438 HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. 



has been favorable to the preservation of order and 

 the dispensation of justice. 



The old placers are still exceedingly productive, and 

 new ones are almost daily discovered in the smaller 

 streams running from the western slope of the Sierra 

 Nevada into the great valleys of the Sacramento and 

 San Joaquin Rivers. 



I am satisfied, however, from personal observation, 

 that very exaggerated accounts have been sent to 

 the United States respecting the ease with which the 

 precious metal is extracted from the earth, and that 

 many who come to this country with the expectation 

 of acquiring sudden wealth, with little or no labor, will 

 be sadly disappointed. It is true that the reward of 

 labor in the mines is very high ; but it should not be 

 forgotten that gold digging and gold washing in that 

 climate require strong constitutions and great physical 

 exertions, and very few need expect to acquire for- 

 tunes by working the placers, without severe labor 

 and fixed habits of industry and temperance. The 

 yield of different localities is, of course, very different, 

 some of the placers being exceedingly rich, while the 

 product of others is scarcely sufficient to pay the 

 expenses of working. But I think the general averages 

 per diem, for those actually employed in washing for 

 gold, will not vary much from an ounce or an ounce 

 and a half per man ; some make much more than that 

 sum, while those who are less fortunate fall much short 

 of it. The actual number of persons working the 

 placers will not vary much from ten thousand. The 

 entire population now in the mining district is much 

 greater than that number ; but many are engaged in 

 mercantile pursuits and in transporting goods and 

 provisions, while others employ much of their time in 



