Gold was a significant factor to the success of the history of the USA. When the War of Independence gained the country its freedom, the only notable gold reserves were discovered in North Carolina, however they were enough to support the paper money then in use.

In 1848, the United States paid $15 million for a huge parcel of realty extending from Texas to California. The revelation of gold at Sutter's mill in 1848 led to the largest gold rush in American history. The populace of San Francisco blew up from 1,000 to 100,000 in just two years.

The private gold rush of individuals was short-term. Business gold mining began in earnest along the west flank of the Sierra Nevada with the development of the hydraulic high pressure water radiator. The United States mined one-half of the globe's gold by 1855. In the decade after Sutter's Mill, over half a billion dollars' worth of gold was mined in California. This gold production added heavily to the United States' rapid development into an economic world power.

The 1870s saw the second gold rush in Alaska in the Yukon territory. Because of the rough environment, of the 100,000 people who trekked to Alaska, just 40,000 reached their destination. The American writer Jack London was in the initial surge of gold seekers and commemorated the Alaskan frontier in his books. By 1900, the people's gold rush was over, with the surface deposits mined out. After this, gold mining in Alaska was done by the commercial mining firms, similar to in California years previously.

The most well-known storehouse for American gold is Fort Knox, a military garrison in Kentucky. Around 500 railcars were required in 1936 to ship nearly all the gold bars in the country to Fort Knox. Fort Knox is thought to be the most protected building on the planet, housing its priceless cargo.

President Roosevelt issued an Executive Order in 1933, making the holding of gold by any person, firm or agency pr