lead on the rancho of Captain Richardson ; black lead
at various points, and slate on the Sacramento river.
On the 4th of May, 1846, Larkin writes from Mon- terey to the secretary of state at Washington: "By the laws and customs of Mexico respecting mining, every person or company, foreign or native, can pre- sent themselves to the nearest authorities and denounce any unworked mine. The authorities will then, after the proper formalities, put the denouncer in possession of a certain part of it, or all ; which is, I believe ac- cording to its extent. The possessor must hereafter occupy and work his mine, or some other person may denounce against him. In all cases the governnjent claims a certain portion of the product. Up to the present time there are few or no persons in California with sufficient energy and capital to carry on mining, although a Mexican officer of the army, a padre, and a native of New York are, on a very small scale, ex- tracting quicksilver from the San Jose mine."
Besides the statements having some pretentions to truth were many absurd stories; such as that gold was discovered by the Mormons in fulfilment of a prophecy of Joseph Smith ; and again, that a Pawnee chief, to whom Sutter had given a rifle, and who died some three months later, appeared to Sutter in the spirit and told him where to find gold, begging him meanwhile to buy with it a rifle for every member of his tribe. In 1864 John Bid well was told by Brig- ham Young that some of his men claimed to have found gold prior to the discovery of Marshall, but that it was doubtless a mistake.
After a brief visit to California L. W. Sloat, in December, 1846, read a paper before the Lyceum of Natural History in New York, in which he said : "I am confident that when it (California) becomes settled, as it soon will be by Americans, the mineral develop- ments will greatly exceed in richness and variety the most sanguine expectations" — which after all was no very remarkable prophecy.
