The Gold Rush was a significant event in our nation’s history. Its impact on Westward expansion as well as establishing America as the land of opportunity was tremendous. Many people migrated west in order to find and get gold. News of the gold brought many individuals to California. According to an article called, “California Gold Rush” located on the PBS website, “By 1849, the non-native population of California had grown to almost 100,000 people." The Gold Rush was by the far the most significant event that ever occurred for California. It built California into what it is today. It provided money and helped to form it into such the state that it is. James Wilson Marshall is the individual that discovered gold and will be forever be remembered as the individual that set the whole world heading westward. According to an article called, “James Wilson Marshall” written on the PBS website, Marshall took up his father’s trade as a skilled carpenter and wheelwright. At 18, he headed west, settling as a farmer near Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Marshall decided in 1844 to join a wagon train headed to California. Marshall arrived at the Sacramento River settlement run by John Sutter, who gave him employment as a carpenter. He was among the settlers who joined forces with John C. Fremont in early in 1846 to stage the Bear Flag Revolt. Due to financial necessity, Marshall was forced to sell his ranch and then formed a partnership with John Sutter to construct a sawmill along the American River. On January 24, 1848, while checking to see that the mill had been flushed clean of silt and debris, Marshall looked down through the clear water and saw gold. Marshall brought the gold to Sutter and they tested it to make sure that it was gold and they realized that it indeed it was real gold. Sutter wanted to keep the news quiet because he feared what would happen to his agricultural land if there was a mass search for gold. The news started to spread about the California Gold Rush due to an individual by the name of Samuel Brannan. Brannan moved to John Sutter’s settlement on the Sacramento and American Rivers and soon established a general store. Rumors were circulating by this point in time, so he decided to go look for himself. According to an article called “The Gold Rush," after Samuel saw the gold, he made plans for a second store and then decided to go through the streets of San Francisco and say “Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold from the American River." After hearing about the gold, the city of Coloma swelled to ten thousand people. The city of San Francisco grew to twenty-five thousand residents according to an article called “America’s Best History Sutter’s Mill and the California Gold Rush." The first people to rush to the gold fields were the residents of California themselves. The reason for this is very obvious, they were the closest and did not require much travelling. According to an article called “California Gold Rush Wiki," only a small nu