, 1891-03-12

The Disputed Date Is Sow Established
by Documentary Evidence.

The Disputed Date Is Now Established
by documentary Evidence.
The various societies Of California
pioneers are accustomed to celebrate
the 18th Of January as the date Of the
discovery OF gold by j.. W. Marshall at
Coloma, but that it is an error is shown
Mr.. John S. Hittell in The Century as
follows "a fac simile Of the entry in
Bigler's diary being printed in the mag
azine as ocular evidenced:
The first record Of the discovery, and
the only one made on the day Of its Oc-
currence, was in the diary Of Henry W.
Bigler, one Of the Mormon labOrers at
the mill He was an American by
birth, then a young man, and now a
respected citizen of st. George, Utah.
lar record Of his notable observations
and experiences, selecting topics for re-
mark with creditabIe judgment. His
journal, kept during his service in the
Mormon battalion and his subsequent
stay in California, is one Of the valuable
historical documents Of the state On
the oath Of January, in the evening,
Bigler wrote in his diary, This day
some kind Of mettle was found in the
tale race that looks like goald.
Nothing was said in public about the
date of the discovery until 1856, eight
years after the event, when Marshall
published a letter in which he said that
he found gold at Coloma about the
10Th" of January. 1S4S, Neither then,
nor at any subsequent time, did he
claim that his recollection Of the day
was aided by a written memorandum,
In 1857 he published a statement that
the discovery was made on the 18th,
18th or goth. His biography, prepared
under his direction, and printed in
1870, fixed the 10Th as the precise day.
As years elapsed he became more exact,
perhaps under the influence Of public
opinion, which from 1856 to 1886 &C
cepted the 18th ms the day.
On the 9th Of September, 1885, at the
annual celebration Of the admission Of
the state into the Union, l delivered an
address on the gold discovery to the
Pioneer society of San Francisco, and
sent a copy Of it in print to Mr.. Bigler,
Of whom | had heard rs one Of the sur
vivors of the Coloma party, and re
quested him to correct any errors, If he
found any. He replied hat according
to his diary the gold was found on The
9th. At my solicitation he copied the
entries Of his book from that day to the
middle Of May; and then l began an
investigation which made me familiar
with the diaries of Azariah Smith, Il
survivor Of the Mormon battalion and
one Of the mill builders at Coloma, and
with the diary Of Sutter.
These three diaries agreed substan-
TALLY with one another, and with Mar
shalfs statement that four days after
the discovery he took specimens Of the
gold to Suffers fort. Smith made his
entries on Sunday as "A rule, and on the
3Oth Of January he wrote that on the
preceding week gold had been found at
the mill, and that Marshall had gone
to New Helvetia to have it tested. This
was probably written in the morning,
for Bigler's entry made on the same
day mentions that the test was success
ful, implying that Marshall had re
turned.
Suffers diary reports that on the
2sth of January Marshall arrived at the
fort ION important business ~ without
mentioning the gold. The agreement
of the three diaries with Marshall's
statement that he went to New Hell
vetia four days after the discovery, the
superior value of documentary evil
dence as compared with vague recol
lections, dimmed by years Of interven-
ing events, and the uncertainty Of
Marshall in reference TO the date, left
no room for doubt hat the 2lth was
the true day, which l gave to the pub
lie for the first time in January, 1856.