The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-09-15
Colebyfield, Wimbledon, Aug. 19.
GOLD NUGGETS OF CALIFORNIA
 The largest nugget found in Califor-

GOLD NUGGETS OF CALIFORNIA. The largest nugget found in Califor- nia appears to have been at Carson Hill, Calaveras county, in November, 1854. It was a lump some fifteen inches long by six wide and four thick, weigh ing about one hundred and ninety-five pounds troy and worth over forty three thousand dollars. It was, per haps, the third richest gold nugget ever found, the largest being from Chili and said to have weighed over four hundred pounds troy, and the ] second from Ballarat, Australia, found 1 in 1859. and weighing two hundred and | twenty four pounds troy. The next | largest in California was taken in 1860 | from the Monumental Quartz mine at l the Sierra Buttes in Sierra county, and weighed one hundred and thirty three pounds troy A nugget containing sev- l enty five pounds of gold was said to | have been found by William Gulnac at l Woods Creek, in Tuolumne county, in | 184S. In 1855 a nugget was found worth ten thousand dollars at French Ravne, | in Sierra county, where another had been found in 1851 worth eight thou sand dollars, and still another in 1850 worth nearly five thousand dollars, In | 1858 a nugget weighing over fifty pounds, and containing over eighty
 five hundred dollars worth of gold, was l found by a Mr. Strain about half | mile east of Columbia, in Tuolumne county, on a trail leading up the slope of hill, where it had been repeatedly passed by others. In the same year a nugget of about the same size was found by MT. Willard on Feather riy- CT. In 1867 boulder of gold quartz l was picked up at Pilot Hill, Fl Dorado county, worth eight thousand dollars. In 1851 MT Wheaton found a nugget | worth nearly five thousand dollars at HoIden's Garden in Sonora Tuolumne
 county. and in 1859 a MT. Virgin found one worth about seven thousand dol
 lars at Gold HILL near Columbia.
 In 1851 a resident of Sonora, in taking an early Sunday morning walk among
 the hills surrounding the town, struck his foot against large stone. He ought, perhaps, like the melancholy Jacques, to have found a sermon in it;
 but, instead of doing so he commenced apostrophizing the rock in language
 that was very far removed from that l OL c SEi ilIpil, NliCll, 6uddSlllJ pDpEl VIII E,
 that it was a great nugget with much
 more gold than quartz in it, he affec-
 tionately picked it up and carried it
 home with a considera bly, lighter step
 than he had gone out It is said of an-
 other resident of Sonora that one
 morning. after very heavy rain, while
 leading his mule attached to cart up
 the principal street of the town, he
 struck a large stone, and, upon stoop-
 ing down to remove it out of the way,
 found it to be a solid nugget of gold of
 about thirty-five pounds weight Hun-
 dreds of people had been travelling over lit daily. The discovery created so
 great an excitement that in less than
 an hour the whole of that part of the
 town, including the street, was staked
 off in mining claims. There were a
 considerable number of other large nuggets found in different parts of the
 state, among which was one at Dutch
 Flat, in Placer county, worth over fif- ty-seven hundred dollars; one neal
 Kelsey's, in Fl Dorado county, worth
 forty-seven hundred dollars, and one
 near Michigan Bluffs, in Placer county
 worth forty-two hundred dollars, while of smaller ones the list increased as the
 sizes diminished.
 The first piece of gold picked up by
 Marshall in the Colma mill-race is said
 to have been small piece worth onl5
 fifty cents, and the second is said tc
 have been worth five dollars. It is no
 known what became of either of them
 for the gold made into a ring by Sutter
 and by him called the first gold, con.
 sisted of pieces subsequently, picked up
 The first large nugget was discovered
 in the summer of 1S4S by soldier O
 Stevenson's regiment who, while riding along the Mokelumne river, stopped tC
 drink at little stream where he found it lying. It weighed between twenty : and twenty-five pounds. He hastenet with his prize to San Francisco ant