Season 2 Episode 08 Mormons and Gold, Part 1

Description

In January 1848 there were two groups of Latter-day Saints in California; the Saints from the ship Brooklyn and the veterans of the Mormon Battalion. John Sutter, a Swiss immigrant, was carving out a small kingdom in central California and he needed skilled workman to help him. He hired a number of Mormon Battalion veterans to help him. January 24, 1848, James Marshall and others discover gold on the south fork of the American River. Another group of Battalion veterans made another huge gold strike at Mormon Island farther down on the American River. Samuel Brannan, a Latter-day Saint from the Brooklyn, spread the word of the discovery and then became rich selling goods to the miners. The Saints helped develop some of the early techniques and tools for extracting gold. Almost to a man, the men of the Battalion walk away from the gold fields and return to their families.