History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

302 IN THE VALLEY OF THE GREAT SALT LAKE.
building erected, water was turned into the flume
on the 24th, and the fall being considerable, washed
out a hole near the base of the mill on reaching the
tail-race, whereupon Marshall, Sutter's partner, and
superintendent of the party, examined the spot, fearing
that the water would undermine the foundations.
While thus engaged, he observed there pieces of yellow
glistening metal, and picking up a handful put
them in his pocket, not knowing what they were, and
supposing probably that he had found nothing more
valuable than iron pyrites.
They were no iron pyrites, however, that Marshall
had found, but, as it proved, nuggets of gold, the
largest of them being worth about five dollars. The
discovery was revealed in confidence to three of the
saints, who unearthed a few more specimens, and soon
afterward removed to a sand-bar in the Sacramento
river, since known as Mormon Island. Here was gold
in paying quantities, the average earnings of each
man being twenty to thirty dollars per day. But
though dust and nuggets were freely shown to the
brethren, there were few who would believe their
senses, and for weeks the matter caused no excitement.
At length, however, the secret was disclosed, which
soon transformed the peaceful valleys of California into
busy mining camps, changing as if by magic the entire
face of the country. How throughout the settlements
on seaboard and on river the merchant abandoned his
wares, the lawyer his clients, the parson his flock, the
doctor his patients, the farmer his standing grain—all
making one mad rush for the gold-fields, some on
horseback, some with pack-mules, some with wheelbarrows,
some with costly outfits, and some with no
outfit save the clothes on their backs—is fully set forth
in my History of California.
When the disbanded soldiers arrived in the valley
of the Great Salt Lake and displayed their treasures,
a cry was raised among the saints, "To California; to
the land of Ophir that our brethren have discovered!"