Driving up Highway 88, seeing Silver Lake and Caples Lakes, going over the summit is all about seeing some of the most beautiful country around. The summit on Highway 88 is Carson Pass, it sits at an elevation of 8,600 feet. This time of year with the mountains covered in white snow, it's probably one of the prettiest drives you can take.
Just off of Highway 88, a few miles West just before getting to Silver Lake, is a small alpine freshwater spring known as Tragedy Spring. It's name tells us a lot all by itself. It was named Tragedy Spring after local Indians murdered three Mormon men, Daniel Browett, Ezrah H. Allen, and Henderson Cox, on June 27, 1848. The three men killed were with the group that was blazing the Mormon Emigrant Trail.
Before getting into what happened to the three men, let's talk about Mormons in California, Sutter's Mill, the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill, and the Mormon Emigrant Trail in California which was a route that was blazed in 1848 by Mormon laborers leaving Sutter's Mill.
Before getting into what happened to the three men, let's talk about Mormons in California, Sutter's Mill, the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill, and the Mormon Emigrant Trail in California which was a route that was blazed in 1848 by Mormon laborers leaving Sutter's Mill.
That's right, they were leaving Sutter's Mill in 1848. Does that make sense? Well, not really. But let me explain what happened.
Mormons showed up in California during the Mexican–American War between 1846 and 1848. In fact, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), commonly known as "Mormons" or "Latter-day Saints," traveled to California before Mexico sold California to the United States.
Mormons showed up in California during the Mexican–American War between 1846 and 1848. In fact, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), commonly known as "Mormons" or "Latter-day Saints," traveled to California before Mexico sold California to the United States.
During that time, in July of 1847, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints leader Brigham Young and a large Wagon Train of Mormon pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley -- which at the time still belonged to Mexico. There, they established their Salt Lake City as the principal settlement for their church.
Months before that, Mormons were already arrived by ship to San Francisco in 1846 and by land to San Diego in January of 1847. The later took place when the US Army's Mormon Battalion, made up of almost 400 Mormons, marched to San Diego from Council Bluffs, Iowa during the Mexican-American War. At the end of some of the war, and their enlistments, while some reenlisted, other members of the Army's Mormon Battalion were discharged and stayed in San Diego. By July of 1847, those who were discharged and didn't want to stay in San Diego decided to head to Salt Lake City.
Months before that, Mormons were already arrived by ship to San Francisco in 1846 and by land to San Diego in January of 1847. The later took place when the US Army's Mormon Battalion, made up of almost 400 Mormons, marched to San Diego from Council Bluffs, Iowa during the Mexican-American War. At the end of some of the war, and their enlistments, while some reenlisted, other members of the Army's Mormon Battalion were discharged and stayed in San Diego. By July of 1847, those who were discharged and didn't want to stay in San Diego decided to head to Salt Lake City.
While en route to Salt Lake City, those Mormon soldiers met up with a messenger from Brigham Young. His instructions to former Battalion members was to stay put in California if they didn't have adequate supplies to make the trip. They were told to remain in California for a season, to find jobs, earn wages, and then purchase the supplies they need before heading to Salt Lake City.
It's said that about half the Mormon soldiers who met up with that messenger decided to continue on to Salt Lake City. The other half turned around and went looking for jobs for the season as instructed. Some were hired by wealthy landowner John Sutter. While some of his Mormons employees were assigned to work and maintain what was known as Sutter's Fort, Sutter sent the others into the Sierra Nevada foothills to build a sawmill. Yes, they were assigned to build Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California, on the South Fork of the American River.
Sutter's Mill was built by John Sutter who hired former-soldiers of Mormon Battalion as laborers. It was the site where James W. Marshall discovered gold on January 24, 1848. That event lit the fire that became the California Gold Rush.
California was fast-tracked to statehood as a slave-free state in 1850, and the California Gold Rush accelerating settlement of the West, including all sorts of towns and cities between the East and West Coasts that are still with us today. All because the influx of gold expanded the U.S. money supply while spurring huge economic growth across the country. activity. The need to connect the distant West led to major investments in transcontinental railroads and telegraph lines.
So yes indeed, the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill, land owned by John Sutter who hired James W. Marshall to build the sawmill, took place when former soldiers of the Mormon Battalion and local Nisenan Indians were there to build it. Marshall found gold flakes while they were deepening the mill's tailrace which is a channel for water. They were doing that to improve its water power. James Marshall's discovery of those gold flakes changed the United States.
Since, members of the Mormon Battalion were instrumental in building the mill and were present at the discovery, and several former-Battalion members were present when gold was discovered that day in January of 1848, it makes sense that those Mormons would spend their time off mining for gold.
So after gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in 1848, those Mormons, those former members of the Mormon Battalion, the ones who built Sutter's Mill, enjoyed the fact that they were on the ground-floor of the discovery. Many were in on the first rush to nearby "Mormon Island" where anywhere from 100 to 150 Mormans flocked together there. It's said that those looking for gold worked in groups of five, each working five square yards of land, Monday through Saturday, each making from ten to fifty dollars a day. So many miners were Mormons that the name "Mormon" was given to places like Mormon sland, Mormon Bar, and Mormon Gulch.
According to one report: "There was good reason for the gold fever. What they found was incredible, and it was there for the taking. With no more equipment than a pick and shovel or pan, almost everyone who tried found his share. The gold had been deposited in stream beds and rock crevices, little by little, over vast periods of time. Now it lay exposed and inviting, diversified into dust, flakes, and even fist-sized nuggets."
So now, if that's the case, and they were indeed in on the ground floor, the very start of the California Gold Rush, why were they leaving California to go to Salt Lake City by mid-1848?
Since, members of the Mormon Battalion were instrumental in building the mill and were present at the discovery, and several former-Battalion members were present when gold was discovered that day in January of 1848, it makes sense that those Mormons would spend their time off mining for gold.
So after gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in 1848, those Mormons, those former members of the Mormon Battalion, the ones who built Sutter's Mill, enjoyed the fact that they were on the ground-floor of the discovery. Many were in on the first rush to nearby "Mormon Island" where anywhere from 100 to 150 Mormans flocked together there. It's said that those looking for gold worked in groups of five, each working five square yards of land, Monday through Saturday, each making from ten to fifty dollars a day. So many miners were Mormons that the name "Mormon" was given to places like Mormon sland, Mormon Bar, and Mormon Gulch.
According to one report: "There was good reason for the gold fever. What they found was incredible, and it was there for the taking. With no more equipment than a pick and shovel or pan, almost everyone who tried found his share. The gold had been deposited in stream beds and rock crevices, little by little, over vast periods of time. Now it lay exposed and inviting, diversified into dust, flakes, and even fist-sized nuggets."
Well, that's the question that I answer in Part Two -- in a few days.
Tom Correa
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