Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-11-03

nounced it to be. The simultaneous shout
from six men sounded like an Indian war
whoop The noise we made had been so
loud that erybody in the fort must have
heard it. 1t was at once supposed that this
must be the great secret of Captain Suffer,
and Jacob Wilmer had heard of the find
ing of the gold in the water outlet of the
sawmill. Thus Wilmer, after he got to the
sawmill, as head teamster. told at once
where the gold was found, and where he
picked up his eighteen particles of the
metal. The story of the finding of gold
given in some papers-said to be from
Suffer. The difference is only that at the
time it was said that Peter Weimer had
been with Marshall in the ditch when they
first found it.
AFTER the excitement had subsidized,
Suffer requested me to come up, saying at
the same time, l see my secret is out.
Now let US go and drink bottle of wine,
and let us hope that we all may be rich
yet These statements are very plain, and
according to eyewitness the discoveries
took place at one and the same time. Wit
mer, after his return to the river, showed
where he picked up the particles of gold;
consequently he must have been ahead of
Marshall. May be Wilmer had carried his
gold in the rag for some time. until he came
to the blacksmith shop, where it could be
tested. Possibly he was not in such hurry
as Marshall. According to this version
Wilmer must be taken into consideration
as one of the discoveries"
Eighth-The RECORD UNION of August
IL, 1885, gives this version of the first
gold discovery: James Marshall was sent
by Captain Suffer in the latter part of De-
- al.
South Fork of the American river, at the
present site of Coloma. The mill was
completed IN January, 184S, and they had
Just commenced saving lumber when on
the night of February =, Marshall ap-
peared at Suffers Fort. He Immediately
requested Captain Suffer to go with him
into room where they could be alone.
Marshall being satisfied at last that they
would not be interrupted, took from his
pocket a pouch, from which he poured
upon the table about an ounce of yellow
grains of metal, which he thought would
prove 10 be gold. Captain Suffer asked
where it came from. Marshall stated that
in the morning, the water being shut off
from the mill-race. he had then and there
discovered in the bottom the shiny parti-
cles. On examination he found them to
be metallic substance, and the thought
flashed through his mind that it might be
gold Captain Suffer was at first quite in
credulous as to the particles being gold,
but happening to have bottle of nitric
acid among his stores, he applied the test,
and, sure enough, the yellow grains proved
to be pure gold. The great discovery was
maden
Marshall poured out an ounce of yellow
grains; So had Wilmer in the blacksmith
Thnn NV hou ao,A in tHa
they made the test. Another saws that
Marshall had it tested in Monterey. 1t is
fact that Weimer had none of these grains
of gold when Marshall showed him the
nugget in the river. which Weimer picked
up. Marshall was sent up the river in De-
cember. 1S47, and in February, 1913 Ia lit
tie more than one month), the location for
the mill was selected, the dams built, the
mill erected, lumber sawed and gold dis
covered. They must have had great ma
chinery and great many laborers, but we
all know that there were nothing of the
kind here in 1S49. The mysterious pro-
ceedings in the fort were only stories put
into Captain Suffers head by the early pio-
neers.
Ninth-Now comes Sam Brannan, who
says that California historians are all wrong
about the date of the memorable discovery,
and that 1t took place at Coloma in Deem
Der, 1S47. He says: 81 think the whole
history of the discovery, as well as the date,
is wrong, because If we cannot rely on the
statements of the early witnesses who ex-
amined the nugget found on the road, and
in the possession of Mrs. Weimer, then the
assertions made and insisted on are in the
end only conflicting guesswork."
Tenth. F. Beckeart writes from San
&. II 49,. - -. ~f
Marshall" Then he begins to reason how
the statue of the latter should be mod
eled, and further on he says: =" If the
statue faces the road, his left hand should
and could point to the memorable spot
where he picked up the small fakes of
gold in the mill-race, and which he gave
to Captain Suffer. The nugget, he informed
me, was found by him months subse-
quently between Coloma and Kelsey's dry
diggings."
Now, where is the nugget which Mar
shall saw shining at the side of Weimer's
toe? and where is the nugget Mrs. Weimer
showed to Mr.. Kane? The nugget first
found on the road, and in the possession
of Mrs. Weimer, was generally the CON-
mon belief; but, to keep up the discovery
of the first nugget, Marshall found one SUBJ
sequently in Kelsev's diggings. The first
nugget could be easily replaced subse-
quently, when certainly good many had
been found already. This statement, we
must take for granted, came from Marshall
as an intimate friend of Beckeart.
Eleventh-Winfeld Scott Davis, the
Historian of the Pioneer Association" in
his report cites many more authorities, but
admits that it is impossible to find the ex-
act date of the first gold discovery. Ger
~. I LII: he ot1 Ia hot
Marshall was the first discoverer, but, since
/ have read all these contradictory state
ments over and again, l am convinced that
Weimer is the genuine discoverer, because
one nugget he picked up on the road, and
the other he picked up in the river. One
of those must have been the original one,
as he had them both in his possession.
Twelfth-The Anzeiger des Westerns of St.
Louis, has this to say The sawmill where
the first gold was found was the project OF
Suffer. Marshall was only in his employ,
and not, as the latter asserted, his partner.
Marshall was selfish and never assisted
anyone"
This writer only intimates that the serv-
ant was put above the master. He seems
to know little about Suffer, and nothing
about Marshall.
Thirteenth = Msjor Stephen Cooper
writes: II was one of the party of fifteen
that opened the Santa Fe road, which after
wards became so important as the basis oil
so many fortunes, and to this slight OPEN
ing perhaps might be traced our future
possession of the country. We struck the
Sacramento valley on the 9th of October,
1916 That winter / stopped at Yount's
ranch, in Napa valley-a man who, in my
opinion, did more for the early immigrants
than ali the Suffers ever did"
This causes a pleasant recollection for
me, as l, too, was an early traveller on this
road, and to hear still later of an old pi-
oneer who was participant in this great
enterprise. The old Major was right. 1t
cannot be denied that the road TO Santa Fe
caused the ultimate discovery of gold in
California, but it had to be kept up until
the road was extended to California, which
was done in the winter of 1878, and Suffer
afterwards followed the wrong road to Or
egon.
1t is remarkable coincidence that both
the first pieces of gold mentioned were in
possession of Weimer and his wife, and the
latter kept them in Der possession, too.
Weimer intended to fetch the nugget to the
Fort, but as he was prevented, as superin-
tendent of the laborers. he gave the nugget
to Marshall to carry. Suppose, now, Wei
mer had kept the nugget in his possession,
and fetched it to the Fort and he and Sut-
ter had made the test, would not Weimer
have been considered the discoverer of the
first gold in California? Undoubtedly.
uo~o vac Wa;r,,or1u uroaf nietaka-tn LET