The Tiffin weekly tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1859-1868, 1868-01-02

'NhS1 NhiNh nav NNoe ANthAN INV
thousand dollars. lto had expended
ten thousand dollars In tho erection
Of saw MILL One thousand acres
Of his land was verdent with young
wheat. lie owned eight thousand
cattle, two thousand horses aud mules,
two thousand sheep and one thou
sand hogs. Besides possessing all |
this property, he had been appointed /
Aloalde of tho district by Commo.
doro Stockton, the Indian agent, by !
Gen. Kcarncy. IIo was monarch Of
all he surveyed, and was held in high !
respect both by his colouists and 5y
the United States officers stationed in
the Territory. This was his position
on the day gold was discovered on his
lsad.
One Of the men in his employment
was James w. Marshall, a native of
Now Jersey, who, after long wander.
ings ON the Pacific coast had enlisted
under General Fremont, in the Cali.
fornia battalion, from which, at the
close of the war, he was honorably
discharged. As he was an excellent
mechanic, he obtained employment
from Captain Snttcr. IL was he who
suporintended the building of the
saw mill just mentioned, which was
situated at poiut forty miles east of
Suffers fort. In January, 1913, the
mill being nearly completed, they had
begun TO take timber, James Mar
shall being the superintendent.
In the evening of February 2nd,
1918, James Marshall suddenly rode
into the fort--his horse foaming, and
both horse aud rider spattcred all
over with mud. The man was labor
ing under wild excitement. Meeting
Captain Suttcr, he asked to be con.
ductcd to room where they could
converse alone. The astonishcd SUIT
ter complied with his desire, and they
entered a secluded apartment. Mar
shall closed the door, and asked Cap.
tain Sutter If he was certain they
were safe from intrusion aud begged
him to lock the door. Tho honest
Sutter began to think the man was
mad, and was a little alarmed at the
idea of being locked in with a maniac.
He assured Marshall that they were
safe from intrusion. Satisfied at
length upon this point, he took from
his pocket q pouch, from which he
poured Upon the table half thimble
full of yellow grains of metal, with
an exclamation that he thought they
we're GOLD.
"Whcre did you get it?" askcd
Captain Sutter.
Marshall replied, that early that
morning. the water being shut of
from the mill race, as usual, he no
ticed, in passing along, shining parti-
cles scattered about the bottom. He
picked up several, and finding them
to. be metal tho thought had burst
UPON his mind that they might be
gold. Having gathered about an
ounce of them, he had mounted his
horse and ridden about forty miles to
impart the momentous secret to his
employer, aud bring the yellow sub b-
stance to some scientific test.
Captain Sutter was at first disposed
to laugh at his excited friend. Among
his stores, he happened to have bot
tic Of aqua -fortis, and tho action OF
this powerful acid upon the yellow
particles, at once proved them to be
pure gold
The excitement of this moment
can be imagined. Marshall proposed
that Captain Sutter should imme-
diately mount and ride back with
him to the saw mill but, as it was
raining hard, and the night dark and
the mill forty miles distant, Captain
Sutter preferred to wait till daylight
Marshall, however, could not be re-
strained. He set out Immediately on
his return. At the dawn of day,
Sutter started, and when he was with.
in ten miles of the saw mill, he saw
before him, coming out of some
bushes, a dark object, whicl. he took
to be a grizzly bear, but it proved to
be James Marshall.
"What are you doing here y asked
Suffer.
Marshall replied that he had been
to the saw mill, but was so impatient
to see the Captain that he had walk
led back ten miles to meet him. They
went on together to the eiill aud
found all the laborers picking up the
shining particles from the bottom OF
,hc race. Captain Sutter did not rel.
sh the prospect. lie soon satisfied
himself that gold in considerable
Quantities existed in the neighhor-
lood, but as the harvest was coming
on, and some Of his improvements
were unfinished, he feared lest his
his men should leave him in the lurch
and 60 to gold digging. Calling his
men around him, he explained his
situation, and they agreed to keep the
matter secret for six weeks, when
the harvest would be gathered. But
such a secret cannot be kept. A
teamster, going from the mill TO the
fort, and wishing something to drink,
went to a store aud asked for bottle
of whisky. As the teamster's credit
was not high in tho country, the
storekceper intimated that whisky
was a cash article. The man said he
had plenty of money, and immediate
ly showed some grains Of tho precious
metal which he had brought from the
saw mill. The storekeoper having
satisfied himself that the yellow par
ticles were indeed gold, supplied the
whisky, at the same time begging the
man to toll whore he had got it. The
teamster at FIRST, refused to reveal the
secret, but the whisky soon unloOs-
ed his tongue and he related the
whole story.
The rush that followed is well
known, All California hurried to
the spot. Suffers harvest was never