COLOMA REVISITED

Touring Day today. We packed our lunch and headed out into the wilderness. Our goal was the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historical Park, otherwise known as the gold rush town of Coloma. We were here last in 2007, entering the park from the Placerville end. Today we came up scenic Rt 49 and parked at the other end of the park. On the way down into the valley we pulled off here and found a fantastic view of the north fork of the American River.

Since we entered the park at the opposite end, we found this spot we had not found before.

The sign below is the one above. This is the exact spot on the southern fork of the American River that Marshall found the gold that started the Ca gold rush. To read it, click on it (or on any pic) and it will enlarge.

This is what is on the other side of the wall. The river is high and swift thanks to the spring snow melt. Cold too!

Sutter's lumber mill (to supply building material to San Francisco) was originally located on the river. This exact replica was built on higher land according to Sutter's original notes.

This is a representation of one of the many houses and buildings that made up the town after the gold played out and the miners moved on. The post office received and sent mail three days a week to SF so there were plenty of people left to make this a thriving community.

The park relies on volunteers to open and interpret the various buildings for the numerous school classes and other visitors. The blacksmith shop was manned both times we were here. While Duane chatted with his fellow smiths, I sat next door in the Miller home and chatted with the volunteer there. The Gooches were black slaves who moved here with their owner and were forced to leave their three-year-old son behind. The son was bought by a man named Miller. When CA became a state in 1850 it declared itself against slavery so the Gooches were freed. They worked at various jobs until they could buy their son, his wife and two children and move them west. When the parents died the Millers lived there until Perlie, one of the Gooches' grandsons was the only one left. He sold the farm to the state for the park. The inside consists of two open rooms divided by a wide archway and set up to display what women did in the area at the time.

After our visits, we found a shady picnic spot for our lunch, then finished up our tour of the town. There are a couple of original brick or stone buildings left but most are gone. Some of the reconstructed buildings are made on their spots with salvaged original materials, most are more modern reconstructions. The original town was made of tents, of course. As the merchants made money they build more substantial buildings. Most of these eventually burned. Some plaques show vacant grassy areas where buildings once stood. When we finished our tour of the town we took this road to the Marshall Monument.

This is our view from the top--part of the town in the valley.

This monument is huge. The first row of stone is my height and the statue is larger than life size.

It depicts Marshall pointing to the spot where he first found gold. As happened a lot in the gold rush times, Marshall dies penniless. The merchants that supplied the miners were the ones that made the most money. From here we drove to the community of El Dorado to visit this little museum. Unfortunately it was closed on Tues, and we won't be back to this area again at this time.

The afternoon was getting on so we made a quick stop for a few groceries we forgot, and a soda for the road and turned our truck toward Citrus Heights and home.

Basta,

Louise and Duane