neighborhood but who had since died; the gentle savages failed to mention the manner of their taking off. Referring to the Diccionario Geografico-Historio de las Indias Occidentales o América of Antonio de Alcedo, published in Madrid in 1786-9, we find stated that in California, "provincia de la América Septentrional, y la última parte de ella en lo descubierto ácia el norte " are many wonders. Strange animals are there, and some that the Spaniards introduced, which have multiplied enormously. There are insects, snakes, tarantulas, and ants without number, but no fleas, bed-bugs, or chegoes. As prone to mendacity as I have ever found Mr Dunbar, I was not prepared to meet in his Romance of the Age so bold a misrepresentation as that Alcedo "positively asserts the existence of gold in California, even in lumps of five to eight pounds," and that in face of the plain statement: "No se han descubierto minas; pero hay bastantes indicios de que existen de todos metales." At Alizal, near Monterey, silver is said to have been found in 1802. Remarking how deep benea theth surface lay the precious metals in the interior of northern Mexico Humboldt, after his visit in 1803, expressed the opinion that toward the north gold might be found in large quantities near the surface. Knowledge of the existence of furnaces, used in the smelting of silver ore, in the southeastern part of California, or in the Colorado river region, is vaguely traced back to 1808. An exploring party from Stockton in 1860, in search of silver lodes, met in the vicinity of these furnaces a party of Mexicans with like intentions. With the Mexicans was an ancient aboriginal, José el Venadero he was called, one hundred years of age, who stated that these furnaces were in use when Mexico first threw off the yoke of Spain, fifty-two years ago. He was a mission Indian at the time, and the Spanish soldiers stationed at the furnaces to protect the workmen from the natives were with SUTTER AND THE RUSSIANS. 35 drawn during the revolution. A large body of natives, headed by his brother who was a chief, then attacked and killed the miners, and the priests who were with them; since which time the lode has not been worked, and the place had been forgotten by all except those engaged in the massacre. M. S. Brockway saw there in 1851 veins of antimonial silver. Count Scala writing in the Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, in 1854, asserts that although local tradition has not preserved any souvenir of the excursions of the Russians into the auriferous regions which have since been of such value to California, yet there are unanswerable proofs that several officers of the Russian company have at different times, between the years 1812 and 1841, procured a considerable quantity of metal from the native tribes of Yuba and Chico. "Nous montreros tout à l'heure," he goes on to say, que c'est aux Russes de Bodéga que les Américains sont redevables de l'heureuse découverte qui leur donne aujourd'hui la faculté d'étendre leur souveraineté dans la Nouvelle-Grenade et le Nicaragua, et d'imposer leur influence à toutes les républiques espagnoles du Pacifique." In proof of his premise Scala's chain of argument is not in every link consistent with fact. I will give it for what it is worth. He does not know how it occurred, or what might have been the nature of the services which Sutter had rendered to the government of Archangel, but certain it is that one day the captain arrived in California well recommended to the authorities at Ross and Bodega. M. Gorieff, a rich merchant established at Yakoutsk, pretends to have shown him in 1838 or 1839 a score of "kilos de lingots d'or et de pépites," which he had gathered five years before in the Sacramento valley, while on an excursion with the ciboleros of the company. And Gorieff counselled Sutter to devote himself exclusively to the investigation of these auriferous lands. However that might have been, Scala continues, "no one then in California was igno rant of the existence of gold in the Sierra Nevada districts. The creoles had often bought it from the Indian hunters, and in the time of the Spaniards the missions had secretly procured it in large quantities. The only obstacles which for a century had hindered the working of these mines by white men were the well known ferocity of the wild Indians, and ignorance of the exact position of the placers. After having made several excursions in the country pointed out to him by M. Gorieff, Sutter went to the governor at Monterey and asked a grant of the lands. This grant, which comprised an area measuring eighty kilometres in length and sixteen in width, was traversed by the route from San Francisco to the American posts on the Columbia river. It was a virgin region, abounding in game, profusely watered, rich in pasturage, and surrounded by mild-mannered tribes. There Sutter established himself as trapper, hunter, and agriculturist. When in 1841 the Russians evacuated Ross they sold to him their material, by which means he became strong enough successfully to withstand the provincial government. Thus was due to the Russians, the conclusion is, the gold discovery in California, and her consequent greatness." Here ends Count Scala, whom I have translated accurately, if somewhat freely. It is possible, even probable, that the Russians of Ross and Bodega knew of the existence of gold in the Sierra foothills. They had every opportunity for acquiring such knowledge, being in frequent communication with the inhabitants of that region; and there was no special inducement for them to notify the Mexicans of the fact. But as for Sutter being aware beforehand of the existence of gold in the vicinity of New Helvetia, I am sure that he was not; first, because he told me so, and secondly, because, if he had known it his line of conduct would have been different. Further than this, it is not true that the Indios bravos were so fierce as successfully to guard their gold from the Russians. They were not fierce at all, but rather as Sutter found them "aux moeurs douces et faciles." Holinski tells of a laborer, a servant of the Russian American Company in California, who one day went to the commandant with the story that he had seen gold in the bed of a stream, and advised that a party be sent to examine it. The man was told to mind his own business. Add to the statement of Scala the testimony of Governor Alvarado, given in the first volume of his Historia de California, and it is almost certain that the Russians of Ross and Bodega were aware of the existence of gold in the valley of California as early as 1814. During the administration of Governor Argüello, Alvarado says that gold was found in the possession of a Russian, El Loco Alexis he was called. The man was in jail at Monterey at the time, imprisoned with three others, perhaps for drunkenness, or for killing beaver, or, more likely, for being Russians. Alexis would not tell how or where he obtained the gold, and as he was shortly afterward sent to Sitka, nothing came of it. Alvarado does not hesitate to assert further that "we well knew of the existence of gold deposits on the slopes of the northern mountains, but the Indians, who were so much more numerous than we, prevented our exploring in that direction.” Because Phillips, in his Mineralogy, edition of 1818, spoke of gold in California, many thought he had knowledge of the existence of that metal in the Sierra foothills. In the possession of the San Francisco Society of Pioneers is a stone tablet, indicating the discovery of gold on Feather river in 1818. It was presented to the society by W. F. Stewart in 1868, and is held in great estimation by the wise men of the day. The stone is of hard, yellowish, sandy texture, about twelve inches in length by an average of three inches in width, and one inch thick. It is flat, and on one side are deeply cut, in legible letters, these words: 1818 GOLD CAVE IN THIS M. SHIP This cabalistic stone is said to have been picked up on the west branch of Feather river, in 1850, by William Thomas, and given by him to A. J. Pithan, of San José, in 1851. Mr Thomas, after diligent search, was unable to find the gold cave. Discussions of possibilities or probabilities are wholly useless. The chances are a hundred to one, in my opinion, that some miner of 1849 cut the letters for pastime, and then threw the stone away, or gave it to some one to make a good story out of. And now comes Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo with similar testimony, that the Spaniards in California knew of gold, but could not profit by their knowledge on account of the Indians. In the first volume of his Historia de California he further states that, in 1824, while Captain Pablo de la Portilla was encamped at San Emilio, Lieutenant Antorio del Valle, who had a stock of beads, blankets, and tobacco, traded his goods with the Chauchilas and Jozimas for fourteen thousand dollars in gold, "chispas de oro," emphasiz ing his statement by the further assertion that "el teniente del valle trajo el oro á Monterey, y lo he tenido en mis manos; y por eso respondo de la verdad del hecho." José de Jesus Pico, still living in San Luis Obispo, asserts that Father Martinez, the minister of the mission of that name, gave him and three fellow-soldiers, in 1829, twenty ounces of gold in one ounce balls, and that he believes the father must have picked it up at the place named San José, near the mission. He suspected that several Spaniards were for a time |