Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/71



had been  melted  down,  the  metal  finding  its  way  into trade.

In his  message  of  1848,  President  Polk  stated  that at the  time  of  the  acquisition  of  California,  the  exis- tence was known  of  precious  metals  to  a  considerable extent — referring of  course  to  the  de^velopments  in the  southern  part  of  the  state.

" Although  rumors  of  the  existence  of  gold  in  Cal- ifornia had  occasionally  been  heard,"  said  Dwindle  in an  address  before  the  society  of  Pioneers  in  1866, "still they  had  never  been  verified  or  traced  to  any  re- liable source;  and  they  were  regarded  as  we  now regard  the  fabulous  stories  of  the  golden  sands  of  Gold Lake,  or  those  of  Silver  Planches  which  are  said  to  ex- ist in  the  inaccessible  deserts  of  Arizona."

Tinkham, in  his  History  of  Stockton,  says  that  Weber was not  surprised  to  hear  of  Marshall's  discovery,  "  as he  knew  that  gold  existed  in  the  mountains  of  San Luis  Obispo  and  Santa  Barbara,  because  he  had  re- ceived dust  in  small  quantities  from  the  Mexicans  at San  Jose  " — a  reasonable  deduction  truly !

The reader  has  probably  observed  how  many  there were who  already  knew  of  the  existence  of  gold  in California  as  soon  as  Marshall  discovered  it. Sutter never pretended  to  this,  though  he  thought  it  strange that the  natives  had  not  brought  him  gold,  for  he  was always urging  them  to  collect  for  him  any  curiosities that could  be  gathered  in  the  mountains;  in  answer to which  appeal  were  brought  to  him  plants,  animals, birds, fruits,  pipe-clay,  red  ochre,  and  legends  of  vari- ous kinds, but  never  gold.

" I  was  in  possession  of  a  fact,"  writes  the  Rev.  W. Colton,  alcade  of  Monterey,  in  May  1849,  "  which  left  no doubt  of  the  existence  of  gold  in  the  Stanislaus,  more than  a  year  prior  to  its  discovery  on  the  American Fork." Reverend and  dear  sir,  no  one  doubts  that gold was  there  before  Marshall  found  it;  it  is  the knowledge of  its  existence  that  was  not  as  yet  revealed.
 * 'A wild  Indian,"  Mr  Colton  continues,  "had  strag-