On January 24, 1848, while working in the Sacramento valley, James W. Marshall stumbled upon gold nuggets — a discovery that would change the course of a nation.

How James Marshall Came To Sutter's Mill

Born on October 8, 1810, James Marshall grew up in a rural New Jersey family. He eventually made his way to Missouri, where he took up farm work — only to come down with Malaria. On his doctor's advice, Marshall headed west to improve his health and ultimately found himself at Sutter's Fort, California, which at the time was a Mexican territory. The mill where his story would take a dramatic turn sat nestled in the Sierra Nevada, California foothills, and bore the name of its owner, John Sutter.

The Mexican-American war cost James Marshall dearly — he lost both his ranch and his livelihood. Fortune gave him a second chance, though, when he landed a contract with James Sutter to construct a water-powered sawmill along the bank of the South Fork American River. Work got underway in late August and stretched into January. Much of Marshall's workforce was made up of Native Americans alongside veterans from the Mormon Battalion who were on their way back to Salt Lake City.

Gold Found!

On the morning of January 24, Marshall was excavating a section of the river bed when something caught his eye — gold specks glinting in the water. To confirm what they had, the crew put the flecks through a series of tests: boiling them in lye soap and hammering them to check their malleability. Sure enough, it was gold. Subsequent analysis revealed the gold to be at least 23 karats in purity. Though Marshall remained focused on completing the sawmill he'd been hired to build, he gave his crew permission to pan for gold whenever they had free time.

Marshall's Later Years

Word of the discovery traveled fast, and before long, every able-bodied man had abandoned the sawmill to chase gold. Marshall found himself overrun by hordes of prospectors who forced him off the land entirely. He relocated and tried his hand at starting a vineyard, but a combination of high taxes and stiff competition eventually drove that venture under as well.

Turning to the very gold rush he had inadvertently set in motion, Marshall became a partner in a gold mine in Kelsey. Fate wasn't kind, however — no gold was found there, and he went bankrupt.

In a cruel twist of irony, the man whose discovery had launched one of history's greatest treasure hunts spent his final years living in a small cabin and died penniless.

Fun Facts:

  • On January 24, 1848, a mill worker, James W. Marshall, found gold. This discovery sparked the California gold rush, an event that would shape American history in the early years of the 19th century.
  • John Sutter was a German-born Swiss citizen and founder of the Nueva Helvetia colony, which would later become the city of Sacramento.
  • After the discovery, more than 750,000 pounds of gold were extracted during the California gold rush.
  • A few days after Marshall discovered the gold, The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, effectively ending the Mexican-American war. The treaty also declared California as part of the United States.