[Verse 1]
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

[Verse 2]
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

[Verse 3]
For they came like herds of locusts
Every woman, child and man
In their lumbering Conestogas
They left their tracks upon the land

[Chorus]
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

[Verse 4]
Well, they came from New York City
And they came from Alabam'
With their dreams of finding fortunes
In this wild unsettled land
[Verse 5]
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

[Chorus]
Oh, 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

[Verse 6]
Well, some pushed on to California
And others stopped to take their rest
And by the spring of 1860
They had opened up the west

[Verse 7]
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

[Chorus]
Oh, 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
[Outro]
And some would curse John Sutter's Mill
Some men's thirsts are never filled