TODAY ONLY
January 24
Gold Discovered at Sutter's Creek
On this day in 1848, builder James Marshall discovered gold along the banks of Sutter's Creek near Coloma, California. The history of the American West was about to change.
Who Was Sutter and Why Did He Have a Mill? John Augustus Sutter was a Swiss immigrant who came to Mexican California in 1839, after winning a grant of nearly 50,000 acres of land in the lush Sacramento Valley. He planned to build a thriving community there. First he built a fort, which became the center of the first town ~ New Helvetia. Sutter bought farm equipment, livestock, and a cannon to protect what he had.
I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends... Sutter convinced the local Natives to do all the work on his farm and ranchos, treating them little better than slaves. By the 1840s, Sutter's Fort was a stopping-off point for the overland immigrants who came to California to build farms and ranches.
After the War Is Over... After the Mexican War in 1846, California was part of the United States.
Along Came James Marshall. In January of 1848, Sutter hired millwright James Marshall to build a sawmill along the South Fork of the American River.
On the Morning of This Day in 1849... while Marshall looked over the work being done, something shiny caught his eye. He took a closer look and found the water speckled with what looked like small flakes of gold. Marshall ran to tell Sutter.
Real Gold? An assayer confirmed that the flakes were indeed gold. Sutter immediately set about trying to gather up as much of the gold as he could, hoping to keep the discovery a secret.
Word on the Street. Marshall's find was met with skepticism at first. Previous claims of gold in California had proven disappointing. But when President James Polk announced the discovery in December 1848, the gold rush began. Prospectors heading to California the following year were called forty-niners.
Changes in Attitudes, Changes in Latitudes... Nearly 100,000 people arrived in California in 1849. Although many planned to make their fortunes in gold, others made fortunes off the miners. Saloons, stores, and various businesses ~ from pre-fab houses to hotels ~ sprang up overnight in California boomtowns.
Coloma, California where Sutter built his mill.
Bad News for Sutter. The California gold rush was a disaster for Sutter. Of the thousands of settlers who came to California to seek their fortune, none wanted to join Sutter's little agricultural community. Instead, they overran his property, slaughtered his herds for food, and trampled his fields. By 1852, New Helvetia was ruined, and Sutter was nearly wiped out.
Bitter, Bitter. Sutter spent the rest of his days petitioning the government to pay him for the losses he suffered as a result of the gold rush he unintentionally started.