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Collection: Directories and Documents > Pamphlets
An Illustrated History of California's Gold Rush by Wells Fargo Bank (PH 1-27) (34 pages)
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Page: of 34
John Augustus Sutter
He needed lumber to further expand his holdings,
so he commissioned one of his foremen, James Marshall, to build a sawmill. Marshall found a suitable
spot on the American River and built the mill. But
when it was finished he found that the tail race was
too shallow so he left the sluice gates open every
night, hoping the force of the water would deepen
it. While inspecting the tail race one morning he
noticed something shiny in the gravel of the stream
bed. At first he thought it was iron pyrites—fool’s
gold. But after testing it he decided it was the real
thing, and rode down to the fort to tell Sutter.
Sutter wanted no part of it. He knew that if the
news got out that there was gold on his land his men
would leave his fields and herds to look after themselves, while they looked for paydirt, and all the
years he had spent building up New Helvetia would
have been wasted. He advised Marshall to forget
the whole thing and go back to work.
But somehow it’s difficult to forget that you have
discovered gold, and it wasn’t long before the word
leaked out. Sutter was right. By the time his next
crop came in there was no one left to harvest it. His
cattle were left to roam wild or to be eaten by the
hordes of hungry miners who swarmed in from
everywhere. The rich little empire of New Helvetia
disintegrated overnight, and finally Sutter gave up
and went off to the gold fields himself—a bitter man.
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James W. Marshall [oo tha