THE FIRST DISCOVERER OF GOLD IN CALIFORNIA.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5762, 17 September 1879, Page 3

THE FIRST DISCOVERER OF GOLD IN CALIFORNIA.

(From the San Francisco Newsletter.) James Wilson Marshall was born in Hope Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, in 1812. His father was a coaohbuilder, and he is said to have been brought up to the same trade ; but he was a born mechanic, and by no means confined himself to any particular branch of work. Being of a restless disposition he left home when 21, and for some years wandered over the Southern and Western States, generally supporting himself by working as a carpenter. While in Missouri he first entertained the idea of coming to California, and forthwith in May, 1844, he joined a party which had been organised with that object. The party divided at Fort Hall, and Marshall joined the portion which decided to enter California by way of Oregon. In that territory he passed a winter, and in the summer came down the Sacramento Valley to Sutter’s Fort, whore he arrived in July, 1845. Such an ingenious mechanic as Marshall was a great prize for Sutter, who at once took the wanderer into his employ. With the exception of occasional fights with the Indians, his life was now monotonous enough until the Bear Flag Party, under Fremont, hoisted their flag and declared California a free and independent State. Marshall, of course, espoused the cause of his countrymen, and after doing good work under the Bear Flag, was enrolled as a volunteer in the United States forces when that queer standard was replaced by the Stars and Stripes. He took part in all the important military operations which followed, and in March, 1847, received his discharge—but no pay. He then returned to Sutter's Fort, and resumed his more peaceful occupations. At this time Sutter had great need of a saw-mill. He had the resources wherewith to build it, and Marshall had the skill, so they agreed to sot about the work as equal partners. After several ineffectual attempts to find a good site, Marshall at length hit upon a suitable place, at a spot called by the Indians Ooloma, on the South Fork of the American Kiver, some thirty-five or forty miles from Sutter’s Fort. At that time Sutter had in his employ a number of Mormons, who had formerly belonged to the Mormon Battalion which had served the U. S. during the war in California. Several of these men and a number of Indians were placed under Marshall’s orders, and work was at once commenced at Coloraa. By January, 1848, the mill was nearly completed. It had been built over a dry channel, into which the water from the river was diverted, in order to save thejlabor of excavation. But the tail-race had proved not deep enough, and at the time we are now speaking of the chief work on hand was to deepen it. This was done by throwing out the heavy stones and loosening the gravel during the day, and at night opening the sluicegate and letting the rush of water carry away the lighter stones and soil. Marshall used to go down to the race every morning, after the gate was shut down, to see what had been accomplished during the night, and, as all the world knows, it was on one of these occasions that he discovered the first glittering particle of gold. The matter wasn’t long a secret at the mill, and a closer search revealed more of the precious metal; but nobody seemed to appreciate the importance of the discovery except Marshall, and many doubted its being gold. To satisfy himself on this point, Marshall went down to the Fort a day or two later, and, in a private interview with Sutter, tested the yellow stuff, and established its genuineness. He and Sutter wished to keep the whole thing secret, at least until the mill was finished and they had acquired a clear title to the gold field. But though the workmen promised to keep silent and proceed with their work for six weeks, the secret leaked out through the indiscretion of a Swiss teamster. The man was sent from the Fort to Coloma with provisions. At the mill he obtained some of the gold, and on his return he offered his treasure in payment for a bottle of whisky, at a store kept by Sam Brannan. After this it was not long before the news reached San Francisco then a little hamlet, containing a score or so of houses. The excitement and rush from every corner of the earth which followed, is a story too familiar and too long for repetition here. To return to Marshall. When the rush had fairly set in, he sold part of his interest in the sawmill and went to prospecting for new diggings ; but luck deserted him, and he failed to find any of value. To make matters worse, the miners somehow got an idea that he secretly knew where the gold was, and when, after dogging him from claim to claim, they failed to catch him unearthing the hidden treasure, they reviled him, and declared that he was purposely deceiving them. 111-feeling ran so high against him, that he was finally compelled to go to the Southern mines, where he was not so widely known ; but still he met with no success. In later years, when the diggings gave out, he returned to his old stamping ground at Ooloma, where he lived, and, perhaps, is still living, in poverty and obscurity. Hargreaves, the discoverer of gold in Australia, was rewarded with 75,000d01. by the British and Australian Governments. Marshall has never received a cent, but has been actually persecuted, plundered, and left to rot in his old age. Such is briefly the history of the man and the event.