C Am F C Am F C  Am F C ~ Am Dm7 G7 C
 
C      Am    F         C
In the spring of forty-seven
       Am F        C
So the story it is told
         Am  F                   C    ~ Am
Old John Sutter went to the mill site 
        Dm7 G7           C
Found a piece of shining gold
 
 
         Am     F       C
Well, he took it to the city
          Am F               C
Where the word like wildfire spread
         Am  F               C       ~ Am
Old John Sutter soon came to wishing 
               Dm7 G7             Am7
He'd left that stone in the river bed
 
 
         F                  C
Oh, they came like herds of locusts
      F C              Am
Every woman, child and man
         F               C     ~ Am
In their lumbering Conestogas 
                Dm7 G7         Am7
They left their track upon the land
 
 
[Chorus]
           F                   C
Some would fail and some would prosper
           F C                Am
Some would die and some would kill
           F                           C          ~ Am
Some would thank the Lord for their deliverance 
           Dm7 G7              C
Some would curse John Sutter's Mill
 
 
           Am  F              C
Well, they came from New York City
         Am  F        C
And they came from Alabam'
           Am  F               C     ~ Am
With their dream of finding fortune 
        Dm7 G7         C
In this wild unsettled land
 
 
                Am  F           C
Well, some fell prey to hostile arrows
        Am  F              C
As they tried to cross the land
              Am  F             C          ~ Am
And some were lost in the Rocky Mountains
           Dm7  G7            Am7
With their hands froze to the reins
 
 
[Chorus]
           F                   C
Some would fail and some would prosper
           F  C               Am
Some would die and some would kill
           F                        C          ~ Am
Some would beg the Lord for their deliverance 
           Dm7 G7              C
Some would curse John Sutter's Mill
 
 
[Instrumental]
C Am F C Am F C  Am F C ~ Am Dm7 G7 C
 
 
            Am F       C
Some pushed on  to California
       Am   F                C
Others stopped to take their rest
           Am  F              C      ~ Am
And by the spring of eighteen-sixty 
         Dm7 G7        C
They had opened up the west
 
 
             Am    F         C
And then the railroad came behind them
        Am F                  C
And the land was ploughed and tamed
              Am  F                   C      ~ Am
When old John Sutter went to meet his maker 
             Dm7 G7       Am7
With not one penny to his name
 
 
[Chorus]
           F                   C
Some would fail and some would prosper
           F  C               Am
Some would die and some would kill
           F                        C          ~ Am
Some would beg the Lord for their deliverance 
           Dm7 G7              C
Some would curse John Sutter's Mill
           Dm7 G7              C    ~ Am
Some would curse John Sutter's Mill
           Dm7  G7           C
Some men's thirsts are never filled