Did the gold rush start in San Fransisco?

Answer 1

No it started above Sacramento.John Sutter , a German born Swiss pioneer, got a Mexican land grant in 1839 for the area that is Sacramento today. To get the land grant he had to become a Mexican citizen and began his empire of 48,827 acres that he was given. In 1840 he started building his fort and employed 350 Native Americans to guard the fort. He also hired John Bidwell to help with management. There were large herds of cattle and horses in the fields around the fort. Hunters were sent to hunt for fur pelts and Elk hides. A distillery, flour mill, and bakery were built as well as a blacksmith shop and carpenter shop. A boat carried passengers and freight between the fort and San Francisco Bay. In 1841 Sutter bought Russian settlements of Ross and Bodega for 32,000 secured by a mortgage on the fort. He established Hock Farm on the Feather River a few miles from the modern Yuba City. The farm supplied food for the fort and he recruited immigrants from the United States, Switzerland, and Germany. By 1844 the fort was pretty much done and it grew in importance as more people arrived from the difficult trip west. The fort also sat on one of the most strategic locations in Northern California and became a goal for parties crossing the Sierras. In 1847 John Marshall was hired to build a sawmill on the American River about 50 miles from the fort. The sawmill was almost done when Marshall discovered gold. The end result was the discovery of gold hurt Sutter and workmen quit working to look for gold, thousands arrived to dig up his land, crops, and take his livestock. To keep from loosing everything he deeded his property to his son who designed the present day Sacramento.