Sutter's Mill Lyrics by Dan Fogelberg
Clean Lyric
Paragraph Lyric
In the spring of '47
So the story it is told
Old John Sutter went to the mill site
Found a piece of shining gold
Well, he took it to the city
Where the word like wildfire spread
And old John Sutter soon came to wish
He'd left that stone in the river bed

For they came like herds of locusts
Every woman, child and man
In their lumb'ring Conestogas
They left their tracks upon the land

Some would fail
And some would prosper
Some would die
And some would kill
Some would thank the Lord
For their deliverance
And some would curse
John Sutter's mill

Well, they came from New York City
And they came from Alabam'
With their dreams of finding fortunes
In this wild, unsettled land

Well, some fell prey to hostile arrows
As they tried to cross the plains
And some were lost in the Rocky Mountains
With their hands froze to the reins

Some would fail
And some would prosper
Some would die
And some would kill
Some would thank the Lord
For their deliverance
And some would curse
John Sutter’s mill

Well, some pushed on to California
And others stopped to take their rest
And by the spring of '86
They had opened up the West
And then the railroad came behind them
And the land was plowed and tamed
When Old John Sutter went to meet his maker
He'd not one penny to his name

Some would fail
And some would prosper
Some would die
And some would kill
Some would thank the Lord
For their deliverance
And some would curse
John Sutter's mill

And some would curse John Sutter's Mill
Some men's thirsts are never filled
In the spring of '47    So the story it is told   Old John Sutter went to the mill site   Found a piece of shining gold   Well, he took it to the city    Where the word like wildfire spread   And old John Sutter soon came to wish    He'd left that stone in the river bed      For they came like herds of locusts   Every woman, child and man   In their lumb'ring Conestogas    They left their tracks upon the land      Some would fail    And some would prosper   Some would die   And some would kill   Some would thank the Lord    For their deliverance   And some would curse    John Sutter's mill      Well, they came from New York City    And they came from Alabam'   With their dreams of finding fortunes   In this wild, unsettled land      Well, some fell prey to hostile arrows   As they tried to cross the plains   And some were lost in the Rocky Mountains   With their hands froze to the reins      Some would fail    And some would prosper   Some would die   And some would kill   Some would thank the Lord    For their deliverance   And some would curse    John Sutter’s mill      Well, some pushed on to California   And others stopped to take their rest   And by the spring of '86   They had opened up the West   And then the railroad came behind them   And the land was plowed and tamed   When Old John Sutter went to meet his maker   He'd not one penny to his name      Some would fail    And some would prosper   Some would die   And some would kill   Some would thank the Lord    For their deliverance   And some would curse    John Sutter's mill      And some would curse John Sutter's Mill   Some men's thirsts are never filled