representative to the United States Senate; the former began work on Clear Creek, nearly 200 miles northwest of Coloma, the latter on Feather River some 75 miles northwest of Coloma.

The news of the discovery spread slowly, but gained momentum with the passage of time, as new discoveries, with their exaggerated reports of riches found, came in and dispelled suspicions and doubt until everything was swept before the excitement that burned at fever heat.

"The towns and farms were deserted or left in care of women and children, while ranchos, wood-choppers, mechanics, vaqueros, and soldiers and sailors who had deserted or obtained leave of absence, devoted all their energies to washing the auriferous gravel of the Sacramento basin. Never satisfied, however much they might be making, they were continually looking for new placers which might yield them twice or thrice as much as they had made before. Thus the area of their labors gradually extended, and at the end of 1848, miners were at work in every large stream on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, from the Feather to the Tuolumne River, a distance of one hundred and fifty miles, and also at Reading's diggings, in the northwestern corner of the Sacramento Valley."

A newspaper of San Francisco on the 29th of May following the discovery of gold, suspended publication with the announcement that: "The whole country, from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and from the sea-shore to the base of the Sierra Nevada, resounds with the sordid cry of gold! gold! gold! while the field is left half planted, the house half built, and everything neglected but the manufacture of picks and shovels, and the means of transportation to the spot where one man obtained one hundred and twenty-eight dollars worth of the real stuff in one day's washing; and the average for all concerned is twenty dollars per diem." 1

Captain Sutter, for whom Marshall was working and near whose place the discovery of gold was made, took samples of the gold to Monterey to the military authorities, General Mason being at that time Military Governor with headquarters at that place.

The official report of the discovery with specimens of the gold was forwarded by special messenger, Gen. E. F. Beale. The news was received with incredulity and ridicule and did not excite the interest anticipated, but before General Beale could reach California on his return, another mad rush had taken place to the gravel beds 1 Mineral Resources of the West, J. Ross Browne, 1867, p. 15.

of the north, and he found San Francisco in a state of wild excitement. This was late in 1848.1

The cause of this new excitement was the finding of a so-called gold nugget, weighing some twenty or twenty-five pounds, by s soldier of Stevenson's regiment, while drinking from the Mokelumne River. This specimen was placed in the care of General Mason, who sent it by General Beale to the eastern states. On its exhibition in New York City the last doubts were dispelled and the whole nation became wild with excitement.

Interest in the new gold fields was not confined to the United States alone, but Mexico, South America, Europe and the islands of the seas sent their hundreds and thousands to assist in the golden harvest.

It is only necessary to cite the increase in population at this time to show the movement toward this new Eldorado. Before 1850, the population of California had risen from 15,000, as it was in 1847, to 100,000, and the average increase annually for five or six years was 50,000.2

Some surprise has been expressed that Fremont did not discover gold while passing through the Sacramento Valley, but it is not to be wondered at since it is known that his party was in such an exhausted condition that he was forced to slaughter his pack animals for food; then too he was looked upon with suspicion by the Mexican authorities, who suspected that he had revolutionary motives in invading the country.

As previously referred to, gold was discovered on the Feather River, in Butte County, by John Bidwell in March, 1848, and some two weeks later on Butte Creek, the west branch of the Feather; while on July 4, 1848, he located Bidwell's Bar three miles above the present town of Oroville. On May 16, 1848, Claude Chana discovered gold in Auburn Ravine, which locality was later known as the "North Fork Dry Diggings," and still later changed to Auburn.

An early, if not the earliest, discovery of silver in this state was made by a party of emigrants in August, 1849, who under the leadership of a Mr. Rhodes crossed the plains and entered Death Valley from the east through the Furnis Creek pass. There they camped at the so-called "Poison Springs." Shortly afterwards many of their number were taken sick and twenty-two died. Thinking that

1 Min. and Sci. Press, Vol. 43, p. 177.

Mineral Resources of the West, J. Ross Browne, 1867, p. 16.

H

the water of the spring was poisonous they made haste to get away, abandoning practically everything. However, their first thought was for water, and horsemen were sent out to search for it, and it was while thus engaged that one of their number picked up a piece of float-rock with pure silver attached to it. This specimen, it is claimed, could be seen at Oroville, California, as late as 1884, being in the possession of an old lady, a survivor of the party.1

On reaching their destination the specimen was shown and considerable interest was aroused, resulting in many parties making diligent search for the locality from which it came, but without

success.

The discovery of Grass Valley dates back to 1849, when the first lot of pioneers, nearly exhausted by their journey across the continent, came to it, and they and their worn animals rested and recuperated it was then named Grass Valley. In the same year gold placers were discovered there, following which gold-quartz ledges were located in June, 1850. In October, 1850, McKnight discov-, ered gold on Gold Hill - the quartz being literally filled with gold. Immediately following the discovery on Gold Hill, and in the same month, rich quartz ledges were discovered on Massachusetts, Ophir and Rich hills by G. D. Roberts. The location of the Empire mine on Ophir Hill was one of the most important finds. However, the discovery on Cold Hill is of historical importance in that the first quartz mining in the same state had its beginning there.

The placers of Plumas and Sierra counties were discovered in 1850-51, and following their exhaustion the ancient river gravels were worked. In 1851, the famous Plumas-Eureka gold ledge on Gold Mountain was discovered.

In the spring of 1850, fabulous stories were circulated regarding the occurrence of gold at Gold Lake, a small body of water east of the present town of Downieville. This proved to be a delusion and a snare, and many returned poorer than they started. During 1851, Gold Bluff, on the sea-shore about latitude 41 degrees, was the scene of considerable excitement. Large numbers of miners flocked to this place and much work was done, but owing to the character of the gold and the associated minerals, the separation of the gold could not be made to pay, at least at wages that the miners would be satisfied with.

In July, 1878, attention was again called to the ocean beaches owing to discoveries made by John Frazer. Shortly after the

1 Min. and Sci. Press, Vol. 40, p. 230.

discovery the whole beach from north of Ocean Side House as far south as Point San Pedro was staked off.

The discovery of a pocket mine on Bald Mountain, Tuolumne County near Sonora, in 1852, is the first of any importance found in the state. It was located by Mexicans, who are reported to have taken a large amount of gold from the mine.

J. F. Talbott discovered the placer deposits at Indiana Hill in the spring of 1852. These were the first diggings found between the

North Fork and Bear River.

The Amargoza mine of San Bernardino County and in Death Valley, was discovered by immigrants on their way to the gold fields. Returning to the country at a later date to work the property they were killed by Indians. The mine was rediscovered in 1876, by J. B. Osborne and others.

Gold in both placers and veins was discovered at Sulphur Creek, Colusa County, in 1863. The principal mines worked are the Manzanita, Monticello and Clyde.

. A quartz vein at Nashville, El Dorado County, was first located and opened in 1851, but it was not until 1868 that any systematic work was done.

From 1850-56 river mining was extensively carried on in practically all of the streams in the gold regions, while in 1852, Edward E. Mattison invented hydraulic mining in placer deposits.

In 1855, Kern River was the point of attraction and drew a motley crowd of adventurers; they were, however, doomed to disappointment. A notable and somewhat remarkable find of ancient river beds at Columbia, in Tuolumne County, occurred in October, 1855. These ancient channels were soon found to be of quite common occurrence, but the largest and most noted was probably the Blue Lead, which runs through the middle of Sierra and Nevada counties. These new-found repositories of gold added immensely to the resources of the state.

In 1856, the main center to which public interest was drawn was the Fraser River. Rich bar-diggings were found and another rush took place, but the excitement did not last long.

During 1863-64, attention of the mining world was directed particularly to the silver and gold mines of Nevada and Colorado, and gold mining in California languished, but did not cease altogether.

In 1881, an important discovery of silver was made in the Calico district of California.

After the Comstock Lode and adjoining territory had been thoroughly prospected and most of the ledges which gave promise of containing values were located, the prospectors and miners began to seek new fields for their labors, and as a result numerous new districts were opened up, and in many cases mines, abandoned under the stress of previous excitements, were reopened and worked with profit. Thus mining in California was revived, and for the following twenty odd years slowly increased in importance and magnitude, largely through the introduction of improved methods of mining and treating the ores.

Gravel mining in its various forms and phases had steadily increased, both in magnitude of operations and extent of ground covered, until about 1884, when after a series of state and federal injunctions against hydraulic mining the industry was forced to stop operations. However, in March, 1893, Congress passed the Caminetti Act, which permitted the mines to be operated again under certain restrictions.

In 1892, Amador and Nevada counties were the largest producers of gold. Little silver was produced in the state.

Electricity was applied to the principal mines of the Bodie district, power being generated in Mono County. There was a marked increase in the production of gold during the following

year.

In 1895, gold mining had become the most important single industry in the state. No silver mines of importance were to be found outside the Calico district, San Bernardino County. The Randsburg district was discovered. During 1897, hydraulic mining had increased materially in volume under the Caminetti law. Considerable activity was manifested both in new and old developments; there was a marked movement toward the Angel's Camp.

The serious drought experienced in many of the placer-mining districts was responsible for the falling off in the gold output in 1898. However, the Randsburg district began to show up well. Gold was mined in thirty-one out of fifty-seven counties. The Vanderbilt mine was an important producer. River dredging began to form an important industry of the state. A marked increase in gold production occurred in 1899 and 1900, due probably both to weather conditions being more favorable and rapid development of the dredging industry, which had extended to ten states.