Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1892-03-17
GOLD DISCOVERY.
The Disputed Date Established by Docu-
mentary Evidence.

The Disputed Date Established by Docu-
mentary Evidence.
The various societies of California
pioneers are accustomed to celebrate
Jan. 10 as the date OF the discovery
of gold by j. w. Marshall at Coloma,
but that 1t Is an error is shown by
Mr.. John S. Hittell in the Century as
follows "a facsimile OF the entry in
Bigler's diary being printed in the
magazine as ocular evidence):
The first record of the discovery,
and the only one made on the day of
its occurrence, was in the diary OF
Henry w. Bigler, one of the Mormon
laborers at the mill. He was an
American by birth, then young
man, and now respected citizen OF
st. George, Utah. He was in the
habit of keeping regular record of
his notable observations and expert
ences, selecting topics for remark
with creditable judgment. His jour-
nal kept during his service in the
Mormon battalion and his subsequent
stay in California is one of the valu-
able historical documents of the
State. On Jan. "a, in the evening,
Bigler wrote in his diary, This day
some kind OF mettle was found in the
tail-race that looks like goald."
Nothing was said in public about
the date of the discovery until
1855, eight years after the event,
when Marshall published letter in
which he said that he found gold at
Coloma about the 10th" Of January,
lS4S. Neither then, nor at any sub
sequent time, did he claim that his
recollection Of the day was aided by a
written memorandum. In 1857 he
published a statement that the dis
covery was made on the 18th, 10th
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 inflU-
ence of public opinion, which from
| 1856 to 1886 accepted the 10th as the
day. On Sept. 8, 1885, at the annual
celebration Of the admission of the
State into the Union, delivered an
address on the gold discovery to the
Pioneer Society Of San Francisco,
and sent copy of it in print to Mr..
Bigler, of whom l had heard as one
of the survivors of the Coloma party,
and requested him to correct my
errors, If he found any. He replied
that, according to his diary, the gold
was found on the oath. At my so
licitation he copied the entries of his
book from that day to the middle Of
May; and then l began an investiga-
ton which made me familiar with
the diaries of Azariah Smith, sur
viyor of the Mormon battalion and
one of the mill-builders at Coloma,
and with the diary of Suffer. These
| three diaries agreed substantially
with one another, and with Marshall's
statement that four days after the
discovery he took specimens of the
| gold to Suffers Fort. Smith made
his entries on Sunday as rule; and
on Jan. 30 he wrote that on the pre-
ceding 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 successful, implying that Mar
shall had returned.
Suffers diary reports that on Jan.
% Marshall arrived at the fort "on
important business" without men.
tioning the gold. The agreement OF
the three diaries with Marshalli
statement that he went to New Hell.
vetia four days after the discovery,
the superior value of documentary
evidence as compared with vague
recollections, dimmed by years OF
intervening events, and the uncer.
tainty of Marshall in reference to the
date, left no room for doubt that the
oath was the true day, which 1 gave
to the public for the first time in
January, 1886.