The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-08-08
BIG G OF GOLD.
WHEN N HOW THE LARGEST WERE
FOUND IN THE FAR WEST.

Cov,- Head, and sod FOR o0a. 10 Half
Breeds Discovery ora Lamp worth st1,
POMONA. Cal, Aug. 3.-Tho nuggets Of gold
and the tin cans and fruit jars filled with
flakes OF gold that were brought from the Klon-
dixie River three weeks ago have set all tho old
time miners on the Pacific coast to recalling the
largcA chunks of solid gold found in California.
and the circumstances under which the mug
gets were picked up. There arc four nuggets
In tho gold brought from the Klondiko Of the
sire Of duck eess, and q dozen as largo as wal
nuts. The big ones are worth about 1878 each,
and the small ones about SI4o. There arc
many thousands Of golden bits OF the size of
watermelon seeds-that are worth 81 each, and
hundreds Of the size Of common gravel stones.
No other discovery Of gold has ever been
made on this continent that 30 closely resem-
bles that in tho sand bars along the American.
Yubs, Stanislaus, and Trinity rivers in 1s4s,
1s49, and 1850. The largest number Of chunks
Of gold ever found in California camo from
tho American Iaiverin El Dorado county in the
fall of ls49. Many men found nuggets of tho
size Of hen's:eggs, and afow washed out chunks
even of the size of apples, and 1t was poor dig
gings.then where $2O.or S25 worth of gold was
not panned or rocked out in a day. The best
average days work of a common miner working
alone In those days of gold mining yielded
about two and one-half ounces of gold, worth
InOn ABOUT SlO. lOWaru the ClOS0 or the SUM
mer Of 1850 the richest diggings had been
worked over, and the average days work fell
to an ounce and a quarter Of gold. worth about
S20.50. In 1852 the men who individually
washed gold became scarce, and companies Of
miners to carry on mining on . large scale-to
damsrivers, TO mako canals for draining rivers
and for washing aNSay great banks of earth by
water power, and to construct long toms on
a mammoth scale-began to form, with capt.
tai Of thousands of dollars.
At the last gold miners convention in San
Francisco the subject of finds of big chunks of
gold was brought up, and a reliable history Of
the most important chunks is now in compila-
ton for the first time. The largest piece OF
solid gold ever found in America was the IA
nous Oliver Martin nugget. Its fac-simile in
brass has boon shown In geological and mining
museums all over the world, and the original
was In the show windows Of New York, Lon
don, and Paris for q few weeks forty years ago.
while pictures OF it have gone all over tho
world. 1t was melted into bullion in Philadel-
phia in 1860, and goo. 270 was paid for 1t, after
1t had earned several thousands Of dollars on
exhibition. The Oliver Martin nugget was
found near Camp Corona, which Bret Harte
has made famous in literature. 1t was In Tuo-
lumne county In central California, and tho
date of the find was Nov. 1S, 1854.
Oliver Martin was q young man who drank
and tramped about tho ~diggings in Calaveras.
Yuba, FL Dorado. and Tuolumne counties. He
didn't own even a rocker or "a long tom OF any
description. In November he and an equally
ragged companion, John Flower. wero on their
way from Benton's Bar over the Grizzly Noun
tains to Camp Corona. Tho autumnal rains
were falling and the rivers were running high
In that region. The poor fellows crept into q
deserted miners shack for the night. During
tho night q terrific shower fell and tho water.
pouring down the precipitous mountain sides,
filed tho narrow cahon where Martin and
Flower were drunk and asleep. When the
water came pouring into the shack where they
lay they tried to climb the walls of the can on
and escape. Both men fell back into the flood
and were carried down the canon in darkness.
Flower was drowned but Martin caught on
some live oaks and chung there TIL dawn.
When the stream had subsidized the next day
Martin borrowed a pick and shovel to bury bis
dead companion. He had gono down two feet
In the sand and gravel when he came upon the
nugget mixed with pink quartz. The chunk
was Of the size of q cows head. Martin quit
digging there and went u half mile away to
bury the body. He was Ill and excited and I'M
able TO move the heavy mass, SO he called a
miner from Camp Corona to help him. The
chunk weighed nearly eighty pounds. Martin
made claim TO u placer mine there. and sew.
GRAZ hCOTo Ol mlnoTS uOcheu IuPre as soon as the
news of the find went abroad. The canon was
washed and searched over for a milo up and
down from the spot where the nugget was taken
out, but nothing else unusually valuable was
found there. Martins extraordinary good luck
was useful to him in more ways than one.
He used to say that when he realized what q
fortune had been put under his nose in such a
strange way he saw that he was destined to be
something of a man. He was not over 80
I than AZ .ntttt rSpHsr ha.or1n -
and with the $4,000 that he got from his
chunk he went TO mining on a businesslike
amassed q fortune of over $6Oo,0OO in quartz
mining 10 Yucatan. He died a few years ago in
Seven years later. in June, 1861, a hnlf-breed
Indian picked up the second largest nugget ever
county, A dozen men had been at work there
for %ssts FTP Tba s Of yoa anS o men from from 81; n L0qis for
The workmen had gone 70 their tents for he'll
gone miles away. The fhaii.breed Inc Indian w H@a
down 70 the creek to wash his overalls. He
ment on the sluice boards to dry When a curious
yellow stone In the muddy water below attract
ed biz dSi stten aEsG ,o lie stopped I'D down WI and and turned NJ
twilight. He concluded that 1t was a new kind
OF rock, for 1t mover occurred to him that gold,
which he had soen only in tiny flakes and bits
or the size OF pinheads, could be found In such
a mass. He thought no more about 1t until he
"Cub. " " iAb uAltA NcIhIlo " "OTh Tue next
morning. He could SEQ well then. He called
the boss or tho mining gang and asked him
what kind or q rock that was down in the
muddy water.
There have been few erazier camps than this
miles over mountains and through cahons pur.
poSely 70 see how such a, chunk OF gold looked,
and 70 lift the mass in their hands. The mug.
get nlled a peck measure. 1t weighed a little
over sixty-hvo pounds, and was sold to the
Adams Express Company for $l7,400 Gold
was worth over $ls an ounce at that time.
Every workman in the camp got from the min
ing hrm a present OF 300, and the hslf.breed
Indian $500 extra for his discovery. Tho rest
of the claim was worked more thoroughly, but
gold IN bits larger than blackberrios was never
found afterward.
The famous old mining county of Calayeras
has furnished, some Of the most noteworthy
chunks of gold found in California, but the
largest have been mixod generally with quartz.
A 14-year.old boy named Perkins was working
at q plaything of a water wheel In the bed of an
old worked.9ver mountain stream In Calaveras
county In tho summer OF, 1883, and stumbled
upon q nugget Of gold and quartz as large as a
G Coo The he chunk s9l1 for about s., 800;
probably lain where 1t was found among lie