This 1850 photo is of a woman and men in the gold rush in California. (Courtesy Photo) Forty-niners shown outside of a mine. (Courtesy Photo) California gold rush (Courtesy Photo) ...

The discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in 1848 is one of the defining moments in California history, with roughly 300,000 forty-niners flocking here to make their fortune from the U.S. and abroad.

The group of eager California "gold rushers" from Manchester who departed from Boston by ship on Feb. 2, 1849, finally arrived in San Francisco on Aug. 14, 1849. The arduous journey had taken 6½ ...