The Portland daily press., 1893-03-15
GOLD In CALIFORNIA.
The Priests Of Very EARLY Times
We're Aware Of 1t. v

long Before the Forty-niners Rushed to
the III Dorado, Indians PeddIed the Pre-.
. cious Dust on the Streets of Monterey.
A Priests Secret.
The discovery Of gold in California
has recently called forth a good deal OF
discussion, and also an especially inter
esting story from Captain W. Il. Themes,
president of the Society of California
Pioneers.
Captain Thomas, before he took up his
permanent residence in Boston, spent
many years in California and is very
much interested in the early history OF
the gold discoveries. =
He says: 81 am perfectly satisfied that
the presence of gold in that region was
known to the priests in the very earliest
times The priests, who were the first
pioneers, were pastoral people. Ar
missionaries they gained a wonderful in.
fuence over the native Indians and
gradually flooded the country with great
herds Of sheep and cattle that roamed
over ranges thousands Of acres in extent.
These herds the Indians tended, and il
was therefore the policy Of the priests
to keep the Indians in subsection. ~.
"The priests brought with them from
Spain grapevines and orange trees, and
they sought to bring peace and plenty to
the new land. They were wise, long
headed men and must have known OF
the existence Of gold, but they also knew
the righteousness of the Spanish people.
They reasoned that If the presence of the
yellow metal should become known in
Spain hordes of greedy adventures
would rush in, robbing, killing and raw
ishing. Their peaceful relations with
the Indians would be broken off, the
great herds would be scattered, and the
supremacy of the priests themselves
would be lost.
''This supremacy was at its highest IN
1855, when from the missions at San
Diego a chain of "a missions was ex.
tended northward. Junipero Sera was
priest president of all the missions in
California and was an intelligent, per-
severing, enterprising man. He was not
only instrumental in founding mission
after mission, but hs added to the herds
thousands of sheep and cattle.
81 have been six times to California
and have talked with priests Of all ma
tionalities, Mexican, Spanish, Irish and
American, and ] am confident from what
they say that Junipero Sera knew about
the gold, but he was singular charac-
ter and ruled with hand of steel, SO
that gold was a word that no one dared
to utter. He had the history Of Peru
and other countries in his mind, and he
knew that an influx of gold hunters
meant terror and destruction and the
failure of all his great plans.
at is claimed that the first discoveries
were in 1S4S. when the whole world was
turned topsy turvy; with the astonishing
news. | myself wass-in- California in
1s43 and staid. there for three years,
and I can positively say that gold was
known there then, for I have seen it in
Monterey. On Sundays, the Indians
would come into town, naked except for
@ cloth around their middles, and ex-
change a little pinch Of gold for a drink
of aguardiente or native rum. No one
knew where they got the gold, but some
times they would have several dollars
worth of the precious dust. This was an
old custom, for at Mission Carmel in
terviewed, through an interpreter, an
aged Indian, who said that when he was
boy gold was found in the mountains
and rivers round about, and the natives
would wash out painful in order to get
a good drunk on Sunday, which Chris
tian Indians were forbidden to do. He
thought that there was still gold in the
mountains, but he was SO old that he
had forgotten where it was.
SIN 1841 Andres Castillero, the same
person who afterward discovered the
New Alameda quicksilver mine in Santa
Clara county, while travelling from Los
Angeles to Monterey found, near the
Santa Clara river a great number OF
water worn pebbles which he gathered
up and carried with him to Santa Bar
bara. He there exhibited them, said
they were a peculiar species Of iron py-
rites, and declared that according to
Mexican miners wherever they were
found there was likelihood Of gold
being also found A ranchero named
Francisco Lopez, who was living on the
Piru creek, branch of the Santa Clara
river, but who happened at the time to
be at Santa Barbara, heard Castillero's
statement and examined his specimens.
"Some months afterward, having re-
turned home, he went out to search for
strayed cattle. At noon, when he dis
mounted from his horse for the purpose
of resting, he observed few wild onions
growing near where he lay. He pulled
them up, and in SO doing noticed the
same kind of pebbles as those to which
Castillero had called his attention. Re
membering what Castillero had said
about them, he took up handful of
earth, and upon carefully examining it
discovered gold. The news Of the dis
covery, at the place which was called
San Francisquito, about IS miles north
east of Los Angeles, soon spread. In a
few weeks a great many persons were