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Paths to El Dorado (continued) Click image to see larger view | ||
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California's first celebrities? During the 1850s, a San Francisco publisher printed and sold letter sheets like this one to capitalize on Johann Augustus Sutter and James Marshall's growing celebrity. It bears Sutter's version of the discovery, a portrait of Marshall, and a view of the mill. Letter sheets were illustrated stationery that emigrants sent to friends and family back home. Read Sutter's account. |
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Henry W. Bigler saw it happen: he was one of the workmen hired to build Sutter's sawmill and was there when Marshall discovered the gold. Fifty years later he wrote out his story. "Marshall," Bigler wrote, "came carrying in his arms his old white hat with a wide grin and said, 'boys I believe I have found a gold mine....' In an instant all hands gathered around and sure enough on the top of his hat crown, the crown knocked in a little, lay the pure stuff." Read Henry Bigler's story.
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 California 150
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