Someone told me recently that the first big group of California gold rush miners didn’t come from the continental United States, but from Hawaii. Is that true?

Someone told me recently that the first big group of California gold rush miners didn’t come from the continental United States, but from Hawaii. Is that true?

Sarah Schumann
Kenosha, Wisconsin

Seafarers from San Francisco carried the news to the Hawaiian Islands, among other places. Subsequently, 19 ships pulled anchor and set sail for the gold fields of Northern California, arriving much sooner than the eastern United States goldseekers who had to trudge overland or go around the horn to get there.