Today In History:The Unlucky Man Who Discovered Gold.

The Ironic Story of the man who discovered Gold today:

The 24th day of January

Did you know?

On a day, in the year 1848, this is 150 years ago,an American called James Wilson Marshall allegedly discovered gold in California. 

Although Marshall’s gold discovery  arguably began the modernization of California.

Not that many people know about J. W. Marshall’s, who ought to have been one of the richest people in history, thanks to his great discovery...from which, ironic as it seems, he did not profit; and actually died with assets barely sufficient to cover his funeral expenses!!? Tragic, huh?

The events that set the world in motion to the new El Dorado began almost by accident, when John Sutter decided to build a sawmill in partnership with his employee, James Marshall, whom had convinced him that it would turn out a good profit.

The perfect cite for this project was selected by Marshall, on the Sierra Nevada foothills on the south fork of the American River, 45 miles northeast of Sutter’s Fort, near a Maidu Indian village called Cullumah (Coloma).

Sample of James W. Marshall discovered

His early years were marked by conflicts with his stern Baptist father and rejection by two young women, each of whom he had hoped to marry. Marshall never did marry.

In 1848, the year of this discovery that they initially attempted to keep secret obviously not good enough to enjoy the spoils exclusively...., Marshall and Sutter tried to claim ownership of the Coloma property so as to be able to charge commission for any gold found by other miners, but it was all in vain as they made little to no profit out of this ploy.

 By the end of that year he was forced to sell one third of his timber and mill rights to raise money. James, haggled with the eager prospectors, which so forceful that they became enraged to the point of actually attacking the millhands and driving Marshall from the site of his discovery.

Feeling harassed, frustrated and probably overwhelmed the fellow, began to claim that it was supernatural, mystical powers that allegedly allowed him to locate the richest gold deposits. His refusal to reveal the location of these so-called rich diggings only angered resentful miners, who even threatened to lynch him if he did not lead them to new sources of treasure.

Marshall was forced to flee for his life and try to start over as just another prospector. However, his identity was so widely and well known that miners hounded him wherever he went.

In his journal, Marshall wrote expressing his bitter predicament.., 

 ‘I was soon forced to again leave Coloma for want of food. My property was swept from me, and no one would give me employment. I have had to carry my pack of thirty or forty pounds over the mountains, living on China rice alone. If I sought employment, I was refused on the reasoning that I had discovered the goldmines, and should be the one to employ them they did not wish the man that made the discovery under their control….Thus I wandered for more than four years.’

In 1872, he finally got acknowledged and received some compensation for his contribution to California’s gold-crazed growth. The state Legislature awarded him a $200-per-month pension. 

Marshall was 62 years old at the time. Shortly thereafter, he moved to Kelsey, a few miles east of Coloma, where he used the money to open a blacksmith shop. He worked there and lived in the Union Hotel until his death on August 10, 1885.  

During his last years, Marshall, who had become an obvious alcoholic, was forced to live by handyman jobs, handouts and the sale of his autograph on special cards for 50 cents each. 

Despite the involvement of others in determining that Marshall indeed had discovered gold, one would think that the nugget should have been named in his honor–the oversight being just one more of the many ironic twists of fate that plagued Marshall’s troubled life.

Harassed and unappreciated throughout much of his adult life, Marshall was a tragic victim of nature’s great lottery. Ironically, he has been remembered in death as one of California’s more influential–though accidental–history-makers.

Interesting and ironically tragic right?

Story cited from http://history.com