to the dream that was pursued for half of a century. The discovery could not have come any sooner, because within nine days California was turned over to the United States as a result of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which formally ended the Mexican war. With the discovery of gold on his mill Sutter first told all the workers to try to keep quiet about it until they finished the mill...