rshall guided me up the mountain on the opposite or north bank of the
south fork, where in the bed of small streams or ravines, now dry, a
great deal of coarse gold has been found. I there saw several parties
at work, all of whom were doing very well; a great many specimens were
shown me, some as heavy as four or five ounces in weight; and I send
three pieces, labelled No. 5, presented by a Mr. Spence. You will
perceive that some of the specimens accompanying this hold mechanically
pieces of quartz--that the surface is rough, and evidently moulded in
the crevice of a rock. This gold cannot have been carried far by water,
but must have remained near where it was first deposited from the rock
that once bound it. I inquired of many if they had encountered the
metal in its matrix, but in every instance they said they had not; but
that the gold was invariably mixed with wash-gravel, or lodged in the
crevices of other rocks. All bore testimony that they had found gold in
greater or less quantities in the numerous small gullies or ravines
that occur in that mountainous region. On the 7th of July I left the
mill, and crossed to a small stream emptying into the American fork,
three or four miles below the saw-mill. I struck the stream (now known
as Weber's Creek) at the washings of Sunol and Company. They had about
thirty Indians employed, whom they pay in merchandise. They were
getting gold of a character similar to that found in the main fork, and
doubtless in sufficient quantities to satisfy them. I send you a small
specimen, presented by this Company, of their gold. From this point we
proceeded up the stream about eight miles, where we found a great many
people and Indians, some engaged in the bed of the stream, and others
in the small side valleys that put into it. These latter are
exceedingly rich, two ounces being considered an ordinary yield for a
day's work. A small gutter, not more than 100 yards long by four feet
wide, and two or three deep, was pointed out to me as the one where two
men (W. Daly and Percy McCoon) had a short time before obtained. 17,000
dollars' worth of gold. Captain Weber informed me, that he knew that
these two men had employed four white men and about 100 Indians, and
that, at the end of one week's work, they paid off their party, and had
left 10,000 dollars' worth of this gold. Another small ravine was shown
me, from which had been taken upwards of 12,000 dollars' worth of gold.
Hundreds of simila