The California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush took place in 1849 when thousands of people went to California hoping getting rich quick after finding out that gold was found at the fork of the American and Sacramento Rivers. The gold was found at Sutter's Mill on James Marshalls' land. James Marshall tried to hush it up but the news got out because of Sam Brannan. Sam publicized the discovery of gold so that he could make a fortune selling shovels to the 300,000 people that came to California during the gold rush. While the shovel didn't directly effect the California gold rush, I doubt that there would be as many people coming to California if the shovel hadn't been invented because mining would be far more difficult.