Section I The Great Discovery

Drawn by James Wilson Marshall, the gold discoverer himself, the map depicts the Coloma Valley with the south fork of the American River and shows mountains, gulches, trees, and brush. Despite its crude appearance, the map, according to Marshall's biographer Theressa Gay, was fairly accurate. Marshall apparently made the map sometime after the discovery but an exact date cannot be determined.

The map was found in a desk at his cabin in Kelsey (near Placerville) after his death. John Sipp, who purchased the cabin at an administrator's sale, gave the map to the State Library in 1910 along with a double-sided drawing of the mill by Marshall. According to cartobibliographer Carl I. Wheat, Marshall's map ranks as one of the most important documents in the State Library's collections.

This crude pencil drawing delineates perhaps the most important event in California history in the discoverer's own hand. Marshall wrote on the lower right side: "Situation of all hands on the mill at the time I brought the gold and show'd it." The workman (left of center) asks: "What is it?" Marshall (right of center) answers: "I have found it." William Scott, the carpenter (right of Marshall), replies: "I guess not."

The drawing, like the map, was found in Marshall's desk, and John Sipp presented it to the Library in 1910.

The gold discoverer made this drawing on the other side of his gold discovery sketch. Marshall wrote the following caption: "The mill as finished at the time of the gold discovery Jany. 19th 1848." Sutter's millwright confused the actual date of the discovery and hence the date of the 19th rather than the 24th.

Captain Sutter and James Marshall attempted to gain legal control of the Coloma Valley by entering into a lease with the local Indians. This document was actually made on January 1 but not signed until February 4. With the discovery of gold, control of the valley became imperative to Sutter. The document was signed by two chiefs and two alcaldes of the Yalesummi tribe. As historian Theressa Gay notes: "This historic document defined the boundaries of the first mining claim on the Mother Lode just eleven days after the discovery of gold." Sutter sent the lease document to Colonel R. B. Mason, military governor of California, for his approval. Mason rejected the lease in a letter to Sutter: "The United States do not recognize the right of Indians to sell or lease lands on which they reside."

The original document was probably lost in the fire that consumed Sutter's Hock Farm. The copy in the State Library's possession is part of the George McKinstry Collection. McKinstry worked for Sutter at the fort in the 1840s.

This cover letter to Mason accompanied Sutter's lease agreement with the Yalesummi Indians. Written less than a month after Marshall's discovery, Sutter explains the expense of building and settling Coloma and the need to protect his property. Without mentioning gold, Sutter went on to write: "The settlement will be of great benefit to the Indians by protecting them against the wild tribes above them, furnishing them with food, clothing, etc. and teach them habits of industry." On display is a contemporary copy of the lost original. George McKinstry Collection.

Sutter's account of Marshall's momentous visit to his fort after finding gold appeared in San Francisco Pacific News for October 9, 1849. The letter sheet reproduces Sutter's text. Sutter recalled: ". . . suddenly all my misgivings were put at an end by his [Marshall] flinging on the table a handful of scales of pure virgin gold. I was fairly thunderstruck and asked him to explain what all this meant." Sutter then accompanied Marshall to Coloma and found gold himself by picking out with a small knife a lump of gold from a dry gorge. He concluded his statement with the words: "- Oro! - Oro! - Oro!"

The frontispiece represents Marshall holding a golden nugget. Gold Rush historians call this one of the most important books of California history. It is based on materials supplied by William Burke, a business associate of Marshall, and Parsons' interview of Marshall. It details not only Marshall's discovery but also the "curse" that dogged much of his life. Marshall and Burke published the book to win support for the discoverer's petition to the legislature to obtain a pension and as a means of promoting his lecture tours.

This beautiful hand-colored lithograph depicts the Coloma Valley during the heyday of the Gold Rush. In the foreground, a Native American gazes on the scene. Sutter's Mill, the site of the gold discovery, is in the center of the print. By 1850, Coloma emerged as a bustling mining town with hotels, saloons, restaurants, stores, and a bowling alley. The text below the title and image reads: "On the South Fork of the American Line, Alta California / Respectively dedicated to Capt. John A. Sutter; / by his obedient servant'; [signed] "John T Little." Little's store is depicted in the center across the river from the mill.