 Frontier Fighters. Watch of these dauntless sons of courage who fought and dared that the West might live. More closely linked with the destiny of California than any other two historical figures are Swiss-born John Augustus Sutter and James W. Marshall. In 1847, Sutter dreamed of being an empire builder. Marshall dreamed not at all for he was a humble wheelwright who was soon to be approached by prosperous John Sutter in regard to erecting a sawmill on the South Fork of the American River at Coloma, California. Well, Marshall, it looks like we'll do a little business together, huh? I didn't expect to be made a partner on this new lumber mill. You figure on having me put up for you, Mr. Sutter? No. Well, everybody likes a surprise. You've been a faithful employee, a good wheelwright, honest. You select the site for the mill, erect it, and partners will we be. Now, where do you think would be a good lumber mill site? I've got a hunch that the South Fork of the American River at Coloma would be the ticket. Then that's where it shall be. Like, you know, with a good sawmill and plenty of pine, I should get most of the lumber business from the new settlers coming into California. Well, they all come to Sutter's Fort. You know, you've done right well by yourself in less than ten years. You started with nothing, and today you've got the most important place on the Sacramento frontier. Yeah. God has been good to me. Someday I bring my family from the old country, but not until I make this land of mine mine, who have reached a perfect paradise. All right, my friend, get started. Then South Fork of the American River it is. You don't think 40 miles too far. Well, it's almost in my front yard. Everything is close at home when you own it, and all of New Helvetia is mine. James Marshall started that sawmill on the South Fork of the American River at Coloma in a year of destiny. The summer months wore into fall. Even through the winter, the work of Sutter's new partner drove on. Now it was January at 1848, and the mill was almost completed. However, the mill race, which was an old channel of the river, wasn't deep and wide enough to permit the water to pass the wheel as rapidly as it should. In order to correct this condition, the gravel was worked loose. The wheel hoisted out of gear, and the channel left to be flushed out each night for the action of the current. Early in the afternoon of Monday, January 24th, Marshall called to an Indian boy. Hey, Charlie. Charlie, run, get me a tin plate. Run right away, sir. What do you want with a tin plate, Jim? Oh, just want a tin plate. Well, water's sure pouring down this mill race, ain't it? Water sure is. Looting up a lot of dirt. When do you think you'll get the mill ready for cutting timber? Oh, maybe a month or two, Brown, or three. That might be six months or a year. How do I know? Well, you don't have to bite my head off. Here, tin plate, Mr. Marshall. Thanks. I'll be seeing you tonight at the cabin, Brown. All right, Charlie, I'm out. Yes, sir, Mr. Marshall. It's so mad watching some loose dirt in a mill race. Maybe you want the tin plate to make some mud pies. There they are. Those yellow flakes. I knew I wasn't crazy. Those yellow specks are all through this dirt. Just look at them come up. I wonder if I've discovered gold. Marshall, tormented by doubts, let Jim Brown and Henry Bigler in on the secret. Instead of being excited, they were amused. I guess that mud you got down there at the mill, it's just good for one thing, Marshall, mud pies. Henry, don't you believe I've found a gold mine? I'll trade you a drink for it right now. But look what I got out of that dirt in just a few minutes. Why, enough gold stuff to cover a dime. Henry wants you to show him some nuggets, Marshall. I shut the head gates at the mill race, packed it with leaves and mud, and it's out the second time. Well, looks like it might be gold, but you can't tell. Here, give me one of them pieces. I'll bite on it. Be careful, Henry, you'll break your teeth. By thunder, it's malleable. Now will you believe me? If this stuff is gold, you'll be rich. Me? Oh, no, not me. John Sutter, he owns the mill. Well, if a lot of fellas get poking around that mill race, then who'll be owning what? The first gold found by James Marshall stood all the tests to which it had been put. A few days later, Marshall took samples of the precious metal 40 miles away to the master of new Helvetia. Both scales and acid proved the yellow stuff to be pure gold. Marshall returned it once to the mill. A heavy-hearted Sutter followed. He knew that the discovery of gold could make or break him if the men abandoned the farms he was ruined. So he called them together. What are you getting at, Sutter? You want us to give up mine and gold and keep on making a fortune for you? I only ask that you do not abandon my mills for six weeks, keep working, and then do what you will. I'm looking out for number one. Sutter, you can pay me now. Maybe these flakes I washed out, those few nuggets I found were all there is in the whole mine. Marshall's right. How do we know? Well, I'm not throwing out dirty water until I have clean. That's a trick. Marshall ain't one of us now. He's a boss. Now, who'll stay on six weeks working for Captain Sutter at good wages? Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you. And now I must spare you to secrecy. If there is much gold here, it would not be good business for us. Well, John, how long do you think they're going to keep their tongue in their head? Oh, a tongue in their heads? That is not so bad. But what will happen when they have no longer got God in their hearts, but bow down and worship gold? For six weeks, the mill hands kept their secret. Then it became a story that began to be whispered about. Each one swore the other to secrecy. Don't tell. Don't tell. They found gold at Sutter's mill, but don't tell a soul. I've been sworn to secrecy. But there's gold at Sutter's mill. I've given them a word not to breathe it, but you're my friend. Sutter's mill. New Helvetia. Gold. I've found out that I told you, listen, they're taking thousands in gold out of the American River. Gold. Gold. Gold. Gold. From many sources, San Francisco was informed that there had been a gold discovery. But little attention was paid to this, even when they're appeared in the Californian under date of March 15th, 1848. Goldmine found. In the newly made raceway of the sawmill recently erected by Captain Sutter on the American fork, gold has been found in considerable quantities. The Californian no doubt is rich in mineral wealth. Great chances here for scientific capitalists. By the end of May, one half of the population of San Francisco had left for the Goldfields. From San Francisco to Los Angeles, from the seashore to the base of the Sierra Nevada, there was but one cry, gold. The blacksmith dropped his hammer, the baker his bread, the farmer his side. The Goldfevers swept the west and soon all fell victims. And John Sutter, who dreamed a dream of empire, was pleading, begging almost on his knees to his workmen. If you all leave me now, I'm ruined. Who will cut my wheat so my timber harvest my crops? If you stay, God will bless you for it, and we will all prosper together. Your talk was good six months ago, but it's no good now. Why should I work for you when I can scratch her on with some forts and make a hundred a day? But your word of honor is a promise worth nothing. We're getting ours now. As soon as they know in the east what's going on here, we won't have a chance. By when the boat hits New York, the telegraph will spread the news to every hamlet in the union. I'm getting mine while the getting's good. Goodbye, Captain. Goodbye. Now come back, please, Tommy. When you were sick, I nursed you with my own hands. I'm your friend. I fed you and curled you. For years, I was California, such as forth with your world. Marshal. John, we've got to take the bitter with the sweet. We are lost, Marshal, swallowed up in the tomorrow which we created for them. We lose ourselves only in tomorrow, yes. But John, this will be California's tomorrow. By the end of 1848, the gold rush had started, and 1849 saw it in full swing. The cry was gold in the magic country, California. It was a day of paper towns and quick money. Sacramento became a metropolis, and San Francisco a city of promise. Fortunes were made by day and gambled away by night. San Francisco Bay was filled with sailing vessels from all over the world. Hundreds poured into the hills every day, rushing to find a claim and mine a fortune. Law and order disappeared, and chaos was crowned king. There was even talk of separation from the Union. Suddenly, the eyes of the nation were turned on gold producing California. In the United States Congress in Washington, D.C. Unless we admit California into the Union, we are losing the richest plum this nation ever had. Today, at this very session of the Congress, we can bring order out of chaos, wealth into our treasury, and into the Union. When into the Golden Gate, what's she all dressed up with burnt and poured? What's she firing her sigmal gun for 31 times? Say, don't that mean anything to you? Well, look, there goes the banner for a mass kid. California is a state! Few territories admitted into the Union moved so quickly to statehood as California. Law and order did indeed replace chaos, and there was born the real glory that is California's today. In memory, we salute John Sutter and James Marshall, who joined the long roll call of those daring pioneers whose very names made of California a land of destiny. And so, another epoch has been recreated in the lives of frontier fighters.