A sawmill worker discovers gold along the American River near Sacramento in 1848. Soon more than 300,000 people rush to California, eager to take big risks in the hopes of getting rich quick.
This founding myth enshrines risk-taking as a key part of the California Dream. Most miners did not find great wealth, but the Gold Rush shaped California’s early economy, putting it on a path to becoming the world’s sixth largest today. And that acceptance of failure continues to attract the kind of entrepreneurs who keep the state’s economy growing.
Image: Gold miners pose near their camp on a hillside in El Dorado, California circa 1848 to 1853. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
