The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1880-11-11
GOLD GOLD! GOLD
GOLD GOLD! GOLD!
Mcssrs. Dickson & Hay arc purchasers of
Sacramento gold. A liberal price given.
TEE HTvr

On the 29th Of May the Californian
issued o slip stating that its further pub
LEGATION. for the present, would cease,
because nearly oil its patrons had gone
to the mines. A month later there
were but five persOns-women and chill
dren-left in Yerba Buena. The first
rush was for Suffers Mill, since chris
tened Coloma, or Culluma, after tribe
of indians who lived in that region.
From there they scattered in all direc-
tiOns. A large stream of them went
over to Weber creek, which empties into
the American some ten or twelve miles
below Coloma. Others went up or
down the river. Some, more adventur-
GUS, crossed the ridge over to the north
and middle forks of the American. By
the close of June the discoveries had
can, Weber creek, Hangtown creek, the
sume), the Mokelumna, Tuolumne, the
Yuba from twas, or yuvas-grapo),
called in 1848 the "Yuba, i" or "Ajuba,"
and Feather river. On July Is the edi-
tor of the Californian returned and is
sued the first number of his paper after
its suspension. It contained descrip-
ton of the mines from personal observa-
ton. He said:
"The country from the Ajuba (Yuba)
to the San Joaquin, distance of about
12O miles, and from the base toward the
summit of the mountains, as far US 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 collect
ed by each man ranges from $40 to $3.50
per day. The publisher of this paper
collected with the aid of a shovel, pick and
inpan, from 81 to $l28 per day-aver-
aging.$lO0. The gross amount collected
may exceed $500, 900, of which amount
our merchants have received $3.50. 900. all
for goods, and in eight weeks. The larg-
est piece known to be found weighs
eight pounds"
On the 18th of August the number of
white miners was estimated at 1900.
Many OF them were of Stephenson's regi-
ment and the disbanded Mormon battal-
ion. 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 day was the estimated
production of the mines five months
after the secret leaked out. In April the
Prtce OF flour here was 81 per hundred !;
Ill August it had risen to SIG: All other
subsistence supplies rose in the same
proportion. Here is part of letter from
Sonoma, to the Calitorniaa, Aug. IA:
have heard from one of our citizens
who has been at tko>placers only few
weeks and collected 1850, still averag-
ing 500 day. Another, who shut up
his hotel here some five or six weeks
since, has returned with 81, 200, 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 q royalty of 80 per cent. on
all the gold taken there by the Nor
mons, who paid it for while but re-
fused afte: they came to better under
standing Of the rules of the mines. Bv
September the news had spread to Ore
gon and the southern coast, and on the
"a OF that month the Californian notes
that 125 persons had arrived in town "by
ship" since Aug. 26. In the "Dry Dig
Slngs-near Administering the month
OF August, one man got $4,000 out of
five carloads of dirt. In the same dig
gngs good many were collecting from
$500 to 81 500 a day. In the fall of
1S4S, John Murphy, now of San Jose,
discovered Murphy's Camp Diggings, in
Calaveras, and some soldiers of Ste
phenson's regiment discovered Rich
gulch, at Mokelumne hill. That winter
one miner at Murphy's realized $4,000.
1t was common report that John Muir
ply, who mined number of Indians on
wages, had collected over 81, 500, 900 in
gold-dust before the close of the wet
season of 1848. A Frenchman fishing
i'll prospect hole for frogs for his break
fast, at Mokelumne hill, in November,
1878, discovered speck of gold on the
side OF the excavation, which he dug out
with his pocket-knife and sold for 81, $50.
Three sailors who had deserted took out
$4,000 in five days on Weber creek.
Such strokes of good fortune turned all
classes into miners, including the law
yers, doctors and preachers. The cx-
ports of gold dust in exchange for pro-
duce and merchandise amounted to
$500, 900 by the 25th of September. The
ruling price of gold dust was SIS Der
ounce, though its intrinsic value was
from $40 to $40. A meeting of citizens.
presided over by r. NJ. Lea yenworth.
and addressed by Samuel Brannan.
passed resolutions in September not to
patronize merchants who refused to take
gold dust at $16 per ounce. A memoir
al was also sent from San Francisco to
Congress in that month for branch
mint here. It stated, among other
things, the opinion that by July l, 1910,
$500, 900 worth of dust, at SIG per
ounce, would he taken out of the mines.
The figures were millions too low. Real
estate III San Francisco took sudden
rise. A lot on Montgomery street, near
Washington, sold in July for $4,000,
and it was resold in November with
shanty on it for $4,000. Lots in Sac
ramento, 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 publi-
cation. In December the Kanakas and
Sonorians came in swarms. A Honolulu
letter, Nov. II, said:
"Such another excitement as the
news from California created here the
world never saw. think not less than
500 persons will leave before Jan. /, and
if the news continues good the whole
foreign population, except missionaries,
will CO."
The news did continue good, and they
came, some missionaries included. Soon
there came up from the mines COM
plants of outrage and lawlessness, most
~ against Kanakas and other foreigners.
How we'll they were founded, to what
they led, and how they were suddenly
and summarily silenced, is story that
covers n very interesting part of the
history of California, and the progress of
civilization in America.
SAMUEL. SEABOUGH,