Carole.. MOTHER LODE…The Story of California’s Gold Rush by Louis J. Stellman written 1934. Sir Francis Drake Long before the actual discovery of gold there was the legend. It seems synonymous with California's very name. In 1537 Spain was ringing with the tales brought back from Mexico by Cabeza de Vaca. Where he got them no one knows, for he had never been to California. Nonetheless he set the palace of the King and grogshops on the quays afire with his rumors of a far land and its treasure. Later, London and the English seaports heard of it. Drake, the Privateer, who beached his frigate in a Californian bay to make repairs, was back and Chaplain Francis Fletcher of his crew had many tales to tell of precious metal in the mountains of New Spain." Mormon Battalion "Poor 'Old Cap' Sutter, attended by a few faithful servitors, brooding and defenseless, was watching the despoliation of his lands, the shattering of all his splendid dreams. Mason returned to his command, which after the disbanding of the New York Volunteers and the Mormon Battalion, consisted of about 145 officers and men." Mormon Gulch "At Mormon Gulch, Judge A.A.H. Tuttle built the first log cabin, amid tents and ramadas, or brush huts. The place was called Tuttletown, and it was to accomplish more for literary tradition than mining, because Bret Harte and Mark Twain became associated with its history." Jackie in California [email protected]