Coloma, CA

Coloma is the El Dorado County place where James W. Marshall found gold at Sutter's Mill on January 24, 1848, and the Gold Rush story starts right along the riverbank. The settlement grew around the mill on the South Fork of the American River, with the post office opening as Culloma in 1849 before the spelling became Coloma in 1851. Much of the town now sits within Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park, whose trails, historic buildings, and tailrace keep the original setting readable. Coloma is more than a ghost-town stop on Highway 49: it is the spot where a sawmill inspection changed California's map.