<P> The Death Valley' 49ers were a group of pioneers from the Eastern United States that endured a long and difficult journey during the late 1840s California Gold Rush to prospect in the Sutter's Fort area of the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada in California . Their route from Utah went through the Great Basin Desert in Nevada, and Death Valley and the Mojave Desert in Southern California, in attempting to reach the Gold Country . </P> <P> On January 24, 1848, James W. Marshall and his crew found gold at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California . This discovery would lure tens of thousands of people from the United States and foreign nations . People packed their belongings and began to travel by covered wagon to what they hoped would be new and better life . Since the first great influx of these pioneers began in 1849, they are generally referred to as 49ers . </P>

Who were the 49ers and what were they looking for
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