GOLD RUSH

Wild West residents were gearing for their search of gold in the Northwestern United States. Wearing their cowboy hats and holding what looked like canes and maybe shovels, they are on the quest for fortune. This photo was known to have been captured in 1867, but the peak of the California Gold Rush took place for 7 years, from 1848 until 1855.

The phenomenon was credited to James W. Marshall, who first found gold in Coloma, California. It brought a sudden influx of hundreds of thousands of people who journeyed to California and developed to the American economy.