USA > California > San Luis Obispo County > History of San Luis Obispo County, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 31
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The rancheros of the southern part of the State joined the throng of gold miners. Among them went Messrs. Branch and Price, of the Arroyo Grande, and digged for gold on the banks and bars of the Stanislaus, spending there the summer in profitable mining; Judge Wm. L. B.ebee, then a youth recently from the sea, and others there were, undoubtedly, who followed their example.
AN OFFICIAL STATEMENT.
The first official account of the gold discovery, as we have said, was the letter of Governor Mason, carried by Beale, to Washington. There were letters also by Capt. Joseph L. Folsom, Lieut. W. T. Sherman, as well as pri- vate individuals, but as the principal, and an important and interesting feature of California, we reproduce the letter of Governor Mason :-
THE GOLD REGION.
Letter addressed to the War Department by Governor Mason, of California.
HEADQUARTERS IOTH MILITARY DEPARTMENT,
MONTEREY, California, Angust 17, 1848. J
SIR: I have the honor to inform you that, accom- panied by Lieut. W. T. Sherman, Third Artillery, A. A. A. Gen., I started on the 12th of June last, to make a tour through the northern part of California. My princi- pal purpose, however, was to visit the newly discovered gold "placer " in the valley of the Sacramento. I had proceeded about forty miles, when I was overtaken by an express bringing me intelligence of the arrival at Monterey of the United States ship Southampton, with important letters from Commodore Shubrick and Lieutenant-Colonel Burton. I returned at once to Monterey, and dispatched what business was most important, and on the 17th re- sumed my journey. We reached San Francisco on the 20th, and found that all, or nearly all, its male inhabitants had gone to the mines. The town, which a few months ago was so busy and thriving, was then almost deserted. On the evening of the 24th, the horses of the escort were crossed to Saucelito in a launch, and on the following day we resumed the journey, by way of Bodega and Sonoma, to Sutter's Fort, where we arrived on the morning of the 2d of July. Along the whole route mills were lying idle, fields of wheat were lying open to cattle and horses, houses vacant, and farms going to waste. At Sutter's, there was more life and business. Launches were discharging their cargoes at the river, and carts were hauling goods to the fort, where already were established several stores, a hotel, etc. Captain Sutter had only two mechanics in his employ, a wagon-maker and a blacksmith, whom he was then paying ten dollars a day. Merchants paid him a monthly rent of $100 per room, and whilst I was there, a two-story house in the fort was rented as a hotel for $500 a month.
At the urgent solicitation of many gentlemen, I delayed there to participate in the first public celebration of our national anniversary at that fort, but on the 5th resumed the journey, and proceeded twenty-five miles up the American Fork, to a point on it now known as the lower mines, or
MORMON DIGGINGS.
The hill-sides were thickly strewn with canvas tents and bush arbors; a store was erected, and several board- ing shanties in operation. The day was intensely hot, yet about 200 men were at work in the full glare of the sun, washing for gold-some with tin pans, some with close-woven Indian baskets, but the greater part had a rude machine known as the cradle. This is on rockers, six or eight feet long, open at the foot, and at its head has a coarse grate or sieve; the bottom is rounded, with small cleats nailed across. Four men are required to work this machine; one digs the ground in the bank close by the stream, another carries it to the cradle and empties it on the grate; a third gives a violent rocking motion to the machine; whilst a fourth dashes on water from the stream itself. The sieve keeps the coarse stones from entering the cradle, the current of water washes off the earthy matter, and the gravel is gradually carried out at the foot of the machine, leaving the gold mixed with a heavy, fine black sand above the first cleat. The sand and gold mixed together are then drawn off through auger holes into a pan below, are dried in the sun, and afterwards separated by blowing off the sand. A party of four men thus employed at the lower mines average $100 a day. The Indians, and those who have nothing but pans or willow baskets, gradually wash out the earth and separate the gravel by hand, leaving nothing but the gold mixed with sand, which is separated in the manner before
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described. The gold in the lower mines is in fine bright scales, of which I send several specimens.
THE GOVERNOR VISITS COLOMA.
As we ascended the south branch of the American Fork the country became more broken and mountainous, and at the saw-mill, twenty-five miles above the lower washing, or fifty miles from Sutter's, the hill rises to about 1,000 feet above the level of the Sacramento plain. Here a species of pine occurs, which led to the discovery of gold. Captain Sutter feeling the great want of lumber, contracted, in September last, with a Mr. Marshall, to build a saw-mill at that place. It was erected in the course of the last winter and spring-a dam and race constructed; but when the water was let on the wheel, the tail-race was found to be too narrow to permit the water to escape with sufficient rapidity. Mr. Marshall, to save labor, let the water directly into the race with a strong current, so as to wash it wider and deeper. He effected his purpose, and a large bed of mud and gravel was car- ried to the foot of the race. One day, Mr. Marshall, as he was walking down the race to this deposit of mud, ob- served some glittering particles at its upper edge; he gath- ered a few, examined them, and became satisfied of their value. He then went to the fort, told Captain Sutter of his discovery, and then agreed to keep it secret until a certain grist-mill of Sutter's was finished. It, however, got out, and spread like magic. Remarkable success at- tended the labors of the first explorers, and in a few weeks hundreds of men were drawn thither.
At the time of my visit, but little more than three months after its first discovery, it was estimated that up- wards of four thousand people were employed. At the mill there is a fine deposit or bank of gravel, which the people respect as the property of Captain Sutter, although he pretends to no right to it, and would be perfectly satis- fied with the simple promise of a pre-emption, on account of the mill which he has built there at considerable cost. Mr. Marshall was living near the mill, and informed me that many persons were employed above and below him; that they used the same machines as in the lower wash- ing, and that their success was about the same-ranging from one to three ounces of gold per man daily. This gold, too, is in scales a little coarser than those of the lower mines.
From the mill Mr. Marshall guided me up the mount- ain on the opposite or north bank of its south fork, where, in the bed of small streams, or ravines now dry, a great dleal of coarse gold has been found. I there saw several parties at work, all of whom were doing very well. A great many specimens were shown me, some as heavy as four or five ounces in weight, and I send three pieces, labelled "No. 5," presented by a Mr. Spence. You will perceive that some of the specimens accompanying this hold mechanically pieces of quartz; that the surface is rough, and evidently moulded in the crevice of a rock.
This gold cannot have been carried far by the water, but must have remained near where it was first deposited from the rock that once bound it. I inquired of many people if they had encountered the metal in its matrix, but in every instance they said they had not, but that the gold was invariably mixed with washed gravel, or lodged in the crevices of other rocks. All bore the tes- timony that they had found gold in greater or less quan- tities in the numerous small gullies or ravines that occur in that mountainous region.
AT WEBER'S CREEK.
On the 7th of July I left the mill and crossed to a small stream emptying into the American Fork, three or four miles below the saw-mill. I struck this stream (now
known as Weber's Creek) at the washing of Suñol & Co. They had about thirty Indians employed, whom they pay in merchandise. They were getting gold of a similar character to that found in the main fork, and doubtless in sufficient quantities to satisfy them. I send you a small specimen, presented by this company, of this gold. From this point we proceeded up the stream about eight miles, where we found a great many people and Indians, some engaged in the bed of the stream and others in the small side valleys that put into it. These latter are exceedingly rich, and two ounces were considered an ordinary yield for a day's work.
INSTANCES OF GOOD LUCK.
A small gutter, not more than a hundred yards long by four feet wide and two or three feet deep, was pointed out to me as the one where two men, William Daly and Perry McCoon, had a short time before obtained $17,000 worth of gold. Captain Weber informed me that he knew that these two men had employed four white men and about a hundred Indians, and that at the end of one week's work they paid off their party and had left $10,000 worth of this gold. Another small ravine was shown me, from which had been taken upward of $12,000 worth of gold. Hundreds of similar ravines, to all appearances, are as yet untouched. I could not have credited these reports had I not seen, in the abundance of the precious metal, evidence of this truth. Mr. Neligh, an agent of Commodore Stockton, had been at work about three weeks in the neighborhood, and showed me, in bags and bottles, over $2,000 worth of gold; and Mr. Lyman, a gentleman of education and worthy of every credit, said he had been engaged with four others, with a machine, on the American Fork just below Sutter's Mill; that they worked eight days, and that his share was at the rate of fifty dollars a day; but hearing that others were doing better at Weber's place, they had removed there and were then on the point of resuming operations.
I might tell of hundreds of similar instances, but, to illustrate how plentiful the gold was in the pockets of common laborers, I will mention a simple occurrence which took place in my presence when I was at Weber's store. This store was nothing but an arbor of bushes. under which he had exposed for sale goods and groceries suited to his customers. A man came in and picked up a box of Seidlitz Powders and asked its price. Captain Weber told him it was not for sale. The man offered an ounce of gold, but Captain Weber told him it only cost fifty cents, and he did not wish to sell it. The man then offered an ounce and a half, when Captain Weber had to take it. The price of all things is high, and yet Indians, who before hardly knew what a breech-cloth was, can now afford to buy the most gaudy dresses.
The country on either side of Weber Creek is much broken up by hills, and is intersected in every direction by small streams or ravines, which contain more or less gold. Those that have been worked are barely scratched; and, although thousands of ounces have been carried away, I do not consider that a serious impression has been made upon the whole. Every day was developing new and richer deposits, and the only impression seemed to be that the metal would be found in such abundance as seriously to depreciate in value.
Before leaving Sutter's I satisfied myself that gold existed in the bed of the Feather River. on the Yubi and Bear, and in many of the small streams that lie be- tween the latter and the American Fork; also that it had been found in the Cosumnes to the south of the Amer- ican Fork. In each of these streams the gold is found in small scales, whereas in the intervening mountains it occurs in coarser lumps.
Mr. Sinclair, whose ranch is three miles above Sutter's,
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HISTORY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY.
on the North Fork, not far from its junction with the main stream, had been engaged about five weeks when I saw him, and up to that time his Indians had used simply closely-woven willow baskets. His net proceeds (which I saw) were about $16,000 worth of gold. He showed me the proceeds of his last week's work-fourteen pounds avoirdupois of clean-washed gold.
A BUSINESS VIEW.
The principal store at Sutter's Fort, that of Brannan & Co., had received in payment for goods $36,000 worth of this gold from the ist of May to the Toth of July. Other merchants had also made extensive sales. Large quantities of goods were daily sent forward to the mines, as the Indians, heretofore so poor and degraded, have suddenly become consumers of the luxuries of life. I before mentioned that the greater part of the farmers and rancheros had abandoned their fields to go to the mines. This is not the case with Captain Sutter, who was care- fully gathering his wheat, estimated at 40,000 bushels. Flour is already worth at Sutter's $36.00 a barrel, and will soon be worth $50.00. Unless large quantities of bread- stuff reach the country, much suffering will occur; but as each man is now able to pay a large price, it is believed the merchants will bring from Chili and Oregon a plen- tiful supply for the coming winter.
The most moderate estimate I could obtain from men acquainted with the subject was, that upward of 4,000 men were working in the gold district, of whom more than one-half were Indians, and that from $30,000 to $50,000 worth of gold, if not more, was daily obtained. The entire gold district, with some very few exceptions of grants made some years ago by the Mexican authorities, is on land belonging to the United States. It was a matter of serious reflection with me how I could secure to the Government certain rents or fees, for the privilege of procuring this gold, but upon considering the large ex- tent of country, the character of the people engaged, and the small scattered force at my command, I resolved not to interfere, but permit all to work freely, unless broils and crime should call for interference. I was surprised to learn that crime of every kind was very infrequent, and that no theft or robberies had been committed in the gold. district. All live in tents, in bush arbors, or in the open air, and men have frequently about their persons thousands of dollars' worth of gold, and it is a matter of surprise that so peaceful and quiet a state of things should continue to exist.
The discovery of these vast deposits of gold has changed the character of Upper California. Its people, . before engaged in cultivating their small patches of ground, and guarding the herds of cattle and horses, have all gone to the mines, or are on their way thither. La- borers of every trade have left their work-benches, and tradesmen their shops. Sailors desert their ships as fast as they arrive on the coast, and several vessels have gone to sea with hardly enough hands to spread a sail. Two or three are now at anchor in San Francisco, with no crew on board.
I have no hesitation in saying that there is more gold in the country drained by the Sacramento and San Joa- quin Rivers than will pay the cost of the late war with Mexico a hundred times over. No capital is required to obtain this gold, as the laboring man wants nothing but his pick, shovel, and tin pan, with which to dig and wash the gravel, and many frequently pick gold out of the crevices of rocks with their butcher- knives, in pieces from one to six ounces.
EASY FORTUNES.
Mr. Dye, a gentleman residing in Monterey, and worthy of every credit, has just returned from Feather
River. He tells me that the company to which he be- longed worked seven weeks and two days, with an aver- age of fifty Indians (washers), and their gross product was 273 pounds of gold. His share (one-seventh), after paying all expenses, is about thirty-seven pounds, which he brought with him and exhibited in Monterey. I see no laboring man from the mines who does not show his two, three, or four pounds of gold. A soldier of the ar- tillery company returned here a few days ago from the mines, having been absent on a furlough twenty days. He made, by trading and working, during that time, $1,500. During these twenty days, he was traveling ten or eleven days, leaving but a week, in which he made a sum of money greater than he receives in pay, clothes, and rations, during a whole enlistment of five years. These statements appear incredible, but they are true.
Gold is also believed to exist in the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, and, when at the mines, I was informed by an intelligent Mormon that it had been found near the Great Salt Lake by some of his fraternity. Nearly all the Mormons are leaving California to go to Salt Lake, and this they surely would not do unless they were sure of finding gold there in the same abundance as they now do on the Sacramento.
PLACERS OF SAN FERNANDO.
The gold " placer" near the mission of San Fernando has long been known, but has been but little wrought for want of water. This is in a spur that puts off from the Sierra Nevada (See Fremont's Map), the same in which the present mines occur. There is, therefore, every rea- son to believe that, in the intervening spaces of 500 miles (entirely unexplored), there must be many hidden and rich deposits. The " placer " gold is now substituted as the currency of this country; in trade it passes freely at $16.00 per ounce; as an article of commerce, its value is not yet fixed. The only purchase I made was of the specimen No. 7, which I got of Mr. Neligh, at $12.00 the ounce. That is about the present cash value in the country, although it has been sold for less. The great demand for goods and provisions, made by this sudden development of wealth, has increased the amount of commerce at San Francisco very much, and it will con- tinue to increase.
QUICKSILVER MINE OF NEW ALMADEN.
Before leaving the subject of mines, I will mention that on my return from Sacramento I touched, at New Almaden, the quicksilver mine of Mr. Alexander Forbes, consul of Her Britannic Majesty at Tepic. This mine is in a spur of mountains, 1,000 feet above the level of the bay of San Francisco, and is distant, in a southern direction, from the pueblo of San José, about twelve miles. The ore (cinnabar) occurs in a large vein, dipping at a strong angle to the horizon. Mexican miners are em- ployed in working it, by driving shafts and galleries, about six feet by seven, following the vein.
The fragments of rock and ore are removed on the backs of Indians, in rawhide sacks. The ore is then hauled in an ox-wagon from the mouth of the mine down to a valley well supplied with wood and water, in which the furnaces are situated. The furnaces are of the simplest construction-exactly like a common bake-oven, in the crown of which is inserted a whaler's trying kettle; another inverted kettle forms the lid. From a hole in the lid, a small brick channel leads to an apartment, or chamber, in the bottom of which is inserted a small iron kettle. This chamber has a chimney. -
In the morning of each day the kettles are filled with the mineral (broken in small pieces) mixed with lime; fire is then applied and kept up all day. The mercury is vola- tilized, passes into the chamber, is condensed on the
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sides and bottom of the chamber, and flows into the pot prepared for it. No water is used to condense the mercury.
During a visit I made last spring, four such ovens were in operation, and yielded, in the two days I was there, 656 pounds of quicksilver, worth at Mazatlan $1.80 per pound. Mr. Walkinshaw, the gentleman now in charge of this mine, tells me that the vein is improving, and that he can afford to keep his people employed even in these extraordinary times. The mine is very valuable of itself, and becomes the more so, as mercury is extensively used in obtaining gold. It is not at present used in California for that purpose, but will be at some future time. When I was at this mine last spring, other parties were engaged in searching for veins; but none have been discovered that are worth following up, although the earth in that whole range of hills is highly discolored, indicating the presence of this ore.
I send several beautiful specimens, properly labelled. The amount of quicksilver in Mr. Forbe's vats on the 15th of July was about 2,500 pounds.
I have the honor to be your most obedient servant,
R. B. MASON,
Colonel First Dragoons, Commanding. Brig. Gen. R. Jones, Adjutant-General U. S. A., Wash- ington, D. C.
AN INDIAN WITH GOLD.
The wonderment is often expressed that gold was not discovered in the Sierra Nevada long before it was picked up by Marshall in the mill-race. A Mexican had told John Bidwell, as early as 18.45, that the ground on Bear River looked as if it contained gold, but that he could not test it without a batea, such as was used in Mexico, and there was no implement in the country. Colton relates that in 1847, a year before the discovery, an In- dian from the Stanislaus came to Monterey with a speci- men of gold which he had hammered into a clasp for his bow. He described the spot where he obtained it, which was subsequently recognized by the description, and became known as "Carson's Diggings." He had also seen specimens of very rich tin ore, which were reported to have come from a mine of tin near San Luis Obispo. The re-discovery of this mine is one of the pos- sibilities of the future.
PERSIFER F. SMITH, GOVERNOR-THE FIRST STEAMSHIPS ARRIVE.
On the last day of February, 1849, the first of the line of steamships, the California, arrived in San Francisco from New York, having on board Gen. Persifer F. Smith, who had come to take command of the Depart- ment, relieving Colonel Mason. The California was the first of the line of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, which had been organized by Act of Congress in 18.47, to ply between Panama and Oregon, touching at San Diego, Monterey, and San Francisco, in California. The arrival was hailed with great delight, appearing to the people as a connecting link between them and their kindred on the Atlantic Coast, and as an evidence that they were in future under the care and protection of the National Government. On the 31st of March following the steamer Oregon arrived, being the second of the line; the third and last of the pioneer fleet, the Panama, arriving on the 4th of June. These steamers were regarded as grand
specimens of naval architecture, and California was very proud of them. They brought large numbers of passen- gers, and their lists show the names of many of the most prominent men of the State.
GEN. BENNETT RILEY, GOVERNOR.
On the 13th of April, 1849, Brevet Brig. Gen. Ben- nett Riley issued his proclamation as Commander of the Department and Governor of California. The dis- covery of gold the previous year had brought a large influx of people, and a hundred thousand more were ex- pected during the summer. The necessity of a well organized system of civil government was apparent, and had been actively advocated for some months previously by the people. The dependence upon the orders of the Military Governor and the Alcaldes would no longer be judicious. Governor Riley, therefore, acting upon his own volition, on the 3d of June issued his proclamation, "recommending the formation of a State or Territorial Government." The first day of August was set for the election of delegates to the proposed convention, and for selecting persons to act as Judges and Alcaldes, under the then existing laws, and such men as should be named by the votes of the people he would appoint, as by the Mexican law the Governor had that power.
The Territory was divided into districts for the elec- tion; San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Jose, Sonoma, San Francisco, San Joaquin and Sacramento, and seventy-three delegates were elected; but only forty-eight took their seats in the Convention. Among the number were individuals of high talents, whose wisdom, dispatch, and aptitude for legislation were eminently displayed. So well did they do their work that their names should be recorded wher- ever the opportunity occurs.
The Convention met at Colton Hall, Monterey, Sep- tember 1, 1849, but that being Saturday, no organization was effected, and an adjournment was made until Mon- day, September 3d; then an organization was effected. Robert Semple was elected President; Capt. William G. Marcy, native of New York, was elected Secretary; Caleb Lyon, of Lyonsdale, New York, Assistant Secre- tary, and J. Ross Browne, native of Ireland, short-hand reporter.
THE CONSTITUTION.
After an industrious and harmonious session of six weeks, the Convention completed its labors, adjourning sine die on the 13th of October. The boundaries were fixed as they now stand; but an effort was made by some to include all of Alta California, as it existed under Mex- ican rule, which was all that country west of the Rocky Mountains and lying between the Gila River on the south and the 42d degree of latitude on the north, an area of fully 500,000 square miles.
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