Where Gumbo Was (#407)
What transpired here on a bank of the American River in Coloma, California on January 24,1848 changed history. A sparsely populated backwater, Alta California, still officially part of Mexico for another 8 days, became a destination by land and sea for hundreds of thousands of fortune seekers from all over the world, the largest mass movement of people in the Western Hemisphere.
The original site of Sutter’s Mill above, and nearby replica below.
Sutter’s Mill was built as a partnership between businessman John Sutter and James Marshall who would oversee construction and manage the enterprise. Begun in August 1847, the location was chosen for the suitability of the river flow to power the mill and the quality of the ponderosa pines for lumber growing all over the hills. When operation began Marshall realized that the tailrace, the outflow channel that sent water back into the river, was inadequate and adjustments were begun, soil and rocks loosened during the day and flow from the river used during the night to clear debris from the channel while the mill wasn’t operating. Inspecting progress on the morning of January 24, 1848, Marshall noticed bright pebbles in the water.
As Marshall later described the experience, “I picked up one or two pieces and examined them attentively; and having some general knowledge of minerals, I could not call to mind more than two which in any way resembled this, iron, very bright and brittle; and gold, bright, yet malleable. I then tried it between two rocks, and found that it could be beaten into a different shape, but not broken. I then collected four or five pieces and went up to Mr. Scott (who was working at the carpenter’s bench making the mill wheel) with the pieces in my hand and said, “I have found it.”
“What is it?” inquired Scott.
“Gold,” I answered.
“Oh! no,” replied Scott, “That can’t be.”
I said, “I know it to be nothing else.”
Though Marshall and Sutter hoped to keep the discovery a secret, of course it was an impossibility. News of the gold discovery spread around the globe and hoards of prospectors descended on Coloma and the region. About 15,000 prior to 1848, the population grew during the gold rush years by 300,000 and in 1850 California became a state. The easily worked surface gold played out by 1855 but the state had been transformed. Some 49ers returned home but many stayed on as professional and business people, ranchers and farmers.
For James Marshall his discovery was something of a personal tragedy. His business was ruined when his workers left to join the search for gold and new arrivals forced him from his land. Other ventures failed and he died penniless in nearby Kelsey in 1885. In 1890 a tomb and monument was erected on a high hill overlooking the site of his world-changing discovery, California’s first historic monument.
Marshall’s monument overlooks the site of his place in history.
Reminders of the Chinese community in Coloma, above, and the
Nisenan people who called this place Cullumah, beautiful valley, below.
Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park straddles Highway 49, 295 miles of road numbered in honor of the ‘49ers, adventurers who arrived to try their luck in the gold fields and streams amid the migration that exploded in 1849 after word of the discovery had spread around the globe. A mostly 2-lane road winding through the foothills of Northern California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains’ western slope, 49 runs in a generally north-south direction linking boomtowns that sprang up sometimes literally overnight.
Historic buildings along Highway 49
Below, El Dorado County Jail, 1857
On the eastern side of Highway 49 is the American River and the location of Sutter’s Mill. The original structure washed away in 1862 and a replica has been built nearby. Alongside the road and to the west of it are Coloma’s historic buildings, Native American dwellings of the Nisenan people who occupied the valley at the time of the discovery as well as the park headquarters. Founded in 1942 the park occupies 576 acres.
GeorgeG identified Gumbo’s location.
A personal note – my great great grandfather, Richard Henry Carter, with his brother and cousin, crossed the mountains from Boone County, Missouri in 1850 seeking his fortune in the California Gold Rush. They returned home by sea by way of Nicaragua and Cuba and afterward worked as guides on the Oregon trail. His brother, William Alexander Carter, became sutler, supplier to the army, at Fort Bridger, Wyoming while Richard farmed his 160 acres in Missouri. After the Civil War, during which he was a captain in a Confederate unit, Richard headed west again to join his brother and founded a wide spot in the road, Carter, Wyoming. My grandmother lived as a child at her grandfather’s Carter Hotel which still stands today facing the tracks of the Transcontinental Railroad where the trains decided not to stop. He never returned to California and died in 1914 at the age of 91 in Salt Lake City. His son and 6 generations of descendants have made California their home.
For current information & activities being offered, such
as guided tours & gold panning, visit the park’s website.
Read more about the region in PortMoresby’s series,
Excellent history lesson and beautiful photography,