Today in History: Gold Discovered in California


Today in History–January 24–the Library of Congress features gold, discovered in California on this day in 1848. The discovery was first met with skepticism and the California gold rush did not begin in full until after an endorsement from President James Polk in December, 1848. Learn more by visiting the Today in History section, then click the links below to discover gold-related primary sources and other resources from across the Library.

Teaching resources

Primary source sets

Library blog posts

Gold resources

Stories from America’s Library

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