In July 1848, as talk of gold rose to a din, Mason and Sherman took a trip through the goldfields. Struck by the high prices being charged for goods, Sherman and Mason started a store in Coloma and made a modest profit.

It was the high point of Sherman's California experience.

He later was hired by John Sutter Jr. to help survey and lay out the street grid for the new town of Sacramento City. In 1853, after resigning from the Army, Sherman became vice president of California's first railroad, the Sacramento Valley Railroad, which stretched from Sacramento to Folsom. But the railroad went broke.

In 1856, Sherman was named commander of the state militia and directed to bring down the vigilante groups in San Francisco. But he resigned when men and arms promised to him failed to materialize. When the bank he ran failed, Sherman had had enough of California.

"My opinion is the very nature of the country begets speculation, extravagance, failures and rascality," he wrote.

It turned out to be a good decision. Rejoining the Army when the Civil War began, Sherman rose to become an American military legend, second only to U.S. Grant in Union Army eminence. After the war, he became commander in chief of the Army. He retired in 1883 and died in 1890. A Gold Rush failure ended up an American military legend.