The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1836-1851, 1848-12-27
GOLD MINES OF CALIFORNIA.

o'dhCcS W say, tiidt TIC very Interesting lett
annexed. is from Rev. Walter Cotton, Alca
de of Monterey. This is sufficient rouc
cr for the statement contained in it.
Correspondence Of the Journal Of Commcrc
MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA, Aug. 80. 1s4s.
The gold discoveries still conlinue-cvcr
day brings some new deposits TO light.
has been found IN large quantities on Tn
Sacramento. Feather River, Ycrba River
the Cosamer, and in many dry rayines, an
indeed on the tops of high hills. The cx
tent Of country in which II is ascerlaincd t
exist, extends some two hundred miles nortl
and south, and some sixty east and west
and these limits are every day enlarging b,
new discoveries. On the streams where
the gold has been subjected 10 the action 0
water and sand, it exists in fine grains; OF
the hills and among the c|cls Of the rocks i
is found in rough, jagged ieccs of a quarter
or half an ounce in weight, and sometime:
two or three ounces.
AT present the people are running over
the country and picking it out Of the earth
here and there, just as a thousand hogs, lei
loose in forest, would root up ground nuts.
Some get eight or ten ounces day; and
the least active, one or two. They make
the most who employ the wild Indians to
hunt it for them. There is one man who
has sixty Indians in his employ; his profits
are dollar minute. The wild Indians
know nothing of is value. and wonder what
The pale faces want to do with il; they will
an ounce of it for The same weight Of
olncd silver, or thimblc full of glass beads,
:. glass OF grog. And whilemen them
selves often give an ounce of it, which is
worth at our mint eighteen dollars or more,
for b"ttc of brandy, box of soda pow
dcrs, or plug oftobacco.
As TO the quantity the diggcrs get, take a
lew facts as evidence. ! know seven men
who worked seven weeks and two DAYS,
Sundays excepted-on Feather river; they
employed on an average fifty Indians, and
got out in these seven weeks and two DAYS
wo hundred and seventy-fve pound of pure
gold. know the men and have seen the
gold. and know what they stale 10 be fact
so stick pin there. | know ten other
nen who worked ten days in company, en-,
'loyed no indians, and averaged in these Ten
lays fifteen hundred dollars each: so stick
mother pin there. ! know another man
Who got out OF basin in rock, not larger
han wash bowl, Two pounds and a half OF
old in fifteen minutes; so stick another pin
here. Not one Of these statements would
believe. did not know the men personally,
nd know them to he plain matter offact
nen-men nv who %Ga nRea s ysI9 r IF gold ust as
The gold is obtained IN a variety OF
Vays; some wash it out Of the sand with
owls. some with machine, made like
cradle, only longer and open at the
,ot, while at the other end, instead Of
quallng infant, there is grating upon
which the earth is thrown, and then water;
9th pass through The grating; the cradle is
ockcd, and being on all inclined plain, the
vater carries off the earth and the gold is
cposited IN the bottom Of the cradle. SO
he two things most priced in this world, gold
nd infant beauty, are both rocked out their
state, one to pamper pride, and the
lhcr to pamper the worm. Some iorego
radlcs and bowls as too tame an occupation
nd mounted on horses, half wild, dash up
he mountain- gorgcs, and over the steep
ills. picking the gold from the clcfis of the
ocks with their bowie knlles; much better
Sc to make Of these Instruments than pick
20 the life out of mems bodies, for what is a
IAN with that article picked out of him.
A larger party. well mounted, arc follow
,s up the channel of the Sacramento, to
lscovcr where this gold, found in its banks
ONES from; and imagine that near the rlv-
RS Eounl they will find the great yellow
1ass itself. But they might as well hunt
he fee,ins rainbow. The gold was thrown
p from the bed or the ocean with tho rocks
nd sands in which it is found. and still
ears, where it has escaped the action Of
he elements, vivid traces Of volcanic fire.
t often cncascs crystal or quartz in which
he pebble lies as if it had sumbered there
'om eternity; its beautiful rcpose sets human
rti6ce at defiance. How strange that this
re should have lain here, scattered abou. in
Il directions, peepng everywhere out of
nc earth, and sparkling in the sun, and been
ou dyes bf fiSif saw
ges, and by the cmmissarics Of every SCI
ntifc association in the world, and never
II now have been discovered. What an
ss man IS. with all his learning! lie stu.
idly stumb|es over hills Of gold 10 reach
arc pepcr pod, or rifle birds nesll
The whole country is now moving on the
mines. Monterey, San Francisco, Sonora,
ian Jose, nd Santa Cruz, arc emptcd Of
heir male population. A stranger conlng
ere would suppose lie had arrived among
race of women, who, by some anomalous
rovlsion of nature, multiplied their images
Without the presence of the other sex. But
ot few of the wome. have gone too, es-
ccaIly those who had got out of tca-for
What is a woman without her tea-pot-a
ythoncss without her shaking tryDO0d-an