[muawiyah]

The fact that the tops of hills in Central/South Ohio and Indiana had gold and diamonds served to foster an intense interest on the part of Americans for finding more gold.

Quite literally the gold miners in Morgan and Brown counties Indiana moved on to California BEFORE gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill (formerly the centerpoint of the Russian colony in California).

They were there to take advantage of that discovery INSTANTLY. I've suspected for a long time that they'd already found placer deposits (similar to what they'd worked in Indiana and Ohio) in Diamond County and simply kept things quiet.

Of Note: Not all the gold miners left Indiana. Many of them stayed in the area and took advantage of the white oak forests to create a serious basket industry.

[null and void]

Actually, the first reported discovery of gold in California wasn't at Sutter's Mill.

Gold was first discovered in southern California, but it was a small placer deposit and was quickly panned out. It simply didn't last long enough to cause a gold rush.