Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/50

 in width,

and one  inch  thick. It is  flat,  and  on  one  side  are deeply cut,  in  legible  letters,  these  words :

1818

GOLD CAVE IN  THIS M. SHIP LODES L  M

This cabalistic  stone  is  said  to  have  been  picked  up on  the  west  branch  of  Feather  river,  in  1850,  by William  Thomas,  and  given  by  him  to  A.  J.  Pithan, of San  Jose,  in  1851. Mr Thomas,  after  diligent search, was  unable  to  find  the  gold  cave. Discussions of possibilities  or  probabilities  are  wholly  useless. The chances are  a  hundred  to  one,  in  my  opinion,  that some miner  of  1849  cut  the  letters  for  pastime,  and then threw  the  stone  away,  or  gave  it  to  some  one  to make  a  good  story  out  of.

And now  comes  Mariano  Guadalupe  Vallejo  with similar testimony,  that  the  Spaniards  in  California knew of  gold,  but  could  not  profit  by  their  knowledge on account  of  the  Indians. In the  first  volume  of  his Historia de  California  he  further  states  that,  in  1824, while Captain  Pablo  de  la  Portilla  was  encamped  at San  Emilio,  Lieutenant  Antonio  del  Valle,  who  had a stock  of  beads,  blankets,  and  tobacco,  traded  his goods with  the  Chauchilas  and  Jozimas  for  fourteen thousand dollars  in  gold,  "chispas  de  oro,"  emphasiz- ing his statement  by  the  further  assertion  that  "  el teniente  del  valle  trajo  el  oro  a  Monterey,  y  lo  he tenido  en  mis  manos ;  y  por  e&o  respondo  de  la  verdad del  hecho."

Jose de  Jesus  Pico,  still  living  in  San  Luis  Obispo, asserts that  Father  Martinez,  the  minister  of  the  mis- sion of that  name,  gave  him  and  three  fellow-soldiers, in 1829,  twenty  ounces  of  gold  in  one  ounce  balls,  and that he  believes  the  father  must  have  picked  it  up  at the  place  named  San  Jose,  near  the  mission. He suspected  that   several    Spaniards   were    for  a