165 Experience Gold Rush History It was here, in the town of Coloma, where a sawmill employee named James Marshall first discovered glints of precious metal in the silt of the American River, starting the 1849 Gold Rush. At Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park, you can give gold-panning a try and see remnants of what the town once looked like when some 10,000 people moved in. Visit the schoolhouse, general store, and tin-roofed post office which remain preserved as part of the park, and enjoy a picnic or walk under the surrounding riparian oak woodlands. A statue of Marshall-who was laid to rest here-points to where gold was first discovered in California.