ed during
the winter, he joined three others and went over the mountains to what is ni)W called Donner lake to fetch over the etiects of the Donner fanuly, alter that terrilile winter of suffering that you have heaid aljout. In June 1847 they loaded all our household plunder fur Battle creek, up on the Sacramento, to put up a saw-mill, but they changed their plana and went to Coloma. Ct.ptani Sucter and J. W. Marshall were equal partners and were the head of the expedition. After seven days of travel, we arrived at sun- down a nide above the town. Next morning Mr Wiemer went out to select a site for the saw-mill, and I, a site for the house. He was to oversee the Indians, be a handy man about, and I was to be cook. We had from fifteen to twenty men employed.
' But you had some help from the Indians, didn't you ? ' asked the writer. ' Oh no, except to scratch out the pots and sweep out the dirt floors. We soon had a log house, a good log house, and a log heap to cook by. '
They had been working on the mill-race, dam, and mdl about six months, when, one morning along the last days of December or the first M'eek of January, 1847-8, after an absence of several days to the fort (that was our San Francisco in those days) Mr Marshall took ^Ir Wiemer and went down to see wdiat had been done while he was away. The water wais entirely shut off and, a5 they walked along, talking and examining the work, just ahead of them, on a little, roiTgh, muddy rock, lay something looking bright, Lke gold. They both saw it, Ijut Mr Marshall was the first to stoop to pick it up, and, aj he looked at it, doubted its being gold. Our little son Slartin was along with them, and Mr Marshall gave it to him to bring iip to me. He came in a hurry and said: 'Here, mother, here is something Mr Mar- shall and pa found, and they want you to put it into salaratus Avater to see if it will tarnish.' I said, ' Tliis is gold, and I will throw it into my lye kettle, which I had just tried with a feather, and if it is gold, it will be gold when it? comes out. ' I finished off my soap that day and set it off to cool, and it stayed there till next morning. At the breakfast table one of the work hands raised up his head from eating and said, 'I heard some- thing about gold l)eing discovered, what about it ? ' Mr Marshall told him to ask Jenny, and I told him it was in my soap kettle. !Mr Marshall said it was there if it had not gone back to California. A plank was brought for me to lay my soap onto, and I cut it in chunks, but it was not to lie found. At the Ijottom of the pot was a doiible handful of potash, which I lifted in my two hands, and there was my gold as bright as it could be. Mr Mar- shall still contended it was not gold, but whether he was afraid his men would leave him or he really thoiight so I don't know. Mr Wiemer re- marked that it looked like gold, weiglied heavy and would do to make money out of. The men promised not to leave till the mill was finished. Not be- ing sure it was gidd, Mr Wiemer urged Mr Marshall to go to the fort and have it tested. He did so, and George McKinstry, an assayer, pronounced it gold. Captain Sutter came right up with Mr Marshall and called all the Indians together, and agreed with them to certain boundaries t!iat they claimed, and on the right of discovery demanded thirty per cent of all gold taken out. They in payment were to give the Indians a certain number of handkerchiefs, pocket-knives, looking-glasses, shirts, beads, and other trinkets.
' iMrs Weimer will you be kind enough to tell me how you came in posses- sion of this piece of gold.'
' Yes; it was just this way; one day Mr Marshall was packing up to go away. He had gathered together a good deal of dust on the tliirty per cent l)usiness, and had it buried under the floor. In overhauling his traps, he said to me in the presence of Elisha Packwood, ' Jenny, I wdl give you tliis piece of gold. I always intended to have a ring made from it for my mother, but I will give it to you.' I took it and have had it in my posses- sion from that day to this. ' You have not the exact date of the discovery of gold?' 'No, but it M'as somewdiere aliout the holidays, for I know that Captain Sutter had sent up to me a dozen bottles of brandy, six fo
