246 ELDORADO 



between the Great Salt Lake, Utah, and Mono Lake 

 ni California, Smith discovered gold in considerable 

 quantities and disclosed his secret to his partners. Ot 

 this, however, we lack sufficient testimony to pro- 

 nounce it a fact. Some of his comrades also asserted 

 that the bullets fired at them by the Indians during 

 their many fights on the Wind River mountains, and 

 also near the present sight of Virginia City, Nevada, 

 were made of, or heavily alloyed with gold. This, 

 too, seems a matter of much doubt. Having closed 

 out his interest in the fur business Smith found it 

 impossible to content himself in St. Louis, or, in fact, 

 anywhere within the limits of civilization, and in less 

 than a year after he had retired from the exciting 

 life of a hunter and trapper, we find him undertaking 

 new risks and dangers. But before going further, 

 we will dispose of the claim often made for James O. 

 Pattie, that he was the first American to enter Califor- 

 nia overland. Pattie left the Mississippi valley in 1825, 

 with a company of trappers, their destination being 

 the Pacific Coast. These men roamed over the plains 

 and mountains of Colorado and New Mexico for five 

 years, and were finally surounded by the Yuma In- 

 dians at a point in the Gila valley, near the mouth of 

 the Colorado river. The trappers were plundered by 

 these Indians, and finally in the year 1830, made their 

 entrance into California. A full account of this expe- 

 dition appears in the message of Genera) Jackson — 

 then President of the United State — to Congress, in 

 the year 1836. Captain Brown by water., and Captain 

 Smith by land, were the prosaic names of the first 

 Americans who ever trod the soil of the Golden State. 

 Had Smith been superstitious, or paid any attention 



