Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1896-06-12

alive to-day only one or the men VINO
worked for Suffer, in the mil at Colo
ma, where. on June a, 1S4S, James w.
Marshall discovered gold. That sur
vivor is James Brown. He is nearly 10
years OF age and makes his home with
grandchild in Pomona Valley. He
was present when Marshall washed the
yellow grain in the camp dough pan,
and it was he who first tested the flaky
scales with fire.
Il am the oldest miner alive in Cali
fornia to-day" said he, the other day.
Il don't mean the Oldest in years, but
| was the first miner. There were about
hundred OF us building Capt. Suffers
mill on the American river. We had
come upon the rock when we were dig
ging 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 OF the books about gold and mines
which he had been reading, and on the
afternoon of January %, 1S4S, he deter
mined to do a little prospecting. He
asked me TO bring him the pan. II was
an ordinary pan that we baked bread in.
He spent all the afternoon with the pan
trying to find gold, but he got nothing.
The next morning early he started
out with the pan again. We boys were
eXcavating the ditch when he came up
from the hole where he was working
and told US he had found some mineral.
He had it in his hat-a whole lot Of lit
tie, fiake-like scales. They were all
small bits, and all scaly, and he wasn't
sure what they were. He handed the
hat to me and | took one of the flakes
and bit it. thought l could tell by Bit
ing it that it was gold, but | wasn't
sure. SO took it into the cabin where
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. Boys
said l, it is goldr That was the first
announcement of the discovery of gold
in California, and | was the first man
10 test the metals and the first TO pro-
claim it,"
Neither Brown nor Marshall nor any
of the other mill builders went to Colo
ma to look for gold. They were work.
ing with the vaguest hope Of receiving
pay for their labor. AS the cid pioneer
put it, "Old Capt Suffer owes me 500
cold cash yet for the work | put in on
the mill race, and | know I'll never get
it, seeing as he is dead But we made
no kick, The went on. I'VE had agreed
- a IL,
payment for our work. Moreover, we
picked up enough gold before we left to
square our accounts with the captains
Co,oma enterprise. We had come with
bigger mission than that of seeking
gold. We were Mormons. Many of us
were soldiers. had been serving with
my battalion and, after our disband-
ment, was marching with the rest of our
people to Utah. AT Coloma we found
that we had enough provisions and
stock for the rest of the journey over the
wilderness, so we decided to send the
older people and men Of family ahead
with supplies enough to carry them
through, while over 100 of us decided
to wait over another year and work for
old Capt Suffer in the meantime.
Money was scarce in those days,and
though Capt. Suffer- was very well
fixed, he had very little ready cash. We
wanted stock and provisions only, and
these we agreed to accept in lieu of
ready payment for any services we
might render At that time the old
captain was anxious to build a grist
mill and a lumber mill on the American
river. Labor was scarce, therefore our
arrival was very timely for him. We
had wheelwrights, smiths, carpenters
and masters Of every trade in our COM
pany, and he was able to secure our
services without the expenditure of a
cent of ready money. ---3
When the discovery had been once
made we tried for while to keep it
quiet. and Suffer, who wanted to see
his mill completed, was particularly
anxious to keep the secret close. The
workmen completed both the grist and
the lumber mill, and did not desert
their posts or the work they had orig
inally contracted TO do to seek the ye.-
low metal Though | tested the first
grains of gold in the fire, and with my
teeth. nevertheless, to be sure about
matters, we sent to Sacramento to make
certain. They tested them there and
finally decided that they really were
gold. Then they sent the news to
San Francisco, where the announce
ment was published for the first time
by a man named Sam Brannan, who
had brought a lot of type and a press
and everything around the Horn"
Did ! stay long at Coloma after the
completion of the mill, you ask" No,
sir only a few of us did; myself and
most of our people only remained long
enough to dig up enough gold to equip
ourselves for marching back over the
plains to meet those of our people who
I were coming out TO join u.s.
How much did you all make?"
"Oh, it was according to luck; some
made 5000 or $500; some made $4,000 or
$4,000. l guess l had something like
81 500 in dust. Marshall, who found 1t
| first, had none at all Marshall was not
lucky, somehow He was one of the
original bear-flag men-one of the fill
u0sters who thought he owned the
country. They had selected the bear
flag as their banner, because bears
/ were so plentiful out there in those
/ days. The first bear flag was nothing
but an Old strip of canvas, on which the
men daubed the picture of a bear with
tar, their paint brust being their own
| fingers