# History of California (Bancroft)/Volume 6

​CONTENTS OF THIS VOLUME.
CHAPTER I.
CALIFORNIA JUST PRIOR TO THB GOLD DISCOVERT.
January, 1848.
The Valley of California — Quality of Population — ^The Later Incomers — Hispafio-American, Anglo-American, and Others-^-Settlers around San Francisco Bay— San Jos4 — ^The Peninsula — San Francisco — Across the Bay — Alameda and C>ontra Costa Valleys — ^Valleys of the San Joaquin and Sacramento — Sutter's Fort — Grants and Ranchos-*- About Carquines Strait — ^Napa, Sonoma^ and Santa* Rosa Valleys-^ San Rafael, Bodega, and the Northern Coast — ^Natural Wealth and Environment. 1
CHAPTER n.
THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD.
January, 1848.
Situation of Sutter — His Need of Lumber — Search for a Mill Site in the Mountains — Culuma — James W. Marshall — The Building of a Saw- mill Determined upon — A Party Sets Forth — ^Its Personnel — Char- acter of Marshall — ^The Finding of Gold — What Marshall and his Men Thought of It — Marshall Rides to New Helvetia and Informs Sutter — The Interview — Sutter Visits the Mill — ^Attempt to Secure the Indian Title to the Land. 26
CHAPTER III.
THE SECRET ESCAPES.
February, 1848.
Bennett Goes to Monterey — Sees Pfister at Benicia — 'There ia What will Beat Coal!' — Bennett Meets Isaac Humphrey at San Francisco— Un- successful at Monterey — Sutter's Swiss Teamster — The Boy Wimmer Tells Him of the Gold — The Mother Wimmer, to Prove her Boy not a Liar, Shows It — And the Teamster, Who is Thirsty, Shows It at the Fort — Afiairs at the Mill Proceed as Usual — Bigler*s Sunday Medi- tations— Gold Found at Live Oak Bar — Bigler Writes his Three
<v) ​
vi CONTENTS.
PAGE
Friends the Seoret^Who Unite with Them Other Three to Help Them Keep It — ^Three Come to Coloma — Discovery at Mormon Island —The Mormon Exit. 42
CHAPTER IV.
PROXIMATB EFFSCT OF TH£ GOLD DISOOVSRY.
March-August, 1848.
The People Sceptical at First — Attitude of the Press — ^The Country Converted by a Sight of the Metal — The Epidemic at San Francisco — ^At San Jos^y Monterey, and down the Coast — The Exodus — De- sertion of Soldiers and Sailors — Abandonment of Business, of Farms, and of All Kinds of Positions and Property 52
CHAPTER V.
FUBTHER DISOOVBBIES.
March-December, 1848.
Isaac Humphrey again — ^Bidwell and his Bar — ^Beading and his Indians on Clear Creek — Population in the Mines — On Feather River and the Tuba — John Sinclair on the American River — The Irishman Yankee Jim — Dr Todd in Todd Valley — Kelsey — Weber on Weber Creek — ^The Stockton Mining Company — Murphy — Hangtown — On • the Stanislaus — Elnight, Wood, Savage, and Heffeman — Party from Oregon-T-On the Mokelumne and Cosumnes — ^The Sonorans on the Tuolumne— Coronel and Party 67
CHAPTER VI.
AT TH£ MINES. 1848.
Variety of Social Phases — ^Individuality of the Tear 1848 — Noticeable Absence of Bad Characters during this Year — Mining Operations — Ignorance of the Miners of Mining — ^Implements and Processes^- Yield in the Different Districts — ^Price of Gold-dust — ^Prices of Mer- chandise— A New Order of Things — Extension of Development— Affisurs at Sutter's Fort — ^Bibliography — Effect on Sutter and Marshall — Character and Career of These Two Men 82
CHAPTER VII.
BROADER KFTECTS OF THE GOLD DI800VERT.
1848-1849.
The Real Effects Eternal — How the Intelligence was Carried over the Sierra — ^To the Hawaiian Islands — ^British Columbia — Oregon and Washington — ^The Tidings in Mexico — Mason's Messenger in Wash* ​
CONTENTS. vii
PAOB
ington— California Cold at the War Office— At the Philadelphia Mint — The Newspaper Press npon the Subject — Bibliography — Creeley *s Prophecies — Industrial Stimulation — Overland and Oceanic Routes — Ceneral Effect in the Eastern States and Europe — Interest in Asia, South America* and Australia 110
CHAPTER VIII.
THX VOTAOB BT OCKAK.
1848-1849
Modem Argonauts — ^Padfic Mail Steamship Company — ^Establishment of the Mail Line from New York yia Panami to Oregon — Sailing of the First Steamers — San Francisco Made the Terminus— The Panami Transit — ^The First Rush of Cold-seekers — Disappointments at Pan- ami — Sufferings on the Voyage— Arrivals of Notable Men by the First Steamship 128
CHAPTER IX.
THB JOURNET OVERLAND. 1849.
Organisation of Parties — Brittle Contracts of These Associations — Missis- sippi River Rendezvous — On the Trail— Overland Routine— -Along the Platte— Through the South Pass— Cholera— The Different Routes -Across the Desert — ^Trials of the Pilgrims — Starvation, Disease, and Death — Passage of the Sierra Nevada — Relief Parties from California — Route through Mexico — Estimates of the Numbers of Arrivals — Bewilderment of the Incomers — Regeneration and a Hew life 143
CHAPTER X.
SAN FRANCISCO.
1848-1850.
Site and Surroundings — Rivals — Effect of the Mines — Shipping — Influx of Population — Physical and Commercial Aspects — ^Business Firms — Public and Private Buildings — National Localities — Hotels and Res- ^ taurants — Prices Current — Property Values — Auction Sales — Wharves and Streets — Early Errors — Historic Fires— Engines and Companies — Immigration and Speculation — Politics — ^The Hounds — City Qovemmcnt 164
CHAPTER XL
SOCIETY.
1849-1850.
Ingathering of Nationalities — Peculiarities of Dress and Manners — Phys- ical and Moral Features — Levelling of Rank and Position — In the ​
viii CONTENTS.
PAGE
Mines — Cholera — Hardsnips and Self -denials — ^A Commnnity of Men — Adulation of Woman — Arrival and Departure of Steamers — Sani- tary Condition of San Francisco — Rats and Other Vermin — The Drinking Habit — Amusements — Gambling — Lotteries and Raffles — Bull and Bear Fighting — The Drama — Sunday in the Mines — Sum- mary 221
CHAPTER XIL
POLITICAL HISTORY.
1846-1849.
The Slavery Question before Congress — Inaction and Delay — Military Rule in California — Mexican Forms of Civil and Judicial Govern- ment Maintained — Federal Othciuls in California — Governor Mason — Pranks of T. Butler King — Governor Riley — Legislative Assembly — Constitutional Convention at Mf»nterey — Some Biographies — Per- sonnel of the Convention — Money Matters — Adoption of the Consti- tution— Ejection 2r)l
CHAPTER XIII.
rOLmCAL HISTORY.
1849-1850.
The First Legislature — Qrestion of State Capital — Meeting of the Legis- lature at San Jose — Organization and Acts — Personnel of the Body — State Oiiicers — Further State Capital Schemes — California in Con- gress— Imi)ending Issues — Slavery or No Slavery — Admission into the Union — California Rejoices 308
CHAPTER XIV.
ENFOLDING OF MINERAL WEALTH.
1848-185G.
Extent of Gold Region in 1848-9- -American River the Centre — El Do- rado County — South Fork antl Southward — Middle Branch — Placer, Nevada, Yuba, Sierra, Plumas, Butte, and Shasta Counties — Trinity and Klamath— Gold Bluflf Excitement, 1850-1— Del Norte, Hum- boldt, and Siskiyou — In the South — Amador, Calaveras, and Tuol- umne— Table Mountain — Mariposa, Kern, San Bernardino — Los Angeles and San Diego — Along the Ocean 351
CHAPTER XV.
GEOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL ANATOMY OF THE MINE.S.
1848-1856.
Physical Formation of the California Valley— The Tliree Geologic Belts — Physical As^H^ct of the Gold Regions — Cieologic Formations — In​
CONTENTS.
IX
PAOK
dications that Inflaenoe the Proepector — Origin of Rushes and Gamps — Society along the. Foothills — Hut and Camp life — Sunday in the Mines — Catalogue of California Mining Rushes — Mariposa, Kern, Ocean Beach, Nevada, Gold Lake, Lost Cahin, Gold Blu£^ Siskiyou, Sonora, Australia, Fraser River, Nevada, Colorado, and the Rest — Mining Laws and Regulations — Mining Tax — Discrimination against Foreigners ,. 381
CHAPTER XVI.
MININQ MXTHODS. •
1848>1866.
Primitive Mining Machinery — Lnproved Means for Poor Diggings- California Inventions — Tom, Sluice, Fluming — Hydraulic M'niTig — Ditches, Shafts, and Tunnels — Quartz Mining — ^The First Mills — Ex- citement, Failure, and Revival — Improved Machinery — Coopera- tion— Yield — Average Gains — Cost of Gold — Evil and BendSdal Effects of Mining 409
CHAPTER XVII.
BIRTH OF T0WM8.
176^-1869.
Mexican Town-maxing — Mission, Presidio, and Pnehlo — ^e Anglo- American Method — Clearing away the Wilderness — ^The American Municipal Idea — Necessities Attending Self-government — Home- made Laws and Justice — Arbitration and Litigation — Camp and Town Sites — Creation of Counties — ^Nomendatore— Rivers and Har- bors— Industries and Progress. 429
CHAPTER XVm.
CTTT BUILDIKO.
1848-1888.
The Great Interior — River and Plain — Sutterville and Sacramento— Plan of Survey — The Thrice Simple Swiss — Better for the Country than a Better Man — Healthy and Hearty Competition — Development of Sacramento City — MarytfHlle — Stockton — Placerville — Sonora — ^Ne- vada— Grass Valley — ^Benicia — ^Vallejo— Martines — Oakland and Vi- timty — ^Northern and Southern Cities 446
CHAPTER XIX.
OALIYORNIA IK OOUNTIBB.
1848-1888.
Affiurs under the Hispano-Califomians — Coming of the Anglo-Americans — £1 Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, Yuba, and Other Couoties North aitd Soatb— Their Origm, Industries, Wealth, and Progress 481 ​
X CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XX.
nXICAN LAND TTTLKL
1861-1887.
PAOB
The Coloiusatioii System— Land Orants by Spain and Mexico— -Informal- itiee of Title— Treaty Obligations of the United States— Effect of the Gold Discovery — ^The Squatters — ^Reports of Jones and Halleck — Discussions in Congress — Fremcmt, Benton, and Gwin — ^The Act of 1851 — ^The Land Commiasion — ^Progress and Statistics of Litigation — Principles — ^Floating Grants — Surveys — Fraudulent Claims— Speci- men Cases — Castillero— Frteont — Gomes — ^Limantour — Peralta — — SantiUan — Sutter — iVallejo — Mission Lands — Friars, Neophytes, and Church — Pico's Sales — Archbishop's Claim — ^Pueblo Lands — The Case of San Francisco— Statistics of 1880 — More of Squatterism — Black and Jones — Attempts to Reopen Litigation — General Conclu- sions— ^The Act of 1851 Oppressive and Ruinous — ^What should have been Done 529
CHAPTER XXI.
FILIBU8TBBINO. 1860-1860.
Attractions of Spanish America to Unprincipled Men of the United States — ^Filibustering in Texas — ^The Morehead Expedition from California to Mexico — Failure — Charles de Pindray's Efforts and Death — Raoulx de Raousset-Boulbon's Attempts at Destruction — Capture of Hermosillo and Return to San Francisco — ^Trial of Del Valle— Raousset's Death at Guaymas — Walker's Operations — ^Re- public of Lower California — Walker in Sonora — Walker in Nicara- gua— His Execution in Honduras — Crabb, the Stockton Lawyer. . . . 582
CHAPTER XXn.
7INAH0B8.
1840-1860.
An Empty Treasury— Temporary State Loan Act— State Debt— Licenses and Taxation — Blxtravagance and Peculation — Alarming Liorease of Debt — ^Bonds — State Indebtedness Illegal — ^Repudiation Rejected — Thieving Officials — Enormous Payments to Steamship Companies — Federal Appropriations— Indian Agents — Mint — ^Navy-yard — Fortifi- cations— Coast Survey — ^Land Commission — ^Public Lands — Home- stead Act — Educatioxud Interests — ^The People above All 604
CHAPTER XXm.
POLITICAL HiarroBT.
1850-1854.
Quality of our Early Rulers — Governor Burnett— (Governor McDoogal — Senatorial Election — Sowing Dragon's Teeth — ^Democratio Conven​tion — Senator Gwin, the Almighty Providence of California— Party iMues — Governor Bigler — Broderick — White vs Black — Slavery or Death ! — Legislative Proceedings — ^Talk of a New Constitution — Whigs, Democrats, and Independents — Another Legislature ....... 643
CHAPTER XXIV.
rOLinCAL HISTORT.
1854-1859.
Warm and Wicked Election — One Party the Same as Another, only Worse — Senatorial Contest — ^Broderick's Election Bill — Bitter Feuds — A Two-edged Convention — Bigler *s Administration — Rise and Fall of the Knownothing Party — Gwin's Sale of Patronage — Broderick in Congress — He is Misrepresented and Maligned— Another Election — Chivalry and Slavery — Broderick's Death Determined on — The Duel —Character of Broderick 678
CHAPTER XXV.
FOPULAB TRIBUVAL8.
1840-1856. '
State of Society — ^Miners' Courts — Crimes and Punishments — Criminal Class — The Hounda^Berdue and Wildred — Organized Ruffianism — Committees of Vigilance— The Jenkins AfGsir — Villanous Law Courts — James Stuart — Political and Judicial Corruption — James King of William — His Assassination — Seizure, Trial, and Execution of Crim- inals— A Vacillating Qovemor — A Bloody-minded Judge— Attitude of United States Officials — Success of the San Francisco Vigilance Committee under Trying Circumstances — ^Disbandment. 740
CHAPTER XXVI.
▲NNAL8 OV SAN FRANGI800.
1851-1856.
A Period of Trials — Land Titles — City Limits — Mexican Grants— Spu- rious Claims — Water Lots — Fluctuations of Values — The Van Ness Ordinance— Villanous Administration — A New Charter — Municipal Maleadministration— Popular Protests — Honest and Genial Villains — Increased Taxation— Vigilance Movements — Reforms — Another Charter— Real Estate Sales— The Baptism by Fire and Blood— Ma- terial and Social Progress — Schools, Churches, and Benevolent Socie-
HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA.
CHAPTER I.
CALIFORNIA JUST PRIOR TO THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
JANUARY, 1848.
Although the California seaboard, from San Diego to San Francisco bays, had been explored by Europeans for three hundred years, and had been occupied by missionary and military bands, with a sprinkling of settlers, for three quarters of a century, the great valley of the interior, at the opening of the year 1848, remained practically undisturbed by civilization.
The whole of Alta California comprises a seaboard strip eight hundred miles in length by one or two hundred in width, marked off from the western earth's end of the temperate zone; it was the last to be occupied by civilized man, and, to say the least, as full of fair conditions as any along the belt. The whole area is rimmed on either side, the Coast Range rolling up in stony waves along the outer edge, and for ​background the lofty Sierra, upheaved in crumpled folds from primeval ocean. The intervening space is somewhere overspread with hills and vales, but for the most part comprises an oblong plain, the Valley of California, the northern portion being called the Sacramento Valley, and the southern the San Joaquin Valley, from the names of the streams that water the respective parts. The prospect thus presented opens toward the setting sun.
Humanity here is varied. There is already round San Francisco Bay raw material enough of divers types to develop a new race, howsoever inferior the quality might be. It is a kind of refuse lot, blown in partly from the ocean, and in part having percolated through the mountains; yet there is amidst the chaff good seed that time and events might winnow. But time and events are destined here to be employed for higher purpose, in the fashioning of nobler metal.
Of the condition of the aborigines I have spoken elsewhere, and shall presently speak again. So far the withering influence of a strange civilization upon the true proprietors of the soil had emanated from Mexican incomers. Now a stronger phase of it is appearing in another influx, which is to overwhelm both of the existing races, and which, like the original invasion of Mexico, of America, is to consist of a fair-hued people from toward the rising sun. They come not as their predecessors came, slowly, in the shadow of the cross, or aggressively, with sword and firelock. Quietly, with deferential air, they drop in asking hospitality; first as way-worn stragglers from trapping expeditions, or as deserting sailors from vessels prowling along the coast in quest of trade and secrets. Then compact bands of restless frontier settlers slip over the border, followed by the firmer tread of determined pioneers, who wait for strength and opportunity. Not being as yet formally ceded, the land remains under a mingled military-civil government, wherein Hispano-Californians still control local ​management in the south, while in the north men from the United States predominate.
These later arrivals are already nearly equal numerically to the former, numbering somewhat over 6,000, while the Hispano-Californians may be placed at 1,000 more. The ex-neophyte natives in and about the ranches and towns are estimated at from 3,000 to 4,000, with twice as many among the gentile tribes. The new element, classed as foreign before the conquest of 1846, had from 150 in 1830 grown slowly till 1845, after which it took a bound, assisted by over 2,000 who came as soldiers in the regular and volunteer corps, not including the naval muster-rolls. These troops served to check another sudden influx contemplated by the migrating Mormons, whose economic value as colonists cannot be questioned, in view of their honesty and thrift.' An advance column of about 200 had come in 1846, followed by the Mormon battalion in the United States service, 350 strong, of which a portion remained. The first steady stream of immigrants is composed of stalwart, restless backwoodsmen from the western frontier of the United States; self-reliant, and of ready resource in building homes, even if less enterprising and broadly utilitarian than those who followed them from the eastern states; the latter full of latent vivacity; of strong intellect, here quickening under electric air and new environment; high-strung, attenuated, grave, shrewd, and practical, and with impressive positiveness.
By the side of the Americanized Anglo-Saxon, elevated by vitalizing freedom of thought and intercourse with nature, we find the English representative, burly of mind and body, full of animal energy, marked by aggressive stubbornness, tinctured with brusqueness and conceit. More sympathetic and self-adaptive than the arrogant and prejudiced Englishman, or the coldly calculating Scot, is the omnipresent, quick-witted Celt, and the easy-going, plodding German, with his love of knowledge and deep solidity of ​
4 CALIFOaXIA JUST PRIOR TO THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
mind. Intermediate between these races and the native Californian stands the pure-blooded Spaniard^ wrapped in the reflection of ancestral preeminence, and using his superior excellence as a means to aflirin ]iis foothold among humbler race connections. An approximate affinity of blood and language here paves tlio way for the imaginative though superficial French- man and Italian, no less polite than insincere, yet cheerful and aesthetic. A few Hawaiian Islanders have been brought over, and are tolerated until prouder people press them back and under.
Even now events are giving a decisive predomi- nance to the lately inflowing migration, by reason of tlio energy displayed in the rapid extension of iudus* trial arts, notably agriculture, with improved methods and ]riacliinery, and growing traffic with such standard- bearers of civilization as the public press and a steam- boat. So far this influx has confined itself to the (MMitral part of the state, round San Francisco Bay and northward, because the gateway for the immigration across the |)lains opens into this section, which more- over presents equal if not superior agricultural features, an<l greater commercial prospects. The occupation of ilio south by a different race serves naturally to point out and affirm the limits.
San Jose, founded as a pueblo within the first dec- ade of S])anish occupation, and now grown into a lespe/tabfc town of about TOO inhabitants, is the most prominent of the northern settlements wherein the Hisano-Californian element still predominates. Notwithstanding the incipient greatness of the city at the (jate, San Jose holds hi^h pretensions as a central inland town, on the border line between the settled south and the growing north, with aspirations to sup- plant Monterey as the capital. This accounts in a measure for the large inflowing of foreigners, who have lately acquired sufficient influence to elect the alcalde from among themselves, the present incumbent being James W. Weeks. The fertile valley around counts ​
CuresAL Caludrhu n 184& ​
6 CALIFORNIA JUST PRIOR TO THE GOLD DISCOVKKY,
among its numerous farmei^s several of them, notably the Scotch sailor, John Gilroy/ who in 1814 became the first foreigner permanently to settle in California, and Thomas W. Doak, who arrived two years later, the first American settler. North of San Jos^ and the adjoining Santa Clara mission,* where Padre Keal holds out manfully against claimants, are several set- tlors clustering round the present AI viso.' Westward liafael Soto has established a landing at San Fran- cisquito Creek, and Whisman has located himself a dozen miles below.*
Along the eastern slope of the peninsula leads a well-worn road past scattered ranchos, among which are those of John Cooper on San Mateo Creek, and John Coppinger on Canada de Raimundo; and near by are Dennis Martin and Charles Brown, the latter having just erected a saw-mill.^
San Francisco, at the end of the peninsula, however ill-favored the site in some respects, seems topographi- cally marked for greatness, rising on a series of hills, with a great harbor on one side, a great ocean on the other, and mighty waters ever passing by to the outlet of the wide-spread river system of the country. It is already in many respects the most thriving town in California, the prospective metropolis of the coast, with 200 buildings and 800 inhabitants, governed by Alcalde
^ The town beariDg his name, in the soathem pM^ of the valley, is ntoated on hlB former rancha Other early settlers were Mat. Fellom, Harry Bee, John Bnrton, J. A. Forbes, J. W. Weeks, and Wm GuIajm;, who in 1842 joined Weber in erecting a flour-mill.
Krannan & Co. had a tannery at this place.
' Including the families of Alviso, Ikrreyesa, Valencia, John Martiii, and Leo Norris, the latter an American, on Cherro rancho.
by I. Whisman. J. Coppinger lived for a tin>e on Soto's rancho, marned to his daughter. S. Robles had bought Santa Rita rancho from J. Pe&a.
^ CaHed Mountain Home. The last two had settled near the present Woodsijie. G. F. Wyman and James Peace were also in tlie same vicinity^ the latter as lumberer. The leading grautb were Las Pulgas of I^is Argiiello^ 35,000 acres; SanOregorioof A. Buelna, 18,000 acres; BuriBuriof L Sanchez, 14,600 acres; Caflada de Raimundo of J. Coppinger, 12,500 acres; Cafiadadel Corte do Madera of M. Martinez, 13,000 acres. Other grants, ranging from 9,000 to 4,000 acres, were San Pednj, Corral de Tierra, F^lix, Miramontes, ^Cafiada Verde, San Antonio, Batauo, and Punta del A^io Nuevo, following southward. ​
THE PENINSULA. 7
George Hyde and a sapient council. The population is chiefly composed of enterprising Americans, sturdy pioneers, with a due admixture of backwoodsmen and seafarers, numerous artisans, and a sprinkling of traders and professional men — all stanch townsmen, figuring for beach lots at prices ranging as high as $600, and for local offices. There are rival districts struggling for supremacy, and two zealous weekly newspapers.
Less imposing are the immediate surroundings; for the town spreads out in a straggling crescent along the slope of the Clay-street hill, bordered by the converging inclines of Broadway and California streets on the north and south respectively. A thin coating of grass and melancholy shrubs covers the sandy surface between and around, with here and there patches of dwarfed oaks, old and decrepit, bend- ing before the sweeping west wind. The monotony incident to Spanisli and Mexican towns, however, with their low and bare adobe houses and sluggish population, is here relieved by the large proportion of compact wooden buildings in northern European style,^ and the greater activity of the dwellers. The beach, hollowed by the shallow Yerba Buena Cove, on which fronts the present Montgomery street, presents quite an animated scene for these sleepy shores, with its bales of merchandise strewn about, and piled-up boxes and barrels, its bustling or lounging frequenters, and its three projecting wharves;^ while a short distance off lie scattered a few craft, including one or two ocean-going vessels. Farther away, fringed by the fading hills of Contra Costa, rises the isle of Yerba Buena, for which some wild goats shortly provide the new name of Goat Island. On its eastern side is a half-ruined rancheria, still braving the encroachments of time and culture.
'There were 160 frame buildings and only 35 adobe houBes, although the latter were mora oonspicaoos by their length and brightneas. 'At Cklifomia, Clay, and Broadway streets. ​
S CAUFORNIA JUST PRIOR TO THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
POWELL STRICT
11 — II — !! — II — 1 1 — ir 11 — If"/
II II II I li i II /
II 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 1 1 II I X—
Fuaciaco u4 laia. ​
ABOUT THE BAY. 9
In the rear of the town, which extends only be- tween California and Vallejo streets to Powell on the west, from the direction of the Lone Mountain and beyond, comes a spur of the Coast Range, tipped by the Papas Peaks. To either side diverges a trail, one toward the inlet of the bay, where is the presidio enclosure, with its low adobe buildings, and to which the new American occupants have added frame houses, and earthworks with ordnance superior to the blatant muzzles of yore. Two miles to the south, beyond the sand hills, lies Mission Dolores, its dilapidated walls marked by darkened tile roofs, scantily relieved by clumps of trees and shrubs. The cheerless stone fences now enclose winter's verdure, and beyond the eddying creek, which flows through the adjoining fields, the sandy waste expands into inviting pasture, partly covered by the Kincon farm and government reserve.®
The opposite shores of the bay present a most beau- tiful park-like expanse, the native lawn, brilliant with flowers, and dotted by eastward-bending oaks, watered by the creeks of Alameda, San Lorenzo, San Leandro, and their tributaries, and enclosed by the spurs of the Diablo mountains. It had early attracted settlers, whose grants now cover the entire ground. The first to occupy there was the Mission San Jos^, famed for its orchards and vineyards,® and now counting among its tenants and settlers James F. Reed, Perry Mor- rison, Earl Marshall, and John M. Horner. ^^ Below are the ranchos of Agua Caliente and Los Tularcitos ; and above, Potrero de los Cerritos;" while behind, among encircling hills, is the valley of San Jos^, the pathway to the Sacramento, and through which runs
the miasion groand, was iu charge at Dolores. The Raucho Punta de Lobos of B. Diaz extended to the north-west.
later re jected.
^'The latter a Mormon, living with his wife at the present Washington Comers, and subsequently prominent.
^ The former two square leagues in extent, and transferred by A. Sufiol to F. Hignera; the latter three leagues, and held by A. Alviso and T. Pacheco. ​
10 CAUFORNIA JUST PRIOR TO THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
the upper Alameda. Here lives the venturesome English sailor, Robert Livermore, by whose name the nook is becoming known, and whose rapidly increasing possessions embrace stock-ranges, wheat-fields, vine- yards, and orchards, with even a rude grist-mill. ^^ Ad- joining him are the ranchos Valle de San Jos^ of J. and A. Bernal, and Suflol and San Ramon of J. M. Amador, also known by his name. Northward, along the bay, lies the Rancho Arroyo de la Alameda of Jos^ Jesus Vallejo; the San Lorenzo of G. Castro and F. Soto; the San Leandro of J. J. Estudillo; the Sobrante of J. I. Castro; and in the hills and along the shore, covering the present Oakland and Alameda, the San Antonio of Luis M. Peralta and his sons.^^
Similar to the Alameda Valley, and formed by the rear of the same range, enclosing the towering Monte del Diablo, lies the vale of Contra Costa, watered by several creeks, among them the San Pablo and San Ramon, or Walnut, and extending into the marshes of the San Joaquin. Here also the most desirable tracts are covered by grants, notably the San Pablo tract of F. Castro; El Pinole of Ignacio Martinez, with vineyards and orchards; the Acalanes of C. Valencia, on which are now settled Elam Brown, justice of the peace, and Nat. Jones ;^* the Palos Colorados of J. Moraga; the Monte del Diablo of S. Pacheco; the M^danos belonging to the Mesa fam- ily; and the M^ganos of Dr John Marsh, the said doctor being a kind of crank from Harvard college,
1' His neighbor on Rancho Los Pozitos, of two sauare leagues, was Jos4 Noriega; and west and south in the valley extended Rancho Valie de San Joe6, 48,000 acres, Santa Rita, 9,000 acres, belonging to J. D. Pacheco, the San Ramon rancho of Amador, four square leagues, and Canada de los Va- queros of Livermore. Both Colton, Three Years, 266, and Taylor, El Dorado, i. 73, refer to the spot as Livermore Pass, leadmg from San Jos^ town to the valley of the Sacramento.
^ D. Peralta received the Berkeley part, V. the Oakland, M. the East Oak- land and Alameda, and I. the south-east. The grant covered five leagues. The extent of the Alameda, San Lorenzo, and San Leandro grants was in square leagues respectively about four, seven, and one; Sobrante was eleven leaffues.
'* By purchase in 1847, the latter owning one tenth of the three-quarter ​league.
who settled here in 1837/^ in an adobe hut, and achieved distinction as a misanthrope and miser, sympathetic with the spirit at whose mountain's feet he crouched.
The upper part of the San Joaquin Valley had so far been shunned by fixed settlers, owing to Indian hostilit}^ toward the Spanish race. With others the aborigines agreed better; and gaining their favor through the mediation of the influential Sutter, the German Charles M. Weber had located himself on French Camp rancho, which he sought to develop by introducing colonists. In this he had so far met with little success; but his farm prospering, and his em- ployes increasing, he laid out the town of Tuleburg, soon to rise into prominence under the new name of Stockton.^* He foresaw the importance of the place as a station on the road to the Sacramento, and as the gateway to the San Joaquin, on which a settlement had been formed in 1846, as far up as the Stanislaus, by a party of Mormons. On the north bank of this tributary, a mile and a half from the San Joaquin, the migratory saints founded New Hope, or Stanislaus, which in April 1847 boasted ten or twelve colonists and several houses. Shortly afterward a summons
^^ He bought it from J. Noriega, and called it the Pulpunes; extent, three leagues by foar. The San Pablo and Pinole covered four leagues each, the PauM Goloradoe three leagues, the Monte del Diablo, on which Pacheco had some 5,000 head of cattle, four leagues. The aggressive Indians had disturbed several settlers, killing F. Briones, driving away Wm Welch, who settled in 1832, and the Romero brothers. Brown settled in 1847, and began to ship lumber to San Francisco. There were also the grants of Las Juntas of Wm Welch, three square leagues; Arroyo de las Nueces of J. S. Pacheco and Cafiada del Haoibre of T. Soto, the two latter two sauare leagues each.
^Amonff the residents were B. K. Thompson, £ii Randall, Jos. Buzzell, Andrew Baker, James Sirey, H. F. Fanning, George Frazer, W. H. Fairchild, James McKee, Pvle, and many Mexicans and servants of Weber. See fur- ther in Tinkham s Hist, StocHon; San Joaquin Co, Hist.; Col. Star, May 13, 1848, etc. Tavlor reports two log cabins on the site in 1847, those of Buzzell and Sirey. Nic. Gann's wife, while halting in Oct. 1847, gave birth to a son, William. The name French Camp came from the trappers who fremiently camped here. T. Lindsay, while in charge in 1845, was killed by Indian nidexB. The war of 1847 had caused an exodus of proposed settlers. ​
from Salt Lake came to assist the floods in breaking up the colony.*^
North of Stockton Dr J. C. Isbel settled on the Calaveras, and Turner Elder on the Mokelumne, together with Smith and Edward Robinson." The latter, on Dry Creek tributary, has for a neighbor Thomas Hhoads, three of whose daughters married T. Elder, William Day lor an English sailor, and Jared Sheldon. The last two occupy their grants on the north bank of the Cosumnes, well stocked, and sup- porting a grist-mill. Along the south bank extend the grants of Hartnell and San * Jon ' de los Moque- lumnes, occupied by Martin Murphy, Jr, and Anas- tasio Chaboila. South of them lies the Rancho Arroyo Seco of T, Yorba, on Dry Creek, where William Hicks holds a stock-range.^
The radiating point for all these settlements of the Great Valley, south and north, is Sutter's Fort, founded as its first settlement, in 1839, by the enter- prising Swiss, John A. Sutter. It stands on a small hill, skirted by a creek which runs into the American River near its junction with the Sacramento, and overlooking a vast extent of ditch-enclosed fields and park stock-ranges, broken by groves and belts of tim- ber. At this time and for three months to come there is no sign of town or habitation around what is now Sacramento, except this fortress, and one old adobe, called the hospital, east of the fort. A garden
^^ Stout, the leader, had given dissatisfaction. Buckland, the last to leave, moved to Stockton. The place is also called Stanislaus City. Bigler, Diary ^ MS., 48-9, speaks of a Mormon settlement on the Merced, meaning the above.
^® The former on Dry Creek, near the present Liberty, which he transferred to Robinson, married to his aunt, and removed to the Mokelumne, where twins were born in November 1847; he then proceeded to Daylor's. ThomM Pyle settled near Lockeford, but transferred his place to Smith.
" The ChaboUa, Uartnell, Sheldon-Day lor, and Yorba grants were 8, 6, 5, and 11 leagues in extent, respectively. The claims of E. Rufus and £. Pratt, north of the Cosumnes, failed to be confirmed. Ccd, Star^ Oct. 23, 1847«  alludes to the flouring mill on Sheldon's rancho. See StUter's Pers. Bern,, MS., 162, in which Taylor and Chamberlain are said to live on the Cosumnes. In the San Joaquin district were three eleven-league and one eight-league grants claimed by Josil' Castro, John Rowland, B. S. Lippiucott, and A. B. Thompson, all rejected except the last. ​
of eight or ten acres was attached to the fort, laid out with taste and skill, where flourished all kinds of vegetables, grapes, apples, peaches, pears, olives, figs, and almonds. Horses, cattle, and sheep cover the surrounding plains; boats lie at the embarcadero.
The fort is a parallelogram of adobe walls, 500 feet long by 150 in breadth, with loop-holes and bastions at the angles, mounted with a dozen cannon that sweep the curtains. Within is a collection of gran- aries and warehouses, shops and stores, dwellings and outhouses, extending near and along the walls round the central buildmg occupied by the Swiss potentate, who holds sway as patriarch and priest, judge and father. The interior of the houses is rough, with rafters and unpanelled walls, with benches and deal tables, the exception being the audience-room and private apartments of the owner, who has ob- tained from the Russians a clumsy set of California laurel furniture.^ In front of the main building, on the small square, is a brass gun, guarded by the sentinel, whose measured tramp, lost in the hum of day, marks the stillness of the night, and stops alone beneath the belfry-post to chime the passing hour.
Throughout the day the enclosure presents an animated scene of work and trafficking, by bustling laborers, diligent mechanics, and eager traders, all to the chorus clang of the smithy and reverberating strokes of the carpenters. Horsemen dash to and fro at the bidding of duty and pleasure, and an occasional wagon creaks along upon the gravelly road-bed, sure to pause for recuperating purposes oefore the trad- ing store,^^ where confused voices mingle with laugh- ter and the sometimes discordant strains of drunken
cmde furniture of the Calif omians, with rawhide and bullock -head chairs and bed -stretchers. SuUer^a Pers. Bem,^ MS., 164, et seq. Bryant describes the dining-room as having merely benches and dc^l table, yet displaying silver spoons and China bowU, the latter serving for dishes as well as cups. What I Saw, 26ft-70.
'^ One kept by Smith and Brannan. Prices at this time were $1 a foot for bone-shoeing, $1 a bushel for wheat, peas $1.50, unbolted flour $8 a 100 lbs. ​
singers. Such is the capital of the vast interior valley, pregnant with approaching importance. In Decem- ber 1847 Sutter reported a white population of 289 in the district, with 16 half-breeds, Hawaiians, and negroes, 479 tame Indians, and a large number of gentiles, estimated with not very great precision at 21,873 for the valley, including the region above the Buttes.^ There are 60 houses in or near the fort, and six mills and one tannery in the district; 14,000 fanegas of wheat were raised during the season, and 40,000 expected during the following year, besides other crops. Sutter owns 12,000 cattle, 2,000 horses and mules, from 10,000 to 15,000 sheep, and 1,000 hogs.^ John Sinclair figures as alcalde, and George McKinstry as sheriff*
The greater portion of the people round the fort depend upon Sutter as permanent or temporary em- ployes, the latter embracing immigrants preparing to settle, and Mormons intent on presently proceeding to Great Salt Lake. As a class they present a hardy, backwoods type of rough exterior, relieved here and there by bits of Hispano-Californian attire, in bright sashes, wide sombreros, and jingling spurs. The na- tives appear probably to better advantage here than elsewhere in California, in the body of half a hundred well-clothed soldiers trained by Sutter, and among his staff of steady servants and helpers, who have ac- quired both skill and neatness. A horde of subdued savages, engaged as herders, tillers, and laborers, are conspicuous by their half-naked, swarthy bodies; and others may be seen moving about, bent on gossip or trade, stalking along, shrouded in the all-shielding blanket, which the winter chill has obliged them to put on. Head and neck, however, bear evidence to their love of finery, in gaudy kerchiefs, strings of beads, and other ornaments.
" McKinstry Pap., MS., 28.
version reproduced in JSac. Co, Hist., 31, differs somewhat. ​
The fort is evidently reserved for a manor-seat, de- spite its bustle; for early in 1846 Sutter had laid out the town of Sutterville, three miles below on the Sacramento. This has now several houses,^* having received a great impulse from the location there, in 1847, of two companies of troops under Major Kings- bury. It shares in the traffic regularly maintained with San Francisco by means of a twenty-ton sloop, the Amelia f belonging to Sutter and manned by half a dozen savages. It is supported during the busy season by two other vessels, which make trips far up the Sacramento and San Joaquin. The ferry at the fort landing is merely a canoe handled by an Indian, but a large boat is a-building.^*^
Six miles up the American River, so called by Sut- ter as the pathway for American immigration, the Mormons are constructing a flour-mill for him,^ and another party are in like manner engaged on a saw- mill building and race at Coloma Valley, forty miles above, on the south fork. Opposite Sutter's Fort, on the north bank of the American, John Sinclair, the alcalde, holds the large El Paso rancho,^ and above him stretches the San Juan rancho of Joel P. Ded- mond, facing the Leidesdorff grant on the southern bank.^ There is more land than men; instead of 100 acres, the neighbors do not regard 100,000 acres as out of the way. Sutter's confirmed grant of eleven leases in due Irime is scattered in different direc- tions, owing to documentary and other irregularities. A portion is made to cover Hock Farm on Feather
being the first real brick building erected in the country. Morse, Ilist. Scu:., places the founding in 1S44.
MS., 7«
dam had b^n constructed, with a four-mile race. Description and progress in Id,; Bigler'a Diary, MS., 5C-7; Sutter's Pers. Rem., MS., 159. Brighton has now risen on the site.
"Of some 44,000 acres, chiefly for his Hawaiian patron, E. Grimes.
" Of 35,500 acre' ; Ji<Hl'noii(l's» was 20,000. Leidesdorff had erected a house In 1846, at the prescui liuuUcr'y. ​
River,® his chief stock-range, and also embracing fine plantations.^ On the east side of this region lies the tract of Nicolaus Altgeier,*^ and along the north bank of Bear River, Sebastian Keyser and the family of William Johnson have located themselves;^ oppo- site are two Frenchmen, Theodore Sicard and Claude Chanon. The south bank of the Yuba is occupied by Michael C. Nye, John Smith, and George Pat- terson.^ Facing them, along Feather River, Theo- dore Cordua had settled in 1842, and established a trading post, owning some 12,000 head of stocL^ Charles Roether had in 1845 located himself on Hon- cut Creek, and near him are now Edward A. Farwell and Thomas Fallon.*^ The lands of Samuel Neal and David Dutton are on Butte Creek; William North- grave's place is on Little Butte; W. Dickey, Sanders, and Yates had in 1845 taken up the tract on Chico Creek which John Bidwell is at this time entering upon.** Peter Lassen, the famous Danish trapper, had settled on Deer Creek, and erected a mill and smithy ,'^ granting a league to Daniel Sill, Sen. Moon's rancho is held by W. C. Moon and Merritt. A. G. Toomes occupies a tract north of the creek which bears his
"A name applied by Satter from the feather ornaments of the natives.
S. J. Hensley, and Kanaka Jim. It had 5,000 head of cattle and 1,200 horses.
•^ Who settled on the present site of Nicolaus. North of Hock Farm, C. W. Fliigge had obtained a grant which was transferred to Consul Larkin.
'^ On the five-league rancho given to P. Gutierrez, deceased, by Sutter, who made several grants in the valley, by authority. They bought liuid and cattle and divided.
^ Smith, who came first, in 1845, sold a part of his tract to Patterson. The first two ha<l nearly 2,000 head of stock.
'^ This rancho, on the site of the present Marysville, he called New Meck- lenburg, in honor of his native Oerman state. Chas Covillaud was manager; trade relations were had with San Francisco.
^ The former on a grant claimed by Huber; the two latter on Farweira rancho.
"•Northgrave was a settler on the tract claimed by S. J. Hensley, but disallowed afterward. James W. Marshall had abandoned his holding on the same tract. The confirmed grants were Fernandez, 4 leagues; Arroyo C.*hico of Bidwell, 5 leagues; Agua Fria of Pratt, 6 leagues; Llano Seco of Parrott, 4 leagues; Bosquejo of Lassen, 5 leagues; Boga of Larkin, 5 leagues; Esquon of Neal, 5 leagues. The claims of Cambuston, Huber, Hensley, Nye, and others were rejected.
^BidwrlCs Cat. 1841-8, MS. ​, 231-2.
name, and above, on Antelope Creek, lives Job F, Dye, below P. B. Reading, who ranks as the most northern settler in the valley, on Cottonwood Creek,** one of the numerous tributaries here fed by the adja- cent snow-crowned summits dominated by the majes- tic Shasta.
Descending along the west bank of the Sacramento, we encounter the rancho of William B. Ide, of Bear-flag fame ;*• below him, on Elder Creek, is William C. Chard, and R. H. Thomes on the creek named after him.**^ On Stony Creek, whence Sutter obtains grindstones,*^ live Granville P. Swift, Franklin Sears, and Bryant; below them John S. Williams has lately settled with his wife, the first white woman in this region." Watt Anderson is found on Sycamore Slough, and on the north side of Cache Creek the family of William Gor- don.** Eastward lies the rancho of William Knight,** and below him, facing the mouth of Feather River, that of Thomas M. Hardy.** In a hut of tule, facing the Sutter s-fort grant, lives John Schwartz, a reticent builder of airy castles upon his broad domain, and of whom it is said that, having lost his own language, he never learned another. A northern slice of his land he sold to James McDowell and family.** On Putah Creek, John R. Wolfskill had, since 1842, oc- cupied a four-league grant. Adjoining, on Ulattis
1847.
'* Jnst below the present Red Bluff, a tract bought by him from Josiah Belden. These northern grants averaged five leagues each.
miles south of Princeton, on the Larkin children's grant, with 800 head of cattle, on shares with Larkin. M. Diaz* claim to 11 leagues was rejected.
His son-in-law, Nathan Coombs, was probablv the first white brideffroom in the Sacramento Valley. Married by Sutter m 1844. His son William was the first white child of Yolo county. Coombs soon moved to Napa Valley.
^ An Englishman, hostile to Americans.
^' McDowell built a log house at the present Washinffton, and was, in 1847»
presented with the first white girl of Yolo county. He paid Schwartz 12^
cents an acre for 600 acres.
Mux, Cal., Vol, VI, 2 ​
18 CALIFORNIA JUST PRIOR TO THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
Creek, extends the grant of Vaca and Pefla, and at its mouth are Feltis Miller J D. Hoppe, and Daniel K. Berry.
Hence, down the Sacramento for four leagues stretches the Ulpinos grant of John Bidwell, which he sought to improve by sending, in 1846, a party of immigrants to transform the lonely house then standing there into a town. After a few months' suffering from hunger and hardships, the party aban- doned a site for which the Indian name of Halo Che- muck, 'nothing to eat,' was for a time appropriately retained. Charles D. Hoppe bought a fourth of the tract in 1847.*^ Equally unsuccessful was the con- temporaneous effort of L. W. Hastings, a Mormon agent, to found the town of Montezuma, fifteen miles below, at the junction of the Sacramento and San Joaquin in Suisun Bay. His co-religionists objected to the site as devoid of timber; yet he remained hope- ful, and ordered a windmill and ferry-boat to increase the attraction^ of his solitary house. *^
These efforts at city building indicate how widely appreciated was the importance of a town which should tap, not merely each section of the great val- ley, as at Sutter's Fort and Stockton, but the joint outlet of the Sacramento and San Joaquin. It was foreseen that hence would flow the main wealth of the country, although the metallic nature of the first current was little anticipated. The idea seems to have struck simultaneously Bidwell, Hastings, and Semple. The last named, with a judgment worthy of the towering editor of the Californiany selected the bil- lowy slopes of the headland guarding the opening of this western Bosphorus, the strait of Carquines, the inner golden gate of San Francisco Bay. Indeed, the
" The preaent town of Rio Vista lies just below the site. Another version has it that the three families settled there were carried away by the gold- fever, and that ^halachummuck' was called ont by Indians when they here killed a party of starving hunters.
«(7a/. Star, Oct. 23, 1847; BvffunCa Four Montht,, 9^ Here roae, later, e h&nolet of Collinsville. ​
60
superiority of the site for a metropolis is unequalled on the Pacific seaboard, and unsurpassed by any spot in the world, lying as it does at the junction of the valley outlet with the head of ocean navigation, with fine anchorage and land-locked harbor, easv ferriage across the bay, fine climate, smooth and slightly ris- ing ground, with a magnificent view over bays and isles, and the lovely valley of the contra costa nestling at the foot of Mount JDiablo. And Benicia, as it was finally called, prospered under the energetic man- agement. Although less than a year old, it now boasted nearly a score of buildings, with two hundred lots sold, a serviceable ferry, and with prospects that, utterly eclipsing those of adjoining aspirants, were creating a flutter of alarm in the city at the Gate.*^ Passing on the extreme right the Arraijo rancho, and proceeding up the Napa Valley, now famed alike for its scenery and vineyards, we find a large number of settlers. Foremost among them is the veteran trapper, George Yount, who in 1836 built here the first American block-house of the country, as well as the first flour and saw mill, and extended warm hos- pitality to subsequent comers. North of him entered soon afterward J. B. Chiles and William Pope into the small valleys bearing their names, and E. T. Bale and John York." The Berreyesa brothers oc- cupy their large valley across the range, on the head- waters of Putah Creek; and on the site of the present Napa City, just about to be laid out, stand the two houses of Cayetano Juarez and Nicolds Higuera, who had settled on this spot in 1840, followed by Salvador Vallejo, and later by Joel P. Walker and Nathan
^ Stephen Cooper was alcalde. For other names, see preceding volume, v. 672 et seq.
also the grants of Snisun and Suscol, the latter claimed by Valleio, but which claim was rejected. Mare Island was used as a stock-range by V. Castro, its (grantee.
C Hopper; with Pope. Bamett; and with Chiles, Haldridge. Below extended the Chimiles grant of J. L Berrey ​esa.
Coombs; ana by John Rose and J. C. Davis, who la 1846 built a schooner here, and were now erecting a mill for Vallejo/^ Northward, in the region round Clear Lake, Stone and Kelsey occupy a stock-range, and George Rock holds the Guenoc rancho.^*
The similar and parallel valley of Sonoma, signifying ' of the moon,' is even more thickly occupied under the auspices of M. G. Vallejo, the potentate of this region and ranking foremost among Hispano-Cal- ifornians. This town of Sonoma, founded as a pre- sidio thirteen years before, near the dilapidated mis- sion Solano, claims now a population of 260, under Alcalde Lilburn W. Boggs, with twoscore houses, among which the two-story adobe of the general is regarded as one of the most imposing in the country. The barrack is occupied by a company of New York volunteers under Captain Brackett, which adds greatly to the animation of the place. Several members of Vallejo's family occupy lands above and below on Sonoma Creek, as, for instance, Jacob P. Leese; west- ward on Petaluma Creek, Juan Miranda and family have settled; above are James Hudspeth, the large
frant of the Carrillos," and the fertile ranchos of lark West and John B. R. Cooper, the latter with, mill and smithy. At Bodega, Stephen Smith had in 1846 established a saw-mill, worked by the first steam-engine in California, and obtained a vast grant,^ which embraced the former Russian settlement with its dismantled stockade fort. Edward M. Mcintosh and James Dawson's widow hold the adjoining ran- chos of Jonive and Posfolomi, the latter having planted a vineyard on the Estero Americano. Above on the
'^ There were a number of other settlers, nearly four score, by this time, and two saw-mills and two flour-mills. Gal. Star, Jan. 22, April 1, 1848.
^^ Of 21 ,000 acres. J. P. Leese and the Vallejos had stock, the latter claim- ing the Lupyomi tract of 16 leagues, which was rejected, and Rob F Ridley that of Collayomi of 8,000 acres, which was confirmed.
^'Mrs Carrillo's covering the present Santa Rosa, and Joaquin Carrillo's that of Sebastopol.
^Of .35,000 acres. Both men had been sailors, the former from Scotland, the other from Erin, ​
coast are the tracts of William Beniiz and Ernest Kufus, the latter with a grist-mill.** Along Russian River stretches the Sotoyome grant of H. D. Fitch, with vineyards and raill/^ Cyrus Alexander, lately Fitch's agent, had occupied Alexander Valley, and below him now live Lindsay Carson and Louis Le- gendre«
The hilly peninsula between the bay and ocean, named after the Indian chief Marin, is indebted for a comparatively compact occupation mainly to its posi- tion relative to other settlements, and to the impulse given by the now secularized and decaying mission establishment of San Rafael. This lovelv spot was buddiug into a town, and contained several settlers,** besides Timoteo Murphy, in charge of the mission es- tate. Above extend the tracts of Novato*^ and Ni- casio, the latter owned by James Black ,*^ and adjoin- ing, those of Ramon Mesa and Bartolom^ Bojorques, Rafael Grarcia and Gregorio Briones are located on the ranchos of Tomales and Bolinas, owning many cattle ; and William A. Richardson holds that of Sau- zalito, which is already an anchorage and supply sta- tion,** yet with aspirations cramped by the closely pressing hills, and overshadowed by the looming me- tropolis.**
M Erected by H. Hftgler on Walhalla River, which is now uBoally called GnalaU River.
^ Among oUier settlers may be mentioned Frank Bedwell, Mose Carson, Fred. Starke, Hoeppner, Wilson, the Piflas, and the Gordons.
^* Among them Mrs Merriner and sons, Jacob and J. O. B.; Short and Mrs Miller near by. Ignacio Pacheco was justice of the peace.
'^^ Obtained by F. Fales in 1839 and transferred to Leese. ^ Who had obtained it from J. OTarrell, in exchange for his grant near Bode».
quently obtained the Corte de Madera rancho, where he planted orchards and erected a grist-mill, followed by a saw-mill in 1843, the year of his death. Angel Island was for a time occupied by A. M. Oslo. Among other settlers were Martin and Tom Wood, the latter a famous vaquero.
giving the rancho only when the actual holder is in doubt, as represented by proxy or tenant, or claiminff merely by virtue of grant. The preceding mat- ter has been drawn from official documents, books, and manoscripta, with no ■maU sapplementiui^ by the moutha of iivi ​iig men
Such is the detail of the picture which I wish to present of central and northern California in Jan- uary 1848. I will complete it with some generalities of physical features and population, thus giving as a whole the inhabitants and their environment.
It is the dawn of history in these parts, presently to be followed by a golden sunlight flooding the whole western world. All along the centuries Cali- fornia had lain slumbering, wrapt in obscurity, and lulled by the monotone of ocean. The flrst fitful dreams of explorers in search of an ever-eluding strait, of cities stored with treasures, had subsided into pastoral scenes, with converts and settlers clus- tering round white-walled missions in the shadow of the cross. Then came the awakening, impelled by a ruder invasion of soldiers and land-greedy backwoods- men, the premonitory ripple of international interest and world-absorbing excitement.
Strewn lavishly about is what men most covet, those portions of nature's handiwork called wealth and wealth-making material, the acquisition of which is the great burden progressive men conventionally lay upon themselves as the price of their civilization. These resources reveal themselves in the long snow-clad uplands of the Sierra, with their timber and metals, in the nbrthern foothills, revelling in perennial spring, and in the semi-tropic vegetation of the central and southern valleys. The extremes of heat and cold, of desert aridity and unhealthy rankness, are rare and of small extent, serving rather to illustrate as rem- nants the method and means of nature in producing one of her masterpieces. Such are the unsightly marshes in different localities; the Colorado desert bordering the river of that name, and its link along the eastern declivity of the Sierra Nevada with the great basin of the interior, which in the south is marked by a dismal stretch of bare ridges and inter- vening valleys of sand and volcanic scoria, with occa- sional muddy salt pools and cracked surfaces frosted ​
with alkali, and in the south by a rugged lake basin. Yet even here the evil is superficial, for nature has left compensation in many valuable minerals; and art promises to continue her task of reclamation by means of palm-lined canals, health-bringing eucalyptus groves, and rain-inviting forests.
It is a terrane younger than the eastern seaboard, wrought not by the same slow and prosy process of ordinary strata formation, but in many a fit of pas- sion, with upheavals and burstings asunder, with surg- ing floods and scorching, blasts. The soil yet quivers and is quick with electric force, and climatic moods are fitful as ever; here a gentle summers holiday^ there a winter of magnificent disorder; between, ex- hilarating spring, with buds and freshness, and beyond, a torrid fringe, parched and enervating. Side by side in close proximity are decided diflerences, with a partial subordination of latitude and season to local causes. Thus, on the peninsula of San Francisco winter appears in vernal warmth and vigor, and sum- mer as damp and chilly autumn, while under the shel- ter of some ridge, or farther from the ocean, summer is hot and arid, and winter cold and frosty.
While configuration permits surprises, it also tem- pers them, and as a rule the variations are not sud- den. The sea breezes are fairly constant whenever their refreshing presence is most needed, leaving rarely a night uncoole<l ; and the seasons are marked enough within their mild extremes. At San Fran- cisco a snow-fall is almost unknown, and a thunder- storm or a hot night extremely rare. Indeed, the sweltering days number scarcely half a dozen during the year. The average temperature is about 56 de- grees Fahrenheit, which is the mean for spring. In summer and autumn this rises to 60 and 59, respect- ively, falling in winter to 51, while at Sacramento the average is 58 degrees, with 56°, 69°, 61°, and 45° for the four seasons respectively. At Humboldt Bay, in the north, the temperature varies from 43 degrees in ​
the winter to 57 in the summer, averaging 51^**; and at San Diego, in the south, it ranges as the extreoies from 52 to 71 degrees,^ while the average of summer and winter and night and day does not vary over ten degrees.
In summer an equilibrium is approached; in winter the tiresome reserve is broken. By early autumn a wide-spread deadness obtains ; the hills wear a bleached appearance, the smaller streams are empty, the plain is parched and dusty, the soil cracked in fissures from excessive dryness; green fields have turned sere and yellow, and the weeds snap like glass when trodden on. It is the period of nature s repose. The grass is not dead, but sleepeth. When the winter rains begin, in November, after a respite of six months, vegetal life revives; the softened soil puts on fresh garments; the arid waste blossoms into a garden. The cooler air of winter condenses the vapor-laden winds of ocean, which, during the preceding months, are sapped of their moisture by the hot and thirsty air. And all this is effected with only half the amount of rain fall- ing in the Atlantic states, the average at San Fran- cisco being little over twenty inches annually, at Sacramento one tenth less, and at San Diego one half; while in the farther north the fall is heavier and more evenly distributed.
In this dry, exhilarating atmosphere the effect of the sun is not so depressing as in moister regions, and with cool, refreshing nights, the hottest days are bear- able. It is one of the most vitalizing of climates for mind and body, ever stimulating to activity and en- joyment. Land and sea vie with each other in life- giving supremacy, while man steps in to enjoy the benefits. When the one rises in undue warmth, the other frowns it down ; when one grows cold and sul- len, the other beams in happy sunshine. Winds and
•* Severe extremes are confined to a few torrid spots like Fort Yuma, and to the summits of the eastern ranges. Ck>mpreheuBive data on climate in HiUeWa Comm, and IiidwU ​., 62-81.
currents, sun and configuration, the warm stream from ancient Cathay, and the dominating mountains, all aid. in the equalization of differences.
Thus lay the valley of California a-dreaming, with visions of empire far down the vistas of time, when behold, the great awakening is already at hand t Even now noiseless bells are ringing the ingathering of the nations; for here is presently to be found that cold, impassive element which civilization accepts as its symbol of the Most Desirable, and for which accord- ingly all men perform pilgrimage and crusade, to toil and fight and die.
V ​
CHAPTER II.
THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD.
Januaby, 1848.
Situation of Sutteb — His Nebd of Lumber — Seabch fob a Mill Sitb iv THE Mountains— Culuha — Jaises W. Mabshall — Thb Buildino of a Saw-mill Detebmined upon— A Pabty Sets Fobth — Its Pebsonnel — Chabactkb of Marshall — The Finding of Gold — What Mabshall AND HIS Men Thoimjht of It— Marshall Rides to New Helvetia and Informs Sctier — The Interview — Sutteb Visits the Mill — Attempt TO Sbcube the Indian Title to the Land.
John A. Sutter was the potentate of the Sacra- mento, as we have seen. He had houses and lands, flocks and herds, mills and machinery; he counted his skilled artisans by the score, and his savage retainers by the hundred. He was, moreover, a man of prog- ress. Although he had come from cultured Europe, and had established himself in an American wilderness, he had no thought of drifting into savagisni.
Among his more pressing wants at this moment was a saw-n)ill. A larger supply of lumber was needed for a multitude of purposes. Fencing was wanted. The flour-mills, then in course of construction at Brighton, would take a large quantity; the neighbors would buy some, and boards might profitably be sent to San Francisco, instead of bringing them from that direction.^ There were no good forest trees, with
^ Since 1845 Sutter had obtained lumber from the mountains, got ont by whip-saws. hidwelVn Cal. IS^IS^ MS., 226. The author of this most valu- able manuscript informs me further that Sutter had for years contemplated building a saw-mill in order to avoid the labor and cost of sawing lumber by hand in the redwoods on the coast, and bringing it round by the bay in hU
vessel. With this object he at various times seat exploring parties into the ​
the requisite water-power, nearer than the foothills of the mountains to the east. Just what point along this base line would prove most suitable, search would determine; and for some time past this search had been going on, until it was interrupted by the war of conquest. The war being over, explorations were renewed.
Twoscore miles above Sutter's Fort, a short dis- tance up the south branch of American River, the rocky gateway opens, and the mountains recede to the south, leaving in their wake softly rounded hills cov- ered with pine, balsam, and oak, while on the north are somewhat abrupt and rocky slopes, patched with grease-wood and chemisal, and streaked with the deepening shades of narrow gulches. Between these bounds is a valley four miles in circumference, with red soil now covered by a thin verdure, shaded here and there by low bushes and stately groves. Culuma, 'beautiful vale,'* the place was called. At times sunk in isolation, at times it was stirred by the presence of a tribe of savages bearing its name, whose several generations here cradled, after weary roaming, sought repose upon the banks of a useful, happy, and some- times frolicsome stream. Within the half-year civil- ization had penetrated these precincts, to break the periodic solitude with the sound of axe and rifle; for here the saw-mill men had come, marking their course by a tree-blazed route, presently to show the way to the place where was now to be played the first scene of a drama which had for its audience the world.
Among the retainers of the Swiss hacendado at this time was a native of New Jersey, James Wilson Marshall, a man of thirty-three years, who after drift- ing in the western states as carpenter and farmer,'
mountains. Bidwell himself, in ootnpany with Semple, was on one of these unsQccessfal expeditions in 1846. Mrs Wimmer states that in June 1847 she made ready her household effects to go to Battle Creek, whei*e a saw-mill was to be erected, but the men changed their plans and went to Coloma.
'Bora in 1812 in Hope township, Iluuterdon county, New Jers ​ey, where
came hither by way of Oregon to California. In July 1845 he entered the service of Sutter, and was duly valued as a good mechanic. By and by he secured a grant of land on Butte Creek/ on which he placed some live-stock, and went to work. During his ab- sence in the war southward, this was lost or stolen; and somewhat discouraged, he turned again to Sutter, and readily ent^ed into his views for building a saw- mill.^
The old difficulty of finding a site still remained, and several exploring excursions were now made by Marshall, sometimes accompanied by Sutter, and by others in Sutter's service.^ On the 16th of May, 1847, Marshall set out on one of these journeys, accompanied by an Indian guide and two white men, Treador and Graves.^ On the 20th they were joined by one Gin- gery, who had been exploring with the same object on the Cosumnes. They travelled up the stream now called Weber Creek to its head, pushed on to the American River, discovered Culuma, and settled upon this place as the best they had found, uniting as' it did the requisite water-power and timber, with a
his father had initiated him into his trade as wagon-builder. Shortly after his twenty-first birthday the prevailing westward current of migration carried him through Indiana and Illinois to Missouri. Here he took up a homestead land claim, and bid fair to prosper, when fever and ague brought him low, whereupon, in 1844, he sought the Pacific Ck>ast. ParnouH* Life q/* AfarsfiaJ.lt 6-8. He Bt-arted in May 1844, and crossed by way of Fort Half to Oregon, where ho wintered. He then joined the McMahou-Clyman party for Califor- nia. See hist. Col., iv. 731, this series.
^ Marshall claims to have first proposed the scheme to Sutter. Hutchinffs* Mag.f ii. 199. This is doubtful, as shown elsewhere, and is in any event immaterial.
^ Marshall says that while stocking the ploughs, three men, Gingery, Wim- mer, and McLellan, who had heard of his contemplated trip, undertook one themselves, after obtaining what information and directions they could from Marshall. Wimmer found timber and a trail on what is now known as the Diamond Springs road, and the 13th of May he and Gingery began work some thirteen miles west of the place where the Shingle Springs house subsequently stood. Gingery was afterward with Marshall when the latter discovered the site of the Coloma mill.
^ Marshall implies that this was his first trip. Sutter states definitely,
occasions. I was not with him when he determined the site of the mill.' SuUer'a Fera, Jiem., ​MS., 16Q-1.
possible roadway to the fort.® Sutter resolved to lose no time in erecting the mill, and invited Marshall to join him as partner.* The agreement was signed in the latter part of August,^** and shortly afterward Marshall set out with his party, carrying tools and supplies on Mexican ox-carts, and driving a flock of sheep for food. A week was occupied by the journey.^^ Shelter being the first thing required on arrival, a double log house was erected, with a passage-way between the two parts, distant a quarter of a mile or ^ more from the mill site.^^ Subsequently two other cabins were constructed nearer the site. By New- Year s day the mill frame had risen, and a fortnight
18 miles, and could be rafted the rest of the way. A missiou Indian, the alcalde of the Cosumnes, is said to have been sent to solve some doubts con- cerning the site. Marshall must indeed have been well disciplined. Not many men of his temperament would have permitted an Indian to verify his doubted word.
to furnish the men and means, while Marshall was to superintend the con- struction, and conduct work at the mill after its completion. It is difficult to determine what the exact terms of this contract were. Sutter merely re- marks that he gave Marshall an interest in the mill. Pers. Jiem., MS., 160. Bidwell says nothing more than that he drew up the agreement. Cal. I84i-S, Ills., 228. Marshall, in his communication to I/utchings* Mcujazine^ con- tents himself with saying that after returning from his second trip, the 'co- partnership was compiet^.' Parsons, in his Life of Marshall ^ 79-80, is more explicit. *The terms of this agreement,' he writes, 'were to the effect that Sutter should furnish the capital to build a mill on a site selected by Marshall, who was to be the active partner, and to run the mill, receiving certain com- pensation for so doing. A verbal agreement was also entered into between the parties, to the effect that if at tiie close of the Mexican war then pending California should belong to Mexico, Sutter as a citizen of that republic should possess the mill site, Marshall retaining his rights to mill privileges, and to cut timber, etc.; while if the country was ceded to the United States, Mar- shall as an American citizen should own the property. * In the same work, p. 177i is aa affidavit of John Winters, which certifies that he, Winters, and Alden S. Baglev purchased, in Dec. 1848, John A. Sutter's interest in the Coloma mill — which interest was one half — for $6,000, and also a third of the interest of Marshall for $2,000, which implies that Marshall then owned the other half. Mrs Wimmer, in her narrative, says that Sutter and Marshall were eqnal partners. 8, F. BuUttiih, Dec. 19, 1874.
>* Marshall says Aug. 27th; Parsons, Aug. 19th; Bidwell, in a letter to the anthor, Aug. or 8ept
" Mrs Wimmer makes the time a fortnight.
One part of the house was occupied by the men, and the other part by the Wimmers, Mrs Wimmer cooking for the company. About the close of the year, however, a dispute arose, whereupon the men built for themselves a eabin near the half-completed mill, and conducted their own culinary depart- toent. Their food was chiefly salt salmon and boiled wheat. Wimmer's joang SODS assisted with the teaming. ​
M THE UnOOVZKT OF GOLD.
later the brwih dam wag fioUhetl, althoogH not till th': fortitwUi of Manthall aod bis men had been tried by a HifA which tbi%at«;Ded to sweep away the whole «tru'rtur«.
Another trouble arose with the tail-raoe. In order t/t '^.-onoriiize laWr, a dry cbaanel bad been selected, forty f>r fifty ro^ls long, which had to be deepened and wid<.-nod. This involved some blasting at the upper end; but elxewhere it was found necessary merely to Unmsft the earth in the bed, throwing out the Iw^er
Htoiii'H, mul let tho water during the night pass through till' Hhiic('-gnti' ti> wasli away the d(5l)ri3.
It wiiH a buHy S(Viio presented at this advance post <it'fiviliziitii)n. at tho foot of the towering Sierra, and it wiiM titlv iiarticipiitod in bv eight aboriginal lords of thi' siiil, I'mitly tniin.Hl iit >Je\v Helvetia. The half- won' of whiti' mt'u wore mostly Mormons of the dis- Uuult'il battalion, even now about to turn their faces toward tlu- new Zion. A faniilv was rt>presented in the wife and ehiUlreu of Peter L. Wirnnier," the as- "ri|;liiHt f<>riii i<f nuiio afpeon to haie bwn Weinwr, cormptad by Sag​
THE MILL MEN. SI
sistant of Marshall, and occupied in superintending the Indians digging in the race. Henry W. Bigler was drilling at its head; Charles Bennett and William Scott were working at the bench ; Alexander Stephens and James Barger were hewing timber; Azariah Smith and William Johnson were felling trees; and James O. Brown was whip-sawing with a savage.^*
They were a cheerful set, working with a will, yet with a touch of insouciance, imparted to some extent by the picturesque Mexican sombrero and sashes, and sustained by an interchange of banter at the sim- plicity or awkwardness of the savages. In Marshall they had a passable master, though sometimes called queer. He was a man fitted by physique and tem- perament for the backwoods life, which had lured and held him. Of medium size, strong rather than well developed, his features were coarse, with a thin beard round the chin and mouth, cut short like the brown hair; broad forehead and penetrating eyes, by no means unintelligent, yet lacking intellectuality, at times gloomily bent on vacancy, at times flashing with impatience.^^ He was essentially a man of moods; his mind was of dual complexion. In the plain and
liah pronancuktion to Wimmer. Bigler, Diary ^ MS., 60, haa Werner, which approaches the Weimer form.
oonstrnction were Ira Willis, Sidney Willis, William Kountze, and Ezekiel Persons. The Willis brothers and Kountzo returned to the fort in Septem- ber 1847, the two former to assist Sutter in throwing a dam across the Amer- ican River at the grist-mill, and the latter on account of ill health. Mention is maile of one Evans, sent by Sutter with Bigler, Smith, and Johnson, Ben- nett and Scott following a little later; but whether Evans or Persons M'ere on the ground at this time, or had left, no one states. Bigler, Stephens, Brown, Barger, Johnson, Smith, the brothers Willis, and Kountze had formerly be- longed to the Mormon battalion.
" Broad enough across the chest, free and natural in movement, he thought lightly of fatiffue and hardships. His complexion was a little shaded; the mouth declined toward the comers; the nose and head were well shaped. In this estimate I am assisted by an old daguerreotype lying before me, and which reminds me of Marshall s answer to the editor of IJutchings* Mcuj'tzine in 1857, when asked for his likeness. *I wish to say that I feel it a duty I o^e to myself,' he writes from Coloma the 5th of Sept.. * to retain my like- ness, as it is in fact all I have that Ican call my own; and I feel like any other poor wretch, I want something for self. The sale of it may yet keep nie from starving, or it mav buv me a dose of medicine in sickness, or pay fur the fnneral of a dog, and such is all that I expect* judging from former kind- Dosses. I owe the country nothing. ' ​
proximate, he was sensible and skilful; in the obscure and remote, he was utterly lost. In temper it was so; with his companions and subordinates he was free and friendly; with his superiors and the world at large he was morbidly ill-tempered and surly.** He was taciturn, with visionary ideas, linked to spiritualism^ that repelled confidence^ and made him appear eccentric and morbid; he was restless, yet capable of self-denying perseverance that was fre- quently stamped as obstinacy.*^
Early in the afternoon of Monday, the 24th** of
'^For example, Bigler, who worked under him, says of him, Diary , MS., 57, *An entire stranger to us, but proved to be a gentleman;* and again, 72, ' in a first-rate good humor, as he most always was. ' He was a truthful man, so far as he knew the tmth. ' Whatever Mr Marshall tells you, you may rely on as correct,' said the people of Coloma to one writing in Hutching^ mag.^ ii. 201. This is the impression he made on his men. On the other hand, Sut«  ter, who surely knew him well enough, and would be the last person to malign any one, says to the editor of the Lancdster Examiner: * Marshall was like a crazy man. He was one of thoser visionary men who was always dream- ing about something.' And to me Sutter remarked: ' He was a vei^ curious man, quarrelled with nearly everybody, though I could get along with him.' Pera. If em., MS., 160.
^^ Passionate, he was seldom violent; strong, he was capable of drinkinff deeply and coming well out of it; but he did not care much for the pleasures m intoxication, nor was he the drunkard and gambler that some have called him. He was not always actuated by natural causes. Once in a restaurant in San Francisco, in company with Sutter, he broke out: 'Are we alone?' ^Yes,' Sutter said. ' No, we are not,' Marshall replied, * there is a body there which you cannot see, but which I can. I have been inspired by heaven to act as a medium, and I am to tell Major-Greneral Sutter what to do.' But though foolish in some directions, he was in others a shrewd observer. Sutter, Pers. Rem., MS., 160, and Bidwell, Cal. I84I-8, MS., 228, both praise him as a mechanic; and though in some respects a fool, ho is still called ' an honest man.' Barstow's Stat., MS., 14; S. F. Alia CaL., Aug. 17, 1874. To dress, naturally, he paid but little attention. He was frequently seen in white linen trousers, buckskin leggings and moccasons, and Mexican sombrero.
^*The 19th of January is toe date usually given; but I am satisfied it is incorrect. There are but two authorities to choose between, Marshall, the discoverer, and one Henry W. Bigler, a Mormon engaged ui>on the work at the time. Besides confusion of mind in other respects, Marshall admits that he does not know the date. * On or about the 19th of January, ' he says, Jfittchinfjn* Mcujazine, ii. 200; * I am not quite certain to a day, but it was between the 18th or 20th. ' Whereupon the 19th has been generally accepted. Bigler, on the other hand, was a cool, clear-headed, methodical man; more- over, he kept a journal, in which he entered occurrences on the spot, and it is from this journal I get my date. If further evidence be wanting, we have it. Marshall states tiiat four days after the discovery he proceeded to New Helvetia with specimens. Now, by reference to another journal, N. Helvetia Diary, we find that Marshall arrived at the fort on the evening of the 28th. If we reckon the day of discovery as one of the four days, allow Marshall one ​
January, 1848, while sauntering along the tail-race inspecting the work, Marshall noticed yellow particles mingled with the excavated earth which had been washed by the late rains. He gave it little heed at first; but presently seeing more, and some in scales, the thought occurred to him that possibly it might be gold. Sending an Indian to his cabin for a tin plate, he washed out some of the dirt, separating thereby as much of the dust as a ten-cent piece would hold ; then he went about his business, stopping a while to ponder on the matter. During the evening he remarked once or twice quietly, somewhat doubtingly, " Boys, I believe I have found a gold mine." '*I reckon not." was the response; "no such luck."
Up betimes next morning, according to his custom, he walked down by the race to see the effect of the night's sluicing, the head-gate being closed at day- break as usual. Other motives prompted his investi- gation, as may be supposed, and led to a closer exam- ination of the ddbris. On reaching the end of the race a glitter from beneath the water caught his eye, and bending down he picked from its lodgement against a projection of soft granite, some six inches below the surface, a larger piece of the yellow sub- stance than any he had seen. If gold, it was in value equal to about half a dollar. As he examined it his heart began to throb. Could it indeed be gold ! Or was it only mica, or sulphuret of copper, or other ignis fatuusi Marshall was no metallurgist, yet he had practical sense enough to know that gold is heavy and malleable; so he turned it over, and weighed it in his hand; then he bit it; and then he hammered it between two stones. It must be gold ! And the mighty secret of the Sierra stood revealed I
Marshall took the matter coolly; he was a cool enough man except where his pet lunacy was touched. On further exammation he found more of the metal.
night on the way, which Parsons gives him, and coant the 2$tbi.0Qe day, we
liave the 24th as the date oi discovery, trebly proved. MuT, Cjm., Vol, VL 8 ​
He went to his companions and showed it to them, and they collected some three ounces of it, flaky and in grains, the largest piece not quite so large as a pea, and from that down to less than a pin-head in size. Half of this he put in his pouch, and two days later mounted his horse and rode over to the fort."
The events which happened at Coloma in January 1848 are described by four persons who were actually present. These are Bigler, Marshall, and Wimmer and his wife. Of these Bigler has hitherto given nothing to the public except a brief letter published in the San FrancUco Builetiti, Dec. 31, 1870. To me, however, he kindly presented an abstract of the diary which he kept at the time, with elaborations and comments, and which I esteem as one of the most valuable original manuscripts in my poseession. The version given in this diary I have mainly followed in the text, as the most complete and accurate account. The others wrote from memory, long after the event; and it is to be feared too often from a memory distorted by a desire to exalt their respective claims to an important share in the discovery. Bat Bigler has no claims of this kind to support. He was not present when the first parti- cles were discovered, nor when the first piece was picked up in the raoe; hence of these incidents he says little, confining himself mostly to what he saw with his own eyes. Marshall claims to have been alone when he made the discovery. It is on this point that the orimnal authorities disagree. Bigler says Marshall went down the race alone. Mrs Wimmer and her husband de- clare that the latter was with Marshall, and saw the gold at the same moment, though both allow that Marshall was the first to stoop and pick it up. Later Mrs Wimmer is allowed to claim the first discovery for her cnildren) who show their findings to their father, he informing Marshall, or at least enlightening him as to the nature of the metal. Marshall tells his own story in a com- munication signed by him and published in llutchings' Mag., ii. 199-201, and less fully in a letter to C. K. Pickett, dated Jan. 28, 1856, in JIiUeU*s Hand- Book of Alining, 12; Wiggins* Rem,, MS., 17-18; and in various brief accounts given to newspapers and interviewers. Parsons* Life o/MarsIiaU is based on mformation obtained directly from the discoverer, and must ever constitute a leading authority on the subject. P. L. Wimmer furnished a brief account oC the discovery to tlie Coloma Argus in 1855, which is reprinted in HittelVt Mining, 13. Mrs Wimmer s version, the result of an interview with Mary P. Winslow, was first printed in the 8. F, Bulkiin, Dec. 19, 1874, though the substance of a previous interview with another person in 1852 is given in the Oilroy Advocate, April 24, 1875. Another claas of authorities, as important as the foregoing, is composed of those who were the first to hear of the <li8- covery, and appeared on the ground immediately afterward. Foremost among these is Sutter. This veteran has at various times given accounts of the event to a number of persons, the best perhaps being those printed by J. Tyrwhitt Brooks in his Four Months among tfie (Jold-finaers, 40-71, in the Oilroy A dxH>' cafe ot Apr. 24, 1875, and in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, July 17, 1875, the latter taken from tlio Lancaxter Examiner. Sutter's most complete printed narra- tive appears, however, in Mulchings* Mag., ii. 194-8. But more important than any of these, l^ecause more detailed and prepared with greater care, is the version contained in the manuscript entitled Sutter's Personal ReminxB" cences, wlucli I personally obtained from his lips. The same maybe seid of those given in the manuscripts of John Bidwell, Cai\fomia I84I-S, and of Gregson, Jlvitorical Statement, both of whom were at New Helvetia when the news first reached there, and at once visited Coloma. Provoked by an article in the Oregon linlletin, with not very flattering reflections, Samuel Brannan ma<ie a statement in the Cnlutoga Tribune, which changed matters in no important particalar. To attempt to give a list of all who have touched upon ​
Great discoveries stand more or less connected with accident; that is to say, accidents which are sure to happen. Newton was not seeking the law of gravi- tation, nor Colunibus a new continent, nor Marshall gold, when these things were thrust upon them. And had it not been one of these, it would have been some one else to make the discovery. Gold fevers have had their periodic run since time immemorial, when Scythians mined the Ural, and the desert of Gobi lured the dwellers on the Indus; or when Ophir, the goal of Phoenician traders, paled before the splen- dor of Apulia. The opening of America caused a re- vival which the disclosures by Cortds and Pizarro turned into a virulent epidemic, raging for centuries,
the diaoovery of gold in California would be of no practical benefit to any one. Next in importance, but throwing no additional light upon the subject, are thoae inAU'i CtU., June 26, 1853, May 5, 1872, June 26, 1873, and Aug. 18 and 19, 1874; Hayf$* CoL Mining Cat, A. 1; S. F, Bulletin, Feb. 4, 1871, Jan. 12, 1872, Oct. 21, 1879, May 12, 1880; Scieniijic Prem^ May 1 1, 1872; Broume's BetOftrcrH^ 14-15; Balch*« Mines and Minern, 78; FanihanCs Col., 354-6; London Quarterlg Review, xcL 507-8; California Past and Present, 73-10r>; Weih, Cai. wie es ist, 29^-51; Brooks* Hist., 534; Mason^s Official Kept; Lar- kin's LeUem to Secy State; Robinson's Gold Region, 33-46; Foster's Gold Regions, 17-22; Shinn's Mining Camps, 105-22; Wiggins* Rem., MS., 17-18; Frost's Hisi. Col., 39-55; Jenkins* U, 8, Expl. Ex., 431-2; Oakland Times, Mar. 6, 1880; Revere*s Tour of Duty, 228-52; SchlagitUuyU, Cat., 216; Wfst Shore Gaz,, 15; San Josi Pioneer, Jan, 19, 1878; ^eiffer. Second Journey, 290, who in as accurate as excdrsionists generally are; Frignel, Hist. Cal., 79-80; Mfited People, June 18, 1872; Mining Rev. and Slock Ledger, 1878, 126; Barntow's Stat., MS., 3; B%fum*s Six Months, 67-8; Tretistery of Travel, 92-4; Le ivUfs Scrap-Book; Nevada Gazette, Jan. 22, 1868; Holinski, La Cat., 144; (TrvfM Valley union, April 19, 1870; Sacramento TUust.,T; Scucon'sFive Tears within the Golden Gate; Auger, Voyage en Cal^fomie, 149-56; Annals of S. F., 130-2; CaL Assoc, Pioneer, Ftrst Annual, 42; Capron*s CctHfornia, 184-5; Bennetts Rec, MS., iL 10-13. I have hardly thought it worth while to notice the stories circulated at various times questioning MarshalVs claim as discoverer; as, for example, that Wimmer, or his boy, as before mentioned, was the first to pick up gold; or that a native, called Indian Jim, observed the shining metal, a piece as larse as a brass button, which he gave to one of the workmen. Sailor Ike, who showed it to Marshall. Even men away from the spot at the time do not decline the honor. Gregson writes in his Stfite- ment, MS., 9, 'we, the discoverers of gold,' and in his History qf Stockton, 73, Tinkbam says: <To those two pioneers of 1839 and 1841, Captain John A. Sutter and l>aptain Charles M. Weber, belong the honor of aiscoverins tlie first gold^^elds of California, and to them the state owes its wonderful growth ai#d prosperity.* These men were neither of them the discoverers of flold in any sense, nor were they the builders of this commonwealth. Some have claimed that the Mormons discovered the gold at Mormon Island, before Marshall found it at Coloma. Bidwell says that Brigbam Young in 1864 assured him that this was the case. Cal. I84I-S, MS., 214. Such man- ifest errors and misstatements are unworthy of serious consideratiou, Tbti^ is not the »\ightett doabt tbMt MsuishaU was the discoverer. ​
ev- er stimulated by advancing exploration and piratical adventure. Every step northward in Mexico con- firmed the belief in still richer lands beyond, and gave food for flaming tales like those told by Friar Mdrcos de Niza.
Opinions were freely expressed upon the subject^ some of them taking the form of direct assertions. These merit no attention. Had ever gold been found in Marin county, we might accredit the statement of Francis Drake, or his chaplain, Fletcher, that they saw it there in 1579. As it is, we know they did not see it. Many early writers mention gold in California, referring to Lower California, yet leading some to confound the two Californias, and to suppose that the existence of the metal in the Sierra foothills w^as then known. Instance Miguel Venegas, Shelvocke, and others of the seventeenth and eighteenth centu- ries, and early encyclopaedia makers. It has always been a favorite trick of navigators to speak of things they either greatly feared or greatly desired as exist- ing. Vizcaino, Knight, and fifty others were certain that the mountains of California contained gold. The developments along the Colorado River led to the same conviction; indeed, it was widely assumed that the Jesuits knew of rich mines within and beyond their precincts. Count Scala claims for the Russians of Bodega knowledge of gold on Yuba River as early as 1815, but he fails to support the assertion. Dana and other professional men of his class are to be cen- sured for what they did not see, rather than praised for the wonderful significance of certain remarks. The mine at San Fernando, near Los Angeles, where work was begun in 1842, is about the only satisfactory instance on record of a knowledge of the existence of gold in Alta California prior to the discovery of Mar- shall. And this was indeed a clew which could not have failed to be taken up in due time by some one among the host of observant fortune-hunters now pouring" in, and forced by circumstances into the for​
ests and foothills in quest of slumbering resources. The Sierra could not have long retained her secret. ^° The discovery by Marshall was the first that can be called a California gold discovery, aside from the petty placers found in the southern part of the state. It is not impossible that white men may have seen gold in the Sierra foothills before him. This region had been traversed by trappers, by emigrants, and even by men of science; but if they saw gold, either they did not know it or they did not reveal it. No sooner was the discovery announced than others claimed to have been previously cognizant of the fact; but such statements are not admissible. Most of them are evident fabrications; as for the rest, not one has been proved. They were made in the first in- stance, as a rule, to deprive Marshall of the fame of his discovery, and they failed.
^ConsDicuous among those not before mentioned are the opinions general of Arthur l>obba, Samuel Heame, Jonathan Carver, Duflot de Mofras, CataU, Pickett, Bidwell, Larkin, Bandini, Osio; the statements of Antonio de Alcedo, Alvarado, Vallejo, Jedediah Smith, Blake, Hastings, and others. Herewith I give a list of authorities on the subject. 0)iio, HiMoria de California^ MS., 606; Col, Depi. St Pap,, viii. 6, 16, etc.; Larkin's Off. Cor., MS., i. 96; Ban- diiii^ nisi. C\il,, MS., 17-18; BidweWs Col. ISU-S, MS., 214; Vall^o, Doc, MS., i. 140-1; Dfp, Bee, MS., ix. 136; Vallejo, Notas nistdricas, MS.. 35; Cly man* a Diary, MS.; Dams' Glimpses, MS., 149-50; SanDieyo, Arch, Index, MS., 92; CasUinares, CoL Doc, Col,, MS., 23; Alvarado, HiH. CaL, MS., i. 77, and iv. 161; Galindo, Apuntes, MS., 68-9; JSuller'a Pera. Ohs„ MS., 171 ; JIatVs Sonora, MS., 252; Castroville Argus, Sept. 7, 1872; Bobimton's Life in Col,, 190; Browne's Min, Bes., 13-16; Monterey Herald, Oct. 15, 1875; Bry att*:s Cat,, 451; M4z., Mem, Bel., 1835, no. 6; Mo/ras, Or. et CaL, I 137; S. F. Aha Vol., Mar. 28, 1857, and Jan. 28 and May 18, 1878; S, F. Herald, Juue 1, 1855; Hesperian Mag., vii. 560; Drake's Voy.; Sheltwke's Voy,; Dobhs* Hudson's Bay; Hardy's Travels in Mex,, 331-2; Dunbar's Boniance of the Age, 93-4; Hughes' CaX., 119; Mendocino Democrat, Feb. 1, 1872; Lake Co^tntyBee, Mar. 18, 1873; Venegas, Hist, Ccd., i. 177-8; Antioch Ledger, Feb. 3, 1872; HiUelTs Mining, 10-11; Bvffnm's Six Months, 45-6; Widkcr's Nar.^ II; Merced Argvs, Sept. 2, 1874; Croni»e's Nat. Wealth, 109; Hanes' Col, Mining CaL, I I; 8. F. BuUetin, July 12 and Oct. 1, 1860, Aug. 14, 1865; TuthUVs HisL Col., 231 ; Cray's Hist, Or., 364; Dana's Two Years, 324; Bed Bluff lnd.,Z9iVk, 17, 1866; Hutchings' Mag., v. 352; Hunt's Mer. Mng., xxiv. 768, xxxL 385-6, xxxiv. 631-2; Cat. Chronicle, Jan. 28, 1856; Dwinelle, Ad., 1866, 28; Beese Biv, Beveille, Aug. 10, 1865, and Jan. 29, 1872; Carson's State Beg., Jan. 27, 1^2; Elko Independent, Jan. 15, 1870; <S^oc Union, Juno 7^ 1861; Scala, Nouv, An, des Voy., clxiv. 388-90; Quarterly Bev., no. 87, 1850, 416; Oomez, Lo queSabe, MS., 228-9; Hughes' California, 1 19; Carson's Bee, 58-9; Boberts' Bec„ MS., 10; Valle, Doc., MS., 57; Dppt. St Pap., MS., xiL •3-5; Betpttna, Doc,, MS., 4-5; Los AngtUs, Arch,, MS., v. 331. ​
It was late in the afternoon of the 28th of January when Marshall dismounted at New Helvetia,^^ entered the office where Sutter was busy writing, and abruptly requested a private interview. The horseman was dripping wet, for it was raining. Wondering what could have happened, as but the day before he had sent to the mill all that was required, Sutter led the way into a private room. "Are you alone ?" demanded the visitor. '* Yes," was the reply. " Did you lock the door?" "No, but I will if you wish it." "I want two bowls of water," said Marshall. Sutter rang the bell and the bowls were brought. " Now I want a stick of redwood, and some twine, and some sheet copper." " What do you want of all these things, Marshall 1 " " To make scales." " But I have scales enough in the apothecary's shop," said Sutter; and he brought a pair. Drawing forth his pouch, Marshall emptied the contents into his hand, and held it before Sutter's eyes, remarking, " I believe this is gold; but the people at the mill laughed at me and ' called me crazy." Sutter, examined the stuff atten- tively, and finally said : " It certainly looks like it; we will try it." First aquafortis was applied; and the substance stood the test. Next three dollars in silver coin were put into one of the scales, and balanced by gold-dust in the other. Both were then imuiersed in water, when down went the dust and up the silver coin. Finally a volume of the American iJncijclopcedia, of which the fort contained a copy, was brought ont, and the article on gold carefully studied, whereupon all doubts vanished.^
'^ Dunbar, Romance of the Age^ 48, dates the arrival at the fort Feb. 2d, and intimates that tiie discovery was made the same mommg. According to Parsons, Marshall reached the fort about 9 o'clock in the morning, having left Coloina the day before, and ])as8ed the preceding night under a tree. On the journey he discovered gold in a ravine in the footiiills, and also at the place afterward called Mormon Island, while examining the river for a lumber-yard site. Life of MarnhUl^ 84. Sutter, however, both in his Diary and in his liem- iniscejicea^ says that Marshall arrivetl at the fort in the afternoon. Marshall himself makes no mention of discovering gold on the journey.
'■'* iSutter's Pers. Re.m.^ MS., 163-7. In my conferences with Sutter, at Litiz, I endeavored to draw from him every detail respecting the interview here ​
Marshall proposed that Sutter should return with him to the mill that night, but the latter declined, saying that he would be over the next day. It was now supper- time, and still drizzling; would not the vis- itor rest himself till morning ? No, he must be off immediately; and without even waiting to eat, he wrapped his sarape about him, mounted his horse, and rode off into the rain and darkness. Sutter slept little that night. Though he knew nothing of the magni- tude of the affair, and did not fully realize the evils he had presently to face, yet he felt there would soon be enough of the fascination abroad to turn the heads of his men, and to disarrange his plans. In a word, with prophetic eye, as he expressed himself to me, he saw that night the curse of the thing upon him.
On the morning of the 29th of January ^ Sutter
S resented in a condensed form. Some accounts assert that when Marshall esired the door to be locked Sutter was frightened, and looked about for his gun. The general assured me this was not the case. Neither was the mind of Marshall wrouglit into such a fever as many represent. His manner M'as hurried and excited, but he was sane enough. He was peculiar, and he wished to despatch this business and be back at the mill. Barstow, in his SkUfmerU, MS., 3, asserts that he did not rush down to the fort, but waited until he had business there. All the evidence indicates that neither Marshall nor Sutter had any idea, as yet, of the importance of the discovery. How could they have? There might not be more than a handful of gold-dust in the whole. Sierra, from any fact thus far appearing. See BidwelCa Cal\fornia 1841-8^ MS., 230; BigUrs Diary, MS., 64; Brooh* Four Months, 40-3; Par^om' Lift qf Marshail, 84-5; Hutchings* Mag., ii. 194. Gregson, SUUement, MS., 8, blacksmithing for Sutter when Marshall arrived, saw the gold in a greenish ounce vial, about half tilled. Bigler gives Marshall's own words, as repeated on his return to the mill. In every essential particular his account corresponds with that ffiven to me by Sutter.
his ReminiitcenceA, and his statement in HutchingH* Magazine, Sutter distinctly ■ays that he left for the saw-mill at seven o'clock on the morning after Mar- shall's visit to the fort; but in his Diary is written Feb. Ist, which would be the fourth day after the visit. Bigler, in his Diary, says that Sutter reached the mill on the third or fourth day after Marshall's return. Marshall shows his usual carelessness, or lack of memory, by stating that Sutter reached Coloma * about the 20th of February.' Discovery o/OoUl, in Iiut/:hlngH' Mag,, IL 201. Parsons is nearly as far wrong in saying that Sutter ' returned with Marshall to Coloma.' Life of Marshall, 86. Mrs Wimmer also says that
in his restlessness went back to meet Sutter, and of course came into camp with him. On the whole, I have determined to follow Sutter's words to me, as I know them to be as he gave them. If Sutter did not set out until Feb. Ist, then Marshall did not reach the mill until the 3lst of January, else Sut- ter's whole statement is errojieous. ​
started for the saw-mill. When half-way there, or more, he saw an object moving in the bushes at one side. " What is that ? " demanded Sutter of his attendant. " The man who was with you yester- day," was the reply. It was still raining. "Have you been here all night?" asked Sutter of Marshall ; for it was indeed he. " No," Marshall said, " I slept at the mill, and came back to meet you." As they rode along Marshall expressed the opinion that the whole country was rich in gold. Arrived at the mill, Sutter took up his quarters at a house Marshall had lately built for himself, a little way up the mountain, and yet not far from the mill. During the night the water ran in the race, and in the morning it was shut off. All present then proceeded down the channel, and jumping into it at various points began to gather gold.^* With some contributions by the men, added to what he himself picked up, Sutter secured enough for a ring weighing an ounce and a half, which he soon after exhibited with great pride as a specimen of the first gold. A private examination by the partners up the river disclosed gold all along its course, and in the tributary ravines and crceks.'^^
Sutter regarded the discovery as a misfortune. Without laborers his extensive works must come to a stop, presaging ruin. Gladly would he have shut the knowledge from the world, for a time, at least. With the men at the mill the best he could do was to make them promise to continue their work, and say nothing of the gold ^discovery for six weeks, by which time he hoped to have his Hour-mill completed, and
^*Bigler, Diary y MS., 65-6, gives a joke which they undertook to play on the Old Cap, as Marshall called Sutter. This was nothing less than to salt the iiiiiie in order that Sutter in his excitement might pass the hottle. Wim- mer's l)oy, running on before, picked up the gold scattered in the race for the harmless surprising of Sutter, and thus spoiled their sport.
'*•' Indeed, Sutter claims that he picked with a small knife from a dry gorge a solid lump weighing nearly an ounce and a half, and regarde«l the tributaries as the richer sources. The work-people obtained an inkling of their discovery, although they sought henceforth to dampen the interest. One of the Indians who seems to have worked in a southern mine published his knowledge. Pere, Jiem.y MS. ​
his other affairs so arranored as to enable him to with- stand the result. The men, indeed, were not yet prepared to relinquish good wages for the uncertain- ties of gold-gathering.
If only the land could be secured on which this gold was scattered — for probably it did not extend far in any direction — then interloping might be prevented, mining controlled, and the discovery made profitable. It was worth trying, at all events. Mexican grants being no longer possible, Sutter began by opening negotiations with the natives, after the manner of the English colonists on the other side of the continent. Calling a council of the Culumas and some of their neighbors, the lords aboriginal of those lands, Sutter and Marshall obtained from them a three years' lease of a tract some ten or twelve miles square, on payment of some shirts, hats, handkerchiefs, flour, and other articles of no great value, the natives meanwhile to be left unmolested in their homes.^ Sutter then re- turned to New Helvetia, and the great discovery was consummated.
of *an agreement we had made with this tribe of Indians in the month of September previous, to wit, that we should live with them in peace on the same land.' Discovery ofOoUl, in Hutchings* Mag., ii. 200. ​
CHAPTER III.
THE SECRET ESCAPES.
Febkuaky, 1848.
Bkxnktt Goes to Monterey— Sees Pfister at Bekioia — 'Thebb is What WILL Beat Cual!' — Bennett Meeta Isaac HrMPUBBY at San Franoikco
— UxsrCtTESMFUL AT MONTEKEY— SiTTTER's SwIS8 TeAMSTER — ThE BoY
WiMMEu Tells Uim of the Gold — The Mother Wimmer, to Pbovk HER Boy not a Liak, Shows It — And the Teamster, Who is TniBSTr, Shows It at the Fort — Affairs at th» Mill Proceed- -as XJwsal, — Bksler's Sunday Mfj»itations — (told Found at fcirs" "Oax Ba& — Bi(;lkr W'RiThks ULs Three Friends the Secret— Who Unite with Thkm Other Three to Help Them Keep It — Three Cosulso CobOMX
— l>l?*OOVERY AT MoitMON ISLAND — ThE Mo&MON ExiT.
Occasionally instances occur where one's destiny, hitherto seemingly confined in the clouds, is let out in a Hood, and if weak, the recipient is overwhelmed and carried down the stream by it; if he be strong, and makes avail of it, his fortune is secured; in any event, it is his opportunity.
0p<)rtunity here presented itself in the first in- stance to a chosen dozen, none of whom appear to have taken due advantage of it. Having no realiza- tion of their situation, they left the field to after- comers, who by direct or indirect means drew fortune from it. The chief actors, Marshall and Sutter, with proj)rtionately greater interests at stake, primarily displayed no more skill than the others in making avail ofp|)ortunitv, the former drifting away without one successful grasp, the latter making a brief stand against the torrent, only in the end to sink amidst the ruins of his projects and belongings. ​
Sutter disclosed his weakness in several ways. Al- though enjoining secrecy upon all concerned, and show- ing extreme fear lest the discovery should be known by those about him, the inconstant Swiss could not him- self resist the temptation of telling it to his friends at a distance. Writing Vallejo the 10th of February, he says: "I have made a discovery of a gold mine, which, according to experiments we have made, is ex- traordinarily rich."^ Moreover, not wholly satisfied with his Indian title, Sutter determined to despatch a Uiossenger to Monterey, for the purpose of further securing the land to himself and Marshall through Colonel R. B. Mason, chief representative of the United States government in California. For this mission was chosen Charles Bennett, one of Marshall's associates, and standing next to him in intelligence and ability at the saw-mill. The messenger was in- structed to say nothing about the discovery of gold, but to secure the land with mill, pasture, and mineral privileges, giving as a reason for including the last the appearance of lead and silver in the soil.* The man, however, was too weak for the purpose. With him in a buckskin bag he carried some six ounces of the secret, which, by the time he reached Benicia, became too heavy for him. There, in Pfister s store, hearing it said that coal had been found nearTVIonte del Diablo, and that in consequence Califoriilu vvuuld assume no small importance in the eyes of her new owners, Bennett could contain himself no longer.
will beat coal> and make this the greatest country in the world." Whereupon he produced his bag, and passed it around among his listeners.®
^ The accompliBhcd potentate writes every man in his own language, though his Spanish is not much better than his English. '* Y he hecho un descubri- niieuto de roina de oro, q* sigun hemos esperinientado es extraordinarimente rica.' ValUfo, Docs, MS., xiL 332.
'Thia on the authority of Bigler. Diary of a Mormon, MS., 66. Some ■ay that Bennett held contracts with Marshall under Sutter. Hunt's Mer, Slcig,, XX. 59; but for this there is no good authority. He set out for Monterey toward the middle of February.
' Several claim the honor of carrying the first gold beyond the precmcla ol ​
On reaching San Francisco Bennett heard of one Isaac Humphrey, who,among other things, knew some- thing of gold-mining. He had followed that occupa- tion in Georgia, but hardly expected his talents in that direction to be called in requisition in California. Bennett sought an introduction, and again brought forth his purse. Thus Sutter's secret was in a fine way of being kept I Humphrey at once pronounced the contents of the purse to be gold. At Monterey Mason declined to malTe any promise respecting title to lands,* and Bennett consoled himself for the failure of his mission by offering further glimpses of his treasure.
In order to prevent a spreading infection among his dependents, Sutter determined that so far as pos- sible all communication with the saw-mill should for the present be stopped. Toward the latter end of February, however, he found it necessary to send thither provisions.* To a Swiss teamster, as a per-
the California Valley. Bid well, California 1841-8^ MS., 231, says he was the first to proclaim the news in Sonoma and S. F. ' I well remember Vallejo's words,* he writes, 'when I told him of the discovery and where it had taken
Slace. He said, ^'As the water flows through Sutter's mill-race, may the gold ow into Sutter's purse."* This must have bwn after or at the time of Ben- nett's journey; I do not think it preceded it. Bid well calls the chief ruler at Monterey Gov. Riley, instead of Col Mason; and if his memory is at fault upon 80 conspicuous a point, he might easily overlook the fact that Bennett preceded iiim. Furthermore, we have many who speak of meeting Bennett at 8. F., and of examining his gold, but not one who mentions Bidwells name in that connection. Sutter was adopting a singular course, certainly, to have his secret kept. Gregson, Stai, , MS. , 8, thinks that the first gold was taken by McKinstry in Sutter s launch to S. F., and there delivered to Folsom. Such statements as the following, though made in good faith, amount to little in determining as to the first. That nrst seen or known by a person to him is first, notwithstanding another's first may have been prior to his. ' 1 saw the firat gold that was brought down to S. F. It was in Howard & Melius' store, and in their charge. It was in four-ounce vial, or near that size.' Ayer's Per' aonal Adv.^ MS., 2.
persons, from which one might infer that Humphrey accompanied Bennett to Monterey. They there displayed * about half an ounce of placer gold. * They presented a letter from Sutter, to which Mason replied * that Califor- nia was yet a Mexican province, simply held by us as a conquest; that no laws of the U. S. yet applied to it, much less the land laws or preemption laws, which could only apply after a public survey.* See, further, Buffum's Six MoniJis in Gold MintSy G8; Bifjler's Diary of a Mormon^ MS., 66; BidwelVs Col- \fornia lS41-8y MS., 2,31; Browne's Min. lies., 14; HitteWa JJist. S, F., 125. Grei^n, Stat., MS., says that Bennett died in Oregon.
^' We had salt salmon and boiled wheat, and we, the discoverers of gold. ​
son specially reliable, this mission was intrusted. The man would indeed die rather than betray any secret of his kind countryman and master; but alas I he loved intoxication, that too treacherous felicity. Arrived at Coloma, the teamster encountered one of the Wimmer boys, who exclaimed triumphantly, "We have found gold up here." The teamster so ridiculed the idea that the mother at length became some- what nettled, and to prove her son truthful, she not only produced the stuff, but gave some to the teamster. Returned to the fort, his arduous duty done, the man must have a drink. Often he had tried at Smith and Brannan's store to quench his thirst from the whis- kay barrel, and pay for the same in promises. On this occasion he presented at the counter a bold front and demanded a bottle of the delectable, at the same time laying down the dust. " What is that? " asked Smith. " Gold," was the reply. Smith thought the fellow was quizzing him; nevertheless he spoke of it to Sutter, who finally acknowledged the fact.*
About the time of Bennett's departure Sutter's schooner went down the river, carrying specimens of the new discovery, and Folsom, the quartermaster in San Francisco, learned of the fact, informed, it is said, by McKinstry. Then John Bidwell went to the Bay and spread the news broadcast. Smith, store-keeper at the fort, sent word of it to his partner, Brannan; and thus by various ways the knowledge became gen- eral.
It was not long before the saw-mill society, which numbered among its members one woman and two
were livinff on that when gold was fonnd, and we were suffering from scurvy afterward. Oregtton^a Statement^ MS., 9. An infliction this man might un- dergo almost anywhere, being, if like his manuscript, something of a scurvy fellow. Mark the *we, the discoverers of gold,' before noticed. GregEoa was not at the mill when gold was found.
soems that the gentle Swiss always ^und his beloved aboriginals far leas treacherous than the white-skinned parasites. See StUter's Rem. , MS., 171-^; Inter PoeulOf this series; HtUchinga* Mag.^ ii. 196; Duitbar'a Romance of th» Affe, 114-15. ​
.boys, found the matter, in common with the others, too weighty for them. For a time affairs here pro- ceeded much as usual. The men, who for the most part were honest and conscientious, had pledged their word to six weeks' work, and they meant to keep it. The idea of self-sacrifice, if any such arose, was teni-
Eered by the thought that perhaps after all there was ut little gold, and that little confined within narrow limits; hence if they abandoned profitable service for an uncertainty, they might find themselves losers in the end. As a matter of course, they could have no conception of the extent and power of the spirit they had awakened. It was not necessary, however, that on Sundays they should resist the worship of Mam- mon, who was indeed now fast becoming the chief god hereabout.
The historic tail-race, where first in these parts be- came incarnate this deity, more potent presently than either Christ or Krishna, commanded first attention; indeed, for some time after gold had been found in other places, it remained the favorite picking-ground of the mill-men. Their only tools as yet were .their knives, and with these from the seams and crevices each person managed to extract metal at the rate of from three to eight dollars a day. For the purpose of calculating their gains, they constructed a light pair of wooden scales, in which was weighed silver coin against their gold. Thus, a Mexican real de plata was balanced by two dollars' worth of gold, which they valued at sixteen dollars the ounce, less than it was really worth, but more than could be ob- tained for it in the mines a few months later. Gold- dust which balanced a silver quarter of a dollar was deemed worth four dollars, and so on.
On the 6th of February, the second Sunday after Marshall's discoverv, while the others were as usual busied in the tail-race, Henry Bigler and James Bar- ger crossed the river, and from a bare rock opposite the mill, with nothing but their pocket​knives, ob-
tained together gold to the value of ten dollars. The Saturday following, Bigler descended the river half a mile, when, seeing on the other side some rocks left bare by a land-slide, he stripped and crossed. There, in the seams of the rocks, were particles of the pre- cious stuff exposed to view, of w^iich the next day he gathered half an ounce, and the Sunday following an ounce. Snow^ preventing work at the mill, on Tues- day, the 22d, he set out for the same place, and ob- tained an ounce and a half. Up to this time he had kept the matter to himself, carrying with him a gun on pretext of shooting ducks, in order to divert suspi- cion. Questioned closely on this occasion, he told his comrades what he had been doing, and the following Sunday five of them accompanied him to the same spot, and spent the day hunting in the sand. All were well rewarded. In the opposite direction suc- cess proved no less satisfactory. Accompanied by James Gregson, Marshall ascended the river three miles; and at a place which he named Live Oak Bar, if we may believe Gregson, they picked up with their fingers without digging a pint of gold, in pieces up to the size of a bean.^ Thus was gradually enlarged the area of the gold-field
About the 21st of February, Bigler wrote to certain of his comrades of the Mormon battalion — Jesse Mar- tin, Israel Evans, and Ephraim Green, who were at work on Sutter's flour-mill — informing them of the discovery of gold, and charging them to keep it secret, or to tell it to those only who could be trusted. The result was the arrival, on the evening of the 27th, of three men, Sidney Willis, Fiefield, and Wilford Hud-
^ StaUmeni of James Oregson, MS., passim. The author was an English- man, who came to California in 1845 and engaged with Satter as a whip- sawyer. Lumber then cost $30 a thousand at Sutter's Fort. He ser\'ed in the war, and after the discovery of gohl went to Ck)loma, accompanied by his wife. Throwing up his engagement with Marshall, he secured that year $3,000 in gold-dust. Sutter appears to have, in February, alreadv set some Indians to pick gpld round the mill. Uis claim to this ground was long ​rstpected.
son, who said they had come to search for gold. Marshall received them graciously enough, and gave them permission to mine in the tail-race. Accord- ingly, next morning they all went there, and soon Hudson picked up a piece weighing six dollars. Thus encouraged they continued their labors with fair success till the 2d of March, when they felt obliged to return to the flour-mill; for to all except Martin, their informant, they had intimated that their trip to
MoKMON Island.
the saw-mill was merely to pay a visit, and to shoot deer. Willis and Hudson followed the stream to con- tinue the search for gold, and Fiefield, accompanied by Bigler, pursued the easier route by the road. On meeting at the flour-mill, Hudson expressed disgust at being able to show only a few fine particles, not more than half a dollar in value, which he' anil his companion had found at a bar opposite a little island, about half-way down the river. Nevertheless the disease worked its way into the blood of other Mor​
men boys, and Ephraim Green and Ira Willis, brother of Sidney Willis, urged the prospectors to return, that together they might examine the place which had shown indications of gold. It was with difficulty that they prevailed upon them to do so. Willis and Hudson, however, finally consented; and the so lately slighted spot presently became famous as the rich Mormon Diggings, the island, Mormon Island, taking its name from these battalion boys who had first found gold there.
It is told elsewhere how the Mormons came to California, some in the ship Brooklyn^ and some as a battalion by way of Santa F^, and how they went hence to the Great Salt Lake, part of them, however, remaining permanently or for a time nearer the sea- board. I will only notice here, amidst the scenes now every day becoming more and more absorbing, bringing to the front the strongest passions in man s nature, how at the call of what they deemed duty these devotees of their religion unhesitatingly laid down their wealth-winning implements, turned their back on what all the world was just then making ready with hot haste and mustered strength to grasp at and struggle for, and marched through new toils and dangers to meet their exiled brethren in the desert.
It will be remembered that some of the emigrants by the Brooklyn had remained at San Francisco, some at New Helvetia, while others had settled on the Stanislaus River and elsewhere. A large detachment of the late Mormon battalion, disbanded at Los An- geles, was on its way to Great Salt Lake, when, arriv- ing at Sutter's Fort, the men stopped to work a while, no less to add a little to their slender store of clothing and provisions than to await a better season for the perilous journey across the mountains. It was while thus employed that gold had been discovered. And now, refreshed and better fitted, as spring approached their minds once more turned toward the original pur​
pose. They had promised Sutter to stand by him and finish the saw-mill; this they did, starting it running on the 1 1th of March. Henry Bigler was still there. On the 7th of April Bigler, Stephens, and Brown presented themselves at the fort to settle accounts with Sutter, and discuss preliminaries for their jour- ney with their comrades. The 1st of June was fixed upon for the start. Sutter was to be informed of their intention, that he might provide other workmen. Horses, cattle, and seeds were to be bought from him ; also two brass cannon. Three of their number had to precede to pioneer a route; eight tmen were ready to start as an overland express to the States, as the loved land east of the Mississippi was then called. It was not, however, until about a month later that the Mormons could move, for the constantly increasing gold excitement disarranged their plans and drew from their numbers.
In the mean time the thrifty saints determined to improve the opportunity, that they might carry to their desert rest as nmch of the world's currency as possible. On the 1 1th of April, Bigler, Brown, and Itephens set out on their return to Coloma, camping 'fifteen miles above the flouring mill, on a creek. In the morning they began to search for gold and found ten dollars' worth. Knowing that others of their fraternity were at work in that vicinity, they followed the stream upward and came upon them at Mormon Island, where seven had taken out that day $250.® No little encouragement was added by this hitherto unparalleled yield, due greatly to an improvement in method by washing the dust-speckled earth in Indian baskets and bowls, and thus sifting out also finer parti- cles. Under an agreement to divide the product of
•Tho seven men were Sidney Willis and Wilford Hudson, who had first found gold there, Ira Willis, Jesse B. Martin, Ephraim Green, Israel Evans, and James Sly. In regard to the names of the last two Bigler is not positive. Diarif of a Mormon^ MS., 76. See also Mendocino Democrat^ Feb. 1, 1872; HUtdVs Mining, 14; Sherman^ 8 Menu, i. r)l; Gold Dia., ArcoutU bi^a Mormon^ in Hayes* Col, Mining, iii. 8; Oregon Bulletin, Jan. 12, 1872; Antioch Ledger^ Feb. 3, 1872; Findla'a StcU., MS., 6; Rom' Stat., MS., 14. ​
their labor with Sutter and Marshall, who furnished tools and provisions, Bigler and his associates rained for two months, one mile below the saw-mill.^ They stopped in the midst of their success, however, and tearing themselves away from the fascination, they started on June 17th in search of a suitable rendez- vous, where all the saints might congregate prior to beginning their last pilgrimage across the mountains. They found such a spot the next day, near where Placerville now stands, calling it Pleasant Valley. Parties arrived one after aiiother, some driving loose horses into a prepared timber corral, others swelling the camp with wagons, cattle, and effects; and so the gathering continued till the 3d of July, when a gen- eral move was made. As the wagons rolled up along the divide between the American River and the Cosumnes on the national 4th, their cannon thundered independence before the high Sierra. It was a strange sight, exiles for their faith thus delighting to honor the power that had driven them as outcasts into the wilderness. *
. The party consisted of forty-five men and one woman, the wife of William Coory. It was by almost incredible toil that these brave men cut the way for their wagons, lifted them up the stony ascents, and let them down the steep declivities. Every step added to the danger, as heralded by the death of the three pioneers, Daniel Browett, Ezra H. Allen, and Henderson Cox, who were found killed by the Indians of the Sierra. And undaunted, though sor- rowful, and filled with many a foreboding, the survi- vors descended the eastern slope and wended their way through the thirsty desert; and there we must leave them and return to our gold-diggers.
as we worked on his claims or land.' Bigler ^ Diary of a Mormon, MS., 75. A Mormon writing in the Times and Transcripl sa^s: 'They undertook to make uBffive them half the gold we got for the privilese of digging on their land. l£is«waB afterwarcP reduced to one third, and in a few weeks was giTen up altogether.' Mrs Wimmer states that Sutter and Marshall claimed thirty per cent of the gold found on their grant; Brannan for a time secured ten per cent on the pretext of tithes. ​
CHAPTER IV.
PBOXmATB EFFECT OF THE GOLD DISOOVERy.
Mabch-Auoust, 1848.
The Pboplb Sceptical at Fibst— AmnJDs or the Bbbss— The Couvtby Converted bt a Sight or the Metal— The Epidemic at San Fran- cisco— At San Jo»t, Monterey, and down thb Coast — ^The Exodus — Desertion or Soldiers and Sailors— Abandonment of BcsiNBBSp of Farms, and or All Kinds or Positions and Propertt.
As when some carcass, hidden in sequestered nook, draws from every near and distant point myriads of discordant vultures, so drew these little flakes of gold the voracious sons of men. The strongest human appetite was aroused — the sum of appetites — this yellow dirt embodying the means for gratifying love, hate, lust, and domination. This little scratch upon the earth to make a backwoods mill-race touched the cerebral nerve that quickened humanity, and sent a thrill throughout the system. It tingled in the ear and at the finger-ends; it buzzed about the brain and tickled in the stomach; it warmed the blood and swelled the heart; new fires were kindled on the hearth-stones, new castles builded in the air. If Satan from Diablo's peak had sounded the knell of time; if a heavenly angel from the Sierra's height had heralded the millennial day; if the blessed Christ himself had risen from that ditch and proclaimed to all mankind amnesty — their greedy hearts had never half so thrilled.
The effect of the gold discovei^ could ndt be long confined to the narrow limits of Sutter's domain. The ​
information scattered by the Swiss and his dependents had been further disseminated in different directions by others. Nevertheless, while a few like Hum- phrey, the Greorgia miner, responded at once to the iDlluence, as a rule little was thought of it at first, particularly by those at a distance. The nature and extent of the deposits being unknown, the significance or importance of the discovery could not be appre- ciated. It was not uncommon at any time to hear of gold or other metals being found here, there, or any- where, in America, Europe, or Asia, and nothing come of it. To emigrants, among other attractions, .gold had been mentioned as one of the possible or prob- able resources of California; but to plodding agricul- turists or mechanics the idea of searching the wilder- ness for gold would have been deemed visionary, or the fact of little moment that some one somewhere had found gold.^ When so intelligent a man as Seni- ple at Benicia was told of it he said, "I would give more for a good coal mine than for all the gold mines in the universe." At Sonoma, Vallejo passed the matter by with a piece of pleasantry.
The first small flakes of gold that Captain Folsoni examined at San Francisco he pronounced mica; he did not believe a man who came down some time after with twenty ounces when he claimed to have gathered it in eight days. Some time in April Folsom wrote to Mason at Monterey, making casual mention of the existing rumor of gold on the Sacramento, In May Bradley, a friend of Folsom 's, went to Monterey, and was asked by Mason if he knew anything of this gold discovery on the American River. **I have heard of
1 'The people here did not believe it,' says Findla, ' they thonght it was a hoax. They had fottod in Tarious places about 8. F., notably on Pacific Street, •pecimens of different minerals, gold and silver among them, but in very small qnantitiea; and so they were not inclined to believe in the discovery at Sut- ter's mill. ' Gillespie testifies to the same. He did not at all credit the story. Three samples in qnillsand vials were displayed before the infection took in the town. OUleMpie'8 Vig, Com,, MS., 4; Fmdla^s Stat,, MS., 4-6; WilUy'9 Thirty YeoTM, l»-aO. ​
treated with a familiarity hitherto unknown in these parts to such worshipful wealth. Among the comers was Samuel Brannan, the Mormon leader, who, hold- ing up a bottle of dust in one hand, and swinging his hat with the other, passed along the street shouting, " Gold ! Gold 1 Gold from the American River I"»
This took place in the early part of May. The conversion of San Francisco was complete. Those who had hitherto denied a lurking faith now unblush- ingly proclaimed it; and others, who had refused to believe even in specimens exhibited before their eyes, hesitated no longer in accepting any reports, however exaggerated, and in speeding them onward duly mag- nified.® Many were thrown into a fever of excitement,^ and all yielded more or less to the subtle influence of
^ 'He took his hat off and swung it, shouting aloud in the streets.' Bigler^9 Diary, MS. , 79. Evans in the Oregon Bulletin makes the date * about the 12th of May.* See also FindUCa Stat., MS., 4-6; Roim' Stat,, MS., 12; N, Helv. Difiry, passim, (rillespie, Vig, Com., MS., 4, refers to three samples seen by him, the third 'was a wnole quinine-bottle full, which set all the people wild.'
®By the 10th of June the sapient sceptic, Kemble, turned completely around in expressing his opinion, denying that he had ever discouraged, not to say denounced, 'the employment in wnich over two thirds of the white population of this country are engaged.' But it was too late to save either his reputation or his journal. There were not wanting others still to denounce in vain an<l loudly all mines and miners. 'I doubt, sir,' one exclaims, in the Cali/ornian, 'if ever the sun shone upon such a farce as is now being enacted in California, though I fear it may prove a tragedy before the curtain drops. I considtT it your duty, Mr Editor, as a conservator of the pnblic morals and welfare, to raise your voice against the thing. It is to be hoped that Greneral Mascm will despatch the volunteers to the scene of action, and send these unfortunate people to their homes, and prevent others from going thither.' This man quickly enough belied a wisdom which led him unwit- tingly to perform the part of heavy simpleton in the drama. Dunbar, Romance of the Age, 102, with his usual accuracy, places this communication in the Alta California, May 24, 1848 — impossible, from the fact that on that day no paper was issued in California, and the Alta never saw the light until the fol- lowing January.
^ Carson, Uer.^ 4, who for a long time had rejected all reports, was finally convinced by a returning digger, who opened his well-filled bag before him.
my Icga performed some entirely new movements of polka steps — I took several— houses were too small for me to stay in; I was soon in the street in search of neocjjsary outfits; piles of ^old rose up before mo at every step; castles of nuirblc, dazzling the eye with tlieic rich appliances; thousands of slaves bowing to my beck and call; myriads of fair virgins contending with each other for my love— were among the fancies of my fevered imagination. The Rothschilds, Oirards, and Astors appeared to me but poor people; in short, I had a very violent attack of the gold fever.' For further partical&rs» see Larkin'a Doc., MS., iv. passim. ​
the malady.® Men hastened to arrange their affairs, dissolving partnerships, disposing of real estate, and converting other eflFects into ready means for depart- ure. Within a few days an exodus set in that startled those who had placed their hopes upon the peninsular metropolis.* "Fleets of launches left this place on Sunday and Monday," exclaims Editor Kemble, "closely stowed with human beings. . .Was there ever anything so superlatively silly ?"^^ But sneers, expostulations, and warnings availed not with a multi- tude so possessed.
The nearest route was naturally sought — by water up the Bay into the Sacramento, and thence where fortune beckoned. The few available sloops, lighters, and nondescript craft were quickly engaged and filled for the mines. Many who could not obtain passage in the larger vessels sold all their possessions, when necessary, and bought a small boat;^^ every little rickety cockleshell was made to serve the purpose; and into these they bundled their effects, set up a sail, and steered for Carquines Strait. Then there were two routes by land: one across to Sauzalito by launch, and thence by mule, mustang, or on foot, by way of San Rafael and Sonoma, into the California Valley; and the other round the southern end of the Bay and through Liver more Pass.
'Brooks writes in his diary, ander date of May 10th: 'Nothing has been talked of but the new gold placer, as people call it. ' * Several parties, we hear, are already made np to visit tlie diggings. ' May 1 3th : * The gold excite- ment increases daily, as several fresh arnvals from the niinei) have been re- ported at San Francisco.' Four Months among the Gold-fndftrH^ 14-1.").
writes Brooks in his diary, ander date of May 20th. ' lu the month of May it was computed that at least ITiO people had left 8. F., and every day since was adding to their number.' Annals S. /*., 203. The census taken the
March previous showed 810, of whom 177 were women and 60 children; so
that 150 would be over one fourth of the male popula
Baasham to Cooper, May 15th, in VaUejOj Doc.f M8., xxxv. 47. Those with-
out means have only to go to a merchant and borrow from $1,000 to $2,000, < and give him an order on the gold mines, is the way Coutts, Diary ^ MS., 1 13, pats it.
the whole bnsiness, and pronounces the mines 'all sham, a supurb (sic) take- in as was ever got up to ffuzzle the gullible. '
" 'Little row-boats, that before were probably sold for $50, were sold for v $400 or $500.' QiUetpie, Vig, Com., MS., 3. ​
Roads there were none save the trails between larger settlements. With the sun for compass, and moun- tain peaks for finger-posts, pew paths were marked across the trackless plains and through the untrodden woods. Most of the gold-seekers could afford a horse, and even a pack-animal, which was still to be had for ^ fifteen dollars,^^ and thus proceed with greater speed to the goal, to the envy of the number that had to content themselves with wagons, which, though white- covered and snug, with perhaps a family inside, were cumbersome and slow, especially when drawn by oxen. Often a pedestrian was passed trudging along under his load, glad to get his effects carried across the stream by some team, although he himself might have to breast the current swimming, perchance holding to the tail of some horse. There were ferries only at rare points: Charles L. Ross^^ had left for the mines the last of April, by way of Alviso, and crossed the strait of Carquines by Semple's ferry at Martinez. At this time he was the only person on the boat. When he returned, less than a fortnight after, there were 200 wagons on their way to the foothills, wait- ing their turn to cross at the ferry."
In the general eagerness personal comfort became
^^ One rider rented his animals at the mines for $100 per week. Brooks crossed to Saiizalito with four companions who were attended by an Indian servant to drive their six horses laden with bagj^ge and camp equipments. Vallejo, HUt. GaJL^ MS., iv., points out that Sonoma reaped benefit as a way- station.
^'^Experiences of a Pioneer of 1847 in Calif omia, by Charles L. Ross, is the title of a manuscript written at the dictation of Mr Koss by my stenographer, Mr Leighton, in 1878. Mr Ross left New Jersey in Nov. 1846, passed round Cape Horn in the bark WhiloHy arriving in Cal. in April 1847. The very in- tcreriting information contained in this manuscript is all embodied in the pages of this history.
dren, families who had left their homes, and fi;athered in there from down the coast. They had organized a committee, and each man was registered on his arrival, and each toi>k his turn in crossing. The boat ran n\ght and day, carrying each time two wagons and horses and the people connected with the 1. Some of them had to camp there quite a while. After a time somebody else got a scow and started another ferry, and they got across faster.' Rosi^ Experiences, MS. ,11-12. * Semple obtains from passengers some $20 per day, V and hah not a single boatman to help him. Only one man has offered to re- main, and he only for two weeks at ^25 a week.' Letter of Tj^hin to from Son Jos6, May 26, 1848, in Doc. Hist. ​Coi., MS.
of secondary consideration. Some started without a dollar, or with insufficient supplies and covering, often to suffer severely in reaching the ground; but once there they expected quickly to fill their pockets with what would buy the services of their masters, and ob- tain for them abundance to eat. Many were fed while on the way as by the ravens of Midas ; for there were few in California then or since who would see a fellow- being starve. But if blankets and provisions were neglected, none overlooked the all-important shovel, the price for which jumped from one dollar to six, ten, or even more," and stores were rummaged for pick- axes, hoes, bottles, vials, snuff-boxes, and brass tubes, the latter for holding the prospective treasure. ^^
Through June the excitement continued, after which there were few left to be excited. Indeed, by the middle of this month the abandonment of San Francisco was complete; that is to say, three fourths of the male population had gone to the mines. It was as if an epidemic had swept the little town so lately bustling with business, or as if it was always early morning there. Since the presence of United States forces San Francisco had put on pretensions, and scores of buildings had been started. " But now," complains the Star, the 27th of May, "stores are closed and places of business vacated, a large number of houses tenantless, various kinds oY mechanical labor suspended or given up entirely, and nowhere the
Eleasant hum of industry salutes the ear as of late ; ut as if a curse had arrested our onward course of enterprise, everything wears a desolate and sombre look, everywhere all is dull, monotonous, dead."^^
^^ *I am informed $50 has been offered for one, ' writes Larkin ou June Ist.
^ 'Earthen jars and even barrels have been put in requisition,' observes the CcUi/omittn of Aus. 5th.
ket price will be paid for gold, either cash or merchandise, by Melius & How- ard, Montgomery street. ' Again, by the same firm goods were offered for •ale *for cash, hides and tallow, or placera ^old.' Cnl. Star^ May 27, 1848. Of quite a different character was another notice in the same issue. * Pay up before you go— everybody knows where,' the editor cries. 'Papers can l^e forwaided to Sattar's Fort with all regularity. But pay the prvutAt, \1 ^oxk ​
merchandise not used in the mines declined, while labor rose tenfold in price. ^^ . Spreading their valedictions on fly-sheets, the only
^ two journals now faint dead away, the Californian on the 29th of May, and the Star on the 14th of June. " The whole country from San Francisco to Los An- geles," exclaimed the former, " and from the seashore to the base of the Sierra Nevada, resounds to the sor- did cry of gold! gold I ! GOLDl ! ! while the field is left half planted, the house half built, and everything neglected but the manufacture of shovels and pick- axes, and the means of transportation to the spot where one man obtained $128 worth of the real stuff in one day's washing, and the average for all concerned is $20 per diem." Sadly spoke Kemble, he who vis- ited the gold mines and saw nothing, he to whom within four weeks the whole thing was a sham, a superlatively silly sham, groaning within and without, but always in very bad English, informing the world that his paper '* could not be made by magic, and the labor of mechanism was as essential to its existence as to all other arts;" and as neither men nor devils
please, all you in arrears.' See also Findld's StcU.f MS., 4-6. After quite a busy life, duriu^ which he gained some prominence as editor of the Star and Californian and the Altn Cal\fomia, and later as government official and newspaper correspondent, Kemble died at the east the 10th of Feb. 188(5. He was a man highly esteemed in certain circles.
^^ Pay the cost oi the house, and the lot would be thrown in. On tlie fifty-yara corner Pine and Kearny streets was a house which had cost $400 to build; both house and lot were offered for $3o0. Boss* Ex.y MS., 12; Larkin'a Doc.t MS., vi., 144. On the door of a score of houses was posted the notice,
* Gone to the Diggings!' From San Jos^ Larkin writes to the governor,
* The improvement of x erba Buena for the present is done.* Letter, May 26th,
in Larkin^a Doe, Hint. Cal.^ MS., vi. 74. Even yet the name San Francisco has not become familiar to those accustomed to that of Yerba Buena. See also Brooks' Four Months^ in which is written, under date of May 17th: * Work- people have struck. Walking through the town to-day 1 observed that laborers were employed only upon half a dozen of the fifty new buildings which were in the course of being run up.' May 20th: 'Sweating tells me that his negro waiter has demanded and receives ten dollars a day.' Larkin, writing from S. F. to Secretary Buchanan, June Ist, remarks that *8ome par- ties of from five to fifteen men have sent to this town and offered cooks $10 to %\6 a day for a few weeks. Mechanics and teamsters, caming the year past $5 to $8 per day, have struck and gone. . .A merchant lately from C&ina has even lost his Chinese servant. ' ​
could be kept to service, the wheels of progress here must rest a while.
So also came to an end for a time the sittings of the town council, and the services of the sanctuary, all having gone after other gods. All through the Sundays the little church on the plaza was silent, and all through the week days the door of Alcalde Towns- end's office remained locked. As for the shipping, it was left to the anchor, even this dull metal some- times being inconstant. The sailors departing, cap- tain and officers could only follow their example. One commander, on observing the drift of affairs, gave promptly the order to put to sea. The crew refused to work, and that night gagged the watch, lowered the boat, and rowed away. In another instance the watch joined in absconding. Not long afterward a Peruvian brig entered the bay, the first within three weeks. The houses were there, but no one came out to welcome it. At length, hailing a Mexican who was passing, the captain learned that everybody had gone northward, where the valleys and mountains were of gold. On the instant the crew were off.^
'*So mn these stories. Ferry, Cal., 306-13. The captain who sought to pat to sea comTnanded the Flora, according to a letter in June of a merchant. JiobinsoH'9 Oold Beyiona, 29-30; Bevere'a Tour of Duty, 254. One of the first vessels to be deserted was a ship of the Hudson's Bay Ck)mpany lying at anchor in the bay; the sailors departing, the caotain followed them, leaving the vessel in charge of his wife and daughter. McKinstry, in the Lancanter Examiner, Loud complaints appear in the Cnl^fomian, Sept. 5, 1848; every ship loses most of her crew within forty -eight hours after arrival. See Brachttt, U, 8, Cavalry, 125-7. The first steamship, the California, arriving Feb. 28, 1840, was immediately deserted by her crew; Forbes asked Joues of the U. S. squadron for men to take charge of the ship, but the poor commodore had none. Cro8by*8 SUU,, MS., 12; AnnaUS, F., 220; First Steamship Pioneers, 124. To prevent desertion, the plan was tried of giving sailors two months' furlough; whereby some few returned, but most of them preferred liberty, wealth, and dissipation to the tyranny of service. Swanks Trip to the OM Mines, in C(U, Pioneers, MS., no. 49. Some Mexixams arriving, and finding the town depopulated of its natural defenders, broke into vacant houses auu took what they would. The Di(j(jer*s Iland-Book, 63. See also the Cali/or- ftian, Aug. 4, 1848; George McKinstry, in Lancaster Examiner ;St(M:kton J nd., Oct 19, 1875; Barstow^s Stat.^ MS., 3-4; Sac, 111., 7; Forbes' Gold Betjion, 17-18; TuthilCsCal, 235-44; Three Weeks in Oold MineM, 4; Canon's Early Bee., 8-4; Lants, Kal,, 24-31; Hayes* Col. Cal. Notes, v. 85; Berue des Deux Mondes, Feb. 1, 1849, 469; Quarterly Beview, no. 91, 1852,608; nUi^Ws Min- ing, 17; Brooks* Four Months, 18; Overland Monthly, xi. 12-13; Byan's Judget and Crim,^ 72-7; Am, Quat, Beg., ii. 288-95, giving the rejK>rts of Larkin, ​
Other towns and settlements in California were no less slow than San Francisco to move under the new fermentation. Indeed, they were more apathetic, and were finally stirred into excitement less by the facts than by the example of the little metropolis. Yet the Mexicans were in madness no whit behind the Amer- icans, nor the farmers less impetuous than townsmen when once the fury seized them. May had not wholly passed when at San Jos^ the merchant closed his store, or if the stock was perishable left open the doors that people might help themselves, and incontinently set out upon the pilgrimage. So the judge abandoned his bench and the doctor his patients; even the alcalde dropped the reins of government and went away with his subjects.^ Criminals slipped their fetters and
Mason, Jones, and Paymaster Rich on gold excitement; WUUy*H Decade Ser- tnofiJi, 12-17; OUason^s CcUh. Church, ii. 175-93; Sherman's Memoirs, i. 46-9; S, F. Directory, 1852-3; 8-9; S. I, News, ii. 142-8, gi\ing the extract of a letter from S. F., May 27th; Vallejo Recorder, March 14, 1848; Cnl. Past and Present, 77; OillespU's Vig, Com., MS., 3-4; Findla's Stat,, MS., 4-6. The Ccdi/omian newspaper revived shortly after its suspension in May.
the lock-up, tM'o of them charged with murder. These he would have turned over to the alcalde, but that functionary had already taken his departure. Bee was puzzled how to dispose of his wards, for though he was determined to go to the mines, it would never do to let them loose upon a community of women and children. Finally he took all the prisoners with him to the diggings, where they worked contentedly for him until other miners, jealous of Bee's success, incited them to revolt. By that time, however, the alguacil had made his fortune. So goes the story. San Jo^4 Pioneer, Jan. 27* 1877. Writing Mason the 26th of May from San Jos^, Larkin says: * Last night sev- eral of the most respectable American residents of this town arrived home from a visit to the cold regions; next week they with their families, and I think nine tenths of the foreign store- keepers, mechanics, and day-laborers of this place, and perhaps of San Francisco, leave for the Sacramento.* West, a stable-keeper, had two brothers in the mines, who urged him at once to hasten thither and bring his family. ' Bum the barn if you cannot dispose of it otherwise, * they said. C. L. Ross writes from the mines in April, Experiences from 1847, MS.: *I found John M. Homer, of the mission of San Jos^, who told me he had left about 500 acres of splendid wheat for the cattle to roam over at will, he and his family having deserted their place en- tirely, and started off for the mines.' J. Belden, Nov. 6th, writes Lar- kin from San Jos^: 'The town is full of people coming from and going to the gold mines. A man just from there told me he saw the governor and Squire Colton there, in rusty rig, scratching gravel for gold, but with little success. ' Larkin^ s Doc,, MS., vi. 219. And so in the north. Semple, writing Larkin May 19th, says that in three days there would not be two men left in Benicia; and Cooper, two davs later, declared that everybody was leaving except Brant and Semple. Larkin^s Doc,,yL^.,\\, 111,116; Vallejo, Doc,, MS., xii. 344. From Sonoma some one wrote in the Cal^fornian, Aug. 5th, that the town was wellnigh depopulated. 'Not a laboring man or ​ hastened northward; their keepers followed in pursuit, if indeed they had not preceded, but they took care not to find them. Soldiers fled from their posts; others were sent for them, and none returned. Valuable land grants were surrendered, and farms left tenantless; waving fields of grain stood abandoned, perchance opened to the roaming cattle, and gardens were left to run to waste. The country seemed as if smitten by a plague.
All along down the coast from Monterey to Santa Bdrbara, Los Angeles, and San Diego, it was the same. Towns and country were wellnigh depopulated. There the fever raged fiercest during the three summer months. At the capital a letter from Larkin gave the impulse, and about the same time, upon the statement of Swan, four Mormons called at Monterey en route for Los Angeles, who were reported to carry 100 pounds avoirdupois of gold gathered in less than a month at Mormon Island. This was in June. A fortnight after the town was depopulated, 1,000 starting from that vicinity within a week. At San Fran ​
cisco commerce had been chiefly aflTected; here it was government that was stricken. Mason's small force was quickly thinned ; and by the middle of July, if we may believe the Reverend Colton, who never was. guilty of spoiling a story by too strict adherence to truth, the governor and general-in-chief of California was cooking his own dinner.®
In a proclamation of July 25th, Colonel Mason called on the people to assist in apprehending deserters. He threatened the foothills with a dragoon force; but whence were to come the dragoons? The officers were as eager to be off as the men ; many of them obtained leave to go, and liberal furloughs were granted to the soldiers, for those who could not obtain leave went without leave. As the officers who re- mained could no longer afford to live in their accus- tomed w^ay, a cook's wages being $300 a month, they were allowed to draw rations in kind, which they ex- changed for board in private families.^ But even
black, and his buckskins reached to his knees. ' The man had a bag of gold on his back. The sight of its contents started Gcu'son on his way at once. In May Larkin had prophesiecl that by June the town would be M'ithout inhabi- tants. June Ist Mason at Monterey wrote Larkin at S. F. : *The golden-yel- low fever has not yet, I believe, assumed here its worst type, though the premonitory symptoms are beginning to exhibit themselves, and doubtless the epidemic will pass over Monterey, leaving the marks of its ravages, as it has done at S. F. and elsewhere. Take care you don't become so charged with its malaria as to inoculate and infect us all when you return.' Jackson McDuffoe, addressing Larkin on the same date, says: 'Monterey is very dull, nothing doing, the gold fever is beginning to take a decided effect here, and a large party will leave for the Sacramento the last of the week. Shovels, spades, picks, and other articles wanted by these wild aclventurers are in great demand.' Schallenberger on the 8th of June tells Larkin that *a great many are leaving Monterey. Times duller than when you left.* In Sept. there was not a doctor in the town, and Mrs Larkin who was lying ill with fever had to do without medical attendance.
^'Oen. Mason, Lieut Lannian, and myself form a mess. . .This morning for the fortieth time we had to take to the kitchen and cook our own break- fast. A general of the U. S. army, the commander of a man-of-war, and the alcalde of Monterey in a smoking kitchen grinding coffee, toasting a herring, and peelins onions ! ' Three Years in Vol,, 247-8. *R6duit k faire lui-mdnie sa cuisine, as one says of this incident in the Revue des Deux Mondea^ Feb. 1849.
'^'I of course could not escape the infection,' says Sherman, Mem., i. 46,
with our own eyes, that we might report the tnith to our government. ' Swan relates an anecdote of a party of sailors, including the master-at-arms, belong- ing to the Warretif who deserted in a boat. They hid themselves in th ​e pins
then they grew restless, and soon disappeared, as Com- modore Jones asserts in his report to the secretary of the navy the 25th of October.^ Threats and entreat- ies were ahke of Httle avail. Jones claims to have checked desertion in his ranks by offering large re- wards; but if the publication of such notices produced any marked effect, it was not until after there were few left to desert.*^
In the midst of the excitement, however, there were men who remained calm, and here and there were those who regarded not the product of the Sierra foothills as the greatest good. Luis Peralta, who had lived near upon a century, called to him his sons, themselves approaching threescore years, and said: "My sons, God has given this gold to the Americans. Had he desired us to have it, ho would have given it to us ere now. Therefore go not after it, but let others go. Plant your lands, and reap ; these be your
wckmIs till (lark, and then came into town for provisions, but got so drunk tiiat on starting they lost the road, and went to sleep on the beach opposite their own ship. Just before daylight one of them awoke, and hearing the ship's bcU strike, roused the others barely in time to make good their escape. Swan afterward met them in the mines. Trip to the Odd Minen^ MS., 3. Certain volunteers from Lower California arriving in Monterey fonned into Ci^mpanies, nelped themaeUes to stores, and then started for the mines. Grtfen's Li/e and AiventiirfM, MS., 11; Cali/'omian, Aug. 14, 1848. The offer of 8100 per month for sailors, made by Capt. Allyn of the hdac Walton^ brought fon*-ard no accepters. FHshie'a Bemin.^ MS., 30-2; Ferry, Col., 325-6; Sher- fnauif Mem., i. 57; Bigler^s Diary, MS., 78.
^ Nov. 2d he again writes: * For the present, and I fear for years to come, it will l>e impossible for the United States to maintain any naval or military es- tablishment in Califofnia; as at the present no hope of reward nor fear of puuiBliment is suiiicient to make binding any contract between man and man upon the s«)il of California. To send trooj)s out here would be neeilless, for they would immediately desert. . .Among the deserters from the squa<lron are some of the best petty othcers and seamen, having but few mouths to serve, and large l^lances due them, amounting in the aggregate to over $10,000.' William Rich, Oct. 2.3d, writes the paymaster-general that nearly all of Com> nany F, 3d artillery, ha*l deserted. The five men-of-war in port dared not land a man through fear of desertion. Two companies alone remained in Cal., one of the first dragoons and the other of the 3a artillery, *the latter reduced to a mere skeleton by desertion, and the former in a fair way to share the same fate.' Revert^s Tour qf IhUy, 252S; Sherman's Mem., 1. 5C-7; Lantu, Aa/..24-.31.
$40,000 would be given for the capture of deserters from his squadron, in the fol- lowing sums: for the first four deserting since July, $500 each, and for any others, $200 each, the reward to be paid in silver dollars immediately on the
delivery of any culprit ​
best gold-fields, for all must eat while they live."^ Others looked around and saw with prophetic eye the turn in the tide when different resources must spring into prominence; not only land grants with farms and orchards, and forests witU their varied products, but metals and minerals of a baser kind, as quicksilver, copper, coal.^ They foresaw the rush from abroad of gold-seekers, the gathering of vast fleets, the influx of merchandise, with their consequent flow of traffic and trade, the rise of cities and the growth of settle- ments. Those were the days of great opportunities, when a hundred properly invested would soon have yielded millions. We might have improved an oppor- tunity like Sutter's better than he did. So we think; yet opportunities jiist as great perhaps present them- selves to us every day, and will present themselves, but we do not see them.
^Archives Santa Cruz, MS., 107; HalCa HiaL^ 190-1; Larkin*s Doc,, MS., vi.
^ Men began to quarrel afresh over the New Almaden claim, now aban- doned by its workmen for more fascinating fields; in the spring of this year the country round Clear Lake h^d been searched for copper.
* ↑ Such is Mason's report. Maria Antonia Pico de Castro, announcing from Monterey to her son Manuel in Mexico the grand discovery, says that everybody is crazy for the gold; meanwhile stock is comparatively safe from thieves, but on the other hand hides and tallow are worth nothing. Doc. Hist. Cal., MS., L 505. At Santa Cruz A. A. Hecox and eleven others petitioned the alcalde the 90th of Dec. for a year's extension of time in complying with the conditions of the grants of land obtained by them according to the usual form. Under the pressure of the gold excitement labor had become so scarce and high that they found it impossible to have lumber drawn for houses and fences. The petition was granted.
* ↑ Swan's Trip, 1-3; Buffum'a Six Months, 68; Carson's Rec, 4. 'One day,' says Carson, who was then at Monterey, 'I saw a form, bent and filthy, approaching me, and soon a cry of recognition was given between us. He was ma old acquaintance, and had been one of the first to vist the mines. Now he stood before me. His hair hung out of his hat; his chin with beard was