The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1876-02-10
HOW 1T WAS FOUND,
The Discovery of Sold in California --Loss of
an Original Land Owner.

the Disc0very OF Goid In CALIFORNIA; --Loss of
an Original Land Owner.
A letter from Lancaster, Pa, to the
Philadelphia Times gives an interesting
sketch Of General John A. Sutter, now
resident there, on whose land in Cali
fornia gold was originally found. He
is now seventy-three years old, and
strikingly resembles the Emperor Will
liam of Prussia. He was born in Switz-
erland and landed at New York in 1884.
Travelling across the continent he reach
ed Oregon and went down the coast to
California. The Mexican government
sent him to look after the Indians, with
headquarters where Sacramento how
stands. Here he cleared farm and in
one year harvested forty thousand bush
els of wheat, employing several hundred
Indians. He says that in 1845 Mexi-
can senator offered him $1,000, 900 for
his estate, but he refused the offer, part
ly because the men about him feared
that their interests would suffer by the
change. His own account of the dis
covery of gold and of his wrongs is given
as follows:
While building mill on American
river, man employed by me, by the
name of Marshall. discovered yellow
spots in the millrace. He procured some
Of the yellow stuff, and remarked to sew
eral men that he believed it was gold;
but they only laughed at him and called
him crazy. He came to ny office noxt
day, and seeing that be wanted to speak
to me alone, and suspecting that he was
under some excitement, L asked him:
"What's the matter2" We went into a
room and locked the door. He wanted
to be very sure that no listeners were
about, and when satisfied, he gave me
the stuff to examine; he had it wrapped
up in piece of paper. During our in
terview l had occasion to go to the door,
opened it and neglected to lock it again,
and while handling the open package my
clerk unexpectedly came in, when Mar
shall quickly put it in his pocket. After
the clerk had retired the door was again
locked and the specimen closely exam
ined. Several tests that knew of l
applied rs well as 1 could, and satisfied
myself that it was really gold. One of
these tests was with aqua-fortis and the
other by weighing in water. L told him
it was gold and no mistake, and hoped
the discovery would be kept secret for
six weeks-until certain mills would be
finishedand preparation made for large
additional population. L then had
about eighty white mechanics employ.
ed. But the secret soon leaked out
told by woman employed as cook.
E Then excitement and confusion, anC
:. even anarchy, followed. The men ther
, ; on the ground, and others soon follow
! ed, seemed to care for nothing but gold
!, By-and bye the scum of the world came
They cared nothing for law, property o.
anything. They took from me wha
they wanted, and I was powerless. Fiv,
= butchers took my cattle, and each O
= them made 100000 out of that Job
l After year or so civil authority was es
A tablished, but in the meantime my stool
had been taken and my lands occupied
a by squatters. Bear in mind that tn,
| lands were mine, and that up to the tim,
5 of gold discovery both Mexico and tn,
United States had recognized my pro
| prietorship. Of course, claimed aut
3 shall continue to claim damages until
= succeed. Two tribunals-one the Uni
s ted States land commission and tn
other the United States district court
= decided in my favor, but when it cam,
s before the United States supreme cour
: the decision was in favor of the squat
s ters; not because the land did not be
g long to me, but because of mere tech
3 nical point. And SO the matter stand
0 to-day.
h California has for years paid me
1 pension, or in the shape of pension
: on account of what the State considere,
t my just due. On the very same LAM
t which was taken from me / had paid be
i tween thirty-three and thirty-four thou
t sand dollars taxes, and then when til
: supreme court had made its decisio
: most of the land was sold at $1.25 Pc
acre, but was never refunded even th
taxes which I had paid.