The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-05-14
GOLD OF EARLY
MINING DAYS
Fortunes That Were Found by
Chance in Many
Lands.
SOME FAMOUS NUGGETS
ONE IN CALIFORNIA WEIGHED
EIGHTY POUNDS.
SOME FAMOUS NUGGETS

was IL found and what was IL worth
The question is one of unusual interest
for everybody likes to talk about gold
and the idea Of finding it in chunks
has wonderful fascination. The very
word nugget has a charm, for il is only
applied TO the precious metals and gen.
orally 10 gold alone. We never hear OF
| a nugget of iron or lead, though these
and other minerals are often found in
/ pure state, but when lump of gold is
found it is always described as a
I nugget, and the word makes a good
The bulk OF the worlds supply OF
gold for coinage and manufacturing
purposes is obtained by quartz and
placer mining, but nuggets have con
| tributed their share. No very large
ones have been reported for some years
! past, but ii does not take very large
nugget OF gold TO mount up in value
Even the little ones found now and
| then in the crsws of Brown county
| chickens are worth saving.
Where Nuggets Come From.
The biggest nuggets of gold have
1 been found in the United States, Aus
tralia and South Africa, though some
have been found in Mexico ana British
America California has produced many
and some very large ones No doubt
many have been found Of which no rec
ord has been preserved, but the list of
I recorded ones is interesting. 1t was
! the finding of few small nuggets in
the tail race of Sawmin in 1S48 that
started the California gold excitement
and led to rush OF gold hunters from
| all parts OF the world. This was at
Suffers Fort.
Captain Suffer tried To keep the dis
cOvery secret, but il soon got out and
the excitement spread like wiIdfire.
Governor Mason. military commandment
of California, visited the fort about
three months after the first discovery
and found upward of four thousand men
working in the vicinity and getting
from one 10 four ounces of gold man
a day
In letter to the secretary of war
Governor Mason said: MIR. Marshall
guided me mp the mountain on the north
bank of the south fork where.a great
deal of coarse gold has been found. |
there saw several parties at work, all
of whom were doing very we'll; great
many specimens were shown me, some
weighing four or five ounces. This
was only the beginning and nuggets
continued to be found for years
One Weighed Eighty Pounds.
The largest nugget California ever
yielded weighed 50 pounds. One night
in November, 1854, two drunken fellows
were crossing the mountains to a new
camp, when a heavy rain came on
They sought shelter in a deserted hut,
but before morning the water swept
them away and one was drowned The
next morning the survivor started TO
dig a grave for his dead companion,
when he uncovered a chunk of pure
gold so large that he had difficulty in
getting il out. and then could not car
~ it alone. Obtaining help, he got it
into camp and put il On the scales. 1t
weighed so pounds BY this time he
was sober, but too excited 10 go back
and bury his dead partner. He sold
the nugget for So, l00. This was in
Eldorado county, and shortly afterward
that county produced another nugget
weighing III ounces.
In 1851 a party of English sailors
found a 31-pOund nugget in Eldorado
county, which they took to, England
and exhibited at so much a sight. 1t
was the means of adding materially to
the English born population of Califor-
MIA
Fortune for an Indian.
In 1861 a half-breed Indian, washing
his OveralIs in a stream sin Nevada
county, found a nugget in the bed
of the stream that weighed 65 pounds
the second largest ever found in Cali
fornia- 1t was sold for 17.i0O- In
1868, on Table mountain, Calaveras
county, a negro. on his way to pros
pect a certain guIch. saw a yellow point
prOtruding above the ground When
uncovered and dug out II proved to
be a big nugget OF gold. Still intent
on his prospecting tour, he buried his
treasure, marked the spot and went
his way. Returning in a few weeks
he found a party OF prOspectOrS dig
ging not more than ten feet from hrs
buried treasure. He told his story and
they permitted him to dig the nugget
up 1t weighed 50 pounds and brought
him $1,000. If the miners digging with
in ten feet of il had found il, the ne
gro never could have proved his title.
other nuggets mentioned in histories
of California or by contemporary writ
ers, are from CalaveraS county. one Of
266 ounces, worth $500: at Elizabeth
town, one worth $4,000; at Mohawk
Valley. one Of 420 ounces, worth s6,7ov,
from Nevada county, near Dutch Flats,
one worth 30 900
Thomas o. Larkin, United States
navy agent, writing from California to
the secretary of state at Washington
November 16, 1S4S, said:
Il have had in my hands several
pieces Of gold, about % karats fine
weighing from one to two pounds, and
have been found weighing Is pounds.
Indeed, ! have heard of one specimen
that weighed 20 pounds"
These are California nuggets, the
record of which happens to have been
preserved. but no doubt there have
been many others.
Australia Beats California.
But Australia beats California in big
finds. Gold was discovered in Aus
tralia in 1851, about three years after
il was in California. and there was an
other rush OF gold hunters, some even
going from California, for gold hunt
ers always flock to the newest discov-
cry. Australia has furnished the big
gest nugget on record. and il was found
by two prospectors who had so ex-
hausted their resources that they were
obliged to live on charity. 1t measured
four feet nine inches by three feet
three inches, averaging four inches in
thickness, weighed about $50 pounds
and was sold for S14S,0OO.
Another Australian nugget very cell
ebrated in it's day by the name of
Welcome Stranger, was discovered in
the rut made by peddlers cart, bare
ly covered with loose loam- 1t meas
ured ten by tWenty-one inches
weighed 1850 ounces, was nearly 80
per cent pure gold and was sold for
S4I 500 These were the largest mug
gets found in Austl ALA. but hundreds
of others have been found weighing
from few ounces to 100. 500 900 and
1000 ounces. Australia has produced
more gold nuggets than any other
country. though in the general output
of gold by placer and quartz mining
1t Is surpassed considerably by the
United States and greatly by Africa.
Not Many In Alaska.
Several Of the Rocky mountain
states, Colorado. Nevada and Idaho
have produced some nuggets, but not
many. Alaska has produced an enor-
nous quantity of gold, about 5000, 00O,-
600. but not many nuggets. One weigh
ing thirty-four ounces was found in
the Klondike and the Yukon's largest
nugget seventy-two ounces was found
nearly twenty year. ago. The placer
gold of Alaska, which Is obtained in
SlIcl enOrU10fe quantities ~