The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1917-06-21

1912. That ended the Russian occu-
patton in California. Suffer sped the
parting Russians with his left hand
and welcomed the arriving Americans
with his right. His ranch on the
Sacramento river stood in the track OF
the pioneer bands that were beginning
to cross the Sierra Nevada into the
great valley of California. Although
he had become naturalized Mexican
he disregarded the governors polite
request to oppose the invasion of new
corners from the United States; in
stead, he gave them the glad hand
foreseeing that they were likely to
become the masters of the country
That was five years before the discov-
cry of gold. He organized a military
company and played a half -hearted
part in the revolutionary troubles of
Alta California, as this Mexican prov
ince was called. When Mexico and
the United tSates went to war he
raised the American flag over his
stockade on July 8, 1S45. He served
as Indian agent for the American ad-
ministration and proved himself a
good citizen in many ways. But his
great opportunity was yet to come A
shrewd man, he saw that the influx
of settlers would create demand for
lumber, so he started to build a saw
mill. He engaged James w. Mar.
shall, carpenter from New Jersey
to build the saw mill at place called
Coloma on the south fork of the AM
erican river How these names
Marshall Coloma, American river
vibrate with romance! You know the
story of the gold discovery. yet dare
to repeat it.
When the saw mill had been built
Marshall found that the tail race was
not deep enough, so he secured it by
opening the water gate to full ca
pacity. The water ran all night, and
in the morning he closed the gate
while he examined the mill race to
see IL 1t had been sufficiently deepen
ed. In the gravel loosened by the cur
rent he saw several bits of yellow
stuff He took one of the nuggets and
hammered it, proving that it was me-
tallic; he bit it and found that it was
soft; he put 1t into the soap kettle Of
Mrs. Weimer, who was cook for the
mill hands. and it emerged bright but
insoluble. Thereupon he decided that
it must be gold. At once he went to
New Helvetia, SO miles distant, to tell
Sutter about the discovery Locking
the door of Suffers office, he pulled
out rag in which the nuggets were
wrapped. Suffer applied the acid
test, having some nitric acid among
his apothecary stores; he read the ar
ticle on Gold" in his copy of the En-
cyclopedia Americana he weighed
the specimens and compared them
with gold coins; whereupon he pro-
nounced it 23-carat gold. And his die
tum spoken in that frontier store went
but to all the world, at first a whisper,
then mighty shout, it called the ad-
d.
But Marshall did not profit from it,
nor did Sutter. His laborers left the
saw mill, his staff at the ranch de-
for the diggings. The mill
was deserted and even the mill stones
were stolen; his tannery went to ruin
even the Indians refused to harvest his
crops the miners stole his cattle and |
rode off on his horses; prosperous be-
fore, Suffer was beggared by the gold
seekers and by the conditions they
'reated. Nothing remained but for
him also to search for gold. He or
,anized prospecting expedition, but
was failure, and, in the end, he
lad to be pensioned by the state of
california. Marshall also received ]
cine little help from the state, but he
led poor disappointed man. In
S5l California yielded $S1,294,70O in
old. The date of the discovery was !
anuary "a, 1S4S, and the treaty of /.
Hidalgo. ending the first )
iexican war. was signed on February
+; in other words. California was ced-
d to the United States nine days af- :
er the Hateful discovery, no whisper )
which had reached either of the \
gnatory governments. Suffer and !
larshall kept the news from spread
lg as long as they could What \
ould have happened If Marshalls F
nd had been made one year earlier? :
'ould Mexico have yielded so rich a 7
ineral domain, which included New '
la, Utah. Arizona. and part of Colo
ldo also, for $S,25OOOO. even at the $
pint of the sword? Would Russia i
Id England have acquiesced in the o
ssion so unconcernedly? 1t was a p
coincidence-as remarkable !,
the fog that prevented Drake from v
scovering the bay Of San Francisco
1873. We may well be grateful for .
e fact that the discovery of gold did
It come to create a bone of bitter
Intention but to stimulate the found
6 of a great commonwealth.
Concluded next weekly