Page:History of California (Bancroft) volume 6.djvu/64



.boys, found  the  matter,  in  common  with  the  others, too weighty  for  them. For a  time  affairs  here  pro- ceeded much as  usual. The men,  who  for  the  most part were  honest  and  conscientious,  had  pledged  their word to  six  weeks'  work,  and  they  meant  to  keep  it. The idea  of  self-sacrifice,  if  any  such  arose,  was  teni-

Eered by  the  thought  that  perhaps  after  all  there  was ut little  gold,  and  that  little  confined  within  narrow limits; hence  if  they  abandoned  profitable  service  for an uncertainty,  they  might  find  themselves  losers  in the  end. As a  matter  of  course,  they  could  have  no conception  of  the  extent  and  power  of  the  spirit  they had awakened. It was  not  necessary,  however,  that on Sundays  they  should  resist  the  worship  of  Mam- mon, who was  indeed  now  fast  becoming  the  chief  god hereabout.

The historic  tail-race,  where  first  in  these  parts  be- came incarnate this  deity,  more  potent  presently  than either Christ  or  Krishna,  commanded  first  attention; indeed, for  some  time  after  gold  had  been  found  in other  places,  it  remained  the  favorite  picking-ground of the  mill-men. Their only  tools  as  yet  were  .their knives, and  with  these  from  the  seams  and  crevices each person  managed  to  extract  metal  at  the  rate  of from  three  to  eight  dollars  a  day. For the  purpose of calculating  their  gains,  they  constructed  a  light pair of  wooden  scales,  in  which  was  weighed  silver coin against  their  gold. Thus, a  Mexican  real  de plata  was  balanced  by  two  dollars'  worth  of  gold, which they  valued  at  sixteen  dollars  the  ounce,  less than it  was  really  worth,  but  more  than  could  be  ob- tained for it  in  the  mines  a  few  months  later. Gold- dust which  balanced  a  silver  quarter  of  a  dollar  was deemed worth  four  dollars,  and  so  on.

On the  6th  of  February,  the  second  Sunday  after Marshall's discoverv,  while  the  others  were  as  usual busied in  the  tail-race,  Henry  Bigler  and  James  Bar- ger crossed  the  river,  and  from  a  bare  rock  opposite the mill,  with  nothing  but  their  pocket-