Digging and washing, with a few reflections
A cradle in contemplation
Scales to sell, but none to lend
Stack of gold weighed
More arrivals
Two newcomers
Mr. Biggs and Mr. Lacosse
Good order prevails at the mines
Timber bought for the cradles
The cradles made
The cradles worked
The result of the first day's trial.
_June 5th_.--We have laboured hard all day, digging and washing, and
with good success. I begin to hope now that I have really laid the
foundation of a fortune, and I thank God for it. I have been kicked
tolerably well about the world, and the proverb, that a "rolling stone
gathers no moss," has, I am sure, been abundantly proved by my case.
Now, however, I have a grand chance, and I am resolved that all that
industry and perseverance can do shall be done to improve it.
Before starling for work this morning, it was agreed that José should
act as cook for the day; it being stipulated that he was to have the
afternoon to himself for digging. Horry was left in charge of the
horses. I worked hard, keeping near Bradley, and conversing with him as
I shovelled the gravel into the pail, and stirred it about in the clear
pools. We had very fair success, but still we could not but think that
this was a poor way of proceeding; besides, I didn't like the
back-breaking work of stooping all day. I therefore proposed that we
should endeavour to knock up a cradle. The expense for wood would
certainly be great, but it would be better to incur it than keep to the
present rude and toilsome plan of operation.
We proposed the plan to our comrades at dinner-time, and it was, on the
whole, well received. Malcolm and McPhail entered into the notion, and
we determined to try whether we could not put forth sufficient
carpentering ability to carry it out. The next day was fixed upon for
commencing the work.
After dinner we returned to our shovels and pails. In the evening we
were anxious to know how much gold we had realised by our labours up to
the present time; and, accordingly, I set off to borrow a pair of
scales. After entering several tents in vain, I was directed to the
Yankee who had the materials for a store, and whose name was Hiram
Ensloe. He had several pairs to sell, but none to lend. I asked his
prices, and now had, for the first time, a real example of the effects
of plenty of gold and scarcity of goods. For a small pair of ordinary
brass scales, with a set of troy weights, I paid, on behalf of the
party, fifteen dollars, the seller consoling me by the information that
in his opinion, if the gold-hunters continued to pour in for a
fortnight longer, I would not have got the article for three times the
amount.
Furnished with my purchase, I returned to the tent, and the stock of
gold dust realised by each man was weighed, and computed at the current
rate in which the mercantile transactions of this little colony are
reckoned--namely, fourteen dollars each ounce of gold dust. We found
that McPhail and Malcolm had been, upon the whole, the most successful,
each having obtained nearly two ounces of pure gold dust, valued at
twenty-eight dollars. I myself had about twenty-three dollars' worth,
and Bradley had twenty-five dollars' worth. An amount which,
considerable though it was, we hope greatly to increase as soon as we
get our cradle into operation.
During the day, there were numerous arrivals from Sutter's Fort; and in
my opinion, these diggings will soon be overcrowded. Two of the
new-comers were known to Bradley--one, a Mr. Biggs, a shipping agent
from San Francisco; the other, Mr. Lacosse, a French Canadian, who has
recently settled in California. They accepted our offer for them to
join our party. If this influx of people continues, I think the Yankee
with the store will do better than any one; and keeping a shanty will
be a far more profitable speculation than handling a shovel or working
a cradle. What surprises me is, that in this remote spot, so distant
from anything that can be called Law, so much tranquillity prevails
under the circumstances. One hears of no deeds of violence, or even
dishonesty. In fact, theft would hardly pay. The risk would be more
than the advantage; for if any one was detected plundering, he would
soon have a rifle-bullet put through him. One thing in favour of good
order is, that here there is no unequal distribution of property--no
favoured classes. Every man who has a spade or a trowel, and hands to
use them, is upon an equality, and can make a fortune with a rapidity
hitherto almost unknown in the history of the world.
_Sunday, June 11th_.--Nearly a week has elapsed since I last opened my
diary. On Tuesday, we set to work upon our cradle. We resolved upon the
construction of two; and, for this purpose, went down to the store in a
body, to see about the boards. We found the timber extravagantly dear,
being asked forty dollars a-hundred. After some bargaining, we obtained
sufficient for our purpose, at the rate of thirty-five dollars.
The next question was, as to whether we should hire a carpenter. We
were told there were one or two in the diggings who might be hired,
though at a very extravagant rate. Accordingly, Bradley and I proceeded
to see one of these gentlemen, and found him washing away with a hollow
log and a willow-branch sieve. He offered to help us at the rate of
thirty-five dollars a-day, we finding provisions and tools, and could
not be brought to charge less. We thought this by far too extravagant,
and left him, determined to undertake the work ourselves. Meantime,
Horry had brought down two of our horses with him to the store. We
loaded them immediately with boards, and returned to our tent.
After breakfast, which consisted of coffee without milk, flour cakes,
and strips of dried beef, roasted on the embers, we set to work. We had
a sufficient number of axes and a good stout saw, one large plane, and
a few strong chisels, with plenty of nails. As may be expected, we
proved to be very awkward carpenters. Mr. Lacosse was perhaps the
handiest, and Malcolm not much inferior to him, until the latter
unfortunately received a severe cut with a chisel, extending in a
transverse line along the joint of the forefinger of the left hand. I
strapped up the wound, but the rough work soon tore away the diaculum:
no bad consequences, however, ensued. The wound, in spite of the hard
treatment which it received, closed and healed by the first
intention--proving the healthy habit of body engendered by temperance
and constant exercise in the open air.
In building our cradles, or "gold canoes," as the Indians called them,
we found that to mortice the planks into each other was a feat of
carpentering far above our skill, particularly as we had no mortice
chisels. We were therefore obliged to adopt the ruder experiment of
making the boards overlap each other by about an inch, nailing them
firmly together in that position. As, however, the inequality of
surface at the bottom of the cradle, produced by the mode of building,
would have materially impeded our operations, we strained some pieces
of tarred canvas, which we fortunately possessed amongst our tent
cloths, over the bottoms, thus rendering the surface even, and suited
to our purpose. By the time we had got so far with our undertaking, we
fell sufficiently tired to give over work for the night. We had
laboured unceasingly at them, pausing only to swallow a hasty meal, and
stuck by our hammers and chisels till dusk. We were up early the next
morning, and toiled away to get the cradles completed, as we were
constantly seeing proofs of the great advantages of these machines. We
fixed a wicker sieve over the head, by means of a couple of transverse
bars, and then set about to construct the working Apparatus, which we
had all along feared would put our mechanical skill to rather a severe
test; but we found it easier than we had anticipated, and before
sundown the rockers were fixed on both cradles, which, to all intents
and purposes, were now ready for use. The work was rather rough, but it
was firm and strong. So fearful were we first of all that our cradles
might be removed or tampered with in the night, that I jocularly
proposed two of us should give up the shelter of the tent, and, like
pretty little children, sleep in our cradles till the morning.
The next day we set to work with them with the utmost eagerness, having
first dragged the lumbering machines to a likely spot in the vicinity
of the water. The labour was hard enough, but nothing compared to the
old plan of pot-washing, while it saved the hands from the injury
inflicted by continual dabbling in sand and water. We took the
different departments of labour by turns, and found that the change, by
bringing into play different sets of muscles, greatly relieved us, and
enabled us to keep the stones rolling with great energy. In the
evening, with the help of our newly purchased scales, we tested our
gains. The cradle which was worked by Don Luis, Malcolm, and myself,
for it was so near the water that three hands were sufficient, had
realised six ounces of gold dust; the other, attended to by Bradley,
McPhail, Biggs, and Lacosse, had nearly as much. During the day there
was another considerable influx of people to the diggings; the banks of
the river are therefore getting more and more crowded, and we hear that
the price of every article of subsistence is rising in the same
proportion.