The Russellville Democrat., 1880-12-02

new gold mine has been discovered or the American Fork of the Sacramento supposed to be it was not) on the lano of William A. LeidesdorfT, Esq, of this place. A specimen of the gold has been exhibited, and IS represented to be very pure.s
 May opened with accounts of new dis. coveries. The Californian of May said Seven men, with picks and spades gathered $l,600 worth in fifteen days That was little more than S15 per day for each man. On the 17th of May the same paper says. Many persons have already left the coast for the diggings | Considerable excitement exists here Merchants and mechanics are closing doors. Lawyers and alcaldes are leav- | ing their desks, farmers are neglectinp | their corps and whole families are for. saking their homes" for the diggings By May "A gold dust had become an article of merchandise, the price being from S14 to $18 per ounce. The Cdlifor,s. ian of that date had these advertise | ments:
 GOLD! COLE! GOLD!
 Cash will be paid for California gold by R. R. BucKALEw,
 Matchmaker and Jeweler, San Fran cisco.
 GOLD! COLD! GoLD
 Messrs. Dickson & Hay are purchasers of Sacramento gold. A liberal price given. BEE HIVE. On the 29th of May the CalJornian issued slip stating that it's further pub lication, for the present, would cease, because nearly all its patrons had gone to the mines. A month later there were but five persons-women and children left in Yerba Buena. The first rush was for Sutters's Mill, since christened Co., loma, or Culluma, after tribe of Indians who lived in that region. From there they scattered in all directions. A large stream of them went over the Weber creek, which empties into the American some ten or twelve miles below Coloma. Others went up or down the river. Some, more adventurous, crossed the ridge over to the nor.h and middle forks of the American. By the close of June the dls- coveries had extended to all the forks of the American, Weber creek, Hangtown creek, the Costumes (known then as the Max sume), the Mokelumne, Tuolumne, the Yuba (from twas, or yuvas-grape-). called in 184S the "Yuba," or "Ajuba.n and Feather river. On July l5 the eci- tor of the Californian returned and issued the first number of his paper after it's suspension. It contained a description of the mines from personal observation. He said.
 "The country from the Ajuba (Yuba) to the San Joaquin, distance of about 120 miles, and from the base toward the summit of the mountains, as far as Snow hill (meaning Nevada) about seventy miles, has been explored and gold tound on every part. There are now probably 5000 people, including Indians, engaged in collecting gold. The amount collected by each man ranges from $10 to $350 per day. The publisher of this paper col lected with the aid of shovel, pick and tin ran, from $44 to SIPS per day average $l00. The gross amount collect ed may exceed $600,000, Of which amount our merchants have received $250 000. all for goods, and in eight weeks. The largest piece known to be found weighs eight pounds"
 On the 14th of August the number of white miners was estimated at 4000. Many of them were of Stephensons reg iment and the disbanded Mormon bat taion. The Cdiiforniaa remarked on that day that "when man with his pan or basket does not average $50 to $40 per day, he moves to another place." Four thousand ounces day wasthe estimated production of the mines five months after the secret leaked out. In April the price of flour here was S4 per hundred; in August it had risen to $l6. All other subsistence supplies rose in the same proportion. Here is part of a letter from Sonoma, to the Cdttornian, Aug. IA:
 II have heard from one of our citizens who has been at the placers only a few weeks and collected $l ,500, still averag- ing $100 day. Another, who shut up his hotel here some five or six weeks since has returned with $2,000, collected with spade, pick and Indian basket. A man and his wife and boy collected $500 in one day.
 Sam Grammar laid exclusive claim to Mormon island, in the American, about twenty-eight miles above it's mouth, and levied royalty of 30 per cent. on all the gold taken there by the Mormons, who paid it for while but refused after they came to better understanding of the rules of the mines. By September the news had spread to Oregon and the southern coast, and on the 2d of that month the Collaboration notes that l25 persons had arrived in town "by ship" since Aug. 26. In the "Dry Diggings"- near Auburn-during the month of Aug ust, one man got $l6,000 out of five cart loads of dirt. In the same diggings a good many were collecting from $500 to S1 300 day. In the fall of lS4S, John Murphy, now of San Jose, discovered Murphy's Camp Digging. in Calaveras, and some soldiers of Stephenson's regi- ment discovered Rich gulch, at Moke- lumne hill. That winter one miner at Murphy's realized S80,000 It was com mon report that John Murphy, who mined a number of Indians on wages, had collected over $l ,500, ,000 in gold dust before the close of the wet season of 1848 A Frenchman fishing in pros peet hole for frogs for his breakfast, at Mokelumne hill, in November, 1S4S, dis covered pack of gold on the side of the excavation, which he dug out wlth his pocket knife and sold for 2,150. Three sailors who had deserted took out Sl0,- 900 in five days on Weber creek. Such strokes of good fortune turned all classes into miners, including the lawyers, doe tors and preachers. The exports of gold | dust in exchange for produce and mer- chandise amounted to $50,000 by the | 25th of September The ruling price of | gold dust was $l5 per ounce. though its | intrinsic value was from $19 to S20. A meeting of citizens, presided over by T NJ. Leavenworth, and addressed by Sam uel Grammar, passed resolutions in Sep tember not to patronize merchants who refused to take gold dust at Sl6 per ounce A memorial was also sent from San Francisco to Congress in that month 10,