Wearing shiny yellow-gold today to mark the 175th anniversary of the discovery of gold in California, at Sutter's Mill, near present-day Sacramento. A construction worker named James Wilson Marshall found some gold flakes (tiny nuggets) in the South Fork American River. He and mill owner John Sutter agreed to be partners for exploring, and news about the gold soon leaked out and inspired 300,000 would-be prospectors to descend on the area, creating the great "Gold Rush" of 1848-1855. One more bit of history: "The first flake found by Marshall was shipped to President James K. Polk in Washington DC, arriving in August 1848. It is now on display in the National Museum of American History, part of the Smithsonian Institution."
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