At this spot in 1848, James Marshall pulled small gold nuggets from the tailrace, beginning the gold rush. Only a handful of people knew about the discovery on January 24, 1848, but the news was too big to keep secret. Mill worker Henry Bigler recorded the moment in his diary, and the first written records of the discovery came from Bigler and other workers’ journals. The sawmill workers whispered about the find until reports reached Sutter’s Fort and San Francisco, and from there stories of California gold spread rapidly. Passengers on ships carried the news to distant ports in Mexico, Chile, Hawaii, Australia, China, and Europe, newspapers gave it sensational headlines, and gold fever grew. Exaggerated reports and sensational tales led many Americans to wonder whether the discovery was true, until President James Polk publicly confirmed it in August 1848, affecting even more fortune seekers with gold fever.