432 PURITY OF THE METAL. [1811. 



washings were mainly confined to the low wet grounds, and 

 the margins of the streams — the earth being rarely disturbed 

 more than eighteen inches below the surface. The value of 

 the gold-dust obtained by each man, per day, is said to have 

 ranged from ten to fifty dollars, and sometimes even to have 

 far exceeded that. The natural consequence of this state of 

 things was, that the price of labor, and, indeed, of everything, 

 rose immediately from ten to twenty fold.* 



As may readily be conjectured, every stream and ravine in 

 the valley of the Sacramento was soon explored. Gold was 

 found on every one of its tributaries ; but the richest earth 

 was discovered near the Rio de los P/ihnas, or Feather 

 river,t and its branches, the Yubah and Bear rivers, and on 

 Weber's creek, a tributary of the American Fork. Explora- 

 tions were also made in the valley of the San Joaquin, which 

 resulted in the discovery of gold on the Cosumnes and other 

 streams, and in the ravines of the Coast Range, west of the 

 valley, as far down as Ciudad de los Angelos. 



Sometimes the gold has been found encasing a bright, 

 sparkling crystal of quartz, but no accounts have been receiv- 

 ed up to this date (January, 1849) indicating that it has been 

 encountered in its matrix, or the place of its original produc- 

 tion. In the " dry diggings," or ravines, it is obtained in grains, 

 averaging from one to two pennyweights; but in the swamps, 

 and on the margins of streams, it is procured in small flat 

 spangles, six or seven of which are required to make one 

 grain. Specimens of the metal have been assayed at the mint 

 in Philadelphia, under the direction of Professor Patterson, 

 and the average fineness ascertained to be 891 thousandths, 

 being a little below the standard, which is 900, but fully equal 



* Official Dispatch of Colonel Mason, Commander of the loth Military Depart 

 merit, August 17, 1848. — Letters of Thomas C. Larkin. T T . S. Consul at Monterey, 

 to the Secretary of Slate, June 1, and June 23, 181S. 



f Feather river is the first considerable branch of the Sacramento below the 

 Prairie Buttes. It has a course of about forty miles, and empties into the 

 main river about fifteen miles above New Helvetia, Though the Sacramento 

 is navigable for vessels only to that place, boats can pass up one hundred miles 

 further. 



