An alternative account of Elk Grove’s beginnings holds that gold was discovered south of the area in 1847, when Elizabeth Rhoads and Jemima Powel, guests of John Sutter at Sutter’s Fort, were washing clothes in Dry Creek and noticed shiny objects later confirmed to be gold. Their husbands, John Powell and Thomas Rhoads, quietly informed Sutter, and the discovery was kept secret as Sutter and the families mined only at night; though documented only in journals, this covert mining suggests that gold helped bring about the establishment of the City of Elk Grove. In 1850, Elk Grove was established as a hotel and stagecoach stop 15 miles south of Sacramento’s historic Sutter’s Fort, becoming a crossroads for business, entertainment, mail service, and agriculture, as well as a home base for gold miners in nearby communities. After the early Gold Rush and California statehood, a close-knit rural and western community developed. Elk Grove first stood where Elk Grove Boulevard and Highway 99 now meet, then moved one mile east to the railroad tracks when the railroad came through in 1868. Train service gave local farmers and ranchers a faster way to market produce, conduct business, and travel, and the wooden Elk Grove Depot, built in a style common across the United States, became a downtown landmark. Rail service later declined, passenger service ended first, and the depots closed. By the late 1970's, Elk Grove’s depot building had been dismantled and moved to an unknown location in southern California. The City of Elk Grove purchased the former depot property in October, 2012, and created a formal gathering space there for residents to meet and enjoy current events in a historic setting.