Henry William Bigler — Diary entry recording Sutter's Mill gold discovery (January 24, 1848)

Henry William Bigler (1815–1900), an ex-member of the Mormon Battalion (Company B), recorded in his diary the exact date that gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill: January 24, 1848. Bigler had been discharged in California in July 1847 and remained there; while working for John Sutter and laboring at the sawmill, he was present at the time James Marshall's crew found gold. Bigler's January 24, 1848 diary entry preserved that date for history. Several members of Marshall’s crew were fellow ex–Mormon Battalion soldiers, including James S. Brown, Azariah Smith, William Johnston, and Alexander Stephen. Though tempted by the gold fields, Bigler later left California to join the Saints in the Salt Lake Valley; he subsequently served as a missionary in Hawaii and was a long-time worker in the St. George Temple. Primary source: Henry W. Bigler’s diary entry for January 24, 1848, and later biographical accounts document these events.