Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 2.djvu/468

390 world. In July, it was judged that 15,000 foreigners were in the placeres; and, by the labors of all classes united, the report calculates that the round sum of forty millions was realized during 1848 and 1849, of which one-half was probably taken from, the country by foreign adventurers. Of the forty millions, twenty are estimated to have been gathered from the northern rivers principally, or from those emptying into the Sacramento. The southern rivers, or those voided into the San Joaquin, were, up to that period, comparatively unvisited, and continued so until towards the season's close. There is one river which, from reported discoveries, though not flowing into the great valley west of the Sierra Nevada, is as rich in gold as any other. This is the Trinity, which rises west of the Sacramento's sources, and discharges into the Pacific not far from the fortieth degree of latitude.

As commerce began to reassert her orderly sway in the ports of California, and as gold became again subservient to the true wants of man, more attention was paid to the collection of statistics relative to production and export. The mint of the United States has also enabled us to reach accurate partial results within a more recent period. By a table furnished to Mr. Hunt for publication in his Merchants' Magazine, of November, 1850, it appears that the gold dust shipped on the Pacific Mail Steamers, from 11th April, 1849, to June 1st, 1850, was $13,329,388; while the following were the receipts at our mints:

Of this vast total receipt at the two great mints of the country $17,000,000 were delivered in ten months, being at the rate of more than $20,000,000 yearly. Since January last, the receipts have been at the rate of $26,000,000, per annum, and for the last quarter, at the rate of $32,000,000 per annum, showing a constantly augmenting ratio. Mr. Edelman, accountant of the Philadelphia mint, has prepared an essay to answer the repeated enquiries respecting the general character of California gold and its value by the ounce