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The Discovery of Gold in California: Sutter

Captain Sutter had built a fort on the site of the present city of Sacramento. About fifty miles above it, in 1848, he was having built a saw-mill on the American River. The mill was finished and started, when the tail-race was found to be too small to carry off the water. To deepen the race, the whole head of water was turned on to wash it out to the required depth.

One of the men, named Marshall, who had charge of the mill, watched the work of the water, and saw many shining particles lodged in the crevices of the rocks, or in the dirt the water had carried down. Thinking these particles might be gold, he gathered a small bag of them, without saying anything to anybody about his suspicions.

As soon as he could leave, without attracting notice, he mounted his horse, and rode to the fort, fifty miles away, in order to show what he had found. He asked to see Sutter alone.