The California Gold Rush and U.S. Coinage

In the history of the United States, there have been several defining moments and the California Gold Rush was one of these. Not only did it directly impact our monetary system, but it also created a new way of life in the American West. Today we think of it perhaps purely in terms of the Western movie or coins of that era, but for people living at that time the changes were momentous.

It all began with the January 1848 discovery of gold by James Marshall, then working on the huge Sutter ranch in northern California. Early attempts to keep the find secret from the outside world proved futile, and soon even sailors were deserting their ships to join in a frantic hunt for the yellow metal. When word reached the eastern U.S. a few weeks later, it was as if a bombshell had struck the whole country. By the tens of thousands, men quit their jobs and headed for El Dorado.

The first numismatic association with the Gold Rush came when Military Governor R.B. Mason sent a quantity of gold to the east, to be made into coins at the Philadelphia Mint. Some 1,389 quarter eagles were struck and given the distinctive “CAL.” countermark on the reverse, to forever distinguish them as mementos of the era; many collectors consider this the first true commemorative coin of the United States. Some of the gold was