he hills and the Livermore Valley. The ferry
across Carquinez Straits at Benicia, was thronged to the danger
of sinking.

Those who stayed at home awaited eagerly the irregular mails which
straggled in from unsettled, unorganized, often inaccessible regions
where men cut and slashed the bowels of the earth for precious metal, or
waded knee-deep in icy torrents, washing their sands in shallow
containers for golden residue. No letter had come from Benito to Inez or
Adrian. But Robert Windham wrote from Monterey as follows:

"My Children: Monterey is mad with the gold-lust, and our citizens are
departing with a haste that threatens depopulation. Until recently we
had small belief in the tales of sudden fortune started by the finds at
Marshall's mill. Alcalde Colton dispatched a messenger to the American
River on the 6th of June, and, though he has not returned, others have
brought the news he was sent to gain. On the 12th a man came into town
with a nugget weighing an ounce and all Monterey Buzzed with excitement.
Everyone wanted to test it with acids and microscopes. An old woman
brought her ring and when placed side by side, the metal seemed
identical; it was also compared with the gold knob of a cane. Some
declare it a humbug, but it is generally believed to be genuine gold.

"Governor Mason, who has been messing with Alcalde Colton and a naval
officer named Lieutenant Lanman, is now compelled to bake his own bread.
The trio roast their coffee and cook what meals they eat. Even the negro
who blacked their boots went gold hunting and returned after a few weeks
with $2000.

"Yesterday I met a rough-looking fellow who appeared to be starving. He
had a sack on his shoulder in which was gold-dust and nuggets worth
$15,000. You should have seen him a few hours later--all perfumed and
barbered, with shiny boots; costly, ill-fitting clothes and a marvelous
display of jewelry.

"Alcalde Colton is going to the mines next month. He laughed when he
told me of Henry Bee, the alguacil or jailor of San Jose. This man had
charge of ten prisoners, some of whom were Indians, charged with murder.
He tried to turn them over to the alcalde, but the latter was at the
mines. So Bee took his prisoners with him. It is said their digging has
already made him rich and that he'll let them loose. There is no one to
chide him. And no one to care."

Later in the day Sam Brannan and Editor Kemble looked in on the
Stanleys. "It's sheer insanity!