"There is nothing in the world so sound as American society."—Goldwin Smith.
What El Dorado[1] had been to the active imaginings of De Soto's Spaniards, was now to become a reality that would startle the world from its long forgetfulness. The world believed they had been chasing a phantom which lured them to their death. One seeks in vain to know why Nature at last revealed the secret she had so long kept hid from those who had sought but not found, to disclose it to others who had found without seeking.
The war was scarcely ended[2] which gave us California, when a scene took place there of far-reaching moment to mankind. Words can hardly describe it. For a time it seemed the overturning of all laws governing the acquisition and distribution of wealth, if it were not to put the common laborer on a level with the millionaire, and so revolutionize society itself. When we consider what has followed in its train, the story itself seems tame indeed.
Captain Sutter had been having a saw-mill built for him fifty miles above his fort, on the south fork of the American River, which is here a swift mountain stream. One evening, when all within the fort wore its usual quiet, a horseman rode up in hot haste, and asked to see Sutter alone. This was James W. Marshall, one of Sutter's men, who had charge of the mill above. Seeing by his manner that something unusual was the matter, Sutter led the way into his private room, and turned the key in the lock. With much show of mystery, Marshall then handed his employer a packet, which being opened, was found to contain a handful of yellow metal, in flakes or kernels, which he said he had taken from the mill-race, and asserted to be gold. By the light of a candle the two men bent over the little heap of shining particles in eager scrutiny. Sutter would not believe it was gold. Marshall was sure it could be nothing else. Aquafortis was then tried without effect. The metal was next weighed with silver, in water. All doubt was removed. It was indeed gold, yellow gold, that Marshall had found.
His story, briefly told, was to this effect. They had started the mill, when the tail-race was found too small to carry off the water. In order to deepen it the whole head of water was then let into the race, thus washing it out to the required depth. It was while looking at the work the water had done, that Marshall saw many shining particles lodged in crevices of the rocks, or among the dirt the water had carried down before it. All at once it flashed upon him that this might be gold. Gathering up what he could without risk of detection, he had started off for the fort without making his discovery known to any one.
Sutter saw his happy pastoral life of the past on the point of vanishing. He made an idle effort to keep the discovery secret, at least till he could set his house in order. It was soon known in the household and at the mill. From this little mountain nook it was borne on the wings of the wind to the sea-coast, and from the sea-coast to the four quarters of the globe.
Captain Sutter's men[3] deserted him in a body. The American settlers and Indians of the neighborhood next caught the infection. Gold was quickly found at a point midway between Sutter's Fort and Mill, called the Mormon Diggings,[4] on Feather River, and in the gulches above the mill site. From these districts the first miners began to straggle down to San Francisco with pouches of gold-dust in their possession. Men who had hardly known what it was to have a dollar of their own suddenly lived
"Like an emperor in their expense."
The effect was magical. Within a short three months most of the houses in San Francisco and Monterey were shut up. Blacksmiths left their anvils, carpenters their benches, sailors their ships. Soldiers were every day deserting from the garrisons of San Francisco, Sonoma, and Monterey. The two newspapers[5] then printed in the country suspended their issue indefinitely. Everybody was off for the mines, and nothing else was talked of but gold.
Consul Larkin thus describes the scene at the Mormon Diggings in June, 1848: "At my camping-place I found forty or fifty tents, mostly occupied by Americans, strewn about the hillsides next the river. I spent two nights in company with eight Americans, two of whom were sailors, two carpenters, one a clerk, and three common laborers. With two machines called cradles, these men made fifty dollars each per day. Another miner had washed out, with a common tin pan, gold to the value of eighty-two dollars in a single day."
Mr. Larkin thought there were then about one thousand people, mostly foreigners, actually working in the mines, whose daily gains would amount to at least ten thousand dollars. And he even ventured to hint that at this rate gold enough would be produced in a single year to repay what California had cost the nation.
Colonel Mason, the military governor, adds what he saw while making a tour of inspection to the new placers: "Along the whole route mills were lying idle, fields of wheat were open to cattle and horses, houses vacant, and farms going to waste. At Sutter's there was more life and business. Launches were discharging their cargoes at the river, and carts were hauling goods to the fort, where were already established several stores, a hotel, etc. Captain Sutter had only two mechanics in his employ, whom he was then paying ten dollars a day. Merchants pay him a monthly rent of one hundred dollars per room; and while I was there a two-story house in the fort was rented as a hotel for five hundred dollars a month."
[1] El Dorado. Refer to p. 14 for the origin of this name.
[2] The War hardly ended. Confusion exists as to the precise date of the gold discovery. Larkin says, on the spot, January or February. Hittell, a well-informed writer, says January 19. Royce, January. Bancroft is not accessible as I pen this note.
[3] Captain Sutter's Men. Some of those who were either in his employ or under his military command, became wealthy and influential citizens of the State. Among them John Bidwell, Pearson B. Reading, Samuel J. Hensley, and Charles M. Weber may be named.
[4] Mormon Diggings. The Mormons who were found here by Mr. Larkin in June, probably came into California overland with Colonel Cooke, or with Samuel Brannan by sea in July, 1846. Governor Mason reports them as preparing to go to Salt Lake. See Note 5.
[5] The Two Newspapers. The "Californian" (later "Alta California"), first published in Monterey, then in San Francisco; founded 1846 by Walter Colton and Robert Semple; edited by Semple after its removal to San Francisco. The "California Star," founded by Samuel Brannan early in 1847, was merged with the "California." See Note 4.