50 HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. 



recently discovered, and it maybe a matter of surprise 

 why I have made no report on this subject at an earlier 

 date. The reason is, that I could not bring myself 

 to believe the reports that I heard of the wealth of 

 the gold district until I visited it myself. I have no 

 hesitation now in saying that there is more gold in the 

 country drained by the Sacramento and San Joaquin 

 Rivers than will pay the cost of the present war with 

 Mexico a hundred times over. No capital is required 

 to obtain this gold, as the laboring man wants nothing 

 but his pick and shovel and tin pan, with which to dig 

 and wash the gravel ; and many frequently pick gold 

 out of the crevices of the rocks with their butcher 

 knives, in pieces of from one to six ounces. 



" 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 

 belonged worked seven weeks and two days, with an 

 average of fifty Indians (washers,) and that their gross 

 product was two hundred and seventy-three 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 artillery company returned here a few days ago 

 from the mines, having been absent on furlough twenty 

 days. He made by trading and working, during that 

 time, $1500. During these twenty days he was 

 travelling ten or eleven days, leaving but a week in 

 which he made a sum of money greater than he re- 

 ceives in pay, clothes, and rations, during a whole 

 enlistment of five years. These statements appear 

 incredible, but they are true. 



