Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1893-03-02
BEFORE THE FoRTY-NINERs.
Discoveries of Gold in Southern California
Long Kept Secret.

as. President of the Society of Califor-
mia 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:
lam perfectly satisfied that the pres
ence of gold in that region was known
to the priests in the very earliest times.
The priests, who were the first pioneers,
were a pastoral people. As missiona-
ries they gained a wonderful influence
over the native Indians, and gradually
flooded the country with great herds OF
sheep and cattle that roamed over rang
es thousands of acres in extent. These
herds the Indians tended, and it was,
therefore, the policy of the priests to
keep the Indians in subjection. Every
priest had some practical trade which
enabled him to utilize the labor of his
converts building missions and con-
structing public works. Near San Ber-
nardino there are still remains of an
aqueduct that brought the water for ten
miles through the hills, so that it would
spout up in the public courtyard, and
supplied the people of the town. That
aqueduct was made of small stones, laid
in cement that is to-day as hard as
granite-harder than any cement that
is now known.
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 avariciousness of the Spanish
people. They reasoned that if the pres
ence of the yellow metal should become
known in Spain, hordes of greedy ad-
yenturers would rush in, robbing. kill
ing and ravishing; their peaceful rela-
tions with the Indians would be broken
off, the great herds would be scattered.
and the supremacy of the priests them
selves would be lost.
This supremacy was at its highest in
| 1865, when from the missions at San
Diego chain of twenty-four missions
was extended northward. Junipero
Sera was Priest-President of all the
ulSSlOuS III Od1lIOiAld, anu "oo ohA IL
telligent, persevering, enterprising man.
He was not only instrumental in found
ing mission after mission, but he added
to the herds thousands of sheep and
cattle.
have been six times in California,
and have talked with priests of all ma
ton; litieS Mexican, Spanish, Irish and
American-and | am confident from
what they say that Junipero Sera knew
about the gold; but he was singular
character, and ruled with hand of
steel, so that gold was 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 hunt
ers meant terror and destruction, and
the failure of all his great plans.
1t is claimed that the first discoveries
were in 1849, when the whole world was
turned topsy -turvy with the astonishing
news. | myself was in California in
lS43, and staid there for three years, and
can positively say that gold was known
there then, for | have seen it in Mon |
terey. On Sundays the Indians would
come into town, naked except for a
cloth around their middles, and exchange
little pinch of gold for 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
interviewed, through an interpreter, ans
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 a painful in order to get
a good drink on Sunday, which Christian |
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.
In 1S41 Andres Castillero, the same
person who afterward discovered the
New-Almadea quicksilver mine il San
ia Clara county, while travelling from
Los Angeles to Monterey found near
the Santa Clara River a great number
of water worn pebbles which he gather
ed up and carried with him to Santa
Barbara. 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 be-
ing 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 return
ed home, he went out to search for
strayed cattle. Atnoon, when dismount-
ed from his horse for the purpose of
resting, he observed a few wild onions
growing near where he lay. He pulled
them up, and in so doing noticed the
same kind of pebbles to which Castillero
had called his attention. Remembering
what Castillero had said about them, he
took up handful of earth, and upon
carefully examining it, discovered gold.
The news of the discovery, at the place
which was called San Francisquito,
about 35 miles northeast of Los Angeles,
soon spread. In few weeks great
many persons were engaged in washing
and winnowing the sands and earth in
search of gold.
The auiferous fields were found to ex-
tend from point on the Santa Clara
River about Is or 20 miles from its
mouth over all the country drained by
its upper waters, and thence easterly to
Mt. San Bernardino.
On May IA, 1843. Alvarado wrote to
the prefect of the district, reproving
him for not having given official notice
of the discovery, and directing him to
gather and forward an account of all
of interest relating to
the gold transmission of the supreme
government.
From that time to the present day
there has been more or less working of
mines, but no places of very great rich
ness have been found, and none to COM
pare with those afterward discovered on