In January of 1848 James Marshall, along with a workforce of local Indians and members of the US Army Mormon Battalion, was just finishing a water raceway for a newly constructed mill that would supply lumber for his partner, John Sutter, who had a thriving settlement with a fort, workshops, and stores 45 miles west where the city of Sacramento would soon spring up. While inspecting the raceway one morning Marshall noticed some shiny flecks. Gold! The discovery of those tiny pieces changed California and the United States forever. 80,000 people, dreaming of easy money, poured into California during 1849. San Francisco’s population boomed as gold seekers from all over the world flooded into the port. Over 125 million ounces of gold were pulled from the ground over the next 50 years.
The mill site soon became a town with about 300 buildings. Most were destroyed by fire or scavenged for materials when the gold boom died and people moved on. The dozen or so buildings that still stand are part of the park. A few have displays inside and many have interpretive signs outside. The park also has a small museum and a theater. Unpaved trails lead to historic and reconstructed buildings, mining equipment displays, and an Indian bedrock mortar site.
The museum and theater are accessible. The trails in the main part of the park are hard packed dirt and fairly accessible. The mining exhibit in the Man Lee building is accessible but the mining tunnel mockup is not. One entryway has a short step up. The Wah Hop Store exhibit is accessible. The interpretive signs in front of the buildings and empty lots along Main Street are easy to view.
The parking lot on the east side of the road, slightly north of the park headquarters, has several lot RV spaces. Cross the street at the crosswalk and follow the dirt trail to the museum. Park
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