The Georgia Gold Rush was the second significant gold rush in the United States, and overshadowed the previous rush in North Carolina. It started in 1828 in present-day Lumpkin County near the county seat, Dahlonega, and soon spread through the North Georgia mountains, following the Georgia Gold Belt. By the early 1840s, gold became difficult to find. Many Georgia miners moved west when gold was found in the Sierra Nevada in 1848, starting the California Gold Rush.