186 



$l)e ifarmcr's ittcmtljto iltsttor. 



California Gold Mines*. 



The following are extracts from the letter of 

 the Governor of California, communicated to 

 Congress with the President's Message: — 



Headquarters 10th Military Dept., ) 

 Monterey, California, Aug. 17, liUS. $ 



Sir: I have the honor to inform yon that, ac- 

 companied by Lieut. VV. T. Sherman, 3d artille- 

 ry, A. A. A. General, I started on the 12th of 

 June last lo make a tour through the northern 

 part of California. My principal purpose, how- 

 ever, was to visit the newly discovered gold 

 "placers "in the valley of the Sacramento. I 

 had proceeded ahout forty miles, when I was 

 overtaken by an express, bringing me intelli- 

 gence of the arrival at Monterey of the United 

 States ship Southampton, with important letters 

 from Commodore Shuhriek and Lieut. Col. Bur- 

 ton. 1 returned at once to Monterey, and dis- 

 patched what business was most important, and 

 on the 17th resumed my journey. We reached 

 San Francisco on the 20tl), and found that all, or 

 nearly all, its male inhabitants had gone to the 

 mines. The town, which a few months before 

 was so busy and thriving, was then almost de- 

 serted. On the evening of the 24th, the horses 

 of the escort were crossed to Sousoleto in a 

 launch, and on the following day we resumed 

 the journey by way of Bodega and Sonoma to 

 Sutter's fort, where we arrived on the morning 

 of the 2d of July. Along the whole route, mills 

 were lying idle, fields of wheal were open to 

 cattle and horses, houses vacant, and farms go- 

 ing to waste. At Sutter's there was more life 

 and business. Launches were discharging their 

 cargoes at the river, and carts were hauling 

 goods to the fort, where already were established 

 several stores, a hotel, &c. Capt. Sutler had mi- 

 ly two mechanics in his employ, (a wagon-maker 

 and a blacksmith,) whom be was then paying ten 

 dollars a day. Merchants pay him a monthl] 

 rent of $100 per room; and whilst 1 was there, 

 a two-story house in the fort was rented as a ho- 

 tel for $500 a month. 



At the urgent solicitation of. many gentlemen, 

 I delayed there to participate in the first public 

 celebration of our national anniversary at that 

 fort, but on the 5lh resumed tiie journey, and 

 proceeded twenty-five miles up the American 

 fork to a point on it now known as the Lower 

 mines, or Mormon Diggins. The bill-sides were 

 thickly strewn with canvas tents and bush ar- 

 bours; a store was erected, and several boarding 

 shanties in operation. The day was intensely 

 hot, yet about two hundred men were at work in 

 the full glare of the sun, washing for gold — some 

 with tin pans, some with close- woven Indian 

 baskets, but the greater part had a rude machine, 

 known as the cradle. This is on rockers, six or 

 eight feet long, open at the foot, and at its head 

 has a coarse grate, or sieve: the bottom is roun- 

 ded, with small elects nailed across. Four men 

 are required to work this machine ; one digs the 

 ground in the bank close by the stream ; another 

 carries it to the cradle and empties it on the 

 grate; a third gives a violent rocking motion to 

 the machine ; whilst a fourth dashes on water 

 from the stream itself. The sieve keeps the 

 coarse stones from entering the cradle, the cur- 

 rent of water washes off the earthy matter, and 

 the gravel is gradually carried out at the fool of 

 the machine, leaving the gold mixed with a 

 heavy fine black sand above the first cleets. The 

 sand and gold mixed together are then drawn off 

 through auger holes into a pan below, are dried 

 in the sun, and afterwards separated by blowing 

 off the sand. A party of four men thus employ- 

 ed at the lower mines averaged $100 a day. 

 The Indians, anil those who have nothing but 

 pans or willow baskets, gradually wash nut the 

 earth ami separate the gravel by hand, leaving 

 nothing hut the gold mixed with soul, which is 

 separated in tin; manner before described. The 

 gold in the lower mines is in fine bright scales, 

 of which I send several specimens. 



As we ascended the south branch of the 

 \ mi rican fork, the country became more broken 

 and mountainous. At the saw mill, twenty-five 

 miles above the lower washings, or fifty miles 

 from Suiter's, the hills rise about a thousand feet 

 above the level of the Sacramento plain. Here 

 a species of pine occurs, which led to the dis- 

 covery of the gold. Capt. Suiter feeling the 

 great want of lumber, contracted in September 



last with a Mr. Marshall to build a savv mill at 

 that place. It was erected in the course of the 

 past winter and spring — a dam and race con- 

 structed ; but when the water was let on the 

 wheel, the tail-race was found to be too narrow 

 to permit the water to escape with sufficient ra- 

 pidity. Mr. Marshall, to save labor, let the wa- 

 ter directly into the race with a strong current, 

 so as to wash it wider and deeper. He effected 

 his purpose, and a large bed of mud and gravel 

 was carried to the foot of the race. One day 

 Mr. Marshall, as he was walking down the race 

 to his deposit of mud, observed some glittering 

 particles at its upper edge ; he gathered a few, 

 examined them, and became satisfied of their 

 value. He then went to the fort, told Capt. Sut- 

 ter of his discovery, and they agreed to keep it 

 secret until a certain grist mill of Sutter's was 

 finished. It, however, got out, and spread like 

 magic. Remarkable success attended the labors 

 of the first explorers, and in a few weeks hun- 

 dreds of men were drawn thither. At the time 

 of my visit, hut little more than three months af- 

 ter its first discovery, it was estimated that up- 

 wards of four thousand persons were employed. 

 At the mill there is a fine deposit or bank of 

 gravel, which the people respect as the properly 

 of Capt. Sutter, although he pretends to no right 

 to it, and would be perfectly satisfied with the 

 simple promise of pre-emption, on account of 

 the mill which he has built there at a considera- 

 ble cost. Mr. Marshall was living near the mill, 

 and informed me that many persons were em- 

 ployed above and below him ; that they used the 

 same machines as at the lower washings, and 

 that their success was about the same — ranging 

 from one to three ounces of gold per man daily. 

 This gold, too, is in scales a little coarser than 

 those of the lower mines. From the mill Mr. 

 Marshall guided me up the mountain on the op- 

 posite or north bank of the south fork, where, in 

 the bed of small streams or ravines, now dry, a 

 great deal of coarse gold has been found. I 

 there saw several parties at work, all of whom 

 were doing well ; a great many specimens were 

 shown me, some as heavy as four or five ounces 

 in weight. * * On the 7th of July I left 



the mill and crossed lo a small stream emptying 

 into the American fork, three or four miles be- 

 low the saw mill. 1 struck this stream (now 

 known as Webber's creek) at the washings of 

 Sunol & Co. They had about thirty Indians 

 employed, whom they pay in merchandise. They 

 are getting gold of a character similar to that 

 found in the main fork, and doubtless in sufficient 

 quantities to satisfy them. 



I send you a small specimen, presented by this 

 company, of their gold. From this point, we 

 proceeded up the stream about eight miles, 

 where we found a great many people and In- 

 dians — some engaged in the bed of the stream, 

 and others in the small side valleys that put into 

 it. These latter are exceedingly rich, and two 

 ounces were considered an ordinary yield for a 

 day's work. A small gutter, not more than a 

 hundred yards long by four feet wide and two or 

 three feet deep, was pointed out to me as the 

 one where two men— William Daly and Perry 

 McCoon — had, a short time before, obtained 

 817,000 worth of gold. Capt. Webber informed 

 me that he knew that these two men had em- 

 ployed four white men and ahout a hundred In- 

 dians, and that, at the end of one week's work, 

 they paid off their parly, and had left $10,000 

 worth of this gold. Another small ravine was 

 shown me, from which had been taken upwards 

 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 precious metals, 

 evidence of their truth. Mr. Neligh, an agent of 

 Commodore Stockton, had been at work about 

 three weeks in the neighborhood, and showed 

 me in bans and bottles over $2000 worth of gold ; 

 and Mr. Lyman, a gentleman of education and 

 worthy of every credit, said he had been enga- 

 ged with four others, with a machine, on the 

 American fork jusl below Sutter's mill; that 

 they worked eight days, and that his share was 

 at the rate of fifty dollars a day; hut healing 

 that others were doing belter at Webber's place, 

 (hey had removed there, and were on the point 

 of resuming operations. ! might tell of hun- 

 dreds of similar instances; but to illustrate how 

 plentiful ihe gold was in the pockets of common 



laborers, I will mention a simple occurrence 

 which took place in my presence when 1 was at 

 Webber's store. This store was nothing but an 

 arbour of bushes, under which he had exposed 

 for sale goods and groceries suited to his cus- 

 tomers. A man came in, picked up a box of 

 Seidlitz powders and asked its price. Capt. 

 Webber told him it was not for sale. The man 

 offered an ounce of gold, but Capt. Webber told 

 him it only cost fifty cents, and he did not wish 

 to sell it. The man then offered an ounce and 

 a half, when Capt. Webber had to take it. The 

 prices of all things are high, and yet Indians, 

 who before hardly knew what a breech cloth 

 was, can now afford to buy the most gaudy 

 dresses. 



Mr. Sinclair, whose rnncho is three miles above 

 Sutter's on the north side of the American, em- 

 ploys about fifty Indians on the north fork, not 

 tin- from its junction with the main stream. He 

 had been engaged about five weeks when I saw 

 him, and up to that time his Indians had used 

 simply, closely woven willow baskets. His nett 

 proceeds (which I saw) were about $16,000 

 worth of gold. He showed me the proceeds of 

 his last week's work — fourteen pounds avoirdu- 

 pois of clean washed gold. 



The principal store at Sutter's Fort, that of 

 Braunan & Co., have received in payment for 

 goods, §30,000 (worth of this gold) from the 1st 

 of May to the 10th of July. Other merchants 

 had also made extensive sales. Large quantities 

 of goods were daily sent forward to the mines, 

 as the Indians, heretofore so poor and degraded, 

 have suddenly become consumers of ihe luxuries 

 of life. I before mentioned that the greater part 

 of the farmers and rancheros had abandoned 

 their fields to go to the mines. This is not the 

 case with Capt. Sutter who was carefully gather- 

 ing his wheat, estimated at forly thousand bush- 

 els. Flour is already worth at Sutter's $36 a 

 barrel, and soon will be fifty. Unless large 

 quantities of breadsluffs reach the country, much 

 suffering will occur ; but as each man is now 

 aide to pay a large price, it is believed the mer- 

 chants will bring from Chili and Oregon a plen- 

 tiful supply for the coming winter. 



The most moderate estimate I could obtain 

 from men acquainted with the subject, was, that 

 upwards of four thousand men were working in 

 the gold district, of whom more than one half 

 were Indians; and that from $30,000 to $50,000 

 worth of gold, if not more, was daily obtained. 

 The entiie gold district, with very few excep- 

 tions of grants made some years ago by the 

 Mexican authorities, is on land belonging to the 

 United Stales. 



I was surprised to learn that crime of any kind 

 was very unfrequent, and that no thefts or rob- 

 beries had been committed in the gold district. 

 All live in tents, bush arbours, or in ihe open 

 air; and men have frequently about their persons 

 thousands of dollars worth of" this gold, ami it 

 was lo mo a mailer of surprise that so peaceful 

 and quiet a state of things should continue to 

 exist. 



The discovery of these vast deposits of gold 

 has entirely changed the character of Upper 

 California. Its people, before engaged in culti- 

 vating their small patches of ground, and guard- 

 ing their herds of cattle and horses, have all 

 gone to ihe mines, or on their way thither. La- 

 borers of every trade have left their work bench- 

 es, and tradesmen their shops. Sailors desert 

 their ships as fast as they arrive on the coast, 

 and several vessels have gone to sea with hardly 

 enough hands to spread a sail. Two or three 

 are now at anchor in San Francisco with no 

 crew on board. 



1 have no hesitation now in saying that there 

 is more gold in the country drained by the Sac- 

 ramento and San Joaquin rivers, than will pay 

 the cost of the present war with Mexico a hun- 

 dred times over. No capital is required lo ob- 

 tain this gold, as the laboring man wants nothing 

 but hi* pick and shovel and tin pan, with which 

 to dig and wash the gravel ; and many frequent- 

 ly pick gold out of the crevices of rocks with 

 their butcher knives, in pieces from one lo six 

 ounces. 



Mr. Dye, a gentleman residing in Monterey, 

 and worthy of every credit, has just returned 

 from Feather river. He tells me the company 

 lo which he belonged, worked seven weeks and 



