Oddly enough, the first gold sent from California to the U.S. mint in Philadelphia did not come from James Marshall or Coloma but from Placerita Canyon. The metal was mined at least as early as the beginning of the 19th century, if not before. Don Abel Stearns, a native of Massachusetts who became a naturalized Mexican citizen and large landowner in California, shipped 20 ounces of gold to the East. Shops, saloons, brothels and other businesses set up in these towns to serve the '49ers and make money of their own. Born on October 8, 1810, in New Jersey, where his great-grandfather had served as a signer of the Declaration of Independence, the young Marshall received an adequate education for that era. Go to discoveryplus.com to get the greatest real-life entertainment plus exclusive originals, all in one place. The California State Library got its start during the height of the Gold Rush. Our cookies are delicious. Ironically, the subsequent gold rush actually harmed the man who had begun it. As word quickly spread, some 80,000 miners flooded the area, extending up and down the length of the Sacramento Valley, and overrunning Sutter’s domain. LEARN MORE According to the story, the discovery found him instead of the other way around. In 1872, he received some compensation for his contribution to California’s gold-crazed growth. However, the development of the mine proved expensive and yielded nothing, leaving the unlucky Marshall once again close to bankruptcy. Chester Nimitz, U.S. admiral who commanded naval forces in the Pacific during WWII. Chaos and disorder were common, as were gambling, prostitution and violence. Marshall was 62 years old at the time. However, when a brandy bottle dropped from his pocket and rolled on the floor, no additional pension was awarded. We use cookies. The events that set the world in motion to the new El Dorado began almost by accident–John Sutter decided to build a sawmill in partnership with his employee, James Marshall, in 1847. If I sought employment, I was refused on the reasoning that I had discovered the goldmines, and should be the one to employ them; they did not wish the man that made the discovery under their control….Thus I wandered for more than four years.’. Atop the monument is a bronze statue of Marshall, pointing to the spot where he changed California history. This Day In History: January 24, 1848. Miners extracted more than 750,000 pounds of gold during the California Gold Rush. Peterson has published extensively in the mining history of California and the West, including numerous book reviews, articles and three books. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. The mill property was owned by Johan (John) Sutter who employed Marshall to build his mill. When he returned to his land, he found his cattle had been stolen and he was forced to sell his land. He then formed a partnership with John Sutter to build a sawmill. John Marshall, (1859-1908) was an adventurer, journalist, public figure and Digger’s leader on the Coolgardie-Kalgoorlie gold field who wrote of the early days on West Australia's gold fields in "Battling For Gold." In 1844, he arrived in Oregon by wagon train. Much has been written about James Marshall's discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in 1848, thereby precipitating the California Gold Rush. 14 Lithographic Views of the California Gold Rush 1850-1857 in PowerPoint (900 Kb) Capt. The gold discovery site, located in the still visible tailrace of Sutter's sawmill in present day Coloma, California, is one of the most significant historic sites in the nation. She carried it around in a buckskin pouch. Few people know about Marshall’s ironically tragic life after he made his great discovery, from which he did not profit; he died with assets barely sufficient to cover his funeral expenses. Little is known, however, about the one person present who was able to recognize the shiny rock which others believed to be mica or fool's gold. James Marshall’s discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in California in 1848, started the California Gold Rush. Marshall was forced to flee for his life and try to start over as just another prospector. Shortly thereafter, he moved to Kelsey, a few miles east of Coloma, where he used the money to open a blacksmith shop. California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties Collected by Sidney Robertson Cowell. Who: James Wilson Marshall and John Sutter, main people of the first discovery of gold in California. It was at the sawmill that, on January 24, 1848, he discovered gold in the water flow through the mill’s tailrace. In July 1845, he arrived in the Sacramento Valley and began to work for John Sutter as a carpenter. In 1848 John Sutter was having a water-powered sawmill built along the American River in Coloma, California, approximately 50 miles (80 km) east of present-day Sacramento.On January 24 his carpenter, James W. Marshall, found flakes of gold in a streambed. This small piece of yellow metal is believed to be the first piece of gold discovered in 1848 at Sutter's Mill in California, launching the gold rush. He believed that the world–or at least the state–owed him something for his remarkable discovery. Sutter received a land grant of fifty-thousand acres near former Colluma Valley, a constantly renamed area of land. His refusal to reveal the location of these so-called rich diggings only angered resentful miners, who even threatened to lynch him if he did not lead them to new sources of treasure. On this day in history, 1848, James W. Marshall was checking on the progress made the night before in expanding a drainage channel at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California (which at the time was part of the Mexican territory, but just 9 days later would be ceded to the U.S.). Many libraries and archives across the country from Yale University to the Henry E. Huntington Library preserve formidable collections of Gold Rush material, but the State Library's direct relationship to Marshall's earthshaking discovery gives it a unique role. In 1848, James W. Marshall found shining flecks of gold in the tailrace of the sawmill he was building in partnership with John Sutter. After spending a long, wet winter doing carpentry in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, Marshall soon wandered south to California where he worked for Sutter, making tools, furniture, spinning wheels, looms and virtually anything else that could be made from wood. A vaquero named Francisco Lopez is credited with making the first commercially significant, well-documented gold discovery on March 9, 1842, in Placerita Canyon about 35 miles northwest of Los Angeles. It is estimated about $80,000 in gold was taken from the canyon before the shallow deposits played out. El Dorado County Wimmer’s wife tested the metal by boiling it with homemade soap to assure that it would emerge untarnished. For more great articles be sure to subscribe to Wild West magazine today! Marshall’s gold discovery more than 150 years ago arguably began the modernization of California. Watch Rick and Jack recreate the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in California!Check us out at https://www.rarecollectiblestv.com/ His body was then taken to Coloma and buried on the property where he had owned his vineyard. Soon, the area surrounding Sutter’s Mill became the first mining boomtown in California – Coloma. Unlike the earlier discoveries, however, his find was like a shot heard around the world. John Phillip Holland, inventor of the modern submarine. News of the discovery, however, soon spread, and they were besieged by thousands of fortune seekers. Sutter tells of the Gold Discovery - 1854. Note: An abbreviated version of this article was published in the January 1997 issue of the International California Mining Journal, and this version appears here with the permission of that publication’s publisher/editor. Other articles where James W. Marshall is discussed: California Gold Rush: On January 24 his carpenter, James W. Marshall, found flakes of gold in a streambed. Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park in Coloma also commemorates the gold discovery and contains artifacts and memorabilia regarding the man himself. On the south fork of the American River, 45 miles northeast of Sutter’s Fort, near a Maidu Indian village called Cullumah (Coloma), Marshall began construction. Explore our collection of motivational and famous quotes by authors you know and love. His early years were marked by conflicts with his stern Baptist father and rejection by two young women, each of whom he had hoped to marry. Harassed and unappreciated throughout much of his adult life, Marshall was a tragic victim of nature’s great lottery. Although most Californians who heard of the strike doubted its significance, by May 1848 word had reached San Francisco when a Mormon merchant, Sam Brannan, waved a quinine bottle filled with glittering dust at San Franciscans. Marshall convinced Sutter that a partnership in a sawmill in the Sierra Nevada foothills would be a profitable venture, and he set out to find a suitable location. James W. Marshall was building a sawmill for Captain John Sutter, using water from the South Fork of the American River. His eccentric behavior alienated all but a few friends, leaving him a virtual recluse. Hoping to get on with his life under better circumstances, young James headed west, drifting into the Ohio Valley during the 1830s and for a while settling in Missouri. Early gold discoveries such as these generally were unpublicized and were of only local interest. Just forty-six (46) years ago to-day the great and memorable discovery of the California gold was made at Capt. Marshall’s gold discovery more than 150 years ago arguably began the modernization of California. He spotted a gleam in the bottom of the ditch, scooped up a handful of gravel, examined it closely and concluded that he had found what appeared to be gold. For the time being at least, workers at the mill continued to perform their usual tasks, remained reasonably silent and prospected individually on their own time. He knew that real gold was soft and malleable and would not shatter like fool’s gold–iron pyrite or mica. In 1846, he joined John C. Fremont’s California Battalion and participated in the Bear Flag Revolt, a bid to seize control of California from Mexican control. Sutter and Marshall agreed to become partners and tried to keep their find a secret. Suggested for further reading: James Marshall, a Biography, by Theressa Gay; Sutter’s Fort, Gateway to the Goldfields, by Oscar Lewis; The California Gold Discovery, by Rodman Paul; and The Gold Discovery Journal, by Azariah Smith. Ironically, neither Sutter nor Marshall ever profited from the discovery that should have made them independently wealthy. The original nugget he found, which has long belonged to the Bancroft Library at the University of California in Berkeley, is called the Wimmer Nugget after Peter L. Wimmer, Marshall’s assistant in supervising the Indians and others who dug the tailrace of Sutter’s Mill. (Last Privacy Policy Update July 2020), Byways & Historic Trails – Great Drives in America, Soldiers and Officers in American History. Between the years 1848, when James W. Marshall discovered gold in the American River, and 1850, the population of San Francisco grew from 1,000 to … By 1853, Marshall could stomach no more. Coloma, California 2009 by Kathy Weiser-Alexander. Within two months, about 100 miners, mostly Mexican, were working the diggings, which produced gold for several years. Marshall then returned to prospecting and wandering about the state. Marshall continued to live in Kelsey, in a spartan homesteader’s cabin, earning money from a small garden until his death on August 10, 1885. Only a few of the most naive newcomers paid Marshall any money or respected his self-proclaimed property rights. It was a member of the battalion, Henry Bigler, who recorded the date of the discovery in his diary. The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill by James W. Marshall. In time, failed mining and other business ventures deeply embittered Marshall. 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