{"id":12901,"date":"2026-05-19T15:48:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T23:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/inedc.com\/26\/?p=12901"},"modified":"2026-05-19T15:48:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T23:48:12","slug":"gold-deer-meat-and-destiny-how-mormon-island-rose-from-a-campfire-on-the-american-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/inedc.com\/26\/culture\/history\/gold-deer-meat-and-destiny-how-mormon-island-rose-from-a-campfire-on-the-american-river\/","title":{"rendered":"Gold, Deer Meat and Destiny: How Mormon Island Rose From a Campfire on the American River"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"633\" data-end=\"1005\">Long before the roar of Highway 50 and the spread of suburban neighborhoods around modern-day Folsom, a lonely flat beside the South Fork of the American River became one of California\u2019s first roaring Gold Rush settlements. Its beginning, according to a 1948 account published in <em data-start=\"913\" data-end=\"935\">The Sacramento Union<\/em>, started with two hungry travelers, a deer carcass and a cooking pan.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1007\" data-end=\"1092\">The settlement was called <a href=\"https:\/\/inedc.com\/culture\/history\/sutters-mill-brings-the-lds-pioneers-to-el-dorado-county-before-the-gold-discovery\/\">Mormon Island<\/a> \u2014 though it was never truly an island at all.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1094\" data-end=\"1489\">Located near present-day Folsom at the crossing of the South Fork of the American River, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inedc.com\/23\/culture\/history\/this-el-dorado-hills-cemetery-was-created-to-replace-one-folsom-lake-submerged\/\">Mormon Island<\/a> emerged in the chaotic months following the 1848 discovery of gold at <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Sutter&#8217;s Mill<\/span><\/span>. The area rapidly became a magnet for fortune seekers after members of the Mormon Battalion and other migrants moving through the region uncovered placer deposits along the riverbanks.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1491\" data-end=\"1764\">According to the June 20, 1948 edition of <em data-start=\"1533\" data-end=\"1555\">The Sacramento Union<\/em>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/EDCnewswire\/posts\/5122006671193019\/\">two Mormon travelers<\/a> \u2014 one identified as <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Wilford Woodruff<\/span><\/span> \u2014 were journeying from Coloma toward <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Sutter&#8217;s Fort<\/span><\/span> after investigating reports of gold in the foothills.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1766\" data-end=\"1867\">Unable to reach the fort before nightfall, the men stopped near the river and shot a deer for supper.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1869\" data-end=\"2036\">\u201cIt was still light when they had finished,\u201d the newspaper recounted. \u201cThey conceived the idea that if there was gold further up the stream there might be some there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2038\" data-end=\"2213\">Using little more than a cooking pan, the men scraped soil from the riverbank and tested it in the water. Almost immediately, they realized they had found gold-bearing ground.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2215\" data-end=\"2362\">That simple act \u2014 more curiosity than calculated mining operation \u2014 helped launch one of the earliest Gold Rush boomtowns in the Sacramento region.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2364\" data-end=\"2696\">The travelers reportedly carried news of the discovery to merchant and entrepreneur <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Samuel Brannan<\/span><\/span> at Sutter\u2019s Fort. Brannan, already becoming one of California\u2019s most influential businessmen, hurried to the site and attempted to establish control over the area by charging miners a percentage of their finds.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2698\" data-end=\"2746\">History would show the arrangement did not last.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2748\" data-end=\"3023\">Brannan\u2019s proposed royalty system collapsed under the flood of incoming miners who poured into the American River basin during the Gold Rush. Still, the merchant profited enormously from mining supplies, equipment and commerce tied to the frenzy sweeping Northern California.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"3025\" data-end=\"3315\">By 1853, Mormon Island had exploded into a bustling frontier community with an estimated population of 2,500 residents. Hotels, general stores, saloons and a post office lined the dusty settlement. Freight wagons rattled through town while miners worked the river gravels from dawn to dusk.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"3317\" data-end=\"3419\">For a brief moment, Mormon Island rivaled nearby settlements in both population and economic activity.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"3421\" data-end=\"3506\">Then, as happened across much of Gold Rush California, the riches began thinning out.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"3508\" data-end=\"3705\">Mining declined. Residents drifted elsewhere. Businesses shuttered. Eventually, little remained beyond foundations, memories and historical references buried in old newspapers and pioneer accounts.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"3707\" data-end=\"4144\">Today, much of the original Mormon Island site lies beneath the waters associated with the <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Folsom Lake<\/span><\/span> reservoir system, created after the construction of <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Folsom Dam<\/span><\/span> in the 1950s. During periods of severe drought, remnants of the old town \u2014 stone walls, foundations and cemetery markers \u2014 occasionally reappear from the receding shoreline like ghosts surfacing from California\u2019s past.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"4146\" data-end=\"4441\">For residents of El Dorado County, the story of <a href=\"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/groups\/235292163176156\/posts\/4096732213698779\/\">Mormon Island remains<\/a> more than a colorful campfire tale. It reflects the unpredictable nature of the Gold Rush itself: fortunes born in moments of chance, communities rising overnight, and entire towns disappearing almost as quickly as they came.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"4443\" data-end=\"4602\">What began as<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p data-start=\"4443\" data-end=\"4602\">\u201cgood dinner and a little walking,\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p data-start=\"4443\" data-end=\"4602\">as the old newspaper headline jokingly framed it, became part of the foundation story of Northern California.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"4604\" data-end=\"4678\">And it all started with two tired men stopping beside a river before dark.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A deer supper beside the South Fork of the American River in 1848 helped ignite one of El Dorado County\u2019s earliest Gold Rush settlements \u2014 Mormon Island<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12902,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"7","parallax":"1","layout":"no-sidebar-narrow","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"float","share_float_style":"share-normal","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"1","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":"A forgotten settlement near present-day Folsom once rivaled boomtown California after two weary travelers stopped for supper and stumbled onto gold"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-history"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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