The Osceola times., 1880-11-13

doors. LaWNCTS ana alcaldes are leaN-
ing their desks, farmers are neglecting
their corps and whole families are for
saking their homes" for the diggings.
BY Nav "a gold dust had become an
article of merchandise, the price being
from sli to $40 per ounce. The CalVori.
ian of that date had these advertise
mcnts:
GOLD! GoLDi GOLD!
Cash will be paid for California gold
by X. X. BUCKALEw,
Matchmaker and Jeweler, San Fran
cisco.
GOLD! GOLD. GOLD,
Messrs. Dickson & III ~ are purchasers
of Sacramento gold. A liberal price
given. Bee HIVE.
On the Goth of May the Californian
issued slip stating that its 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.
Iona, 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 north and middle forks OF the
American. By the close of June the dis
coveries had extended to all the forks OF
the American, Weber creek, Hangtown
creek, the Costumes known then as the
Make sume), the Mokelumne, Tuolumne,
the iuba from uvas, or yuvas-grape-)
called in lS4S the "Yuba," or "Aiuba.n
and Feather river. On July 10 the e6i-
tor of the Californian returned and issued
the first number of his paper after its
suspension. 1t contained 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 found
on every part. There are now probably
5000 people, including Indians, engaged
in collecting gold. The amount collected
by each man ranges from $40 to $3.50 per
day. The publisher of this paper col
lected with the aid of shovel, pick and
a tin pan, from S44 to $12S per day
average 500. rhe gross amount collect
ed may exceed 100000 (which amount
our merchants have received S250,000.
all for goods, and in eight weeks. The
largest piece known to be found weighs
eight pounds"
On the l4th of August the number Of
white miners was estimated at 1000.
Many of them were of Stephenson's reg
iment and the disbanded Mormon bat
talon. The Californian 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 a day was the estimated
production of the mines five months after
the secret leaked out. In April the price
OF -four here was 81 per hundred; in
August it had risen to SIG. All other
subsistence supplies rose in the same
Here is part of letter from
Sonoma, to the Californian, Aug. IA;
Il have heard from one OF our citizens
who has been at the placers only few
weeks and collected 81 800, still averag-
ing Sl00 day. Another, who shut up
his hotel here some FIVE or six weeks
since, has returned with $1,000, collected
with spade, pick and Indian basket
A man and his wife and boy collected
$500 in one day.
Sam Brannan laid exclusive claim to
Mormon island, in the American, about
twenty-eight miles above its mouth, and
levied royalty of 80 per cent. on all the
gold taken there by the Mormons, who
paid it for u 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 % OF that
month the californian notes that 125
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 $4,000 out of five cart
loads of dirt. In the same diggings q
good many were collecting from $500 to
81 800 a day. In the fall of 1S4S, John
Murphy, now of San Jose, discovered
Murphy's Camp Digging, J., 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 $4,000. 1t Was COM
mon report that John Murphy, who
mined a number of Indians on wages,
had collected over 81 800, 900 in gold dust
before the close of the wet season of
lS4S. A Frenchman fishing in pros.
pect hole for frogs for his breakfast, at
Mokelumne hill, in November, lS4S, dis
covered a pack of gold on the side of the
excavation, which he dug out with his
pocket knife and sold for $3.50. Three
sailors who had deserted took out Sl0.-
600 in five days on Weber creek. Such
strokes of good fortune turned all classes
into miners, including the lawyers, doc
tors and preachers. The exports of gold
dust in exchange for produce and mer-
chandise amounted to $4,000 by the
25ih of September. The ruling price Of
gold dust was Sl5 per ounce, though its
intrinsic value was from $40 to $50. A
meeting of citizens, presided over by I.
VI. Leavenworth, and addressed by Sam
uel Brannan, passed resolutions in Sep
tember not to patronize merchants who
refused to take gold dust at SIG per ounce.
A memorial was also sent from San
Francisco to Congress in that month tor
a branch mint here. 1t aed, among
other things, the opinion that by July
|, 1919, S5.500,00 worth Of dust, at SIG
per ounce, would be taken out of the
mines. The figures were millions too
low. Real estate in San Francisco took
a sudden raise. A lot on Montgomery
street, near Washington, sold in July
for $4,000, and it was resold in Novcm-
ber with a shanty on it for S27 900. Lots
in Sacramento, or New Helvetia, also
came up to fabulous prices that winter
BY the month of October the rush from
Oregon caused the Oregon papers to stop