Statewide County CA Archives History - Books .....The Great Gold Discovery Of 1848 1891
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Book Title: Memorial And Biographical History Of Northern California

THE GREAT GOLD DISCOVERY OF 1848.

  The credit, however, for the practical discovery of gold in California is due
to James W. Marshall. It is true that a gold mine had been worked in 1841 in the
lower part of the State, and that gold from that mine had been sent to the
Philadelphia mint for coinage as early as July, 1843. The mine, however, proved
unprofitable and was abandoned. The story of the discovery by Marshall, at
Coloma, in January, 1848, is confused, and the precise date upon which it was
made can perhaps never be settled. Marshall was employed by Captain Sutter, and
was in charge of a party of men erecting a saw-mill at the present site of
Coloma, in El Dorado County. A race-way was dug and the water turned in. In
examining the race afterward, Marshall's attention was attracted by a shining
object. He picked it up. It was gold. Other particles of the metal were
collected, and Marshall came with them to Sutter's Fort and exhibited them to
his employer, Sutter. They were tested in a crude way, and Sutter became
convinced that the metal was gold. Afterward specimens were sent to Monterey,
then the capital of the Territory, and exhibited to General R. B. Mason, the
military governor, and to W. T. Sherman, at that time an obscure officer of the
United States army, but who has since risen to national notoriety. The integrity
of the metal was established, the news of the discovery sent forth, the world
was electrified, and immigration poured in from every civilized country.

  James W. Marshall was born in Hope Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey,
October 8, 1810. On arriving at man's estate he removed to Indiana, afterward to
Illinois and Missouri, and arrived in California in 1844. In 1845 he came to
Sutter's Fort, and was employed by Captain Sutter. He took an active part in the
California revolution of 1846. After his discovery of gold the Legislature of
the State pensioned him for a time. Subsequently he settled on a small piece of
land at Coloma, near where he had discovered the gold, and made his living by
farming. About 5 o'clock on the morning of August 10, 1885, he was found dead in
his cabin, and was buried near the spot where gold was first found by him. He
was never married.

  A fine statue of Marshall has recently been erected by the State at the point
where he made his famous discovery.

  We add Sutter's account here, as it gives so many interesting details in
connection with the discovery of gold:

  It was on the first of January, 1848, when the gold was discovered at Coloma,
where I was building a saw-mill. The contractor and builder of this mill was
James W. Marshall, from New Jersey. In the fall of 1847, after the mill seat had
been located, I sent up to this place Mr. P. L. Wimmer [Weimer], with his
family, and a number of laborers from the disbanded Mormon battalion; and a
little later I engaged Mr. Bennett, from Oregon, to assist Mr. Marshall in the
mechanical labors of the mill. Mr. Wimmer had the team in charge, assisted by
his young sons, to do the teaming, and Mrs. Wimmer did the cooking for all
hands. I was very much in need of a saw-mill to get lumber to finish my
flouring-mill, of four run of stones, at Brighton, which was commenced at the
same time and was rapidly progressing; likewise, for other buildings, fences,
etc., for the small village of Yerba Buena, now San Francisco. In the City Hotel
(the only one) this enterprise was unkindly called "another folly of Sutter's,"
as my first settlement at the old Fort near Sacramento city was called by a good
many "a folly of his;" and they were about right in that, because I had the best
chances to get some of the finest locations near the settlements; and even well
stocked ranches had been offered me, on the most reasonable conditions. But I
refused all these good offers and preferred to explore the wilderness and select
a territory on the banks of the Sacramento.

  It was a rainy afternoon when Mr. Marshall arrived at my office in the fort,
very wet. I was somewhat surprised to see him, as he was down a few days
previous, when I sent up to Coloma a number of teams with provisions, mill
irons, etc. He told me then that he had some important and interesting news
which he wished to communicate secretly to me, and wished me to go with him to a
place where we should not be disturbed, and where no listeners could come and
hear what we had to say. I went with him to my private rooms. He requested me to
lock the room; I complied, but told him at the same time that nobody was in the
house except the clerk, who was in his office in a different part of the house.

  After requesting something of me which he wanted, which my servants brought
and then left the room, I forgot to lock the door, and it happened that the door
was opened by the clerk just at the moment when Marshall took a rag from his
pocket, showing me the yellow metal. He had about two ounces of it; but how
quick Mr. Marshall put the yellow metal in his pocket again can hardly be
described. The clerk came to see me on business, and excused himself for
interrupting me; and as soon as he left I was told, "Now lock the door. Did'nt I
tell you that we might have listeners?" I told him he need fear nothing about
that, as it was not the habit of this gentleman; but I could hardly convince him
that he need not be suspicious.

  Then Mr. Marshall began to show me this metal, which consisted of small pieces
and specimens, some of them worth a few dollars. He told me that he had
expressed his opinion to the laborers at the mill that this might be gold; but
some of them were laughing at him and called him a crazy man, and could not
believe such a thing.

  After having proved the metal with aqua fortis, which I found in my apothecary
shop, likewise with other experiments, and read the long article "Gold" in the
Encyclopedia Americana, I declared this to be gold of the finest quality—of at
least twenty-three carats. After this Mr. Marshall had no more rest or patience,
and wanted me to start with him to Coloma; but I told him I could not leave, as
it was late in the evening and nearly supper time, and that it would be better
for him to remain with me till the next morning, and I would then travel with
him. But this would not do; he asked me only, "Will you come tomorrow?" I told
him Yes, and off he started for Coloma, in the heaviest rain, although already
very wet, taking nothing to eat. I took this news very easy, like all other
occurrences, good or bad, but thought a great deal during the night about the
consequences which might follow such a discovery. I gave all the necessary
orders to my numerous laborers, and left the next morning at seven o'clock,
accompanied by an Indian soldier and a vaquero, in a heavy rain for Coloma.
About half way on the road I saw at a distance a human being crawling out from
the brushwood. I asked the Indian who it was. He told me, "The same man who was
with you last evening."When I came nearer I found it was Marshall-very wet. I
told him he would have done better to remain with me at the Fort than to pass
such an ugly night here; but he told me that he went to Coloma, fifty-four
miles, took his other horse and came half way to meet him. Then we rode up to
the new El Dorado.

  In the afternoon the weather was clearing up, and we made a prospecting
promenade. The next morning we went to the tail-race of the mill, through which
the water was running during the night, to clear out the gravel which had been
made loose, for the purpose of widening the race; after the water was out of the
race, we went in to search for gold. This was done every morning. Small pieces
of gold could be seen remaining on the surface of the clean-washed bed-rock. I
went into the race and picked up several pieces of this gold. Several of the
laborers gave me some which they had picked up, and from Marshall I received a
part. I told them I would get a ring made of this gold as soon as it could be
done in California; and I have had a heavy ring made, with my family's coat of
arms engraved on the outside; and on the inside of the ring is engraved "The
first gold, discovered in January, 1848." Now, if Mrs. Wimmer possesses a piece
which had been found earlier than mine, Mr. Marshall can tell, as it was
probably received from him. I think Mr. Marshall could have hardly have known
himself which was exactly the first little piece among the whole.

  The next day I went with Mr. Marshall on a prospecting tour in the vicinity of
Coloma, and the following morning I left for Sacramento. Before my departure, I
had a conversation with all hands. I told them I would consider it a great favor
if they would keep this discovery ecret only for six weeks, so that I could
finish my large flour-mill at Brighton, which had cost me already about $24,000
or $25,000. The people up there promised to keep it secret so long. On my way
home, instead of feeling happy and contented, I was very unhappy, and could not
see that it would benefit me much; and I was perfectly right in thinking so, as
it came just precisely as I expected. I thought, at the same time, that it could
hardly be kept secret for six weeks; and in that too I was not mistaken; for,
about two weeks later after my return, I sent up several teams, in charge of a
white man, as the teamsters were Indian boys. This man was acquainted with all
hands up there, and Mrs. Wimmer told him the whole secret; likewise the young
sons of Mrs. Wimmer told him that they had gold, and that they would let him
have some too; and so he obtained a few dollars' worth of it, as a present. As
soon as this man arrived at the Fort he went to a small store in one of my
outside buildings kept by Mr. Smith, a partner of Samuel Brannan; he asked for a
bottle of brandy, for which he would pay the cash. After having the bottle he
paid, with the small pieces of gold. Smith was astonished, and asked if he meant
to insult him. The teamster told him to go and ask me about it. He reported it
to Mr. Brannan, who came up immediately to get all possible information, when he
returned and sent up large supplies of goods, leased a larger house from me, and
commenced a very large and profitable business. Soon he opened a branch house at
Mormon Island.

  So soon as the secret was out my laborers began to leave me, in small parties
at first, but then all left, from the clerk to the cook; and I was in great
distress. Only a few mechanics remained to finish some necessary work which they
had commenced, and about eight invalids who continued slowly to work a few
teams, to scrape out the mill-race at Brighton. The Mormons did not like to
leave my mill unfinished; but they got the gold fever, like everybody else.
After they had made their piles they left for the great Salt Lake. So long as
these people had been employed by me they have behaved very well and were
industrious and faithful laborers; and when settling their accounts there was
not one of them who was not contented and satisfied.

  Then the people commenced rushing up from San Francisco and other parts of
California, in May, 1848. In the former village (San Francisco) only five men
were left to take care of the women and children. The single men locked their
doors and left for "Sutter's Fort," and thence to the El Dorado. For some time
the people in Monterey and further south would not believe the news of the gold
discovery, and said it was only a ruse de guerre of Sutter's, because he wanted
to have neighbors in his wilderness. From this time on I got only too many
neighbors, and some very bad ones among them.

  What a great misfortune was this sudden gold discovery to me! It has just
broken up and ruined my hard, industrious and restless laborers, connected with
many dangers of life, as I had many narrow escapes before I became properly
established. From my mill buildings I reaped no benefit whatever; the
mill-stones, even, have been stolen from me. My tannery, which was then in a
flourishing condition and was carried on very profitably, was deserted. A large
quantity of leather was left unfinished in the vats, and a great quantity of raw
hides became valueless, as they could not be sold. Nobody wanted to be bothered
with such "trash," as it was called. So it was in all the other mechanical
trades which I had carried on; all was abandoned, and work commenced, or nearly
finished, was left, at an immense loss to me. Even the Indians had no more
patience to work alone, in harvesting and threshing my large wheat crop; as the
whites had all left, and other Indians had been engaged by some while men to
work for them, and they commenced to have some gold, for which they were buying
all kinds of articles at enormous prices at the stores. When my Indians saw ibis
they wished very much to go to the mountains and dig gold. At last I consented,
got a number of wagons ready, loaded them with provisions and goods of all
kinds, employed a clerk and left with about 100 Indians and about fifty Sandwich
Islanders, which had joined those which I brought from the Islands. The first
camp was about ten miles from Mormon Island, on the south fork of the American
river. In a few weeks we became crowded, and it would no more pay, as my people
made too many acquaintances. I broke up the camp and started on the march
further south, and located my next camp on Sutter Creek, now in Amador Coumy,
and thought that I should there be alone. The work was going on well for a
while, until three or four traveling grog shops surrounded me, at from one-half
to ten miles distance from the camp. Then, of course, the gold was taken to
these places, for drinking, gambling, etc., and then the following day they were
sick and unable to work, and became deeper and more indebted to me, particularly
the Kanakas (Sandwich Islanders). I found it was high time to quit this kind of
business and lose no more time and money. I therefore broke up my camp and
returned to the Fort, where I disbanded nearly all the people who had worked for
me in the mountains digging gold. This whole expedition proved to be a heavy
loss to me.

  At the same time I was engaged in a mercantile firm at Coloma, which I left in
January, 1849, likewise with many sacrifices. After this, I would have nothing
more to do with the gold affairs. At this time the fort was the great trading
place, where nearly all the business was transacted. I had no pleasure to remain
there and moved up to Hock farm, with all my Indians who had been with me from
the time they were children, the place was then in charge of a major-domo.

  It was very singular that the Indians never found a piece of gold and brought
it to me, as they very often did other specimens found in the mountains. I
requested them continually to bring me some curiosities from the mountains, for
which I always recompensed them. I have received animals, birds, plants, young
trees, wild fruits, pipe-clay, red ochre, etc., but never a piece of gold. Mr.
Dana, of the Wilkes Exploring Expedition, told me that he had the strongest
proof and signs of gold in the vicinity of Shasta Mountain and further south. A
short time afterward. Dr. Sanderson, a very scientific traveler, visited me and
explored a part of the country in a great hurry, as time would not permit him to
make a longer stay. He told me likewise that he found some signs of gold, and
was very sorry that he could not explore the Sierra Nevada. He did not encourage
me to attempt to work and open mines, as it was uncertain how it would pay and
would probably be only profitable for a government. So I thought it more prudent
to stick to the plow, notwithstanding I did know the country was rich in gold
and other minerals. An old attached Mexican servant, who had followed me from
the United States, as soon as he knew that I was there, and who understood a
great deal about working in placers, told me he found sure signs of gold in the
mountains on Bear Creek, and that we would go right to work after returning from
our campaign in 1845; but he became a victim to his patriotism and fell into the
hands of the enemy near my encampment, with dispatches for me from General
Micheltorena, and he was hung as a spy, for which I was very sorry.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California.

Illustrated, Containing a History of this Important Section of the Pacific Coast
from the Earliest Period of its Occupancy to the Present Time, together with
Glimpses of its Prospective Future; Full-Page Steel Portraits of its most
Eminent Men, and Biographical Mention of many of its Pioneers and also of
Prominent Citizens of To-day.

"A people that takes no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will
never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote
descendents." – Macauley.

CHICAGO
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1891.


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