RON HENGGELER

March 15, 2007
The pioneers of 1849

These 49er miners in the photo are part of the James Lick Pioneers Monument which is located in the Civic Center Plaza alongside the San Francisco Main Library. On March 15, 1848, “The Californian” reported that gold had been discovered along the American River at a sawmill owned by Capt. John A. Sutter. Initially, the news was not widely believed in San Francisco. (The non-Native population of San Francisco at the time was 575 males, 177 females and 60 children.) But with the news quickly spreading, and the reports proving to be true, by the end of 1849, the population of San Francisco had exploded to 32,000. By then, the California Gold Rush was in full swing, and the world was pouring in like through a broken floodgate.

 

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