Coloma Road-Coloma

The discovery's first act was a ride. Marshall carried the news down the Coloma Road to Sutter at his fort, and both men tried to keep it quiet and failed. The road was barely a year old, opened in 1847 to link the fort with the sawmill, and within two years it was carrying thousands of miners the other way. In 1849 James E. Birch ran a stage line on it, the first in California. The bronze casts the name as Cul-luh-mah.

What the plaque says

The Coloma Road Here in the Valley of the Cul-luh-mah Indians, James W. Marshall discovered gold on January 24, 1848, in the tailrace of Sutter's sawmill. The Old Coloma Road, opened in 1847 from Sutter's Fort to Coloma, was used by Marshall to carry the news of the discovery to Captain John A. Sutter. During the Goldrush it was used by thousands of miners going to and from the diggings. In 1849 it became the route of California's first stage-line, established by James E. Birch. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 748 Plaque placed by the California State Park Commission in cooperation with the Golden Key of Greenwood, El Dorado County Chamber of Commerce, and the Grand Parlors of the Native Sons and Native Daughters of the Golden West, August 14, 1960.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park — 0.8 mi
  The tailrace at Coloma where a carpenter found gold in January 1848 and the world came running.

More markers nearby

• Gold Discovery Site — steps away
• Marshall Monument — 0.4 mi
• Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm Colony — 2.1 mi
• Marshall's Blacksmith Shop — 4.1 mi