Historical Nuggets 2: Oakland
San Francisco saw increased numbers of ships carrying new arrivals during the Gold Rush, but it was Oakland that was “the mainland staging point for passengers and cargo traveling between the Bay and the Sierra foothills.” (Oakland City Timeline)
On January 24, 1848, gold was accidentally discovered at the building site of Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, about 130 miles northeast of Oakland.
James Marshall, a contractor building a saw mill for Captain John Sutter, was using water from the South Fork of the American River when he noted some flakes he identified as gold.
Despite attempts by both Marshall and Sutter to keep the find a secret, word got out. Coloma was quickly transformed from an out-of-the-way settlement to an area with a population of thousands. Oakland’s population also grew along with businesses supplying those setting out for the “gold fields.”
In 1998, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the discovery, the Oakland Museum mounted an in-depth exhibit which later toured throughout the state as well as the National Museum in Washington, D.C.
An historical footnote: James Marshall never got rich from his discovery. In 1849, there was a skirmish between the local tribe, the Nisenan, and some overzealous prospectors from Oregon. Although Marshall tried to protect his native friends, a number were killed and Marshall was forced to leave. Much later, when it was safe, he returned to the area to grow wine grapes. His last years were spent in poverty.
Rather than profiting greatly from this amazing find, Sutter, too, suffered. He was quoted in Hutchings’ California Magazine, November, 1857:
“By this sudden discovery of the gold, all my great plans were destroyed. Had I succeeded for a few years before the gold was discovered, I would have been the richest citizen on the Pacific shore; but it had to be different. Instead of being rich, I am ruined, and the cause of it is the long delay of the United States Land Commission of the United States Courts, through the great influence of the squatter lawyers.”