JAMES W. MARSHALL

       A glance at the history of past centuries will indicate at once what would be the condition of the world if the mining interests no longer had a part in the industrial and commercial life.  Only a few centuries ago agriculture was almost the only occupation of man.  A landed proprietor surrounded himself with his tenants and his serfs who tilled his broad fields, while he reaped the reward of their labors; but when the rich mineral resources of the world were placed upon the market industry and found its way into new and broader fields, minerals were used in the production of thousands of new articles of trade and in the production of hundreds of inventions and the business of nations was revolutionized.  When considering these facts we can in a measure determine the value of the mining interests for mankind.  No name is more inseparably connected with the mining interests of California than that of James W. Marshall, the discoverer of gold in this state; and that the people recognized what he has done for the commonwealth is indicated by the fact that in recent years there has been erected to his memory a fine monument.

       James W. Marshall was a native of New Jersey, born on a farm near Marshall Corners, in Hunterdon county, on the 10th of October, 1810.  His parents were also natives of that state, his father being born on the same farm in 1786.  He married Miss Sarah Wilson, who was born in 1788, and in Maryland, in 1834, departed this life.  His wife survived him for many years and passed away in 1878.  Mr. Marshall's grandmother on the paternal side was Rebecca Hart, a daughter of John Hart, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, of New Jersey.  Mr. Marshall also claimed that an eighth strain of Delaware Indian blood flowed in his veins.  He acquired a thorough education in his native state and there learned the trade of wheelwright from his father, after which he worked for a few months in Crawfordsville at the carpenter's trade. About the year 1835 he removed to Warsaw, Illinois, and then on to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, intending to enter a claim in the Platte purchase, but instead he worked at the carpenter's trade and also engaged in trading to some extent, with fairly good success; however, he was taken ill there with the ague and became greatly reduced in weight.  In May, 1844 he started for California as one of the "bull punchers" in a train of one hundred wagons.  The winter was passed at Fort Hall and thence he went to Oregon, finally reaching California where he entered the employ of Captain Sutter at Sutter's Fort, continuing with him for several months.  He made plows and spring wheels and was the "handy man" about the place, for his mechanical skill enabled him to manufacture almost anything that was needed.

        Mr. Marshall enlisted in the Bear Flag war and served throughout that struggle and also in the Mexican war in California.  He was a brave and efficient soldier and his labor contributed not a little toward the successful termination of hostilities.  In March 1847, he received an honorable discharge, but he claimed he was never paid for his services. He returned to Fort Sutter and was later an unattractive specimen of humanity upon the return trip as he tramped through the forests and over the hills barefoot and clad in buckskin.

       Again he entered the service of Captain Sutter and on the 27th of August, 1847, formed a partnership with him to build a sawmill on the south fork of the American river, the Captain furnishing the capital, while Marshall was to select the site and build and operate the mill for one-fourth of the lumber manufactured.  It was also agreed that at the end of the Mexican war if California belonged to Mexico, Sutter, as citizen of that country, should hold the mill site and if California was ceded to the United States, Mr. Marshall, being an American citizen, should have the property.  The agreement  was drawn up by John Bidwell, who was then a clerk in Sutter's store, and was witnessed by him and Samuel Kyburz.  The site selected was Coloma, a name which has been Americanized from the Indian Cul-lu-mah, said to mean beautiful vale.  It was situated forty miles east of Sacramento, and Marshall at once proceeded to launch the great enterprise of building a sawmill for the manufacture of lumber.  He first erected a double log cabin, in which he and his assistants might spend the winter.  The ground was cleared for the building, the trees felled and whipsawed, the dam was built and the necessary flumes and races constructed.  The timbers of the mill were raised in the latter part of 1847.  Everything had to be made out of crude material on the spot with almost no implements or machinery to assist in the prosecution of the work.

       Mr. Marshall returned to Sutter's Fort on the 18th of December of 1847, to make the models for the mill and on the 14th of January, 1848, he set out to return to the site of the new enterprise.  The dam, which was built by the Indians, was completed and was made with brush and timbers, weighted down with stone.  Soon after Mr. Marshall's return the river rose to an unusual height during a severe storm, and being backed up by the dam, swept down upon the mill placing the structure in great danger.  In this crisis Mr. Marshall and his men worked for hours waist deep in the icy water until the building was firmly anchored.  Upon a trial the tail race was found to be too shallow to carry the back water from the wheel, and while engaged in making this deeper, Mr. Marshall discovered gold.  He was alone at the bottom of the race at the time the bed rock was uncovered, and six inches under water he saw the glistening metal.  He at once picked up two pieces and then proceeded to where Mr. Scott was working in the mill and said, "I have found it." Scott asked what he had found and Marshall replied, "Gold." Four days after the discovery he went to Sutter's fort, taking with him about three ounces of gold, which he and Captain Sutter tested with nitric acid.

     After his discovery, Mr. Marshall had a number of mill men work on "tribute" and did considerable mining with the Indians also, but in the rush of immigrants that came to the coast he lost the land, to which he had only a squatter's right, that came under either American or Mexican law was null and void on mineral land in equity, and in accordance with mining usages which had been in vogue at that time, he was entitled to two operating site claims and the ground occupied by the mill, together with an amount of land necessary for untrammeled operation of the mill; but he wanted the entire claim, and instead of concentrating his attention upon mining, he spent his time in fighting the natives and getting into trouble with newcomers.   This rendered him so unpopular that he was finally unable to save that to which he was justly entitled and ultimately lost everything, having no remuneration for his discovery.

     For several years Mr. Marshall was a wanderer, but finally returned to Coloma and purchased the tract where his little cabin stood and which is now the site of the monument that had been erected to his memory.   He there had a vineyard and its fruits brought to him a good financial return.  In 1862 his old cabin was destroyed by fire and the present  little frame dwelling was erected by him in its place.  In 1869 and 1870 he went on two lecturing tours, which proved an unqualified success from a financial standpoint, but the habit of strong drink grew upon him and brought him to an untimely end.  Many of his later years were spent at Kelsey, about six miles distant from Coloma.  After his return from his second lecture tour the legislature of the state made the following appropriations for him:  February 2, 1872, two hundred dollars a month for two years; March 23, 1874 one hundred dollars a month for two years; April 1, 1876 one hundred dollars a month for two years, thus giving him a total of ninety-six hundred dollars.  He scattered his means indiscriminately among friends and parasites, and his habit of strong drink so preyed upon him that it almost entirely destroyed his manhood.  This had the effect to cause the legislature to cease its appropriations and the remaining seven years of his life were spent in poverty as far as ready money was concerned.  He had property enough at Kelsey to have kept himself comfortably all his life, but he would neither sell nor work it.  His poverty was the result of his inability to take care of himself under any circumstances that could have been devised; and it seems now as though the state might have given him a small appropriation to supply him with the necessaries of life and yet render him unable to gratify his strong passion for drink.

      Mr. Marshall was a Spiritualist and claimed that he had always been aware that there was a great work for him to do, and that he had been guided and caused to make the discovery by spiritual influences.  Be that as it may, he certainly did make the first valuable discovery of California gold.  Although naturally capable of better things, he deteriorated until he was most unprepossessing in appearance and untidy of person.  His cabin was again reeking with tobacco and redolent of creasote.  His objectionable traits became so pronounced that public feeling was much against him, yet he had his good qualities.   He was very hospitable, was fond of children and the lasting regard which his friends entertained for him shows that there were the true elements of worth in his character.  He was an unfortunate being, misunderstanding and misunderstood, born to unhappiness and sorrow.

      His discovery of gold on the 24th of January 1848 was the first discovery of the great gold deposits of the Sierra Nevada, and he was the first one to bring the value of the mineral resources of the state to the world's knowledge; and for that he is justly entitled to credit.  He died in Kelsey, on the morning of the 8th of October 1885, at the age of seventy-four years and ten months.  He had arisen and dressed himself that morning, but was found lying dead on his cot.  His remains were interred at Coloma, and Placerville Parlor, No 9, Native Sons of the Golden West, instituted the movement which resulted in the erection, by the state, of the monument which on the 3rd of May 1890, was placed on a hill overlooking the river where he made his famous discovery.  The monument is a marble pillar on which suitable inscriptions have been chiseled, and upon it stands the bronze statue of the brave pioneer who made the discovery of gold and thereby materially increased the wealth of California, of the United States and of the entire world.