“So, shall we do this thing,” John said.
“If you think it’ll make us rich,” James answered.
James caught up his horse and rode out of New Helvetia, heading to the water-driven sawmill he had built in nearby Coloma on the south fork of the American River. The idea was to salt the river with a few nuggets of gold John had brought from Europe in 1834, before embarking westward towards California.
The pair wanted to create a new town and believed this was the perfect way to get settlers to cross the wide open plains, the Rocky Mountains, Nevada’s scorching deserts and finally Sutter’s fertile land holdings. And they were right, as hundreds of thousand left their Eastern homes at the news and struck out to get rich.
Unfortunately, Sutter nor Marshall had any idea that the land was rich in gold and that this gold would destroy their dreams. Eventually, New Helvetia and Sutter’s Fort would be replaced by the city of Sacramento.
The Old Blog in the Desert 
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