The Covington leader. (Covington, Tenn.) 18??-current, 1895-05-31
FIRST GOLD N CALIFO
But One Survivor Of
Who We're With Mars hall
in California

=
his home with a grandchild in Pomona
Valley. he is the only man living
who was present when Marshall wash
ed the yellow grains in the camp
dough pan; and he is the man who
first tested the tiakY scales with fire,
and going forth from the shanty to-
where the men were al work on the
mill race cried: Boys, here's gold T
II am the oldest miner alive III
California today said he the other
day. Il don't mean the oldest in years
but | was the first miner. There were
about a hundred Of us building Capt.
Suffers mil on the American River.
We had come upon the rock when we
we we're digging the race, and were
afraid that It would interfere with our
making an even channel for the water
Then il was that Marshall came to me
and told me about the books about
gold and mines he had been reading,
AMI on the afternoon Of Jap %,
1913, he determined to do little
prospecting. He asked me q, bring
him a pan. 1t was a 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
hadh't got anything by supper,
'tIhe next morning cary he started
out with the pan again. We boys
were excavating in the ditch when he
c me up from the hole where he was
working and told us that he had found
some mineral. He had it in his hat;
whole lot of little flake like scales.
They were all small bits, and al scaIy.
and he wasn't sure what they were.
He handed the hat to me and / took
one OF the flakes and bit IL. / could
tell by biting it that it was gold, but
I was not sure. So | took it into the
cabin where a log fire was burning,
and ! tested it in the fire to see 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 !,
'it is gold!'
''That was the first announcement
of the discovery of gold in California,
aud ! was the first man TO test the
/ lllCtsii dAsl lt4G lttot HfdI VI pIDEtalfu IL
Neither Brown nor Marshall nor any
of the other mill builders went to Co
Iona to look for gold. They we're
working with the vaguest hope OF re-
ceiving pay for their labor As the
old pioneer put it "Old Capt. Suttes
owes me 500 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 made no kick, he went on,
"We had agreed to accept cattle,
horses and grub in part payment for
our work Moreover, we picked NJ
enough gold before we left the place
to square our accounts with the Cap
taiu's Coloma enterprise We had
come with bigger mission than thas
of seeking gold. We were Mornsc,Iss
Many of US were soldiers. / had
serving with my battaiion, a.
our disarmament was marcy
4 the rest Of our people to
/ Coioma We found thatR
'eissfssh Pf.sssssians 49,
ass ot- tbs 5arnes cv
50 We - to senY
aalss Njius
sats 80,
Al66efalRas &C
and though Capt &-M
/ we'll fixed, he had but i'm
We only wanted stock and
and these we agreed to aceeYfsS
Of ready payment for any servisssz-ss
might render At that time the y
Captain was anxious to build a grisl
mill and a lumber mill on the AmerI-
can River. Labor was scarce. There
lore our arrival was very timely for
him. We had wheelrights, smiths,
carpenters aud masters OF every other
trade in our eomFany, and he wa,
able to secure our Seryiees without
the expenditure OF cent Of ready
money.
when the discovery had 1see been
made we tried for while to Keep il
quiet, and Suffer, wanted to see bis
mill completed, was particularly anx-
ious to keep the secret close. The
workmen completed both the grist and
the lumber mill, and dsa not desert
their posts or the work they originally
/ contracted to do to seek the yellow
metal
Though had tested the Iirst grains
/ of gold in the fire, and with my teeth,
nevertheless, to be sureabout matters.
we sent them to Sacramento to make
certain. They tested them there and
finally decided that they really were
gold Then they sent on the news Ia
San Francisco, where~4iIe announces
ment was published for the first tiiae
by man named Brannan, who had
bought lot Of type and a press and
everything around the Horn.
did stay At 6'olonla after the CON
pletion OF fhe Mil, you Ask No, sir;
oaly a fewef Us did; myself and most
Of our peaRae only reiaaAed long
/ enough 70 dig up enough gold .
Ieqnlp ourselves for marching bach
over the plans to meet thase u ca
/ Pe0Pif Nsa were coming nj 70 laln
ss
And was not the promise of an
easily made sartune enough to keep
yom at Colonel
/ GLOW couldit be? Had we not oui
friends7on The plains, and had We mol
Il to meet them?g
And about how much did you al
maker
oh, it was all according to luck
some made more. SOME made less
some made 5000 OF $500; some mad,
i 81 900 or So, 600 [ guess had some
thing like s 500 in dust. Marshall
! who found il first, had none at all
Marshall was not lucky anyhow il,
was one of the original hear flag mel
lone OF the filibusters who though
he owned the country. They had Sc
Elected the bear flag as their banDef
/ because bears we're so abundant on
here III those days. The first bea