The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1915-10-08
ing stock of the camp.

gold formation, yet Marshall's faitl
in his new found treasure was no
shattered, for in a. few days he quiet
ly handed his largest nugget. which
weighed about seventeen grains, t.
Mrs. WINNER, a woman who hat
heen dong the cooking for the mel
at the lumber. camp; she boiled il
in decoction of strcelye for test
but ii was fished out unstained. 1'heI
the owner dipped it in vinegar i'm
preston on its color. At last he sent
it to a mining expert miles away
| who, after making an assay, reported
the nugget to be nothing less thar
pure gold. Meantime Marshall had
talked very little, but had busted
himself with gathering similar sur.
face nuggets in all the surrounding
gulches, finding some fair specimens
above ground, and many Others
wherever he CHANGED to, dig, until
had accumulated quite an, interest
ing collection of the precious me-
tai '-. - .. ..-..
After the favorable report from
the gold assay, Information of the
new discovery began to circulate, in
spite of Captain Suffers efforts to
suppress it, and in April local news
paper CHANGED to publish, an account
of the fortunate incident, many 9TH
er papers in the East copying the
happy tidings., ..., .....-.,...i. d.!
/ News of the momentous occur
renee spread like wildfire and in a
few months time glowing accounts
of the lucky find had. been. published
in many parts. of the world. And by
the. time thersummer season had fair
ly set in the whole country knew that
gold had been discovered in Califor-
mia. With this mighty secret of the
Sierras fully disclosed, there began
a westward rush that has rarely been
equaled by any public stampede in
any country in the world. ,, j.
San Francisco was at that time a
mere village; having a population OF
brely four Hundred souls, and by the
middle of June fully three-fourths of
the. male inhabitants of that town
had already liked off to the gold
fields. All other little towns in the
West were soon likewise deserted,
and before a great while every able
bodied man and boy seemed busy
digging for gold. Mines were soon
staked out over a territory covering
a hundred miles of country
Meantime Captain Suffers work
men had acquired the gold fever"
and had all left him. and his unfin-
ished mill remained as it was. His
bountiful harvest was never gathered
even his tannery at the fort forty
miles further westward, was deserted
causing a quantity of fine leather in
the watts to spoil. Fields were left
half planted, houses half built. every
thing was neglected except the man.
ufacture of shovels and picks; real
estate and all other property, save
tools and provisions, fell to
low figures. Spades and
however, which had been
worth less than a dollar a piece
short time before, were now selling
readily for ten dollars at the mines.
II was at the beginning of the next
year (1S49 that the mad rush TO
the diggings was at high tide. BY that
time the news of the California gold
had reached the remOtest |
parts of the East. Thousands Of
farmers instantly quit their pIows.
hundreds of mechanics dropped /
heir tools. hosts Of clerks left their
employers without notice, multitudes !
,f doctors, lawyers, teachers and men !
IF every profession left their offices
md homes and families 10 seek their
'ortunes in the wild and unknown
Vest. Some chose the tedious yoy
lge of sailing nineteen thousand
niles around Cape Horn. many more
made the five thousand mile trip by
way OF the Isthmus of Panama. while
awards of forty-two thousand am
,itious Americans from the far East
I'm States made theit way across the
lHhsotAn'plains in@pssasssssshesaess
Turing the summer, enduring untold
from hunssr. thirst and
icious attacks BY hoatiie, Indians. eGI
Towns sprsps| up.ltk s,pstie' W. db7
ricts where gold SNS being found.
. ~ pa = ''>1 $50