January 24, 2017

It was on January 24, 1848 when James Marshall made a discovery which changed the course of history. It was at a mill on the American River where he noticed something shiny in the water. He immediately shared the news with his partner, John Sutter, and they agreed the find needed to be kept secret. That didn’t pan out, so to speak, and soon some 80,000 men descended upon California in search of gold. While many did make a fortune from the discovery, neither Marshall or Sutter, profited from the find. Marshall experienced multiple business failures and Sutter was forced to turn over his holdings to his son.One can visit Coloma, California, and see the spot where gold was discovered and learn more about this fascinating history at Marshall Gold Discovery State Historical Park. Since my daughter lives ‘above’ this area at the north end of Lake Tahoe I plan to drag the hubby here on our next trip south.As always, a link:

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ca-jamesmarshall.htmlhttp://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=484