The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1848-12-08


which the management of our diversified aud difficult
indian affairs lie assigned.
Within the newly acquired territories there Is nu-
msrou, Indian population. which our supervision
md guardianship must necessarily be extended but
this cannot be efsctuay done sithoot the action Of
and to .1ten to then UOl Indian system Of ocptr
sgeme mt which, in ether parts OF country
has already producsd such happy results and so full
Of promise for the future.
iIespeotiully az yYr attention to the following
subj cts, mentioped my last annual report the
sgtilems mt of claims California, retired list Of
officers Of the srmy, and asylum for disabled and
ut fully set forth that report and
again recommend them to your favorable consider
alton.
have the honor to be, very respectfully your obs
dent servant. W. l.. MARCY, -
To the PRESIDENT. Secretary Of War
Interest ing Despatch from California.
Among the documents received by the Secretary OF
War, and communicated with the Presidents MESSAGE
10 The following letter from Col Mason, the military
CON msndapt Of California who presents the fullest
desc pion we have seen Of the gold placers Of that
distant region =
most HEADQUARTERS. 10th MILITARY DEr'r,
Monterey, California Aug. IL, lS4S !
Sir have the honor to inform you that accompa
MED by Lieut. w. I. Sherman. Sd artillery A. A. A
General ! started on the l2th of June last, J.. to
fornia. My principal purpose, however, was to
visit the newly discovered gold placer" in
about forty miles when overtaksn by an ex.
press, bringing me intelligence of the arrival at MoR-
terey CT the United States thpSou mpton with i'm
portant letters from Commodore Shubrick and Lieut.
Colonel Burton. returned at once to Monterey
and despatched what business was most important,
ana on Tie 18th resumed my journey. We reached
San Fra cisco the Goth and found that all, or
nearly all its male inhabt ants had gone to the mines
The town, which few months before busy
and thriving, then almost deserted. On the
evening of the oath the horses of the escort
crossed to Sousoleto in alaunch and the folio wing
day We resumed the journey by way OF Bodega and
Sopoma to Suffers fort, where VIC arrived the
morning of the I'd July Along the whole route mills
were lying idle Fields Of wheat open cattle
and horses, houses vacant and farms going to waste
At Suffers there life aud business launch
es were difcharging their cargoes at the river and
carts were hauling goods the fort, where already
we're est ablished several stores hotel, Sc Captan
Sut'er had only two mechanics in his employ
maker and a backsmith) whom he was then paying
ten dollaIsa day. Merchants pay him monthly rent
of 500 per room, and whilst there, two story
house In the fort was rented IS Q hotel for $500
month.
At the urgent solicitation Of many gentlemen de-
layed there to participate in the first public ceebr alton
OF our national Anniversary at that fort but the
9th resumed the journey, and proceeded twenty-five
miles up the American fork to point 1t known
as the Lower Mines, or Mormon Digyings. The hill
sides thckiy strewn with tents and bush
bors store erected and several boarding sha
nss IN operation. The day was intensely hot, yet
OF the SUM- washing fer god-some with tin pans
with close In dian kets but the greater part
had rude machine, known as the cradle This Is on
rockers Elk eight feet long, open at the fost and
its head has coarse erate or sieve; the bottom is
required TO work this machine digs the grou nd
in the bank close by the stream; another carries
the cradle aud empies it on the grate third gives
a viole mt rocking motion to the machine. whilst
fourth dashes water from the stream itself. The
sieve keeps the stones from entering the CRADLE
the ut Of water washes off the earthly
the gravel is gradually carried out at the foot of
n Line, leaving the gold mixed with a heavy inc
black sand above the first elects The sand and gold
mixed together the drawn off through augur holes
into pan below; dried in the and afterwards
separated by blowing of the sand party of four
day. The Indians, and those who have nothing but
peIs or willow bas kets, gradually wash the earth
The gold mixed with and, whicb is separated in the
manner before described The gold in the lower mines
Is in fine bright fcaes, Of which send several speci
mems
AS We assembled the south branch of the American
fork, the county became acre broken aud mountain
ous nd the mill. IS miles abov. the lower wash
iDgs or so miles from Suffers the hills rise to about
thousand feet above the level of the Sacrame plain
Here ,peciss OF pine occurs, which led to the dis
covery OF the gold Capt Suffer feeling the great
OF luEbeI. contracted in September last with MIR.
Marsh ali to build faw-ml at that place. Ie
dam ant race constructed but when the let
on the wheel the tairace found to be too
TO permit the water TO escape with sufcie rapidty
MIR Marball to save labor let the water directly
the with strong current to wash it wider
and deeper He effected his purpose. and large bed
OF mud and gravel was carried to the foot of the
race. One day MIR Marshall, as he was Walking down
the race to this deposte Of mud observed glitter
ing particles at its upper edge he gathered few
amined them, nd became ,a'isfed Of their value He
then to the fort told Capt Suffer Of his
aud they agreed keep until certain grist-
mill Of suffers finished It. however got and
pread like magic. Remarkable success attended the
lsbors Of the first explorers, and in few weeks hum
DR.. ds OF drawn tbither. At the time of my
visit but little than three months after its fret
discovery, it was estimated that upwards of four
thousa nd people employed. At the mill there Ia
FIRE opposite or bank of gravel which the people
CT as the property Of Capt Suffer- although
enss to no right to IT. aud would be perfectly satisfied
OF the mill which he has built there at considerable
cost. MIR Marshall was living near the mil md in
formed me that many persons were employed above
and below him; that they used the same machines
at the lower washings and that their about
the same-rapging from to three of gold
per man daily. This gold, too is in scales a little
coarssr than those of the lower mines From the mill
Mr. Marshall guided me up the ntaiu on the oppo-
site north bank of the south fork where in the bed
Of email streams ravines, now dry, great deal of
gold has been found there several parties
orb, sll Of whom we're doing very well; y great
many specimens were shown me, some heavy four
or five ounces in weight and send three pieces label
ceive that some of the specimens yhg this
no mechanically pieces of quartz that the surface Is
rough and evidently moulded in the crevce Of rock.
This gold cannot have been carried far by water but
must have remained where IL first de posted
from the rock that once bound it. l inquired of
many if they had encountered the metal in it's
nntrix. but in every instance they said they had
not but that the gold was invariably mixed with
ws,hed gravel, or lodged in the crevices of other
rocks. All bore testimony that they had fou nd
gold in greater or less quantities in the numer-
famous region. On tue eth of July left the mill,
and crossed to small stream emptypg into the Ane-
rcap fork three or four miles below the mill |
struck the stream tnow known as Weber's creek) at
the wa Kings OF Sunoi Co. They had about thirty
In dams employed, whom they pay in merchandise
They were getting gold of character similar to that
found in the main fork and doubtless in suffic cut
quantities to satisfy them. seud you small speci.
men, presented by this company, of their gold From
this point We proceeded up tie stream about eight
miles, where we found great many people aud n
dans-sone engaged in the bed of the stream, aud
others in the small side valleys that put into These
latter are excee dinghy rich, and two
sidered IN ordinary yield for days work A small
gutter not more than hundred yards long, by four
feet wide, and two three feet deep pointed out
to me as the one where two mem William Daily aud
Perry McCoon-had, short time before OBJ TAI ned
S7 coo worth Of gold Capt Weber informed me that
he knew that these two men had Dyed four white
men and about hundred Indians, and that at the
end OF one weeks work they paid off their party aud
had left 10000 worth OF this gold Another small