South Fork American River in the context of Coloma, California

Carson Pass is a mountain pass on the crest of the central Sierra Nevada, in the Eldorado National Forest and Alpine County, eastern California.

The pass is traversed by California State Route 88. It lies on the Great Basin Divide, with the West Fork Carson River on the east and the South Fork American River on the west.

Sutter's Mill was a water-powered sawmill on the bank of the South Fork American River in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in California. It was named after its owner John Sutter. A worker constructing the mill, James W. Marshall, found gold there in 1848. This discovery set off the California gold rush (1848–1855), a major event in the history of the United States.

The mill was later reconstructed in the original design and today forms part of Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park in Coloma, California. A meteorite fall in 2012 landed close to the mill; the recovered fragments were named the Sutter's Mill meteorite.

The American River is a 30-mile-long (50 km) river in California that runs from the Sierra Nevada mountain range to its confluence with the Sacramento River in downtown Sacramento. Via the Sacramento River, it is part of the San Francisco Bay watershed. This river is fed by the melting snowpack of the Sierra Nevada and its many headwaters and tributaries, including its North, Middle, and South Forks.

The American River is known for the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in Coloma in 1848 that started the California Gold Rush and contributed to the initial large-scale settlement of California by white American migrants. Today, the river still has high quality water, and it is the main source of drinking water for Sacramento. This river is dammed extensively for irrigation, flood control, and hydroelectric power. The American River watershed supports Mediterranean, temperate, and montane ecosystems, and it is the home of a diverse array of fish and wildlife.

State Route 88 (SR 88), also known as the Carson Pass Highway, is a state highway in the U.S. state of California. It travels in an east–west direction from Stockton, in the San Joaquin Valley, to the Nevada state line, where it becomes Nevada State Route 88, eventually terminating at U.S. Route 395 (US 395). The highway is so named as it crests the Sierra Nevada at Carson Pass. The highway corridor predates the era of the automobile; the path over Carson pass was previously used for the California Trail and the Mormon Emigrant Trail. The mountainous portion of the route is included in the State Scenic Highway System.

SR 88 is one of the few trans-Sierra state routes that Caltrans attempts to keep open year-round. Caltrans has winter closures in effect for all Sierra Nevada highway passes between Carson Pass and Walker Pass (SR 178), a span of over 200 miles (320 km). SR 88 follows a ridge to ascend most of the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. The highway is occasionally used as a detour when U.S. Route 50, which follows the South Fork American River to ascend the Sierra Nevada, is flooded or otherwise closed.