of the Sacramento was soon explored. Gold was found on every one of its tributaries; but the richest earth was discovered near the Rio de las Plumes, or Feather river,[1] and its branches, the Yubah and Bear rivers, — and on Weber's creek, a tributary of the American fork. Explorations were also made in the valley of the San Joaquim, which resulted in the discovery of gold on the Cosumnés and other streams, and in the ravines of the Coast Range, west of the valley, as far down as Ciudad de los Angelos.
Sometimes the gold has been found encasing a bright sparkling crystal of quartz, but no accounts have been received up to this date, (January, 1849,) indicating that it has been encountered in its matrix, or the place of its original production. In the "dry diggings," or ravines, it is obtained in grains, averaging from one to two pennyweights, — -and one piece has been found weighing thirty-five pennyweights; but in the swamps, and on the margins of streams, it is procured in small flat spangles, six or seven of which are required to make one grain. Specimens of the metal have been assayed at the mint in Philadelphia, under the direction of Professor Patterson, and the average fineness ascertained to be 894 thousandths, being a little below the standard, which is 900, but fully equal to that obtained in the southern States, and nearly as good as the best gold procured in Africa.
In regard to the productiveness of the gold placeras of California, it is difficult to make any estimates, or form any conjectures. In a Memorial of the citizens of San Francisco, dated in September, 1848, praying congress to establish a branch mint in the territory, it was estimated that the sum of five and a half millions of dollars would be removed from the mines during the year ending on the 1st of July, 1849. But this calculation was evidently predicated on the number of persons then engaged at the washings. Since that time, there has been a vast influx of gold-hunters from Oregon, Mexico, South America, and the Sandwich Islands. Large numbers of citizens of the United States, have also set out for California, by way of Cape Horn, the Panama route, or overland from Independence. It is, therefore, not improbable that before the close of the year, the population may be trebled, or even quadrupled.
It has been predicted by some, that the washings in California would soon be exhausted, as were those of Brazil, from which ten millions sterling were once annually sent to Europe. The volcanic character of
- ↑ Feather river is the first considerable branch of the Sacramento below the Prairie Buttes. It has a course of about forty miles, and empties into the main river about fifteen miles above New Helvetia. Though the Sacramento is navigable for vessels, only to that place, boats can pass up one hundred miles further.
