The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1848-12-25

machine series Of small bars It's bottsm
which are sufficient impedimsnts to stop the more
particles OF gold Over the head Of the cradle
Is coarse ssvs, upon which the aurfsrous earth Ii
placed, and, the machine being In motion, water IL
poured upon the sieve, and the gold Ind, and hne
earthly matter Is thus taken into the body OF the ma
are more or less imperfect and the process by amaga
nation with quicksilver has not been adopted up to
this date Its supposed that at least one.hsf the
gold contained in given quantity of earth 10 lost by
the imperfect measures taken for cleaning 1t.
As the workmen ascend the streams into the noun
tains the gold becomes coarser and more massive On
the lower portions Of the streams found in thin fat
particles, resembling small golden fish scales Higher
in the mountains it is fonnd varying in sizs from the
and Of all conceivable forms. Many of the largest
pieces contain small portions OF quartz and other
mite rock in them The gold Is dug out
Of the crevices among the rocks in the dry beds Of
mountain torrents with pickaxes, small ronsbars,
spades, butcher knives, sticks, &c. &c. In many
places the streams flow strata of coarse slate or
shale standing vertically and between the different
layers the gold is deposited by the water:
AS no one yet, has found the gold in Its native
matrx, question often suggests itself as to its origin
believe the gold is found the spots where
1t originally lay in its native bed, and that much OF
the fine gold has been swept down from the mountains
by torrents Of water Almost all the rocks in Upper
California are imperfectly organized being soft and
weather In the process Of time the mountai ms have
gradually crumbled away into fine dust and the gold
has been liberated The coarse gold from its massive
and great specific gravity ut removed from
the mountain sides whereas the fine gold swept off
The extent Of these golden deposites 1t Is impossible
to conjecture Gold has been found one hundred AID
fifty miles above Suffers Fort dug in great guam,
Bear rivers, and upon the American Fork and all its
tributaries upon the Costumes and Stanislaus rivers
and upon both sides of the San Joaquin river IL has
been found at Bodega the seacoast and at various
points in the chain Of mountains which separates the
waters flowing into the San Joaquin from those which
enter the Pacific, far south Ciudad de los Ange-
les 1t has also been found in considerable quantities
in the earth of the plains near the mission Of Santa
Clara 1t is thus known to exist throughout region
of country of than xix hundred miles in extent
| and it probably extends into Oregon.
There are subjects upon which cannot write the
truth without exciting incredulity and it is with great
dfdence that shall attempt to speak Of the richness
Of the mines. went to them in the most skeptical
frame OF mind, and came away believer From all
that can learn to similar deposites Of gold else
where believe these to be the richest placer mines
the world. am satisfied, from personal observation
that active workmen get from s25 $40 per day
estimating the gold at SIC per ounce troy. Many in
stances are known Of persons having obtained from
$500 to LOCO in G.iy for each man. am meeting
persons daily this place, who have been absent
than three have returned with from $4,000
to $4,000 in gold dust. While among the mines col
lected large number of facts, from which the follow
ing are taken at random as specimen
On On the most southerly tributary Of the American
Messrs Nelly and Crowy got with six men in six
days, ten and half pounds of gold, avoirdupois
weight In the bottom Of dry ravine Of the same
| stream, Messrs. Daily and Nee ooms removed with
party Of Indians and white ST. 900 in two days
and within two hundred yards of the main stream
From another dry ravne within few rods of the last
mentioned, it is said that $4,000 were collected
m in three days Mr. IT,, c. Lyman clergyman
$50 for about five hours work each day NJ
Vsca, New Mexican, who resides about thirty
got seventeen pounds of gold avoirdupois weight in
| seven days saw the gold. Major Cooper late of
Missouri with two men and one boy got 81 600 in two
about five weeks, with party Of Indians numb sring
about forty..sometmes more aid sometimes less. He
gave bis Indians meat, sugar, coffee -four, rice and
they ate three times per day. They mostly wild
indiana, and worked altogether with pans In Ave
weeks after paying all his In 1ians and tho current
expenses of the party he had ST. 00e, upwards Of
ninety pounds, trey weight, of gold dust The gold
was shown MIR: Norris and one companion, took from
dry ravine, not far from those already ned
$4,000 in two days. and the dirt packed ON horses
more than two hundred yards to the water Mr. Aaron
Ansland got from his own labor in twenty conseeu-
tive days after his arrival at the mines $4,000 But
might 60 on stating facts like these until should tire
You will be anxious to know where this Is to end |
see no prospect of exhausng the mines. The gold is
found extending over an immense tract of country,
and 1t is universally dused in the earth of the gold
regions that it may be said to constitute portion Of
the soil 1t is most abunsnt in the valleys and the
beds OF streams because The earth has been removed
by wafer and the gold remains but it is found on the
tops and sides Of the mountains, hundreds Of feet
When in the mining country, endeavored to obtain
what Information the miners and others could afford
the value of the mines the number of
employed in them. The lowest estimate hesrd made
Of the workmen was three thousand including both
whites and Indians; but this number was augmented
by daily sccessions from all parts of California from
Oregon and Sonora, and from the Sandwich Islands
There has been such a drain from the Itlands that
there Is scarcely q mechanic left at Honolulu
The same likely to be the in Oregon as every
vessel comes in from there crowded. and We hear of
in the mines, however, there many sailors
deserters from the army trappers and mountaine
short taken in the aggregate the miners
kind of laboring population have asked for estimates
Of the average gains o. all the miners at work in the
gold regions including both whites and Indians and
have never heard them stated at less than So per
day for each person. believe taking these minimum
estimates as data, am fully justified in concluding
that during the year commencing July 1s4s, there
will be $550oooo removed from the mines reckoning
according to McCuochs Commercial Dictionary. than
the total amount Of gold taken from all the mines in
the United States for the fifteen ending in 1888
and 1t Is nearly three times great the entire gold
coinage Of the United States mint and all its
for the eame year.
believe that something over $500 900, at SIG per
ounce troy, will have left California in the three
months ending September 80 and of this amount at
least four ffths will find it's way to foreign markets
and consequently to foreign minis. The same will be
the case for some years to come, unless immediate
branch mint in California and, in the meantime.
United States coin is almost totally unknown from
Cape Horn to Puget's Sound. In this country the
enormous amounts of uncoined gold lying dormant
in the hands of the people If they sell it, heavy
ments can be made, and they are destitute of the
of support The interests of the United States
aswe as those ofsCalforns, call loudly for immediate
relief from Congress.
1t impossible to foretell what will be the ultimate
result Of this sudden development of wealth 1t is sui.
hcienty obvious however, that the country will be
prematurely filed by restless excitabe, adventurous
and reckless population, and that extended agri-
cultural or mechanical Improvements at an end
for some years to come. Gambling and all sorts of
thoughtlsss profuson begin to prevail The present
excitement will attract vast numbers Of the idle,
vicious, aud diseolute. Refugees from justice from
the United States, a well other countries will
flock to California among the better disposed popu.
lation, and will find shelter among the almost in.
accessible businesses Of the mountains where such
mines OF wealth now opened. These regions are of
vast extent and remote from the regular settle
ments, and from the operation of the laws the soil
tsry recesses Of the Sierra Nevada little clusters of
men, with nothing but the trees for their covering
and no protection but their own vigilance and strength
Many OF there people known possess very large
amounts of gold (sometmes much as twenty thou
and dolars) wrapped in their blankets where there