Just forty-six (46) years ago to-day the great and memorable discovery of the California gold was made at Capt. He noticed several flakes of metal in the tailrace water and recognized them to be gold. Surprisingly, their orders to remain silent generally were followed. And in 1841, Baptiste Ruelle, a French Canadian fur trapper who had worked for the Hudson’s Bay Company, uncovered a gold deposit near Los Angeles, according to John Bidwell, organizer of the first emigrant wagon train from Missouri to California. Go to discoveryplus.com to get the greatest real-life entertainment plus exclusive originals, all in one place. It was financed by the Native Sons of the Golden West and an appropriation by the state legislature. Wilhelm Carl Grimm, compiler, with his brother of fairy tales. During 1848, Marshall and Sutter tried in vain to claim ownership of the Coloma property and charge a commission for any gold found by other miners. An attempted lecture tour failed to sustain a profit, in part because Marshall was a poor speaker. In 1872, he received some compensation for his contribution to California’s gold-crazed growth. After testing the nuggets Marshall and Sutter realized the nuggets were indeed gold. Overlooking the south fork of the American River, a monument was erected over the grave site in 1890. Additional tests at Sutter’s Mill convinced the partners that Marshall indeed had found gold. John A. Sutter – Boom & Bust in California, Your email address will not be published. James W. Marshall was building a sawmill for Captain John Sutter, using water from the South Fork of the American River. Every financial setback he suffered he interpreted as a conscious effort by somebody to deprive him of what he considered to be his divine rights. 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. He believed that the world–or at least the state–owed him something for his remarkable discovery. Harassed and unappreciated throughout much of his adult life, Marshall was a tragic victim of nature’s great lottery. My property was swept from me, and no one would give me employment. The state Legislature awarded him a $200-per-month pension. For whatever reasons, he began to claim supernatural, mystical powers that allegedly allowed him to locate the richest gold deposits. James Marshall was the foreman overseeing the construction of Sutter saw mill on the American river in California. 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. Unlike the earlier discoveries, however, his find was like a shot heard around the world. James W. Marshall was building a sawmill for Captain John Sutter, using water from the South Fork of the American River. El Dorado County 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. During his last years, Marshall, who had become an obvious alcoholic, was forced to live by handyman jobs, handouts and the sale of his autograph on special cards for 50 cents each. 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. 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. In 1846, the restless Marshall joined the Bear Flag Rebellion and served under John C. Frémont as the Mexican War spread into California. 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. As word quickly spread, some 80,000 miners flooded the area, extending up and down the length of the Sacramento Valley, and overrunning Sutterâs domain. Born in 1810, Marshall followed in his father’s footsteps by becoming a skilled carpenter and wheelwright. 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. His sawmill also failed, as every able-bodied man took off in search of gold. John Phillip Holland, inventor of the modern submarine. Miners extracted more than 750,000 pounds of gold during the California Gold Rush. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 5,000 articles originally published in our various magazines. Peterson has published extensively in the mining history of California and the West, including numerous book reviews, articles and three books. By 1853, Marshall could stomach no more. California Indians gave gold to the mission padres in return for trading goods. © Kathy Weiser/Legends of America, updated November 2018. 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. Within two months, about 100 miners, mostly Mexican, were working the diggings, which produced gold for several years. 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.’. Before taking samples to Sutter, who had financed the building of the mill, Marshall conducted crude tests to better determine the authenticity of his find by comparing flakes with a $5 gold piece and pounding a nugget on an anvil. Explore our collection of motivational and famous quotes by authors you know and love. It is estimated about $80,000 in gold was taken from the canyon before the shallow deposits played out. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Required fields are marked *. John Marshall, foreman of the mill, gave Jennie the gem while dubbing it the "Wimmer Nugget". Who: James Wilson Marshall and John Sutter, main people of the first discovery of gold in California. Our cookies are delicious. Marshall was 62 years old at the time. James Marshall at Sutter’s Sawmill, Coloma, California, 1851. 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. However, the development of the mine proved expensive and yielded nothing, leaving the unlucky Marshall once again close to bankruptcy. According to the story, the discovery found him instead of the other way around. Initially profitable, his endeavors as a vintner would also fail when, by the end of the decade, increased competition and less demand put him out of business once again. Marshall was forced to flee for his life and try to start over as just another prospector. He immediately advised Sutter, who swore all his employees to secrecy. August Derleth, writer (Still is the Summer Night, The Shield of the Valiant). It was another six years before James Marshall made the discovery that created his reputation, mistakenly, as the original discoverer of California gold. California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties Collected by Sidney Robertson Cowell. The mill was owned by John Sutter, a Swiss immigrant that arrived in California in 1839. This Day In History: January 24, 1848. 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 noticed several flakes of metal in the tailrace water and recognized them to be gold. 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. 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. John Stone With Gold Mining Pan… August, 1939. Though he tried to keep it a secret, the word spread quickly and triggered the California Gold Rush of … In 1857, he returned to Coloma and started a vineyard in the early 1860s. Marshall was the oldest and only male of four children. In 1848 alone, $10 million in gold was produced by 6000. For example, take the popular story of Isaac Newton and the famous falling apple. Wimmer’s wife tested the metal by boiling it with homemade soap to assure that it would emerge untarnished. In 1848, James W. Marshall found shining flecks of gold in the tailrace of the sawmill he was building in partnership with John Sutter. Early gold discoveries such as these generally were unpublicized and were of only local interest. Marshall then returned to prospecting and wandering about the state. News of the discovery, however, soon spread, and they were besieged by thousands of fortune seekers. When his father died in 1834, he headed westward, spending some time in Illinois and Indiana before settling in Missouri. He packed a few supplies on his back and sought to hide out in the hills. The California State Library got its start during the height of the Gold Rush. According to legend, Lopez fell asleep under an old oak tree after tending cattle on a nearby rancho. According to the legend, Marshall then went to visit the legislative assembly in person to get the pension renewed again. Margaret A. Kelly, Marshall’s friend during his embittered old age, wrote that ‘probably no man ever went to his grave so misunderstood, so misjudged, so misrepresented, so altogether slandered as James W. Marshall.’ Although possibly true, it should be noted that Marshall’s self-destructive, often bizarre behavior contributed to his misfortune. 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