On our way home, my brother John and I took our families to the place where the California Gold Rush started -- the Marshall Gold Discovery site in Caloma, California (by Placerville). Our great, great, great (I think that's right) grandfather, James S. Brown, was one of about 17 crew members building a sawmill for Sutter's Mill the day that their boss, Marshall, discovered gold. Grandpa Brown was about 18 years old at the time. We saw pictures of him at the museum, and also the cabin where he and his other Mormon companions lived (they had gone to work at the mill after being in the Mormon Batallion). It was really cool to be in the place that truly made California what it is today, and to know that our ancestor was right there in the beginning. When John asked his daughter Paige if she saw Grandpa Brown's cabin, she said "Yup, and he had some BIG pajamas!". There was a pair of huge red long john's hanging in the cabin.
