Sierra County advocate. [volume] (Kingston, N.M.) 1884-1960, 1894-05-11
MARSHALL'S FAMOUS DIS
COVERY OF THE YEL-
LOW METAL IN CAL
TFORNIA.

|
IFORNIA.
Volumes have been written abou
the discovery of gold in California
and stories without number amen
how and when it happened.
| AS a matter of fact, the existenc'
of the precious metal seems to hav'
been known to the Indians and thu
pious Spanish padres long before
the Americans conquered the land
bat even granting that Marshall's
was the first find that was heralded
to the world at large, and that the
date thereof was January "a, 1S48
evan then the accounts of that dis.
covery have been jumbled and
twisted in such innumerable ways
that it would seem that all chroni
clers of the interesting event were
beguiled by its dazzling splendors
into the romantic realms of fiction.
The men who worked for Sutter
on the old Coloma mill have near
ly all found uncontested claims
and are resting therein forever;
bat up at the '49 mining camp at
the Midwinter fair, is an elderly
one legged Mormon, named j.
Brown, who is the only living man
who was presen: when Marshall
washed the yellow grains in the
camp dough pan; aud he is the
man who first tested those fiaky
scales with fire, and going forth
from the shanty to where the men
were at work on the millrace was
the first to cry: "Boys, here's
gold p
James Brown is 65 years old
now. In l84S he WAS lusty
youth of not quite 20 summers.
He had two legs then. 1t was
only a quarter OF century ago
that he lost the other at a bear
hunt.
Yesterday, in homeIy words,
with no CLOSING or gliding, no
striving after dramatic effect of
imaginative incident, he told how
the Mormons made their northern
pilgrimage toward Utah, aud how
their trains broke up near SacrA-
mento, how they determined to
send on the old men, women and
the children, and how some of the
heftier men stayed to work on
Suffers mills.
Little by little he came to the
incident of the discovery of gold
itself-how Marshall found it and
died a pauper, and how the Nor
men men, who had crossed the
plains to worship according to
their own lights in a land of new
promise saw the gold and dug up
enough to satisfy their immediate
needs, and then leaviH,, the El
Dorado where wealth glittered all
around them and fortunes lay
naked at their feet, they hitched
up their teams again and provis-
ioned their pack trains, and went
forth again into the wilderness to
guide their own people from the
other, poorer world, and lead them
to the valley of the Jordan.
This is how be told about Mar
shall finding the gold. This is
his own language:
II am the oldest miner alive in
California today. | don't mean
that | am the oldest IN years, be-
cause satn only 65, and there are
many men here today who have
worked in the early days and are
now much older than me. But |
was the first mInsv. ( was with
Marshall when be fret discovered
gold. IN January, 1S4S, and | was
the first man to know about it.
"1'he story Is sn old one. 1t was
at Capt. Suffers mill, on the Ameri-
can river, which we were bnild-
ing. Marshall, who was wheel
wright by trade, was in charge of
the work. He was a particular
friend of mine, but there were
nearly 10G Of rs working on the
millsace at the time He had
been reading books about gold and