Page:History of California (Bancroft) volume 6.djvu/44



CHAPTER II.

THE DISCOVERY  OF  GOLD.

Januaby, 1848.

Situation of  Sutteb — His  Nebd  of  Lumber — Seabch  fob  a  Mill  Sitb  iv THE  Mountains— Culuha — Jaises  W.  Mabshall — Thb  Buildino  of  a Saw-mill  Detebmined  upon— A  Pabty  Sets  Fobth — Its  Pebsonnel — Chabactkb of  Marshall — The  Finding  of  Gold — What  Mabshall AND HIS  Men  Thoimjht  of  It— Marshall  Rides  to  New  Helvetia  and Informs Sctier — The  Interview — Sutteb  Visits  the  Mill — Attempt TO Sbcube  the  Indian  Title  to  the  Land.

John A.  Sutter  was  the  potentate  of  the  Sacra- mento, as we  have  seen. He had  houses  and  lands, flocks and  herds,  mills  and  machinery;  he  counted  his skilled artisans  by  the  score,  and  his  savage  retainers by the  hundred. He was,  moreover,  a  man  of  prog- ress. Although he  had  come  from  cultured  Europe, and had  established  himself  in  an  American  wilderness, he had  no  thought  of  drifting  into  savagisni.

Among his  more  pressing  wants  at  this  moment was a  saw-n)ill.  A  larger  supply  of  lumber  was  needed for  a  multitude  of  purposes.  Fencing  was  wanted. The  flour-mills,  then  in  course  of  construction  at Brighton,  would  take  a  large  quantity;  the  neighbors would  buy  some,  and  boards  might  profitably  be  sent to  San  Francisco,  instead  of  bringing  them  from  that direction.^     There  were   no  good   forest  trees,   with

^ Since  1845  Sutter  had  obtained  lumber  from  the  mountains,  got  ont  by whip-saws. hidwelVn Cal. IS^IS^ MS.,  226. The author  of  this  most  valu- able manuscript informs  me  further  that  Sutter  had  for  years  contemplated building a  saw-mill  in  order  to  avoid  the  labor  and  cost  of  sawing  lumber  by hand  in  the  redwoods  on  the  coast,  and  bringing  it  round  by  the  bay  in  hU

vessel. With this  object  he  at  various  times  seat  exploring  parties  into  the