You probably say that jokingly, but California's first millionaire, and the actual richest man from the real gold rush, Samuel Brannan, never owned a single plo

You probably say that jokingly, but California's first millionaire, and the actual richest man from the real gold rush, Samuel Brannan, never owned a single plot of land with gold in it. He popularized the fact of gold's existence, getting everyone to come, and sold them the shovels and pans, at extremely high markups, due to monopolizing the local retail markets.