And we have from four countries alone 1880 millions of pounds sterling,
or forty-seven millions per annum.
If we add the products of Europe and Asiatic Russia, of the East Indies
and Africa, which some estimate at thirty-six tons of gold per annum,
we perceive that a vast amount of the precious metal is unearthed and
somewhere in use. The relative value of gold has certainly changed very
much within a few hundred years, and it probably will change still
more. But we do not think it is likely to depreciate one-half in our
time, for many reasons, though some persons imagine it will.
The true secret of all this present excitement is this: the Anglo Saxon
race, for the first time in their history, own and occupy gold mines of
very great value. Hitherto Africans, Asiatic or Indians, have held
them, and they have never shown that ardor combined with perseverance
which belongs to us. England never had any mines of gold, or she would
have worked them as diligently as she has those of coal. The Americans
have now a golden chance, and they are the first of their blood that
have ever had it. They will be sure to turn the opportunity to account.
At our leisure we will refer to some other interesting facts, in
relation to the value of gold at different periods. We conclude with
recalling one singular circumstance to the recollection of our readers,
that when the Romans captured Jerusalem, they obtained so much gold,
that the price of it in Syria fell one half.
* * * * *
LIEUTENANT L. LOESER, of the Third Artillery, a graduate of West Point,
furnishes the following information respecting the gold region:
"We have been favored by Lieutenant Loeser, bearer of dispatches from
Governor Mason to the government at Washington (who also brought on
about $20,000 of gold dust, which he deposited at Washington,) with a
general description of the gold region, the climate, &c., of
California. He says the gold region is very large, and there is
sufficient ore to profitably employ one hundred thousand persons for
generations to come. So far as discovered, the gold is found in an
extent of country four hundred miles long, by one hundred and fifty
wide, and no particular portion seems more productive than another. In
the river and on the flatlands the gold dust is found; but among the
rocks and in the highlands it is found in lumps, from the size of a
man's hand to the size of an ordinary duck-shot, all of which is solid,
and presents the appearance of having been thrown up by a volcanic
eruption. So plenty is the gold, that little care is paid to the
washing of it by those engaged when he left; the consequence of which
is great quantities are thrown away. In the highlands he was walking
with a man who found a piece weighing about thirty-five pennyweights,
worth $29, but which he purchased for $4. The piece is solid, and has
the form of a perfect acorn on the top of it. He has had it, just as it
was found, converted into a breastpin. A man, by ordinary labor, may
procure from $50 to $200 per day. With regard to the climate, he says,
it is salubrious, at no time being so cold as to require more than a
light blanket to sleep under. When he left, the people were sleeping
under the trees, without the fear of sickness from exposure. The rainy
season begins about the first of November, and continues until March,
though there are five clear days for every rainy one. Provisions are
generally high, at least such as cannot be obtained in the country.
Flour is worth $80 per barrel, though a fine bullock may be obtained
for $3. Clothing is very high, and the demand is very great. The
Indians, who have heretofore used no clothing whatever, now endeavor to
imitate the whites, and will give any price for garments. The report
relative to the Mormons requiring 30 per cent. of all the gold found,
he says, is a mistake. When the gold was first discovered, one of the
leaders of that people demanded that amount from all the Mormons, but
they remonstrated, and refused to pay it, which remonstrance caused not
the slightest difficulty among the people. He was in San Francisco when
the gold was first discovered, about forty miles from that place. The
news was received one day, and the following morning, out of the whole
company to which he was attached, every one deserted except two
sergeants, and took with them all the horses belonging to the officers.
In a few days the city was almost entirely deserted, and Col. Mason,
the governor of the territory, was, and has ever since been, obliged to
prepare and cook his own food. A servant cannot be had at any price;
and the soldiers have not sufficient pay for a month to subsist on for
a week. The salary of the governor is not sufficient to support him;
and, like all others in the more wealthy circles of life, he is obliged
to be his own servant. He speaks of the country as offering the
greatest inducements to young men of enterprise, and thinks there is
ample room and gold for hundreds of thousands.
* * * * *