Golden moment in history celebrated

Larry Baumgardener, a docent at Columbia State Historic Park, pans for gold Saturday on the American River in Coloma at the spot where James Marshall discovered gold on Jan. 24, 1848. Thousands flocked to Marshall Gold Discovery State Park for a sesquicentennial celebration. Bee photograph: Chris Crewell

COLOMA -- It looked like little more than a tiny cereal flake. But Sunday the gold nugget that James Marshall found 150 years ago -- the glistening fleck that changed the world -- made it back to Coloma, where the Gold Rush began.

And with Marshall's nugget on display -- on loan from the Smithsonian Institution -- people flocked to the American River to exult in gold nostalgia and to celebrate the massive tide of humanity that gave birth to today's California.

The heavy turnout -- estimated by some officials at up to 20,000 -- surprised and delighted planners of the Gold Discovery Days celebration that will continue through today at Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park.

After lags in fund raising, park officials had predicted considerably smaller crowds for the kickoff event for California's three-year sesquicentennial commemoration -- honoring Marshall's Jan. 24, 1848, discovery and the Gold Rush that led to statehood in 1850.

But with wagon trains, fiddlers, hot roasted kettle corn and hundreds of people dressed in bonnets, buckskins and other period costume, a host of modern-day pilgrims came to live the history of the Golden State.

"I think people are going to be rediscovering the DNA code -- the formula for California itself," said California state librarian Kevin Starr, one of many historians who turned out to define the Gold Rush legacy. "It's freedom, hope, entrepreneurism and the important sense that you can have a second, third and even fourth chance in this world."

A second Gold Rush of sorts takes place Saturday as a crowd estimated at up to 20,000 flocks to Coloma to witness wagon trains and hundreds of people dressed in costumes. Bee photograph: Chris Crewell

Under a massive tent, with hundreds of people looking on, Gov. Pete Wilson kicked off the gold anniversary commemoration by referring to the tiny, flattened nugget on display at the Coloma park's Gold Discovery Museum.

"When you see that small fleck, you think it may be worth a dollar and a half. But what it brought about is priceless," Wilson said.

Wilson used the appearance to announce that he is including $300,000 in his state budget for projects at Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park. Meanwhile, Robert Elsner, executive director of the California Sesquicentennial Commission, said Saturday that officials had secured more than $4 million in sponsorships to help promote 150th anniversary events statewide.

Mother Lode tourism officials had complained that the birthplace of the Gold Rush was being neglected after sesquicentennial officials were unable to raise any money for the kickoff event and regional historic projects.

Park officials raided various preservation funds after raising just $46,000 of $350,000 they wanted to stage Gold Discovery Days and the World Gold Panning Championships in September.

But Elsner, confirming major sesquicentennial sponsorships from the Mervyn's and Target department store chains, said park officials will be reimbursed for expenses "and that there will be money to help the Colomas and the other people" staging 150th anniversary events.

Susan Scott and Clarence Sutton, both of Sacramento, hug after dancing to the tunes of a pioneer band at Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park. The two are dressed as pioneers from Sutter's Fort. Bee photograph: Chris Crewell

Meanwhile, Bill Wimmer, a retired U.S. Border Patrol officer from Paso Robles, came to Coloma on Sunday with a sense of destiny. He squeezed past the two guards and parked in front of the display of the nugget Marshall found.

Wimmer's great-great-grandmother, Jennie Wimmer, was the camp cook at Sutter's Mill. She took flecks of gold from Marshall and tested them in a kettle of lye to make sure they were the real thing. As Bill Wimmer stood looking at the historic nugget Sunday, he was nearly speechless.

"That's just great," he said.

His sister Nancy Wimmer Bodendoerfer, a retired kindergarten teacher from San Jose, had just finished giving her 6-year-old granddaughter the family history lesson when the girl said, 'Tell me more of that story.' "

"You know, Jennie said it (the gold) looked like a piece of spruce gum right out of a schoolgirl's mouth," Wimmer Bodendoerfer said, adding to the legend.

If you wanted Gold Rush history Saturday, it seemed as if you could get it from the very sources.

On stages and wandering through the park, various actors/historians in costume played early figures in California history, describing the lore of the Gold Rush and answering questions.

Gov. Pete Wilson and his wife, Gayle, check out a wagon train Saturday at Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park. Wilson kicked off the two-day Gold Discovery Days celebration. Bee photograph: Chris Crewell

So Dame Shirley (actually performer Kate Magruder) was there to read her writings that chronicled life in early mining camps. She told of sailing to the Golden State on "the Good Ship Manila" that passed around Cape Horn.

"I think somehow I knew back when I was in the parlor in Amherst (Mass.)," she recalled, "that my soul was to be set free on this wild river in California."

One of the most unhappy people Saturday was John Sutter (actually Joe Waltz, a volunteer at Sutter's Fort). Wearing a gray cap, wooly jacket and walking with a cane, the Swiss farmer who dreamed of making California his own ranching fiefdom was dumbfounded by the gold fever that swirled around him.

"This is the end," Sutter said glumly in a heavy accent as one tour bus after another dropped off visitors coming to learn about the Gold Rush. "I can't control this. Gold will destroy my empire."