This is a selected list of people associated with the California gold rush. People listed here should be known to have been in Northern California during the period from 1848 to 1864, and ideally have a Wikipedia article.
- Samuel Brannan
- Frederick Catherwood
- Charles Crocker
- John C. Frémont
- John White Geary
- Domingo Ghirardelli
- Daniel Govan
- Ulysses Grant
- Frank James
- James Lick
- James Marshall
- Richard Barnes Mason
- Isaac Murphy
- Joshua Norton
- William Tecumseh Sherman
- Leland Stanford
- Levi Strauss
- John Sutter
- Mark Twain
- Maríano Guadalupe Vallejo