Coloma, California is the home to Sutter's Mill, where gold (click here) was discovered in 1848. Here's the view in the morning when we open the door to our van (framed by the car window curtain to the left and mosquito netting to the right).
We get up and out early to visit Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park.
Wait, Marshall?? Who's Marshall?!!
Warning: HISTORY DETOUR! Judy learns that John Sutter didn't have much to do with the discovery of gold here at all. Sutter, a German Swiss immigrant who had settled in California, was looking to make money off of the rich timber-covered land. He needed someone to construct a sawmill for him on the not-too-distant American River.
Enter James Marshall, a carpenter from Hopewell Township, NEW JERSEY (!!!), who had recently relocated to California after fighting in the Mexican-American War. Marshall thought the lush mountains outside of Sacramento would be an ideal location for a sawmill, and in 1848 he convinced Sutter to fund it. The mill was moderately successful, but when Marshall began remodeling it to increase efficiency, he noticed flecks of gold in the water:
"I reached my hand down and picked it up. It made my heart thump, for I was certain it was gold. The piece was about half the size and shape of a pea. Then I saw another..."
Once word got around that there was gold in them thar hills, this tiny town of barely 100 lumberjacks saw their population balloon to thousands of miners. Coloma grew to include a post office, several hotels, two breweries, each with a beer garden, many a brothel, two Chinese grocers, and California's first bowling alley.
FUN FACT: The gold rush led to the creation of many a new invention, including blue jeans, the brainchild of German-born immigrant Levi Strauss. The pants were called "jeans" because sailors in Genoa (Italy) wore similar blue canvas pants.
This logo look familiar? Ahh, now you get it.
History detour is over. So you've heard of STUDENT-ATHLETES?? While Mark takes advantage of the free wifi in Marshall Park, he can't help but be distracted by Judy's attempt to transform herself into a TEACHER-ATHLETE! (Don't miss Mark's audio commentary here.)
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