9781422285565

10 Gold and Silver

As Marshall and Scott talked, several other workers wandered over to give their opinions. They conducted crude experiments, including throwing the stones into a vat of boiling lye, a strong cleaner. When they removed the stones, the rocks were shinier than ever. They glowed as bright as the sun, a blistering yellow. The amateur mineralogists declared that this was not fool’s gold—iron pyrite, a mineral that looks very similar to gold—but real, honest-to-goodness gold. Marshall rushed to tell John Sutter, owner of the property and mill, of the discovery. An assayer confirmed that Marshall had indeed found gold. Sutter, always a careful man, tried to keep the find secret. He failed.

A contemporary view of Sutter’s Creek, in California.