My day at the mill

I had a pretty good time at the mill. We hiked on a trail to the grave of James Marshall. It showed a statue of James Marshall pointing to where he found the gold. If you go to the gift shop bring lots of money. It has a real awesome arrowhead necklace. I got a necklace. I went to the mill, but it was only a replica (life sized!). The river is cold.

The Life of a Miner

The day in the life of a miner was usually very hot, cold, and boring. They usually didn’t find very much gold. A newspaper reporter from New York said that he thought that, within four years, 1,000 million dollars of gold would be found. Turns out that not many people found gold. The temperatures got up to over 100 F, and the water was frigid. The reason they knew that the water was frigid is because the miners stood in it all day long. The miners mined in the American River. They panned for gold, They held their pans in the water, took them out, and swished the pans around to get the gold because the gold would settle at the bottom.

The Impact

The impact was ENORMOUS. More than 90,000 people came to California after gold was found. It was one of the largest mass migrations EVER. People came from all over the world. There were people from Australia, Peru, France, and all of the U.S. states.

The Story

James Marshall came to California from New Jersey. He was a carpenter and he was building a mill for John Sutter at Coloma, CA.

Then he (James Marshall) discovered gold in January 1848. He was just doing his work, but he saw something shiny in the American River. He picked up the piece of shiny stuff and thought it was gold. He did all the tests that the Encyclopedia Brittanica said to do. It turned out to be gold.

After John Sutter found out, he wanted everyone to keep quiet, because he didn't want everybody trashing his property. But then John Sutter actually told one of his neighbors, in a letter, two weeks later. The workers also couldn't stay quiet.

They told all their friends and neighbors and the Gold Rush started later that year.

The People

John Sutter, the founder of Sutter's Mill.

James Marshall, The guy who found gold first.

The Indians The people who lived in North America before the other people came.

The Miners The people who dug for gold

The Chinese They had to make cigars and didn't get to mine very much

Lots of other people Most of them mined, but there were blacksmiths, store workers, bankers, and then....the robbers!

Introduction

The following are some facts about Sutter's Mill, the timeline and James Marshall & John Sutter

This is a timeline of Sutter's Mill.

• 1810- James Marshall is born.
• 1834- John Sutter flees from debts in Switzerland.
• 1848- Hoodwinks Mexican officials & gets 90,000 acres of land.
• 1849- Sutter's Mill built by James Marshall.
• 1857- Mill torn down.