History of Contra Costa County, California; with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 6

Author: Munro-Fraser, J. P
Publication date: 1926
Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif. : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1118

USA > California > Contra Costa County > History of Contra Costa County, California; with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 6

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Colonel Warner says: "The news of this discovery soon spread among the inhabitants from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles, and in a few weeks hundreds of people were engaged in washing and winnowing the sands of these gold fields."

Warner visited the mines a few weeks after their discovery. He says : "From these mines was obtained the first parcel of California gold dust received at the United States mint in Philadelphia, and which was sent with Alfred Robinson, and went in a merchant ship around Cape Horn." This shipment of gold was 18.34 ounces before and 18.1 ounces after melting; fineness .925 ; value, $344.75, or over $19 to the ounce, a very superior quality of gold dust. It was deposited in the mint July 8, 1843.

It may be regarded as a settled historical fact that the first authenti- cated discovery of gold in Alta California was made on the San Fran- cisco rancho in the San Felicano Canon, Los Angeles County. This canon is about ten miles northwest of Newhall Station on the Southern Pacific Railroad, and about forty miles northwest of Los Angeles.

It is impossible to obtain definite information in regard to the yield of the San Fernando placers, as these mines are generally called. William

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Heath Davis, in his "Sixty Years in California," states that from $80,000 to $100,000 was taken out for the first two years after their discovery. He says that Mellus at one time shipped $5000 of dust on the ship Alert. Bancroft says: "By December, 1843, two thousand ounces of gold had been taken from the San Fernando mines." Don Antonio Coronel stated that with the assistance of three Indian laborers, in 1842, he took out $600 worth of dust in two months. De Mofras, in his book, states that Carlos Baric, a Frenchman, in 1842, was obtaining an ounce a day of pure gold from his placer.

These mines were worked continuously from the time of their dis- covery until the American conquest, principally by Sonorans. The dis- covery of gold at Coloma, January 24, 1848, drew away the miners, and no work was done on these mines between 1848 and 1854. After the latter dates work was resumed, and in 1855, Francisco Garcia, working a gang of Indians, is reported to have taken out $65,000 in one season. The mines are not exhausted, but the scarcity of water prevents working them profitably.

It is rather a singular coincidence that the exact dates of both the first and second authenticated discoveries of gold in California are still among the undecided questions of history. In the first, we know the day but not the year ; in the second, we know the year but not the day of the month on which Marshall picked up the first nuggets in the millrace at Coloma. For a number of years after the anniversary of Marshall's discovery be- gan to be observed, the 19th of January was celebrated. Of late years January 24th has been fixed upon as the correct date; but the Associated Pioneers of the Territorial Days of California, an association made up of men who were in the territory at the time of Marshall's discovery or came here before it became a State, object to the change. For nearly thirty years they have held their annual dinners on January 18, "the anni- versary of the discovery of gold at Sutter's sawmill, Coloma, Cal." This society has its headquarters in New York City. In a circular recently issued, disapproving of the change of date from the 18th to the 24th, the trustees of that society say : "Upon the organization of this society, Feb- ruary 11, 1875, it was decided to hold its annual dinners on the anniver- sary of the discovery of gold at Sutter's sawmill, Coloma, Cal. Through the Hon. Newton Booth, of the United States Senate, this information was sought, with the result of a communication from the secretary of the State of California to the effect that the archives of the State of Califor- nia recorded the date as of January 18, 1848. Some years ago this date was changed by the society at San Francisco to that of January 24, and that date has been adopted by other similar societies located upon the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. This society took the matter under advise- ment with the result that the new evidence upon which it was proposed to change the date was not deemed sufficient to justify this society in ignoring its past records, founded on the authority of the State of California; therefore it has never accepted the new date."

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Marshall himself was uncertain about the exact date. At various times he gave three different dates, the 18th, 19th, and 20th, but never moved it along as far as the 24th. In the past thirty years three different dates, the 18th, 19th and 24th of January have been celebrated as the anniversary of Marshall's discovery.

The evidence upon which the date was changed to the 24th is found in an entry in a diary kept by H. W. Bigler, a Mormon, who was working for Marshall on the millrace at the time gold was discovered. The en- try reads: "January 24. This day some kind of metal that looks like gold was found in the tailrace." On this authority about ten years ago the California Pioneers adopted the 24th as the correct date of discovery.

While written records, especially if made at the time of the occurrence of the event, are more reliable than oral testimony given long after, yet when we take into consideration the conflicting stories of Sutter, Marshall, the Winners and others who were immediately concerned in some way with the discovery, we must concede that the Territorial Pioneers have good reasons to hesitate about making a change in the date of their anni- versary. In Dr. Trywhitt Brooks' "Four Months Among the Gold Find- ers," a book published in London in 1849, and long since out of print, we have Sutter's version of Marshall's discovery given only three months after that discovery was made. Dr. Brooks visited Sutter's Fort early in May, 1848, and received from Sutter himself the story of the find. Sutter stated that he was sitting in his room at the fort, one afternoon, when Marshall, whom he supposed to be at the mill, forty miles up the Amer- ican River, suddenly burst in upon him. Marshall was so wildly excited that Sutter, suspecting that he was crazy, looked to see whether his rifle was in reach. Marshall declared that he had made a discovery that would give them both millions and millions of dollars. Then he drew his sack and poured out a handful of nuggets on the table. Sutter, when he had tested the metal and found that it was gold, became almost as ex- cited as Marshall. He eagerly asked if the workmen at the mill knew of the discovery. Marshall declared that he had not spoken to a single per- son about it. They both agreed to keep it a secret. Next day Sutter and Marshall arrived at the sawmill. The day after their arrival, they pros- pected the bars of the river and the channels of some of the dry creeks and found gold in all.

"On our return to the mill," says Sutter, "we were astonished by the work-people coming up to us in a body and showing us some flakes of gold similar to those we had ourselves procured. Marshall tried to laugh the matter off with them, and to persuade them that what they had found was only some shining mineral of trifling value; but one of the Indians, who had worked at a gold mine in the neighborhood of La Paz, Lower California, cried out: 'Oro! Oro' ('Gold! Gold!'), and the secret was out."

Captain Sutter continues : "I heard afterward that one of them, a sly Kentuckian, had dogged us about and that, looking on the ground to see what we were in search of, he lighted on some of the flakes himself."

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If this account is correct, Bigler's entry in his diary was made on the day that the workmen found gold, which was five or six days after Mar- shall's first find, and consequently the 24th is that much too late for the true date of the discovery. The story of the discovery given in the "Life and Adventures of James W. Marshall," by George Frederick Parsons, differs materially from Sutter's account. The date of the discovery given in that book is January 19, 1848. On the morning of that day Marshall, after shutting off the water, walked down the tailrace to see what sand and gravel had been removed during the night. (The water was turned into the tailrace during the night to cut it deeper.) While examining a mass of debris, "his eye caught the glitter of something that lay lodged in a crevice on a riffle of soft granite some six inches under water." Pick- ing up the nugget and examining it, he became satisfied that it must be one of three substances-mica, sulphurets of copper, or gold. Its weight satisfied him that it was not mica. Knowing that gold was malleable, he placed the specimen on a flat rock and struck it with another; it bent, but did not crack or break. He was satisfied that it was gold. He showed the nugget to his men. In the course of a few days he had collected several ounces of precious metal. Some four days after the discovery it became necessary for him to go below, for Sutter had failed to send a supply of provisions to the mill, and the men were on short commons. While on his way down he discovered gold in a ravine at a place after- wards known as Mormon Island. Arrived at the fort, he interviewed Sutter in his private office and showed him about three ounces of gold nuggets. Sutter did not believe it to be gold, but after weighing it in scales against $3.25 worth of silver, all the coin they could raise at the fort, and testing it with nitric acid obtained from the gun shop, Sutter became convinced and returned to the mill with Marshall. So little did the work- men at the mill value the discovery that they continued to work for Sutter until the mill was completed, March 11, six weeks after the nuggets were found in the tailrace.

The news of the discovery spread slowly. It was two months in reaching San Francisco, although the distance is not over 125 miles. The great rush to the mines from San Francisco did not begin until the middle of May, nearly four months after the discovery. On the 10th of May, Dr. Brooks, who was in San Francisco, writes : "A number of people have actually started off with shovels, mattocks and pans to dig the gold them- selves. It is not likely, however, that this will. be allowed, for Captain Folsom has already written to Colonel Mason about taking possession of the mine on behalf of the government, it being, he says, on public land."

As the people began to realize the richness and extent of the dis- covery, the excitement increased rapidly. May 17, Dr. Brooks writes : "This place (San Francisco) is now in a perfect furore of excitement; all the workpeople have struck. Walking through the town today, I observed that laborers were employed only upon about half a dozen of the fifty new buildings which were in course of being run up. The majority of the mechanics at this place are making preparations for moving off to the

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mines, and several people of all classes-lawyers, storekeepers, mer- chants, etc., are smitten with the fever; in fact, there is a regular gold mania springing up. I counted no less than eighteen houses which were closed, the owners having left. If Colonel Mason is moving a force to the American Fork, as is reported here, their journey will be in vain."

Colonel Mason's soldiers moved without orders-they nearly all de- serted, and ran off to the mines.

The first newspaper announcement of the discovery appeared in The Californian of March 15, 1848, nearly two months after the discovery. But little attention was paid to it. In the issue of April 19, another dis- covery is reported. The item reads: "New gold mine. It is stated that a new gold mine has been discovered on the American Fork of the Sacra- mento, supposed to be on the land of W. A. Leidesdorff, of this place. A specimen of the gold has been exhibited, and is represented to be very pure." On the 29th of May The Californian had suspended publication. "Othello's occupation is gone," wails the editor. "The majority of our subscribers and many of our advertising patrons have closed their doors and places of business and left town, and we have received one order af- ter another conveying the pleasant request that the printer will please stop my paper or my ad, as I am about leaving for Sacramento."

The editor of the other paper, The California Star, made a pilgrim- age to the mines in the latter part of April, but gave them no extended write-up. "Great country, fine climate," he wrote on his return. "Full flowing streams, mighty timber, large crops, luxuriant clover, fragrant flowers, gold and silver," were his comments on what he saw. The policy of both papers seems to have been to ignore as much as possible the gold discovery. To give it publicity was for a time, at least, to lose their oc- cupation.

In The Star of May 20, 1848, its eccentric editor, E. C. Kemble, un- der the caption "El Dorado Anew," discourses in a dubious manner upon the effects of the discovery and the extent of the gold fields :

"A terrible visitant we have had of late. A fever which has well-nigh depopulated a town, a town hard pressing upon a thousand souls, and but for the gracious interposition of the elements, perhaps not a goose would have been spared to furnish a quill to pen the melancholy fate of the re- mainder. It has preyed upon defenseless old age, subdued the elasticity of careless youth and attacked indiscriminately sex and class, from town councilman to tow-frocked cartman, from tailor to tippler, of which, thank its pestilential powers, it has beneficially drained (of tipplers, we mean) every villainous pulperia in the place.

"And this is the gold fever, the only form of that popular southerner, yellow jack, with which we can be alarmingly threatened. The insatiate maw of the monster, not appeased by the easy conquest of the rough-fist- ed yeomanry of the north, must needs ravage a healthy, prosperous place beyond his dominion and turn the town topsy-turvy in a twinkling.

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"A fleet of launches left this place on Sunday and Monday last bound up the Sacramento River, close stowed with human beings, led by love of filthy lucre to the perennial yielding gold mines of the north. When any man can find two ounces a day and two thousand men can find their hands full, was there ever anything so superlatively silly ?

"Honestly, though, we are inclined to believe the reputed wealth of that section of the country, thirty miles in extent, all sham, as superb a take-in as was ever got up to guzzle the gullible. But it is not improbable that this mine, or, properly, placer of gold can be traced as far south as the city of Los Angeles, where the precious metal has been found for a number of years in the bed of a stream issuing from its mountains, said to be a continuation of this gold chain which courses southward from the base of the snowy mountains. But our best information respecting the metal and the quantity in which it is gathered varies much from many reports current, yet it is beyond a question that no richer mines of gold have ever been discovered upon this continent.

"Should there be no paper forthcoming on Saturday next, our readers may assure themselves it will not be the fault of us individually. To make the matter public, already our devil has rebelled, our pressman (poor fellow) last seen was in search of a pickax, and we feel like Mr. Hamlet, we shall never again look upon the likes of him. Then, too, our compositors have, in defiance, sworn terrible oaths against type-stick- ing as vulgar and unfashionable. Hope has not yet fled us, but really, in the phraseology of the day, 'things is getting curious.'"

And things kept getting more and more curious. The rush increased. The next issue of The Star (May 27) announces that "the Sacramento, a first-class craft, left here Thursday last thronged with passengers for the gold mines, a motly assemblage, composed of lawyers, merchants, grocers, carpenters, cartmen and cooks, all possessed with the desire of becoming rich. The latest accounts from the gold country are highly flattering. Over three hundred men are engaged in washing gold, and numbers are continually arriving from every part of the country." Then the editor closes with a wail: "Persons recently arrived from the country speak of ranches deserted and crops neglected and suffered to waste. The unhappy consequence of this state of affairs is easily foreseen." One more twinkle, and The Star disappeared in the gloom. On June 14 ap- peared a single sheet, the size of foolscap. The editor announced: "In fewer words than are usually employed in the announcement of similar events, we appear before the remnant of a reading community on this occasion with the material or immaterial information that we have stopped the paper, that its publication ceased with the last regular issue (June 7). On the approach of autumn, we shall again appear to announce The Star's redivivus. We have done. Let our parting word be hasta luego." Star and Californian reappeared November 14, 1848. The Star had ab- sorbed The Californian. E. C. Kemble was its editor and proprietor.

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Although there was no paper in existence on the coast to spread the news from the gold fields, it found its way out of California, and the rush from abroad began. It did not acquire great force in 1848, but in 1849 the immigration to California exceeded all previous migrations in the history of the race.

Among the first foreigners to rush to the mines were the Mexicans of Sonora. Many of these had had some experience in placer mining in their native country, and the report of rich placers in California, where gold could be had for the picking up, aroused them from their lazy self- content and stimulated them to go in search of it. Traveling in squads of from fifty to one hundred, they came by the old Auza trail across the Colorado desert, through the San Gorgonio Pass, then up the coast and on to the mines. They were a job lot of immigrants, poor in purse and poor in brain. They were despised by the native Californians and mal- treated by the Americans. Their knowledge of mining came in play, and the more provident among them soon managed to pick up a few thousand dollars, and then returned to their homes, plutocrats. The improvident gambled away their earnings and remained in the country to add to its criminal element. The Oregonians came in force, and all the towns in California were almost depopulated of their male population. By the close of 1848, there were 10,000 men at work in the mines.

The first official report of the discovery was sent to Washington by Thomas O. Larkin, June 1, and reached its destination about the middle of September. Lieutenant Beale, by way of Mexico, brought dispatches dated a month later, which arrived about the same time as Larkin's re- port. These accounts were published in the Eastern papers, and the ex- citement began.

In the early part of December, Lieutenant Loeser arrived at Washing- ton with Governor Mason's report of his observations in the mines made in August. But the most positive evidence was a tea caddy of gold dust, containing about 230 ounces, that Governor Mason had caused to be purchased in the mines with money from the civil service fund. This the lieutenant had brought with him. It was placed on exhibition at the war office. Here was tangible evidence of the existence of gold in California, the doubters were silenced, and the excitement was on and the rush began.

By the first of January, 1849, vessels were fitting out in every seaport on the Atlantic coast and the Gulf of Mexico. Sixty ships were announced to sail from New York in February and seventy from Philadelphia and Boston. All kinds of craft were pressed into the service, some to go by way of Cape Horn, others to land their passengers at Vera Cruz, Nica- ragua and Panama, the voyagers to take their chances on the Pacific side for a passage on some unknown vessel.

With the opening of spring, the overland travel began. Forty thou- sand men gathered at different points on the Missouri River, but principally at St. Joseph and Independence. Horses, mules, oxen and cows were used for the propelling power of the various forms of vehicles that were to

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convey the provisions and other impedimenta of the army of gold seekers. By the first of May the grass was grown enough on the plains to furnish feed for the stock, and the vanguard of the grand army of gold hunters started. For two months, company after company left the rendezvous and joined the procession until for 1000 miles there was an almost unbroken line of wagons and pack trains. The first half of the journey was made with little inconvenience, but on the last part there were great suffering and loss of life. The cholera broke out among them, and it is estimated that 5000 died on the plains. The alkali desert of the Humboldt was the place where the immigrants suffered most. Exhausted by the long journey and weakened by lack of food, many succumbed under the hardship of the desert journey and died. The crossing of the Sierras was attended with great hardships. From the loss of their horses and oxen, many were com- pelled to cross the mountains on foot. Their provisions exhausted, they would have perished but for relief sent out from California. The greatest sufferers were the women and children, who in considerable numbers made the perilous journey.

The overland immigration of 1850 exceeded that of 1849. Accord- ing to the record kept at Fort Laramie, there passed that station during the season 39,000 men, 2500 women, and 600 children, making a total of 42,100. These immigrants had with them, when passing Fort Laramie, 23,000 horses, 8000 mules, 3600 oxen, 7000 cows, and 9000 wagons.

Besides those coming by the northern route, that is, by the South Pass and the Humboldt River, at least 10,000 found their way to the land of gold by the old Spanish trail, by the Gila route, and by Texas; Coahuila and Chihuahua into Arizona, and thence across the Colorado desert to Los Angeles, and from there by the coast route or the San Joaquin valley to the mines.

The Pacific Mail Steamship Company had been organized before the discovery of gold in California. March 3, 1847, an act of Congress was passed authorizing the secretary of the navy to advertise for bids to carry the United States mails by one line of steamers between New York and Chagres, and by another line between Panama and Astoria, Ore. On the Atlantic side the contract called for five ships of 1500 tons burden; on the Pacific side, two of 1000 tons each, and one of 600 tons. These were deemed sufficient for the trade and travel between the Atlantic and Pa- cific coasts of the United States. The Pacific Mail Steamship Company was incorporated April 12, 1848, with a capital stock of $500,000. Oc- tober 6, 1848, the California, the first steamer for the Pacific, sailed from New York, and was followed in the two succeeding months by the Oregon and the Panama. The California sailed before the news of the gold dis- covery had reached New York, and she had taken no passengers. When she arrived at Panama, January 30, 1849, she encountered a rush of 1500 gold hunters, clamorous for a passage. These had reached Chagres on sailing vessels, ascended the Chagres River in bongos or dugouts to Gor- gona, and traveled thence by land to Panama. The California had ac-

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commodations for only 100, but 400 managed to find some place to stow themselves away. The price of tickets rose to a fabulous sum, as high as $1000 having been paid for a steerage passage. The California en- tered the Bay of San Francisco February 28, 1849, and was greeted by the boom of cannon and the cheers of thousands of people lining the shores of the bay. The other two steamers arrived on time, and the Pa- cific Mail Steamship Company became the predominant factor in Cali- fornia travel for twenty years, or up to the completion of the first trans- continental railroad in 1869. The charges for fare on these steamers in the early fifties were prohibitory to men of small means. From New York to Chagres in the saloon the fare was $150; in the cabin, $120. From Panama to San Francisco in the saloon, $250; cabin, $200. Add to these the expense of crossing the isthmus, and the Argonaut was out a goodly sum when he reached the land of the golden fleece; indeed, he was often Heeced of his last dollar before he entered the Golden Gate.

The first effect of the gold discovery on San Francisco, as we have seen, was to depopulate it, and of necessity suspend all building opera- tions. In less than three months the reaction began, and the city expe- rienced one of the most magical booms in history. Real estate doubled in some instances in twenty-four hours. The Californian of September 3, 1848, says : "The vacant lot on the corner of Montgomery and Washing- ton Streets was offered the day previous for $5000 and the next day sold readily for $10,000." Lumber went up in value until it was sold at a dollar per square foot. Wages kept pace with the general advance. Six- teen dollars a day was a mechanic's wages, and the labor market was not overstocked even at these high rates. With the approach of winter, the gold seekers came flocking to the city to find shelter and to spend their suddenly acquired wealth. The latter was easily accomplished, but the former was more difficult. Any kind of a shelter that would keep out the rain was utilized for a dwelling. Rows of tents that circled around the business portion, shanties patched together from pieces of packing boxes, and sheds thatched with brush from the chaparral-covered hills constituted the principal dwellings at that time of the future metropolis of Califor- nia. The yield of the mines for 1848 has been estimated at $10,000,000. This was the result of only a few months' labor of not to exceed at any time 10,000 men. The rush of miners did not reach the mines until July, and mining operations were mainly suspended by the middle of October.

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History of Contra Costa County, California; with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 6

Author: Munro-Fraser, J. P Publication date: 1926 Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif. : Historic Record Co. Number of Pages: 1118

Author: Munro-Fraser, J. P
Publication date: 1926
Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif. : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1118