Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1885-08-21
JAMES W. MAUSHkLl'S DEATH.
The Man Who Discovered Gold II
California A Life Ended in
Poverty.

The Man Who Discovered Gold II
California A Life Ended in
Poverty.
A correspondent OF the Pblla
delphia Times gives an interesting
sketch Of James w. Marshall, th'
discoverer of gold in California
who died Monday last at his home
in Kelsey, IN that State, in con
dition of poverty, aged "A years
lie was "A native Of Warren county
N. }. When Marshall was a young
man Of twenty.one he was smltteI
with the Western fever" ant
bought a farm in Kansas. Thu
climate did not agree with, him anl
soon after he packed up and JOINED
train of one hundred wagons
bound for that at that time almost
unknown land, California. Mar
shall and a few of his companions
entered the service of Gen. Suttel
and engaged as a volunteer in the
somewhat remarkable campaign
waged by General Fremont against
the Mexicans, who sought to pre-
vent the entrance Of "A body OF
Americans into Mexico, aud which
was known as the Bear Flag war
After the treaty of March, 1S47i
recognizing the independence Of
California, Marshall returned to
find that all his possessions, con
sisting for the most part Of cattle,
had been stolen daring his absence,
lie then started in the lumber
business with General Suffer, at
COloma, Amador county, and at
this time he made his famous dis
cOvery.
1t was on the 18th of January,
1913, that Marshall was superin-
tending the building of the mill
race. After shutting of the water
at the head of the race he walked
down the ditch to see what sand
and gravel had been removed dur
ing the previous night. He stroll
ed to the lower end of the race and
stood looking down at the mass OF
debris. At this juncture his eye
caught the glitter of something
that lay lodged in a crevice on a
rifle of soft granite. lie stopped
and picked up the substance. 1t
was heavy, of a peculiar color and
different from anything he had
seen in the stream before. lie re.
aected as to what kind of mineral
the specimen could be and finally
concluded that it was either mica,
sulphurets Of copper-Or gold. 1t
was too heavy for mica; was not
brittle, as are sulphurets, and, re-
Numbering that gold is malleabIe,
he placed the nugget on a fiat stone
and began striking it with another.
The substance did not crack or
fake of, but simply fattened under
the blows, and Marshall was salts
fed that he had indeed made an
important discovery. He collected
a few ounces of the precious metal
and at once went to Suffers Fort
to inform Gen. Suffer of his Sind"
General Suffer has given an
interesting account of this inter-
view and the exciting events that
followed. After the discovery had
become known, in spite Of the
efforts OF Suffer and Marshall to
keep it secret, the country was
invaded by people of all classes,
who cared nothing for law, proper
ty or anything. Gen. Suffer has
told of how his own land was
seized by squatters and his proper
ty confscated, and Marshall, it
seems, Jared even worse. The land
about the mill which he was build.
ing when he made his great dis
was, of course, the first to
be seized by the squatters, who
marked it Oft into claims and town
lots, which they distributed among
themselves, as they did his work
oxen and horses and everything
else that he called his own. So he
was forced to become prospector
for the precious metal, but had
poor success in finding it. The
added insult to injury by
presuming that he knew the where
lbouts of rich depositsof gold and
refused to giveinformation to them
md prosecuted him on these false
To add to his troub-
es his title to the land he had
purchased prior to his great dis
;overy was questioned, and he lost !
all. His latter years were passed
n great poverty, relieved but little |
~ a small grant from the State Of
california.