Sam Brannan

I'm Sylvester johnson, a paper boy at the California star, and I've got some news for you

that has changed the lives of thousands and could change yours. “GOLD! GOLD! THERE'S

GOLD IN THE AMERICAN RIVER” These are the words of Sam Brannan that lured folk to

strap their wagons and endure hunger, wilderness and dysentery to cross the frontier to California

for a chance at fortune and made Sam the first millionaire to come out of California, But before I

tell you how he did it you need to know what the California Gold rush was. The time is 1848,

America is still a new country and it is a depressing time for the nation as many did not enjoy

their lives working long hours for little pay and they would give anything just for a chance to

make it big, and they were about to get the chance they've been waiting for out west. The West

was mostly unpopulated at the time and for good reason, The area was nothing but vast

wilderness all the eye could see that had mostly been unexplored On and at the furthest point

west was California an American territory barely even reaching 1800 residents which is where a

James W Marshall decided to start a new life In the sawmill industry and on January 24, 1846,

while building a sawmill on the America river he struck gold he had become the first man to find

gold in California and when the word got out the news spread quite slow, The rush had not yet

begun as only a few searched for this rumored treasure in deep in the west, one of these men

being Sam Brannon.

Sam had heard rumors and went ming in search of fortune for himself and

fortune he found, he said “there was more gold than all the people in California could take out in

fifty years." but the work was too back-breaking for his liking, no matter as the opportunist he

was he came up with a scheme that would make richer than he could ever be from mining for

gold. Sam Brannan bought every mining tool for a thousand miles every pan, every shovel,
every, and every pickaxe then went out into the streets and yelled the famous words that would

really kick off the California gold rush, “GOLD! GOLD! THERE'S GOLD IN THE

AMERICAN RIVER” he would take a real body of gold and wave it in the air proof and even

made his newspaper company to spread awareness of gold in the American River, the California

Star. The word spread like a wildfire Sam had just got the attention of all of America and people

flocked to California in search of gold, but where were all the tools? They couldn't find gold

without tools but there were no tools to be bought for a thousand miles except one store, Sam

Brannan's store in Sacramento, California. He had single-handedly created a monopoly out of the

gold rush and with this monopoly he started selling his tools that he had bought for twenty cents

for twenty dollars and they boy they were selling, he sold so many that he had to open two more

store a. His profits were so great that he had become the first millionaire to come out of

California and he he did it without ever having to mine so even thought James W Marshal found

the gold piece that started it all, Sam Brannon was the real ruler of the gold rush.
 Works Cited

Henry William Brands. The Age of Gold : The California Gold Rush and the New American

Dream. New York, Anchor Books, 2003.

HISTORY.COM EDITORS. “California Gold Rush.” HISTORY, A&E Television Networks, 21

Aug. 2018, www.history.com/topics/westward-expansion/gold-rush-of-1849. Accessed

28 Nov. 2022.