Gold to be Found

For a brief moment, Coloma drew fortune seekers to California’s gold fields as migrants from around the world transformed it almost overnight into a town of tent dwellings, hotels, and stores. Gold seekers searched its muddy street for limited supplies of gold pans and pickaxes, while seasoned miners with gold dust to spare sought entertainment at saloons and gambling tables. Within a decade, the surface gold was mined out and miners moved on to richer strikes elsewhere, and Coloma survived by turning to farming, orchards, and vineyards, becoming an agriculture hub. It also became a jumping-off point for newly arriving miners whose claims lay in remote areas beyond town, serving as a place to gather supplies and hear news from the outside world. By September 1849, Coloma had a post office that provided slow and infrequent mail to families left behind, and Jared Brown wrote to his father, “This small place has caused al the excitement through the world for gold. Thousands of all nations are here.”

Coloma, California · United States