The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1915-10-08
The First California Gold.


James w Marshall, a New Jersey
carpenter and millwright who had
4 three years before drifted to the Cal
1 ifornia wilderness, walked out of his
I solitary cabin at lodging camp in
I the fothills of the Sierras for Sun
day afternoon stroll on January 10,
1 1S4S.' He had well nigh fulfilled
! his contract with Captain John A.
/ Suffer for building a saw mill on the
| south fork of American River, in
! Coloma Valley, some forty miles
northeast of Sacramento. 1t was to
be partnership mill, Captain SUIT
ter, a prosperous German immigrant,
to furnish the necessary funds and
James Marshall, the contractor, to
select and prepare a proper sight and
build the structure,
The milrace and its gates had
been put in working condition, and
in order that the channel might be
| widened and deepened and all loose
dirt and the other debris washed
away from the bedrock at the bottom
of the canal. Marshall had, on Sat
urday evening before, opened the
,stdicc gates to tkair full capacity and
III ncL in the swift current. Ar
the water had flowed necessarily
through the newly dug trench all
night, he had shut the gates at day
break.
The New Jersey wheelright was
a conscientious man and would not
work, on Sunday, as had been
former custom among the lumber
camps of the wooded Sierras. and he
walked down the direction of the
mill on that Sunday afternoon to
examine the ditch. to find out if
enough earth and lose rubble had
been swept away to leave the mill
race clear. He soon noted that the
rushing stream during the nights
run had cut out the sides of the
grove considerably. and had dug
deep into the bottom. and while en-
larging the race, the water had car
ried down and spread out. at the end
of the ditch which was some fifty
rods long, a great mass of gravel and
sand.
Sliding down the steep bank into
the bottom, Marshall walked along
the race on the jagged and uneven
bedrock. Suddenly he observed
hundreds of shining yellow metallic
flakes, lying scattered about here
and there in about six inches of wat
er, the numerous and tiny Offering
points in the decomposed granite /,
flashing wildly in the reflected sun
light. - .'. 49,.
Bending down and picking up one
of the shiny objects about the size !
of a wheat grain, and of a brassy |
hue he examined it closely and found |
it in all respects to resemble gold.
Other tiny bits were investigated. !,
then taking up a still larger nugget
of the same yellowish metal. one /
a bout as large around as a ten-dollar
gold coin. he noticed it appeared
soft. bright and heavy, and his heart
throbbed wildly at the unexpected
find. Some doubt yet existed in his
mind as TO whether the supposed
treasure really was gold, or only nil
ca, or copper. or some other sort Of
metal of nomial value. -. I
After turning the compact lump
over and over in his hand. inspecting
Il attentively., the finder scraped 1t
with his horny nails, then he put 1t
his teeth and bit it hard,
and finally placed II under a boulder
and with rock hammered it fiat.
convinced by this time
hat his find was gold, Marshall ran
back to the cabin and yelled TO the /
die workmen. Boys. I've struck
idkdt,., ~ shSs,as.'k" ~ s.tf n
"No such ssad luck as that" was
he derisive rtr1E He wssi'st once
,idiculed BY bis fellow vpFGmsnI and ,
or dsyt sftsfwssa was E0ysa % ,sn-
tEk ttnS becxtSs- thsaaush..
., J, GvS .ssiyyssis Il y. r....a .f.,.Ss O., %.