The Trophy

I was still quite young, perhaps seven, but I still thought that it was odd I had never been to see Coloma State Park––also known as Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park, but we never called it that.  I felt that I had been all over the hills of El Dorado County and it seemed strange to me that I wouldn’t have been visiting the unique park surrounding the preserved Gold Rush buildings and the recreated Sutter’s Mill located at the spot where gold was discovered in 1848 before.  We toured around the small museum, watched the film about the Gold Rush, looked at the various historical buildings and watched the mill operate.  Then we approached a path called the Snake Trail.

The Snake Trail climbed a mountain, snaking back and forth for a hike that would take a good half hour.  About ten minutes into the climb we came to some hikers on the way down and we asked what was at the end of the trail at the top of the mountain.  One of the hikers said, “There’s a trophy.”  I don’t know why none of us asked for any more details, but I guess we figured we’d see this trophy eventually.  So, onward and upward we climbed.  Long spans of the trail were luxuriously lined with a cut log fence––this had been a major project of the State Parks Department, designed with care and purpose.  Something good had to be at the finish line. 

The trail finally opened up to a large flat area with a house and circular drive.  We spied some inviting steps leading up a hill and as we ventured forth, we began to realize that the “trophy” was looming before us.  Hardly a trophy, this was a monument––a tall and impressive pedestal with a bronze statue of James Marshall on top, looking down and pointing at the spot in the river where he discovered gold.  The statue is larger than life at ten feet, six inches in height and the famous fellow is buried beneath the thirty foot monument––quite a grave marker!

There is a road enabling cars to drive up to the monument, but the Snake Trail (officially called “Monument Trail”) is a lot more fun.  Many a time did my brother and I have the thrill of a terrific run down the winding path.  However, if you take the road back down the hill you come across a Gold Rush era cemetery across the street from James Marshall’s cabin.  You can’t go in the cabin, but there are plenty of windows and you can walk around and look into all the rooms, which are dressed to resemble pioneer life.  I used to think that James Marshall’s tiny cabin would have been impossible to live in for any length of time until I moved into a New York studio apartment.

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John Sutter had engaged James Marshall, not a millwright, but ingenious at almost anything, to build a sawmill.  It was raining very hard when James Marshall burst in upon John Sutter at his Sutter’s Fort in Sacramento with a sample of the first gold that was discovered in California.  Marshall was very worried about the word getting around and wanted to get back up the hill to Coloma to guard the area.  He was also worried that if word got out the employees working at the sawmill would defect to start panning and digging for gold, which would stall the completion of the new sawmill and the potential of a profitable lumber business.  Sutter tried to convince him not to make the journey back in the storm, but Marshall was insistant––loyal to the Sutter investment in a business he did not own himself.  Sutter took the credit for the gold discovery as it happened on his property and by people in his employment.  History has awarded James Marshall the honor of having been the one, but others at the time told Sutter that they found the gold before Marshall––it was just he that first showed the discovery to Sutter.  Sutter had made a ring out of that sample brought to him by Marshall.  Inscribed inside the ring: “The First Gold.”  This was proof of his claim that he was the official discoverer.

Marshall described to Sutter how in order to deepen the tailrace to carry the water back to the river after it turned the wheel of the sawmill, he would leave the sluice gate open each night so that the water flowing through would wash away the sand and gravel.  While walking the length of the ditch he chanced to notice some small flakes of shining yellow metal at the bottom of the race.  He asked an Indian to go to the cabin and fetch a tin pan.  Scooping up a few handfuls of sand and gravel into the pan, he washed away the lighter material.  At the bottom of the pan remained a small amount of the yellow metal, about as much as a ten cent piece would hold.  When Marshall told the other men he thought he had discovered gold they just laughed.

Next he asked workers to shut down the head gate early in the evening and to make it all tight.  The next morning while everyone was at breakfast, Marshall went down alone to the race and saw the sparkling metal about the size of wheat grain.  He pounded them with a hammer and they flattened to the thinness of paper rather than crumbling.  Mrs. Wimmer the cook had a pot of lye going in order to make soap.  He dipped the metal in the lye and it had no effect.  Marshall told the crew that he needed to report this finding to Sutter and raced down to Sacramento to take Sutter back to Coloma immediately.  

With the storm blowing, Sutter didn’t think it was necessary to rush back to Coloma.  Besides, he had too much work to do at the fort and thought it would do just as well to travel in the morning.  Marshall was fearful that time was not on their side––too many people already knew about the gold and felt the secret couldn’t be contained for long.  With Sutter refusing to ride immediately, Marshall felt that at least he should go back to keep things calm at the sawmill.

Upon Sutter’s arrival to the sawmill the next day, Mrs. Wimmer’s little children came running up to her exclaiming their find––small handfuls of gold dust!  You could nearly pull the stuff right out of the river.  Sutter brought out the libations and celebrated.  He wanted to keep the good will of the crew, for all the while he was worried about what would happen next.  This gold discovery came just as Sutter was expanding his businesses on all fronts.  He knew that once word got out, all of his workers would leave in mass to the hills to strike it rich.

Sutter asked his men to not speak of the discovery for at least six weeks and they agreed.  He thought that he might be able to take care of some important business in that short time, but knew a secret like that wouldn’t be kept for more than six weeks.  Most importantly he needed that mill finished.  James Marshall was trustworthy and true and stuck to the task of finishing the mill.  Sutter was paying the workers fair wages and they knew it, so all were dedicated to finishing the mill...at first.

The spot of the mill was well beyond the boundaries of Sutter’s New Helvetia grant.  So, he had about six weeks to secure legal title to the site.  Sutter negotiated a treaty with the Indians of the district.  He would supply the Indians with clothing, farming equipment, and other goods having a value of about $150 a year.  With that, Sutter and Marshall were to receive a twenty year lease on a great deal of the land surrounding the mill site.

In his official capacity of Indian Sub-agent for the Sacramento valley, Sutter drew up a document and both parties signed it.  He sent it by messenger to Monterey, to Colonel Mason, the military governor, asking his approval of the agreement on the ground that it would be of great benefit to the Indians by furnishing them with food, clothing and such, and would teach them habits of industry.  There was no mention of the gold discovery.  The reply was that the United States did not recognize the right of Indians to sell or lease the lands on which they resided, or to which the tribe may have a claim, to private individuals.  As soon as the Indians’ titles to any lands were extinguished, they at once became a part of the public domain.  

Sutter sending the deed to Colonel Mason was an ill-advised action, responsible for spreading the news of the gold discovery sooner than might have been the case.  The messenger, Charles Bennett, could not resist the temptation to share his knowledge with those he met along the way.  He had on him six ounces of the secret, which by the time he reached Monterey had become too heavy for him.  When the news spread across the country that the foothills of California were rich with gold, enough to pay off the national debt and then some, the region flooded with people and Sutter lost his workers and control of his assets.  To what was a place of happy working people with no signs of crime, came all the worst of humanity, taking what they needed in a wave of destruction of Sutter’s assets.  Yerba Buena, soon renamed San Francisco, must have cleared eighty percent of its population overnight––lost to the foothills.

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Once the largest populated area in California, Coloma is now a very small town, distinguished mainly by the state park.  There are more visitors than residents, but the little town has its special joys.  Through my childhood there were many picnics in the that park––birthday parties and reunions.  There was rafting on the American river, a melodrama at the Olde Coloma Theater, a chocolate soda at the amazing Sierra Nevada House soda parlor, or a rather good dinner at the Vineyard House––a large old home that was said to be haunted.  The house was a hotel on top, restaurant in the middle and saloon in the basement.  The basement had a jail in it––used in the days before official prison facilities.  The ghost of the original owner, Mr. Chalmers, was said to appear in that jail room.  He had been locked up there when he went insane.  Mrs. Chalmers roamed the hotel halls to spook the guests.  I loved the idea of the Vineyard House being haunted and would have loved to have seen a ghost, but never did.  The place was popular for many years, but eventually went out of business.  So did the soda parlor, though new management has kept a restaurant going at the Sierra Nevada House through the years.

Overseeing it all, of course, is the trophy––the first such monument erected in California.  That man, pointing to the spot that changed not just California, but America, is quietly profound. Although that spot has been given its just due and is visited by people year round––especially school buses full of fourth graders learning their California history––that dot on the map represents a humble place.  When the last gold nugget was pulled out of the ground, the people left for Sacramento, San Francisco and Los Angeles––places where you could catch a boat or a train.  That left Coloma a little lonely, but it also meant that its beauty was left in tact.