Thursday, April 8, 2010

Sky Above James Marshall

James Marshall discovered gold at the site of a lumber mill he was building on the American River for John Sutter in 1848.
Marshall never profited from his discovery and died penniless. A monument stands above his grave on a hill in Coloma. His statue points to the spot where he discovered gold, starting the great California Gold Rush.
The site is now a California State Park.


Your can see more skies from around the world at Sky Watch Friday, hosted for us by
Klaus, Sandy, Wren, Fishing Guy and Sylvia.

29 comments:

Tania said...

What a great and blue sky you have!:-)

Gaelyn said...

Nice blue sky over Marshall. Too bad he couldn't reap the rewards of his discovery. Hope there's no holes on the ground where he's pointing. ;-)

Yogi♪♪♪ said...

Nice sky, big statue. Too bad he didn't have anything to show for his discovery.

Regina said...

Such great and honorable man.
Beautiful skies and captures Martha.
Enjoy the weekend.

Anonymous said...

Not just good composition, but technicaly good shots too!... thanks for sharing!....:)

Photo Cache said...

neat pix. i still need to explore to that part of the state, it is after all so close to where i live.

Sylvia K said...

Terrific captures, great composition and, oh, I do love those blue skies! Hope your week has gone well, Martha. Have a great weekend! Enjoy!

Sylvia

Ebie said...

Great capture and interesting piece of history! I love those blue skies!

Diane AZ said...

Very impressive monument! I like how Marshall's statue points to where he discovered gold.

Paulie said...

What an interesting story! I had heard of Sutter's Mill but that is all.

eileeninmd said...

Beautiful photos, the sky is so blue. Neat looking statue.

Anonymous said...

Nice post. I enjoyed the history.

Carol said...

Nice shots, Martha, I esp like the second. Interesting info also.

Barb said...

That second photo sure has a blue sky - a nice backdrop for the statue.

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

Beautiful skies and a reminder of some poignant CA history I'd forgotten.

Carolyn Ford said...

That would be my luck! Find something so awesome and not get a thing out of it...poor guy! But, he is now a giant statue and a state park in his honor...not bad! What a fabulous sky you also captured. It must have been a fine day to tour that area.

Mike said...

Perfect sky for the pictures.

Kim, USA said...

Makes my heart sad to know a person died penniless when he discovered material wealth. Great shot and information too, thanks! Happy weekend!

SkyWatchFriday~Gloomy

EG CameraGirl said...

Well at least Marshall got a monument. I wonder why he never profited from his discovery!

JunieRose2005 said...

I enjoyed your post-and you have great sky shots !!

The history of the gold discovery reminded me of a Dan Fogelberg song (on the subject)...Sutter's Mill.
Do you know it?
A great song although the history is not correct- as Sutter did not actually discover the gold nuggets. I posted the song on my followup blog-and linked to your blog here!

Junie

Linda Reeder said...

That's some blue sky! And a bit of history too!

Kcalpesh said...

You chose the right spots to shoot the picture from! Amazing! Nice compositions!

Pixellicious Photos

Hilda said...

What a sad story. But I'm glad he was eventually recognized with this monument. That first shot is awesome! Happy SWF and have a great weekend!

Carol said...

Martha, I just have to comment to a glass of wine and a grandbaby the important things in life!:) That will give me a smile for the whole day!

Joe Todd said...

I would have to say that is a "gold en" post even though the sky is a beautiful deep blue LOL

Noelle Johnson said...

What a great post on the history of the California Gold Rush. We visited a tiny town called Downieville where one of my ancestors died as he was searching for gold. So sad that so many died and a relative few found gold.

Joanne Olivieri said...

That is a wonderful spot and gorgeous monument. Well captured.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for providing this information and beautiful photography. A wonderful start into the weekend for you.


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Gemma Wiseman said...

A very interesting post! And the monument looks wonderful enhanced by the blue of the sky!