The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1880-11-04
TheaSisry Of the Discovery of Gold In
sars-s. Y -.la..-.. California.

Ass HWas in the month of January, 1915
lima small shanty in the rather squat
little, hamlet of Yerba Buena, on tn
Bay OF San Francisco. that two youn
menfroni the States. having just printe
aonas hand press the one. hundred an
fifty copies of their weekly paper, sa
adown upon stools, weary, faint and dis
couraged, to talk over the prospects O
the country and bemoan the fate tina
3 had cast them where society and none
were so scarce. They were Americans
but the land of their birth was as re
mote to them then as ST. Petersburg t
~aspeasant of, the Amoor Valley. The,
elonged to.return, but never expected t,
ssbesrich enough. The Mexican lWariwa
i. just endeda few months before. Tn
treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo gave Cali
sfornia the United States. The Cali
fornia SO gceded included the presen
State of that name, Nevada and mos
of Utah. 1t was an empire larger thar
France and England. Divided by {
yrange,sof mountains almost as lofty a
the Alps and longer than the Carpa
Athians, running from north to south, the
eastern half was a terra incognita o.
barren desert buttes and mountain spurs
Scontaining throughout its whole extern
but one feeble settlements of whites
known as Mornlons. Unknown savages
of the lowest aboriginal type DONNA
ted sal the rest. The western half az
lit thensappeared, was one great valley,
covered with bright flowers, rank YER
dure, clun1ps of majestic oaks, wooded
hills. sloping from the coast range on
the west and the Sierras on the east. In
all this vast valley region there was Blu,
one white settlement. 1t was known as
Suffer- Fort. It was located near the
confluence Of the Rio de los A1nericanos
E with. the Sacramento. To the far south.
beyond the sources of the San JOAQUIN
s. River, not far from the Pacific
Ocean, - stood the 'sC iudad dde : Los
Angeles Mexican in. its construc.,
ton sand population. A, Catholic mis-.
sion at Santa Barbara and sanother
at San Luis 'Obispo Saint Louis, the
bishop; another at Monterey on the
bay}ef that name, another at Santa
Clarain the lovely valley of that,name;
= another called Mission de San Jose not
far from the latter, and another at the
syihage0t Kefba Bpens, which las sine
grown into the city of San Francisco.
1t was then collection CT adobes, built
esaths plaza. h0fFhe waters s On a tie Bs9 T
extended as far as Montgomery Street,
where the Bank and Exchange now
stands and aFfew ,whalers and. coastne
schooners lay at anchor 800 yasds from
shore, about whore the Postoffice now
loft L
also AfneriGana ssttlemeh ats Sen0ina
and Napa, composed of farmers who,
had emigrated from the Western States
few years before; and here and there
, arose along the borders of the tule the
smoke from the hut of a lonely trapper
OF beaver. These with the ranches Of
the old Dons, their corrals and the inev-
liable adobe dwellings, Surrounded by
innumerable cattle and horses, made up
the sum of what there was of CIVILIZED
and semi-ciyilized life in California at
theFtime the two. young printers of
Yerba Buena were discus sing their sit ]
,uation. Now and then vessel put in
to the Bay OF Monterey, or San Fran
cisco, OF, San Diego to load with hides
or whaler for repairs, dropping q few
Mexican dollars or 'doubloons, which
were the currency of the country. Z,
-as About the same hour that the two
lerba Buena printers were. deploring
their fate of isolation from the BUSY
world, q scene was enacting that was to
have greater effect upon the material
iaterestsM modera society sthaa any
event since the discovery of America.
1t was on the 18th day of January. 1913.
On the south fork Of the American
River, fifty-four miles east of Suffers
Fort. Early in the morning of that dav
James w. Marshall Who Vas builx1inS
b milf fof ahimself aud Sutter. from
which they expected to supply the |
ranches and settlements with pine lum- I
Der, picked up from the bedrock of the !
race OF the mill a small piece of yellow
metal. 1t weighed about seventeen
grains. .1tSWas n1Alteabley heavier than
silver and in all respects resembled |
gold. About four o clock in the even
ing Marshall exhibited his find to the
circle composing the mill company
!aborers. Their names were James
W. Marshall. p L. WINNER.
Mrs. WINNER. James 8arger. Ira
Willis, Sydney Willis, Alex. STEPHENS.
James Brown, sEzkiah Persons, Henry
bigler, Israel Smith, William johnson.
GEORGE Evans, Charles Bennett and |,
William Scott. The conference resulted l.
n rejection of the idea that it wasI
,old. Mrs. WINNER tested it by boil Il
ng 1t in strong 1ve., Marshall after. r
Yards tested it with nitric acid. 1t was
,ofd, sure enough, and the discoverer l.
odnd It's like in all the surrounding
'uiehes wherever, he, dug. for it, The
ecret could not be long kept. II was
nown at Yerba Buena three months
northe discovery and tho swp pri1zfers
bove mentioned put, this slight notice !,
it in their weekly paper, the Califos-
sdn. ON the 18th OF April: 81 Try +.
NEW GOLD MINE. It is stated that new
old mine has been discovered on the Ameri- /,
n Fork OF the Sacramento, supposed to be =
y was mott on the land OF William A. Leiti- Is
sdorn, Esq, of this place. A specimen of | ],
ne gold mas been exhibited and is Represents | 5
to be very pure. .s5y AIS 5i-si-s7 hI.,Ys q,
May opened with accounts of new dis
oyeries. The Californian of May 3,
ald: - Seven men, "a with picks and /;
DadpS Oathprod a Coz x.,x,~tlS e. q e..