Sutter's Mill

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Sutter's Mill
Sutter's Mill (2).JPG
2014 replica of Sutter's Mill
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Location of Sutter's Mill
Location Coloma, California
Area Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park
Governing body California Department of Parks and Recreation
Official nameGold discovery site
DesignatedMarch 7, 1955 [1]
Reference no.530

Sutter's Mill was a water-powered sawmill on the bank of the South Fork American River in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in California. It was named after its owner John Sutter. A worker constructing the mill, James W. Marshall, found gold there in 1848. This discovery set off the California Gold Rush (1848–1855), a major event in the history of the United States.

Contents

The mill was later reconstructed in the original design and today forms part of Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park in Coloma, California. A meteorite fall in 2012 landed close to the mill; the recovered fragments were named the Sutter's Mill meteorite.

History

Photograph of the original Sutter's Mill, taken circa 1850 Sutters Mill.jpg
Photograph of the original Sutter's Mill, taken circa 1850

The territory of Alta California, which includes modern-day California, was settled by the Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1683 onwards. It became part of an independent Mexico in 1821. John Sutter, a German-Swiss settler, arrived in the region in 1839. He established a colony at New Helvetia (now part of Sacramento), in the Central Valley. The United States conquered the region during the Mexican–American War (1846–1848): California was overrun by US forces in 1846 and a ceasefire in the region was agreed in January 1847. A peace treaty for the wider war had not yet been completed when Sutter decided to begin construction of a sawmill in the forest about 30 miles north-east of his existing colony. Sutter employed James Wilson Marshall, a carpenter originally from New Jersey, to supervise construction of the new building. [2]

On January 24, 1848, while working on construction of the mill, Marshall found flakes of gold in the South Fork American River. [2] On February 2, 1848, before news of the discovery had arrived, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed in Mexico City. This peace treaty formally transferred sovereignty over the region to the United States. Two workers at the mill, Henry Bigler [3] and Azariah Smith, [4] were veterans of the Mormon Battalion and recorded their experience in journals. [5] Bigler recorded the date when gold was discovered, January 24, 1848, in his diary. [6] Sutter's claim to the US government for mineral rights was investigated by Joseph Libbey Folsom, who issued confirmation of the gold discovery in June. The first flake found by Marshall was shipped to President James K. Polk in Washington DC, arriving in August 1848. [2] It is now on display in the National Museum of American History, part of the Smithsonian Institution. [2] [7]

As news of the gold spread, settlers flocked to the new US territory of California. The population expanded from 14,000 non-natives to an estimated 85,000 newcomers[ contradictory ] in just a year. [8] There were roughly 81,000 newcomers[ contradictory ] in 1849 and another 91,000 in 1850. [9] Many settled at the new town of Coloma, California, which sprung up close to Sutter's Mill. Numerous further discoveries of gold in California were made. During the next seven years, approximately 300,000 people came to California (half by land and half by sea) to seek their fortunes from either mining for gold or selling supplies to the prospectors. This California Gold Rush permanently changed the territory, both through mass immigration and the economic effects of the gold. California became a US state in 1850.

Current status

Replica (1968-2014) Sutter's Mill (4094149651).jpg
Replica (1968–2014)

The site of the mill is part of the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park, registered as California Historical Landmark number 530. [10]

On September 8, 1965, a groundbreaking was held to begin the construction of a replica of the original structure, based on Marshall's own drawings and a photograph of the mill taken circa 1850. [11] The replica was nearly completed by the following year, and while not built at the exact spot as the original, it was designed to be moved there if the river returned to its 1848 stream bed. [12] The newly completed replica was officially dedicated on January 21, 1968. [13] [14] In 2014, the 1960s structure was replaced with a new replica, built closer to the original site. [15] [16]

Meteorite

On April 22, 2012 a meteor entered the Earth's atmosphere and exploded, showering meteorite fragments over parts of California and Nevada. The first samples of this meteorite fall were recovered close to Sutter's Mill, so it was named the Sutter's Mill meteorite. Several dozen fragments were eventually identified, with a total weight of about a kilogram. The meteorite is classified as a carbonaceous chondrite and contains some of the oldest known material in the Solar System. [17]

The mill was the namesake and inspiration for a song by singer-songwriter Dan Fogelberg. [18] The mill was also the namesake for a song by the New Riders of the Purple Sage, and for Herb Sutter's blog. In Beverly Cleary's novel Mitch and Amy , the protagonists build a model of Sutter's Mill out of toothpicks. The mill is referenced heavily in an episode of the Little House on the Prairie television series titled "At the End of the Rainbow," in which Laura Ingalls Wilder and a friend believe they have found gold in a stream near Walnut Grove.

See also

Related Research Articles

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John Augustus Sutter, born Johann August Sutter and known in Spanish as Don Juan Sutter, was a Swiss immigrant who became a Mexican and later an American citizen, known for establishing Sutter's Fort in the area that would eventually become Sacramento, California, the state's capital. His employee James W. Marshall discovered gold, leading to the founding of the mill-making team at Sutter's Mill. Sutter, however, saw his own business ventures fail during the California Gold Rush, though those of his elder son, John Augustus Sutter Jr., were more successful.

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Sutter's Fort was a 19th-century agricultural and trade colony in the Mexican Alta California province. Established in 1839, the site of the fort was originally part of a utopian colonial project called New Helvetia by its builder John Sutter, though construction of the fort proper would not begin until 1841. The fort was the first non-Indigenous community in the California Central Valley, and saw grave mistreatment of Indigenous laborers in plantation or feudal style conditions. The fort is famous for its association with the Donner Party, the California Gold Rush, and the formation of the city of Sacramento, surrounding the fort. It is notable for its proximity to the end of the California Trail and Siskiyou Trails, which it served as a waystation.

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The California gold rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the United States and abroad. The sudden influx of gold into the money supply reinvigorated the American economy; the sudden population increase allowed California to go rapidly to statehood in the Compromise of 1850. The Gold Rush had severe effects on Native Californians and accelerated the Native American population's decline from disease, starvation, and the California genocide.

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James Wilson Marshall was an American carpenter and sawmill operator, who on January 24, 1848, reported the finding of gold at Coloma, California, a small settlement on the American River about 36 miles northeast of Sacramento. His discovery was the impetus for the California Gold Rush. The mill property was owned by Johann (John) Sutter who employed Marshall to build his mill. The wave of gold seekers turned everyone's attention away from the mill which eventually fell into disrepair and was never used as intended. Neither Marshall nor Sutter ever profited from the gold find.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park</span> State park in California

Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park is a state park of California, United States, marking the discovery of gold by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in 1848, sparking the California Gold Rush. The park grounds include much of the historic town of Coloma, California, which is now considered a ghost town as well as a National Historic Landmark District. The park contains the California Historical Landmarks: a monument to commemorate James Marshall (#143), the actual spot where he first discovered gold in 1848 (#530). Established in 1942, and Coloma Road (#748),. The park now comprises 576 acres (233 ha) in El Dorado County.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Fork American River</span> Tributary of the river in Northern California

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The Squatters' riot was an uprising and conflict that took place between squatting settlers and the government of Sacramento, California in August 1850 concerning the lands that John Sutter controlled in the region and the extremely high prices that speculators set for land that they had acquired from Sutter. The influx of squatters was a consequence of the 1848 California Gold Rush; when courts began to take legal action against squatters in the area, the squatters mobilized under Dr. Charles L. Robinson and Joseph Maloney and challenged mayor Hardin Bigelow and sheriff Joseph McKinney; the conflict was ultimately resolved, and the speculation in Sacramento ended as a result.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sutter's Mill meteorite</span> Meteorite that fell to Earth on 22 April 2012

The Sutter's Mill meteorite is a carbonaceous chondrite which entered the Earth's atmosphere and broke up at about 07:51 Pacific Time on April 22, 2012, with fragments landing in the United States. The name comes from Sutter's Mill, a California Gold Rush site, near which some pieces were recovered. Meteor astronomer Peter Jenniskens assigned Sutter's Mill (SM) numbers to each meteorite, with the documented find location preserving information about where a given meteorite was located in the impacting meteoroid. As of May 2014, 79 fragments had been publicly documented with a find location. The largest (SM53) weighs 205 grams (7.2 oz), and the second largest (SM50) weighs 42 grams (1.5 oz).

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Charles Brown's saw mill was the first saw mill in Woodside, California in San Mateo County, California. MCharles Brown's saw mill site is a California Historical Landmark No. 478 listed on November 9, 1950. San Mateo County's First Sawmill was built on the banks of Alambique Creek in 1847. San Mateo County's First Sawmill powered by the creek was built by Charles Brown. Also in 1847, a second mill was built on San Francisquito Creek by Dennis Martin. The sawmill design was similar to the famous sawmill at Sutter's Mill at Coloma. Sutter's Mill became famous when James W. Marshall found gold in 1848 at the mill. The find stated the California Gold Rush. Brown's adobe house, built in 1839, still stands today.

Nancy Gooch was an early African American settler in California and one of the state's most successful 19th-century black female landowners. Gooch gained her freedom when California entered the Union as a free state in 1850.

Marshall's Blacksmith Shop is a California Historical Landmark No. 319, now on the private property in Kelsey, California. The Blacksmith Shop was built in 1872 off of what is now California State Route 193 in El Dorado County, California at Gray Eagle Mine. James W. Marshall was a Blacksmith, a carpenter and sawmill operator. The Gray Eagle mine and ore mill is a lode gold mine on 13.2 acres of land in the Mother Lode Country, just south of Kelsey. Marshall was part owner of the Gray Eagle mine.

References

  1. "Gold discovery site". California State Parks Office of Historic Preservation. Retrieved 2014-08-05.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Gold Nugget". National Museum of American History. Retrieved 22 January 2021. 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. James Marshall was superintending the construction of a sawmill for Col. John Sutter on the morning of January 24, 1848, on the South Fork of the American River at Coloma, California, when he saw something glittering in the water of the mill's tailrace. According to Sutter's diary, Marshall stooped down to pick it up and "found that it was a thin scale of what appeared to be pure gold." Marshall bit the metal as a test for gold.
  3. "California Gold An Authentic History of the First Find With the Names of Those Interested in the Discovery". www.sfmuseum.org. Retrieved 2010-04-17.
  4. "The Gold Discovery Journal of Azariah Smith". Brigham Young University. Archived from the original on 2011-06-09. Retrieved 2010-04-17.
  5. William G. Hartley (September 1997). "On the Trail in September". Ensign . The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: 40–41. Retrieved 2010-05-13.
  6. Sutter, John (November 1857). "The Discovery of Gold in California". Hutchings' California Magazine. The Mormons did not like to leave my mill unfinished, but they got the gold fever like everybody else. After they had made their piles they left for the Great Salt Lake. So long as these people have been employed by me they hav [sic] behaved very well, and were industrious and faithful laborers, and when settling their accounts there was not one of them who was not contented and satisfied.
  7. "First gold found at Sutter's Mill, California, 1848". smithsonianlegacies.si.edu. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
  8. García, Justine (2014). California Gold Rush. Multicultural America: A Multimedia Encyclopedia. pp. 415–418.
  9. Clay, Karen (2008). History of World Trade since 1450. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA. pp. 328–339.
  10. "Sutter's Mill Site". www.hmdb.org. Retrieved 2010-04-17.
  11. "Sutter Mill Rebuilding Is Started". The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento, California. September 9, 1965. p. D3.
  12. "Coloma Replica Of Sutter's Mill Nears Finish". The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento, California. May 22, 1966. p. B4.
  13. "Coloma Dedication of Sutter's Mill Will Highlight Gold Discovery Days Fete". The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento, California. January 19, 1968. p. B1.
  14. "Gold Discovery Event Attracts 20,000 Persons". The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento, California. January 22, 1968. p. B1.
  15. Lakey, Pat (December 15, 2014). "New mill ready to inspire new memories". Village Life. El Dorado Hills, California. Archived from the original on September 9, 2015. Retrieved November 5, 2023.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  16. "Sutter's Mill Reconstruction Project Moves Forward" (PDF) (Press release). California Department of Parks and Recreation. September 5, 2014. Retrieved November 5, 2023.
  17. Jenniskens, P.; Fries, M. D.; Yin, Q.-Z.; Zolensky, M.; Krot, A. N.; Sandford, S. A.; Sears, D.; Beauford, R.; Ebel, D. S.; Friedrich, J. M.; Nagashima, K.; Wimpenny, J.; Yamakawa, A.; Nishiizumi, K.; Hamajima, Y.; Caffee, M. W.; Welten, K. C.; Laubenstein, M.; Davis, A. M.; Simon, S. B.; Heck, P. R.; Young, E. D.; Kohl, I. E.; Thiemens, M. H.; Nunn, M. H.; Mikouchi, T.; Hagiya, K.; Ohsumi, K.; Cahill, T. A.; et al. (2012). "Radar-Enabled Recovery of the Sutter's Mill Meteorite, a Carbonaceous Chondrite Regolith Breccia". Science. 338 (6114): 1583–1587. Bibcode:2012Sci...338.1583J. doi:10.1126/science.1227163. hdl: 2060/20140017286 . PMID   23258889. S2CID   206543838.
  18. "Sutter's Mill by Dan Fogelberg". Amazon.com . Retrieved 2010-04-17.

38°48′12.5″N120°53′32.5″W / 38.803472°N 120.892361°W / 38.803472; -120.892361