Michigan Bar

The panel here does what most gold rush markers will not. It names who was already on the river. Gold was found on the Cosumnes in 1849 close to Palamul, a Nisenan settlement, and the text says plainly that the discovery cost the Nisenan their homelands, and that some of them afterwards worked for the miners and ranchers who had taken them. It records Black mining families at Michigan Bar as well, and men from four continents.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park — 24 mi
  The tailrace at Coloma where a carpenter found gold in January 1848 and the world came running.
• Sacramento — 25 mi
  The Gold Rush river port that became the state capital, and jacked itself ten feet into the air to stop drowning.

More markers nearby

• Sloughhouse — 7.8 mi
• Site of Grist Mill Built by Jared Dixon Sheldon — 7.8 mi
• Mormon Tavern-Overland Pony Express Route in California — 12 mi
• Prairie City — 12 mi