The "placers" or Gold Mines of California, are located in the valley of
the Sacramento, in the northern part of that new territory. They are
all on the public lands, with the exception of the portion belonging to
Messrs. Forbes and Sutter. The region which they embrace and which
lies, according to authentic reports, on both sides of the Sierra
Nevada, must be "larger than the State of New York." The mines, it is
estimated, are worth a thousand millions of dollars. The most reliable
information in regard to them may be found in the official reports
communicated to the authorities at Washington, by some of the American
officers who have visited the region. The following document is of this
nature. The author of it, Col. Mason, the military commander in
California, speaks, as will be seen, from observation, and the fullest
confidence may be placed in his account:--
HEADQUARTERS 10TH MILITARY DEPOT, Monterey, California, Aug. 17, 1848.
SIR:--I have the honor to inform you that, accompanied by Lieut. W. T.
Sherman, 3d artillery, A. A. A. General, I started on the 12th of June
last to make a tour through the northern part of California. My
principal purpose, however, was to visit the newly-discovered gold
"placer," in the Valley of the Sacramento. I had proceeded about forty
miles, when I was overtaken by an express, bringing me intelligence of
the arrival at Monterey of the U. S. ship Southampton, with important
letters from Com. Shubrick and Lieut. Col. Barton. I returned at once
to Monterey, and dispatched what business was most important, and on
the 17th resumed my journey. We reached San Francisco on the 20th, and
found that all, or nearly all, its male inhabitants had gone to the
mines. The town, which a few months before was so busy and thriving,
was then almost deserted.
On the evening of the 25th, the horses of the escort were crossed to
Sousoleto in a launch, and on the following day we resumed the journey
by way of Bodega and Sonoma to Sutter's fort, where we arrived on the
morning of the 2d of July. Along the whole route mills were lying idle,
fields of wheat were open to cattle and horses, houses vacant, and
farms going to waste. At Sutter's there was more life and business.
Launches were discharging their cargoes at the river, and carts were
hauling goods to the fort, where already were established several
stores, a hotel, &c. Captain Sutter had only two mechanics in his
employ, (a wagon-maker and a blacksmith,) whom he was then paying ten
dollars a day. Merchants pay him a monthly rent of $100 per room; and
while I was there, a two-story house in the fort was rented as a hotel
for $500 a month.
At the urgent solicitation of many gentlemen, I delayed there to
participate in the first public celebration of our national anniversary
at that fort, but on the 5th resumed the journey and proceeded
twenty-five miles up the American fork to a point on it now known as
the Lower Mines, or Mormon Diggings: The hill-sides were thickly strewn
with canvas tents and bush arbors; a store was erected, and several
boarding shanties in operation. The day was intensely hot, yet about
two hundred men were at work in the full glare of the sun, washing for
gold--some with tin pans, some with close-woven Indian baskets, but the
greater part had a rude machine, known as the cradle. This is on
rockers, six or eight feet long, open at the foot, and at its head has
a coarse grate, or sieve; the bottom is rounded, with small cleets
nailed across. Four men are required to work this machine: one digs the
ground in the bank close by the stream; another carries it to the
cradle and empties it on the grate; a third gives a violent rocking
motion to the machine; while a fourth dashes on water from the stream
itself.
The sieve keeps the coarse stones from entering the cradle, the current
of water washes off the earthy matter, and the gravel is gradually
carried out at the foot of the machine, leaving the gold mixed with a
heavy fine black sand above the first cleets. The sand and gold mixed
together are then drawn off through auger holes into a pan below, are
dried in the sun, and afterwards separated by blowing off the sand. A
party of four men thus employed at the lower mines averaged $100 a day.
The Indians, and those who have nothing but pans or willow baskets,
gradually wash out the earth and separate the gravel by hand, leaving
nothing but the gold mixed with sand, which is separated in the manner
before described. The gold in the lower mines is in fine bright scales,
of which I send several specimens.
As we ascended the north branch of the American fork, the country
became more broken and mountainous, and at the saw-mill, 25 miles above
the lower washings, or 50 miles from Sutter's, the hills rise to about
a thousand feet above the level of the Sacramento plain. Here a species
of pine occurs which led to the discovery of the gold. Capt Sutter,
feeling the great want of lumber, contracted in September last with a
Mr. Marshall to build a saw-mill at that place. It was erected in the
course of the past winter and spring--a dam and race constructed; but
when the water was let on the wheel, the tail-race was found to be too
narrow to permit the water to escape with sufficient rapidity. Mr.
Marshall, to save labor, let the water directly into the race with a
strong current, so as to wash it wider and deeper. He effected his
purpose, and a large bed of mud and gravel was carried to the foot of
the race.
One day Mr. Marshall, as he was walking down the race to this deposit
of mud, observed some glittering particles at its upper edge; he
gathered a few, examined them, and became satisfied of their value. He
then went to the fort, told Capt. Sutter of his discovery, and they
agreed to keep it secret until a certain grist-mill of Sutter's was
finished. It, however, got out, and spread like magic. Remarkable
success attended the labors of the first explorers, and in a few weeks
hundreds of men were drawn thither. At the time of my visit, but little
over three months after the first discovery, it was estimated that
upwards of four thousand people were employed. At the mill there is a
fine deposit or bank of gravel, which the people respect as the
property of Captain Sutter, although he pretends to no right to it, and
would be perfectly satisfied with the simple promise of a pre-emption,
on account of the mill which he has built there at considerable cost.
Mr. Marshall was living near the mill, and informed me that many
persons were employed above and below him; that they used the same
machines at the lower washings, and that their success was about the
same--ranging from one to three ounces of gold per man daily. This
gold, too, is in scales a little coarser than those of the lower mines.
From the mill Mr. Marshall guided me up the mountain on the opposite or
north bank of the south fork, where, in the bed of small streams or
ravines, now dry, a great deal of coarse gold has been found. I there
saw several parties at work, all of whom were doing very well; a great
many specimens were shown me, some as heavy as four or five ounces in
weight, and I send three pieces labelled No. 5, presented by a Mr.
Spence. You will perceive that some of the specimens accompanying this,
hold mechanically pieces of quartz; that the surface is rough and
evidently moulded in the crevice of a rock. This gold cannot have been
carried far by water, but must have remained near where it was first
deposited from the rock that once bound it. I inquired of many people
if they had encountered the metal in its matrix, but in every instance
they said they had not, but that the gold was invariably mixed with
washed gravel or lodged in the crevices of other rocks. All bore
testimony that they had found gold in greater or less quantities in the
numerous small gullies or ravines that occur in that mountainous region.
On the 7th of July I left the mill, and crossed to a stream emptying
into the American fork, three or four miles below the saw mill. I
struck this stream (now known as Weber's creek) at the washings of
Sunol & Co. They had about thirty Indians employed, whom they payed in
merchandise. They were getting gold of a character similar to that
found on the main fork, and doubtless in sufficient quantities to
satisfy them. I send you a small specimen, presented by this company,
of their gold. From this point we proceeded up the stream about eight
miles, where we found a great many people and Indians--some engaged in
the bed of the stream, and others in the small side valleys that put
into it. These latter are exceedingly rich, and two ounces were
considered an ordinary yield for a day's work. A small gutter, not more
than a hundred yards long by four feet wide and two or three feet deep,
was pointed out to me as the one where two men--William Daly and Parry
McCoon--had, a short time before, obtained 17,000 dollars worth of
gold. Capt. Weber informed me that he knew that these two men had
employed four white men and about a hundred Indians, and that at the
end of one week's work, they paid off their party, and had left $10,000
worth of this gold. Another small ravine was shown me, from which had
been taken upwards of $12,000 worth of gold. Hundreds of similar
ravines to all appearances are as yet untouched. I could not have
credited these reports had I not seen, in the abundance of the precious
metal, evidence of their truth.
Mr. Neligh, an agent of Commodore Stockton, had been at work about
three weeks in the neighborhood, and showed me in bags and bottles over
$2,000 worth of gold; and Mr. Lyman, a gentleman of education and
worthy of every credit, said he had been engaged with four others, with
a machine, on the American fork, just below Sutter's mill; that they
worked eight days, and that his share was at the rate of $50 a day; but
hearing that others were doing better at Weber's place they had removed
there, and were then on the point of resuming operations. I might tell
of hundreds of similar instances; but to illustrate how plentiful the
gold was in the pockets of common laborers, I will mention a simple
occurrence which took place in my presence when I was at Weber's store.
This store was nothing but an arbor of bushes, under which he had
exposed for sale goods and groceries suited to his customers. A man
came in, picked up a box of Seidlitz powders and asked the price.
Captain Weber told him it was not for sale. The man offered an ounce of
gold, but Capt. Weber told it only cost fifty cents, and he did not
wish to sell it. The man then offered an ounce and a half, when Capt.
Weber _had_ to take it. The prices of all things are high, and yet
Indians, who before hardly knew what a breech cloth was, can now afford
to buy the most gaudy dresses.
The country on either side of Weber's creek is much broken up by hills,
and is intersected in every direction by small streams or ravines,
which contain more or less gold. Those that have been worked are barely
scratched; and although thousands of ounces have been carried away, I
do not consider that a serious impression has been made upon the whole.
Every day was developing new and richer deposits; and the only
impression seemed to be, that the metal would be found in such
abundance as seriously to depreciate in value.
On the 8th of July I returned to the lower mines, and on the following
day to Sutter's, where, on the 19th. I was making preparations for a
visit to the Feather, Yubah, and Bear rivers, when I received a letter
from Commander A. R. Long, United States Navy, who had just arrived at
San Francisco from Mazatlan, with a crew for the sloop-of-war Warren,
with orders to take that vessel to the squadron at La Paz. Capt. Long
wrote to me that the Mexican Congress had adjourned without ratifying
the treaty of peace, that he had letters from Commodore Jones, and that
his orders were to sail with the Warren on or before the 20th of July.
In consequence of this I determined to return to Monterey, and
accordingly arrived here on the 17th of July. Before leaving Sutter's I
satisfied myself that gold existed in the bed of the Feather river, in
the Yubah and Bear, and in many of the smaller streams that lie between
the latter and the American fork; also that it had been found in the
Cosummes to the south of the American fork. In each of these streams,
the gold is found in small scales, whereas in the intervening mountains
it occurs in coarser lumps.
Mr. Sinclair, whose rancho is three miles above Sutter's on the north
side of the American, employs about fifty Indians on the north fork,
not far from its junction with the main stream. He had been engaged
about five weeks when I saw him, and up to that time his Indians had
used simply closely woven willow baskets. His nett proceeds (which I
saw) were about $16,000 worth of gold. He showed me the proceeds of his
last week's work--fourteen pounds avoirdupois of clean-washed gold.
The principal store at Sutter's Fort, that of Brannan & Co., had
received in payment for goods $36,000 (worth of this gold) from the 1st
of May to the 10th of July. Other merchants had also made extensive
sales. Large quantities of goods were daily sent forward to the mines,
as the Indians, heretofore so poor and degraded, have suddenly become
consumers of the luxuries of life. I before mentioned that the greater
part of the farmers and rancheros had abandoned their fields to go to
the mines. This is not the case with Capt. Sutter, who was carefully
gathering his wheat, estimated at 40,000 bushels. Flour is already
worth at Sutter's $36 a barrel, and soon will be fifty. Unless large
quantities of breadstuffs reach the country, much suffering will occur;
but as each man is now able to pay a large price, it is believed the
merchants will bring from Chili and Oregon a plentiful supply for the
coming winter.
The most moderate estimate I could obtain from men acquainted with the
subject, was, that upwards of four thousand men were working in the
gold district, of whom more than one-half were Indians; and that from
$30,000 to $50,000 worth of gold, if not more, was daily obtained. The
entire gold district, with very few exceptions of grants made some
years ago by the Mexican authorities, is on land belonging to the
United States. It was a matter of serious reflection with me, how I
could secure to the Government certain rents and fees for the privilege
of procuring this gold; but upon considering the large extent of
country, the character of the people engaged, and the small scattered
force at my command, I resolved not to interfere but to permit all to
work freely, unless broils and crimes should call for interferance. I
was surprised to learn that crime of any kind was very unfrequent, and
that no thefts or robberies had been committed in the gold district.
All live in tents, in bush arbors, or in the open air; and men have
frequently about their persons thousands of dollars worth of this gold,
and it was to me a matter of surprise that so peaceful and quiet state
of things should continue to exist. Conflicting claims to particular
spots of ground may cause collisions, but they will be rare, as the
extent of country is so great, and the gold so abundant, that for the
present there is room enough for all. Still the Government is entitled
to rents for this land, and immediate steps should be devised to
collect them, for the longer it is delayed the more difficult it will
become. One plan I would suggest is, to send out from the United States
surveyors with high salaries, bound to serve specified periods.
A superintendent to be appointed at Sutter's Fort, with power to grant
licenses to work a spot of ground--say 100 yards square--for one year,
at a rent of from 100 to 1,000 dollars, at his discretion; the
surveyors to measure the ground, and place the rentor in possession.
A better plan, however, will be to have the district surveyed and sold
at public auction to the highest bidder, in small parcels--say from 20
to 40 acres. In either case, there will be many intruders, whom for
years it will be almost impossible to exclude.
The discovery of these vast deposits of gold has entirely changed the
character of Upper California. Its people, before engaged in
cultivating their small patches of ground, and guarding their herds of
cattle and, horses, have all gone to the mines, or are on their way
thither. Laborers of every trade have left their work benches, and
tradesmen their shops. Sailors desert their ships as fast as they
arrive on the coast, and several vessels have gone to sea with hardly
enough hands to spread a sail. Two or three are now at anchor in San
Francisco with no crew on board. Many desertions, too, have taken place
from the garrisons within the influence of these mines; twenty-six
soldiers have deserted from the post of Sonoma, twenty-four from that
of San Francisco, and twenty-four from Monterey. For a few days the
evil appeared so threatening, that great danger existed that the
garrisons would leave in a body; and I refer you to my orders of the
25th of July, to show the steps adopted to met this contingency. I
shall spare no exertions to apprehend and punish deserters, but I
believe no time in the history of our country has presented such
temptations to desert as now exist in California.
The danger of apprehension is small, and the prospect of high wages
certain; pay and bounties are trifles, as laboring men at the mines can
now earn in _one day_ more than double a soldier's pay and allowances
for a month, and even the pay of a lieutenant or captain cannot hire a
servant. A carpenter or mechanic would not listen to an offer of less
than fifteen or twenty dollars a day. Could any combination of affairs
try a man's fidelity more than this? I really think some extraordinary
mark of favor should be given to those soldiers who remain faithful to
their flag throughout this tempting crisis. No officer can now live in
California on his pay, money has so little value; the prices of
necessary articles of clothing and subsistence are so exorbitant and
labor so high, that to hire a cook or servant has become an
impossibility, save to those who are earning from thirty to fifty
dollars a day. This state of things cannot last for ever. Yet from the
geographical position of California, and the new character it has
assumed as a mining country, prices of labor will always be high, and
will hold out temptations to desert. I therefore have to report, if the
Government wish to prevent desertions here on the part of men, and to
secure zeal on the part of officers, their pay must be increased very
materially. Soldiers, both of the volunteers and regular service,
discharged in this country, should be permitted at once to locate their
land warrants in the gold district.
Many private letters have gone to the United States giving accounts of
the vast quantity of gold recently discovered, and it may be a matter
of surprise why I have made no report on this subject at an earlier
date. The reason is, that I could not bring myself to believe the
reports that I heard of the wealth of the gold district until I visited
it myself. I have no hesitation now in saying that there is more gold
in the country drained by the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers than
will pay the cost of the present war with Mexico a hundred times over.
No capital is required to obtain this gold, as the laboring man wants
nothing but his pick and shovel and tin pan, with which to dig and wash
the gravel; and many frequently pick gold out of the crevices of rocks
with their butcher knives in pieces from one to six ounces.
Mr. Dye, a gentleman residing in Monterey, and worthy of every credit,
has just returned from Feather river. He tells me that the company to
which he belonged worked seven weeks and two days, with an average of
fifty Indians (washers) and that their gross product was 273 pounds of
gold. His share (one seventh,) after paying all expenses, is about
thirty-seven pounds, which he brought with him and exhibited in
Monterey. I see no laboring man from the mines who does not show his
two, three, or four pounds of gold. A soldier of the artillery company
returned here a few days ago from the mines, having been absent on
furlough twenty days. He made by trading and working during that time
$1500. During these twenty days he was traveling ten or eleven days,
leaving but a week, in which he made a sum of money greater than he
receives in pay, clothes, and rations during a whole enlistment of five
years. These statements appear incredible, but they are true.
Gold is also believed to exist on the eastern slope of the Sierra
Nevada; and when at the mines, I was informed by an intelligent Mormon,
that it had been found near the Great Salt lake by some of his
fraternity. Nearly all the Mormons are leaving California to go to the
Salt lake, and this they surely would not do unless they were sure of
finding gold there in the same abundance as they now do on the
Sacramento.
The gold "placer" near the mission of San Fernando has long been known,
but has been little wrought for want of water. This is a spur which
puts off from the Sierra Nevada, (see Fremont's map,) the same in which
the present mines occur. There is, therefore, every reason to believe,
that in the intervening spaces of 500 miles, (entirely unexplored,)
there must be many hidden and rich deposits. The "placer" gold is now
substituted as the currency of this country; in trade it passes freely
at $16 per ounce; as an article of commerce its value is not yet fixed.
The only purchase I made was of the specimen No. 7, which I got of Mr.
Neligh at $12 the ounce. That is about the present cash value in the
country, although it has been sold for less. The great demand for goods
and provisions made by sudden development of wealth, has increased the
amount of commerce at San Francisco very much, and it will continue to
increase.
I would recommend that a mint be established at some eligible point of
the Bay of San Francisco; and that machinery, and all the necessary
apparatus and workmen, be sent out by sea. These workmen must be bound
by high wages, and even bonds, to secure their faithful services, else
the whole plan may be frustrated by their going to the mines as soon as
they arrive in California. If this course be not adopted, gold to the
amount of many millions of dollars will pass yearly to other countries,
to enrich their merchants and capitalists. Before leaving the subject
of mines, I will mention that on my return from the Sacramento, I
touched at New Almoder, the quicksilver mine of Mr. Alexander Forbes,
Consul of Her Britannic Majesty at Tepic. This mine is in a spur of the
mountains, 1000 feet above the level of the Bay of San Francisco, and
is distant in a southern direction from the Puebla de San José about
twelve miles. The ore (cinnabar) occurs in a large vein dipping at a
strong angle to the horizon. Mexican miners are employed in working it,
by driving shafts and galleries about six feet by seven, following the
vein.
The fragments of rock and ore are removed on the backs of Indians, in
raw-hide sacks. The ore is then hauled in an ox wagon, from the mouth
of the mine down to a valley well supplied with wood and water, in
which the furnaces are situated. The furnaces are of the simplest
construction--exactly like a common bake-oven, in the crown of which is
inserted a whaler's frying-kettle; another inverted kettle forms the
lid. From a hole in the lid a small brick channel leads to an apartment
or chamber, in the bottom of which is inserted a small iron kettle. The
chamber has a chimney.
In the morning of each day the kettles are filled with the mineral
(broken in small pieces) mixed with lime; fire is then applied and kept
up all day. The mercury is volatilized, passes into the chamber, is
condensed on the sides and bottom of the chamber, and flows into the
pot prepared for it. No water is used to condense the mercury.
During a visit I made last spring, four such ovens were in operation,
and yielded in the two days I was there 656 pounds of quicksilver,
worth at Mazatlan $180 per pound. Mr. Walkinshaw, the gentleman now in
charge of this mine, tells me that the vein is improving, and that he
can afford to keep his people employed even in these extraordinary
times. The mine is very valuable of itself, and will become the more so
as mercury is extensively used in obtaining gold. It is not at present
used in California for that purpose, but will be at some future time.
When I was at this mine last spring, other parties were engaged in
searching for veins, but none have been discovered worth following up,
although the earth in that whole range of hills is highly discolored,
indicating the presence of this ore. I send several beautiful
specimens, properly labelled. The amount of quicksilver in Mr. Forbes'
vats on the 15th of July was about 2,500 pounds.
I inclose you herewith sketches of the country through which I passed,
indicating the position of the mines and the topography of the country
in the vicinity of those I visited.
Some of the specimens of gold accompanying this were presented for
transmission to the Department by the gentlemen named below. The
numbers on the topographical sketch corresponding to the labels of the
respective specimens, show from what part of the gold region they are
obtained.
1. Captain J. A. Sutter. 2. John Sinclair. 3. Wm. Glover, R. C. Kirby,
Ira Blanchard, Levi Fifield, Franklin H. Arynes, Mormon diggings. 4.
Charles Weber. 5. Robert Spence. 6. Sunol & Co. 7. Robert D. Neligh. 8.
C. E. Picket, American Fort Columa. 9. E. C. Kemble. 10. T. H. Green,
from San Fernando, near Los Angelos.
A. 2 oz. purchased from Mr. Neligh.
B. Sand found in washing gold, which contains small particles.
11. Captain Frisbie, Dry Diggings, Weber's Creek. 12. Consumnes. 13.
Consumnes, Hartwell's Ranch.
I have the honor to be your most ob't ser't, R. B. MASON, Col. 1st
Dragoons, Commanding. Brig. Gen. R. JONES, Adj. Gen. U. S. A.,
Washington, D. C.
[NOTE.--The original letter, of which this is a copy, was sent to its
address, in charge of Lieut. L. Loeser, 3d Artillery, bearer of
dispatches, who sailed in the schooner Lambayecana, from Monterey, Aug.
30, 1848, bound for Payta, Peru. Lieut. Loeser bears, in addition to
the specimens mentioned in the foregoing letter, a tea-caddy containing
two hundred and thirty ounces fifteen pennyweights and nine grains of
gold. This was purchased at San Francisco by my order, and is sent to
you as a fair sample of the gold obtained from the mines of the
Sacramento. It is a mixture, coming from the various parts of the gold
district.
R. B. MASON, Col. 1st Drag. Comd'g. HEADQUARTERS 10TH MIL. DEPARTMENT,
Monterey, (Cal.,) Sept. 10th, 1848.]
* * * * *