Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/86



kaow, ' said  jSIar.sliall  to  me,  '  I  jjosi  tively  debated  within  myself  two  or  three tlmeo, whether  I  should  take  the  trouble  to  bend  my  back  to  pick  lip  one  of the  pieces,  and  had  decided  on  not  doing  so,  when,  further  on,  another  glit- tering morsel caught  my  eye — the  largest  of  the  pieces  now  Viefore  you. I condescended to  pick  it  up,  and  to  my  astoniihinent  found  that  it  wan  a  thin scale of  what  appears  to  be  pure  gold. ' He  then  gathered  some  twenty  or thirty  similar  pieces,  which  on  e^camination  convinced  him  that  his  supposi- tions were right. His first  impression  was  that  this  gold  h.ad  been  lost  or buried  there  by  some  early  Indian  tribe — perhaps  some  of  those  mysterious inhabitants of  the  west,  of  whom  we  have  no  account,  but  w!io  dwelt  on  this continent centuries  ago,  and  built  those  cit-ies  and  temples,  the  ruins  of  which are .■scattered  about  these  solitary  wilds. On proceeding,  however,  to  examizie the neighboring  soil,  he  discovered  that  it  v^as  more  or  less  auriferous. This ai once  decided  him. He mounted  his  horse  and  rode  down  to  me  as  fast  as it  would  carry  him,  with  the  news. At the  conclusion  of  Mr  Marshall's  ac- count, continued Captain  Sutter,  and  when  I  had  convinced  myself,  from the specimens  he  had  brought  with  him,  that  it  M'as  not  exaggerated,  I  felt as mucli  excited  as  himself. I eagerly  enquired  if  lie  had  shown  the  gold  to the  work-people  at  the  mill,  and  was  glad  to  hear  that  he  had  not  spoken  to  a single  person  al)out  it.  We  agreed,  said  the  capta'n,  smihng,  not  to  r.'.en- tion  the  circum  itance  to  anyone,  and  arranged  to  set  off  early  the  next  day for  the  mill.  On  our  arrival,  just  before  sundown,  we  poked  the  sand  about in  various  places,  and  before  long  succeeded  in  collecting  between  us  more than  an  ounce  of  gold,  mixed  up  with  a  good  deal  of  sand.  I  stayed  at  INIr Marshall's  that  night,  and  the  next  day  we  jiroceeded  some  little  distance  up the  south  fork,  and  found  that  gold  existed  along  the  whole  course;  not  only in  the  bed  of  the  main  stream,  where  the  water  had  subsided,  but  in  every little  dried-up  creek  and  ravine. Indeed, I  think  it  is  more  plentiful  in  these latter places,  for  I,  myself,  with  nothing  more  than  a  small  knife,  picked  out frona a  dry  gorge,  a  little  way  up  the  mountain,  a  solid  lump  of  gold  which weighed nearly  an  ounce  and  a  half. On our  return  to  the  mill,  we  were astonished by  the  work-people  coming  up  to  ii.5  ia  a  body,  and  showing  ui small  flakes  of  gold  similar  to  those  we  had  ourselves  procured. ]\Iar::hall tried to  laugh  the  matter  off  with  them,  and  to  persuade  them  that  what they had  found  was  only  some  shining  mineral  of  trilling  value;  but  one  of the  Indians,  who  l:ad  worked  at  the  gold  mine  in  the  neighborhood  of  La Paz,  in  Lower  California,  cried  out  'oro! oro!' We  were  disappointed  enough at this  discovery,  and  supposed  that  the  work-people  had  been  watching  cur movements, although  we  thoiiglit  we  had  taken  every  precaution  against being observed  by  tiiera. I heard  afterwards  that  one  of  them,  a  sly  Ken- tuckian, had  dogged  us  about,  and  that,  looking  on  the  ground  to  see  if  he could  discover  what  we  were  in  search  of,  had  lighted  on  some  flakes  of  gold himself.

The following  is  an  account  taken  by  Mary  P. Winslow,  in  December  1874,  from  Mrs  Wiemer,  who, with her  husband,  was  then  in  San  Francisco  seekiniy relief from  the  society  of  Pioneers. The writer speaks of  Mrs  Wiemer  as  a  fine  large  woman  of  some sixty summers,  with  an  intelligent  kindly  face.

We arrived  here  November  1846,  with  a  party  of  fourteen  families,  across the plains  from  Missouri. On arriving  at  Sutter's  fort,  Sacramento,  we found  Fremont  in  need  of  more  men. My husband  enlisted  before  we  had got the  oxen  unyoked,  and  left  me  and  seven  children  at  the  fort  m  the  care of Commissary  Currin. We drew  our  rations  like  common  soldiers  for  four months. Captain Sutter  arranged  a  room  for  us  in  the  fort. As soon  as Mr  Wiemer  returned  from  Santa  Clara,  where  he  had  been  station