Page:History of California (Bancroft) volume 6.djvu/11

 CONTENTS OF  THIS  VOLUME.

CHAPTER I.

CALIFORNIA JUST  PRIOR  TO  THB  GOLD   DISCOVERT.

January, 1848.

The Valley  of  California — Quality  of  Population — ^The  Later  Incomers — Hispafio-American, Anglo-American,  and  Others-^-Settlers  around San Francisco  Bay— San  Jos4 — ^The  Peninsula — San  Francisco — Across the  Bay — Alameda  and  C>ontra  Costa  Valleys — ^Valleys  of  the San Joaquin  and  Sacramento — Sutter's  Fort — Grants  and  Ranchos-*- About Carquines  Strait — ^Napa,  Sonoma^  and  Santa*  Rosa  Valleys-^ San Rafael,  Bodega,  and  the  Northern  Coast — ^Natural  Wealth  and Environment. 1

CHAPTER n.

THE DISCOVERY  OF  GOLD.

January, 1848.

Situation of  Sutter — His  Need  of  Lumber — Search  for  a  Mill  Site  in  the Mountains — Culuma — James W.  Marshall — The  Building  of  a  Saw- mill Determined upon — A  Party  Sets  Forth — ^Its  Personnel — Char- acter of Marshall — ^The  Finding  of  Gold — What  Marshall  and  his Men Thought  of  It — Marshall  Rides  to  New  Helvetia  and  Informs Sutter — The Interview — Sutter  Visits  the  Mill — ^Attempt  to  Secure the Indian  Title  to  the  Land. 26

CHAPTER III.

THE SECRET  ESCAPES.

February, 1848.

«

Bennett Goes  to  Monterey — Sees  Pfister  at  Benicia —  'There  ia  What  will Beat Coal!' — Bennett  Meets  Isaac  Humphrey  at  San  Francisco— Un- successful at Monterey — Sutter's  Swiss  Teamster — The  Boy  Wimmer Tells Him  of  the  Gold — The  Mother  Wimmer,  to  Prove  her  Boy  not  a Liar,  Shows  It — And  the  Teamster,  Who  is  Thirsty,  Shows  It  at  the Fort — Afiairs at  the  Mill  Proceed  as  Usual — Bigler*s  Sunday  Medi- tations— Gold Found  at  Live  Oak  Bar — Bigler  Writes  his  Three

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