On April 8, 1848, John Sutter noted in the daily logbook at Sutter’s Fort that Sam Brannan arrived aboard the schooner, Dice Mi Nana, with Nathan Hawk, a former member of the Mormon Battalion, as his “express mail carrier.” Brannan agreed to give Hawk passage from San Francisco to Sutter’s Fort (in present-day Sacramento) as the first leg of Hawk’s journey heading east with some of the first eastbound overland letters from California. Along with the letters, Hawk was traveling with 2,000 copies of the April 1, 1848 edition of Brannan’s The California Star newspaper published in San Francisco. The newspaper included an article written by Dr. Victor Fourgeaud titled “Prospects of California.” This article discussed agricultural opportunities in California and the territory’s rich mineral wealth, especially gold. It also noted the gold found at Sutter’s Mill in the valley of Collumah on the southfork of the American River. Hawk, and the ten men that traveled with him east to Salt Lake...