James Marshall: An epilogue for the Story written by Jon Haeber. This article is © by Jon Haeber. copying or public display of this article, without the permission of the author could result in criminal prosecution. Otherwise, feel free to use this article for personal use.

When the beginning of this story was being written, I often wondered what the life of James Marshall was really like. I knew he was the single most influential person in the development of The West. I knew that People came from Hawaii, New York, The Orient, Germany, South America, and even Siberia to search for the elusive metal as a result of Marshall's discovery. On the contrary to popular belief though, Marshall was a very bitter man. He lived his latter years squandering what little funds he had left by feeding his alcoholic tendencies. The gold nugget that is mentioned at the end of the story was given to Mrs. Wimmer, the camp cook. It was, in fact, described by her as, ".....a piece of spruce gum, just out of the mouth of a schoolgirl - full of indentations." As for Marshall's Diary? It was not a very immense account of history. Rather, many of the accounts of the first discovery of gold were taken from the diary of a man by the name of Henry Bigler, a mill hand that worked with Marshall. Four months passed before rumor of gold even reached the 300 residents of San Francisco (formerly known as Yerba Buena.) As soon as it reached Yerba Buena though, the news spread quickly. Before 1849, ten-thousand people had already migrated to the gold fields of California. James Marshall acted quickly by claiming all the land around the sawmill for mining purposes, but when gold thirsty miners arrived, they paid no attention to the legalese of the claims. Sutter's livestock and timber was looted by lawless miners, and eventually Sutter himself was financially ruined as a result of the paranoia for gold. When the number of miners grew, so did the tension. Marshall was losing his job, and even the possibility of making a living as a miner. When he did mine though, he was reported to have strange and mystical powers at finding gold. Other miners would constantly follow him in hopes of finding the "secret." Marshall felt very uneasy when he was being followed by such people. So, in 1853, Marshall could stomach no more,"I was soon forced to leave Coloma for want of food. My property was swept from me, and no one would give me employment. I have had to carry my pack of thirty or forty pounds over the mountains, living on China rice alone. If I sought employment, I was refused on the reasoning that I had discovered the gold mines, and should be the one to employ them; they did not wish the man that made the discovery under their control.... Thus I wandered for more than four years." This is the point in the story where the main character (Jason) meets his friend, Mr. Marshall (although James Marshall did not die until 1885; when he was then living in the Union Hotel at Kelsey and working as a blacksmith in his own shop.)

As for the lost treasure of James Marshall? There is no recorded history of such a treasure, but Marshall was in the hills for four years. If he possessed the strange powers that were so well known about him, he no doubt found gold; possibly even a large amount of gold. So in conclusion; We may never know if there is a such thing as Marshall's treasure, but if we don't believe in such a thing, we might end up like Jason Ramirez.

The story that this epilogue is based on is here Feel free to read it and tell me what you think. Mail me Herefor any questions, comments, or concerns.

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