James Marshall was an individual most humans might once have wished they could’ve been. He lived and worked in a remote region of California helping build a new saw mill. Marshall was also an eagle-eye. As he built the tailrace to channel water away from the mill, in the sluice he noticed a shiny rock. He looked closer. It was a 1/4-ounce gold nugget. The year was 1848.
The mill where Marshall worked was owned by a man named John Sutter in tiny Coloma, California. Overnight, Sutter’s Mill on the South Fork American River would become world famous....
Marshall tried to keep his discovery a secret. It wasn’t possible. In 1848, there was no television or radio. No movies. No internet. Just lots of card playing and ample amounts of alcohol. That’s the formula for idle chit-chat. Soon, that “chit” hit the fan. Word got out and the gold rush was on.
The largest migration of humans ever in the US took place. Hundreds of thousands of gold hopefuls dropped everything heading to the Sutter’s Mill area to strike it rich. Being close to the port of San Francisco, even sailors and sea captains who caught wind of the strike abandoned their ships in San Francisco harbor to try their luck.
The legacy of the rush is still evident. In and around present-day Coloma are: The Mother Lode River Center; Gold Nugget Getaway; Gold Hill Vineyard and Brewery; and the Gold Trail Grange. There’s also a reproduction of Sutter’s original mill near the Marshall Gold Discovery State Park not far from Marshall Road – both named after you-know-who.
Since 600 BC, every human on earth has lusted for the metal. Current TV shows feature modern miners excavating huge swaths of land in the Yukon. They literally strip-mine large acreages of land near rivers sifting massive truckloads hauling tens of thousands of pounds of dirt and rock. Those wholesale excavations might only result in a small handful of gold dust weighing ten or so ounces. If they are exceptionally fortunate, they might even find a few nuggets in the mix.
The original California miners lured by Marshall’s discovery often worked 16-plus hours days panning for flecks of the coveted metal. In 1848, the price of gold was $20 per ounce. With gold now trading at close to $1,800 per ounce, the lust for gold continues to soar. It has far eclipsed silver at $24 per ounce; platinum at $965 per ounce and palladium at $1,640 per ounce.
It has also created a problem for many businesses and credit cards. Once, being a “platinum” member was the pinnacle. The “platinum” name or membership was coveted above “gold” because platinum was far more valuable. With gold now almost double the price of platinum, that worm has turned.
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The gold near Sutter’s Mill and other sites was formed millions of years ago. Over centuries, heavy nuggets washed down from mountains via runoff settling into rivers and streams. The ‘49ers – as prospectors who searched for it beginning in 1849 were known – surely found much of that “low hanging fruit.” Those who now fantasize about finding an elusive nugget may still get lucky but chances have diminished. There is certainly some left but not like it once was.
For dreamers or armchair prospectors, dealers sell good-sized nuggets, most worn as jewelry. They usually cost $800 to $1,200. Naturally, the bigger the nugget, the higher the price. For the record, the largest ever found was in California. It came in at 1,648 ounces with a gold value of about three million dollars. Due to its unique size and rarity it would probably sell for well over five million dollars
The largest “nugget” found anywhere was uncovered in Australia. It weighs in at a whopping 2,500 ounces with a value north of six to seven million dollars.
An easier way to own gold-rush related gold is to purchase gold coins struck in the early 1850s at the San Francisco Mint. Most all of the metal in those came directly from miners in California gold fields.
As for James Marshall, no one any longer wishes they had been him. Even living in the epicenter of the gold region, he never struck it rich. For that one small nugget he found in 1848, he got five dollars. His only “gold lining” came in 1872. The California Legislature awarded him $200 per month for initiating the original gold rush. It didn’t help. Marshall died almost penniless in 1885.
For more collecting information and advice, log onto www.PRexford.com.