Mormon Island: Battalion Veterans Make One of the Richest Gold Finds of the Rush — Then Choose Zion Over Gold (March 1848)

On March 2, 1848, Sidney Willis and Wilford Hudson — both former Mormon Battalion soldiers — made one of the richest gold finds of the California Gold Rush at a site on the American River that became known simply as 'Mormon Island.' Their find was independent of and secondary to the Sutter's Mill discovery, but the site proved spectacularly productive.

When Sidney Willis and his brother Ira went to San Francisco and told Samuel Brannan, Brannan advised all Battalion men to go mine and pay their tithing directly to him as 'head of the Church.' He was simultaneously publicizing the gold strike across California, running through the streets of San Francisco swinging a bottle of gold dust and shouting 'Gold! Gold! Gold from the American River!'

The Battalion men worked the mines through the spring. They panned as much as twenty-five dollars per night while still being paid one and a half dollars per day to finish the mill for Sutter.

Then Brigham Young called them home.

When the summons came to gather to the Salt Lake Valley, most of the Battalion veterans left their claims in California and crossed the Sierra Nevada. They brought seeds, tools, and skills — but they left behind ground that was producing wealth that would make other men millionaires.

The contrast was deliberate and understood. These men had already chosen faith over comfort once. They chose it again.