1849 12,243,175 dollars £2,448,635 9,007,761 dollars £1,801,552
1850 38,365,160 ” 7,673,032 31,981,737 ” 6,396,347
1851 56,867,220 ” 11,373,444 62,812,478 ” 12,562,496
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Total, 107,475,555 ” £21,495,111 103,801,976 ” £20,760,395
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All the gold sent to the Mint did not, however, come from California.
A part consisted of specie sent from Europe, in exchange for American
stocks or merchandize. The treasure found in 1848 in the Valley of the
Sacramento, belonged, as it has been stated, principally to foreigners.
Up to the month of March, 1850, the United States’ Mints had not
received above 11,000,000 or [96]12,000,000 dollars of Californian
gold. At the end of August in that year the amounts paid in did not
exceed [97]24,500,000 dollars. A year later, the mints had received in
gold from that source [98]80,000,000 dollars.
The United States have naturally sent the larger number of the
emigrants to California. It is with the United States principally that
the trade is carried on. It would appear, then, to be natural that
the principal flow of gold from the Sierra Nevada should take that
direction. Doubtless a portion of the gold found annually in California
will remain there, and form the circulating medium. Considerable
amounts also will have been spread throughout South America, and
amongst the various commercial countries of Europe, either in payment
of goods shipped, or as the free capital arising from the accumulations
of labor. I shall not be exaggerating, however, in supposing, that
seven-tenths of the gold annually produced is coined in the United
States, and that one-tenth of the produce only is shipped directly to
Europe. Thus, then, the United States having received from California
[99]100,000,000 dollars up to the end of 1850, the total produce of the
four years, including 1848, (during which year there did not appear to
have been any coinage from Californian gold), ought to have been from
[100]750,000,000 to [101]800,000,000 francs.
The gold exported from California in 1851 is estimated by the Custom
House returns at [102]56,000,000 dollars. According to the calculations
of the _St. Francisco Herald_, for the first three months of 1852,
the total produce amounted to [103]14,656,142 dollars; at this rate
the produce of the year 1852 would not be less than [104]62,000,000
dollars. The export of April is estimated at St. Francisco, at
[105]3,422,000 dollars, rather more than [106]18,000,000 francs. The
produce of the “placers,” according to the latest reports, although
still abundant, is decreasing; nevertheless, if Australia does not
attract the most experienced and the most greedy of the work-people,
the mines of California appear likely to yield this year not less than
about [107]300,000,000 of our money; that is six times the amount of
the production of gold at the beginning of the century, throughout the
civilized world. It is twice the amount of the production of gold in
1847. It is hardly needful to exaggerate these figures, as many writers
on both sides of the Atlantic have already done, in order to prove that
a change is occurring in our monetary values, and that the _status
quo_ which has lasted for above half a century, is not necessarily to
continue for ever.