HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. 45 



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 pre- 

 cious metal, evidence of their truth. 



" Mr. Neligh, an agent of Commodore Stockton, 

 had been at work about three weeks in the neighbor- 

 hood, and showed me, in bags and bottles, over §2000 

 worth of gold ; and Mr. Lyman, a gentleman of edu- 

 cation, 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 single 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, picked up a box of Seidlitz powders, and asked the 

 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, 



