Calaveras chronicle., 1851-11-01
[For the Calaverns Chronicle. |
How thu Rich GuIch was
Discovered.
A "REMINISCENCES BY G. II. c.


some hundreds Of thousands Of dollar:
las heen taken out Of this gulch alrea
ly, anil doubtless considerable guam
fty remains there yet The history Of
his valuable discovery has always been
I questionable matter, though it is ge-
nerally thought 4 party Of Frenchmer
first broke the ground af the gnlch
Now | kno,u that the first gold bagged
there was dug by Massachusetts
Yankee from Berkshire county, why
he happened to "strike in" where be
did, and all about it.
Early in the year lsA9, was work
ing on the Mokelumne river. At that
time, as now, prospecting" was a
passion among the miners, and when
ever rich diggings were reported it
was certain they would be thoroughly
tested. A party of Frenchmen had
been at work near the camp Of myself
and companion, and one day it was oil
served that they had left the bar. 1t
was soon believed that they had disco
vered rich diggings, and many were
the means resOrted to to trail them to
their camp. One evening, after having
performed a hard days work, without
having found the "color of gold" to
reward me for il, I, in going to nv own
camp, stopped at that of IL neighoring
party, and while eating " f1ap-iacks"
and fried pork, to partake Of which
was politely invited, specuIations arose
as to the locality Of the Frenchmen.
All the rumors Of the day concerning
inaiig Il was concluded they were
somewhere above Mokelumne Hill.>
That they were collecting heaps of
gold was not for il moment doubted,
md the only thing necessary to secure
, fortune at once was to find where
hey were digging. Accordingly it was
agreed that one Of the party and my
self should set out the next morning
in search Of this FL Dorado. The
morning came, and long before the sun
was high enough to be seen from the
river we were on our way up the hill
sides. Our ramble occupied several
tlays. and took in the range of country
between the forks of the Mokelumne
and the North Fork Of the Calaveras,
as Far down rs the present location Of
the Buckeye store. We foun1 The
Frenchmen on the North Fork Of the
Calaveras, but much to our disappoint-
ment, found also that they were doing
nothing. Indeed, one Of them offered
to sell me Il valuable watch, at cheap
rate, so pressed was he for means to
purchase fresh supply of provisions
with. We left their camp in no very
good humor, as may he supposed,
and as we had no food with US. and
were certain we should get none until
we arrived at the river, diligently pur-
sued the homewartl trail.
In going upward, while on this tour,
we had passed through beautiful val
ley; and where some grass was green,
near the roots Of a large oak, we dug
away a little earth, and, as we had
judged would be the result. found a
good spring Of water. On our return,
we halted at this spring to refresh our
selves, (for every mountaineer knows
that water, next to fool, is the most
refreshing thing in the worII on hard
trail,) and here we found man en-
camped. He had been prospecting
some days, was worn out with fatigue,
and having found good water, had de-
termined to spend the night near it.
We entered into conversation with him
he rehearsed a world Of troubles and
disaPpointments, terminating a long
relation Of his sufferings with request
to goodness gracious" that if we knew
where there was any gold, we would
inform him of its whereabouts. Had
we known of good diggings, we should
certainly have heen inclined to dig
there ourselves, and we Were not in the