USA > California > California gold book : first nugget, its discovery and discoverers, and some of the results proceeding therefrom > Part 7
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Some years ago a Frenchman found a nugget of almost pure gold, worth over $5,000, in Spring gulch, Tuolumne county. The next day the man became insane. He was sent to the Stockton asylum, and the nugget was forwarded to the French consul, in San
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Francisco, who sent its value to the finder's family in France.
In 1854, a mass of gold was found at Columbia, Tuolumne, weighing thirty pounds, and yielded $6,625. A Mr. Virgin found at Gold Hill in the same county a boulder that weighed thirty-one pounds eight ounces, and when melted yielded $6,500. A gold quartz boul- der found at Minnesota, Sierra county, weighed twenty- two pounds and two ounces and yielded $5,000.
In 1850 a nugget was found at French gulch, in the same county, that weighed twenty-one pounds and eleven ounces, and contained gold to the value of $4,893. In 1876, J. D. Colgrove, of Dutch Flat, Placer county, found a white quartz boulder in the Polar Star Hydraul- ic claim from which he obtained gold to the value of $5,760.
At the Monumental quartz mine, Sierra county, in 1869, was found a mass of gold that weighed 95 pounds, 6 ounces. It was found in decomposed quartz at a depth of 25 feet below the surface. This was the only "pay " found in that particular part of the mine. All the auriferous energy of the vein at that point seemed to have been concentrated in the one nugget.
In 1855 a nugget weighing sixty pounds was found at Alleghanytown, Sierra county. It was a mass of gold taken from a quartz vein. Several other large "chunks" were taken from the same mine-lumps of nearly pure gold, weighing from one to ten or twelve pounds. Those masses of gold were dug by Frank Cook (afterward city marshal of Marysville) and others, his partners.
In 1851, a Mr. Chapman and others flumed a set of claims on the middle Yuba. When the water was
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turned from the river into the flume, about the first thing seen in the exposed end of the channel was a horseshoe-shaped mass of pure gold, which weighed twenty-eight pounds. This was a very handsome "showy " nugget. It was sold to Major Jack Strat- man, of San Francisco.
The Sailor diggings on the North fork of the Yuba, just below the south of Sailor ravine, about three miles from Downieville, were wonderfully rich in nuggets. The diggings were owned and worked by a party of English sailors in 1851. In their claim the sailors found a nugget of pure gold that weighed thirty-one pounds. They also found a great number of nuggets weighing from five to fifteen pounds. The party all left together for England. They took with them all the nuggets they found, both great and small. They were carried in two canvas sacks, the weight being too great to be conveniently handled in one sack. When the party reached England, they, for a considerable time, made a business of exhibiting their collection of nug- gets, and various fancy specimens, in all the large towns and cities, thus infecting great numbers of people with the gold-digging fever, for just at that time came the world startling news of the great gold discoveries made in February of that year in Australia.
In French ravine, Sierra county, 1855, there was found in the claim of a Missourian named Smith a double nugget of about pure gold. The larger of the two nuggets weighed fifty pounds, and connected with it by a sort of neck was a lump of gold weighing fifteen pounds. In taking out the nugget the two were broken apart. The large nugget yielded $10,000 and the small one $3,000.
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In September, 1850, B. F. Wardell, now in Virginia City, found in Mad canyon, on the Middle fork of the American river, a nugget of solid gold weighing six pounds. The nugget had in it a round hole and the finder made use of it in his cabin as a candlestick. It was doubtless the most valuable candlestick on the Pacific coast. After the nugget had been thus used so long that it was covered with candle grease, the owner sold it, grease and all.
In the early days of placer mining in California colored miners were proverbially lucky. Companies of white men were always ready to take in a colored Man as a partner, believing that he would bring them good luck. Steve Gillis, of Virginia, Nev., a veteran printer and pioneer of the Pacific coast, gives the fol- lowing sample of " nigger luck :" " In 1863 a colored miner, who was out on a prospecting trip, found on the slope of the Table mountain, Tuolumne county a nugget that weighed thirty-five pounds avoirdupois, and yielded over $7,000. The nugget was found on the slope where Table mountain drifts down towards Sha's Flat. The man saw a corner of it sticking out of the ground, and digging it up he planted it in a new place near by, marking the spot, and continued on his way to his intended prospecting ground. He did not take up a claim where he found the nugget, as he believed it to have rolled down from some point high up on Table mountain. He found such good pay in the place he went to prospect that he remained there at work for several weeks, feeling quite at ease in regard to the big nugget he had cached. Finally he quit work in his digging, and set out to look for his big nugget. On coming in sight of the spot where he
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had buried it, he almost dropped in his tracks, for he saw a big company of men at work just where he had made his " plant." The men proved to be a lot of Italians, and they had worked up to within about ten feet of the spot where lay buried the big nugget. For- tunately the "colored brother" had with him on that trip his "rabbit foot," for the "rescue " was about as fortunate as the "find."
Ina drift mine at Remington hill, Nevada county, in 1856, the half of a smoothly washed boulder of gold quartz was found which yielded $4,672.50. The nugget was smooth on all rounded sides, but had on one side a flat, rough surface. At the time the chunk was found it was remarked that the other half of the boulder might possibly be somewhere in the same claim. In 1858 the owners of the mine had a hired man who was engaged in drifting out pay dirt. One day this man unexpectedly announced that he was going to leave ; that he was going down to Nevada City to try his luck for a time. The man was paid his wages, and, shouldering his blankets, took his depar- ture. After he had been gone a short time, one of the partners said : " It is strange that the fellow should all at once quit work here, when he had a steady job at as good wages as he can find anywhere in the country. I wonder if he has not found the other half of that boulder ?" The party addressed scouted the idea.
" You may laugh," said the suspicious partner, " but I feel in my bones that the fellow is packing the miss- ing half of that boulder away in his own roll of blankets."
"Well, what are you going to do about it ?"
"I am going to mount a horse and follow the fellow.
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I am going to make him shell out that chunk of gold."
"So ? Very well ; you shall have my half of all you get."
Mounting his horse, the man who had "suspicions" took the road to Nevada City with a sixshooter in his belt. When he overtook his man and asked him to throw down and open out his roll of blankets, the fellow was at first quite indignant and inclined to be ugly, but when he saw a revolver leveled at his head, he cried out : "Cave ; now, how in - did you find out that I'd got hold of the other half of that nug- get ?"
"Guessed it," said the mine-owner. "Shell her out."
Down went the blankets and out came a big golden nugget. Sure enough, it was the other half of the boulder. Taking the chunk the owner told the man to "git;" that as he had met with a great temptation he was forgiven. The half thus received panned out $4,430.75, making a total for the whole boulder of $9,103.25. The suspicious partner was very sick when he saw the missing half of the boulder brought home. However, the other, after paying himself $1,000 for Lis trouble and his ability as a detective, divided the remainder with the man who had laughed at him in the start. He said he took only $20 for his trouble and risk ; but for his " sabe " he must have $980.
Near Sonora, Tuolumne county, in 1852, a nugget weighing forty-five pounds, and containing gold to the value of about $8,000, was found. The finder had a friend who was far gone with consumption, yet was trying to work in the mines. The owner of the nugget
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saw that by working in the water, and lifting heavy boulders this man was fast killing himself. He told his friend to take the big nugget and go back to the States, and exhibit it, as at that time such a mass of native gold was a curiosity, to see which many would willingly pay a reasonable sum. As the ailing man was well educated, it was arranged that besides the nugget, he should take some fine dust "chispas," gold-bearing quartz, black sand, gravel and dirt from a placer, and the like, and with all was to fix up a lecture on life in the mines, mining operations, and California in general. When the owner of the nugget wanted it, or its value, he was tolet the other know of his need.
The sick man took the nugget to the States, got up his lecture, and did well wherever he went. For a time the miner heard from his friend pretty regularly ; then for months lost track of him. He began to think his nugget lost ; that perhaps his friend had been mur. dered and robbed in some out-of-the-way place. One day, however, a letter reached the miner from a banker, in New Orleans telling him that his friend had died in that city, but had left the big nugget at the bank sub- ject to his order. The miner wrote to have the nug- get melted down, and in due time he received a check for a little over $8,000.
Pocket mining, as practiced by the experts of Cali- fornia, is a branch of gold-hunting that may be said to stand by itself as an "art." The pocket miner follows up the trail of gold thrown off from a quartz vein, and strewn down a mountain slope, until he at last reaches the mother deposit, whence the gold scattered below proceeded. This is an operation which sometimes requires many days to be devoted to the careful wash-
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CALIFORNIA THE PROPERTY OF
BOCHICAGO TH ing of samples of dirt tak NORI Uni the slope" of the 2"EN'S mountain. Many rich pockets Have, however, been found by accident. One of the richest of the pocket mines in California had $10,000 thrown out at one blast. The gold so held the, quartz together that it had to be cut apart with cold chisels. It is estimated that this mine yielded $2,800,000 in the years 1850 and 1851, and new pockets have since been discovered almost yearly, somewhere in the peculiar formation at and about Carson Hill.
The telluride veins of Sierra county, extending from Minnesota to the South Yuba, have been prolific of pockets. A big pocket found in the Fellows mine on this belt yielded $250,000. Many other pockets yield- ing from $5,000 to $50,000 have been found in this region. Many rich pockets have been found about Grass valley, Nevada county ; Auburn, Placer county, and Sonora, Tuolumne county. The "Reece pocket," Grass valley, contained $40,000. This sum was pounded out in a hand mortar in less than a month. Near Grass Valley, a pocket that yielded $60,000 was found by a sick pilgrim who was in search of health and knew nothing about mining. The " Green Emi- grant" pocket vein, near Auburn, was found by an emigrant who had never seen a mine. It yielded $160,000. This find was made within thirty yards of a road that had been traveled daily for twenty years. No more "pay " was found after the first pocket- was worked.
The "Devol" pocket in Sonora, alongside the main street of the town, owned by three men, yielded $200,- 000 in 1879. It was nearly all taken out in three weeks. The " grit specimen," showing arburescent
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crystallization, sent to the Paris Exposition, was found in Spanish Dry Diggings, Eldorado county, weighed over twenty pounds, and contained over $4,000 in gold. About $8,000 additional of the same kind of gold crys- tals was taken from the same pocket. The formation at this place is slate, and a fine grained sandstone filled with crystals of iron pyrites in cubes.
At an American camp between the forks of the Stanislaus, in 1880, Le Roy Reid found a pocket in the "grass roots," from which he took out $8,200. Near Magalia, Butte county, in 1879, a pocket paid its finder $400 for two hours work.
The above examples of the richness of the pockets often found in quartz veins must suffice. They were taken pretty much at random. A full history of the big "pocket finds" in California would make a large volume.
Since the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill, Cali- fornia has yielded over $1,300,000,000 in that metal. How much exactly will never be known. The Chinese must have carried away an immense amount. In 1880 the Government tried to make them report. From eighteen counties of the State there were partial reports. The amounts they acknowledged obtaining were upwards of $1,751,244 for that year alone. Those who know the Chinese miners know what kind of a report they would be likely to make. If they acknowl- edged securing $1,751,244 as late as in 1880, what must have been obtained in all the years before, when all the places were new and prolific?
Outside of California, few nuggets of note have been found in any of the Pacific Coast States and Terri- tories. The largest nugget ever found in Nevada was
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one taken out of the Osceola placer mine about twenty years ago. It weighed twenty-four pounds, and is supposed to have contained nearly $4,000 in gold. A hired man found and stole it, but repenting gave up to the owners in a month or two over $2,000 in small bars-all he had left of the big chunk. In the same mine about a year ago a nugget worth $2,190 was found.
Montana's largest nugget was one found by Mr. Ris- ing, at Snow State gulch, on the little Blackfoot river. It was worth $3,356. It laid twelve feet below the surface, and about a foot above the bed-rock.
Colorado's biggest nugget was found at Brecken- ridge. It weighed thirteen pounds, but was mixed with lead carbonate and quartz.
The pioneer nuggets in the United States were found in the placers of the Appalachian range of mountains, where gold was discovered as early as 1828. In Octo- ber, 1828, a negro found grains of fine gold in Bear Creek, Ga., but the discovery did not attract much attention. Presently the same negro found a nugget in the Nacoochee river worth several thousand dollars. This "find " started a gold hunting furor. Several other nuggets of considerable size have been found in Georgia at various times.
The biggest nugget ever found in the Appalachian mining region was that at the Reed Mine in North Carolina. It weighed eighty pounds.
In the same State some children, playing along a creek, found a nugget that weighed twelve pounds. The quartz veins of this region generally show a good deal of coarse gold, good-sized lumps, but seldom weighing as much as a pound.
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The foregoing grouping of information as to nuggets found in California and elsewhere was made by Dan De Quille, an old and experienced journalist on the Pacific coast, for the San Francisco Chronicle, and is correct.
Nearly all the counties in California contain mineral deposits of some kind, and the yield of gold is large. Various causes have operated to reduce the quantity, and especially that produced from placer and hydraulic mining. The beds of the ancient rivers have not been fully explored, but large capital is required to uncover their hidden deposits. Even some places in the beds of the modern rivers, which used to yield enormously, are still very rich, but the courses of the waters will have to be changed into new channels, at great ex- pense, before the gravels can be examined.
The mining industry presents many encouraging features, notwithstanding the smallness of the output compared with the early days of its history. The difficulties between the hydraulic miners and the ranchers must be soon settled. There should be no antagonism between them. Their interests are closely interwoven. They cannot prosper without mutual encouragement. Invention will inaugurate methods for getting the buried riches from mountain and gulch without entailing injury upon the valleys. Then the output of gold will increase beyond anything known in the early days of mining, for the experience gained in all these years will be scientifically applied.
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CHAPTER XIII.
WONDERFUL PROGRESS OF FORTY-TWO YEARS.
EL NORTE is the north western most county in the State. Its early mining history is stained with blood. Three young men were prospecting on Klamath river in 1857. They were killed by the Indians, and their bodies horribly mutilated. The miners in the vicinity discovered an Indian village, and it is said killed every one it contained, without regard to sex or age, as a punishment for the triple murder.
Happy Camp was the name given to the first resting place of the prospectors. They were sure that the Klamath river was rich in gold, but the best results were obtained from the beach sands in the early days. Some gold is still obtained from the black sands on the shores of the Pacific ocean. Rich quartz ledges have been discovered within a short time, and it is believed the product will be large. There are large deposits of chrome, copper and iron, but it costs too much for transportation to render the working of them profitable.
ISKIYOU COUNTY adjoins Del Norte on the east. The first miners to enter that country in 1850-51 came into favor by claiming to be " Maki " men. A Scotch trapper, named Thomas Mckay, had gained their good will by just treatment in the trips he had made gathering furs for the Hudson Bay Company and they were friendly to any whites who looked like " Maki" as they pronounced his name. Donald McKay, who led the Warm Springs Indians in the Modoc war, was his son.
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The first strike of gold was on Yreka creek, in 1851, and the news of its richness spread throughout the State, and caused 2,000 miners to collect there in a very short time. Rich quartz ledges were discovered in the eastern part of the county, and many of the prospectors spread out into what is now Modoc and Lassen counties-indeed produced the formation and organization of Modoc county.
The entrance of the Southern Pacific railroad was worth more to the county than its mines, though these had secured it its first settlers. For the past few years the increase in population and wealth has been very rapid.
ODOC COUNTY, meaning " hostile stranger," is the northeastern most county in the State. It never was prominent in a mining sense, but possesses enough natural wonders to attract the curious. The Modoc war of 1873 was confined to this county. The Modocs were always treacherous, and while Captain Jack lived, were destructive to the interests of white settlers. Every peaceful method was pursued to make them contented until General Canby was assassinated while having a talk with them. Then their punishment was determined upon, but as they knew all the intrica- cies of the mysterious lava beds, it was a long and tedious matter. Finally, Captain Jack, Chief Sconchin, Black Jack and Boston Charley were convicted of murder, and hanged. That produced peace, and since then the county has greatly improved, but feels the want of railroad facilities. Under the lava beds are caves filled with ice which never melts. The surface is wonderful, but the interior more so.
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UMBOLDT COUNTY. was formed May 12, 1853. In 1856 the county seat was fixed at Eureka by the Legislature. The county contains about 2,300,000 acres of land, and the valleys and foothills are dotted with prosperous homes. Congress has appropriated $1,750,000 to complete the improvements on Humboldt bar and bay, which will make the city of Eureka the shipping point for all of northern Cali- fornia.
The territory comprised in this county was visited by the trapping party under Jedediah Smith, in 1827, but the coast had been visited as early as 1543. On the 26th of February, of that year, Juan R. Cabrillo discovered and named Cape of Perils, and in 1604 the Fragata, a small vessel belonging to Vizcaino's fleet, found shelter near Cape Mendocino. But the fine bay of Humboldt was not discovered until 1849, when a party under Dr. Josiah Gregg, traveling overland during the winter months, found and named it.
As early as 1854 ship building was commenced at Eureka. Allen & Co. in that year built the steamer Glide to ply between Eureka and Arcata. A great number of vessels have been constructed there since. There are two shipyards at Eureka, and they are both prosperous, employing about 300 men at the present time.
The dairying interests of the county are in fine con- dition, and are being greatly extended, with the estab- lishment of creameries and the introduction of the latest machinery. Until lately the production of butter and cheese was confined to the Eel river valley, but it is now distributed to the various parts of the county.
Mining, which, in the Trinity excitement, first set- tled the territory, is taking on new importance. A number of gold placer claims in the Willow creek district were bonded during 1892 by a syndicate which proposes to introduce water, and practically work them. Fifty-two quartz ledge locations have been recorded in the same section, and this activity has necessarily created considerable excitement. Be-
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sides the gold industry, petroleum is known to exist in the county. In the Mattole section two companies are actively developing, and one has a well down 2,500 feet, and the prospects for an important strike are most promising.
While all other interests are specially prosperous, it is the lumber of Humboldt county which has produced its great wealth, the assessments for 1882 aggregating $18,012,051, an increase of more than $1,000,000 over the previous year. When the section was first entered by white men the forests of redwood were unbroken, and trees ranging from 200 to 400 feet high, and measur- ing from twenty to seventy feet in circumference, covered all the hills. Trees yielding from 50,000 to 100,000 feet of lumber were common. The demand for this fine lumber has caused much of the timber to be felled. In 1892, 165,000,000 feet were exported, and nine cargoes, amounting to 5,325,888 feet, valued at $128,306, were sent to England. Very much of this large sum was paid for labor, and nearly all of it is expended in the county, adding just that much to its permanent wealth.
The evidences of prosperity are universal. They generally take the shape of improvements of homes, and the building of finer places of business. This is more apparent in the prosperous city of Eureka, because there the expenditures by the Government are, taking place, but they are observed in all the thriving towns in the county. Many thousands of dollars have been put into permanent improvements in Arcata, Ferndale, Table Bluff, and every section of Humboldt. Everywhere are signs indicating the ability of the citizens to live more comfortably and spend more freely. Eureka has adopted city airs, as shown in con- crete sidewalks, electric lights, steam heating plants, and great business blocks which would be noticeable in any city in the State. Taking it all in all, Hum- boldt county offers fine opportunities to the enterpris- ing, whether in business, mining, dairying or general farming.
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RINITY COUNTY is in one of the northern tiers of counties. The San Francisco Chronicle supplies a brief history of Trinity county, which is known to be reliable, and is specially interesting. It was first explored in the early part of this century by the bands of trappers sent out from Vancouver by the Hudson Bay Company. That the coast had been fairly well known at least two centuries before is evident from the records we have of the voyages of the early navigators. With the extension of settle- ments above the bay of San Francisco came the pro- ject for a commercial metropolis on the upper coast, probably at Trinidad, as that was the only harbor on the charts then in existence. In March, 1848, a meet- ing was held in San Francisco to make arrangements for the exploration of that bay. The all-absorbing gold excitement intervened for a time, but when Read- ing penetrated to the head waters of Trinity river and found gold in its sands, this induced several other prospectors to cross the mountains into this heretofore unprospected region. They were so successful that in a short time it was suggested that an entry port be established through which passengers and supplies could reach this region by a nearer and easier sea route.
Reading discovered and named Trinity river, think- ing at the time that it emptied into Trinidad bay. The next year an effort was made to find the mouth of the river. The expedition was formed in two divisions. One was to sail up the coast, and the other was to leave the Trinity headquarters and march westward. The coasting party returned without any news, but the land division which started on November 5, 1849, from
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