ieve me. '
Smith came in hot haste, and said, ' Yoiir man came to me and said that this is gold. Of course I knew he lied, and told him so. '
' Nevertheless it is gold,' said I, and so the secret was out.
Next I will give the account by George Frederick Parsons, which may be regarded as the best of Mar- shall's versions:
On the morning of that memorable day Marshall went out as usual to superintend the men, and after closing the fore-bay gate, and thus sliutting off the water, walked down the tail-race, to see what sand and gravel had been removed during the night. This had l)eeu customary with him for some time, for he had previously entertained the idea that there might be minerals in the mountains, and had expressed it to Sutter, who, however, only laughed at him. On this cccasion, having strolled to the lower end of the race, he stood for a moment examining the mass of del)ris that had been washed down ; and at this juncture liis eye caught the glitter of something that lay, lodged in a crevice, on a riffle of soft granite, some six inches under the water. His first act was to stoop and pick up the substance. It was heavy, of a peculiar color, and unlike anything he had seen in the stream before. For a few minutes he stood with it in his hand, reflecting, and en- deavoring to recall all that he had heard or read concerning the various minerals. After a close examination, he became satisfied that what he held in his hand must be one of three substances — mica, sulphurets of copper, or gold. The weight assured him that it was not mica. Could it be snlphuret of copper? He remembered that that mineral is brittle, and that gold is malleal)le, and as this thought passed through his mind, he turned about, placed the specimen upon a flat stone, and proceeded to test it by striking it with another. The substance did not crack or flake off; it simply bent un- der the blows. This, then, was gold, and in this manner was the first gold found in California.
If we were writing a sensation tale, instead of a sobre history, we might proceed to relate how Marshall sank, pale and breathless upon a neighbor- ing rock, and how, as he eyed the glittering metal in his hand, a vision roje before him of the mighty results of his discovery. But in fact nothing of the kind occurred. The discoverer was not one of the spasmodic and excita- ble kind, but a plain, shrewd, practical fellow, who realized the importance of the discovery — though doubtless not to its full extent, since no one did that then — and proceeded with his work as usual, after showing the nugget to his men, and indulging in a few conjectures concerning the probable extent of the gold fields. As a matter of course he watched closely from time to time, for further developments, and in the course of a few days had collected several ounces of the precious metal. Although, however, he was satisfied in his own mind that it was gold, there were some who were skeptical, and as he had no means of testing it chemically, he determined to take some down to his partner at the fort, and have the question finally decided. Some four days after the discovery it became necessary for him to go below, for Sutter had failed to send a supply of provisions to the mill, and tlie men were on short commons. So mounting his horse, and taking some three ounces of gold dust with him, he started. Having always an eye to business, he availed himself of this opportunity to examine the river for a site for a lum- ber yard, whence the timber cut at the mill could be floated down; and while exploring for this purpose he discovered gold in a ravine in the foot- hilh, and also at the place known afterwards as Mormon island. That night he slept under an oak tree, some eight or ten miles east of the fort, where he arrived about nine o'clock the next morning. Dismounting from his horse, he entered Sutter's private office, and proceeded to enquire into the cause of the delay in sending up the provisions. Ihis matter liaving been explained, and the teams l)eing in a fair way to load, he asked for a few minutes' private conversation with Colonel Sutter, and the two entered a
