Entrance to Marshall Gold Discovery State Park
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On January 24, 1848, James Marshall discovered flakes of gold while turning off the water to Sutter's Sawmill. While this was not the first gold to be discovered in California, it was the find that started the 1849 gold rush to the west. In a short time gold was found all along the west side of the Sierra Nevada Range, called "The Mother Lode." The present highway, 49, follows the old gold trail where one may see a great number of the ghost towns of the past. Today fruit orchards grow along the highway. The lack of fruit and vegetables in the miners' diet gave them scurvy. Potatoes sold for $1.00 each, bread $1.00 per slice and coffee was made from beans crushed in a sack over a stone Dexter |
