El Dorado County History

Historical Souvenir of El Dorado County California with Illustrations 
and Biographical Sketches of its Prominentmen and Pioneers. 
Oakland 1883. Paolo Sioli, Publisher. Compiled by P. Sioli.

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper, Oct 2009.

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CHAPTER XIV. 

DISCOVERY OF GOLD. 

Early Discoveries of Gold � J. S. Smith, of the American Fur Company � J. Ross Brown's Report to 
Congress � Baptiste Ruelle at San Fernando� James Dana, Mr. Greenhow, Dr. Santels � James 
W. Marshall� What Led to the Discovery, and How it Happened � Communication of the 
Discovery to Sutter � Isaac Humphrey � Mormon Island � California Press in Regard to the Discovery
� Don Andreas Pico's Exploring Expedition -Captain Charles M. Weber's Expedition�Jonas Spect on
 the Yuba� Major P. B. Reading in the Northern Region � News of the Discovery of Gold Reached 
Monterey� The Governor's Trip to the Mines- Official forwarding of the News to Washington � 
Table of Mining Products of California. 

From the time that Cortez, in his letter to his monarch, Charles V of Spain, dated October 15, 1524, 
wrote that the great men of Colima had given him information of an island of amazons, or women only, 
abounding in pearls and gold, etc., through about three centuries the people of Spanish nationality, under 
Spanish as well as under Mexican government, were dreaming the golden dream, and the opinion that the 
country abounded in precious metals seems never to have died out entirely; but the realization of the 
dream did not come, and no gold or other metals had ever been discovered by the people of that nationality, 
and Mexico finally was satisfied with the trivial-sum of $15,000,000 for the abdication of California and 
New Mexico, none of the peace-making parties having an idea of the richness of the country they 
were treating about, notwithstanding Marshall's discovery was actually made a short while before the 
meeting of the commissioners at Querataro. 

The very first knowledge of precious metals was the discovery of silver at Avizal, in Monterey county, in 
1802. The following letter is an important document, showing that Jedediah S. Smith was not only the first 
white man to come overland to California, but that to him is due the first discovery of gold in California .- 
			" Genoa, Carson Valley,  
			September i8th, 1860.  

	"Edmond Randolph, Esq., S. F. : 

" Friend Randolph � I have just been reading your address before the Society of Pioneers. I have 
known of the J. S. Smith you mentioned, by reputation, for many years. He was the first white man that 
ever went overland from the Atlantic States to California. He was the chief trader in the employ of the 
American Fur Company. At the rendezvous of the company on Green river, near the South Pass, in 
1825, Smith was directed to take charge of a party of some forty men (trappers) and penetrate the country 
west of Salt Lake. He discovered what is now known as Humboldt river. He called it Mary's river, from 
his Indian wife, Mary. It has always been known as Mary's river by mountain men since � a name it should 
retain for many reasons. 

" Smith pushed on down Mary's river, and being of an adventuresome nature, when he found his road closed 
by high mountains, determined to see what kind of a country there was on the other side. It is not known 
exactly where he crossed the Sierra Nevada, but it is supposed that it must have been not far from where 
the old emigrant road crossed, near the head of the Truckee. He made his way southerly after entering 
the valley of the Sacramento, passed through San Jose and down as low as San Diego. After recruiting his 
party and purchasing a large number of horses he crossed the mountains near what is known as Walker's 
Pass, skirted the eastern shore of the mountains till near what is now known as Mono Lake, whence he 
steered an east-by-north course for Salt Lake. On this portion of his route he found placer gold in 
quantities, and brought much of it with him to the encampment on Green river. 

"The gold that he brought with him, together with his description of the country he had passed through, 
and the large amount of furs, pleased the agent of the American Fur Company so well that he directed 
Smith again to make the same trip, with special instructions to take the gold fields on his return and 
thoroughly prospect them. It was on this trip' that he wrote the letter to Father Duran. The trip was 
successful until they arrived in the vicinity of the gold mines, east of the mountains, where, in a battle 
with the Indians, Smith and nearly all his men were killed. A few of the party escaped and reached the 
encampment on Green river. This defeat damped the ardor of the company so much that they never 
looked any more for the gold mines. 

"There are one or more men now living who can testify to the truth of the above statement, and who 
can give a fuller statement of the details of his two journeys. 

"The man, Smith, was a man of far more than average ability, and had a better education thin falls 
to the lot of the mountain men. Few, or none of them, were his equals in any respect. 
			"Thomas Sprague." 

J. Ross Brown, in his report to Congress in 1867, says : " The existence of gold in California was 
known long before the acquisition of that territory by the United States. Placers had long been worked on 
a limited scale by the Indians, but the priests, who had established the missionary settlements, knowing that 
a discrimination of the discoveries thus made would frustrate their plans for the conversion of the 
aboriginal races, discouraged by all means in their power, the prosecution of this pursuit, and in some instances 
suppressed it by force. As early as December, 1843, however, Manuel Castanares, a Mexican officer made 
strenuous efforts to arouse the attention of the Mexican government to the importance of this great interest.

At San Isidor, in San Diego county, gold was discovered in 1828, and another discovery of the same 
metal followed in the western limits of Santa Clara county, in 1833. Gold placers were known as early 
as 1841 near the mission of San Fernando, about fifty-five miles to the northeast of Los Angeles, by a 
French Canadian named Baptiste Ruelle, for a many years a trapper. He had found his way into New 
Mexico where he learned to work the placer mines. From there he continued his trip to California, where 
he made the above mentioned discovery. These mines, though worked by half a hundred men, did 
not prove rich enough to attract attention. In rare instances nuggets were found weighing an ounce, but 
the average wages did not exceed twenty-five cents a day per hand. Those mines were still worked in 
1845, when Dr. John Townsend and General John Bidwell visited the camp, but the work was 
unprogressive ; the gravel banks in three and one-half years constant work had been penetrated little more
than twenty-five feet. Baptiste Ruelle came to Sutter's fort in 1844, and stayed there until 1848. The gold 
excitement drove him to the mines again where he, after Humphrey, was the first experienced miner at Coloma, 
and hundreds of miners learned from him the use of pan and rocker ; but after a short time he settled on 
Feather river, above the Honcut and lived there till the lime of his death. 

In 1842, James Dana, the well-known geologist, visited the coast accompanying the Wilkes' Exploring 
Expedition, and wrote about the discoveries as follows : "The gold rocks and veins of quartz were observed 
by the author in 1842, near the Umpqua river, in Southern Oregon, and pebbles from similar rock were 
met with along the shores of the Sacramento in California, and the resemblance to other gold districts was 
remarked, but there was no opportunity of exploring the country at the time." 

And Mr. Greenhow, writing in 1844, says: -'The only mine as yet discovered in Upper California is one 
of gold, situated at the foot of the great westernmost range of the mountains, on the west, at a distance of 
twenty-five miles from Los Angeles, the largest town in the country, it is said to be of extraordinary 
richness." This undoubtedly refers to the above-mentioned mines near San Fernando, the distance from 
Los Angeles having been given to the writer somewhat short. 

In 1843, Sutter's fort was visited by a young Swedish scholar. Dr. Santels, known as the "King's 
Orphan," on account of having been educated at a government institution of Sweden, which education 
bore with others the requirement of traveling in foreign lands for a certain period of time, and to write 
out his observations, etc., to be deposited in the library of that institution. In pursuance of that duty 
the young Swede, by means of an ocean vessel, found his way to California, made drawings of the Golden 
Gate, the town of Yerba Buena and the old Presidio, from where he visited Sutter's fort and made a sketch 
and description of the same ; but on his way home he died at New Orleans. His papers fell into the 
hands of T. B. Thorpe, who reported them to the Associated Pioneers of the territorial days of California. 
After having finished his examination trip through the country this gentleman wrote in 1843: 

"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." 

All these many discoveries and statements of the existence of precious metals, however, had not effect 
enough to excite a single soul, and neither government nor private persons followed the given hints to 
go to the trouble of any further exploration. This is  what was reserved to the final discovery of placer gold 
in the mill-race at Coloma, on January 19, 1848, by James W. Marshall, which, spreading like an epidemic I 
disease, produced a new one � the gold fever � that I 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. 

James W. Marshall, the lucky discoverer 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 
headquarters of all adventurers. Here he enlisted into the ranks of the California battalion under Colonel 
Fremont and took part in the American conquest and returned to Sutter's fort after this battalion was 
discharged at Los Angeles, in early summer of 1847. 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 
(Marshall) 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 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. 

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 calculated 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 scratch a kind of a ditch down in the middle of the 
dry channel, throwing only the coarser stones out of the race, then letting f)n the water again, it would run 
with velocity through the channel, washing away all the loose dirt. This was done in the night so as not 
to interfere with the work of the men in the daytime, and in the morning Marshall, after closing the 
forebay gate, thus shutting off the water, used to walk down the tail-race to inspect the work the water 
had done. 

"On this occasion," says the "Life and Adventures of James W. Marshall,'' "having strolled to the lower 
end of the race, ha stood for a 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 to stoop and pick up the substance. It was heavy, of 
peculiar color, and unlike anything he had seen in the stream before." 

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 presence of Peter L. Weimer and William Scott. Marshall, 
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 
have his wife boil it in saleratus water. He took the piece home with him, handed it to his wife who, a.s 
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 before. 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 Sutter 
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 one else. 

" Yet, as it might add value to the location, he dispatched 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 evening, 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 1st � Left for the saw-mill attended by a vaquero (Olympio.) Was absent 2d, 3d, 4th and 5th. 
I 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 this 
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 experienced 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 residing in the town of San Francisco, in the month of 
February, when a Mr. Bennett, one of the party employed 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 opinion 
upon the stuff. Humphrey looked at the dust, pronounced it gold at the first glance, and expressed a 
belief that the digging must be rich. He made inquiries 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, an4 satisfied 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 business of mining in California. 

" 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 treasure � 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 exist 
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 Willis 
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 considerable 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 
country 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, saltpeter 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 
discovery 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 circumstances 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 
proceeded 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 
diggings. 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), fitted out another prospecting party, of which a number 
were Si-yak-um-na Indians, and undertook the  exploration 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 deliberately 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 (hem back to their chief Jose Jesus, the Captain's friend, with 
instructions 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, Sansovina 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 Sacramento river, on his way from San Francisco to Johnson's 
ranch to join a party being made up for an overland journey to the States. He, like every one, supposed 
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 
Timbuctoo ravine, where he struck gold in paying quantities. 

Major Pearson B. Reding, the old trapper and pioneer 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 
organized 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 authorities of the United States in the Territory of 
California 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 governor 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 
attention 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 proposition 
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 Captain 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 and 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 California was yet a Mexican province, simply held by us 
as a conquest ; that no laws of the United States yet applied to it, much less the land laws, or the 
pre-emption laws, which could only apply after a public survey. Therefore it was impossible for the 
governor 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 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 Francisco). 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 possession 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 
adobe house east of the fort, known as the " Hospital." 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 house, and all around the wall were ranged rooms, the 
fort-wall being the outer-wall of the house. The innerwall, 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 liberally 
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. 

"July 5th, 1848, we commenced our journey toward the mines, and reached, after a hot and dusty ride, 
Mormon Island. 

" When Colonel Mason and party reached Mormon Island, they found about three hundred Mormons there 
at work ; most of them were discharged soldiers from the Mexican war. General Robert Allen raised a 
battalion of five companies of Mormons at Kanesville, Iowa, now Council Bluffs, early in 1846 ; Allen died 
on the way and was succeeded by Cooke ; these were discharged at Los Angeles early in the summer of 
1847, and most of them went to their people at Salt Lake, but some remained in California � and as soon 
as the fame of the discovery of gold spread, the Mormons naturally went to Mormon Island. Clark, of 
Clark's Point, one of the elders, was there also, and nearly all of the Mormons who had come out in the 
sailing vessel Brooklyn, which left New York in 1845, with Sam Brannan as leader. Sam Brannan was on 
hand as the high-priest, collecting the tithes. As soon as the news spread that the governor was there, 
persons came to see us, and volunteered all kinds of information, illustrating it by samples of the gold, which 
was of a uniform kind � scale gold, bright and beautiful. I remember that Mr. Clark was in camp talking 
to Colonel Mason about matters and things generally, when he inquired: ' Governor, what business has Sam 
Brannan to collect the tithes here ?' Clark admitted that Brannan was the head of the Mormon church' in 
California. Colonel Mason answered : ' Brannan has a perfect right to collect the tithes, if you Mormons are 
fools enough to pay the tax.' ' Then," said Clark, ' I, for one, won't pay any longer.' And Colonel Mason 
added : ' This is public land, and the gold is the property of the United States ; all of you are trespassers, 
but as the government is benefitted by your getting out the gold I do not intend to interfere.' I 
understood afterward, that from that time the payment of the tithes ceased, but Brannan had already 
collected enough to hire Sutter's hospital and to open a store there, in which he made more money than any 
merchant in California during that summer and fall. 

" The next day we continued our journey and reached Coloma, the place where gold had been first 
discovered, about noon. Only few miners were at work there, by reason of Marshall and Sutter's claim 
to the site. There stood the saw-mill unfinished, the dam and tail-race just as they were left when the 
Mormons ceased work. Marshall and his family of wife and half a dozen tow-headed children were there, 
living in a house made of clapboards. 

" Here, also, we were shown many specimens of gold, of a coarser grain than that found at Mormon 
Island. We crossed the American river to its north side, and visited many small camps of men in what 
were called the ' dry diggings.' Some of these diggings were extremely rich; sometimes a lucky fellow would 
hit on a 'pocket,' and collect several thousand dollars in a few days ; and then again would be shifting about 
from place to place 'prospecting,' and spending all he had made. Little stores were being opened at every 
point, where flour, bacon, etc., were sold � everything being a dollar a pound, and a meal usually cost three 
dollars. Nobody paid for a bed, for he slept on the ground, without fear of cold or rain. 

" As soon as we had returned from our visit to the gold mines, to Monterey, it became important to send 
home positive knowledge of this valuable discovery. The means of communication with the United States 
were very precarious, and I suggested to Colonel Mason that a special courier ought to be sent ; that 
Second-Lieutenant Loeser had been promoted to first lieutenant, and was entitled to go home. He was 
accordingly detailed to carry the news. I prepared with great care the letter to the adjutant-general, of August 
17th, 1848, which Colonel Mason modified in a few particulars ; and, as it was important to send not only 
the specimens which had been presented to us along our route of travel, I advised the colonel to allow 
Captain Folsom to purchase and send to Washington a large sample of the commercial gold in general use, 
and to pay for the same out of the money in his hands, known as the ' Civil fund,' arising from the duties 
collected at the several ports in California. He consented to this, and Captain Folsom bought an 
oyster can full, at ten dollars an ounce, which was the rate of value at which it was then received at the 
custom-house. Folsom was further instructed to contract with some vessel to carry the messenger to South 
America, where he could take the English steamer as far east as Jamaica, with a conditional charter, giving 
increased pay if the vessel would catch the October steamer. Folsom chartered the bark La La)nbayecana, 
owned and navigated by Henry D. Cooke, who has since been the governor of the District of Columbia. 
In due time this vessel reached Monterey, and Lieut. Loeser, with his report and specimens of gold, 
embarked and sailed. He reached the South American continent at Payta, Peru, in time, took the English 
steamer of October to Panama, and thence went on to Kingston, Jamaica, where he found a sailing vessel 
bound for New Orleans. On reaching New Orleans, he telegraphed to the War Department his arrival ; but 
so many delays had occurred, that he did not reach Washington in time to have the matter embraced in 
the President's regular message of 1848, as we had calculated. Still, the President made it the subject of a 
special message, and thus became official what had before reached the world only in a very indefinite shape. 
Then began that great development and the emigration to California, by land and by sea, of 1849 and 1850.� 
The estimated production of gold in the United States from 1848 to 1873 is, $1,240,750,000, of which 
California contributed $1,083,075,000, as the following table shows in detail : 

	*See chart � California Gold Production

Blake gives the following table of the gold-yield of the world, for the year 1867 : 

	*See chart � World Gold Production