USA > California > El Dorado County > Historical souvenir of El Dorado County, California : with illustrations and biographical setches of its prominent men & pioneers > Part 14
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"The Californias are rich in minerals ; gold, silver, lead, oxide of iron. manganese and copper 'ore are met with throughout the country, the precious metals being the most abundant."
Most of them were Mormons and returned afterward to Salt. Lake. The last named became an elder in the Mormon church. Besides these white men there were some Indians employed also.
The mill was built over a dry channel of the river which was caleulated to be the tail race. Marshall, being a kind of wheelwright, had constructed the "tub-wheel" and had also furnished some of the rude parts of the machinery necessary for an ordinary up- and-down sawmill. By January, 1848, the mill was about finished, the tub-wheel set in motion, and after having arranged the head-race and dam he let on the water to test the goodness of his machinery. All worked very well until it was found that the tail-race did not carry off the water fast enough, so he was compelled to deepen and widen the tail-race. In order to economize labor he ordered his men to seratch a kind of a ditch down in the middle of the dry channel, throwing only the coarser stones out of the race, then letting on the water again, it would run
All these many discoveries and statements of the existence of precious metals, however, had not effect enough to excite a single soul, and neither govern- ment nor private persons followed the given hints to go to the trouble of any further exploration. This is with velocity through the channel, washing away all what was reserved to the final discovery of placer gold the loose dirt. This was done in the night so as not to interfere with the work of the men in the daytime, James W. Marshall, which, spreading like an epidemic and in the morning Marshall, after closing the fore- in the mill-race at Coloma, on January 19, 1848, by disease, produced a new one-the gold fever-that bay gate, thus shutting off the water, used to walk down the tail-race to inspect the work the water had done. soon revolutionized the whole civilized world; and the name of California heretofore almost unknown, found its way to the ear of almost every person of culture in the old as well as in the new world.
"On this occasion," says the "Life and Adventures of James W. Marshall," "having strolled to the lower end of the race, he stood for ? moment examining the mass of debris that had washed down, and at this juncture his eye caught the glitter of something that lay lodged in the crevice of a riffle of soft granite, some six inches under water. His first act was t) stoop and pick up the substance. It was heavy, of peculiar color, and unlike anything he had seen in the stream before."
James W. Marshall, the lucky diseoverer of gold at Coloma, came to California from Oregon in 1845, whither he had gone overland from Missouri the year before. He came to Sutter's fort, then the headquar- ters of all adventurers. Here he enlisted into the ranks of the California battalion under Colonel Fre- mont and took part in the American conquest and re- turned to Sutter's fort after this battalion was dis- charged at Los Angeles, in early summer of 1847. This specimen, a pebble weighing six pennyweights and eleven grains, after the best authorities, was found on the memorable day 19th of January, in the pres- ence of Peter L. Weimer and William Scott. Mar- shall, after keeping it in his hand for a few minutes, reflecting and endeavoring to recall all he had heard or read concerning the various metals, but not being able to determine about its substance, handed it over to Weimer, that it was closely examined by him and Scott, and because, after some different conjectures, none of them could decide about the quality of the mineral, Weimer was ordered to take it home and piece home with him, handed it to his wife who, as she was engaged boiling soap at the time, threw the specimen in the soap-kettle, where it remained twenty- four hours, and came out so much brighter than be- On an excursion trip from the fort up on the American river he came through the Culloomah basin -now Coloma- and the location, concerning the beautiful stand of sugar-pine trees, and the pleasant water power on the South fork of the American river, found his consent and awakened his desire to build a sawmill there. Returning to the fort he tried to persuade Captain Sutter to enter into a partnership agreement by which the latter was to furnish the means, while he (Mar- shall) was to superintend the erection and operation of the mill. With a full equipment of workmen and tools he started for the mill site at Coloma on the 28th have his wife boil it in saleratus water. He took the of August, 1847. Here we give the names of the men who were working at the mill : Peter L. Weimer, William Scott, James Bargee, Alexander Stephens, James Brown, William Johnson and Henry Bigler.
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HISTORY OF EL DORADO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
fore. The manner in which the mineral had stood the test convinced them of its valuable properties, whereupon Marshall, who had collected between the time two or three ounces of the precious metal, was prevailed upon to mount the mule and start for Sutter's fort to make the final test.
The following from the " Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman " will give the reader an idea that Marshall was far more excited than he would make believe:
"Captain Sutter himself related to me Marshall's account, saying, that as he sat in his room at the fort one day in February or March, 1848, a knock was heard at the door, and he called out, 'come in.' In walked Marshall, who was a half crazy man at best, but then looked strangely wild. 'What is the matter, Marshall?" Marshall inquired if any one was in hearing, and began to peer around the room and look under the bed, when Sutter fearing that some calamity had befallen the party up at the sawmill, and that Marshall was really crazy, demanding of Marshall to explain what was the matter. At last he revealed his discovery and laid before Captain Sutter the pellicles of gold he had picked up in the ditch. At first Sut- ter attached little or no importance to the discovery, and told Marshall to go back to the mill, and say nothing of what he had seen, to his family or any oneelse.
" Yet, as it might add value to the location, he dis- patched to our headquarters at Monterey-as before related-the two men with a written application for a pre-emption to the quarter section of land at Coloma."
Captain John A. Sutter's diary, kept by himself, gives on the same subject the highly interesting facts to be seen out of the following extracts :
"January 28th, 1848, Marshall arrived in the even- ing, it was raining very heavy, but he told me that he came on important business; after we were alone in a private room he showed me the first specimen of gold, that is he was not certain if it was gold or not, but he thought it might be ; immediately I made the proof and found that it was gold. I told him even that most of all is 23 carat gold. He wished that I should come up with him immediately, but I told him that I have to give first my orders to the people in all my factories and shops.
"February Ist -- Left for the saw-mill attended by a vaquero (Olympio.) Was absent 2d, 3d, 4th and 5th. 1 examined myself everything and picked up a few specimens of gold myself in the tailrace of the saw- mill. This gold and others which Marshall gave to me, (it was found while in my employ and wages), I told them I would a ring got made of it so soon as the goldsmith would be here. I had a talk with my employed people all at the saw-mill, I told them that as they do now know that this metal is gold, I wished
that they would do me the great favor and keep it secret for six weeks, because my large flour-mill at Brighton would have been in operation in such a time, which undertaking would have been a fortune to me, and unfortunately the people would not keep it secret, and so I lost on this mill at the lowest calculation about $25,000."
While on this visit to Coloma Captain Sutter, with Marshall, assembled the Indians and bought of them a large tract of land about Coloma in exchange for a lot of beads and a few cotton handkerchiefs. They, under color of this Indian title, required one-third of all the gold dug on their domain, and collected at this rate until the fall of 1848, when a mining party from Oregon declined to pay " tithes," as they called it.
Mr. John Hittell, in his "Mining in the Pacific States," presents the following not enough known facts, on the great discovery :
" Marshall was a man of an active, enthusiastic mind, and he at once attached great importance to his discovery. His ideas, however, were vague ; he knew nothing about gold-mining-he didn't know how to take advantage of what he had found. Only an ex- perienced gold-miner could understand the importance of the discovery, and make it of practical value to all the world. That gold-miner, fortunately, was near at hand ; his name was Isaac Humphrey. He was re- siding in the town of San Francisco, in the month of February, when a Mr. Bennett, one of the party em- ployed at Marshall's mill, went down to that place with some of the dust to have it tested ; for it was still a matter of doubt whether the yellow metal really was gold. Bennett told his errand to a friend whom he had met in San Francisco, and this friend introduced him to Humphrey, who had been a gold-miner in Georgia, and was therefore competent to pass an opin- ion upon the stuff. Humphrey looked at the dust, pro nounced it gold at the first glance, and expressed a belief that the digging must be rich. He made in- quiries about the place where the gold was found, and subsequent inquiries about the trustworthiness of Mr. Bennett, and on the 7th of March, we find him at the mill. He had tried to induce several of his friends in San Francisco to go with him ; but all thought his expedition a foolish one, and he had to go alone. At the mill he found that there was some talk about gold and persons would go about looking for pieces of it, but no one was engaged in mining and the work of the mill was going on as usual. On the 8th he went out prospecting with a pan, and satis- fied himself that the country in that vicinity was rich in gold. He then made a rocker and commenced the business of washing gold; and thus began the busi- ness of mining in California.
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DISCOVERY OF GOLD.
" Others saw how he did it, followed his example. found that the work was profitable, and abandoned all other occupations. The news of their success spread, people flocked to the place, learned how to use the rocker, discovered new diggings, and in the course of a few months, the country had been overturned by a social and industrial revolution."
Mr. Humphrey had not been at work more than a few days before Baptiste Ruelle, who had discovered gold at San Fernando mission, near Los Angeles, came to the mill and joined Humphrey in the work of the mines.
But Marshall anxiously guarding his supposed treas- ure-after most all laborers had left their work -- threatened to shoot everybody attempting to dig and gather the gold on his and Sutter's claim; but these men had sense enough to know, or found it out, that if placer gold was found at Coloma, it would also ex- ist further down, and they gradually prospected further on, until they reached what is now known as Mormon Island, fifteen miles below, where they discovered the richest placers on earth. - Henderson, Sydney Wil- lis and - Fifield, Mormons, were the first miners at Mormon Island. The Mormons employed by Sutter in the erection of a grist-mill at Brighton, getting the news of their brethren's result struck for higher wages, to which Sutter yielded, until they asked ten dollars a day, which he refused, and the two mills on which he had spent so much money were never built and fell into decay ; but all the hands went to join the miners at Mormon Island, thus giving the place the name.
The California press, consisting of the Star and Californian, both published in San Francisco, did not mention the discovery till some weeks after the event. It is hard to believe that they did not hear of it, and we have to suppose that either distrust in the news or lack of enterprise caused the neglect. The first published notice of the gold discovery appeared in the Californian on the 15th of March, nearly two months after it took place. We give it here :
GOLD MINE FOUND .- In the newly-made raceway of the sawmill recently erected by Captain Sutter, on the American fork, gold has been found in consider- able quantities. One person brought thirty dollars' worth to New Helvetia, gathered there in a short time. California, no doubt, is rich in mineral wealth ; great chances here for scientific capitalists. Gold has been found in almost every part of the country."
The following brief allusion appeared in Sam. Brannan's paper, the Star, three days after:
"We were informed a few days since, that a very valuable silver mine was situated in the vicinity of this place, and again, that its locality is known. Mines of quicksilver are being found all over the
country. Gold has been discovered in the northern Sacramento District, about forty miles from Sutter's fort. Rich mines of copper are said to exist north of these bays."
The Star of March 25th, announces the quantity of gold taken from the new mines so great that it had become an article of traffic at New Helvetia.
The Californian of April 26th, says :
"GOLD MINES OF THE SACRAMENTO .- From a gentlemen just from the gold region, we learn that many new discoveries have very recently been made, and it is fully ascertained that a large extent of coun- try abounds with that precious mineral. Seven men, with picks and spades, gathered nine thousand six hundred dollars within fifteen days. Many persons are settling on the lands with the view of holding pre-emptions, but as yet every person takes the right to gather all he can, without any regard to claims. The largest piece yet found is worth six dollars."
The Star of April 1, 1848, writes :
" It would be utterly impossible at present to make correct estimate of the mineral wealth of California. Popular attention has been but lately directed to it. But the discoveries that have already been made will warrant us in the assertion that California is one of the richest mineral countries in the world. Gold, silver, quicksilver, iron, copper, lead, sulphur, salt- peter and other mines of great value have already been found."
Other articles containing description of process and implements of gold mining, and the result of the dis- covery followed.
The discovery of gold at Coloma was almost a signal throughout the country, and soon it was answered by the finding of gold on many other streams. The cir- cumstances accompanying the first gold mining on the Calaveras, Mokelumne, Stanislaus, Yuba, Feather, Trinity, Klamath and Scott rivers, which with the American, form the principal streams along which mining has been carried on, are of historical interest.
Don Andreas Pico, brother of ex-Governor Pio Pico, organized a company of Mexican miners, chiefly Sonorans, in the spring of 1848, for the purpose of a prospecting tour through the Sierras, to test the extent of Marshall's discovery of gold. The company thus organized under the leadership of Don Andreas pro- ceeded north to the Yuba river, and from thence south to the Stanislaus river, traveling and superficially prospecting all the since celebrated central mineral belt known to the world as California's richest placer dig- gings. This company, however, did not make any final location, but only stopped a short while at most places.
Captain Charles M. Weber, of Tuleburg (Stockton),
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HISTORY OF EL DORADO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
fitted out another prospecting party, of which a num- ber were Si-yak-um-na Indians, and undertook the ex- ploration of the mountains north of the Stanislaus river. This party, composed of inexperienced miners, likewise proceeded north from the Stanislaus river, but came nearer making a failure than a success, until the Mokelumne river was reached. By more deliber- erately searching here, the first gold was found in the region of country afterwards known as the "Southern mines," so called to distinguish them from the mines more easily to be approached from Sacramento. Prospecting further on brought to light, that gold was to be found in every stream and gulch between the Mokelumne and American rivers; but no location was made until reaching the divide of the latter stream, where they commenced work in earnest on what is since known as Weber creek. As soon as the Indians accompanying the expedition had learned how to prospect, Captain Weber sent them back to their chief Jose Jesus, the Captain's friend, with in- structions to prospect the Stanislaus and neighboring rivers for gold and report the results to the Major Domo at Tuleburgh. Not a long time after the captain was informed with the exciting news that his Indians had found gold in quantities everywhere between the Calaveras and Stanislaus rivers. He immediately re- turned home, fitted out the Stockton Mining Company, and inaugurated the working of those afterward famous mines: Murphy's Camp, Sullivan's Diggings, Sanso- vina Bar, Woods Creek and Angel's Camp all derived their names from members of that pioneer company.
The discoverer of gold on the celebrated Yuba river was Jonas Spect, who on the 24th of April, 1848, encamped at Knight's Landing, on the Sacra- mento river, on his way from San Francisco to John- son's ranch to join a party being made up for an over- land journey to the States. He, like every one, sup- posed gold was confined to the Coloma basin, went there first, started from here north to Johnson's ranch, prospected without any success on Bear river, and after that on Yuba river, tried at Long Bar and Rose Bar with very little success; and, nearly discouraged, took a last chance on the Yuba a little above Tim- buctoo ravine, where he struck gold in paying quan. tities.
Major Pearson B. Reding, the old trapper and pio- neer Californian, now being at Reading's ranch, Butte county, has to be looked to as the first discoverer of gold in the northern region of the State; with an or- ganized party of thirty men and one hundred head of horses, he had started from Sutter's fort in the spring of 1845, for the purpose of trapping the waters of the upper California and Oregon; and after having been successful in this, returned to his starting place late
in the fall. Crossing the Coast Range mountains at the head of Middle Cottonwood creek in July, 1848, on another trip, he struck the Trinity river on what is now called Reading's Bar, prospected for a few days. and found the bars rich in gold. This result caused him to return home on Cottonwood, where he fitted out an expedition for mining purposes.
The following interesting passages are from "Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman," giving the most accurate explanation how the highest official au- thorities of the United States in the Territory of Cal- ifornia got the first news of the discovery of gold, their inspection trip, and the forwarding of the news to Washington; by the way, showing the difficult communication between California and the Atlantic States before the golden era opened up the routes :
" I remember one day in the spring of 1848, that two men, Americans, came into the office of Colonel R. B. Mason, the military commander and ex-officio governor, stationed at Monterey, and inquired for the governor. I asked their business, and one answered that they had just come down from Captain Sutter's on special business, and they wanted to see the gov- ernor in person. I took them in to the colonel, and left them together. After some time the colonel came to his door and called to me. I went in, and my at- tention was called to a series of papers unfolded on his table in which lay about half an ounce of placer gold. Mason said to me : " What is that ?" I touched it and examined one or two of the larger pieces, and asked : "Is it gold?" Mason asked if ever I had seen native gold. I answered that in 1844, I was in Upper Georgia, and there saw some native gold, but it was much finer than this, but I made the proposi- tion to test it by its maleability first, and next by acids. I took a piece in my teeth, and the metallic lustre was perfect. I then called to the clerk, Baden, to bring an axe and a hatchet. When these were brought, I took the largest piece and beat it out flat and beyond doubt it was metal, and a pure metal. Still, we attached little importance to the fact, for gold was known to exist at San Fernando, at the south, and yet was not considered of much value.
"Colonel Mason then handed me a letter from Cap- tain Sutter, addressed to him, stating that he (Sutter) was engaged in erecting a saw-mill at Coloma, about forty miles up the American Fork above his fort, New Helvetia, for the general benefit of the settlers in that section ; that he had incurred considerable expense, and wanted a " pre-emption " on the quarter section of land on which the mill was located, embracing the tail-race in which this particular gold had been found. Mason instructed me to prepare a letter, in answer, for his signature. I wrote off a letter, reciting Cali-
RESIDENCE OF HENRY WULFF WULFF'S RANCH .WHITEOAK Te, ELDORADO, CO. CAL.
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DISCOVERY OF GOLD).
fornia was yet a Mexican province, simply held by us adobe house east of the fort, known as the " Hos- pital." The fort, itself, was of adobe walls, about twenty feet high, rectangular in form, with two-story block-houses at diagonal corners. The entrance was by a large gate, open by day and closed by night, with two iron ship's guns near at hand. Inside there was a large house, with a good shingle roof, used as a store as a conquest ; that no laws of the United States yet applied to it, much less the land laws, or the pre-emp- tion laws, which could only apply after a public survey. Therefore it was impossible for the gov- erner to promise him a title to the land ; yet as there were no settlements within 40 miles, he was not likely to be disturbed by trespassers. Colonel Mason signed house, and all around the wall were ranged rooms, the the letter, handed it to one of the gentlemen, who had brought the sample of gold, and they departed.
"Toward the close of June, 1848, the gold fever being at its height, by Colonel Mason's orders, I made preparations for his trip to the newly discovered gold mines at Sutter's Fort. I selected four good soldiers, with Aaron, Colonel Mason's black servant, and a good outfit of horses and pack animals ; we started by the usually traveled route for Yerba Buena (San Fran- cisco). There Captain Folsom and two other citizens joined our party. The first difficulty was to cross the bay to Saucelito. Folsom, as quarter-master, had a sort of scow with a large sail, and by means of her and infinite labor we managed to get the load of horses, etc., safely crossed to Saucelito. We followed in a more comfortable schooner. Having safely landed our horses and mules we packed up and rode to San Rafael mission, stopping with Don Timateo Murphy. The next day's journey took us to Bodega, where a man by the name of Stephen Smith lived, who had the only steam saw-mill in California. We spent a day very pleasantly with him, and learned that he had come to the country some years before, at the personal advice of Daniel Webster, who had informed him, that sooner or later the United States would be in pos- session of California, and that in consequence it would become a great country. From Bodega we traveled to Sonoma, and spent a day with General Vallejo. From Sonoma by the way of Napa, Suisun and Vaca's ranch, crossing the tules, we reached the Sacramento river opposite to Sutter's embarcadero. The only means of crossing over was by an Indian dugout canoe. After all things and persons were safely crossed, the horses were driven into the water, one being guided ahead by a man in the canoe. Of course, the animals at first refused to take to the water, and it was nearly a day's work to get them across ; and even then, the trouble was not over, some of the animals escaped in the woods and thick undergrowth that lined the river, but we secured enough to reach Fort Sutter, three miles back from the embarcadero; where we encamped at the slough or pond near the fort. On application, Captain Sutter sent some Indians back into the bushes, who recovered and brought back all our animals.
" At that time there was not the sign of a habitation there or thereabouts, except the fort, and an old
fort-wall being the outer-wall of the house. The inner- wall, also, was of adobe. These rooms were used by Captain Sutter himself, and by his people ; he had a blacksmith's shop, a carpenter's shop, etc., and other rooms where the women made blankets. He had horses, cattle and sheep, and of those he gave liber- ally and without price to all in need. He caused to be driven into our camp a beef and some sheep, which were slaughtered for our use.
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