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075: Life in the Gold Fields | Tales of Mexican California Part 4 · California Frontier

0:02
Damian Bacich: In this last installment of The Tales of Mexican, California, we hear about Antonio Coronel's experiences in the gold fields in the Sierra Foothills of Northern California.
0:16
Damian Bacich: You may recall that Antonio Coronel came to Alta California in 1834 with a colonizing party sent up from Mexico.
0:29
Damian Bacich: The colonizing group never really established itself and Antonio wound up settling in the Los Angeles area and serving in some important political posts.
0:42
Damian Bacich: He later carried on his life there after the annexation of California and as I mentioned, was a very important.
0:53
Damian Bacich: Supporter of Mexican and California culture and traditions, especially in Southern California, in these passages which take place after the US annexed California.
1:09
Damian Bacich: When everyone was trying to find gold and get rich quick, we hear about the violent episodes that took place, and Cornell himself reports on some massacres of native people that he witnessed.
1:27
Damian Bacich: Now, the times of the gold rush were especially difficult for California Indians, and Cornell provides evidence of some of the atrocities that took place.
1:37
Damian Bacich: We also hear about the wealth of the gold deposits and at the same time about the lawlessness that eventually caused him and others to give up and return to the city.
1:51
Damian Bacich: I think, Antonio Cordell's perspective as a Mexican Californian provides a very interesting optic on those early years.
2:02
Damian Bacich: Just prior to statehood when massive amounts of people were coming into California and effectively changing the face of the territory.
2:13
Damian Bacich: Our story picks up in fall of 1848.
2:25
Damian Bacich: By the onset of winter, everyone in the Stanislaus area, with few exceptions had a good stake of gold and wanted to get back to civilization.
2:39
Damian Bacich: Rumor had it that the snowfalls were terrible and made it impossible to bring in supplies.
2:45
Damian Bacich: Still no one left because there was also a great report of thieves on the San Joaquin River.
2:56
Damian Bacich: Don Andres Pico had brought a party of Sonoran to Stanislaus from Los Angeles and fully equipped them on the condition that they pay him back in gold at the going rate to make sure he got his money.
3:12
Damian Bacich: He had them working all in one place.
3:14
Damian Bacich: Under the supervision of a Spaniard named Juan Monso, one of the administrators of San Fernando.
3:24
Damian Bacich: Now, uh, just as a side note, this means that this Juan Monso was one of the, uh, secular administrators of Mission San Fernando.
3:32
Damian Bacich: Remember that the missions had been shut down now and put under, um, uh, lay administrators.
3:42
Damian Bacich: So back to our story.
3:47
Damian Bacich: When this group announced that they were setting out for San Jose, most of the other prospectors went too.
3:54
Damian Bacich: The Californians had all brought extra horses and they abandoned them to run wild, or they got together and paid a high salary for someone to ride herd on them.
4:07
Damian Bacich: Even so many animals strayed, and when it was time to break camp, many men found they had no mounts.
4:17
Damian Bacich: There was a lot of confusion as some took other people's with the excuse of family ties and friendship.
4:25
Damian Bacich: The upshot of it was that nearly all of them left on horseback, their own mounts or someone else's.
4:36
Damian Bacich: I had decided to winter there because my claim was rich enough to work all winter if weather permitted.
4:45
Damian Bacich: I was just getting ready to build a house when I received a letter from Don Ramon Carillo, brought by Jose Antonio Machado and one of the Nias.
4:57
Damian Bacich: I was invited to try my hand at Placer Mining in the north.
5:01
Damian Bacich: Where Carillo had a very rich claim and had 20 or more Indians working for him and plenty of livestock at his disposal, he wanted me to go and take charge of it all on equal shares.
5:19
Damian Bacich: The bearers of the letter, both friends of mine, urged me to accept so my servants and I be.
5:29
Damian Bacich: Dolores Sepulveda, who was a brother-in-law of Ramon Carillo, Nia and Machado set out north to the place Carillo had indicated before I reached the place on the North River.
5:46
Damian Bacich: I met with Juan Padilla coming back.
5:50
Damian Bacich: He told me Ram Carillo had sold his stock, passed the Indians to another master.
5:58
Damian Bacich: And retired to Sonoma.
6:01
Damian Bacich: Disappointed.
6:03
Damian Bacich: I resolved to spend the winter in Sacramento or San Jose.
6:08
Damian Bacich: When Padilla heard that, he invited me to accompany him to his good ranch with fat stock near Sonoma, I could exchange my horses and go right back to the gold fields I gave into his ENT treaties.
6:25
Damian Bacich: And we went to Sonoma.
6:26
Damian Bacich: I.
6:27
Damian Bacich: Arriving in mid-December of 1848, I sent my horses onto the ranch immediately and began to look for Placer mining.
6:40
Damian Bacich: I was staying in a house belonging to General Vallejo next door to the one in which he lived owing to our previous acquaintance.
6:51
Damian Bacich: He was the first person I looked up when I arrived.
6:56
Damian Bacich: At that time, there was a troop of actors performing in an improvised theater.
7:02
Damian Bacich: Vallejo Padilla and I and some others decided to attend a performance afterwards, Vallejo invited us to the new hotel he had just opened.
7:15
Damian Bacich: If I remember correctly, it had belonged to his brother-in-law, Jacob P.
7:20
Damian Bacich: Lease.
7:21
Damian Bacich: It was not far from the theater.
7:24
Damian Bacich: On the same side of the street, we entered a big public room with a bar and a card table where several Americans and foreigners were playing.
7:34
Damian Bacich: Monte others watched one Padilla and a Sonoran called Carmelo went over to the table to watch too, and were joined by a Californian named Jose De Garcia Feles.
7:51
Damian Bacich: Dolores Sepulveda.
7:52
Damian Bacich: Headed for the bar, Vallejo and I went to look over the hotel rooms, then came back to the same public room, then Vallejo left for his own house and I stayed with my friends.
8:09
Damian Bacich: I must admit that I was already aware of the critical situation of Juan Padilla in Sonoma.
8:17
Damian Bacich: He was accused of atrocities during the bear flag invasion.
8:21
Damian Bacich: Against American citizens, his and Ramon car's, prisoners.
8:28
Damian Bacich: Some friends had warned me to be careful not to let anything happen to me, although I was known and respected by most of the decent people in Sonoma.
8:40
Damian Bacich: Therefore, I thought it would be best to get Padilla out of there reminding him he was in danger.
8:49
Damian Bacich: He answered me that he just wanted to see what happened with the firsthand dealt in which the newcomers, particularly Carmelo, were interested.
9:00
Damian Bacich: I went back to the bar where Sepulveda was about to light a cigar.
9:06
Damian Bacich: At that moment, the gambler's voices rose.
9:10
Damian Bacich: I hadn't finished lighting my cigar when there was a commotion and the lights went out.
9:18
Damian Bacich: Someone grabbed me by the arm, shoved me into a room next to the bar, and locked the door Naturally, I was alarmed and looked for something to defend myself with if I had to.
9:32
Damian Bacich: I found an iron bar and crouched near the door, hearing the tremendous racket of shouts, blows, breaking furniture and so forth.
9:44
Damian Bacich: Soon after all was silent.
9:47
Damian Bacich: A black man lit a light in the bar and opened the door.
9:53
Damian Bacich: I don't remember if the person who pushed me into the room locked the door and someone else unlocked it.
10:01
Damian Bacich: I came out and the first thing I saw were several broken chairs and padia lying in his own blood on the floor.
10:12
Damian Bacich: He was unconscious with many head injuries and bruises on his face.
10:19
Damian Bacich: Sepulveda was in a corner behind the counter.
10:23
Damian Bacich: The assailants had vanished.
10:28
Damian Bacich: I sent for my servants to take Padilla to his room, which was next to mine.
10:34
Damian Bacich: I also sent for a German doctor who knew the injured man.
10:39
Damian Bacich: Thanks to the doctor's skill and my constant care, the patient lived.
10:46
Damian Bacich: He was not able to speak for 10 or 12 days or open his eyes for two or three weeks because his whole face was swollen, black and blue from the blows when he could open his eyes.
11:01
Damian Bacich: The whites were purple.
11:04
Damian Bacich: He didn't take solid food for a week.
11:07
Damian Bacich: Only liquids from a cup with a pouring spout in a month.
11:12
Damian Bacich: He recognized people and was conscious, but not in his right mind.
11:18
Damian Bacich: He talked wildly and tried to tear the bandages off his head.
11:23
Damian Bacich: Someone was required to watch him day and night.
11:28
Damian Bacich: My servants and I were the only ones willing to perform this humanitarian service.
11:35
Damian Bacich: I tried to get someone to take charge of him offering to pay whatever they asked so I could return to the gold fields, but I found no one to do it, so I had to spend all winter in Sonoma at my own expense during Padilla's infirmity.
11:54
Damian Bacich: Public feelings still ran high against him on several occasions, Americans and others.
12:02
Damian Bacich: He came into the sick room shouting and making threats, but others, including Americans who esteemed me, persuaded them not to make any violent assaults on Padilla while he was under my care.
12:19
Damian Bacich: I think that was why he wasn't torn to pieces, and I received no hurt before I went to Sonoma with Padilla.
12:29
Damian Bacich: I had heard the accusations against him and Ramon Carillo.
12:35
Damian Bacich: I had also heard there wasn't a word of truth to it.
12:40
Damian Bacich: Carillo and Padilla themselves assured me it was pure Calne and they could prove it.
12:48
Damian Bacich: when Padilla recovered.
12:50
Damian Bacich: About mid-February, I moved to San Jose by way of San Francisco.
12:56
Damian Bacich: Because at that time, transport to San Francisco was difficult.
13:02
Damian Bacich: I arrived a day or two before Washington's birthday landing on the beach, which then reached to what is now Montgomery Street.
13:13
Damian Bacich: San Francisco looked more like an army camp than a city with more tents than houses.
13:21
Damian Bacich: There was a crowd of all nationalities stricken with gold fever.
13:25
Damian Bacich: Anxious for transport to the gold fields and eager for information from anyone who came from there.
13:34
Damian Bacich: I was mobbed.
13:35
Damian Bacich: As soon as I got off the boat.
13:37
Damian Bacich: I gave short answers and managed with difficulty to reach Mr.
13:42
Damian Bacich: William Howard's store to rest.
13:45
Damian Bacich: I wanted to know about lodging houses safe, if not comfortable, but that was difficult too.
13:54
Damian Bacich: Someone gave me a hint and going down the street towards the plaza of Yuba Buena Portsmouth Square.
14:01
Damian Bacich: Today I met a German formerly of Colonel Stevenson's Regiment, who had gone into business in Los Angeles.
14:12
Damian Bacich: He spoke some Spanish by now, and when he heard what I was looking for, he offered to take me to his own house.
14:22
Damian Bacich: And lodged me in comfort and security.
14:25
Damian Bacich: A young man named Manuel Serrano accompanied me.
14:30
Damian Bacich: All three of us went to the house situated on what is now Kearney street near Telegraph Hill.
14:38
Damian Bacich: The hut for it was no more than that, was constructed of upright planks, two rooms below a dining room between them and the kitchen.
14:50
Damian Bacich: With a slat covered porch above.
14:54
Damian Bacich: I didn't much like the look of it, but night had already fallen.
14:59
Damian Bacich: I heard a great racket and gunshots and saw unsavory looking characters wandering about, so I accepted the lodgings at once to tell the truth.
15:13
Damian Bacich: The German did his best to reassure us.
15:17
Damian Bacich: I didn't distrust him because in Los Angeles I had known him for an honest man, but there were cots and beds close together in the downstairs rooms and bunks up against one wall.
15:32
Damian Bacich: The German took me up to the porch where he and a partner of his slept and fixed up a bed for Serrano and myself.
15:42
Damian Bacich: Although it was not very comfortable, it was the best circumstances permitted.
15:48
Damian Bacich: We settled in and shortly after went to sleep.
15:53
Damian Bacich: About two hours later, the German's partner came in very excited and looking for something, a weapon, I suppose, because there was an argument downstairs.
16:05
Damian Bacich: We got up and went to see what it was about in the street.
16:10
Damian Bacich: And we heard drunken partying and the argument downstairs rose in volume.
16:17
Damian Bacich: I told Serrano we'd better get out of there, but unfortunately the stairs were only a ladder which had been removed by now.
16:28
Damian Bacich: There was a fist fight going on in spite of the owner's efforts to break it up.
16:34
Damian Bacich: I was afraid someone would pull a knife or a gun.
16:37
Damian Bacich: But fortunately, the wall of bunks fell down with a crash.
16:42
Damian Bacich: The porch had a window giving onto the roof of the dining room and kitchen and serrano, and I escaped in the confusion without inquiring further into the matter.
16:55
Damian Bacich: We made our way to Mr.
16:56
Damian Bacich: Howard's store and banged on the door for them to let us in.
17:02
Damian Bacich: They let us spend the rest of the night, although the counters, tables, and floor were occupied fully by friends of the house the next day, I took a small boat to Mission San Jose because there was no direct route to the town of San Jose and my business was urgent.
17:23
Damian Bacich: I had two or three days in the town and had to leave because of the launch named the box owned by Pedro San Vein, which was sailing for San Francisco, which some difficulty due to a storm, which caught us midway across.
17:42
Damian Bacich: We arrived in San Francisco.
17:45
Damian Bacich: I stayed a few days more.
17:50
Damian Bacich: I got my animals back and made the necessary preparations to set out for the gold fields.
17:56
Damian Bacich: On March 2nd, 1849, I was heading for the Stanislaus area, but in Sacramento.
18:04
Damian Bacich: I met people coming back from there who told me it was overrun with all sorts of people, especially Sonos.
18:13
Damian Bacich: My claim, which I had left to a friend.
18:16
Damian Bacich: Was occupied by William Wolf Skill.
18:20
Damian Bacich: They also told me the place was producing well, so I decided to go there with my servants and four companions at the same time as my departure from Sonoma Juan Padilla left for the north.
18:37
Damian Bacich: At the plus of seko, I set to work on a moderately rich claim.
18:42
Damian Bacich: There was already a large population of Chileans, Peruvians, Californians, and Mexicans with many Americans, Germans, et cetera.
18:52
Damian Bacich: The camps were separated by nationalities.
18:56
Damian Bacich: Everyone, more or less was profiting by his labor, but then a rumor got around that all but American citizens were going to be expelled from the gold fields.
19:09
Damian Bacich: On the premise that foreigners had no right to exploit them.
19:14
Damian Bacich: One Sunday, a written notice appeared in several places to the effect that non-citizens had 24 hours to leave or be thrown out by force.
19:27
Damian Bacich: The notice was backed up by a party of armed men.
19:33
Damian Bacich: There were a considerable number of foreigners affected by the notice.
19:38
Damian Bacich: They united on a defensible hill in case of attack the day they were supposed to leave and for three or four days after both groups were on armed alert, nothing but insults, shots, and drinking came of it, and in the end, everyone calmed down and got back to work.
20:02
Damian Bacich: However, the strong constantly stole from the weak.
20:08
Damian Bacich: A few days afterwards, a Frenchman named Don Augusto and a Spaniard named Luis acquaintances of mine.
20:16
Damian Bacich: I had always considered honorable and well-bred men were arrested.
20:22
Damian Bacich: Everyone who knew them was of the same opinion and was very surprised at the arrest.
20:29
Damian Bacich: Some of the leaders among us met and commissioned me to investigate.
20:36
Damian Bacich: I went to see an American named Richard, whom I had known in Los Angeles as a sergeant of cavalry, and requested him to investigate why the men were arrested.
20:49
Damian Bacich: He answered it once they had been accused of robbing an old Irishman of four pounds of gold he had buried.
20:58
Damian Bacich: I informed the committee and without loss of time.
21:02
Damian Bacich: We got up five pounds of gold to pay for the prisoner's freedom.
21:07
Damian Bacich: I went to the leader who looked disagreeable and angry through an interpreter.
21:13
Damian Bacich: I made my proposal adding that the men were of good reputation and had plenty of gold of their own with no reason to steal.
21:23
Damian Bacich: I had with me five pounds of gold, one more than the old Irishman claimed to have lost.
21:31
Damian Bacich: The leader took the gold and said he would present the case to his committee and return in three or four hours before the time elapsed.
21:43
Damian Bacich: I observed a great deal of movement of armed men, most of them drunk.
21:48
Damian Bacich: Then a cart pulled out in which our two friends were carried with arms tied behind their backs, guarded by two men in the cart.
22:00
Damian Bacich: Many of the others followed on foot and on horseback on the cart was clumsily lettered in charcoal.
22:09
Damian Bacich: And notice that anyone who interfered with the prisoners would meet the same fate.
22:15
Damian Bacich: They arrived at an oak tree for the hanging with the ropes around their necks.
22:22
Damian Bacich: The prisoners asked for paper and pen to write to their families and settle their affairs.
22:29
Damian Bacich: They got only a blow for asking the cart lurched forward and the unfortunate were left hanging.
22:41
Damian Bacich: I was deeply shocked as were many others.
22:45
Damian Bacich: Two days later, I set out for the northern gold fields.
22:50
Damian Bacich: The reason for the prejudice against anyone of Spanish descent was the preponderance of Sonoran.
22:59
Damian Bacich: They were skilled prospectors and got richer quicker.
23:04
Damian Bacich: The Californians had learned too with the advantage of arriving first.
23:10
Damian Bacich: The late comers burning with a terrible gold fever might find little or nothing with their efforts or not enough for their ambition to get rich in a minute.
23:24
Damian Bacich: These I say.
23:25
Damian Bacich: Couldn't bear to see others good fortune add to the gold fever, continuous drinking.
23:34
Damian Bacich: Add to that, the fact that a good proportion of them were criminals capable of anything, and there was no effective legal authority to protect the rights or the lives of peaceful and honorable men against evil doers.
23:50
Damian Bacich: In fact, there was no law at all.
23:54
Damian Bacich: Except might makes right.
23:56
Damian Bacich: In those times in self-defense, the decent people had to adopt the principle of an eye for an eye.
24:08
Damian Bacich: I reached the gold fields above the North River, the one that joins the Sacramento past Marysville, while looking for a likely claim.
24:18
Damian Bacich: I came to the camp of a Spaniard from Los Angeles.
24:23
Damian Bacich: He had set up a small grocery in butcher shop.
24:27
Damian Bacich: I camped near him in order to find out where the best places Japan Gold were located.
24:34
Damian Bacich: In the course of the conversation he gave me to understand that he was satisfied with what he had and was looking for someone to buy his business so he could go back to Los Angeles, it looked like a good deal.
24:49
Damian Bacich: We settled for five pounds of gold.
24:51
Damian Bacich: For stock, which today wouldn't be worth a hundred dollars, but the value of the location was doing business.
25:07
Damian Bacich: But the value of the location was doing business with a peaceful Indian village close by The way they did business, was to pour a little gold into the palm of one hand.
25:20
Damian Bacich: And holding it out, pointing with the other hand to whatever they wanted to buy.
25:26
Damian Bacich: Even a small quantity of gold was worth at least twice the price of anything for sale and sometimes four times as much.
25:35
Damian Bacich: This was how they bought meat.
25:38
Damian Bacich: On the hanging quarters, they indicated what cut they wanted.
25:43
Damian Bacich: The shopkeeper capriciously cut, whatever piece he thought suitable.
25:48
Damian Bacich: If it didn't look like enough, the Indian added more gold to his palm and the shopkeeper more meat until both parties were satisfied.
26:00
Damian Bacich: I took over the business, bought six BES at a hundred dollars ahead.
26:06
Damian Bacich: And in a couple of weeks I made 14 pounds of gold.
26:11
Damian Bacich: It seemed like a good business, and I decided to expand leaving a brother of mine with my servants to run it.
26:19
Damian Bacich: I went to Stanislaus to buy a small string of mules, planning to load them with goods in Sacramento.
26:28
Damian Bacich: Stanis loss wasn't the same place it had been.
26:30
Damian Bacich: When I left months before it was full of brush shelters and tents.
26:37
Damian Bacich: There was a great deal of gambling in which gold was treated, not like the most precious metal, but something easy to come by.
26:46
Damian Bacich: I saw men who didn't look worth a pita stake bags of gold on a single card.
26:54
Damian Bacich: Each of those bags today would ensure the happiness of a whole family.
26:59
Damian Bacich: Insofar as happiness requires money.
27:03
Damian Bacich: The men who lost such sums were entirely indifferent and worked the next day just the same.
27:10
Damian Bacich: They didn't mind paying fabulous prices for whatever they happen to need on the way to Stanislaus, about two miles below Sutter's Mill.
27:22
Damian Bacich: I stopped for the night.
27:25
Damian Bacich: I hadn't been there long when a party of foreigners of various nationalities arrived.
27:32
Damian Bacich: Among them were Cito, Bea, and one Molina, the first Sonoran, who had come to California.
27:41
Damian Bacich: This party brought a number of Indians as prisoners, 40 men, 10 or 12 women.
27:49
Damian Bacich: And five or six children of both sexes, they camped near me to prevent any of the Indians from escaping.
27:58
Damian Bacich: They made the men lie on their backs in a circle with their feet towards the center, which were then tied guards, watched them, hardly allowing them to move at all.
28:12
Damian Bacich: The Indians were naked.
28:15
Damian Bacich: It was very cold.
28:17
Damian Bacich: And no fire was allowed Them, the women and children had a small fire, which also served for the guards.
28:26
Damian Bacich: The head of this party came up to me and asked me to help guard the Indians as he had to go on an expedition to a nearby place.
28:36
Damian Bacich: I excused myself.
28:37
Damian Bacich: Saying I had to leave very early in the morning.
28:42
Damian Bacich: Sto Bara told me that the quote, expedition unquote, was a punitive raid on an Indian village on the American River because two Americans had turned up dead and the Indians were blamed in the dark.
28:59
Damian Bacich: Before dawn, the party set off leaving Molina and two others to guard the prisoners.
29:08
Damian Bacich: Out of curiosity, I saddled my horse and followed them at a distance.
29:14
Damian Bacich: Careful not to be seen.
29:17
Damian Bacich: At first light, they surrounded the village and open fire.
29:23
Damian Bacich: What followed was a scene of utter horror.
29:27
Damian Bacich: Out came old men, women, children, everyone.
29:33
Damian Bacich: Some with bows and some with nothing.
29:36
Damian Bacich: Running in every direction, even throwing themselves into the river.
29:41
Damian Bacich: They were all rounded up and shot down.
29:46
Damian Bacich: I couldn't go on watching the horrible massacre, so I withdrew to my camp.
29:53
Damian Bacich: This occurred at the end of March, 1849.
29:59
Damian Bacich: I got ready to begin my day's journey at once in a little while.
30:05
Damian Bacich: Some of the foreigners came back to let the prisoners get up from the ground.
30:11
Damian Bacich: I gathered that they were to be put with the others, taken alive from the village.
30:17
Damian Bacich: The party went on to Sutter's Mill.
30:21
Damian Bacich: I traveled on the Consum River where some 20 armed men caught up with us, passed and turned off the road to the east.
30:31
Damian Bacich: We went on.
30:33
Damian Bacich: When we came to the open range country, we made for a ranch, which I believe belonged to Mr.
30:39
Damian Bacich: Hicks.
30:41
Damian Bacich: He had great fields of wheat and an Indian village for labor.
30:47
Damian Bacich: As we rode up to the house, we saw several Indians fleeing in different directions, and the men who had passed us earlier, hunting them down and killing the ones they caught.
31:01
Damian Bacich: So as not to witness this spectacle any further, I abruptly changed the direction and hurried away.
31:09
Damian Bacich: Later I was told the atrocity reached a point where the Indians tried to take refuge in Mr.
31:15
Damian Bacich: Hick's house.
31:18
Damian Bacich: The assassins did not even respect the privacy of the house.
31:22
Damian Bacich: They entered and dragged the Indians out to murder them.
31:26
Damian Bacich: The condition of these wretches at that time.
31:29
Damian Bacich: It was such that killing an Indian in cold blood was the same as shooting a rabbit.
31:37
Damian Bacich: This infamy came to the attention of the military governor who came personally to put an end to it.
31:46
Damian Bacich: I got to Sacramento with my string of mules, loaded them and set out north for my store.
31:53
Damian Bacich: But about 15 miles from Sutter's Mill, I met my brother, I'd left in charge.
31:59
Damian Bacich: With the servants and several others of Spanish blood fleeing on foot.
32:06
Damian Bacich: They told me a party of foreign gunmen had run them off without letting them have so much as a mount.
32:14
Damian Bacich: I returned to the mill where there was a little settlement.
32:19
Damian Bacich: I knew some people who lived there, and I hoped I could sell my goods and abandon the gold fields.
32:27
Damian Bacich: I sold everything and almost all the mules at such low prices.
32:32
Damian Bacich: I lost two thirds of my investment.
32:35
Damian Bacich: Those people took advantage of my predicament.
32:41
Damian Bacich: When Juan Manso arrived with a few Sonoran still under Pico's command.
32:47
Damian Bacich: Ramon Carillo also arrived with a few friends from Sonoma.
32:52
Damian Bacich: I was faced with the choice of going on or retreating as I had planned.
32:58
Damian Bacich: A man named Fisher, a shopkeeper of Sutter Mill and an old acquaintance from Los Angeles came to us with other merchants and tried to persuade us that most of the people didn't approve of such outrageous that these acts must be the work of a small group of outlaws.
33:17
Damian Bacich: They insisted it was public knowledge and well understood that Californians were considered equal to other Americans.
33:25
Damian Bacich: We would be given a credential identifying us as citizens, meriting, all respect.
33:31
Damian Bacich: Signed by the principal inhabitants of Sutter's Mill.
33:36
Damian Bacich: I still didn't wanna go back to the gold fields, but I gave in to the others.
33:42
Damian Bacich: Now a party of 40.
33:44
Damian Bacich: We prospected up the American River and its tributaries.
33:48
Damian Bacich: It was Benito Perez who found gold.
33:51
Damian Bacich: The next day I went with him to examine carefully his discovery.
33:56
Damian Bacich: I was sure there was enough gold to keep the whole party busy for two or three weeks.
34:03
Damian Bacich: We settled there and it looked like this.
34:07
Damian Bacich: An island about 2000 yards long.
34:10
Damian Bacich: And more than 200 wide forming an angle opposite of ravine where the VAs new Mexicans who lived in Sonoma had found rich ore Es and I decided after our inspection that the island was formed by buried Rock that didn't show on the surface the gold had collected around the rock of the whole island in a two foot wide strip of Earth.
34:38
Damian Bacich: The depth.
34:39
Damian Bacich: Buried from three to 10 feet and it was necessary to take out a lot of rock to get to the vein.
34:46
Damian Bacich: There was no gold in any other part of the island, although we looked for it.
34:52
Damian Bacich: I was elected captain of the group in order to lay down some ground rules to ensure our safety, if any stranger happened by, he was to be told nothing if the claim was being worked at the moment.
35:07
Damian Bacich: Work must be suspended and everyone must pretend to do something else.
35:13
Damian Bacich: No one was to go to Sutter's Mill.
35:16
Damian Bacich: If supplies were needed, a very discreet person would be assigned to get them in Ramon Castillo's party.
35:25
Damian Bacich: There was an Irishman, long established in the country, a good fellow but fond of his whiskey.
35:33
Damian Bacich: I mentioned to Carillo my worry.
35:36
Damian Bacich: That he would let out.
35:37
Damian Bacich: The secret carillo assured me he was entirely trustworthy.
35:46
Damian Bacich: When we settled in Carillo went to Sonoma and we got to work.
35:51
Damian Bacich: The first claim some 10 yards long by three wide was for my servants and myself.
35:59
Damian Bacich: The second for Manuel Serrano and his brothers the third.
36:06
Damian Bacich: The fourth, the fifth, the Irishman for Rio's party.
36:14
Damian Bacich: The last three or four went to other Californians and Sonoran on Saturday.
36:20
Damian Bacich: After the week's work, we washed the gold bearing gravel we collected.
36:26
Damian Bacich: We were all pretty satisfied with the results as good as we had hoped.
36:33
Damian Bacich: During the week while we were digging, every day, people came to inspect the area and ask us questions.
36:41
Damian Bacich: We always answered that we were prospecting and hadn't yet found anything.
36:47
Damian Bacich: pH and the Irishman had gotten over two pounds of gold between them.
36:51
Damian Bacich: In the first week, my three servants and I over seven pounds, but Saturday night the Irishman disappeared.
37:01
Damian Bacich: With his share of gold to Sutter's Mill.
37:05
Damian Bacich: He got drunk and revealed all our business plans, rules and so forth.
37:11
Damian Bacich: The next Monday, we marked out new claims and started digging.
37:17
Damian Bacich: It was hard work because the gold was deep in the rocks, but on the other hand, there was a lot of it.
37:27
Damian Bacich: It was in big nuggets.
37:28
Damian Bacich: Though it took most of the week to get it every day, more and more armed men came to make inquiries as before, but they were so familiar with our affairs that by Saturday the gunman had set up camp beside us.
37:46
Damian Bacich: I thought I knew what they had in mind and warned our party to be very circumspect and not to give them any excuse to bother us.
37:56
Damian Bacich: We were all getting our ore together and it was very rich.
38:01
Damian Bacich: We were hoping for even better results than the week before at about 10:00 AM a hundred of those soulless bandits invaded our claims.
38:13
Damian Bacich: While we were down in them, they were so courteous as to ask who was the leader of our party.
38:21
Damian Bacich: I was pointed out to them.
38:24
Damian Bacich: Their leader and eight others came over to where I was working.
38:29
Damian Bacich: There were already four of them standing around me, all with pistols in their belts and Bowie knives.
38:38
Damian Bacich: A few had rifles, others picks and shovels.
38:43
Damian Bacich: The leader and two men with picks got down into the hole to talk to me.
38:49
Damian Bacich: He gave me to understand that the claim was his.
38:53
Damian Bacich: Because they had staked out from one side of the river to the other.
38:57
Damian Bacich: A couple of months before we came, he said a few more things in English, which I didn't understand, but the gist of it was the claim was his.
39:09
Damian Bacich: I was excited and answered him harshly.
39:12
Damian Bacich: Fortunately, he didn't understand me, and with a moment to reflect, I realized the gold wasn't worth risking my life.
39:22
Damian Bacich: The rest of the invaders took over the other claims in the same manner.
39:28
Damian Bacich: My companions ran back to our camp for weapons before I got there, and I could see they were going to fight.
39:36
Damian Bacich: They had already called for the horses to be brought in to saddle.
39:40
Damian Bacich: When I arrived and begged them to be calm, I pointed out that any resistance would be futile as far as I was concerned.
39:49
Damian Bacich: I was through with panning for gold.
39:52
Damian Bacich: We saddled up and abandoned the place.
39:56
Damian Bacich: The whole party dispersed.
39:59
Damian Bacich: I rode back to Los Angeles with as little delay as possible before I leave this disquisition on Placer mining in California.
40:08
Damian Bacich: I want to add a curious incident.
40:12
Damian Bacich: One of my servants, bento Perez, whom I have mentioned before, brought his wife with him.
40:20
Damian Bacich: When we arrived at Stanislaus, we arranged to pay her half an ounce of gold a day to cook and wash for us.
40:28
Damian Bacich: Of my four servants, only the two Moos Indians remained as such, the other two panned gold on their own account, owing me for travel expenses.
40:41
Damian Bacich: Bees' wife cooked a little extra at every meal and sold the leftovers to whomever asked.
40:49
Damian Bacich: The business.
40:49
Damian Bacich: Paid well and before long she was buying on her own account.
40:54
Damian Bacich: Meat beans and other food stuffs.
40:57
Damian Bacich: She established a price of one pestle for a small plate of free holles and a flour tortilla.
41:04
Damian Bacich: The same for fresh or dried meat, and a tortilla business became so good.
41:11
Damian Bacich: She was taking in three or four ounces a day, she weighed the gold on a scale made of a sardine tin, a stick, and a flattened bullet, which it may be assumed was not a very accurate scale.
41:26
Damian Bacich: Intended to favor Perez's wife.
41:30
Damian Bacich: Afterwards, she lowered her prices to meet the competition even so, when we all gave up and went back to Los Angeles, she weighed her gold on my good set of scales, and it turned out she made a profit of 13 pounds, seven ounces of gold with two or three months work.
41:51
Damian Bacich: This in addition to what I have said already.
41:54
Damian Bacich: It should give an idea of the abundance of gold and how cheap it was.