HISTORY
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Gold Lake Fiasco
Today the Gold Lakes region, in the shadow of the Sierra Buttes, is a recreation area about 60 miles northeast of Nevada City and Grass Valley along Highway 49. But, in 1850, it was the province of dreams. It all started with one man. His name was Thomas Stoddard. Little else is known of him other than he was responsible for what came to be known as the “Gold Lake Fiasco.” In 1850, Stoddard stumbled into a mining camp at Frenchmen’s Bar, a few miles from the little town of Washington. A miner named W.C. Stokes took in Stoddard. Over dinner, Stoddard told Stokes his life story. It was a curious, most certainly embellished, stew composed of his background as wounded British war veteran, émigré, newspaper editor, schoolmaster, and eager gold seeker. Stokes probably paid little attention until Stoddard told him of a fabulous place he had discovered high in the mountains near Yuba Pass -- a lake ringed with gold nuggets. Stoddard left sometime afterward, and Stokes considered the story an entertaining tall tale with flowery ornamentation. Nothing more. That is, until Stoddard reemerged some weeks later with a sack full of gold. Stoddard told several versions of how he had obtained his bounty, but the gist was that Stoddard and several companions had chanced upon a mountain lake. The lake was ten to fifteen acres in area, and with remarkably rich deposits of gold on the shore and resting in the lake moss. According to the intrepid prospector, Stoddard and his fellow explorers were gathering the shiny specimens when Indians attacked them. Stoddard was the only one in his group to survive, although his leg was severely lacerated. He escaped with but a small sample of the gold that had been discovered. But what a sample it was -- nuggets ranging from eight to twenty-five dollars in value in 1850 money. Hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars in value today. The gold was assayed and found to be very rich. Stoddard’s story was little doubted, as there had been a number of rich strikes throughout the region. In May 1850, Stoddard organized an expedition to return to the golden lake. The party swelled in anticipation of the gold chunks lining their pockets. Ultimately, more than a thousand participants would head to the hills. At this point, Stokes approached Stoddard to reacquaint himself Stoddard relentlessly refused to acknowledge that he knew Stokes or had ever met him. Stokes was puzzled and worried by this behavior and tried to warn the Gold Lake Expedition to be wary of Stoddard’s claims. The warning would be of no avail. Armed with hope and enthusiasm, the band set out to find El Dorado. Soon, however, murmurs of discontent surfaced. Stoddard seemed bewildered, lost. Some argued that the clever Stoddard was simply trying to throw the hounds off the scent, that he wanted to reserve the claim for himself. Most felt that Stoddard was a humbug, the perpetrator of a hoax. Stoddard became increasingly unsure about his destination, zigzagging through the mountains, visiting many little lakes, none of which he recognized. Eventually the troupe arrived at a large body of water, many times the size of the lake Stoddard had described. Here the leader pointed and hesitatingly exclaimed, “This looks like the one.” Eagerly the gold seekers descended on the lake, seeking the elusive yellow flake. They found nothing -- except disappointment. The expedition named the lake “Gold Lake” in angry derision of Stoddard’s claims. The lake still has that designation today. Hoping that Stoddard had simply made a mistake, the assembly pushed onward. Now well out of the lakes area, and nestled in one of the mountain valleys, the frustrated pack gave Stoddard an ultimatum -- find the golden lake within twenty-fours hours or you will hang. Sometime that night Stoddard escaped. It was mid-June 1850 and the disheartened expedition spread to the winds, with many visiting the nearby streams and river forks. Strike after strike occurred. Evidently, the Golden Lake did not exist, but the failed Stoddard group would discover gold in large amounts anyway. Gold was in them thar hills, just not at the mysterious lake. However, far away, in the gold towns down the mountain, the rumor had spread that the lake had been found. A ludicrous circus followed. Reports of the failure of the Stoddard expedition to the contrary, thousands left nearby Nevada City and Marysville and headed “up there” to the Gold Lake. Hundreds of businesses closed, miners left their families, and the dream factory opened. Occasionally, a substantiated story would announce a gold strike that would apparently support the Gold Lake theory, but most operated on a wish and a prayer. Most likely to sell newspapers, editors carefully asserted that “reliable” and “respected” sources had confirmed the lake’s existence. Other accounts told of encountering local Indians who crafted their fishhooks and furniture out of solid gold. One widely disseminated story told of a miner who had found a paper-thin sheet of gold floating on the lake surface. That was enough for many. In particular, the exodus from Marysville became a stampede. The town became ghostly that June, the newspapers reported. Some tried to calm the waters, calling for a patient and conservative view of events. Yes, they argued, there was gold in the mountains although not necessarily in the lakes. The advice was ineffectual. Stoddard, his neck and story intact, resurfaced. He claimed that his original story was true, and made attempts to finance a new journey. A traveling companion of hope is wishful thinking, and a number of respected citizens ponied up money for Stoddard. A few of the most wishful even felt that Stoddard had not found the lake because a landslide had covered the location. Meanwhile, others offered their services as guides to the Gold Lake. One claimed to be so confident of success, that he made a guarantee -- you will reach the lake or I will kill myself. The fervor would eventually peter out. The golden lake was never found. We do not know if the guide committed suicide. But we are acutely aware that this type of rumor was not uncommon. Like ripples in a pond, speculation and hearsay spread throughout the Gold Country in those heady, early days of the Gold Rush. The rumors were false, but the optimism was real. The story of the Golden Lake is valuable for what it says about the mindset of the Gold Country then and now -- people come to the region for many reasons, but primarily they arrive with a satchel full of hope. The spirit of discovery is a powerful motivator, but the anticipation of adventure and accomplishment is what gets you out of your seat. Here your dreams can come true, and, if they don’t, and even if you look foolish in the undertaking, at least you tried. Very few places on earth give you the opportunity to fail grandly, almost operatically, sometimes comically, with relatively little fallout -- the Gold Country is such a place.
Gold Lake photo – University of California, Davis. General Library. Dept. of Special Collections. Map – 1851 Map of the Feather River Basin, Compiled from the Recent Surveys of M. Milleson & R. Adams C. Engineers. Marysville: R. A. Eddy Book & Stationer, 1851.  |