History of California, Volume VI, Part 10

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe
Publication date: 1885-1890
Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : The History Company, publishers
Number of Pages: 816

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13 Jones writes in Nov. 1848 that miners often sold an ounce of gold for a sil- ver dollar. It had been bought of Indians for 50 cents. Revere's Tour of

AT THE MINES.

lowering the price, at least in the early part of the season. They had no idea of the value of gold, and would freely exchange it for almost anything that caught their fancy. Although honest enough in dealings among themselves, the miners did not scruple to cheat the natives,14 the latter meanwhile thinking they had outwitted the white man. Presently, how- ever, with growing experience, they began to insist upon a scale of fixed prices, whereupon the trader quoted prices of cotton cloth or calico at twenty dollars a yard, plain white blankets at six ounces, sarapes from twenty to thirty ounces each, beads equal weight in gold, handkerchiefs and sashes two ounces each. Care was moreover taken to arrange scales and weights especially for trade with the sav- ages. To balance with gold the great slugs of lead, which represented a 'digger ounce,' the savages re- garded as fair dealing, and would pile on the precious dust until the scales exactly balanced, using every precaution to give no more than the precise weight. The scales usually employed, often improvised, were far from reliable; but a handful of gold-dust more or less in those days was a matter of no great moment.15

The inflowing miners arrived as a rule well sup- plied with provisions and other requirements, but they had not counted fully on wear and tear, length of stay, and accidents. As a consequence, they nearly all came to want at the same time toward the close of the sea-

Duty, 254. Carson says that gold was worth but $6 per ounce in the mines. Early Recollections, 14. Buffum says from 86 to SS. Six Months, 96; Dally that it could not be sold for more than $8 or $9. Narrative, MS., 53; Swan says $4 to $S. Trip to the Gold Mines Birnie bought a quantity of dust at $4 per oz. in Mexican coin. Biog. in Pioneer Soc. Arch., MS., 93-4.

1+ We hear of ragged blankets and the like selling for their weight, 2 lbs, 3 oz. of dust being given for one. Buffum's Six Months, 93-4, 126-9; Coronel, Cosas de Cal., MS., 142-3; Fernandez, Cosas de Cal., MS., 175, 178; Tulare Times, Sept. 19, 1874.

15 Carson's Early Recollections, 35-6. Green relates that on the Tulare plains he sold his cart and pair of oxen to a Frenchman for $600. The gold was weighed by the Frenchman with improvised scales. Green fancied the French- man was getting the better of him, but said nothing. On reaching Sutter's Fort he weighed the gold again and found it worth $2,000. Life and Adven- tures, MS., 17. A somewhat fanciful story.

ALONG THE ROAD AGAIN.

son, and the supply and means of transportation being unequal to the demand, prices rose accordingly.16 It did not take men long to adapt themselves to the new measurements of money; nor could it be called extrav- agance when a man would pay $300 for a horse worth $6 a month before, ride it to the next camp, turn it loose and buy another when he wanted one, provided he could scrape from the ground the cost of an animal more easily than he could take care of one for a week or two. Extravagance is spending much when one has little. Gold was too plentiful, too easily obtained, to allow a little of it to stand in the way of what one wanted. It was cheap. Perhaps there were mounains of it near by, in which case six barrels of it might be easily given for one barrel of meal.

And thus it was that all along this five hundred miles of foothills, daily and hourly through this and the following years, went up the wild cry of exultation mingled with groans of despair. For even now the unfortunate largely outnumbered the successful. It may seem strange that so many at such a time, and at this occupation above all others, should consent to work for wages; but though little capital save a stock of bread was required to work in the mines, some had lost all, and had not even that. Then the excitement and pressure of eager hope and restless labor told upon the constitution no less than the hard and unaccus- tomed task under a broiling sun in moist ground, per- haps knee-deep in water, and with poor shelter during the night, sleeping often on the bare ground. The result was wide-spread sickness, notably fevers and

16 Sales are reported, for example, flour $800 a bbl; sugar, coffee, and pork, $400; a pick, shovel, tin pan, pair of boots, blanket, a gallon of whis- key, and 500 other things, $100 each. Eggs were $3 each; drugs were $1 a drop; pills, $1 each; doctor's visit, $100, or $50, or nothing; cook's wages, $25 a day; hire of wagon and team, $50 a day; hire of rocker, $150 a day. If there happened to be an overstock in one place, which was not often the case during this year, prices were low accordingly. Any price, almost, would be paid for an article that was wanted, and nothing for what was not wanted. A Coloma store-keeper's bill in Dec. 1848 runs thus: 1 box sardines, $16; 1 1b. hard bread, $2; 1 1b. butter, $6; 2 1b. cheese, $3; 2 bottles ale, $16; total, $43; and this for not a very elaborate luncheon for two persons.

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dysentery, and also scurvy, owing to the lack of vegetables.17

The different exploitations resulted in the establish- ment of several permanent camps, marked during this year by rude shanties, or at best by log huts, for stores, hotels, and drinking-saloons. Some of them surpassed in size and population Sutter's hitherto sol- itary fortress, yet this post maintained its precmi- nence as an entrepôt for trade and point of distribution, at least for the northern and central mining fields, and a number of houses were rising to increase its im- portance. On the river were several craft beating up with passengers and goods, or unlading at the landing. The ferry, now sporting a respectable barge, was in constant operation, and along the roads were rolling freight trains under the lash and oaths of frantic teamsters, stirring thick clouds of incandescent dust into the hot air. Parties of horsemen, with heavy packs on their saddles, moved along slowly enough, yet faster than the tented ox-carts or mule- wagons with their similar burdens. A still larger proportion was foot-sore wanderers trudging along under their roll of blankets, which enclosed a few supplies of flour, bacon, and coffee, a little tobacco and whiskey, perhaps some ammunition, and, sus- pended to the straps, a frying-pan of manifold utility, the indispensable pick and shovel, tin pan and cup, occasionally a gun, and at the belt a pair of pistols and a dirk. Up the steep hills and over the parched plains, toiling on beneath a broiling sun, such a load became a heavy burden ere nightfall.

Within the fort all was bustle with the throng of coming and going traffickers and miners, mostly rough, stalwart, bronze-faced men in red and blue woollen shirts, some in deerskin suits, or in oiled-skin and fishermen's boots, some in sombrero, Mexican sash, and spurs, loaded with purchases or bearing enticingly

17 Buffum was attacked, but found a remedy in some bean-sprouts which had sprung up from an accidental spill.

THE COMING WINTER.

plethoric pouches in striking contrast to their fre- quently ragged, unkempt, and woe-begone appear- ance. Hardly less numerous, though less conspicuous, were the happy aboriginals, arrayed in civilization's cotton shirts, some with duck trousers, squatting in groups and eagerly discussing the yellow hand- kerchiefs, red blankets, and bad muskets just secured by a little of this so lately worthless stuff which had been lying in their streams with the other dirt these past thousand years.

Every storehouse and shed was crammed with mer- chandise; provisions, hardware and dry goods, whis- key and tobacco, and a hundred other things heaped in indiscriminate confusion. The dwelling of the hospitable proprietor, who had a word for everybody, and was held in the highest respect, was crowded with visitors, and presented the appearance of a hotel rather than private quarters. The guard-house, now deserted by its Indian soldiers, and most of the build- ings had been rented to traders and hotel-keepers,18 who drove a rushing business, the sales of one store from May 1st to July 10th reaching more than $30,- 000.19 The workshops were busy as ever, for the places of deserting artisans could be instantly filled from passers-by in temporary need.

In October the heavy rains and growing cold ren- dered mining difficult, and in many directions impos- sible. The steady tide of migration now turned toward the coast. Yet a large number remained, 800 wintering at the Dry Diggings alone, and a large number on the Yuba, working most of the time, for the mines were yielding five ounces a day. Efforts proved remunerative also in many other places.20

18 A two-story house at $500 a month; rooms for $100.

-9 Sterling's company wrote Larkin not to delay in forwarding stock, for from 50 to 500 per cent could be made on everything. There were no fixed rates.

20 Hayes' Cal. Mining, i. 50; Burnett's Rec., MS., 369-70; Buffum's Six Months, 52; Cal. Star, Dec. 12, 1848; Yuba Co. Hist., 37; Hall's Hist. S. José, 172-3.

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The more prudent devoted a little time to erecting log cabins, and otherwise making themselves comfortable; but many who could not resist the fascinations of gold-hunting, and attempted, in ill-provided and cloth and brushwood shanties, to brave the inclemency of winter, suffered severely. From the beginning of October till the end of the rainy season men, disap- pointed and sick, kept coming down to San Francisco, cursing the country and their hard fate.21 Indeed, there were not many among the returning crowd, rich or poor, who could present a respectable appearance. They were a ragged, sun-burned lot, grimy and be- spotted, with unshorn beards and long, tangled hair; some shoeless, with their feet blistered and bandaged. Many were now content to return home and enjoy their good fortune, but many more remained to squan- der their earnings during the winter, to begin the spring where they began the last one; yet as a body, the men of 1848 profited more by their gains than the men who came after them.22

21 There was greater mortality at the end of 1848 than ever before, says Grimshaw, Narr., MS., 15.

22 Among the noted visitors at the mines, upon whose testimony the last chapters are to a great extent based, I would first mention J. H. Carson, the discoverer of Carson Creek, as he subscribed himself in the title-page of his book, Early Recollections of the Mines, and a Description of the Great Tulare Talley, a small octavo of 64 pp., printed at Stockton in 1852, to accompany the steamer edition of the San Joaquin Republican. It is significant, cer- tainly, of newspaper enterprise, when a country journal conld print so im- portant and expensive an accompaniment to its regular issne. It ranks also as the first book issued at Stockton. Note also the dedication: 'To the Hon. A. Randall, of Monterey, Cal., Professor of Geology and Botany, who has spared neither energy nor expense in the Historical Researches of Cal- ifornia, this humble work is most respectfully dedicated by his obliged and obedient servant, The Author.' Let not his name perish. Mr Carson has made a very good book, an exceedingly valnable book. He sees well, thinks well, and writes well, though with some coloring. Already in 1852 he begins to talk with affection 'of the good old times, now past, when each day was big with the wonders and discoveries of rich diggings.' The first 16 pages are devoted to a description of the mines; then follow some very good anecdotes and sketches; the whole concluding with a description of the Tulare Valley. Carson, a sergeant in the N. Y. reg., was residing at Monterey in the spring of 1848, when he was seized with this new western dance of St Vitus, and was carried on an old mule to the gold-diggings. He began work at Mormon Island by annihilating earth in his wash-basin, standing up to his knees in water, slashing and splashing as if resolving the universe to its original elements. Fifty pans of dirt thus pulverized gave the fevered pilgrim but fifty cents; whereupon a deep disgust filled his soul, and immediately with

HOW SOME WERE AFFECTED.

Obviously the effect for good and evil of finding gold was first felt by those nearest the point of dis-

the departure of his malady the man departed. On passing through Weber's Indian trading camp, however, he saw such heaps of glittering gold as brought the ague on again more violent than ever, resulting in a prolonged stay at Kelsey's and Hangtown. Instead of fortune, however, came sickness, which drove him away to other pursuits, and brought him to the grave at Stockton in April 1853, shortly after his election to the legislature. His widow and daughter arrived from the east a month later, and being destitute, were assisted to return by a generous subscription.

Another member of the same regiment, Henry I. Simpson, who started the 18th of Aug., 1848, from Monterey to the mines, wrote a book chiefly remarkable from its publication in New York, in 1848, describing a trip to the mines which could not have been concluded much more than three months before that time. It was not impossible, though it was quick work, if true, and we will not place Mr Simpson, or his publishers, Joyce & Company, under suspicion unless we find them clearly guilty. The title is a long one for so thin a book, a pamphlet of thirty octavo pages, and somewhat preten- tions, as the result of only three weeks' observation; but Mr Simpson is not the only one who has attempted to enlighten the world respecting this region after a ten or twenty days' ride through it, and to tell more of the country than the inhabitants had ever known, thinking that because things were new to themselves they were new to everybody. Such personages are your Todds and Richardsons, your Grace Greenwoods, Pfeifers, Mary Cones, and fifty others who cover their ignorance by brilliant flashes that gleam before the simple as superior knowledge. Nevertheless, I will be charitable, and print this title, which, indeed, gives more information than any other part of the book. It reads: The Emigrant's Guide to the Gold Mines. Three Weeks in the Gold Mines, or Adventures with the Gold-Diggers of California, in August, 1848, together with Advice to Emigrants, with full Instructions upon the best Methods of Getting There, Liring, Expenses, etc., etc., and a Complete Description of the Country. With a Map and Illustrations. And such a inap, and such illustrations! I should say that the draughtsman had taken the chart of Cortes, or Vizcaino, thrown in some modern names, and daubed yellow a strip north of San Francisco Bay to represent the gold-fields. In- deed, there is very little of California about this map. The price of the book with the map was 25 cents; without the map, 123 cents. It is to be hoped that purchasers took it in the latter form, for the less they had of it the wiser they would be. As for illustrations, there are just four, whose only merit is their badness. Fourteen pages of the work are devoted to the nar- rative of a trip to the mines; uine pages to a description of the country and its inhabitants; the remainder being occupied by advice to emigrants con- cerning outfit and ways to reach the country. Mr Simpson's ideas are rambling and inflated, and his pictures of the country more gaudy than gorgeous. He certainly tells large stories-Bigler says wrong stories-of river-beds paved with gold to the thickness of a hand, of $20,000 or $50,000 worth picked ont almost in a moment, and so forth; but he printed a book on California gold in the year of its discovery, and this atones for many defects. Had all done as well as this soldier-adventurer, we should not lack material for the history of California.

J. Tyrwhitt Brooks, an English physician lately from Oregon, started in May 1848 from S. F. for the gold-field, with a well-equipped party of five. After a fairly successful digging at Mormon Island they moved to Weber Creek, and thence to Bear River, where, despite Indian hostility, 115 pounds of gold were obtained, the greater part of which, however, was destined to fall into the hands of highwaymen. The scenes and experiences of the trip Brooks recorded in a diary, which, forwarded to his brother in London, was there pub- lished under title of Four Months amony the Gold-Finders in Alta California ..

HIST. CAL., VOL. VI. 7

AT THE MINES.

covery. Upon the discoverer himself, in whose mind so suddenly arose visions of wealth and influence, it

two editions appearing in London in 1849, and one in America, followed by a translation at Paris. A map accompanies the English edition, with a yellow and dotted line round the gold district then extending from ' R. d L. Muke- lemnes' to Bear River. The book is well written, and the author's observa- tions are such as command respect.

After many sermons preached against money as the root of all evil, and after lamenting fervently the present dispensation for depriving him of his servant, temptation also seized upon the Rev. Walter Colton, at the time acting alcalde at Monterey, and formerly chaplain on board the U. S. ship Congress. With ive companions, including Lt Simmons, Wilkinson, son of a former U. S. minister to Russia, and Marcy, son of him who was once sec. of war, he started for the diggings in Sept. 1848, freighting a wagon with cooking utensils, mining tools, and articles for Indian traffic. He passed through the Livermore gap to the Stanislaus, meeting on the way a ragged but richly laden party, whose display of wealth gave activity to his movements. Two months saw him back again, rich in experience if not in gold, and primed with additional material for his Three Years in California, a book published in New York in 1850, and covering the prominent incidents coming under his observation during the important days between the summer of 1846 and the summer of 1849. Cal. life in mines and settlements, and among the Spanish race, receives special attention, in a manner well calculated to bring ont quaint and characteristic features. Appearing as it did while the gold fever was still raging, the work received much attention, and passed quickly through several editions, later under the changed title, Land of Gold. It also assisted into notice his Deck and Fort, a diary like the preceding, issned the same year, and reaching the third edition, which treats of scenes and incidents during the voyage to Cal. in 1845, and constitutes a prelude to the other book. While the popularity of both rests mainly npon the time and topic, yet it owes much to the style, for Colton is a genial writer, jocose, with an easy, careless flow of language, but inclines to the exuberant, and is less exact in the use of words than we should expect from a professed dealer in unadulterated truth, natural and supernatural.

Six Months in the Gold Mines; being a Journal of Three Years' Residence in Upper and Lower California, 1847-0, is a small octavo of 172 pages by E. Gould Buffum, sometime lieut in the first reg., N. Y. Volunteers, and before that connected with the N. Y. press. It was published while the author re- mained in Cal., and constitutes one of the most important printed contribu- tions to the history of Cal., no less by reason of the scarcity of material concerning the period it covers, 1848-9, than on account of the ability of the author For he was an educated man, remarkably free from prejudice, a close observer, and possessing sound judgment. He is careful in his statements, conscientious, not given to exaggeration, and his words and ways are such as inspire confidence. The publishers' notice is dated May 1850. The author's introduction is dated at S. F. Jan. 1, 1850. Hence his book cannot treat of events happening later than 1849. First is given his visit to the mines, nota- bly on the Bear, Yuba, and American rivers, with the attendant experiences and observations. Then follow a description of the gold region, the possibil- ities of the country in his opinion, movements toward government, descrip- tions of old and new towns, and a dissertation on Lower Cal. The style is pleasant-simple, terse, strong, yet graceful, and with no egoism or affecta- tions.

No less valuable than the preceding for the present subject are a number of manuscript journals and memoirs by pioneers, recording their personal ex- periences of matters connected with the mines, trade, and other features of early Cal. periods. Most of them are referred to elsewhere, and I need here only instance two or three. A. F. Coronel, subsequently mayor of Los An-

SUTTER AND MARSHALL.

fell like the gold of Nibelungen, in the Edda, which brought nothing but ill luck to the possessor. And to Sutter, his partner, being a greater man, it proved a greater curse. Yet this result was almost wholly the fault of the man, not of the event. What might have been is not my province to discuss; what was and is alone remain for me to relate. We all think that of the opportunity given these men we should have made better use; doubtless it is true. They were simple backwoods people; we have knocked our heads against each other until they have become hard; our tongues are sharpened by lying, and our brains made subtle by much cheating. Sutter and Marshall, though naturally no more honest than other men, were less astute and calculating; and while the former had often met trick with trick, it was against less skilled players than those now entering the game. In their intercourse with the outside world, although

geles, and a prominent Californian, made a trip to the Stanislaus and found rich deposits, as related in his Cosas de Cal., a volume of 265 pp., which forms one of the best narratives, especially of happenings before the conquest. One of his fellow-miners in 1848 was Agustin Janssens, a Frenchman, who came to Cal. in 1834 as one of the colonists of that year. He left his rancho at Santa Inés in Sept. 1848, with several Indian servants, and remained at the Stanislaus till late in Dec. In his Vida y Aventuras en California de Don Agustin Janssens vecino de Santa Bárbara, Dictadas por él mismo á Thomas Savage, MS., 1878, he shows the beginning of the race aggressions from which the Latins were subsequently to suffer severely. Besides several hundred of such dictations in separate and voluminous form, I have minor accounts in letter and reports, bound with historic collections, such as Larkin, Docs, MS., i .- ix .; Doc. Hist. Cal., MS., i .- iv .; Vallejo, Docs, MS., i .- xxxvi. passim. Instance the observations of Charles B. Sterling and James Williams, both in the service of Larkin, and who mined and traded on the south and north branches of the American, with some success. The official report of Thomas O. Larkin to the sec. of state of June 28, 1848, was based on a personal visit to the central mining region early in that month. So was that of Col R. B. Mason, who left Monterey June 17th, attended by W. T. Sherman and Quar- termaster Folsom, escorted by four soldiers. By way of Sonoma they reached Sutter's Fort, where the 4th of July was duly celebrated, and thence moved up the south branch of the American River to Weber Creek. Mason was summoned back to Monterey from this point, but had seen enough to enable him to write the famous report of Aug. 17th to the adj .- gen. at Washington, which started the gold fever abroad. A later visit during the autumn ex- tended to the Stanislaus and Sonora diggings. Folsom also made a report, but gave little new information. He attempted to furnish the world, through Gen. Jesup, with a history and description of the country, in which effort he attained no signal success. He did not like the climate; he did not like the mines. Yet he was gracious enough to say, 'I went to them in the most sceptical frame of mind, and came away a believer.'

100

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they were adventurers, they proved themselves little better than children, and as such they were grossly misused by the gold-thirsting rabble brought down upon them by their discovery.

Marshall and Sutter kept the Mormons at work on the saw-mill as best they were able, until it was com- pleted and in operation, which was on the 11th of March. The Mormons merited and received the ac- knowledgments of their employers for faithfulness in holding to their agreements midst constantly increas- ing temptations. Both employers engaged also in mining, especially near the mill, claiming a right to the ground about it, which claim at first was gener- ally respected. With the aid of their Indians they took out a quantity of gold; but this was quickly lost; and more was found and lost. Sutter mined else- where with Indians and Kanakas, and claims never to have derived any profit from these efforts. The mill could not be made to pay. Several issues before long arose between Marshall and the miners regarding their respective rights and the treatment of the natives.

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History of California, Volume VI, Part 10

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe Publication date: 1885-1890 Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : The History Company, publishers Number of Pages: 816

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe
Publication date: 1885-1890
Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : The History Company, publishers
Number of Pages: 816