The Opelousas courier., 1896-11-21
BIG GOLD NUGGETS.
HOW MANY CALIFORNIA MINERS
ACQUIRED SUDDEN WEALTH..
che Largest Nugget Ever Found In
California Was Worth Moro
Than 500, OOO-One Mini
cr's Double Find.
He revival in gold mining
throughout the world has

caused interest in the large
{ gold nuggets found in Cali.
fornia and curious circumstances con-
nected with them. The subject is full
of romantic interest. The large for
tunes that have been made through
lucky chance form n perennial source
Of discussion in the West. The recent
meeting of the Miners Association in
San Francisco has recalled the finding
OF many large gold nuggets that have
brought fortunes to their discoveries.
Fortune has seldom visited @ gold
miner twice. Colonel David Bailey,
of Pomona Valley, one Of California's
Oldest and experienced ~prospectors
and gold miners, says he knows Of but
one man who found two valuable mug
gets. He was Daniel Hill, who died a
miserable pauper i'll Los Angeles sew
eral years ago.
Hill was washing gold in the dig
gings in Plumas County, under the
shadow of Mount Shasta, when he
found buried in the gravel q lump of
gold and red-stained, water marked
quartz as large as q horses hoof. He
started next day for Sacramento,
where he sold the lump ut the d. O..
Mills Bank for ST., 900. In less than
a year Hill had spent every dollar of
this sum. He squandered over $4,000
in one week in the gambling and
drinking saloons Ill San Francisco.
When his money was squandered
Hill went to work again and made
only a few dollars a day in the next
four Or or five years. But one day in
the fall Of 1871, while he and his COM
panions were camping in a lonely
canon, near Dutch Flats, Nevada
County, he found another very large
nugget. He was looking over q small
discarded placer mine, and was run
ming the coarse gravel through his
hand to find if it contained gold. He
stopped to wash his hands, when he
saw in the water a nugget of gold and
white quarts, in size and shape like q
baby's head. Hill sold his find for
$4,000, and again abandoned himself
to q career of debauchery and reck.
lessness. His fortunate find was oon
dissipated and he became a drunkard.
He never found another nugget, al
though he searched for years.
The largest nugget found in Cali
fornia was the "Oliyer Martin chunk"
which weighed Isl pounds 6 n
The gold was mixed with white quartz,
and was sold as bullion for $20,270.
Hundreds of pictures have been made
OF the golden mass, and schoolboys in
the State r expected to know its
weight, size and value, while bronze
fac SMILES of it are found in many
mineral collections in Europe and
Ameri, a. The nugget was found near
Camp Corona, Tuolumne County, in
CentrahCalfornia, Nova71iber Is, 1854.
OllveLh Martin, a Gpoverty-stricken
rs11er, and q compahion named John
4lower were traRping to new dig
gings. They CT. 4ped one night in q
mountaiasmnneaf-,n, when a sudden and
heavy rainstorm made the mountain
stream into a food. They attempted
to climb the hill, but were carried
away. Flower was drowned, but Mar.
tin escaped with severe injuries. Weak
as he was, Martin attempted to bury
his companions body by the roots Of
On upturned tree. While digging he
discovered the rich nugget. Martin
was too weak to move it. He attempted
to reach some neighboring miners,
but tainted from exhaustion and was
found on the trail by the miners.
Some weeks later Martin AMI the
miners secured the nugget.
The largest gold nugget ever found
in Shasta County was discovered in
the spring Of 1870. One day three
Frenchmen, two Of whom were named
Oliver Longchamp and Frederick
Rochon, drove into the old town Of
Shasta. They had some dealings with
A. Coleman, a dealer in hardware and
notions, and they asked him where
they could find q good place to mine.
He carelessly pointed in a northerly.
direction and said: $50 over to
Spring Creek"
The Frenchmen acted on the advice,
located q claim on the creek, and a few
days later one Of them picked up a
nugget of gold valued at $4,000. Ten
years later q miner named Dent Young
found a nugget on Fiat Creek, in the
Immediate vicinity, valued at $500.
A nugget of pure gold that weighed
140 ounces was found in January, 1891,
in a drift OF coarse gravel in the Goler
District, north of the Mojave Desert.
Next day another nugget of pure gold,
about the size OF o gooss's egg, was
found. Both were sold to o manufac-
turing jeweler in Pomona. The former
brought $2120, and the latter 1915.
Several months ago o nugget that
sold for about $1,000 was brought into
San Diego by a poor consumptive from
New Jersey, who had been in the
mountains with sheep ranchmen. In
his long walks for exercise he amused
himself by looking for Indian relics in
a canon. He found the nugget among
a lot of rocks, after q heavy rainstofm
had washed down immense masses of
gravel and earth from the sides of the
canon. He was astonished at the value
placed upon his treasure when he off
cred it for sale. Experienced gold
miners visited the locality where the
nugget WAS found, but nons of them
has yet found another sign of gold
there. This illustrates the perpsxi.
ties and a%ggravations Of hunting for
new gold fields.
The largest nugget found in North
Carolina weighed, quartz and silver,
eighty pounds. The largest found in
Siberia weighed nine:y-six pounds and
four ounces. The largest gold nugget
found iu Colorado weighed thirteen