The Middlebury galaxy. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1848-1850, 1848-12-19
THE GOLD MANIA.


despatch, government has received from
Colonel Mason, the United States Militia
~ Commandant in California, variety oil
other official documents, from gentlemen
Of Nke yeracity, in that promising region,
are acknowledged by the State Depart
ent-aud all corroboratIve even OF the
Widest reports that have reached US
,hrouph unofficial channels, concerning
the extraordinary excitement among the
inhabitants, induced by the discovery OF
what now prove TO be, beyond all perad-
venture. a number of bona fde gold mines,
ON the banks Of the Rio Sacramento. The
gold in some places is, actually, eighteen
inches deep, and, here and there, it isplck-
ed up in Jumps, without the trouble OF
digging or washing, for it! Men with
shovel, a Tin pan. or wooden bowl, man
age to make $50 day, and some of those
lucky individuals, we are assured, nave
already amassed several thousand collars
San francisco, the chief town IN The ter
ritory, has one half of its tenements emp
", locked up with the furniture. The
Observation-Disclosures, lawyers, mechanics
and laborers-all gone TO the Sacramento
with their families. Some parties. of hive
to fifteen men, ave sent back to the town
and offered cooks ten to fifteen dollars
DIR da, for few weeks. Mechanics and
teamsters, earning the year past FIVE to
eight dollars per day, have struck and
gone. So also have the soldiers, and a.
bout every body else, save the aged and
infrm. Writes Mr. Thomas OLarkln to
Mr.. Buchanan
United States bark Anita, belonging
10 the army, now at anchor here, has but
six men. One Sandwich Island vessel IN
port lost all her men; engaged another
crew at fifty dollars for the run OF
fifteen DAYS to the Island. One Ameri-
can captain having his men shipped on
this coast in such manner that they
could leave at any time, had them all on
the eve of quitting, when he agreed to
continue their pay and food, leaving one
on board, take boat, and carry them to
the gold regions: furnishing tools, and
giving his men one-third. They have
been zone a week. Common spades and
shoyels, one month ago worth one dollar,
will now bring ten dollars at the gold re-
uiuns. am informed fifty dollars has
been offered for one. Should this gold
continue as represented, this town and o.
theirs will be depopulated Clerks wages
have risen from six hundred 10 one thou.
sand dollars per annum, and board cooks
twenty-five TO thirty dollars per month.
This sum will not be any inducement a
month longer, unless the fever and ague
appears among the washers. The Cali
fornian," printed here, stopped this week.
The "Star" newspaper office, where the
new laws Of Gov. Mason, for this coun>
try, are printing, has but one man left
\ merchant. lately from China, even lost
his China Servants Should the excite>
msnt continue through the year, and the
while ships visit San Francisco. think
they will lose almost all of their crews.
How Col. Mason can retain his men, un>
less he puts force on the spot, know
not. l have seen several pounds of this
gold, and consider il very pure, worth in
New York, seventeen TO eighteen dol
lars per ounce. Fourteen to sixteen dol
lars, in merchandise, is paid for it here"
Wonderful as all this is, we are further
told that. it is the opinion of many who
have visited the ''infected district" that
the grounds wi afford gold for many
years, perhaps for century. From MIR.
Larkin's personal examination Of the riv'
ers and their banks, he is of the opinion
that. at least for few years, the golden
products will equal those Of the p esent
yer. However, as neither men of sci
ence, nor the laborers now at work, have
made any explorations of consequence, it
is, we think, matter of impossibiIity to
give any reliable opinion as to the extent
and richness of this part of California.
Com. Ap Catesby Jones writes home,
too. snndry golden opinions" rhe
Commodore, however, views the whole
business as boding anything but good for
the future destiny of the Paradise of the
Pacific" The effects already produced
upon the minds of the people of Upper
California, by the discovery of this new
Ell Dorado, he says, are quite alarming, as
all kind Of work, and every occupation
even the ripe gram III the helds-is aban-
doned for the gold harvest OH the River
Sacramento
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Loeser, the
bearer of these dispatches. is in Washing
to1, exhibiting the specimens of gold he
has brough, home with him from the "pla>
GERS, which are pronounced 10y the as
savers, TO be the genuine article" The
quantity received by the Government, is
valued al $4,000 Lieut. Loeser de-
clares, in reference TO the gold region and
its astonishing richness, that the half has
not been told.-He hasbeen on the ground
himself. and he says if any one had told
him the half of what he saw he would
not have believed it. Hepurchased some
of the gold in California, previous to his
leaving. for about $40 per ounce, which
he sold in Peru for SOB per ounce. Men,
who previously were never known to have
nh aggregate of twenty five cents in their