Richard Barnes Mason: Official Report on the Gold Mines

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Monterey, Cal., August 17, 1848.

I have the honor to inform you that, accompanied by Lieut. W. T. Sherman, Third Artillery, acting Assistant Adjutant-General, I started on the 12th of June last to make a tour through the northern part of California. My principal purpose, however, was to visit the newly-discovered gold placer in the valley of the Sacramento.

I had proceeded about 40 miles when I was overtaken by an express, bringing me intelligence of the arrival at Monterey of the United States storeship Southampton, with important letters from Commodore Shubrick and Lieutenant-Colonel Burton. I returned at once to Monterey, and dispatched what business was most important, and on the 17th resumed my journey. We reached San Francisco on the 20th, and found that all, or nearly all, its male population had gone to the mines. The town, which a few months before was so busy and thriving, was then almost deserted. On the evening of the 24th, the horses of the escort were crossed to Sansolito in a launch, and on the following day we resumed the journey, by way of Bodega and Sonoma, to Sutter’s Fort, where we arrived on the morning of the 2d of July. 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 already were established several stores, a hotel, &c. Captain Sutter had only two mechanics in his employ—a wagon-maker and blacksmith—whom he was then paying &10 per day. Merchants pay him a monthly rent of &100 per room, and whilst I was there a two-story house in the fort was rented as a hotel for $500 a month.

At the urgent solicitation of many gentlemen, I delayed there to participate in the first public celebration of our national anniversary at that fort, but on the 5th resumed the journey and proceeded 25 miles up the American Fork, to a point on it now known as the lower mines, or Mormon diggings. The hillsides were thickly strewn with canvas tents and bush arbors. A store was erected, and several boarding shanties in operation. The day was intensely hot; yet about 200 men were at work in the full glare of the sun, washing for gold, some with tin pans, some with close-woven Indian baskets, but the greater part had a rude machine known as the cradle. This is on rockers 6 or 8 feet long, open at the foot, and at its head has a coarse grate anil sieve: the bottom is rounded, with small elects nailed across. Four men are required to work this machine; one digs the gravel in the bank close by the stream, another carries it to the cradle and empties it on the grate, a third gives a violent rocking motion to the machine, whilst a fourth dashes water on from the stream itself. The sieve keeps the coarse stones from entering the cradle, the current of water washes off the earthy matter, and the gravel is gradually carried out at the foot of the machine, leaving the gold mixed with flue heavy black sand above the first cleets. The sand and gold, mixed together, are then drawn off through auger holes into a pan below, are dried in the sun, and afterwards separated by blowing off the sand. A party of lour men thus employed at the lower mines averaged $100 a day. The Indians, and those who have nothing but pans or willow baskets, gradually wash out the earth and separate the gravel by hand, leaving nothing but the gold mixed with sand, which is separated in the manner before described. The gold in the lower mines is in fine bright scales, of which I send several specimens.

As we ascended the south branch of the American Fork the country became more broken and mountainous, and at the saw-mill, 25 miles above the lower washings, or 50 miles from Sutter’s, the hills rise to about 1,000 feet above the level of the Sacramento plain. Here a species of pine occurs, which led to the discovery of the gold. Captain Sutter, feeling the great want of lumber, contracted, in September last, with a Mr. Marshall to build a saw-mill at that place. It was erected in the course of the past winter and spring—a dam and race constructed; but when the water was let on the wheel, the tail race was found to be too narrow to permit the water to escape with sufficient rapidity. Mr. Marshall, to save labor, let the water directly into the race, with a strong current, so as to wash it wider and deeper. He effected his purpose, and a large bed of mud and gravel was carried to the foot of the race. One day Mr. Marshall when walking down the race to this deposit of mud, observed some glittering particles at its upper edge; he gathered a few, examined them, and became satisfied of their value. He then went to the fort, told Captain Sutter of his discovery, and they agreed to keep it secret until a certain grist-mill of Sutter’s was finished. It however got out and spread like magic. Remarkable success attended the labors of the first explorers, and in a few weeks hundreds of men were drawn thither. At the time of my visit, but little more than three months after its first discovery, it was estimated that upwards of 4,000 people were employed. At the mill there is a fine deposit, or bank of gravel, which the people respect as the property of Captain Sutter, although he pretends to no right to it, and would be perfectly satisfied with the simple promise of a pre-emption, on account of the mill which he has built there, at considerable cost. Mr. Marshall was living near the mill, and informed me that many persons were employed above and below him, that they used the same machines as at the lower washings, and that their success was about the same, ranging from 1 to 3 ounces of gold per man daily. This gold too is in scales, a little coarser than those of the lower mines. From the mills Mr. Marshall guided me up the mountain, on the opposite or north bank of the South Fork, where, in the beds of small streams, or ravines, now dry, a great deal of the coarse gold has been found. I there saw several parties at work, all of whom were doing very well. A great many specimens were shown me, some as heavy as 4 or 5 ounces in weight; and I send three pieces, labeled No. 5, presented by a Mr. Spence. You will perceive that some of the specimens accompanying this hold, mechanically, pieces of quartz, that the surface is rough, and evidently molded in the crevice of a rock. This gold cannot have been carried far by water, but must have remained near where it was deposited from the rock that once bound it. I inquired of many people if they had encountered the metal in its matrix, but in every instance they said they had not, but that the gold was invariably mixed with washed gravel, or lodged in the crevices of other rocks. All bore testimony that they had found gold in greater or less quantities in the numerous small gullies or ravines that occur in that mountainous region. On the 7th of July I left the mill and crossed to a small stream emptying into the American Fork, 3 or 4 miles below the saw-mill. I struck this stream (now known as Weber’s Creek) at the washings of Sunal & Co. They had about 30 Indians employed, whom they pay in merchandise. They were getting gold of a character similar to that found in the main fork, and doubtless in sufficient quantities to satisfy them. I send you a small specimen, presented by this company, of their gold. From this point we proceeded up the stream about 8 miles, where we found a great many people and Indians; some engaged in the bi d of the stream, and others ill the small side valleys that put into it. These latter are exceedingly rich, and 2 ounces were considered ail ordinary yield for a day’s work. A small gutter, not more than 100 yards long by 4 feet wide and 2 or 3 feet deep, was pointed out to me as the one where two men, William Daly and Perry McCoon, had, a short time before, obtained in seven days $17,000 worth of gold.

Captain Weber informed me that he knew that these two men had employed four white men and about a hundred Indians, and that, at the end of one week’s work, they paid off their party and had left, with $10,000 worth of this gold. Another small ravine was shown me from which had been taken $12,000 worth of gold. Hundreds of similar ravines, to all appearances, are as yet untouched. I could not have credited these reports had I not seen, in the abundance of the precious metal, evidence of their truth. Mr. Neligh, an agent of Commodore Stockton, had been at work about three weeks in the neighborhood, and showed me, in bags and bottles, over $2,000 worth of gold; and Mr. Lyman, a gentleman of education and worthy of every credit, said he had been engaged, with four others, with a machine on the American Fork, just below Sutter’s saw-mill, that they worked eight (lays, and that his share was at the rate of $50 a day; hut, hearing that others were doing better at Weber’s place, they had removed there, and were then on the point of resuming operations.

I might tell of hundreds of similar instances; but, to illustrate how plentiful the gold was in the pockets of common laborers, I will mention a simple occurrence which took place in my presence when I was at Weber’s store. This store was nothing but an arbor of bushes, under which he had exposed for sale goods and groceries suited to his customers. A man came in, picked up a box of seidlitz powders, and asked its price. Captain Weber told him it was not for sale. The man offered an ounce of gold, but Captain Weber told him it only cost 50 cents, and he did not wish to sell it. The man then offered an ounce and a half, when Captain Weber had to take it. The prices of all things are high; and yet Indians, who before hardly knew what a breechcloth was, can now afford to buy the most gaudy dresses.

The country on either side of Weber’s Creek is much broken up by hills, and is intersected in every direction by small streams or ravines, which contain more or less gold. Those that have been worked are barely scratched, and, although thousands of ounces have been carried away, I do not consider that a serious impression has been made upon the whole. Every day was developing new and rich deposits, and the only apprehension seemed to be that the metal would be found in such abundance as seriously to depreciate in value.

On the 8th of July I returned to the lower mines, and on the following day to Sutter’s, where, on the 10th, I was making preparations for a visit to the Feather, Yubah, and Hear Rivers, when I received a letter from Commodore A. R. Long, United States Navy, who had just arrived at San Francisco from Mazatlau, with a crew for the sloop-of-war Warren, and with orders to take that vessel to the squadron at La Paz. Captain Long wrote to me that the Mexican Congress had adjourned without ratifying the treaty of peace, that he had letters for me from Commodore Jones, and that his orders were to sail with the Warren on or before the 20th of July. In consequence of these, I determined to return to Monterey, and accordingly arrived here on the 17th of July. Before leaving Sutter’s, I satisfied myself that gold exists in the bed of the Feather River, in the Yubah and Bear, and in many of the small streams that lie between the latter and the American Fork; also that it had been found in the Cosumnes to the south of the American Fork. In each of those streams the gold is found in small scales, whereas in the intervening mountains it occurs in coarse lumps.

Mr. Sinclair, whose rancho is 3 miles above Sutter’s, on the north side of the American, employs about 50 Indians on the North Fork not far from its junction with the main stream. He had been engaged about live weeks when I saw him, and up to that time his Indians had used simply closely-woven willow baskets. His net proceeds (which I saw) were about 810,000 worth of gold. He showed me the proceeds of his last week’s work—fourteen pounds avoirdupois of clean washed gold.

The principal store at Sutter’s Fort, that of Brannant & Co., had received in payment for goods $36,000 worth of this gold from the 1st of May to the 10th of July; other merchants had also made extensive sales. Large quantities of goods were daily sent forward to the mines, as the Indians, heretofore so poor and degraded, have suddenly become consumers of the luxuries of life. I before mentioned that the greater part of the fanners and rancheros had abandoned their fields to go to the mines; this is not the case with Captain Sutter, who was carefully gathering his wheat, estimated at 40,000 bushels. Flour is already worth at Sutter’s $30 a barrel, and soon will be $50. Unless large quantities of bread-stuffs reach the country, much suffering will occur; but as each man is now able to pay a large price, it is believed the merchants will bring from Chili [sic] and Oregon a plentiful supply for the coming winter.

The most moderate estimate I could obtain from men acquainted with the subject was that upwards of 4,000 men were working in the gold district, of whom more than half were Indians, and that from $30,000 to $50,000 worth of gold, if not more, was daily obtained. The entire gold district, with very few exceptions of grants made some years ago by the American authorities, is on land belonging to the United States. It was a matter of serious reflection with me how I could secure to the Government certain rents or fees for the privilege of procuring this gold; but, upon considering the large extent of country, the character of the people engaged, and the small scattered force at my command, I resolved not to interfere, but permit all to work freely, unless broils and crimes should call for interference. I was surprised to learn that crime of any kind was very unfrequent, and that no thefts or robberies had been committed in the gold district. All live in tents, in bush houses, or in the open air, and men have frequently about their persons thousands of dollars’ worth of this gold; and it was to me a matter of surprise that so peaceful and quiet a state of things should continue to exist. Conflicting claims to particular spots of ground may cause collisions, but they will be rare, as the extent of country is so great, and the gold so abundant, that for the present there is room and enough for all; still the Government is entitled to rents for this land, and immediate steps should be devised to collect them, for the longer it is delayed the more difficult it will become. One plan I would suggest is to send out from the United States surveyors, with high salaries, bound to serve specified periods; a superintendent to be appointed at Sutter’s Fort, with power to grant licenses to work a spot of ground, say 100 yards square, for one year at a rent of from $100 to $1,000, at his discretion; the surveyors to measure t lie grounds and place the renter in possession. A better plan, however, will be to have the district surveyed and sold at public auction to the highest bidder, in small parcels, say from 20 to 40 acres. In either case there will be many intruders, whom for years it will be almost impossible to exclude.

The discovery of these vast deposits of gold has entirely changed the character of Upper California. Its people, before engaged in cultivating their small patches of ground and guarding their herds of cattle and horses, have all gone to the mines, or are on their way thither; laborers of every trade have left their work-benches, and tradesmen their shops; sailors desert their ships as fast as they arrive on the coast, and several vessels have gone to sea with hardly enough hands to spread a sail; two or three are now at anchor in San Francisco with no crews on board. Many desertions, too, have taken place from the garrisons within the influence of the mines; 20 soldiers have deserted from the post of Sonoma, 24 from that of San Francisco, and 24 from Monterey. For a few days the evil appeared so threatening that great danger existed that the garrisons would leave in a body; and I refer you to my orders of the 25th of July to show the steps adopted to meet this contingency. I shall spare no exertions to apprehend and punish deserters; but I believe no time in the history of our country has presented such temptations to desert as now exist in California. The danger of apprehension is small, and the prospect of higher wages certain; pay and bounties are trifles, as laboring men at the mines can now earn in one day more than double a soldier’s pay and allowances for a month, and even the pay of a lieutenant or captain cannot hire a servant. A carpenter or mechanic would not listen to an offer of less than $15 or $20 a day. Could any combination of affairs try a man’s fidelity more than this? And I really think some extraordinary mark of favor should be given to those soldiers who remain faithful to their flag throughout this tempting crisis. No officer can now live in California on his pay. Money has so little value, the prices of necessary articles of clothing and subsistence are so exorbitant, and labor so high, that to hire a cook or servant has become an impossibility, save to those who are earning from $30 to $50 a day. This state of things cannot last forever; yet, from the geographical position of California, and the new character it has assumed as a mining country, prices of labor will always be high, and will hold out temptations to desert. I therefore have to report, if the Government wish to prevent desertions here on the part of men, and to secure zeal on the part of officers, their pay must be increased very materially. Soldiers both of the volunteer and regular service discharged in this country should be permitted at once to locate their land warrants in the gold district. Many private letters have gone to the United States giving accounts of the vast quantity of gold recently discovered, and it may be a matter of surprise why I have made no report on this subject at an earlier date. The reason is, that I could not bring myself to believe the reports that I heard of the wealth of the gold district until I visited it myself. I have no hesitation now in saying that there is more gold in the country drained by the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers than will pay the cost of the present war with Mexico a hundred times over. No capital is required to obtain this gold, as the laboring man wants nothing but his pick, shovel, and tin pan, with which to dig and wash the gravel; and many frequently pick gold out of the crevices of rock with their butcher knives in pieces from one to six ounces.

Mr. Dye, a gentleman residing in Monterey, and worthy of every credit, has just returned from Feather River. He tells me that the company to which he belonged worked seven weeks and two days, with an average of 50 Indians (washers), and that their gross product was 273 pounds of gold. His share, one-seventh, after paying all expenses, is about 37 pounds, which he brought with hint and exhibits in Monterey. I see no laboring man from the mines who does not show his two, three, and four pounds of gold. A soldier of the artillery company returned here a few days ago from the mines, having been absent on furlough 20 days; he made by trading and working during that time $1,500. During these 20 days he was traveling 10 or 11 days, leaving but a week, in which he made a sum of money greater than he receives in pay, clothes, and rations during a whole enlistment of five years. These statements appear incredible, but they are true.

Gold is believed also to exist on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada, and when at the mines, I was informed by an intelligent Mormon that it had been found near the Great Salt Lake by some of his fraternity. Nearly all the Mormons are leaving California to go to the Salt Lake, and this they surely would not do unless they were sure of finding gold there in the same abundance as they now do on the Sacramento.

The gold “placer” near the mission of San Fernando has long been known, but has been but little wrought for want of water. This is a spur that puts off from the Sierra Nevada (see Fremont’s map), the same in which the present mines occur. There is, therefore, every reason to believe that in the intervening space of 500 miles (entirely unexplored) there must be many hidden and rich deposits.

The placer gold is now substituted as currency of this country; in trade it passes freely at $16 per ounce; as an article of commerce its value is not yet fixed. The only purchase I made was of the specimen No. 7, which I got of Mr. Neligh at $12 the ounce. That is about the present cash value in the country, although it has been sold for lens. The great demand for goods and provisions made by this sudden development, of wealth has increased the amount of commerce at San Francisco very much, and it will continue to increase.

I would recommend that a mint be established at some eligible point on the bay of San Francisco, and that machinery, and all the apparatus and workmen, be sent by sea. These workmen must be bound by high wages, and even bonds, to secure their faithful services; else the whole plan may be frustrated by their going to the mines as soon as they arrive in California. If this course be not adopted, gold to the amount of many millions of dollars will pass yearly to other countries, to enrich their merchants and capitalists. Before leaving the subject of mines, I will mention that on my return from the Sacramento I touched at New Almoden, the quicksilver mine of Mr. Alexander Forbes, consul of her Britannic Majesty at Tepic. This mine is in a spur of mountains 1,000 feet above the level of the bay of San Francisco, and is distant in a southern direction from the Pueblo San Jose about 12 miles. The ore (cinnabar) occurs in a large vein dipping at a strong angle to the horizon. Mexican miners are employed in working it, by driving shafts and galleries about 6 feet by 7, following the vein.

The fragments of rock and ore are removed on the backs of Indians in raw-hide sacks. The ore is then hauled in an ox wagon from the mouth of the mine down to a valley well supplied with wood and water, in which the furnaces are situated. These furnaces are of the simplest construction, exactly like a common bake-oven, in the crown of which is inserted a whaler’s trying kettle; another inverted kettle forms the lid. From a hole in the lid a small brick channel leads to an apartment or chamber, in the bottom of which is inserted a small iron kettle. This chamber has a chimney.

In the morning of each day the kettles are filled with mineral (broken in small pieces), mixed with lime: fire is then applied, and kept up all day. The mercury, volatilized, passes into the chamber, is condensed on the sides and bottom of the chamber, and flows into the pot prepared for it. No water is used to condense the mercury.

During a visit I made last spring, four such ovens were in operation, and yielded in the two days I was there 656 pounds of quicksilver, worth at Mazatlan $1.80 per pound. Mr. Walkinshaw, the gentleman now in charge of this mine, tells me that the vein is improving, and that he can afford to keep his people employed even in these extraordinary times. This mine is very valuable of itself, and becomes the more so, as mercury is extensively used in obtaining gold. It is not at present used in California for that purpose, but will be at some future time. When I was at this mine last spring, other parties were engaged in searching for veins; but none have been discovered that are worth following up, although the earth in that whole range of hills is highly discolored, indicating the presence of this ore. I send several beautiful specimens, properly labeled. The amount of quicksilver in Mr. Forbes’s vats on the 15th of July was about 25,000 pounds.

I inclose you herewith sketches of the country through which I passed, indicating the position of the mines, and the topography of the country in the vicinity of those I visited.

Some of the specimens of gold accompanying this were presented for transmission to the Department by the gentlemen named below; the numbers on the topographical sketch, corresponding to the numbers on the labels of the respective specimens, show from what part of the gold region they were obtained:

1. Capt. J. A. Sutter.

2. John Sinclair.

3. William Glover, K. C. Kirby, Ira Blanchard, Levi Fairfield, Franklin H. Ayer; Mormon Diggings.

4. Chas. Weber.

5. Robert Spence.

6. Suñal & Co.

7. Robert D. Neligh.

8. C. E. Picket, American Fork, Column.

9. E. C. Kemble.

10. T. H. Green, from San Fernando, near Los Angeles.

A. Two ounces purchased from Mr. Neligh.

B. Sand found in washing gold, which contains small particles.

11. Captain Frisbie, Dry Diggings, Weber’s Creek.

12. Cosumnes.

13. Cosumnes, Hartnell’s Ranch.

14. A small specimen, supposed to be platina, found mixed with the finer particles of the gold.

I have the honor to be your obedient servant,

R. B. Mason, Colonel First Dragoons, Commanding

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Source: Index to the Executive Documents of the House of Representatives for the Third Session of the Forty-Sixth Congress, vol. 25. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1881.