Discovering Gold
In 1839, Sutter's Fort was built at the junction of the American and Sacramento rivers in California, in an area now known as Sacramento, the capital of California. This fort was an extremely important trade center in California. The owner of Sutter's fort was Johann Sutter, a Swiss man. Eager to make his fort successful, Sutter offered jobs to anyone who wanted one, such as Native Americans in the area.
In 1847, Sutter had a desire to enlarge his business. He decided to begin construction of a sawmill about 40 miles from his fort, in an area later known as Coloma, California. His business partner for this project was James Wilson Marshall, a mill-wright from New Jersey. Together, they employed many discharged soldiers of the Mormon Battalion, which was an army of Mormons who fought in a war against Mexico. These soldiers were eager to find work, as they had completed their military service. However, life on the sawmill was difficult, and the Mormon workers were often homesick, ill, hungry, and tired.
By 1848, construction of the sawmill was well underway. Sutter was living at Sutter's Fort, while Marshall was overseeing the work being done on the sawmill. On January 24th, 1848, Marshall was shocked to discover some small pieces of metal in the icy water of the American River. Excited about the possibility of having found gold, Marshall immediately traveled to Sutter's Fort, where he could discuss his find with Sutter. Together, Sutter and Marshall read about gold in the Encyclopedia Americana, and performed multiple tests on the metal Marshall had found. They were confident that it was pure gold, and returned to the sawmill to collect more.
Despite this excitement, Sutter was worried that a potential gold rush would keep him from completing the mills he had worked so hard on. He shared his feelings in one of his 1848 diary entries, in which he wrote "On my way home...I was very unhappy, and could not see that it [the discovery of gold] would benefit me much." (Sutter). In an effort to complete his projects and maximize his profits, Sutter asked Marshall and the Mormon workers to keep the gold discovery a secret for a while. He traded with local Indians for the right to own the land around his mill for the next three years, and sent a messenger to Richard Mason, the governor of California, asking for official approval of this lease.
Despite this excitement, Sutter was worried that a potential gold rush would keep him from completing the mills he had worked so hard on. He shared his feelings in one of his 1848 diary entries, in which he wrote "On my way home...I was very unhappy, and could not see that it [the discovery of gold] would benefit me much." (Sutter). In an effort to complete his projects and maximize his profits, Sutter asked Marshall and the Mormon workers to keep the gold discovery a secret for a while. He traded with local Indians for the right to own the land around his mill for the next three years, and sent a messenger to Richard Mason, the governor of California, asking for official approval of this lease.
Sam Brannan
Unfortunately for Sutter, his request was denied, and the messenger told many people about the gold during his journey. At first, not many believed the messenger, because in 1842 there had been news of gold in Los Angeles, California. It had turned out to be a false alarm, so most people were hesitant to believe that there truly was gold this time. However, Sam Brannan, a merchant, convinced the people of California that the messenger had not been lying. He walked through San Francisco advertising a bottle of gold from the American River, causing a huge amount of San Franciscans to flood into this area. It was not long before the news of the gold discovery had spread across the Pacific trade routes, and many others migrated to the area around the American River. Perhaps the moment when the Gold Rush truly began, though, was when the military governor of California informed President James K. Polk of the gold discovery. Hoping to populate this area with Americans in order to create a Pacific outpost, President Polk announced the news in his 1848 State of the Union Address. His exciting words, such as "The accounts of the abundance of gold in that territory are of such an extraordinary character...," attracted many. (Polk).