THE GRAVE OF A GOLD-HUNTER.—MOUNTAIN SPURS.—A COMPANY OF
SONORANIANS.—A NIGHT ALARM.—FIRST VIEW OF THE MINES.—CHARACTER OF
THE DEPOSITS.—A WOMAN AND HER PAN.—REMOVAL TO OTHER MINES.—WILD
INDIANS AND THEIR WEAPONS.—COST OF PROVISIONS.—A PLUNGE INTO A GOLD
RIVER.—MACHINES USED BY THE GOLD-DIGGERS.
THURSDAY, SEPT. 28. We slept soundly last night. The sun had been up an
hour before we finished our coffee and vaulted into our saddles. A short
ride brought us to the San Joaquin river, which we crossed in the
primitive way. We threw our saddles and packs into a boat, and then
getting in ourselves, rowed off, leading at the stern one of our little
mules, called Nina. The horses being driven in, followed in her wake and
swam to the opposite bank. The moment they reached the shore, every one
lay down and rolled, covering himself with a layer of sand. My own for
once seemed to have caught the mine fever, and without waiting for the
saddle, much less his rider, went snorting up the bank.
A mile or two further on, and we passed the grave of one whom I had
known well in Monterey. He was a young man of many amiable and excellent
qualities; was on his way to the mines; but in crossing a gulch, now
entirely dry, but through which a freshet then swept, became entangled
with the gearing of his horses, and was drowned. An evergreen tree
throws its perpetual shadows on the mound where he rests, and the wild
birds sing his requiem. His widowed mother, who dwells by the rushing
tide of the Missouri, will long look for his return, and still doubt in
her grief the story of his death. But never will her eyes again rest on
his. Till the heavens be no more he shall not awake, nor be raised out
of his sleep.
Our road for ten miles lay through a level plain corresponding in its
cheerless aspect to that we had passed on the other side of the San
Joaquin. We encountered a drove of wild elk with their forest of
branching horns, but they kept beyond the range of our rifles, and our
horses were too tired to be put on the pursuit. We had only the
satisfaction of venting, in words, our spleen on their speed, but little
cared they for that. They run away at times, as it would seem, from
their own horns, for our road was strewn with these cast-off coronets.
Leaving the plain we ascended into a rolling country lightly timbered
with oak, pine, and birch. We wound rapidly forward, till we encountered
a stream, and a plot of green grass which had escaped the fire that had
been straggling about among the hills. We were without a guide, and on a
trail which at times became rather faint and difficult, and no one knew
where we might next meet with water, so we tethered, collected our wood
for the night, and lit our camp-fire. We had no more potatoes or onions
for a stew, and made our supper on broiled pork, hard bread, and coffee.
We had our saddles for our pillows, the green earth for our couch, and
the bright stars to light us to our rest.
FRIDAY, SEPT. 29. One of our company discovered near our camp this
morning a little lake, with fish darting about in its lucid waters. Our
twine was soon out and hooked, the alder supplied us with poles, and we
answered exactly to Dr. Johnson’s definition of angling—“Line and rod,
with a worm at one end and a fool at the other,” for not a fish would
bite; they were not to be caught with a poor wriggling worm, when golden
flies were floating about. They were fish of a better taste; and we had
to breakfast as we had done before, on broiled pork, hard bread, and
coffee. A famished crow, as if in sympathy with our wants, rattled his
bones near by on a dry limb.
The trail which we were following accommodated itself to the wild
country through which it lay. The bold bluff and deep chasm bent it into
a constant succession of quick circles and sharp angles. The head of our
train was never in sight of those who occupied the rear, except when we
wound over those more gradual slopes which here and there relieved the
ruggedness of the landscape. We met a company of Californians about
mid-day, on their return from the mines, and a more forlorn looking
group never knocked at the gate of a pauper asylum. They were most of
them dismounted, with rags fastened round their blistered feet, and with
clubs in their hands, with which they were trying to force on their
skeleton animals. They inquired for bread and meat: we had but little of
either, but shared it with them. They took from one of their packs a
large bag of gold, and began to shell out a pound or two in payment. We
told them they were welcome; still they seemed anxious to pay, and we
were obliged to be positive in our refusal. This company, as I
afterwards ascertained, had with them over a hundred thousand dollars in
grain gold. One of them had the largest lump that had yet been found; it
weighed over twenty pounds; and he seemed almost ready to part with it
for a mess of pottage. What is gold where there is nothing to eat?—the
gilded fly of the angler in a troutless stream.
SATURDAY, SEPT. 30. We camped last night in a forest, where a small
opening let in the sun’s rays upon a plot of green grass and a sparkling
spring. Our slumbers were broken in the night by the discharge of a
pistol by one of our company, who saw, or thought he saw, a wolf
snuffling about his blanket. We seized our arms, thinking the wild
Indians were upon us, but found no enemy. It was probably the phantom of
a disturbed dream. We scolded the young man soundly who gave the alarm,
and turned down on the earth again to finish our night’s repose.
The scenery, as we advanced, became more wild and picturesque. The hills
lost their gentle slopes, and took the form of steep and rugged cones:
the mountain ranges were broken by dark and rugged gorges; over crags
that toppled high in air, the soaring pine threw its wild music on the
wind; while merry streams dashed down the precipitous rocks, as if in
haste to greet the green vale below. A short distance beyond us lay the
richest gold mines that had yet been discovered; and nature, as if to
guard her treasures, had thrown around them a steep mountain barrier.
This frowning wall seemed as if riven in some great convulsion. The
broad chasm, like a break in a huge Roman aqueduct, dropped to the level
plain; while the bold bluffs of the severed barrier gazed at each other
in savage grandeur. Beyond this gateway, a valley wandered for some
distance, and then expanded into a plain, in the midst of which stood a
beautiful grove of oak and pine. Crossing this, we wound over a rough,
rocky elevation, and turned suddenly into a ravine, up which we
discovered a line of tents glittering in the sun’s rays. We were in the
gold mines! I jumped from my horse, took a pick, and in five minutes
found a piece of gold large enough to make a signet-ring.
We had the unexpected pleasure of meeting here Gov. Mason and Capt.
Sherman, who had arrived the evening before in their tour of
observation; and Dr. Ord, recently of the army, and Mr. Taylor, of
Monterey. They invited us to their camp and a supper which we enjoyed
with a keen relish. If you want to know what it is to have an appetite,
which scruples at nothing and enjoys every thing, travel on horseback
and sleep in the open air. Railroads and hotels are the graves of
invalids. But I forgot our horses: we could find no grass; there was a
poor pasture several miles distant; but it was now near sunset; we
gathered acorns for them, which a horse will eat when pinched with
hunger. Our camp-fire was kindled, and we rolled down for the night.
SUNDAY, OCT. 1. Another Sabbath, and our first in the mines. But here
and there a digger has resumed his work. With most it is a day of rest,
not so much perhaps from religious scruples, as a conviction that the
system requires and must have repose. He is a blind philosopher, as well
as a stupid Christian, who cannot see, even in the physical benefits of
the Sabbath, motives sufficient to sanctify its observance. He must be a
callous soul, who, with the hope of heaven in his dreams, can wantonly
profane its spirit.
MONDAY, OCT. 2. I went among the gold-diggers; found half a dozen at the
bottom of the ravine, tearing up the bogs, and up to their knees in mud.
Beneath these bogs lay a bed of clay, sprinkled in spots with gold.
These deposits, and the earth mixed with them, were shovelled into
bowls, taken to a pool near by, and washed out. The bowl, in working, is
held in both hands, whirled violently back and forth through half a
circle, and pitched this way and that sufficiently to throw off the
earth and water, while the gold settles to the bottom. The process is
extremely laborious, and taxes the entire muscles of the frame. In its
effect it is more like swinging a scythe than any work I ever attempted.
Not having much relish for the bogs and mud, I procured a light crowbar
and went to splitting the slate-rocks which project into the ravine. I
found between the layers, which were not perfectly closed, particles of
gold, resembling in shape the small and delicate scales of a fish. These
were easily scraped from the slate by a hunter’s knife, and readily
separated in the wash-bowl from all foreign substances. The layers in
which they were found generally inclined from a vertical or horizontal
position, and formed an acute angle with the bank of the ravine, in the
direction of the current. In the reverse of this position, and where the
inclination was with the current, they rarely contained any gold. The
inference would seem to be, that these deposits are made by the currents
when swelled by the winter rains, and poured in a rushing tide down
these channels. It is only the most rapid stream that can carry this
treasure, and even that must soon resign it to some eddy, or the rock
that paves its footsteps.
There are about seventy persons at work in this ravine, and all within a
few yards of each other. They average about one ounce per diem each.
They who get less are discontented, and they who get more are not
satisfied. Every day brings in some fresh report of richer discoveries
in some quarter not far remote, and the diggers are consequently kept in
a state of feverish excitement. One woman, a Sonoranian, who was washing
here, finding at the bottom of her bowl only the amount of half a dollar
or so, hurled it back again into the water, and straightening herself up
to her full height, strode off with the indignant air of one who feels
himself insulted. Poor woman! how little thou knowest of those patient
females, who in our large cities make a shirt or vest for ten cents!
Were an ounce of diamonds to fall into one of our hands every day, we
should hold out the other just as eager and impatient as if its fellow
were empty. Such is human nature; and a miserable thing it is, too,
especially when touched with the gold fever.
TUESDAY, OCT. 3. We parted to-day with the society of Mr. Stewart and
Mr. Simmons: they were on a tour of observation; were bound to Sutter’s
Fort, and availed themselves of the company of Gov. Mason and Capt.
Sherman, who were going in the same direction; may they have an
agreeable journey, and each find a lump of gold as big as Vulcan’s
anvil. We ordered up our own horses, packed our mules, and started for a
ravine some seven miles distant. Our path lay over the spur of a
mountain, so rugged and steep that we were obliged to dismount. The
soaring masses were piled around us in the wildest sublimity, presenting
those thunder-scarred fronts which the volcano in its terrific energy
throws into the eye of the sun. You had a dim persuasion that some
fearful charm, some unseen treasure lurked in the sunless recesses of
these stupendous piles; and so it seemed, for out walked a grizzly bear
from a mountain gorge, and fixed his burning eyes steadfastly on us. Not
being certain of our rifles, as we had not used them for several days,
we deemed prudence the better part of valor, and gave the old monarch of
the woods a pretty wide berth.
We examined several spots on our route for gold, but found none, either
on the table-rock, or in the channels of the mountain streams. If it
ever existed there, it had been swept below, or remained in the veins of
the rock beyond the reach of pickaxe and spade. On the plain we fell in
with the camp of Mr. Murphy, who invited us into his tent, and set
before us refreshments that would have graced a scene less wild than
this. His tent is pitched in the midst of a small tribe of wild Indians
who gather gold for him, and receive in return provisions and blankets.
He knocks down two bullocks a day to furnish them with meat. Though
never before within the wake of civilization, they respect his person
and property. This, however, is to be ascribed in part to the fact that
he has married the daughter of the chief—a young woman of many personal
attractions, and full of that warm wild love which makes her the Haide
of the woods. She is the queen of the tribe, and walks among them with
the air of one on whom authority sets as a native grace,—a charm which
all feel, and of which she seems the least conscious.
The men and boys were busy with their bows and arrows. A difficulty had
arisen between this tribe and one not far remote, and they were
expecting an attack. Though the less powerful tribe of the two, they
seemed not the least dismayed. The old men looked stern and grave, but
the boys were full of glee as if mustering for a deer-hunt. The mothers
with Spartan coolness were engaged in pointing arrows with flint stones,
so shaped that they easily penetrate and break off in the effort to
extract them, and always leave an ugly wound. They project these arrows
from their bows with incredible force, often burying them to the feather
in the luckless elk; the deer gives his last life-bound and falls, while
the unsuspecting foe drops unwarned from his saddle. I saw no signs of
intoxication among these Indians, and was told by Mr. Murphy that he
allowed no liquors in the camp. He said a trader brought there a few
days since a barrel of rum, and that he gave him exactly five minutes in
which to decide whether he would quit the grounds, or have the head of
the barrel knocked in. He of course took his fire-curse to some other
place.
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 4. Our camping-ground is in a broad ravine through which
a rivulet wanders, and which is dotted with the frequent tents of
gold-diggers. The sounds of the crowbar and pick, as they shake or
shiver the rock, are echoed from a thousand cliffs; while the hum of
human voices rolls off on the breeze to mingle with the barking of
wolves, who regard with no friendly eyes this intrusion into their
solitude. They resemble their great progenitrix, trembling in stone, as
the Vandals broke into Rome. But little care the gold-diggers about the
wolves, it is enough for them to know that this ravine contains gold;
and it must be dug out, though an earthquake may slumber beneath. If you
want to find men prepared to storm the burning threshold of the infernal
prison, go among gold-diggers.
The provisions with which we left San José are gone, and we have been
obliged to supply ourselves here. We pay at the rate of four hundred
dollars a barrel for flour; four dollars a pound for poor brown sugar,
and four dollars a pound for indifferent coffee. And as for meat, there
is none to be got except jerked-beef, which is the flesh of the bullock
cut into strings and hung up in the sun to dry, and which has about as
much juice in it as a strip of bark dangling in the wind from a dead
tree. Still, when moistened and toasted, it will do something towards
sustaining life; so also will the sole of your shoe. And yet I have seen
men set and grind it as if it were nutritious and sweetly flavored. Oh
ye who lose your temper because your sirloin has rolled once too much on
the spit, come to the mines of California and eat jerked-beef!
THURSDAY, OCT. 5. The rivulet, which waters the ravine, collects here
and there into deep pools. Over one of these a low limb had thrown
itself, upon which I ventured out with an apparatus for scooping up the
sand at the bottom. But just as I had lowered my dipper the limb broke,
and down I went to the chin in water. It was some minutes before I could
extricate myself, and when I did there was not a dry thread on my body.
The chill of the stream reduced the gold fever in me very considerably.
I had brought no outward garments but those in which I stood; I wrung
out the water and hung them up in the sun to dry, and wound myself, like
an Indian, in my blanket. But I was not more savage in my aspect than in
my feelings. This, however, soon passed off, and I could laugh with
others at the gold plunge. But nothing is a novelty here for more than a
minute; were a man to cast his skin or lose his head, no one would stop
to inquire if he had recovered either, unless they suspected foul play,
and then they would arraign and execute the culprit before one of our
lawyers could pen an indictment.
FRIDAY, OCT. 6. The most efficient gold-washer here is the cradle, which
resembles in shape that appendage of the nursery, from which it takes
its name. It is nine or ten feet long, open at one end and closed at the
other. At the end which is closed, a sheet-iron pan, four inches deep,
and sixteen over, and perforated in the bottom with holes, is let in
even with the sides of the cradle. The earth is thrown into the pan,
water turned on it, and the cradle, which is on an inclined plane, set
in motion. The earth and water pass through the pan, and then down the
cradle, while the gold, owing to its specific gravity, is caught by
cleets fastened across the bottom. Very little escapes; it generally
lodges before it reaches the last cleet. It requires four or five men to
supply the earth and water to work such a machine to advantage. The
quantity of gold washed out must depend on the relative proportion of
gold in the earth. The one worked in this ravine yields a hundred
dollars a day; but this is considered a slender result. Most of the
diggers use the bowl or pan; its lightness never embarrasses their
roving habits; and it can be put in motion wherever they may find a
stream or spring. It can be purchased now in the mines for five or six
dollars; a few months since it cost an ounce—sixteen dollars for a
wooden bowl! But I have seen twenty-four dollars paid for a box of
seidlitz-powders, and forty dollars for as many drops of laudanum.