In my own travels through the State, I have picked up on some things that became spiritual observations and provided some lessons for life. Back in 2016, I led our high school youth group on a road trip adventure retreat through parts of the State. We had an awesome time camping, hiking, exploring, and learning “life lessons along the way.” Some of my travel observations over the years became the teaching themes on the retreat, and future sermon series. They will be the basis of the posts to come over the coming weeks this summer. I’m looking forward to having you join me on this journey, and excited for what we can learn along the way.
The perfect place for us to begin is in the middle of the State, east of Sacramento, in the town of Coloma, along the South Fork of the American River. California was founded as a State in 1850, mainly because of what happened two years earlier in Coloma. It was there, that gold was discovered, and that discovery sparked one of history’s largest human migrations.
Some brief history… In 1841, John Sutter received a significant land grant along the Sacramento River. On a small hill a few miles back from the river he began building an adobe fort, soon to be known as Sutter’s Fort. As his empire expanded, he began to run out of building materials, and looked eastward into the foothills for a source of lumber. A man by the name of James Marshall had recently arrived at the fort who had both wood and iron working skills. John Sutter and James Marshall formed a partnership to build a saw mill. They selected Coloma Valley, 45 miles east of Sutter’s Fort, as a mill site because it had a river for power and large pine trees for lumber. In the fall of 1847, Marshall began construction of the mill. On the morning of January 24, 1848, while inspecting the watercourse, Marshall spotted some shiny flecks in the trailrace. It was gold. Four days later Marshall rode to the fort with samples of the gold. Sutter tested it and confirmed that it was in fact gold. They agreed for the time to keep the news secret, but the word finally got out.
The rush was on. Overnight, what was regional in 1848, exploded into the international Gold Rush of 1849. Some 80,000 immigrants poured into California during 1849. The Gold Rush would establish the DNA Code of California. By the 1850s, miners were coming from places all over the world. Things peaked by 1853, and every year after that, less gold was to be found. Thousands of disillusioned gold seekers returned home with little to show for their time. It was the promise of wealth and fortune—the promise of what money may bring—that infected people with “Gold Fever.” The “fever” can still be caught because of its contagious nature.
The “fever” can manifest itself through forms of lust or desire. It starts to distract and can blind one to reality. Why would someone want to be (materially) rich? Maybe to end the struggle of never having enough, to have a nicer or better place to live, better things for one’s family, or able to do things that only others are able to do. People can get trapped with “If only…” thinking.
What gives something value? It depends. How much do you want or need something? What does it offer? How much of it is available? And, what meaning does it give? Often times we don’t care to think about those things, and it becomes more about the appearance—what it looks like, or the image it gives or offers that determines value.
Appearance can offer a type of security. But, is what we have scooped into our “pan” real or genuine? We need to “assay” the value. For those who have been mining, gold or silver is taken to an assayer. Assay means, “To examine or analyze in order to determine the quality; to judge the quality of, asses, evaluate.” For us, maybe it’s time we “assayed” the value of the things in our lives.
The Apostle Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:9-10, “Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. … Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” People who want to get rich. That’s the goal, and where the problem lies.
A letter from a gold miner in 1850 said this: “Many, very many that come here meet with bad success … Some will have to beg their way home, and probably half that come here will never make enough to carry them back…”
If the “material” is what our heart’s compass is set for, if that is its magnetic north, we have collected a bag full of pyrite—“fools gold.” The Psalmist offers something more when he says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” It’s coming to know and experience the true value of something. Jesus knew we all struggle with the things we treasure, so he told the following parables:
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. “Again, the kingdom heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went and sold everything he had and bought it,” Matthew 13:44-46. That’s real treasure, and once discovered, everything else is re-valued, and even worth parting with.
Real wealth is offered to all of us. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich,” 2 Corinthians 8:9. Real wealth and value is found in possessing, and knowing salvation in Christ.
Back to the story. So, what happened with James Wilson Marshall, the guy who found the first flecks of gold at Sutter’s Mill? I’d like to say he became rich and lived happily ever after, but… He had a string of short-term successes and then setbacks. He died in Kelsey, five miles away from Coloma in 1885, with very little money. He is buried in a grave just above his cabin in Coloma.
Coloma is a beautiful area located along the South Fork of the American River. If you were to go there today you would never know by looking at the area that what happened there changed us as a nation, and as people. Throughout life, we have all collected, and continue to collect things in our “pan” along the river. What we may find, may look like…, but is it real? Are we humble enough, even courageous enough to take those finding to the assayer’s office?
I want my prayer to be (and I invite you to join me), “Lord God, give me a “fever” for You, and the true riches You offer through Your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Join me next week, as together we travel to Truckee and Donner Pass, and learn some more lessons along the way.
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