1S41.J DISCOVERY OF GOLD. 131 



As is often the case, chance at length accomplished what 

 science had failed to do. In the winter of 1847—8, a Mr- 

 Marshall commenced the construction of a saw-mill fur Cap- 

 tain Sutter, on the north branch of the American Fork, and 

 about fifty miles above New Helvetia, in a region abounding 

 with pine timber. The dam and race were completed, but on 

 attempting to put the mill in motion, it was ascertained that 

 the tail-race was too narrow to permit the water to escape 

 with perfect freedom. A strong current was then passed in, 

 to wash it wider and deeper, by which a large bed of mud and 

 gravel was thrown up at the foot of the race. Some days 

 after this occurrence, Mr. Marshall observed a number of 

 brilliant particles on this deposit of mud, which attracted his 

 attention. On examining them, he became satisfied that they 

 were gold, and communieated the fact to Captain Sutter. It 

 was agreed between them, that the circumstance should not 

 be made public for the present ; but, li ;e the secret of Midas, 

 it could not be concealed. The Mormon emigrants, of whom 

 Mr. Marshall was one, were soon made acquainted with the 

 discovery, and in a few weeks all California was agitated 

 with the startling information. 



Business of every kind was neglected, and the ripened grain 

 was left in the fields unharvested. Nearly the whole popu- 

 lation of Upper California became infected with the mania, 

 and flocked to the mines. Whalers and merchant vessels enter- 

 ing the ports were abandoned by their crews, and the Ameri- 

 can soldiers and sailors deserted in scores. Upon the disband- 

 ment of Colonel Stevenson's regiment, most of the men made 

 their way to the mineral regions. Within three months after 

 the discovery, it was computed that there were near four 

 thousand persons, including Indians, who were mostly employ- 

 ed by the whites, engaged in washing for gold. Various 

 modes were adopted to separate the metal from the sand and 

 gravel — some making use of tin pans, others of close-woven 

 Indian baskets, and others still, of a rude machine called the 

 cradle, six or eight feet long, and mounted on rockers, with a 

 coarse grate, or sieve, at one end, but open at the other. The 



