Perhaps the most unrecognized aspect of the California Gold Rush is the key role of the Latter Day Saints in finding the gold, publicizing the gold find, creating one of the main routes to the gold fields, and interacting with overland emigrants to the gold fields. This book seeks to rectify this by exploiting the considerable writings of Mormon participants in the early part of the Gold Rush, many of which are not readily found in more expansive histories of the Gold Rush. Most gripping are the writings from the very early parts of the rush, when the Mormons who had worked on Sutter's Mill were slogging about in the American River, prying gold out of crevices with knives and trying to figure out who to pay for the right of mining the gold. The picture painted of the gold discovery is more completely documented and less romanticized than in many books. From the finding of the gold to Sam Brannan's announcement of gold to the citizens of San Francisco, the book is a real gem. Some of the latter parts of the story flag a bit as the focus necessarily drifts between those who returned to the fold, joining the church in its new home in the Salt Lake Valley, and those who stayed and a few who were even sent to see if the church could benefit from an activity Brigham Young publicly denounced as inappropriate for the Saints. Still, these are small quibbles; this is an essential book for those interested in the Gold Rush (or the early history of the LDS church) and an unconventional introduction for those unfamiliar with events of 1848.