Q.David Bowers
After staying at the mill for two days Sutter returned to New Helvetia. He viewed the gold discovery as an unfortunate situation. He felt that if the laborers became distracted the mill would not be completed. Sutter swore the workers to secrecy and had them agree to continue their labors for six weeks, by which time he hoped the flour mill (being built by Mormons closer to Fort Sutter) would be completed using the new lumber and that the lumber mill itself would be in good operating order. This would give him time, so he thought, to get his other affairs in order should there be additional problems with his workers. The men readily agreed to this for the steady wages of mill operation were preferable to the unknown and possibly short lived attractions of gold seeking. At the time the extent of the gold discovery was not realized.
The News Spreads
Although Sutter demanded secrecy from all others involved, he could not resist the temptation to tell his friends about the new-found gold. Writing to an ac-quaintance on February 10, 1848, he said, "I have made a discovery of a gold mine, which, according to experiments we have made, is extraordinarily rich."
Sutter realized the desirability of getting good title to the land, a difficult situation in view of the war with Mexico and the impossibility of obtaining Mexican grants. From the Columa Indians he obtained a three year lease on a tract 10 to 12 miles square in the area by paying some articles of clothing and trinkets. In the meantime the Indians were allowed to remain in their homes and follow their normal pursuits.
Realizing that the title with the Indians was not a sure defense for all claims, Sutter sent a messenger to Monterey to acquire better title through the office of Col. R. B. Mason, Jr., then chief representative of the United States government in California. Charles Bennett, who was second in responsibility to James Marshall at the mill, was chosen to make the trip. He was instructed not to mention the gold at all but to acquire the land with its pasture, mill, and mineral privileges, giving as a reason for including mineral privileges "the appearance of lead and silver in the soil."
Bennett, however, was not equal to the task. Arriving at Pfister's store in Benicia with six ounces of gold in a buckskin pouch, Bennett was told that coal had been found pear Monte Del Diablo, and as a result California would become very important in the eyes of the United States, soon to administer control over the district. Bennett could not contain his secret at this point and said, "Coal! I have something here which will beat coal, and make this the greatest country in the world." At that point he showed the pouch of gold to those present.
Arriving in San Francisco, Bennett learnedof Isaac Humphrey, who earlier had been engaged in gold mining in Georgia. Bennett sought out Humphrey and showed him the pouch of gold, which Humphrey at once declared to be the genuine article. Humphrey was pleased with the quality of the gold and said that the discovery was probably much more important than the gold found in Georgia. Later, Humphrey returned to the Coloma area with Bennett and found gold in large quantities.
Although Sutter himself was-responsible-for the spread of the news, he wanted to stop communications from the sawmill. To do this, no messengers were sent from Sutter's Fort to Marshall during the early part of February. Toward the end of the month it was necessary to send provisions to the mill. Sutter selected a Swiss teamster who was considered especially reliable to undertake the mission. Arriving at Coloma, the driver found one of the Wimmer children who said, "We have found gold up here." The teamster ridiculed theidea, thus annoying Mrs. Wimmer who produced some gold to prove that her son was telling the truth. Samples were given to the visitor.
Returning to Sutter's Fort after the journey, the teamster sought a drink. Many times before at the store of Smith & Brannan he sought to quench his thirst from the barrel of whisky there and to settle accounts for the same by promising payment at a later date. On this occasion he asked for a bottle of whisky and boldly presented gold dust in payment. The secret thus escaped in another direction. Twenty-eight years later in a reminiscence Sutter said, "I should have sent my Indians instead."
Around the time that Bennett was dispatched to Monterey to secure better title, Sutter's ship went down the Sacramento Riverwith some gold specimens. Folsom, who was quartermaster in San Francisco, learned of the gold in this manner. John Bidwell further spread the news in the area. In these and other ways the news of the gold discovery spread throughout the district.
In the meantime at Sutter's mill the workers, finding time when they could during the day and also working on Sunday, used knives and spoops to extract yellow metal from crevices and rocks, acquiring gold at the rate of $3 to $8 per day. In order to determine the value of what they found, a small pair of wooden scales was built to weigh silver coins against the gold. In this manner a Mexican silver real or "bit" worth 12 1/2c would be balanced in weight by $2 worth of gold, which was valued at $16 per ounce; less than it was worth in the more civilized districts, but more than it would bring in the mining districts a few months later. Gold that would balance a full dollar-size silver coin would be equal in value to $16, or one ounce.
On February 6th, the second Sunday after Marshall's initial discovery, all the workers were busily searching for gold in the mill race. Henry Bigler and James Barger crossed the American River and found in a crevice in a rock on the other side gold valued at $10. On the following Saturday Bigler went a half mile down the river and in the seam of some rocks found a half ounce. On the next Sunday, a week later, he found another ounce. On Tuesday, February 22nd, snow prevented work at the mill, so Bigler went downstream to the same area and obtained an ounce and a half of the precious substance. Prior to this time he kept his private discoveries away from the mill a secret, taking a gun with him on the pretext of shooting ducks. Returning from the last sortie he was questioned closely by his companions. He informed them of his success, and on the next Sunday five of them went with Bigler to the same location where they were all rewarded with success.
In the opposite direction up the American River three miles Marshall and James Gregson found a place which they called Live Oak Bar. According to Gregson they picked up from the surface a pint of gold, with some nuggets being the size of a bean. Gregson, an Englishman who had come to California in 1845 and who had engaged in lumbering for Sutter, later gave up his employment with Marshall and during the balance of the year acquired several thousand dollars in gold dust. Helping him was his wife.
Around the 21st of February Bigler wrote to certain of his comrades from the Mormon battalion-Israel Evans, Ephraim Green, and Jesse Martin, who were working on the construction of Sutter's flour mill telling them of the discovery of gold and admonishing them to repeat it only to those who could be trusted. As a result, on the evening of February 27th three persons came to Sutter's mill at Coloma to engage in the search for the yellow metal. Marshall received them graciously and gave them permission to look in the mill race. The next morning they all went there and met with success, one Wilford Hudson finding a nugget worth $6. They continued until March 2nd, when they returned to the flour mill. The three people who made the journey, Sidney Willis, Fiefield, and Wilford Hudson, told everyone at the flour mill that they had gone to the sawmill merely to pay a social visit, the only one knowing the truth being Jesse Martin who told them of the gold discovery originally.