How a Luxembourger (Almost) Discovered California's Gold.

1. HOW A LUXEMBOURGER (ALMOST) DISCOVERED CALIFORNIA’S GOLD.
Bernhard Zell (1715-1779) is a Luxembourg-born explorer who lived in New
Orleans from 1740 to 1759, founded a German mercantile house there, made a
significant fortune and visited Florida. After the cession of Louisiana to Spain (1764),
he obtained permission to travel through Mexico, and explored California and Texas.
In studying the geology of California, he concluded that the country possessed
goldmines, and addressed a memoir to the Marquis de Croix (1699-1786), viceroy of
New Spain (1766-1771); but little attention was paid to it. Explorations sent in former
centuries to search for gold in California had failed. De Croix gave him permission to
organize an expedition; but as he refused further support, Zell returned to
Luxembourg in 1770. He wrote ‘Reisen im Innern von Neu Spanien und Californien’
[Travels Inside New Spain and California] containing an analysis of the soil of several
districts of Mexico and California, from which he concluded that California was a
mining country (Luxemburg 1771-2) and ‘Land und Leute der Spanisch Amerikanischen
Colonien’ [Land and People of the Spanish-American Colonies] (1778). Zell died in
Luxembourg in 1779. California’s Gold would not be discovered until 1848. James
Wilson Marshall (1810-1885) is credited with discovering gold at Sutter’s Mill in
Coloma, California, triggering the California Gold Rush (1848-1855).
From: Luxembourg On My Mind