Chapter V: The Land of Gold

The following pages are from the original manuscript written by
Kimball Webster, which relates a few of the many experiences in
California from October, 1849, to June, 1851, and in Oregon from
June, 1851, to July, 1854.--EDITOR.

At that time California and Oregon were both territories and belonged to the United States, and both in a semi-primitive condition. California had been a part of Mexico until 1847, only two years prior to the time of which I am writing. This seems difficult to comprehend at the present time, 1914, when California and Oregon have taken their places among the great and leading states of the Union, as to population, wealth and influences.

On the arrival in California of the gold seekers of 1849, the prospects did not present as favorable and promising an appearance to a large percentage of the newly arrived immigrants as they had been led to picture to their imagination. Very many of them had believed that once they were in the mines, gold would be found in such quantities it would require but a few weeks, or months at the most, for them to be able to gather enough of the precious metal to enable them to return to their homes independent for the rest of their lives.

Many, however, were doomed to a most sad and bitter disappointment, and far better would it have been for such had they remained at home and enjoyed the domestic pleasures which they had left behind.

It was found that to make a success of mining gold from the California mines was one of the most laborious kinds of employment that a man could engage in; and required energy and perseverance to ensure a reasonably profitable return as a whole.

Some, it is true, were fortunate in finding gold in such quantities as to enable them to gather a moderate fortune in comparatively a short time and return to their homes. But these were exceptions.

I believe that one ounce of gold per day was above the average pay of the miners then actually at work in mining in the placer mines of California.

There was then, and for years later, a large percentage of the California miners not at work. Some would be traveling through the mountains with pick, shovel and pan, together with as much provisions as they were able to carry--“prospecting,” as it was called, or searching for a “rich lead.” Sometimes their labors would be happily and richly rewarded, but more often were they sadly disappointed. Many at that time were lying under friendly trees, or in their tents, having been stricken down by the prevalent diseases, at that time raging in the country, many dying almost daily. A very large number had been brought up without labor, and some were too indolent to labor; or perhaps, had been clerks or students, and to make enough for their present needs was as much as many were able to accomplish. Others would gamble at the Monte table, or at poker.

Owing to the influx of immigration into the territory in such large numbers, it was deemed best by many of the people to form a state constitution, and then ask admission to the Union. Accordingly, a convention was called at Monterey, which framed a constitution, and a little later it was submitted to the people, who almost unanimously adopted it, and immediately forwarded it to Washington.

The first gold dust seen by me in California was at Lassen’s Ranch, near where we entered the Sacramento valley. At that point there were traders selling provisions, mining implements, clothing and other needed articles to the unfortunate immigrants who had entered the valley by the way of “Greenhorn’s Cutoff,” and to miners that were traveling up the valley to Redding’s mines; these men taking in exchange gold dust which they wished with small scales provided for that purpose.

Gold dust at sixteen dollars per ounce was the principal medium of exchange in California. Some of the dust was nearly clean, and some had considerable quantities of black sand mixed with it. This at first seemed to be a very inconvenient manner of making change and paying for goods, but it possessed its good qualities.

The newcomer with his exalted ideas, on seeing the small quantity which he would receive for one, two, three or even five dollars, and so very fine was the dust, that it looked to him almost insignificant. Some of it was so very fine that it almost required a microscope to be able to discover its separate particles. A person must be able to earn something to make a living here.

Flour retails at 40 cents per pound; pork from 50 to 75 cents; potatoes at $1.50 per pound; sugar 50 cents; eggs $5.00 per dozen; a pick or shovel $8 to $10 each; rockers to wash gold with in the mines, from $40 to $50 each; a quicksilver gold rocker $300; lumber in the mines sold for $2.00 per foot, or at the rate of $2000 per thousand feet, and at Sacramento City it sold at six hundred dollars per thousand.

Other necessaries sold at equally as high prices in proportion. Such seemingly exorbitant prices seemed at first to the newly arrived immigrant as if he was being robbed. It seemed far different to those that have been here a few weeks. In buying provisions or other necessaries they do not appear to think any more about paying the California prices than they would the customary prices when at their homes.

This at present is a fast country, and money must be made fast or the miners could not make a comfortable livelihood, having to pay such prices. It is said that in case a person is taken sick here and employs a physician, that the M. D. will size his “pile,” whether large or small. Probably this was not strictly true in all cases, but in many cases they collected very exorbitant fees. It was also a prevailing opinion among the miners that many of the physicians now in the country do not understand the prevailing diseases of the country; and that many of them are the cause of more sickness and death than they are the means of saving lives. How far this is true I will not undertake to determine; but from what I saw at this time and later, there were apparently a few good, skilled physicians in the country, and very many whose success seemed to be quite poor and unfortunate for some cause.

It seemed to require but two things only to kill the strongest man in California, however slight the disease might at first be. First, to apply for a doctor; and second, to lose his courage and believe he would soon die, and that he would never see his home and friends again. With this combination I never knew the first man to recover under similar circumstances, in the early days of California.

The population of the country at this time was a heterogeneous mass from almost all parts of the civilized world. New England is well represented. The majority of the Yankees came by the way of Cape Horn; some across the Isthmus of Panama, and a few across the country.

Missouri probably had more immigrants in California, by far, than any other state, and for some reason which is not easy to explain, they were not so popular as those from most other states. They were popularly known by others as “Pukes.” Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa all sent large numbers. New York sent a large delegation, the larger part by water. From the southern slaveholding states there were but comparatively few.

England, France, Germany and Ireland were all quite largely represented. Also Sidney, New South Wales, which had formerly been England’s penal colony for many years. Very large numbers came from this colony, a great majority of them being former convicts. These were by far the worst class of people then in California. They were principally English, Scotch and Irish, but the greatest number were Scotch. They had formerly been transported from England, Scotland and Ireland for some serious crime committed, and dared not return to their homes, many of them being under penalty of death. But they could come to California and there was no penalty attached, or no one to question their right to do so, and they enjoyed equal rights with the American citizen. There were also many Mexicans and Chilians at work in the mines, packing mule trains with provisions, mining tools, etc. Many of them were very treacherous, being mixed breeds, and if possible, worse than the Sidney Ducks, as they were called, and I believe more treacherous than the North American Indian.

All classes of people were here--mechanics, clerks, men of all professions mingled together to make up the population. Here were doctors and lawyers hard at work in the mines, clerks who had never before performed a day’s work of manual labor, with a red flannel shirt on, their sleeves rolled up, armed with a pick and shovel, digging their fortunes from the banks and bars of the rivers. Ministers of the Gospel seeking wild speculations, and a few of them seated behind a table dealing “Monte,” or some other game of chance. Sailors and soldiers also formed a considerable percentage of the mining population, and seemed to be just as independent as a member of Congress, and were probably making, many of them, larger pay.

On Friday, October 19, The Granite State and California Mining and Trading Company, about which there was so much talk in Boston and Pelham, was practically dissolved, its former members going various ways.

Some went to Sacramento City; some to Feather River mines; and some in other directions, each for himself, and no longer trammeled by the restrictions of a joint stock company.

The Pelham folks moved up to Long’s Bar on Feather River, some five or six miles from the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. At this place there was a small town consisting of a few stores and quite a large number of mining camps.

A few of the miners had tents, some had brush shanties, and many more with nothing for a shelter but the trees. At night there was no necessity for shelter, the weather being clear and dry without a particle of dew to moisten the earth.

Here the miners were at work along the banks of the river, some digging in the crevices of the rocks and washing the pay dirt in a pan, while others were taking their dirt from the banks in larger quantities and washing it in cradles made for that purpose. The country about this place is hilly and is covered with a growth of several species of oak. The Live Oak is an evergreen and is scrubby and small. The White Oak is of a larger size, but is low and branching.

The land here is not very heavily timbered, much of it being “Oak Openings.” The soil is red.

Some of the Pelham folks that came with us thought perhaps it would be wise and profitable to form a company and send to Sacramento City for their winter provisions; and accordingly the writings were drawn up and signed by the following persons: Doctor Amos Batchelder, George Carlton, Samuel Worcester Gage, Robert Thom, Jacob Morris, Joseph Davis Gage, Austin W. Pinney, together with two or three other members of the former Granite State Company. I was given an invitation to take a share in the newly formed company, but I declined, not being prepared to join another mining company at present.

The company immediately dispatched two of its men with mules to Sacramento to procure provisions and other necessary articles, in readiness for the rainy season which was expected within a month.

I was the owner of one mule which I forwarded to Sacramento by those men for sale for whatever price it might sell for. I received in return $62.

On Sunday, October 21, S. W. Gage and Austin W. Pinney concluded they would leave the new company, and they with myself traveled up the river 8 miles to Bidwell’s Bar, another mining camp, where we agreed to commence work the next morning on a dam for a company at $6 per day each, board included.

On Monday morning we shouldered our blankets and walked to Bidwell’s in season to perform three-fourths of a day’s work. We also labored Tuesday and Wednesday.

As this was the first real manual labor performed by us for many months, and the weather being excessively warm and the work we were required to perform very laborious, it was not an easy matter for us to put in the time. We were just in from the mountains where the atmosphere was cool and bracing, and the locality here was on the river, surrounded by high hills and mountains, where the sun’s rays fell unobstructed by any friendly shade trees. The labor was of the hardest kind. We were building a dam across Feather River for the purpose of turning the stream from its natural channel for a short distance, so the bed of the stream could be worked and the gravel washed to obtain whatever gold it might contain. At that time it was supposed to be large quantities.

The company for which we were at work consisted of about twenty members, who were at work with us. They were in haste to complete the dam before the rainy season should set in; consequently they worked more hours in a day than they otherwise would have done.

We were obliged to carry large rocks and loads of gravel, cobble stones, etc., from the shore to the dam on hand barrows, which was called by us “soul carting.” After we had worked two and three-fourths days, Mr. Gage thought he could not endure it any longer, so we concluded to quit and commence mining on our own account and be independent.

Consequently we bought an old “cradle” for $50, two tin pans for $8, a pick and shovel, and commenced operations. Our cooking apparatus consisted of one tin kettle for which we paid $4, a fry pan, a few knives and forks, three or four tin plates, some tin cups and a coffee pot, which we inherited from the old company.

For a shelter we had the broad canopy of heaven; and for a bed dry sand.

To us the mines presented a novel and interesting appearance. There were at this time no less than seventy-five to one hundred mining cradles on Bidwell’s Bar, with two or three men at work at each cradle.

The cradles were set along at the water’s edge. The dirt was carried from the bank to the water in tin pans and poured into the upper part of the machine--or that part called the screen. This was a box about 15 inches square, with a sheet iron bottom perforated with holes about one-half inch in diameter.

A pan full of pay dirt was dug and turned into the screen and water poured upon it freely, while the cradle was rocked vigorously. This separated the coarse gravel and small stones from the sand, which passed to the bottom of the machine and was carried away by the water, while the gold being much heavier than the sand and gravel, was left at the bottom of the cradle.

The cradles were from three to four feet in length, with two or three bars across the bottom. The miners at this place were making from $10 to $30 a day, and a great majority were immigrants that had just come in over the country, and consequently were new hands at mining, each learning by experience the knack of separating the gold from the sand as best he could. We had endeavored to gain some information in regard to the process before we commenced here, but had not succeeded farther than what knowledge we could acquire by watching others do the work, and imitating the process as far as possible.

Everything in the mines is quiet, and although traders and others leave large quantities of gold dust entirely exposed, there is said to be almost no thefts committed. Many of the traders are also miners, and very many have not even a tent in which to store their goods, and have no safe or bank to deposit it in--not even a trunk to place their gold in to keep it from the sight of those who are easily tempted, or are devoid of principle.

I have seen quantities of several thousand dollars worth of gold dust lying in full sight, while the owner at the same time would be away at work at the river, a quarter or a half mile away.

If a person is so unfortunate as to be taken seriously sick here it seems almost an impossibility for him to recover and regain his former strength. This probably is owing much more to the manner of living, and to the poor quality of food, than to the climate.

Scurvy is very prevalent among the land immigrants, and in this country at this time is one of the most serious diseases we have among us. To cure the scurvy requires a vegetable diet, which cannot be had at any price in the mines at the present time.

The flour is almost all musty, having been shipped around Cape Horn in the hold of a vessel; pork is rusty, as it is called, some of it nearly spoiled. Flour and pork are the two principal articles of diet.

Sometimes beef can be had and that is of the best quality. California beef is just as good as any. Physicians’ charges are exorbitant, fifty or a hundred dollars not being considered at all high for a professional visit. This is certainly a very hard country for a sick man. It is often said that if a man is taken sick here that he is no better than dead.

There are some cases of recovery, however. Many die of scurvy, of fevers of different kinds, and other diseases. The sudden changes of climate probably may cause considerable sickness.

For the last two or three weeks before entering the valley, we had cool weather with frosty nights, being in the mountains at a high altitude, but here, although the nights are cool and very pleasant, the days are so very warm that the thermometer stands at 100° in the shade. Many whose food was largely salted provisions during the journey across the plains from Missouri to Sacramento valley, got their systems impregnated with salt and grease, and so became easy victims to the scurvey.

The miners generally appear to be in excellent spirits, and seem to enjoy life as well as the circumstances of their conditions will admit. A few of them have tents, some have brush shanties, but by far the larger portion camp in the open air, or under friendly trees, where they have a good opportunity to study astronomy after they lie down, by watching the moon and the stars. It is said by many, and it seems to be true, that for the moon to shine in a persons face while sleeping, is very injurious to the eyes. I have known some cases where persons have become almost blind, with no other good reason assigned. I believe it to be a safe plan for all persons who are accustomed to sleeping in the open air to always shade their face from the moon. From my own experience, I believe I have suffered with my eyes to a considerable degree from that cause. A person’s eyes seem to become injured to a considerable extent before they are aware that anything wrong is taking place. What power, if any, the lunar rays have upon the human eye I am unprepared to explain.

The miners principally do their own cooking, and washing, if they have any done.

Their living is most commonly fried pork and flapjacks, or _flippers_ as they are called, and fresh beef, which I believe is as good as any beef that can be found. One pound of this beef seems to be worth as much as several pounds of the miserable poor, cordy stuff that we called beef and ate for food on the journey to California. This is as fat and juicy as could be desired.

On Thursday, October 26, 1849, we commenced mining and set our cradle on the lower point of Bidwell’s Bar, where we kept it running through the day, with the exception of a short time at noon.

As new miners we thought that the more and faster we washed the dirt, the more gold dust we should have to our credit at night, and consequently we kept the screen full all day and crowded it through as fast at it was possible. When night came we took it out of the cradle into a pan and tried to separate the black sand from the gold dust. But for us that was the most difficult operation of the whole process.

When we commenced we had nearly a pailful of the sand, and after a time we had succeeded in reducing it very materially in quantity, but could not separate the gold entirely from the sand, and consequently we were unable to ascertain the amount of gold that we had acquired for our day’s work. However, we concluded that we were not doing as well as we desired and decided to look up another claim.

Our claim was at the extreme point of the Bar and

From an Old Print.

MINING SCENE.]

would soon run out, or become exhausted, as it is called by the miners.

The next morning we found a claim a short distance below on the opposite side of the river that had been worked for a considerable distance into the bank. There was an old rocker in the hole that was made from a tree, it having been dug out. Probably this was left here for the purpose of holding the claim if that should be desirable.

We learned that the men who had been working the claim had gone up the river and were engaged in building a log cabin.

We thought they were not entitled to hold a claim here and one in the mountains at the same time, so we moved the old machine out the hole where it would not trouble us and went to work.

We worked five days before we separated the gold from the black sand and did not know how well we were doing, but on making the separation we found we had averaged very nearly one ounce each per day, with which we were fairly well satisfied as a beginning.

Could we have continued indefinitely to make as good pay, it would have been better than we had dared to hope. The weather continued warm and dry until Tuesday, October 30, when it became cloudy and presented a very strong appearance of rain.

It did not storm, however, before night, when the rain began to descend and it continued to fall nearly all night. This was not very agreeable to us as we were sleeping without shelter on the ground, which soon began to grow damp and cold. Our situation was no worse than that of hundreds of others who were caught in a similar condition.

Very few of the miners had any shelter and the best equipped had nothing but tents. A few days previous we had been warned by an old Californian that when the rainy season should begin the rain would descend in torrents. He said the miners were sure to be caught in a bad and unfortunate situation.

The first shower of the rainy season might be expected to continue for about four weeks. We afterwards learned to our sorrow that his statement was nearly correct.

The rain commenced on the evening of the 30th day of October, and until November 21st it rained more or less 19 days out of the 23. The greater part of the time it was so very wet that it was useless to undertake to work.

The river was swollen to such an extent that the bars along its shores were covered with water and could not be worked. The natural roads down the valley to Sacramento City became so very soft and muddy that pack mules could not travel them with packs, and provisions were boated up the river as far as possible, and then carried upon the miners’ backs.

The limited stock of provisions in the mines at the beginning of the rainy season was soon exhausted, and consequently food soon became very scarce and extremely high. Flour advanced from 40 cents to $1.50 per pound, and much of it that was sold at that exorbitant price was so badly hurt that it required the use of a hatchet to cut it in pieces to remove it from the barrel. Other provisions became equally as expensive in proportion, and were difficult to procure at any price.

When the rainy season commenced a great number began to prepare some protection or shelter. Some built themselves small cloth or canvas tents, others constructed small log huts, while a few dug holes in the ground and covered them over Indian fashion. Not a few left the mines for the city, where provisions could be had at a lower price. Gage, Pinney and myself, when the rains commenced, procured a shelter in a large tent that belonged to some New Yorkers, and which stood near where we had been camping.

We paid two dollars each per week for the privilege of sleeping in the tent, and found our own blankets, and we considered ourselves very fortunate in obtaining so good a shelter.

About the 10th of November, Mr. Gage being somewhat indisposed, left us and went down and joined the Pelham company, about two miles above Long’s Bar. They were engaged in building a log cabin and making other preparations for the long rainy season. Pinney and myself bought a claim in the bank of the river, for which we paid $40. It had formerly been quite productive, but had been worked back into the bank considerably. We found it to be very little, if any better, than our old claim where we began mining.

From the 30th of October to the 21st of November we labored as much as the state of the weather and the high stage of the water would admit, but owing to the large proportion of rainy weather and the many other discouragements under which we labored, and also to the high prices of provisions, we could no more than earn our expenses, and we were doing far better than the average of the miners about Bidwell’s at that time. Finally we concluded to leave the mines, for a time at least, to explore the valley and see if we could find anything to do. Accordingly we started on the afternoon of the 22nd of November and traveled down the river about 13 miles to Mayhew’s ranch, or rather tent, near the foothills.

Here we tried to procure something for supper, but all that could be bought in the line of provisions of any kind was some raw venison.

We started a fire under a tree and roasted our meat on a forked stick, and ate it without salt. This we found quite dry and not the best of living, but it was the best, and all, that our money would buy, consequently we were compelled to make the best of it. We slept under a large oak tree, and in the morning roasted and ate some more of our venison, after which we proceeded on our way down the valley.

After traveling about ten miles we came to the ranch of Charles H. Burch, where we found a boat ready to leave for Sacramento City early the next morning, and we concluded to engage a passage for that place. However, upon making application, we learned that the seats were all engaged. The boat was owned by Mr. Burch and was only a whaleboat which would seat about twenty persons.

Thomas D. Bonner was captain. Captain Bonner was formerly president of the New Hampshire Temperance Society, but had resided in Massachusetts. Some time previous to his embarkation for California he was said to be quite a poet in his way and composed many of the songs used at the temperance meetings, etc. He was formerly, according to his own account of his previous life, a real street drunkard--a mere sot. He called himself a reformed drunkard now.

After learning that we could not procure passage aboard the boat, we thought we would construct a raft on which we could float to Sacramento at our leisure.

However, we could not find any suitable timber with which to build a raft, and further, Mr. Burch said he was well acquainted with the river between here and Sacramento, and that he should advise no person to attempt to make the passage on a raft--that by doing so they most probably would lose their lives, unless they were good swimmers. He had known of two or three parties that had attempted it, but all were shipwrecked and lost all they had with them. He said the river was full of snags and sand bars, and that it was as much as he could do to pilot a good boat through safely.

His graphic account of the river below exploded our calculations in regard to attempting a passage by raft to the city. At this time it was almost impossible to travel to Sacramento by land, the road being very muddy with numerous slough crossings, which were full of water with neither bridges nor ferries. At some places the Sacramento had already overflowed its low bottom lands.

Burch was an old Californian who came to Oregon by way of the overland route in 1842 or 1843. He remained in that territory two or three years, when he came to California, then Mexico, and had since resided here, where he was in the army of Col. John C. Fremont in the Mexican war, 1847. He was formerly from Maryland and has no family. He was rough in his address and extremely profane.

He had taken a claim on the bank of Feather River, upon which he was intending to construct a house the following winter. He made a proposition to give us employment until he should complete his house at a salary of $4.50 each per day and board.

This, considering the high prices of provisions, and the large proportion of wet weather, was as well as we would be likely to do at that time, and consequently we agreed to work for him until such time as we could do better, or as long a time as we all should be satisfied.

Mr. Burch contemplated the construction of a house by putting hewn posts into the ground and nailing on to them weather boards which were riven from oak logs.

A house of this kind would not answer a very good purpose in a cold climate, but was tight enough to be free from leakage and would be a very good shelter for California.

This point was about twenty miles above the junction of the Feather and Yuba rivers, and 80 or 90 miles above the mouth of the Feather, where it intersects the Sacramento River. The surrounding country was nearly level, and was covered with a growth of large, scattering, branching oak trees. The soil was of a sandy nature, and was not as fertile as it was in some other localities. Some of the oak trees were very large but were low and branching.

I measured one that was eleven feet in diameter near the ground--“a sturdy old oak” surely, that had stood the storms, the winds and the fires of many centuries.

A little farther away from the river the soil was more of a clayey nature and there was considerable live oak growth. Some of the soil was red--a kind of red clay--and seemed to New Hampshire people as being almost worthless for cultivation.

The live oak was small and scrubby, an evergreen almost worthless for timber.

The white oak produces large quantities of acorns which made good, nourishing food for swine. Fremont, I believe, stated that he had seen acorns grown from a single tree to cover the ground under its branches four inches in thickness. This I believe to be an exaggeration in keeping with many others made by that illustrious pathfinder.

Mr. Pinney and myself commenced work for Mr. C. H. Burch on Monday, November 26. A few days later, James M. Butler, one of our party of Pelham boys, came down from the mines in search of employment, and engaged himself to work for Mr. Burch, commencing to work with us at a uniform salary.

Robert Thom, another of our Pelham friends, was at this time working for his board about one mile up the valley from the Burch ranch at a place known as the “Hole in the Ground.” This resort derived its name from the fact that it was a mere hole excavated in the ground and covered with mud, etc., so as to shed the rain. It was owned by a fellow known as “Ned,” and one or two others, all from Sidney. It was conducted as a tavern or a stopping place for travelers.

Mr. Thom was expected to get and prepare wood, cook, and do other work. We went up to visit him one evening and gave him an invitation to go to work with us at $4.50, as Mr. Burch desired to employ one more man, for a few weeks at least.

To this proposition Robert replied, that in all probability Mr. Burch would not have work for a man much more than one month, and in case he should begin work for him, he was afraid he would lose his place with Ned. He said his labor was not very hard and he thought he would remain for the present and make sure of his board.

It seemed to me that if a man was afraid of losing his place when he was at work for his board only in California, he certainly could have very little ambition. I thought he had better have remained at home with his family, and saved the long and tedious journey across the plains; but he was firm and decided and remained there until spring.

Mr. Burch desired to contract a ditch to be dug to enclose a field containing ten acres on the river bank, and Pinney contracted to do the work at the price of two dollars per rod, with the understanding that Mr. Burch should board him, and that the ditch should be four feet deep and four feet wide at the top and twenty inches wide at the bottom, and that it was not to be commenced until we had finished the other job. About 120 rods of ditch were to be dug. After Pinney had made the contract to dig the ditch he thought the price was too low and he wished me to promise to do a part of it. I thought as he did, that the price was low for excavating so large a ditch, but I promised to help him to do it, and also Mr. Butler desired to do a portion of it.

After working for Mr. Burch about three weeks, he asked us to go to Sacramento with his boat after a load of provisions, for which he agreed to pay us five dollars per day each.