Gold Discovered in California

This series has four easy 5 minute installments. This first installment: James W. Marshall Discovvers Gold.

Introduction
Before the time of the great gold discovery of 1848, the metal had been found in California but the mines from which it was taken were poor and yielded small returns for years of working. The discovery in 1848 influenced the whole world, giving new life to trade and industry everywhere. The first published report of gold in California appeared in Hakluyt’s account of Sir Francis Drake’s visit to the coast in 1579. The observations of Drake’s men are supposed by some to have been made at a point not far from San Francisco. The Hakluyt statement, however, is disbelieved by many historians. The Spaniards and Mexicans who later visited the coast are known to have found gold at many places and especially near the Colorado River but they discovered no mines worth working. Reports of great mineral wealth in California were repeated up to the time of the American conquest but they commanded little confidence among mining experts.

Although gold was found in what is now San Diego County in 1828, Alexander Forbes, the historian of California, wrote in 1835 that no minerals of particular importance had been discovered in Upper California, nor any ores of metals. About 1838 a gold placer was discovered in the caton of San Francisquito, forty-five miles northwest of Los Angeles and this was the first California mine that produced any considerable amount of metal. It was worked for ten years and then abandoned for richer diggings in the Sacramento Valley. The average yield for the ten years was probably about six thousand dollars. After the return of the Wilkes exploring expedition of 1842, James D. Dana, its mineralogist, mentioned places in California at which he had observed or inferred the existence of gold. But his report led to no gold-hunting and had only a scientific interest.

The great discovery of 1848 and its world-wide effects, are described in the following account by Hittell, which forms a part of Hubert H. Bancroft’s voluminous History of the Pacific States.

This selection is from Mining in the Pacific States of North America by John S. Hittell published in 1861. For works benefiting from the latest research see the “More information” section at the bottom of these pages.

John S. Hittell (1826-1901) was a Californian author, historian, and journalist who came to California as part of the gold rush.

Time: 1848
Place: Sutters Mill in Colomal, California

As Edmund Hammond Hargraves is the hero of the Australian, so is James W. Marshall of the Californian, gold discovery. Before giving the account of his discovery, however, I will quote the following passage from a letter written on May 4, 1846, by Thomas O. Larkin, then United States consul at Monterey, California, to James Buchanan, Secretary of State:

There is said to be black lead in the country of San Fernando, near San Pedro [now Los Angeles County]. By washing the sand in a plate, any person can obtain from one dollar to five dollars per day of gold that brings seventeen dollars per ounce in Boston; the gold has been gathered for two or three years, though but few have the patience to look for it. On the southeast end of the island of Catalina there is a silver mine from which silver has been extracted. There is no doubt but that gold, silver, quick-silver, copper, lead, sulphur and coal mines are to be found all over California and it is equally doubtful whether, under their present owners, they will ever be worked.”

James W. Marshall, in a letter dated January 28, 1856 and addressed to Charles E. Pickett, gave the following account of the gold discovery:

Toward the end of August, 1847, Captain Sutter and I formed a co-partnership to build and run a sawmill upon a site selected by myself (since known as Coloma). We employed P.L. Weimer and family to remove from the Fort (Sutter’s Fort) to the mill-site, to cook and labor for us. Nearly the first work done was the building of a double log cabin, about half a mile from the mill-site. We commenced the mill about Christmas. Some of the mill-hands wanted a cabin near the mill. This was built and I went to the Fort to superintend the construction of the mill-irons, leaving orders to cut a narrow ditch where the race was to be made. Upon my return, in January, 1848, I found the ditch cut as directed and those who were working on the same were doing so at a great disadvantage, expending their labor upon the head of the race instead of the foot.

I immediately changed the course of things and upon the 19th of the same month of January discovered the gold near the lower end of the race, about two hundred yards below the mill. William Scott was the second man to see the metal. He was at work at a carpenter’s bench near the mill. I showed the gold to him. Alexander Stephens, James Brown, Henry Bigler and William Johnston were likewise working in front of the mill, framing the upper story. They were called up next and, of course, saw the precious metal. P.L. Weimer and Charles Bennett were at the old double log cabin (where Hastings and Company afterward kept a store).

In the meantime we put in some wheat and peas, nearly five acres, across the river. In February the Captain (Captain Sutter) came to the mountains for the first time. Then we consummated a treaty with the Indians, which had been previously negotiated. The tenor of this was that we were to pay them two hundred dollars yearly in goods, at Yerba Buena prices, for the joint possession and occupation of the land with them; they agreeing not to kill our stock, viz., horses, cattle, hogs or sheep, nor burn the grass within the limits fixed by the treaty. At the same time Captain Sutter, myself and Isaac Humphrey entered into a co-partnership to dig gold. A short time afterward, P.L. Weimer moved away from the mill and was away two or three months, when he returned. With all the events that subsequently occurred, you and the public are well informed.”

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