CHAPTER IV

GOLD

The discovery of gold—­made, as everyone knows, by James Marshall, a foreman of Sutter’s, engaged in building a sawmill for the Captain—­came at a psychological time.[4]The Mexican War was just over and the adventurous spirits, unwilling to settle down, were looking for new excitement.  Furthermore, the hard times of the Forties had blanketed the East with mortgages.  Many sober communities were ready, deliberately and without excitement, to send their young men westward in the hope of finding a way out of their financial difficulties.  The Oregon question, as has been already indicated, had aroused patriotism to such an extent that westward migration had become a sort of mental contagion.

[4:  January 24, 1848, is the date usually given.]

It took some time for the first discoveries to leak out, and to be believed after they had gained currency.  Even in California itself interest was rather tepid at first.  Gold had been found in small quantities many years before, and only the actual sight of the metal in considerable weight could rouse men’s imaginations to the blazing point.

Among the most enthusiastic protagonists was one Sam Brannan, who often appeared afterwards in the pages of Californian history.  Brannan was a Mormon who had set out from New York with two hundred and fifty Mormons to try out the land of California as a possible refuge for the persecuted sect.  That the westward migration of Mormons stopped at Salt Lake may well be due to the fact that on entering San Francisco Bay, Brannan found himself just too late.  The American flag was already floating over the Presidio.  Eye-witnesses say that Brannan dashed his hat to the deck, exclaiming, “There is that damned rag again.”  However, he proved an adaptable creature, for he and his Mormons landed nevertheless, and took up the industries of the country.

Brannan collected the usual tithes from these men, with the ostensible purpose of sending them on to the Church at Salt Lake.  This, however, he consistently failed to do.  One of the Mormons, on asking Sutter how long they should be expected to pay these tithes, received the answer, “As long as you are fools enough to do so.”  But they did not remain fools very much longer, and Brannan found himself deprived of this source of revenue.  On being dunned by Brigham Young for the tithes already collected, Brannan blandly resigned from the Church, still retaining the assets.  With this auspicious beginning, aided by a burly, engaging personality, a coarse, direct manner that appealed to men, and an instinct for the limelight, he went far.  Though there were a great many admirable traits in his character, people were forced to like him in spite of rather than because of them.  His enthusiasm for any public agitation was always on tap.