Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/87

 ed during

the winter,  he  joined  three  others  and  went  over  the  mountains  to  what  is ni)W  called  Donner  lake  to  fetch  over  the  etiects  of  the  Donner  fanuly, alter  that  terrilile  winter  of  suffering  that  you  have  heaid  aljout.  In  June 1847  they  loaded  all  our  household  plunder  fur  Battle  creek,  up  on  the Sacramento,  to  put  up  a  saw-mill,  but  they  changed  their  plana  and  went  to Coloma.  Ct.ptani  Sucter  and  J.  W.  Marshall  were  equal  partners  and  were the  head  of  the  expedition.  After  seven  days  of  travel,  we  arrived  at  sun- down a  nide  above  the  town.  Next  morning  Mr  Wiemer  went  out  to  select a  site  for  the  saw-mill,  and  I,  a  site  for  the  house.  He  was  to  oversee  the Indians,  be  a  handy  man  about,  and  I  was  to  be  cook.  We  had  from  fifteen to  twenty  men  employed.

' But  you  had  some  help  from  the  Indians,  didn't  you  ? ' asked  the  writer. ' Oh  no,  except  to  scratch  out  the  pots  and  sweep  out  the  dirt  floors. We soon had  a  log  house,  a  good  log  house,  and  a  log  heap  to  cook  by. '

They had  been  working  on  the  mill-race,  dam,  and  mdl  about  six  months, when, one  morning  along  the  last  days  of  December  or  the  first  M'eek  of January,  1847-8,  after  an  absence  of  several  days  to  the  fort  (that  was  our San  Francisco  in  those  days)  Mr  Marshall  took  ^Ir  Wiemer  and  went  down to see  wdiat  had  been  done  while  he  was  away. The water  wais  entirely  shut off and,  a5  they  walked  along,  talking  and  examining  the  work,  just  ahead of them,  on  a  little,  roiTgh,  muddy  rock,  lay  something  looking  bright,  Lke gold. They both  saw  it,  Ijut  Mr  Marshall  was  the  first  to  stoop  to  pick  it up,  and,  aj  he  looked  at  it,  doubted  its  being  gold. Our little  son  Slartin was along  with  them,  and  Mr  Marshall  gave  it  to  him  to  bring  iip  to  me. He came  in  a  hurry  and  said:  'Here,  mother,  here  is  something  Mr  Mar- shall and pa  found,  and  they  want  you  to  put  it  into  salaratus  Avater  to see  if  it  will  tarnish.'  I  said,  '  Tliis  is  gold,  and  I  will  throw  it  into  my lye  kettle,  which  I  had  just  tried  with  a  feather,  and  if  it  is  gold,  it  will  be gold  when  it? comes out. ' I  finished  off  my  soap  that  day  and  set  it  off  to cool,  and  it  stayed  there  till  next  morning. At the  breakfast  table  one  of the  work  hands  raised  up  his  head  from  eating  and  said,  'I  heard  some- thing about gold  l)eing  discovered,  what  about  it  ?  '  Mr  Marshall  told  him to  ask  Jenny,  and  I  told  him  it  was  in  my  soap  kettle.  !Mr  Marshall  said  it was  there  if  it  had  not  gone  back  to  California.  A  plank  was  brought  for me  to  lay  my  soap  onto,  and  I  cut  it  in  chunks,  but  it  was  not  to  lie  found. At  the  Ijottom  of  the  pot  was  a  doiible  handful  of  potash,  which  I  lifted  in my  two  hands,  and  there  was  my  gold  as  bright  as  it  could  be.  Mr  Mar- shall still  contended  it  was  not  gold,  but  whether  he  was  afraid  his  men would  leave  him  or  he  really  thoiight  so  I  don't  know.  Mr  Wiemer  re- marked that  it  looked  like  gold,  weiglied  heavy  and  would  do  to  make  money out  of.  The  men  promised  not  to  leave  till  the  mill  was  finished.  Not  be- ing sure  it  was  gidd,  Mr  Wiemer  urged  Mr  Marshall  to  go  to  the  fort  and have it  tested. He did  so,  and  George  McKinstry,  an  assayer,  pronounced it gold. Captain Sutter  came  right  up  with  Mr  Marshall  and  called  all  the Indians together,  and  agreed  with  them  to  certain  boundaries  t!iat  they claimed, and  on  the  right  of  discovery  demanded  thirty  per  cent  of  all  gold taken out. They in  payment  were  to  give  the  Indians  a  certain  number  of handkerchiefs,  pocket-knives,  looking-glasses,  shirts,  beads,  and  other trinkets.

' iMrs  Weimer  will  you  be  kind  enough  to  tell  me  how  you  came  in  posses- sion of this  piece  of  gold.'

' Yes;  it  was  just  this  way;  one  day  Mr  Marshall  was  packing  up  to go  away. He had  gathered  together  a  good  deal  of  dust  on  the  tliirty  per cent l)usiness,  and  had  it  buried  under  the  floor.  In  overhauling  his  traps, he  said  to  me  in  the  presence  of  Elisha  Packwood,  '  Jenny,  I  wdl  give  you tliis  piece  of  gold.  I  always  intended  to  have  a  ring  made  from  it  for  my mother,  but  I  will  give  it  to  you.'  I  took  it  and  have  had  it  in  my  posses- sion from  that  day  to  this.  '  You  have  not  the  exact  date  of  the  discovery of  gold?'  'No,  but  it  M'as  somewdiere  aliout  the  holidays,  for  I  know  that Captain  Sutter  had  sent  up  to  me  a  dozen  bottles  of  brandy,  six  fo