the building of the saw-mill, it was with difficulty
men could be made to believe the fact even after it
was ascertained beyond a doubt.
I will inflict upon the reader but one more of these pure inventions whose sole merit is their extravagance. A stranger giving his name as Bennett entered Brown's hotel, San Francisco, in the summer of 1847. After inviting the landlord to drink, he asked him whether he knew of any one having a thousand dol- lars to invest in something which would yield enor- mous returns, and being thereupon introduced to one George McDougall, said that he wanted a thousand dollars to invest in blankets for traffic with the In- dians, offering as security two small bags containing what he declared to be gold. The men of San Fran- cisco looked at the backwoodsman as if they thought him demented. Meanwhile McDougall's wrath was rising, and finally he broke out. " Do you think I am a fool ! " Bennett walked off, muttering " Yes, I think you are ; and you will find it out one of these days." In the autumn of the following year he again visited San Francisco and showed Brown three hundred pounds of gold-dust, stating that after his interview with McDoucjall he went to Monterey to obtain either the money or the blankets from Thomas O. Larkin, " but as soon as he laid eyes on him he concluded not to ask."
In 1847 three noted characters of the day. Moun- tain Jim, Dutch Fred, and Three-fingered Jack sported silver buttons in Monterey, the metal where- for, they said, had been taken from the old Indian claim on the south branch, or Carmelo creek. Some soldiers traded government rations for the buttons, and the army paymaster finally had them assayed at Washington where they stood the test. It was com- mon enough in 1847 and 1848 to see silver in the hands of the natives at the Carmelo ; but little was thought of it at the time, for during the war many mission flagons, censors, chalices, and candlesticks
