On this day, carpenter James Marshall from a sawmill near the American River noticed yellow metal flakes in the river water. It was gold. And it began! The next year, 1849, would be registered not only in the American, but also in the world history under the name of the Year of the Gold Rush. Monterrey (the capital of California at that time) became deserted in one night. 80 thousand people were working at the mines during the first year. They were called “forty-niners” (the same principle would later be used to call the absolutely unselfish “sixtiers”). The rumor about Californian gold spread all over the world, and the French, Mexicans, Chileans, Chinese rushed towards the shores of California... However, all things must pass, and the gold rush passed too to provide California with seekers of easy earnings and the name, The Golden State.