Coloma

Sierra Nevada foothills town where the California Gold Rush began at Sutter's Mill

Coloma is where the California Gold Rush began. On 24 January 1848, James W. Marshall spotted gold flakes in the tailrace of a sawmill he was building for John Sutter on the American River. Within a year, tens of thousands of prospectors had flooded into California.

Today the town is a quiet stop in the Sierra Nevada foothills, anchored by the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park. The park preserves a replica of Sutter's Mill, a museum with Gold Rush-era exhibits, and the hillside monument marking Marshall's grave. The surrounding stretch of the South Fork American River is the busiest whitewater run in California, with rapids ranging from gentle Class II to more serious Class III.

Guide

Things to Do

Coloma is essentially one site — Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park — built around the place where James W. Marshall picked up the gold flake that launched California's Gold Rush in 1848. The park contains a working replica of Sutter's Mill, a Gold Rush museum, a small Chinese cemetery and the James W. Marshall Monument on the hill above town.

Beyond history, the South Fork American River that runs through town is one of the best-known whitewater rafting stretches in California. Outfitters in the village run half-day and full-day trips on the Class II–III water.