The herald., 1895-09-01
In California Long Before
the Find at SUIT
ter's Mill
THE DATE IS HARD TO FIX
Even the Argonauts in Doubt as TO Date
but All Agree That II Was Before
lS4S---SOme Facts N.ve=
Presented Before
BY ]. NJ. QUINN, Secretary of the Southern
California Historical Society.


nine out of every ten of the intelligent
residents OF the state OF the more recent
arrivals wocid name Suffers lm i'll race at
Coloma. as the spot. Even among the
Argonauts of '49-those searchers after
the golden fleece of Phryxus's ram who
are popularity supposed to know all about
THE days of old,
The days of gold,"
probably no larger percentage could give
a correct answer. If the anxious searcher
for historical truth were to consult the
ordinary run of histories of California, he
would find in them repeated and re-re.
peated with slight variations the old, oil l
story of Suffers millrace and Mar
shall's wonderful md therein.
Yet, with all due respect to the histo-
rians. good, bad and indifferent, with all
Difference to the opinions of the Argo-
nauts, and with patriotic regard for the
wisdom of the conscript fathers of the
state, who reared a statue to the memory
OF Marshall, the so-called first oiscoverer
OF gold, here enter protest against the
iteration and reiteratIon OF the story
that Coloma was the place were gold was
first discovered in California, or that Mar.
shall was the first discoverer, and 1S4S the
year of the discovery.
Outside of Bancroft's volumnous his
tory and the published "reminiscences CT
pioneers who lived in tine country pre-
vious to ls4s. it is very rare indeed to
find in any compilation dignilied by the
name of history, any mention of the fact
that gold had been found and extensively
mined in California previous to 1S4S.
The fullest and most reliable account of
the first discovery of gold in California is
that written by Colonel J. j. Warner, a
pioneer of 1881. and Published in An His
torical Sketch of Los Angeles County "a
work now out OF prinD. quote from this
sketch:
while statements respecting the exist
ence of gold in the earth of California
and its procurement therefrom have been
made and published as historical facts.
carrying back the date of the knowledge
OF the auiferous character of the state as
far as the time of the visit of Sir Fran
CTS Drake to the coast, there is no evidence
to be found in the written or oral history
OF the missions. the acts and correspond
ence of the civil or military officers or
IN the unwritten and traditional history
of Upper California that the existence of
gold, either with ores or in its virgin
state, was ever suspected by any inhabi-
tant Of California previous to 1871; and
furthermore there is conclusive testi-
mony that the first known grain of native
gold dust was found upon or near the
San Francisco ranch, about forty miles
northwestery from Los Angeles city. in
the month of June, 1871. This discovery
consisted OF grain gold fields, known as
5x,Ac II 1
discovered in that year embraced the
greater part of the country drained by
the Santa Clara river from a point some
fifteen or twenty miles from its mouth to
its source and easterly beyond them to
Mount San Bernardino."
The story of discovery as told by Warner
and Don Abel Stearns are similar in the
main facts, differing. however. materially
i'll the date. Stearns says gold was first
discovered by Francisco Lopez, native
of California, in the month of March,
1912, at place called San Francisquito
about thirty miles northwest from this
city (Los Angeles). "The circumstances
of the discovery as related by Lopez him
self are as follows: Lopez, with COM
panion, was out in search of some stray
horses. and about midday they stopped
under some trees and tied their horses
out to feed, they resting under the shade,
when Lopez with his sheath knife dug
up some wild onions and in the dust dis
covered piece OF gold. and searching
further found some more. He brought
these to town and showed them to his
friends. who at once declared there must
be placer of gold. This news being
circulated mum bers of the citizens went
10 the place and commenced prospecting
in the ighborhood and found it to be
a fact that there was placer of gold"
Colonel Warner says: The news of this
Il fIA I..,ls
itants from Santa Bar bara to Los Angeles,
and in few weeks hundreds of people
were ems aged in washing and winnowins
the sands and earth of these gold fields.
Warner visited the mines a few weeks
after their discovery. He says: From
these mines was obtained the first
parcel of California gold dust received at
the United States mint in Pnialdelphia.
and which was sent with Alfred Robinson
and went in merchant sailing shin
around Cape Horn. This shipment of
gold was 1884 ounces before and 1s.1
ounces after smelling; fineness, 1926; value
S344. 75-over $40 to the ounce, a very supe-
rior quality OF gold dust.
1t may be regarded as u settled histor-
ical fact that the first discovery of gold
in Alta California was made on the San
Francisco rancho in the San Feliciano
canyon, in the county of Los Angeles.
This canyon is about eight miles north
west of Newhall and forty-two northwest
of Los Angeles. 1t is also an established
fact that the first discoverer was Fran
ciso Lopez, also known by the name of
Cuso, vaquero living at that time on the
Piru rancho. Lopez had been for many
years previously mayor no of the San
Fernando mission. T zine of the dis
covery is not so sa .iactorily settled.
Colonel Warner, usually very reliable
gives June. 1S41, as the date, and quotes
Don gnacio del Vale, on whose rancho
the discovery was made, and who was ap-
pointed encargado de justcia to preserve
order in the mining district, as one of
his authorities for that date. Don Abel
Stearns gives the date March, 1872: Ban
dini. April. 1912. Coronel, who spent
some time in the mines and employed
Indians in mining. asserts positively that
it was made in 1912.
Bancroft is contradictory in bis dates.
In The text of his history he gives
March. 1872 evidently following Stearns'
statement. In his Pioneer Register he
states: - Antonio del Vale did in
1S4l. the same year that gold was dis
covered on his ranch" In his BIbi-
ography of Pastoral California he refers
to manuscript by Alvarado entitled
primitive Descubrimlento. in which
is an interesting account of the discovery
of gold rlacers in the San Fernando val
lev in lS41.
William Heath Davis, usually one OF
the most reliable ohroniclers OF pioneer
fornia, gives the date of tie discovery ls4O
and the discoverers a party of Sonorans
travelling TO Monterey He evidently has
confounded the discovery of tepusite, Q