Who was the first to find the gold in California?

One day in 1848, a carpenter named Marshall, who worked in a sawmill on the American River in California, made a surprising discovery. He noticed something bright and yellow, bent down to pick it up and took it to his friend, a Mr. Sutter. This was the beginning of the Californian Gold Rush. Sutter was a Swiss who had come to America to try to make a lot of money. The Governor of California had given him permission to make a home in the Sacramento Valley and his determination and energy had made him rich. He had built the mill together with Marshall in order to make use of the rich natural materials of his land.
    Sutter realized the importance of the discovery and decided to ask the Governor for the right to the gold. So he sent a man named Bennet to San Francisco to see the Governor. He warned Bennet not to tell anyone because he was afraid that people would come before his right was recognized. Bennet could not keep the secret but people did not believe him at first. Then a newspaperman went to Sutter’s mill to make a report. When he came back he ran through the streets shouting, "Gold! Gold!" Within a month almost the entire population had gone to look for the gold.
    Then news spread across America to Europe and thousands of people joined in the search. Those who went by ship had to sail round Cape Horn but some preferred to go across America by land, and freight cars were used for travelers. Even then there were some who were prepared to cross the terrible desert of Death Valley.
    The Gold Rush proved to be fatal to Sutter himself. For years he tried to get rid of those new-comers so that his family might enjoy the wealth of his land, but his business failed. The new-comers did a great deal of harm, and even killed one of his sons, and at the end of his life he was a poor man who often stopped people in the street to tell them that gold was worse than anything else.