Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/66



lead on  the  rancho  of  Captain  Richardson ;  black  lead at various  points,  and  slate  on  the  Sacramento  river.

On the  4th  of  May,  1846,  Larkin  writes  from  Mon- terey to the  secretary  of  state  at  Washington:  "By the  laws  and  customs  of  Mexico  respecting  mining, every  person  or  company,  foreign  or  native,  can  pre- sent themselves  to  the  nearest  authorities  and  denounce any  unworked  mine.  The  authorities  will  then,  after the  proper  formalities,  put  the  denouncer  in  possession of  a  certain  part  of  it,  or  all ;  which  is,  I  believe  ac- cording to  its  extent.  The  possessor  must  hereafter occupy  and  work  his  mine,  or  some  other  person  may denounce  against  him.  In  all  cases  the  governnjent claims  a  certain  portion  of  the  product.  Up  to  the present  time  there  are  few  or  no  persons  in  California with  sufficient  energy  and  capital  to  carry  on  mining, although  a  Mexican  officer  of  the  army,  a  padre,  and a  native  of  New  York  are,  on  a  very  small  scale,  ex- tracting quicksilver from  the  San  Jose  mine."

Besides the  statements  having  some  pretentions  to truth  were  many  absurd  stories;  such  as  that  gold was discovered  by  the  Mormons  in  fulfilment  of  a prophecy  of  Joseph  Smith ;  and  again,  that  a  Pawnee chief, to  whom  Sutter  had  given  a  rifle,  and  who  died some three  months  later,  appeared  to  Sutter  in  the spirit and  told  him  where  to  find  gold,  begging  him meanwhile to  buy  with  it  a  rifle  for  every  member  of his  tribe. In 1864  John  Bid  well  was  told  by  Brig- ham Young  that  some  of  his  men  claimed  to  have found gold  prior  to  the  discovery  of  Marshall,  but that it  was  doubtless  a  mistake.

After a  brief  visit  to  California  L.  W.  Sloat,  in December,  1846,  read  a  paper  before  the  Lyceum  of Natural  History  in  New  York,  in  which  he  said :  "I am  confident  that  when  it  (California)  becomes  settled, as  it  soon  will  be  by  Americans,  the  mineral  develop- ments will  greatly  exceed  in  richness  and  variety  the most  sanguine  expectations" — which  after  all  was  no very  remarkable  prophecy.