Seasonal closure is a bitch.
I hugged the California coast all summer long.
I hit Crater Lake National Park, Oregon hours before snow closed its roads.
The trade-off was driving Historic Rt. 49 through the central Sierras in late fall.
While the foliage was pretty, some "Gold Trail" destinations were closed.
Continuing north on Hwy 49 I reached Coloma, CA.
James W. Marshall discovered gold in 1848 on the South Fork of the American River.
Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park preserves, recreates, and interprets Sutter's Mill.
As well as other historic buildings that sprang up in boom town Coloma.
Another Miwok village.
An interpretive trail leads through the park.
To a memorial.
James Marshall (as well as John Sutter) died penniless.
Their discovery set off the California Gold Rush.
The greatest mass emigration in the Western Hemisphere.
Soon their claims were jumped by a plethora of fortune seekers.
Marshall should have kept it a secret.
Continued to work Sutter's Mill.
Buy small rich parcels of land.
Secure water rights up and down the American River.
Maybe start a commercial services and industrial supplies company ala Wells Fargo.
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