The Golden Touch

Originally Aired: April 21, 1937 Cavalcade of America #79, "The Golden Touch," follows the remarkable journey of Johann August Sutter, a German Swiss immigrant who leaves his family in 1834 to seek his fortune in the New World. After traveling from New York to St. Louis and across the Santa Fe Trail, Sutter hears tales of California's magnificent climate and fertile lands from a Mexican alcalde. Rather than seeking mineral wealth, Sutter dreams of golden fields of wheat ripening in summer sunlight. He eventually makes his way to Monterey, where Governor Alvarado grants him land in the remote Sacramento Valley, challenging him to tame and govern it. By 1847, Sutter has built a thriving agricultural empire with the help of local Indians and settlers like his right-hand man John Bidwell. His vast holdings boast abundant crops, thousands of cattle and sheep, and endless timber. Though rich in goods, Sutter operates on a barter economy using his own tin coin system rather than seeking gold. When Bidwell recommends building a sawmill and brings in James Marshall to construct it at American Fork, Sutter's vision of agricultural prosperity stands at a turning point, as forces beyond his farming ambitions begin to converge.