Sutter's Mill

The American River in California was named by John Sutter in 1839 when he selected the point at which it flows into the Sacramento River as the site for his headquarters, Fort Sutter, at the center of the vast landholdings he called Nueva Helvetica after his homeland. In 1848, gold was discovered on the South Fork of the American River at Sutter's Mill near Coloma, bringing a rush of fortune seekers from around the world who would destroy Sutter's estate and drive him to ruin. On January 24, 1848, Sutter's partner James Marshall found several flakes of gold that began the transformation of California from a sleepy outpost to a bustling center of activity. Sutter and Marshall tried to keep the discovery secret but eventually the word got out. During the next seven years approximately 300,000 people came to California to seek their fortunes mining for gold or selling supplies like picks and shovels to the gold prospectors. The first documentation of the Sutter's Mill discovery were by Henry Bigler and Azariah Smith in their respective diaries. Like several other people working at the mill these two workers were discharged veterans of the Mormon Battalion. After this discovery at the mill, the Gold Rush Era began and many people from the east emigrated to California to find their fortune. The era helped to transform people like Levi Strauss into millionaires.