in California, and the resemblance to other gold districts was remarked; but there was no opportunity of exploring the country at the time."

The next year, Dr. Sandels, an educated Swedish gentleman of much experience in the mines of South America, visited Sutter's Fort, and was persuaded by Captain Sutter to make an examination of the country to see if gold did not exist there. The Doctor had but little time to spare, but he made an excursion up the Sacramento river as far as the site of Chico, and gave the opinion that, "Judging from the Butte mountains, I believe that there is gold in the country, but do not think there will ever be enough found to pay for the working."

Gen. John Bidwell narrowly escaped reaping the honors of a gold discoverer, in 1844. At that time he was in charge of Sutter's establishment at Hock Farm, and under him was a Mexican vaquero named Pablo Gutierez, who was familiar with placer mining in his own country. He one day informed Bidwell that in the foot-hills on Bear river he had found black sand and other signs of gold, which he pointed out to him when the two visited the locality to investigate. He said that to work it a peculiar implement called a batea was required, and that it would be necessary to go to Mexico for this. His means being limited, Bidwell was unable to do this, and requested the vaquero to keep the matter a secret until they could procure the indispensable implement. The secret was faithfully kept until the death of Gutierez, which occurred the following winter, during the Castro rebellion. He was the bearer of dispatches from Sutter to Micheltorena, was taken prisoner and instantly executed, near the site of the present town of Gilroy. This event postponed, for a time, all thought of gold discovery, but Bidwell never lost hope. He paid the mines of Los Angeles a visit, and also went into mountains south of the Cosumne river in July, 1845, but the lack of the supposed necessary batea, prevented him from succeeding in his purpose. Less than four years later he saw, at almost that very point south of the Cosumne, a busy mining camp and diggings of great richness.

Had he known that the wonderful batea was simply a wooden bowl, and that any tin dish or most any kind of receptacle would have answered the same purpose, the name of John Bidwell would have gone down to history instead of James W. Marshall.

The man who made the final discovery of the precious metal in the mill-race at Coloma, January 19, 1848, the news of which brought thousands from all points of the compass, was James W. Marshall. He came down from Oregon in 1845, whither he had gone overland from Missouri the year before; he entered the employ of Captain Sutter, took part in the American conquest as a member of the California battalion, and when the war ceased, in 1847, he returned to Sutter's Fort, at which place he had enlisted. He soon after made an excursion up the American river, and was so pleased with the water-power at a place on the south fork, called by the Indians "Culloomah," known now as Coloma, that he desired to build a saw-mill there. Having entered into a partnership agreement with Captain Sutter, by which he was to superintend the erection and operation of the mill, and Sutter to furnish the means, the contract being written by John Bidwell, he twenty-eighth of August, 1847, with workmen, tools, etc. for carrying off the water after being used, were completed. led to the discovery. A ditch was cut to direct the course of the current, and at night the head-gates were raised and the stream allowed to rush through the ditch, carrying with it mud and sand and leaving the stones, which were thrown out the next day by Indians. In this way the race was gradually enlarged.

started for the field of action on the By January the building and tail-race The method of making the race was what

The following extract from The Life and Adventures of James W. Marshall contains the best and most authentic account of the circumstances attending the discovery. It was published by Marshall in

1870 (who was then, and is now, in straightened circumstances, living not far from the scene of his discovery), and written by George F. Parsons:

"We now approach the most important event, not only in the life of Marshall, but in the history of California; and as many erroneous statements have been made and published, from time to time, concerning the manner of the first discovery, and as attempts have been made to foist a spurious discovery upon the public, we deem it proper to enter into details with such minuteness as the historical value of the events appears to demand and to warrant.

"The names of the men who were then working at the mill, and who, if living, can substantiate the accuracy of this narrative, are as follows: Peter L. Wemer, William Scott, James Bargee, Alexander Stephens, James Brown, William Johnson and Henry Bigler. The latter afterwards moved to Salt Lake, together with Brown, Stephens and Bargee, and became an elder in the Mormon church.

"On the morning of that memorable day Marshall went out, as usual, to superintend the men, and after closing the fore-bay gate, and thus shutting off the water, walked down the tail-race to see what sand and gravel had been removed during the night. This had been customary with him for some time, for he had previously entertained the idea that there might be minerals in the mountains, and had expressed it to Sutter, who, however, only laughed at him.

"On this occasion, having strolled to the lower end of the race, he stood for a moment examining the mass of debris that had been washed down, and, at this juncture, his eye caught the glitter of something that lay lodged in a crevice or a riffle of soft granite, some six inches under water. His first act was to stoop and pick up the substance. It was heavy, of a peculiar color, and unlike anything he had seen in the stream before. For a few minutes he stood with it in his hand, reflecting and endeavoring to recall all he had heard or read concerning the various minerals. After a close examination, he became satisfied that what he held in his hand must be one of three substances-mica, sulphuret of copper, or gold. The weight assured him that it was not mica. Could it be sulphuret of copper? He remembered that that mineral is brittle, and that gold is malleable, and, as this thought passed through his mind, he turned about, placed the specimen upon a flat stone, and proceeded to test it by striking it with another. The substance did not crack or flake off-it simply bent under the blows. This, then, was gold; and, in this manner, was the first gold found in California.

*

*

"The discoverer proceeded with his work as usual, after showing the nugget to his men and indulging in a few conjectures concerning the probable extent of the gold-fields. As a matter of course, he watched closely, from time to time, for further developments, and, in the course of a few days, had collected several ounces of the precious metal.

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Although, however, he was satisfied in his own mind that it was gold, there were some who were skeptical, and as he had no means of testing it chemically, he determined to take some down to his partner at the fort, and have the question finally decided. Some four days after the discovery it became necessary for him to go below, for Sutter had failed to send a supply of provisions to the mill, and the men were on short commons. So, mounting his horse, and taking some three ounces of gold-dust with him, he started. Having always an eye to business, he availed himself of this opportunity to examine the river for a site for a lumber-yard, whence the timbers cut at the mill could be floated down; and while exploring for this purpose he discovered gold in a ravine in the foot-hills, and also at the place afterwards known as Mormon Island. That night he slept under an oak tree, some eight or ten miles east of the fort, where he arrived about nine o'clock the next morning. Dismounting from his horse, he entered Sutter's private office, and proceeded to inquire into the cause of the delay in sending up the provisions. This matter having been explained, and the teams being in a fair way to load, he asked for a few minutes private conversation with Colonel Sutter, and the two entered a little room back of the

store, reserved as a private office.

Then Marshall showed him the gold. He looked at it in astonishment, and, still doubting, asked what it was. His visitor replied that it was gold. "Impossible!" was the incredulous ejaculation of Sutter. Upon this Marshall asked for some nitric acid to test it, and a vaquero having been dispatched to the gunsmith's for that purpose, Sutter inquired whether there was no other way in which it could be tested. He was told that its character might be ascertained by weighing it, and accordingly some silver coin ($3.25 was all that the fort could furnish) and a pair of small scales or balances having been obtained, Marshall proceeded to weigh the dust, first in the air and then in two bowls of water. The experiment resulted as he had foreseen. The dust went down, the coin rose lightly up. Sutter gazed and his doubts faded, and a subsequent test with the acid, which, by this time had arrived, settled the question finally. Then the excitement began to spread. Sutter knew well the value of the discovery, and in a short time, having made hurried arrangements at the fort, he returned with Marshall to Coloma, to see for himself the wonder that had been reported to him."

The following, from the Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman, would indicate that Marshall was not so excessively cool about the discovery as would appear from his own account: "Captain Sutter himself related to me Marshall's account, saying that, as he sat in his room at the fort one day in February or March, 1848, a knock was heard at his door, and he called out, 'Come in.' In walked Marshal, who was a half-crazy man at best, but then looked strangely wild. 'What is the matter, Marshall?' Mar

shall inquired if any one was within hearing, and began to peer about the room and looked under the bed, when Sutter, fearing that some calamity had befallen the party up at the saw-mill, and that Marshall was really crazy, began to make his way to the door, demanding of Marshall to explain what was the matter. At last he revealed his discovery, and laid before Captain Sutter the pellicles of gold he had picked up in the ditch. At first Sutter attached but little importance to the discovery, and told Marshall to go back to the mill and say nothing of what he had seen to his family or any one else. Yet, as it might add value to the location, he dispatched to our headquarters in Monterey, as I have already related, the two men with written application for a pre-emption to the quarter-section of land at Coloma."

On the same subject, the following extract from a diary kept at the time by John A. Sutter will be found highly interesting. It is given just as written by that gentleman :

"January 28, 1848, Marshall arrived in the evening. It was raining very heavy, but he told me that he came on important business. After we was alone in a private room, he showed me the first specimens of gold; that is, he was not certain if it was gold or not, but he thought it might be; immediately I made the proof and found that it was gold. I told him even that most of all is twenty-three carat gold. He wished that I should come up with him immediately, but I told him that I have first to give my orders to the people in all my factories and shops.

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February 1st.-Left for the saw-mill attended by a vaquero (Olimpio); was absent second, third, fourth, and fifth.. I examined myself everything and picked up a few specimens of gold myself in the tail-race of the saw-mill, this gold and others which Marshall and some of the other laborers gave to me (it was found while in my employ and wages). I told them that I would a ring got made of it so soon as a goldsmith would be here. I had a talk with my employed people all at the saw-mill. I told them that as they do know now that this metal is gold, I wished that they would do me the great favor and keep it secret only six weeks, because my large flour-mill at Brighton would have been in operation in such a time, which undertaking would have been a fortune to me, and unfortunately the people would not keep it secret, and so I lost on this mill, at the lowest calculation about $25,000.”

says:

In speaking of the finding of the first piece of gold and the tests Marshall submitted it to, Tuthill

:

"Peter L. Wemer claims that he was with Marshall when the first piece of the yellow stuff' was picked up. It was a pebble weighing six pennyweights and eleven grains. Marshall gave it to Mrs. Wemer, and asked her to boil it in saleratus water and see what came of it. As she was making soap at the time, she pitched it into the soap-kettle. About twenty-four hours afterwards it was fished out and found all the brighter for its boiling."

The credit of this discovery is chiefly due to Captain Sutter, by whose energy and courage the Sacramento valley was settled, and a condition of society created so as to take advantage of the discovery. It was Sutter's enterprise that demanded and paid for the mill, while Marshall was the man who, by accident, happened to see the first piece of gold.

It did not take long for the news to spread throughout the coast. About the first of March, Gen. John Bidwell went to San Francisco with some specimens, which were pronounced genuine gold by Isaac Humphrey, an old Georgia miner. This man's experience taught him that such coarse gold was only found in rich placers, and in vain he sought to induce some one to go with him on a prospecting trip to Coloma; they all thought it a brainless folly. On the seventh of March he arrived at the mill, and after prospecting a day, made a rocker and commenced the first of that gold-mining that was the life of California for many years. In a few days Baptiste Ruelle, who had discovered gold near Los Angeles in 1841, joined Humphrey and went to work. One and two at a time the people slowly arrived

to see for themselves and to go to work, and on the twenty-fifth of March the California Star announced that gold-dust was an article of traffic at New Helvetia (Sacramento).

The discovery at Coloma was soon followed by the finding of gold on many other streams. The circumstances surrounding the first gold-mining on the Calaveras, Stanislaus, Mokelumne, Yuba, Feather, Trinity, Klamath and Scott rivers, which, with the American, form the principal streams along which mining has been carried on, are of peculiar interest.

Specimens of scale gold were carried to Tuleburgh (Stockton) in the latter part of March, and exhibited to Charles M. Weber. He did not rush to Coloma, as many did, with the idea that it was there only that gold could be found, but fitted out a prospecting party, in which were a number of Si-yak-um-na Indians, and commenced the exploration of the mountains north from the Stanislaus river. The History of San Joaquin County says: "But the gold fever had taken possession of them, and haste and nuggets became their watchword, inexperience their companion, and failure the result, until the Mokelumne river was reached. Here the captain decided to make a more deliberate search, the result being a discovery by him of the first gold found in the region of country afterwards known as the southern mines. They were so called to distinguish them from those that, from geographical location, were more easily approached from Sacramento. After this they prospected with more care, and gold was found in every stream and gulch between the Mokelumne and American rivers. A location was not made, however, until the latter was reached, where they commenced work in earnest on what has since been known as Weber creek. As soon as the Indians accompanying the expedition had learned how to prospect, the captain sent them all back to their chief, Jesus, on the Stanislaus river, where Knight's Ferry now is, with instructions to prospect that stream and others for gold, and report results to his Major-domo at Tuleburgh. Not many days had passed before an express rider dashed into Weber's camp with the exciting news that his Indians had found gold in quantities everywhere between the Calaveras and Stanislaus rivers. He immediately returned to his home, fitted out the Stockton Mining Company, and inaugurated the working of those afterwards famous mines. The operations of this company were numerous and covered a large extent of country. They had a small army of Indians in their employ, the different members conducting their various enterprises. Murphy's Camp, Sullivan's Diggings, Sansevina Bar, Jamestown Wood's Creek and Angel's Camp all derived their names from