Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1848-12-20
THE CALIFORNIA GOLD MINES.

We give below interesting letter from Califor-
MIA in relation to the Gold of this newly acquired
territory. 1t was re-published in the National In
telligencer from the Journal Of Commerce. which
paper states the author to be the Rev. WALTER
CoLroN, Alcade of Monterey, adding, ''this is suf-
fcient voucher for the statements contained in it,"
From the glowing representations Of various
writer's whose authority seems to admit of no qies-
ton. beyond the fervours which Gold has always
excited there is little doubt, that this much de-
sired object of human pursuit and convenient arii
Gle in all exchanges, has been found in unusually
| large quantities. So strong is the belief of this
that some of exchange papers have already
raised the alarm o. disaster 10 the country, from
too much money, speculation, neglect of agricul-
ture, fall of manufactures, decline of morals and
starvation. We look upon these fears as premature
and unnecessary. Gold has not yet ained down from
| above and if Providence has suffered tho volcano
| to throw it up from below shall believe it to be
Tor mans benefit in some way, and not for his ruin
we don't fear that many, at any rate, will go
| zy in the middle of the 10Th century, and in the
midst of its civilization, from the effects of gold fe
| ver 1t will be time enough 10 meet grave gues-
| tons or political economy, when it is asceraiRed
that California will yield more of the precious me-
tails than the increasing currency of the world and
the uses in the arts may demand From the po-
litca and moral aspect of the civilised world lust
at this time, there are indications of far greater
demand for both these purposes than has been wit
messed.
| MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA, Aug %. 1913.
| The gold discoveries still continue-every day
brings some new deposite to light. 1t has been
found In large quantities on the Sacramento Feath-
er river, VERIFY river, the American Fork-north
ana south branches-the CosaIner, and in many dry
raVlnes, and indeed on the tops Of high hills. The
extent OF country In which it is ascerained 10 exist
extends some two hundred miles north and south
| and some sixty east and west and these limits are
every day enlaIging by discoveries On the
streams, where the gold has been subjected to the
action of water and sand, it exists in fine grains
on the hills and among the cleits of the rocks il is
found in r0hgh, jagged pieces, of quarter or half
an ounce In weight, and sometimes two or three
| ounces.
| AT present the people are running over the conn
try and picking it out OF the earth here and there.
| Just as thousand hoes let loose !" rWoU '-.,d
root up groundnuts. Some get eight ten ounces
| day, and the least active one two. They make
the most who employ the wild Indians 10 hunt it
| for them. There is one man who has sixty Indi- |
ans in his employ; his profits dollar minute.
The wild Indians know nothing of its value, and
| wonder what the pale faces want to do with it !
they will give an ounce of it for the same weight
Of coined silver, thmble full of glass beads or
glass of grog. And white men themselves often
give an ounce of it, which is worth at our mint
eighteen dollars more, for bottle of brandy n
box of soda powders, or plug of tobacco.
As to the quantity which the diggers get, take
few facts as evidence. l know seven men who
worked seven weeks and two days, SUNDAYS ex-
cepted, on Feather river; they employed on an av-
erage fifty Indians, and got in these seven weeks
and two days, two hundred and seventy five pounds
of pure gold. know the men and have seen tke
gold, and know what they state to be a fact-so
stick pin there. know ten other men who work
ed ten days in company, employed no Indians, and
averaged in these ten days fifteen hundred dollars
each (; so stick another pin there. know another
man who got out of a basin in rock not larger
than wash bowl, two pounds and half of gold in
fifteen minutes; so stick another pin therel Not
ofthese statements would believe, did not know
the men personally, and know them to be plain
matter OF fact men-Inen who open a vein Of gold
just as coolly as you would potato hill.
The gold Is obtained in variety of ways some
wash it out of the sand with bowls, some with a
machine made like cradle only longer and open
at the foot, while at the other end, instead eli
sIualllng infant, there Is grating upon which the
earth is thrown and then water; both pass through
the gralings the cradle is rocked, and being on an
inclined plane, the water carries OF the earth and
the gold is deposited in the bottom of the cradle
30 the two things most priced in this world, gold
and infant beauty, are both rocked out of their
primitive states, one to PamPer pride, and the 9th
or To paTnper the worm. Some fOrego cradles and
bowls as too tame occupation, and mounted on
horses, half wild, dash up the mountain gorpes
and over the steep hills, picking tie gold from the
clefts Of the rocks with their bowie kniyes-a much
better use 10 make of these instruments than pick
ing the life out of mems bodies for what is man
with that o-'iolN r;ci-ed ont of him
a larger party, well mounted, are following I'D
the channel of the Sacramento To discover where
this gold, found In lis banks, comes FROM and ina
CINE that near the rivers fount they will find the
great yellow mass itself But they might as well
hunt the fleeing rainbow. The gold was thrown
up from the bed of the ocean with the rocks and
sands In which 1t is found, and still bears, where IL
has escaped the action of the elements vivid traces
ofvocanc fire. 1t often encases crystal OF Quartz
in which the pebble lies as lift had surnbered there
from eternity its beautiful repose sets human arti-
hce at defiance. How strange that this ore should
have lain here, scattered about in all directions
peepIng every where ont Of the earth and spark
ling IN the sun, and been trod upon for apes by
white men and savages, and by the emmissares Of
every scientific association in the world and never
till now have been discovered What an ass man
is, with all his learning! He stupidity stumbles
over hills Of gold to reach rare pepper pod or rio
a birds nest
The whole country is now moving on the mines.
Monterey, San Francisco, Sanoma, San Jose. and
Santa Cruz are emptied of their male population
stranger coming here would suppose he had ar.
rived among race of women, who, by some anon !
aous provision ol Nature, multiplied their images d
without the presence Of the other SEX Blu; not a d
few Of the women have gone too cspeciaIly those c
who had got out Of tea for what is woman with .
out her tea pot IA dythUness without her shakinp
tripod, an angle that has lost his Tyre Every bowl
tray, warming pan, and piggin have gone TO the i
mines thing. short b,c ecoo,, - j