The California state motto “Eureka” refers to the discovery of gold by James Wilson Marshall in 1848, which sparked the first major gold rush in the US. The state seal bears the word “Eureka,” and the official state motto was adopted in 1963. Marshall’s childhood home in Lambertville, NJ, is now a museum, and he died without much money due to squatters seizing his land rights.
California’s state motto goes hand in hand with its Gold Rush history. When a miner named James Wilson Marshall discovered gold in the state in 1848, he sparked the first major gold rush in the United States, predating the Klondike Gold Rush in Canada’s Yukon Territory by about 50 years. “Eureka,” the state motto of California, roughly translates into English as “I found it” and refers to the momentous discovery. “Eureka” can also refer to the state of California in 1850.
The state seal bears the word “Eureka”. At the time of the seal’s design, 1849, California was one year away from independence. The official state motto of California was not adopted until 1963. During the 1950s, just over 100 years after gold was discovered in California and the word “Eureka” was popularized, there was an unsuccessful movement to change the California state motto to “In God We Trust.”
Sutter’s Mill is the site on the American River where gold was discovered, about a 60-minute drive today from the California capital of Sacramento. Upon his discovery, James Marshall turned to the workmen nearby and said, “Boy, by God, I think I’ve found a gold mine.” The discovery created a new word for the droves of some 90,000 gold seekers who flocked to California from all over the United States and the world in 1849 to claim their share of the gold: forty-nine. The number of gold-digging pioneers rose to 200,000 within three years of John Marshall’s gold strike.
James Marshall, who was 37 when he discovered gold, grew up in Lambertville, NJ, and headed west in 1844 to become a farmer. The house that housed him as a boy in Lambertville still stands today with a plaque honoring his memory, and a nearby church is said to contain donated grains of gold. Today his childhood home houses the Lambertville Historical Society and is a museum, and is listed on the state and national historic registers. He died in 1885 without much money to his name because the land rights to the gold claim were seized by squatters. His grave is near the American River, marked by a statue of him, with his left hand pointing to the site of his gold discovery.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
