Although an estimated $2 billion in gold was extracted, very few miners ever held a chunky gold nugget aloft and cried ‘Eureka!' As this photo taken of prospectors on the American River near Sacramento in 1852 shows, conditions were crowded and chaotic, and the chances of finding gold slim.

Very few miners ended up with anything to show for their labors. With a bag of flour fetching $13 (nearly $365 in today’s money), it was only the shopkeepers who were striking it rich.

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