dressed by Abel Stearns, of Los Angeles, to Louis R. Lull, secretary of the California Society of Pioneers. Mr. Stearns, who went to California from Mexico in 1829, states that on the 22d of November, 1842, he sent by Alfred Robinson-who returned from California to the states by way of Mexico-twenty ounces California weight, or eighteen and three-fourths ounces mint weight, of placer gold, to be forwarded by him to the United States mint at Philadelphia; the mint assay was returned August 6, 1843. This gold was taken from placers first discovered in March, 1842, by Francisco Lopez, a Californian, at San Francisquito, about thirty-five miles north-west from Los Angeles. It appears that Lopez, while resting in the shade with some companions, during a hunt for stray horses, dug up some wild onions with his sheath knife, and in the dirt discovered a piece of gold. Searching further, he found more pieces, and on returning to town announced his discovery. A few persons, mostly Sonorians, who were accustomed to placer mining in Mexico, worked in the San Francisquito placer from this time until the latter part of 1846 (when the war with the United States disturbed the country), taking out some six thousand to eight thousand dollars in value, per annum. The United States mint certificate for the assay made for Mr. Stearns in 1843, is now in the archives of the "Society of California Pioneers."

Before the great event which made the year 1848 so memorable, the influence of the United States had already become conspicuous in the affairs of California, and had in a degree prepared the way for what was to follow. In the words of a British writer, the United States spread her actual influence long before she planted a flag as the sign of her dominion. For two years previous to the capture of Monterey, in 1846, her authority had been paramount in California. At length, toward the close of the summer of 1845, Fremont appeared in the neighborhood of Monterey, whose parklike scenery-trees scattered in groups

tations of oak and fir, red-tiled houses, yellow-washed church, and white cottages

showed in pleasant contrast to the desolate region of the Rocky mountains he had left. He was accompanied by some of his trappers men of muscle and daring, dressed in deer-skin coats, with formidable rifles, and mounted on tall, spare horses. They rode in Indian file through the outskirts; their leader viewed the town, and they vanished. Soon again he appeared, with an ominous array of thirty-five followers, encamped on a woody height; was commanded to depart, was driven to the hills, pursued, and again lost sight of. An American ship then sailed into the harbor. Fremont was again at Monterey. The Californians foresaw the probable progress of events, and perhaps secretly desired the fostering protection of the great republic. While balancing between that and independence, two United States vessels simultaneously entered the harbors of Monterey and San Francisco, and in July, 1846, the whole of California came under the rule of America. A new era was again opened. An immediate change appeared. Industry was revived; deserted villages were repeopled; neglected lands were again cultivated; decaying towns were renovated; and the busy hum of toil broke that silence and lethargy which brooded over an ill-governed country.

But another and greater change was at hand, to turn the tide of her fortunes into a new, a wider, and more diffusive channel, and to raise California from the condition of a wild and isolated territory, to be the very focus of the world's attention,-the spot where innumerable streams of emigration from the four quarters of the world, from barbarous and civilized countries, pouring across the Rocky Mountains, or brought over the sea, from distant shores, were to meet in tumultuous confluence, and, flowing upon each other, form an eddying whirlpool of excitement, such as few countries on the globe, in any period of their history, could present to the observation of mankind.

What is the character of this region, independently of its newly-discovered treasures, at the period mentioned? It is wealthy in many natural resources. Its extent is great. From Cape Mendocino, at the borders of the United States, to the root of the peninsula, is seven hundred miles, and Lower California thrusts out its vast tongue to an almost equal distance. The old region is for the most part a broken, hilly, and barren tract of land; but occasional plains of rich fertility alternate with the less favored tracts, and these formed the sites of the old Jesuit missions. Alta California extends from the coast to the provinces of New Mexico. Of the interior desert basin, little is known, except that it is a wild, rocky, and woody territory, watered by a few rivers, and lakes, rising periodically from the earth, and peopled by wandering Indian hordes. The Sierra Nevada, or snowy range, divides the gold region from the great desert basin; and between this and the sea lies another line of mountains, forming a valley five hundred miles in length, watered by the Sacramento and the San Joachim. These streams, forming a junction in the center of the valley, diverge toward the sea, and pour in an united current into the harbor of San Francisco -one of the noblest on the globe. The aspect of the country is diversified, and full of beauty. Green valleys, glittering lakes, and verdant hills, extend along the interior borders, backed by the rounded. spires of the snowy range, whose deep ravines and caverns are just now peopled by

toiling gold-hunters; and these are drawing more wealth from the bleakest, most barren, and most neglected spots, than a husbandman in the course of many years could derive from the most luxuriantly cultivated land. Along the river banks, light grassy slopes alternate with stony, broken, sandy expanses, honey-combed as it were by time, but now swarming with amateur delvers. However, the country, as a whole, is fertile; producing readily grains, vegetables, and fruits, with fine timber, whilst immense pasture grounds afford nourishment to the flocks and herds that once formed the principal wealth of California.

Up to the year 1847, so comparatively small were the gatherings of gold, in various sections of the globe, that in

reckoning the average produce of the precious metal, of all parts of the New and Old World for a series of years previous to 1847, it did not amount to the annual value of twenty-five million dollars.

It was in September, 1847, that Captain John A. Sutter, the great pioneer settler in California, commenced an undertaking

JOHN A. SUTTER.

which led, by a very simple and ordinary circumstance, to the first practical discovery of the prodigiously valuable gold mines of California-the long-sought El Dorado of ancient and modern times. This undertaking consisted in the erection of a saw-mill at Coloma, on a mountainous spot about one thousand feet above the level of the valley, where the Rio des los Americanos pours down from the Sierra Nevada to swell the united streams of the Sacramento and San Joachim.

Such an enterprise, in such a region, at a time when the political and social condition of the country was so unsettled and uncertain, indicated a mind of energy and executive capacity, on the part of the projector. And it was even so, in full measure, in the case of Captain Sutter. He is described, by his biographers, in the annals of San Francisco, as an intelligent Swiss emigrant, who sailed for and reached New York, in July, 1834; but finally settled and for several years resided in Missouri. The wild west had always possessed a charm for him, and he had removed thither; but now his adventurous spirit looked still further towards the setting

sun, and roved along the waters that sped their unknown way to the Pacific. Leaving family and home, in company with Sir William Drummond Stewart, he joined a party, under the charge of Captain Tripps, of the American Fur Company, and started for the broad valleys of California, where he knew that rich and fertile lands. only awaited an industrious cultivator, and where Providence had even a still richer yielding field that he knew not of. He left the trappers at their rendezvous on the Wind river among the Kansas Rocky mountains, and with a new party of six decided on proceeding to their destination by way of Oregon. Crossing the valley of the Willamette, he finally arrived at Fort Vancouver, and there ascertained that innumerable delays must elapse before he could reach California. Nothing daunted, and apparently urged, like Columbus, to accomplish his object despite of fate, Captain Sutter sailed for the Sandwich Islands, hoping to embark thence direct for the Spanish coast. But when he arrived there, no vessels were about to sail in that direction. Again he threw down the gauntlet to fate, and re-embarked for Sitka Island, in Russian America, and from that immense distance at last reached Yerba Buena, July second, 1839. Not permitted to land here, he again embarked, and was finally allowed to set foot on California soil at Monterey. Having succeeded in overcoming the Spanish opposition to foreign settlers, he obtained the permission of Governor Alvarado to locate himself in the valley of the Rio del Sacramento; more readily granted, perhaps, because it was then the abode of savage Indians. He explored the Sacramento, Feather and American rivers, and in August, 1839, about eighteen months after he commenced his journey, permanently established himself on the latter river, with a colony of only three whites and eight Kanakas. In a short time, he removed to the location afterwards known as Sutter's Fort, and took possession of the surrounding country under a Mexican grant, giving to it the name of New

Helvetia. From this point he cut a road to the junction of the Sacramento and American rivers, where he established a quay or landing-place, on the site of which has since been built the city of Sacramento. Here he remained for several years, becoming possessor of a large amount of land, and rapidly carrying on various and extensive improvements. At one time he had a thousand acres sown in wheat, and owned eight thousand neat cattle, two thousand horses and mules, as many sheep, and a thousand swine. He was appointed alcalde of the district by Commodore Stockton, and Indian agent by General Kearney; and with all his sympathies with this country, his earnest wish was to see California brought into the American Union.

Among the followers of Sutter was James W. Marshall, who emigrated from New Jersey to Oregon in 1843, and a year later went to California. By trade he was a carpenter, and to him Captain Sutter intrusted the erection of the sawmill at Coloma, where good water-power and plenty of lumber had determined its location. It was this enterprise which led to the most famous discovery of gold ever known in the history of the globe. How this happened, has been differently related by different authorities, but perhaps by none more authentically than by Mr. Dunbar, president of the Traveller's Club of New York. The saw-mill was pleted in January, 1848, and they had just commenced sawing lumber, when, on the night of February 2d, Marshall appeared at Sutter's Fort, his horse in a foam and himself presenting a singular appearance-all bespattered with mud, and laboring under intense excitement.

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And now ensued a scene which can scarcely be exceeded in its elements of dramatic representation. Marshall immediately requested Captain Sutter to go with him into a room where they could be alone. This request was granted, and, after the door was closed, Marshall asked Captain Sutter if he was sure they would not be disturbed, and desired that the

door might be locked. Captain Sutter did not know what to make of his actions, and he began to think it hazardous to lock himself in the room with Marshall, who appeared so uncommonly strange. Marshall being satisfied at last that they would not be interrupted, took from his pocket a pouch from which he poured upon the table about an ounce of yellow grains of metal, which he thought would prove to be gold. where he got it. the morning, the water being shut off from the saw-mill race, as was customary, he discovered, in passing through the race, shining particles here and there on the bottom. On examination, he found them to be of metallic substance, and the thought flashed over him that they might be gold. How big with events was this point of time! Marshall stated that the laborers-white and Indian-had picked up some of the particles, and he thought a large quantity could be collected.

Captain Sutter inquired. Marshall stated that in

Captain Sutter was at first quite incredulous as to these particles being gold, but happening to have a bottle of nitric acid among his stores, he applied the test, and, true enough, the yellow grains proved to be pure gold. The great discovery was made!

The account given above agrees substantially with Captain Sutter's own narrative of the event, namely: That Marshall had contracted with him for the building of a saw-mill for producing lumber, on the south fork of the American River, a feeder of the Sacramento. In the course of his operations, Marshall had occasion to admit the river water into the tail-race, for the purpose of widening and deepening it by the strength of the current. In doing this, a considerable quantity of mud, sand, and gravel, was carried along with the stream, and deposited in a heap at the foot of the tailrace. Marshall, when one day examining the state of his works, noticed a few glittering particles lying near the edge of the heap. His curiosity being aroused, he gathered some of the sparkling objects;

and he at once became satisfied of their nature and the value of his discovery. All trembling with excitement, he hurried to his employer and told his story. Captain Sutter at first thought it was a fiction, and the teller only a mad fool. Indeed, he confesses that he kept a sharp eye upon his loaded rifle, when he, whom he was tempted to consider a maniac, was eagerly disclosing the miraculous tale. However, However, his doubts were all at once dispelled when Marshall tossed on the table before him some of the shining dust.

Not less interesting is the account given of the manner in which the discovery became public-owing, as appears by Mr. Dunbar's statement, to that which extracts both wit and wisdom, as well as folly, from the brain of man. After some examination, Captain Sutter became satisfied that gold in considerable quantities would be found in that neighborhood; and while the reflections of Marshall were probably confined to the idea of rapidly acquired wealth for himself, Captain Sutter realized at once how impossible it would be to hold his laborers to their work in carrying on his improvements, gathering his crops, and avoid being overrun by new-comers, should the gold prove abundant and the discovery be promulgated. He therefore begged the laborers to say nothing about the gold for six weeks. His grist-mill and some other improvements would then be completed, and his crops all gathered. The laborers promised to comply with his request, and Captain Sutter returned home on the fifth of February. But the great secret could not long be retained. A bottle of whiskey made it known. A teamster, whom Captain Sutter had dispatched to the saw-mill with supplies, heard of the discovery of gold, and managed to obtain some of the precious grains. On returning to the fort, he immediately went to the neighboring store, kept by a Mormon, and demanded a bottle of whiskey. This was a cash article in that country, and, as the teamster was poor pay, the trader refused to sell him the whiskey. The man declared he had

plenty of money, and exhibited some grains of gold. The astonished trader, on being satisfied that these were gold, gave his customer the bottle of whiskey, and earnestly inquired where he got the gold. The teamster refused to make known the secret till he had imbibed considerable of the liquor, when his tongue was loosened, and he told all about the discovery of gold at Sutter's mill. The wonderful tale spread like wild-fire throughout the sparsely inhabited territory of California. It ran up and down the Pacific coast, traversed the continent, reached the Atlantic shores, and in a short time the story of California's golden treasures had startled the whole civilized world.

Naturally enough, the first rumors, as they spread abroad, were lightly tossed

aside; but confirmation gave them strength, and as each transmission of intelligence to the United States carried fresh accounts of new discoveries, an enthusiastic ardor was awakened, and within four months of that eventful day, five thousand persons were delving on the river's banks, on the slopes, amid the ravines, hollows, and caverns in the valley of the Sacramento.

And now, from the vast population of the great republic, new streams of emigration broke at once to swell that current which for years had set noiselessly toward the valleys of California. Gradually, the knowledge of the auriferous soil was borne to the four quarters of the world, and from