Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1894-05-03
THE FINDING OF GOLD.
How the Precious Metal Was Dis
covered In California.

htlNC DCtu WTlJttu uUOuU bnS
discovery of gold in California and
stories without number anent how and
when 1t happened. AS matter of fact,
the existence of the precious metal
seems to have been known to the In
dams and the pious Spanish padres
long before the Americans conquered
the land; but, even granting that Mar
shalls was the first find that was her.
aided TO the world at large, and that
the date thereof was January "a, 1878,
even then tho accounts of that discov-
cry have been jumbled and twisted IN
such innumcrablc ways that it would
seem that all chroniclers of the inter
esting event were beguilcd by it's daz-
zling splendors into the romantic realms
of fiction.
The men who worked for Suffer on
tho old Coloma mill have nearly all
found uncontested claims and are rest
ing therein forever; but up at the 40
mining camp ut the Midwintcr fair is
an elderly one-legged Mormon. named
James S. Brown, who is the only living
man who was present when Marshall
washed the yellow grains in the camp
dough pan; and he is the man who first
tested those 1laky scales with fire, and
going forth from the shanty to where
the men were ut work on the mill race
was the first TO cry: Boys, here's
goldr'
James Brown is sixty five years old
now. In 1S4S he was lusty youth of
not yet twenty summers. He had two
legs then. 1t was only quarter of a
century ago that he lost the other at
bear hunt.
81 am the Oldest miner alive in Cali
fornia to-day" said he ~ don't mean
that am the Oldest in years, because
l am only sixty-fve, aud there arc
many men here to-day who have
worked in the early days and are now
much older than me. But was the
first miner was with Marshall when
he first discovered gold in January,
1S4S, and was the first man to know
about it The story is an old one. It
was at Capt. Suffers mill on the
American river, which we were build
ing. Marshall, who was q wheelwright
by trade, was in charge of the work.
He was particular friend Of mine,
but there were nearly one hundred of
us working on the millrace at the
time. He had been reading books
about gold and mines and things, and
l rememb Der very well his coming to me
one day and talking about quartz and
bedrock and similar matters, and telling
me that he thought there was gold in
the country.
"You see, we had come upon the
rock when we were digging the race
and were afraid that it would interfere
with our making an even channel for
the water. Then it was that Marshall
came to me and told me about the
books he had been reading, and on the
afternoon of the 23d of January, 1S48,
he determined to do little prospect
ing. He asked me to bring him the
pan. 1t was common, ordinary pan
that we baked bread in and the like.
He spent all the afternoon with that
pan trying to find gold, but he hadn't
got anything by supper.
The next morning early he started
out with the pan again. We boys were
excavating in the ditch when he came
up from tho hole where he was work
ing and told us he had found some min
eral. He had it in his hat; a whole lot
of little flake-like scales. They were
all small bits, and all scaly, and he
wasn't sure what they were. He hand
ed the hat to me, and took one of the
flakes and bit it could tell by biting
it that it was gold, but, of course,
wasn't sure. So took it into the cab
in. where log fire was burning, and
tested 1t in the fire to sec if it would
melt. But it wouldn't melt, and then
knew it was gold, sure. Then came
out with it to where the men were
working and, Boys said l. 1T is
goldr
THAT was the first announcement OF
the discovery of gold in California, and
Twas the first man to test the metal
and the first man to proclaim it."
1t is needless to say that neither
Brown nor Marshall nor any of those
other mill builders at Coloma was look
ing for or expecting gold in those days
As matter of fact, they were working
with the vaguest hope of ever receiving
any monetary consideration for their
labor As the old pioneer very tersely
and pathetically puts it; "0ld Capt
Suffer owes me one hundred dollars in
cold cash yet for the work put in on
that mill race and know I'll never
get it, seeing as he is dead.
"But we had no kick coming, be-
cause we had agreed to accept cattle
horses and grub in part payment fol
our work. Moreover, we picked uI
enough gold before we left the place
TO square our accounts with the cap
tsin's Coloma enterprise.