Q.David Bowers
As the groups arrived in California they told many tales of horror and distress. The authorities there appropriated $100,000 for the relief of travelers. Several groups went eastward to help those suffering along the trail. Often the only food encountered along the way consisted of decaying animal carcasses. Drinking from alkaline pools would often increase torment, sometimes resulting in suicide. In one day along the Humboldt River five people drowned themselves. It has been estimated that by the time the first wave of immigrants arrived in California nine tenths of them were on foot with little in the way of food or supplies, and less than half their oxen and less than a quarter of their horses were accompanying them. Still coming behind them were tens of thousands more, most of whom were also suffering. After snow began to fall, the last part of the journey, the Sierra Nevada Mountains, became exceedingly dangerous. The terrible fate of the Donner party in 1846 was recalled by many.
Historian Theodore H. Hittell in The History of California estimated that in 1849 42,000 people, of whom 33,000 were Americans, came by the overland route. By sea during the same year came an estimated 35,000 people, of whom 23,000 were Americans. Added to that figure were about 3,000 sailors who had deserted their ships. Both Hittell and Bancroft estimated that approximately 100,000 people, not including native Indians, populated California by the end of 1849.
Searching for Gold
- As gold seekers poured into California, those who were already in the mining district continued to explore new tributaries, creeks, and ravines for additional traces of gold. After the discovery of gold at Coloma in January 1848, riches were soon found elsewhere along the American River, including the deposit at Mormon Island. By May 1848 streams and ravines for 30 miles to each side of Coloma were occupied with hundreds of miners busily at work. In June T. O. Larkin estimated that 2,000 miners were engaged in activities, including about 100 who had brought their families. In July Col. R. B. Mason, Jr., estimated 4,000 workers, including Indians, were seeking gold. By the end of the year 1848 it was believed that the population of white miners was somewhat less than 10,000 people.
John Bidwell came to Coloma toward the end of March and upon seeing the gold-bearing earth remembered that similar indications existed in the vicinity of his ranch at Chico. He returned home and looked in the streams there. He soon found a rich placer deposit in the Feather River which was subsequently called Bidwell Bar.
Far to the north P. B. Reading discovered gold near his ranch at Clear Creek. Within a short time the gold fields extended for more than 200 miles.
Several different methods were employed to extract gold. The simplest was panning. A pan made of sheet iron about 5 or 6 inches deep and 8 to 12 inches in diameter with sloping sides was dipped into a stream and filled with a mixture of sand and gravel. In other instances dry earth was brought from a distance or from a river bank and mixed with water. The slurry was then agitated in a circular motion which washed the lighter sediment over the edges while the heavier substances, including gold, remained at the bottom. If large nuggets were present they were picked out as soon as they were seen. Otherwise, at the very end of the washing microscopically-sized bits of gold dust would be collected.
In prospecting new areas a pan would be taken along. If the deposit looked promising a sample would be placed in the pan and taken to a nearby stream for processing in the usual way. If gold was present the pan was said to "show color."
Winnowing or "dry washing" was another method of gold extraction. In areas in which gold was not found near a stream dirt was often spread on a large canvas or animal hide, dried, pounded from lumps into dust, and then tossed up into the air. Lighter particles would be blown away by the breeze. After this was done repeatedly only the heavier substances, including gold, would remain. This method was used only in areas in which the gold was present in small grains and in which the surrounding earth could be easily crumbled. Mexican miners from Sonora, where they had earlier practiced this method, were especially adept at winnowing. The method was dry, dusty, and dirty, and found little favor among white miners. In later years winnowing lost its favor as sluices were constructed to bring water to previously dry areas.
Shortly after gold was discovered on the American River at Coloma, Isaac Humphrey, who earlier had worked claims in Georgia, introduced the rocker. This consisted of a large wooden trough which had a sieve or perforated sheet iron container at the top end. This would be filled with several shovelfuls of earth. Extending along the lower part of the rocker were crosswise strips of wood spaced about a foot apart. The device was operated by rocking the trough back and forth by means of a long handle affixed to the side. At the same time quantities of water were poured into the sieve at the upper end. As the dirt and gravel washed away it was replaced with additional quantities. Large rocks and other pieces which would not fit through the sieve would be pulled out by hand. The rocker often would be worked by several people, one rocking, another shoveling, and still another adding buckets full of water (in areas in which water could not be fed by placing the rocker below an outlet). Gold, being heavier than the other substances, would accumulate in the riffles or crossbars.
As time went on, the rocker was replaced with long stationary troughs into which water was introduced at the upper end. Behind each cleat or riffle mercury metal was deposited. Small gold flakes, bits of gold dust, and other minute gold particles would form an amalgam with the mercury and would be captured. Later, the mixture would be heated and the mercury would vaporize, to be condensed in a cooling chamber into liquid for further use, with the gold remaining at the bottom of the oven or retort.
Closely related to the rocker was the long tom. This device was usually made of boards 15 feet more in length and from 1 to 2 feet wide, usually wider at the downstream end. Water and dirt were introduced at the upper end. The mixture would flow down the sluice to the lower end where a sieve was located. At that point a miner would take out the large rocks and other items which would not fit through the sieve holes, letting the remainder fall through to another box with crosswise cleats, in the manner of a rocker. Gold was deposited behind the cleats or was caught in a mercury mixture in the cleats.
The sluice was an expanded version of the long tom. Often measuring several feet wide, it would accommodate a rapidly running stream of water. Riffles would be located at the upper part of the sluice. Part way down the sluice at the end would be a sieve to facilitate the removal of heavy rocks and other large items. On the other side of the sieve were more riffles, some of which contained mercury to form amalgam. Water was supplied to the sluice by diverting a stream bed or by means of a water wheel. The latter device resembled the paddle wheel of a steamship. The bottom dipped into the river and caused the wheel to rotate as the current pushed against it. This in turn would operate a chain of pails or buckets and lift water high to the beginning of a trough.
The sluice was occupied by a crew of men, each person having a separate function. Large amounts of gold-bearing earth and sand could be processed quickly in this manner.
In home workshops and laboratories in the eastern part of the United States many inventors and future travelers to California devised machines to assist in the mining of gold. Many of these large and cumbersome devices, which would have proved impractical at the mines, were abandoned along the overland trail. In 1849 and 1850 many such gadgets which had come by ship could be found abandoned in Sacramento and San Francisco. Nearly all had been devised in the East and had been brought to California with much hope.