Mormon Battalion Members Discover Gold at Sutter's Mill — Fulfilling Joseph Smith's Prophecy That the Saints Would Be Driven to the Mountains and Become a Mighty People

John M. Horner was an eyewitness to the chain of providential events that led to the California Gold Rush — and he testified plainly that the Latter-day Saints were God's instruments in its discovery.

He recorded the sequence:

Brigham Young directed the Mormon Battalion men to stay in California when discharged and not return home without enough food for eight months. Samuel Brannan delivered the message. The Battalion boys approached Captain Sutter for work, offering to build a mill and plant wheat in exchange for flour. While digging the mill race at Sutter's Fort, the first water washed away the loose earth and exposed gold flakes at the bottom. The workers directed superintendent James Marshall's attention to it — and the world was awakened.

Horner declared: 'Thus it may be seen that the "Mormons" performed the physical labor that discovered the gold of California to the world, and there are many living witnesses that can testify to the awakening of the world to its discovery.'

This fulfilled Joseph Smith's prophecy — given before his martyrdom — that the Saints would be driven to the mountains 'where they should become a mighty people.' The very persecution that drove them west made them the instruments of one of the most consequential discoveries in American history.