The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-03-21

when we saw tho millions OF dollars made in
the gold d~iGginRs north aud east OF Sacrament
Simo,. beside Si@n"sif bSoaSSs Ss had Srouaht
from eaiSiiisnsstiion. he had many = time Dss.cda
by and even gone among gold l DEPOSITS that
and Gould had he but snoyn, ..
Along IN E.,i MAY Y i ishs; Gen. Zen; &; sSut sS,, heard ss,
tiers In Oregon and northern Galifornia. UP
near where the Modoc Indian war took place,
Indians MsdfiS %H snd .s %iGnsy them ST p to- ,Ss t i1fi 1rU agents 1nS
for the Astor Company and some ENGLISH buy
purpose. So we started for Oregon. l have been
told by some California hi'torians that | was
one Of the first white women TO make the Jour
assure YOU. There were fourteen men In our
party. ,y'o went UP the east side OF the ,Sacra-
mento. River for about forty miles. and there
crossed over by our horses and cat
tie. OF which tho GRO Nd had quite 9 number. 1t
vas there 1 nrst witnessed the killing Of IN In
iian. The mon were ali out trying to drive the
stock into the river, and l was left alone In
as [ thought they intended to steal | stepped to
. tree where the guns were. AS they Approached
me v ! w SspsS ss mu sSH and l m marvel rySnS nST how
stay ed as l did in such a barbarous country.
My husband saw from where no was that
Indians were in camp, and sent one of the men
whom he called Beaf Dawson to y. otect me.
rode up he ordered the Indians 10 20. but thny
drew their bows on him, and reversed the order.
and the rest fled. The Indian fell vi hin six
1eet Of me. After that my husband got one OF
the Indians to swim across the liver ana tow
me canoe IT, which III. child and | were sitting.
The Indian took me across all RICH. because he
h" "Th .aey i a n ,a1,F Of Ia adv Ssnr,rs on i G could tell
you about those days. One night. when near
shasta Butt, we had twenty horses stolen
was shot and killed with an arrow within forty
ies % OF M SaS = t | Tas w i1fs PIN indians TnS ns sn1 mG mH.
SELF counted live OF them as they went down
before the guns OF tho men In ear party:
tains the Indians killed several OF our horses
and cattle. We went Us far as Oregon City.
but there we found that the profit of dealing
in turs had been exaggerated and there was no
money in 1t for any one not used to the bust
iivsd at Oregon City for five months. My hue-
baud aud l had the best house OF any. one in
p pgs par pi5, b sa Raa 0I II roSm Se snp ana %ai h EI.5 ID
hv the men in our party in three days. Our
diet was game. anu no one ever. had such an
have seen many u deer carcass hauled wa
from camp because we could not cat 1t. Ny
any. more quail than we're necessary for our
food. but any ono could have shot 200 or 800
ffsS45 we returned to Napa valley. California.
On our return. when we mad but i've men. our
stock was stampedcd by the Indians near
Shasta. b. this time l had two children.
while the arrows were hylns into our ca mp
hid il in the brush and returned and look my
otter child and hid 1t also. The moon was
shining bright. and It seemed to me that every
fall into the river. We HAD AN lndian.oo we
had brought from Oregon, and while The men
and Indians were lighting he succeeded In cap
turing all our saddle horses aud tying them In
camp"
the first gold ill California; asked the re-
porter.
thousand years. 1t was in MAY. 1s4s. and we
were living in Napa. Ny husband was fore
man for Q Mexican r~anchmAn. and by that
I lima hal MANAGED TO make a living, One ulght
when Mr.. Harris came home, he said that one
Son tne men Srs wko vas wsf1 1eIribIy " excited aI'I and said nj
tina. they had found bits of gold In the sawmill
sluice up at Coloma. aud than5 tho e Z and
Mr.. Harris and ! had been fooled so mani
times by exaggerated stories in California that
we rave the subject only passing mmen We
thought no mere about the stories ul.til y
sailor came to our house ON his way p snt-
brother-in-law had seen some gold down at san
Jose that lad been washed out by several of
was on his way To Colona. Then the news OF
the gold lind lane thick and fast. confidering
in. When a month more had passed. and WI
began TO see FOL, ourselves cuGgets of gold as
6 tsTS1 S e. e : Il that ,Hs the Hs stories les o " the Riches sin in
the mountains were after all true. He started
these ss weeks G he wa se home 11 " again n" with ii': sI.ado
In gold and silver. He was as crazy as every
on9 ei's 1,h by that hs a1 ..me Inc sI babies ! w and a ns more sGs
comfortably. stoched the house With proyt-
sions.-and started OIL for the gold digxings
again. The whole country was literally 10
sane with excitement. and when autumn came
a white man or a white boy who WAS at all able
around Napa. for they had all gone seeking
gold. Prices Tor everything We ate or used rose
o ten and twelve times their former value. and
1t was often hard work TO get provisions at any
price, because what man was 5oing TO fool
away his time with ham and pork and calico
when he could pick UP gold nuggets all day
long up at the digSlnRst
You can have no idea how plentiful gold
plent,fulness made 1t such u delirious dream
state that none OF US realized what q marvel
sasS s Me'Eot we Sss mshs T I mi You ,ai that tS ' o@c day aS@ y
Mexican. u stranger to me; came riding horse
TO my so h1u in INV IN T anpden i for as hi@. b 6eos 10 s'o hs
was on his way home from the digGinG.. and
found he had too ! big So e LOAF o a. to carry. He had I'D
So ramento River. | agreed. and he divided u
load of about thirty pounds of gold Nuggets and
saddle. He and i buried about ffteen pounds
Of gold at a certain marked spot in my back
heard nothing Of him for pI wesSs. He anne back
and gave me about q pound OF the gold for my
believe. was worth about Sa40 a pound at that
time. That man had gathered his thirty
was ike most Mexicans. pretty lazy and had
not worked extra hard at washing out gold.
Why. my husband once PANIED ont eleven
ounces of gold IN ono lay. and when you know
that the stuff was worth SD an ounce: you can
see what possibilities there we're for industri;
there's no use regrettinx what we missed.
Did We know Marshall, the Under of the
first gold2 Yes. / recalled when he became
known as the first gold miner In California
that we knew him when we we're at Sutters.
He was a dozen years older Than either my
husband or myself. and came around the Horn
to California q few weeks before we did. /
remember we knew him as Jersey and he
called us 'Ianks.' Marshall came from n
little town In Warren county in New Jersey.
He was Il herder or vaIuero for Gen. Suffers
cattle when we first knew him. | saw him in
1891. when the gold fever was raging. and io
WAS worth prooably $40. 900 or S1O.uOU ty his
gold operations. lie might have been one OF
the greatest millionaire the world ever knew.
but he had no ability for accommodating wealth..
He was u middie.agcd man when he found the
gold nuggets in suffers mill race At Coioma IN
1913, and his habits and tastes were formed.
He had no idea above the simple duties OF life.
ana caring for u herd OF cattle or Il band OF
horses. | saw him again in 1879. when he was
old and poorly dressed and In poverty. He
lust laughed about the way lie had sat about
and let other men get millions on millions OF
dollars: but he did MINK that California ought