Page:History of California (Bancroft) volume 6.djvu/54



ev- er stimulated  by  advancing  exploration  and  piratical adventure. Every step  northward  in  Mexico  con- firmed the belief  in  still  richer  lands  beyond,  and  gave food for  flaming  tales  like  those  told  by  Friar  Mdrcos de Niza.

Opinions were  freely  expressed  upon  the  subject^ some of  them  taking  the  form  of  direct  assertions. These merit  no  attention. Had ever  gold  been  found in Marin  county,  we  might  accredit  the  statement  of Francis  Drake,  or  his  chaplain,  Fletcher,  that  they saw it  there  in  1579. As it  is,  we  know  they  did  not see it. Many early  writers  mention  gold  in  California, referring to  Lower  California,  yet  leading  some  to confound  the  two  Californias,  and  to  suppose  that  the existence of  the  metal  in  the  Sierra  foothills  w^as then known. Instance Miguel  Venegas,  Shelvocke, and others  of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centu- ries, and early  encyclopaedia  makers. It has  always been a  favorite  trick  of  navigators  to  speak  of  things they either  greatly  feared  or  greatly  desired  as  exist- ing. Vizcaino, Knight,  and  fifty  others  were  certain that the  mountains  of  California  contained  gold. The developments along  the  Colorado  River  led  to  the same conviction;  indeed,  it  was  widely  assumed  that the Jesuits  knew  of  rich  mines  within  and  beyond their precincts. Count Scala  claims  for  the  Russians of Bodega  knowledge  of  gold  on  Yuba  River  as  early as 1815,  but  he  fails  to  support  the  assertion. Dana and other  professional  men  of  his  class  are  to  be  cen- sured for what  they  did  not  see,  rather  than  praised for the  wonderful  significance  of  certain  remarks. The mine  at  San  Fernando,  near  Los  Angeles,  where work was  begun  in  1842,  is  about  the  only  satisfactory instance on  record  of  a  knowledge  of  the  existence  of gold  in  Alta  California  prior  to  the  discovery  of  Mar- shall. And this  was  indeed  a  clew  which  could  not have failed  to  be  taken  up  in  due  time  by  some  one among the  host  of  observant  fortune-hunters  now pouring" in,  and  forced  by  circumstances  into  the  for-