Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/352

 ten dol-

lars, on  the  l7th  of  August,  paraded  the  streets  in  a body,  and  refused  to  work  for  less  than  twelve  dollars a day.

During the  first  five  years  subsequent  to  the  dis- covery of gold,  the  gold-dust  trade  underwent  many changes. Prior to  1849  the  ruling  price  at  San  Fran- cisco was fourteen  dollars  an  ounce,  and  in  the  mines much less. It was  once  sold  at  auction  for  twelve dollars. Afterward the  rate  was  fixed  and  maintained at sixteen  dollars  an  ounce. Due attention  was  not paid by  merchants  to  the  quality  or  cleanliness  of  the dust, and  many  miners  were  not  careful  to  remove  all the black  sand. The scales  used  were  also  not  always the nicest,  nor  the  weitrhts  most  correct. The trold from central  California  was  mostly  virgin  gold; but that  which  was  later  thrown  upon  the  market from the  mines  of  Mariposa,  Kern  river  and  Fresno, was of  inferior  quality. This gave  rise  to  a  system of adulteration,  which  could  not  be  easily  detected  by purchasers. In time  assay  offices  were  established  to reduce  the  mass  of  the  precious  dust  to  a  determined value before  shipment ;  this,  together  with  the  stimu- lating traffic by  large  competing  banking-houses,  ad- vanced the price  of  clean  dust  first  to  $17,  and  after- wards to $17  50  an  ounce,  this  being  the  average. The proceeds  of  some  mines  were,  however,  sold  as low  as  $14,  and  those  of  others  as  high  as  $20. The gold-dust trade  finally  fell  into  the  hands  of  four  large houses, which  a  little  later  shipped  only  bars  with  the true value  stamped  on  them.

In April,  1851,  bankers  agreed  to  receive  on  deposit no California  coin  other  than  that  issued  by  Moffat and Company,  who  were  the  only  ones  faithful  in  their valuation, and  had,  moreover,  made  provision  to  re- deem tJie coin  issued. Until the  establishment  of  the mint at  San  Francisco,  merchants  suffered  because  of the  exclusion  of  California  coin  from  circulation. They could not  refuse  to  receive  it  without  injury  to  their