In the early 1840's, California was a distant area that only a few Americans had seen. San Francisco had barely a few hundred residents. One of the wealthiest people in the region was John Sutter. He was a Swiss immigrant who came to California in 1839 to build his own private empire. He built a fort, gathered 12,000 cattle, and took hundreds of workers. He owed money to creditors but still had a dream of owning a "…showed first 75 words of 1494 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1494 total…east. In the 1840's, only a few hundred people lived in San Francisco. During the gold rush, the city averaged thirty new houses and two murders each day. A plot of San Francisco real estate only cost sixteen dollars in 1847. Only a year and a half later, the same plot of land cost 45,000 dollars. Gold proved to lure people from all over the world. The west became the "envy of the world"- Sam Brannan.