HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. 227 



May 22d. On the Tuolumne, but little gold digging 

 has been effected since last fall along the banks. The 

 gold is under water, and preparations were making 

 by companies to dam the streams to get at it. This 

 work has been actively going on for five or six months. 

 There is want of men at this kind of work, and eight 

 or ten dollars a day is readily obtained. The dig- 

 gings at Jamestown, Sonora, &c, have been partially 

 deserted on account of new diggings discovered at Co- 

 lumbia, three miles from Sonora, at the last accounts 

 some two thousand persons had collected there, and 

 town lots were selling at high prices. 



Sonora is growing very rapidly, being in the centre 

 of an extensive mining region. It is likely to be next 

 to Stockton in size and importance. Discoveries of 

 rich placers have been made in its vicinity lately ; 

 some of the richest holes at Columbia are thirty, forty, 

 and fifty feet deep. A serious difficulty has broken 

 out at Sonora. A number of foreigners refused to 

 comply with the law taxing them for the privilege of 

 working the mines. A time was fixed by the collector 

 to summon a posse of American citizens to prevent 

 them from working. The day previous to the time 

 fixed, the foreigners paraded with guns, &c, and rein- 

 forcements of Americans were sent for from the 

 neighboring towns. A letter from Stockton, dated 

 May 22d, adds : 



" In the evening, the sheriff, Mr. Work, was ac- 

 costed by a Mexican, who asked him if he was not an 

 officer, or the officer who intended to enforce the pay- 

 ment of the license. On replying that he was, the 

 Mexican made an attempt to stab him, when a person 

 standing by, named Clark, with a single stroke of a 

 bowie knife, nearly severed his head from his body. 



