[00:36.89]In the spring of forty-seven,
[00:43.89]So the story, it is told,
[00:51.08]Old john sutter went to the mill site
[00:58.24]Found a piece of shining gold.
[01:05.17]Well, he took it to the city
[01:12.45]Where the word, like wildfire, spread.
[01:19.43]And old john sutter soon came to wish he'd
[01:26.67]Left that stone in the river bed.
[01:33.83]For they came like herds of locusts
[01:40.91]Every woman, child and man
[01:48.32]In their lumbering conestogas
[01:55.34]They left their tracks upon the land.
[02:02.59]Some would fail and some would prosper
[02:09.81]Some would die and some would kill
[02:17.11]Some would thank the lord for their deliverance
[02:24.43]And some would curse john sutter's mill.
[02:31.91]Well, they came from new york city,
[02:38.99]And they came from alabam'
[02:46.80]With their dreams of finding fortunes
[02:53.29]In this wild unsettled land.
[03:00.62]Well, some fell prey to hostile arrows
[03:08.04]As they tried to cross the plains.
[03:16.01]And some were lost in the rocky mountains
[03:23.15]With their hands froze to the reins.
[03:29.43]Some would fail and some would prosper
[03:37.25]Some would die and some would kill
[03:44.23]Some would thank the lord for their deliverance
[03:51.57]And some would curse john sutter's mill.
[04:30.40]Well, some pushed on to california
[04:36.75]And others stopped to take their rest.
[04:43.91]And by the spring of eighteen-sixty
[04:50.58]They had opened up the west.
[04:58.53]And then the railroad came behind them
[05:06.26]And the land was plowed and tamed,
[05:12.79]When old john sutter went to meet his maker,
[05:21.00]He'd not one penny to his name.
[05:27.31]Some would fail and some would prosper
[05:34.85]Some would die and some would kill
[05:41.96]Some would thank the lord for their deliverance
[05:49.26]And some would curse john sutter's mill.
[05:56.48]And some would curse john sutter's mill
[06:04.19]Some men's thirsts are never filled.
[06:11.52]END