<P> The gold then left California aboard ships or mules to go to the makers of the goods from around the world . A second path was the Argonauts themselves who, having personally acquired a sufficient amount, sent the gold home, or returned home taking with them their hard - earned "diggings". For example, one estimate is that some US $80 million worth of California gold was sent to France by French prospectors and merchants . </P> <P> As the Gold Rush progressed, local banks and gold dealers issued "banknotes" or "drafts"--locally accepted paper currency--in exchange for gold, and private mints created private gold coins . With the building of the San Francisco Mint in 1854, gold bullion was turned into official United States gold coins for circulation . The gold was also later sent by California banks to U.S. national banks in exchange for national paper currency to be used in the booming California economy . </P> <P> The arrival of hundreds of thousands of new people in California within a few years, compared to a population of some 15,000 Europeans and Californios beforehand, had many dramatic effects . </P> <P> A 2017 study attributes the record - long economic expansion of the United States in the recession - free period of 1841--1856 primarily to "a boom in transportation - goods investment following the discovery of gold in California ." </P>

Who went to california during the gold rush