The evening world., 1911-02-06
sGnc0U That Oh
III II i s t O r Y
By Albert Psyson Terhune

tNgsA aYaxgsg@E SAaauMSa H8Na * aMp aMaAenAus
cOaushtw 1911. BY r' re. Fubu.Ans 10 Thu " fort w0aD.
No. s1-An Afternoon Stroll That Drove America co'd-crazy.
~RF James Marshall. an eccentric New Jersey man. had lot happened
to stroll through the bed Of an empty California mill Ice ne
A Marshall was working for a pioneer. Capt. Suffer, who had
settled in California before the Mexican war Suffer had come to America
from Germany. had slowly wandered across the continent and had started a
ranch nea the site of the present city of Sacramento.
He decided to build a a mill and o cut up his own lumber. That as
the real opening OF the California gold fields.
Suffer- sent James Marshall a visionary. impractical wheelwrght, from
New Jersey, to choose a site for this mill. Marshall selected a spot in the
little cOloma Valley. where there was fine water power. The rude wooden
mill as built. So a the dam. And a mrlrace as dug out
10; a, IT., ls ,s ., .s %ri'a .s, IN st,, ', s s,.,, r ss ,, ssnay' .T TS Tom ,T vas s, ,gr9s' Of in ~ :.
race. Then thu water a 'hut o again. leaving the
WAT @s'; =: r..: 's' vent q TO, q : vi: :s:'r Il: -: q: ss . az IS s. H 's;ss:s
s 1 .7.,- ,. eo,,s, Washed w; N. - and a.. ,a bed Of ,s tn; mi .ssSs,, As ~, .' -s .rS,.s
from many little yenovi,h reck' in IN. rotten granite tha, tormed tho bedrock:
Of me.s shiny particle: they we're smooth INC bras. solorsd. m sysa.sa
Marshall ran back TO- the mill and nnoa1ee to, re had found gold. The
ss '%, the he' bits ts' of ms "aG' Bun 1" he sH sd no o9 2ssaa % means, ;" Of, ' doS S'i it, He He s 5sSo's q:
ss ,%. s "nss etc. . a = Mrs. 1,, wa%T Gm:: .n1 , tod her he, s to boil it IT. IN '%~a's: .asr: -, a.
Mars all nshed i. out an found II. l.. in the Dap had nO, d.oOiored 1T Nor
.u MaF,na snt had the sDs:'"" .%, to n Old miner. n carried N. Of IN.
paper Mentioned the taet-and the ns-and-death race for wealth set IN.
sodheds Towns wore empted. bushes. ceased. Newspapers m shops ciosed
aas5ca d' , Mf%s" IA" Ana s's n. s ~Ha ysayan SG s' wealth ,I G GfasSSsl5 n6sso o. fn @sn e from ron
The Us a. on: New Workers, sou,hern.rs New nnsnnd.r, sturdy a,on-
dropped their trades or profession. left their comfortable homes am plunged
It was a state Of AFFAIR, seldom found in all history. Men s@d farms houses,
w srs mat fr Sr' S work o or p rom psS Sn ss 0% o% m s%' and Gs ' msD n knew Men 1nS M
Hso1, mi" mining, II rn H%a T so ' tn. Eidoraao VS ""p then '' suppose. %pp ed s HS" eo a1Sd'6 :.
found fort The looking
Across III prahles p1odae lons slow lines. of caravans headed vest crowded
with od-seekers Many of these dventurers sickened and died from exposlre.
More persisted from starvation or we're killed by Indians But the mad rush did
not slacken.
InoC California poured the treasure-hunters Som Of
An Ircane them found a little gold. A few Oft them cleaned up srcat
r..,.,,. uu.. fotunes thousands either cpt back nome in utter
poverty orr left their ZONES to whNen in the gunhes The
majority would nave been far better OF ~ Marshall had
never Ss taken keith tenth tina, tsnSS: ' troll, ,hs:% e the empty co'o@s nnf,.es
ness such as Bret Hare 80 wildly describes In his Western stories: an era Of
danger Grim, boodshed. sudden wealth, heartbreasng hardship III OF which
California was ne lay to rise from sordid confusion to greatness
Marshall himself Joined in the mining mania But he failed mteraby Suffer-
too. was ruined by the gold rush. Both men we're pcnHoned " the California
Legislature. But alter a time their pensions were withdrawn. Marshall died IN
1855 n a howell not far from thu spot where he nBt tound gold. \ monument
We laugh at the ignorant sixteenth century spanlards n thought America
vas a miraculous treasure land. Were they reaNy much more to re laughed at
than the .throngs of enlightened" nineteenth century americans who had the
same insane Ideas about California?