amy ramsey is a graduate archaeology the students who helped supervise the project. >> a lot of peoplewonder why we need to do this, since we have books. not everybody made it into the history books. >>> how california was used for the veteran effort. >>> and the boat that made maritime history. >>> we're remembering the civil war tonight on a second look. it was 150 years ago this past week that the first shots were fired in that deadly conflict. gold from california helped pay for the union's war effort and even after the war helped repay the nation's debt. in july 1865 only a few months after the war ended and president lincoln was assassinated, a wooden side rail steamer named brother jonathan left san francisco with a passenger list of soldiers, miners, prostitutes and politicians and a cargo of gold worth 50 million of today's dollars. on it way to portland it hit a rock near crescent city and went down. only 19 of the 244 on board survivorred. a mini craft located the wreckage. after a legal battle the operators were able to auction off the gold coins they were able to recover.