The first to hear confirmed information of the California Gold Rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), Mexico, Peru and Chile and they were the first to start flocking to the state in late 1848. By the end of 1848, some 6,000 Argonauts had come to California. President James K. Polk made the "official" announcement of the discovery of gold in California during his State of the Union Address on 5 December 1848 and displayed about 300 ounces of California gold at the War Department. Excitement grew as rumors, reports of officers and soldiers in California, newspaper accounts all seemed to confirm that there was a tremendous amount of gold in California—just waiting to be picked up. Sam Brannan, publisher of the newspaper the "California Star" at San Francisco, is regarded as starting the "Gold Rush" with stories about the large amount of gold found throughout late 1848 and 1849.