Sutter’s Mill put Coloma on the map, but the gold rush it triggered ruined John Sutter’s vision of New Helvetia. Many workers near Coloma left low-paid jobs for the gold fields, so the sawmill became understaffed, and Sutter tried to keep the discovery quiet for that reason. Between 1848 and 1850 the mill ran only sporadically. Sutter had hoped to build a bustling metropolis supported by the mill’s lumber, but most of that lumber remained in booming Coloma while gold seekers overran his land and stole his cattle. Disheartened, he abandoned his plans for New Helvetia and sold his interest in the sawmill. After 1850, without its original purpose, the mill declined as settlers scavenged its wood for cabins and fuel, and the river later changed course and buried the foundation under sediment, leaving the mill remembered mainly through the gold rush it inspired.