Weekly Trinity journal., 1857-11-14
The Discovery of Gold i'm California.

Sutter, relative to the discovery Of gold in Cali.
fornia, and settling the fact that James W. Mar
shall is the man to whom the credit Of the dis
covery legitimately belongs:
Ii was in the first part of January, 1913. when
the gold was discovered at Coloma. where was
then building saw-nll. The contractor and
builder of this mill was James W Marshall from
New Jersey. In the fail of lS47, after the mill
seat had been located. sent up to this place Mr.
p. L. WINNER with his family. and number of
laborers, from the disbanded Norm on Battalion (:
and little later l engaged Mr. Bennett from Or
egon, to assist Mr. Marshall in the mechanical la
bors Of the mill Mr.. WINNER had the team in
charge assisted by his young sons. to do the nee
essnry teaming. and Mrs. WINNER did the cook
ing for all hands.
was very much in need of saw mill. to ret
lumber to finish my large Touring mill. of four
run of stones, at Brighton, which was commenc-
ed at the same time, and was rapidly progress
ing likewise for other buildings. fences. etc for
the small village Of Yerba Buena now San
Francisco) In the City Hotel. the only one at
the dinner table this enterprise was unkndly cal
led another folly Of Suffers as nv first settle
ment at the old Fort near Sacramento CITY was
called by good many, folly of his and they
were about right in that, because had the best
chances to get some of the finest locations near
the settlements and even well stocked rancho's
had been offered TO me on the most reasonable
conditions but | refused all these GOOD offers
and preferred to explore the wilderness and So.
lect territory on the banks of the Sacramento
1t was a rainy afternoon when Mr. Marshall mr.
rived at my Office in the Fort, very wet. ] was
somewhat surprised TO see him. as be was down
few days previous and when. sent MP to Colo
ma numer OF teams with provisions. mill irons
etc. He told me that be had some important and
Interesting news which he wished to Communicate
secretly to me, and wished me to 60 with him to
n whore " mt bo IL i
where listeners could not hear what he had TO saw
Invent with him to my private rooms he request
ed me to lock the door ] complied. but told him
At the same time that nobody was in the house
except the clerk, who in his Office in a differ
eut part Of the house after requesting something
OF me which be wanted, which was brought hv
my servants, forgot to lock the doors. and it 50
happened that the door was opened by the clerk
Just at the moment when Marshall took q rag from
his pocket, showing me the yellow metal. He
had about two ounces Of it but how quick Nj
NJ put the yellow metal in his pocket again can
hardly be described. The clerk came to see me
on business, and excused himself for interrupt-
ing me, and as soon as he had left | was told
Now lock the doors didn't tell YOU we might
have listenersT told him he need fear nothing
OF that kind as ii was not the habit of this gen
tleman but could hardly convince him that he
need not be suspicious. Then Mr. NJ began to
show me this metal, which consisted Of small pie-
ees and specimens, some worth few dollars he
told me that he had expressed his opinion to the
laborers at the mill. that this might be gold but
some Of them were laughing at him and called
him crazy man, and could not believe such
thing.
After having proved the metal with aoua for
Ills, which found in my apotbecary shop, like
wise with other experiments, and read the long
article gold in the Encyclopedia Americana, |
declared this to be gold of the finest quality. Of
z3 carets. After this Mr.. NJ. had no more rest
or patience, aud wanted me to start with him i'm
mediately to Celoma but told him could not
leave, as it was late in the evening and nearly
supper time, and that it would be better for him
10 remain with me ill the next morning and |
would travel with him, but this would not do
He asked me only will you come tom
morning i told him yes, and of he started for
Coloma IN the heaviest rain, al houQh already
very wet, taking nothing to cat. / took thiS
news very easy, like all other occurrences good
or bad. but thought good deal during the night
about the consequences which might follow such
discovery. | gave all necessary orders to nv
numerous laborers, and left the next morning at
Z o'clock, accompanied by an Indian soldier and
vaquero, in heavy rain, for Coloma. About
nalf way on the road | saw at distance a bu-
man being crawling out from the brushwood |
asked the indian who it was he told me the
same man who was with you last evening"
"heh came nearer found it was Marshall very
wet told him that be would have done better
an ugly night there but he told re that be went
up TO Coloma, (54 miles, took his own horse and
came half way to meet me then we rode up to
the new Eldorado. In the afternoon the weather
was clearing up, and we made prospecting prom
snade The next morning we went to the tail
race OF the mill, through which the water was
running during the night, to clean out the gravel
which had been made loose, for the purpose Of
widening the race and after the water was out
OF the race we went IN to search for gold This
was done every morning small pieces Of gold
could be seen remaining on the clean washed bed
rock. went in the race and picked up several
pieces OF this gold a number Of the laborers
gave me some which they had picked up aud
from Marshall received part ! told them /
would get ring made of this gold as SOon as il
could be done in California and have had
heavy ring made, with my family S coat Of arms
engraved on the outside, and on the inside Of the
ring is engraved, The first gold, discovered IN
January, l848.' Now if Mrs. Winner possesses
apiece which was found earlier than mine, Mr
Marshall can tell, as it probably received
from him. / think Mr. Marshall could have hard
~ known himself which was exactly the first lit.
tie piece, among the whole
The next day | went with Mr.. NJ on pros.
pecting tour IN the vicinity of Coloma, and the
following morning left for Sacramento Before
my departure / had conversation with all
hands. told them / wouid consider it as a verv
great favor il they would keep this discovery Sc
Ctet obly lOI slA weeks. so that could nnlSh
large -four mill at Brighton, with fout Eun Of
stones,) which had cost me already about from
$4,000 to SIS ,0O0-tbe people up there promis-
ed to keep it secret so long On my way home,
instead of feeling happy and contented. | was
very unhappy, and could not see that il would
benefit me much, and | was perfectly right IN
thinking So as it became just precisely as / ex-
pected. thought at the same time that it could
hardly be kept secret for six weeks and in this
l was not mistaken, for about two weeks later
after my return, sent up several teams in charge
of white man, as the transfers were Indian
boys. This man was acquainted with all hands
mp there, and Mrs. WINNER told him the whole
secret likewise the young sons of Mr.. WINNER
told him that they had gold, and that they would
let him have some too; and so he obtained few
dollars worth OF II as present. As soon as this
man arrived at the Fort he went to a small store
in one of my outside buildings, kept by Mr.
Smith, partner Of Samuel Brannan, and asked
for q bottle Of brandy, for which be would pay
the cash after receiving the bottle be paid with
small nnfao nf cold