Biography
James Wilson Marshall, of English descent, was born to Philip Marshall and Sarah Wilson (married 1808) in Hopewell Township, New Jersey (then part of Hunterdon County, New Jerseycurrently part of Mercer County) on October 8, 1810. The family homestead was known as the Round Mountain Farm and is still known as Marshall's Corner. He was the oldest of four children, and the only male. In 1816, the Marshall family relocated to nearby Lambertville, where Philip constructed a house on approximately five acres of land.
James left New Jersey in 1834 and headed west. After spending time in Indiana and Illinois, he settled in Missouri (in an area created by the Platte Purchase) in 1844, and began farming along the Missouri River. It was there that he contracted malaria, a common affliction in the area. On the advice of his doctor, Marshall left Missouri in the hopes of improving his health. He joined an emigrant train heading west and arrived in Oregon's Willamette Valley in the spring of 1845. He left Oregon in June 1845 and headed south along the Siskiyou Trail into California, eventually reaching Sutter's Fort, California in mid-July.
It was here Marshall met John Sutter, the founder of Sutter's Fort, an agricultural settlement. Sutter was also the alcalde of the area, as California was still a Mexican possession in 1845. Sutter hired Marshall to assist with work at the sawmill, and around the fort (carpentry, primarily). He also helped Marshall to buy two leagues of land on the north side of Butte Creek (a tributary of the Sacramento River) and provided him with cattle. It was here that Marshall began his second stint as a farmer.
Soon after this, the Mexican-American War began in May 1846. Marshall volunteered and served under Captain John C. Frémont's California Battalion during the Bear Flag Revolt. When he left the battalion and returned to his ranch in early 1847, he discovered that all his cattle had either strayed or been stolen. With his sole source of income gone, Marshall lost his land.
Marshall soon entered into a partnership with Sutter for the construction of a sawmill. Marshall was to oversee the construction and operation of the mill, and would in return receive a portion of the lumber. After scouting nearby areas for a suitable location, he eventually decided upon Coloma, located roughly 40 miles (64 km) upstream of Sutter's Fort on the American River. He proposed his plan to Sutter, and construction began in late August. His crew consisted mainly of local Native Americans and veterans of the Mormon Battalion on their way to Salt Lake City, Utah.
Construction continued into January 1848, when it was discovered that the tailrace portion of the mill (that is, the ditch that drained water away from the waterwheel) was too narrow and shallow for the volume of water needed to operate the saw. Marshall decided to use the natural force of the river to excavate and enlarge the tailrace. This could only be done at night, so as not to endanger the lives of the men working on the mill during the day. Every morning Marshall examined the results of the previous night's excavation.
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