Gold Rush | smithsonianmag.comhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/rss/tag/gold-rush/RSS feed for Gold RushenFri, 21 Aug 2026 11:00:00 +0000When a Carpenter in California Found a Nugget of Gold, It Started a Rush Toward Nothing Less Than the Modern Worldhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/when-carpenter-california-found-nugget-gold-started-rush-toward-nothing-less-modern-world-180989283/A new book by historian Nathaniel Philbrick makes the case that James Marshall’s 1848 discovery set in motion events from the Civil War to the rise of Silicon ValleyFri, 21 Aug 2026 11:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/when-carpenter-california-found-nugget-gold-started-rush-toward-nothing-less-modern-world-180989283/