The Argonauts of California: being the reminiscenses of scenes and incidents that occurred in California in the early mining days

by Charles Warren Haskins

In ’53 the erection of quartz mills commenced, and soon the crash and rattle of their stamps could be heard echoing among the hills and cañons. In the first excitement of quartz mining, mills were erected upon all ledges which showed the least appearance of containing gold, but it was soon discovered that the greater portion of them did not pay expenses. The consequence was, it is safe to say, that hundreds of mills were idle in a year hence, and the valuable machinery was left to rust and decay. In the case, however, of many of these old abandoned ledges, further prospecting at lower depth proved them to be of value, and many of them at the present time are being worked with profit, owing to the improved methods of saving the gold.

It has been said that gold mining was not a legitimate business, and that the intense desire for gold created unnatural conditions. But observation and experience show us that the happiness of the human family, as well as the grade of civilization to which it is possible to attain, depends upon the quantity of gold which it is possible to acquire, and its proper use. Without gold in what would life consist? What would be its chief aim and consideration? Why, there wouldn’t be any aim at all, for there wouldn’t be any target worth the aiming at. It was the desire to possess this precious metal that prompted thousands of us to undertake such a long, wearisome, and dangerous journey around those gigantic obstructions at the extreme end of the continent, as well as a tedious journey across the barren deserts. It is this desire, also, or incentive, which builds our great cities, our great manufacturing industries, as well as our railroads and steamships; proving conclusively, in my opinion, that the individual who first invented and threw to the breeze the old saying that money makes the mare go understood the whole business.

But why should gold in such vast quantities be scattered here upon the western portion of our continent, and why was Nature so partial in the distribution of her favors? Was it accidental, the effect of chance conditions, or was it designed for some special purpose? The latter is the more reasonable, and therefore the more probable, theory, for observation shows us that Nature frowns upon unbalanced conditions, and that here, upon the western slope of the continent, lying silent and deserted, was an earthly paradise, unthought of, and as yet unknown except by a few, while at the East vast numbers were settling and making their homes amid the snowbanks and blizzards of an Arctic climate, totally unconscious of what the conditions were at the far West, beneath the setting sun. Under such conditions it is very easy to understand why Nature frowns. It is very true, as we had been previously informed, and rightly too, that Westward the Star of Empire takes its way; yet, by the natural process of settlement it would have required hundreds of years, perhaps, to colonize and to settle up this portion of our continent, and properly balance the conditions of increased population. It was for this purpose, no doubt, that the knowledge of the existence of gold upon the western portion of our continent was reserved for the Anglo-Saxon race, who understood its real value and knew how to use it as an incentive for the proper adjustment of unbalanced conditions; and we have come as the pioneers of an advancing civilization, intending to grow up with the country and to use our best endeavors (by all legitimate means) to restore the equilibrium by an increase in population.

The hills, rivers and ravines still continued to give forth their valuable treasure; but one fact was very evident, and that was that but a very small proportion of it remained in the mining regions. There was a continuous current of gold flowing into the chief city by the sea, and but a very small portion of it returning to the miners, who by their labor extracted it from the earth. Business men, also, among the various mining camps in the gold regions, who had succeeded in accumulating a reasonable amount, followed in the wake of this current to the big city, there to use and spend their earnings, and none, or at least but a very few, seemed willing to continue to live in and improve that portion of the country where they had won success.

The continuous flow of gold concentrated, therefore, in the hands of comparatively few men, and San Francisco became the head-center for all comers who desired to secure a portion of the golden stream. And now the city which, but a few years previous, was a mere cluster of sand-hills, began to assume the form and appearance of a great city, or the foundation upon which a metropolis was to be built.

Throughout the dry or placer mining regions, numerous towns and villages had grown up which in a few years assumed conditions of considerable importance under the impression that such mining would be of a more lasting and permanent character. It required but a few years, however, to demonstrate the fact that such mining was of a transient nature; the gold in the ravines, gulches, flats and benches, as well as in the small and shallow creeks, was soon extracted, what was left by the American miner in his hasty and careless method of working being subsequently thoroughly cleaned out by the Chinese miners. These sections being now almost entirely deserted by the miners, the business men and families in the towns and villages were forced to abandon them, their homes and property soon falling into decay.

A journey through these deserted and now silent villages, which but a few short years previous were full of life and animation, presents to the mind a scene which can only be paralleled by the New Zealander of the future, sitting upon the ruins of London Bridge, speculating upon the vicissitudes and the uncertainties of human affairs, especially in gold mining, and further illustrates the fact that although it is gold itself that forms the great incentive for building up our towns and cities, yet the precious metal does not possess the power to built up, or improve, the portions of the country in which it is found; but seemingly produces a contrary effect. It was for these reasons, that upon the placer mines being worked out, the various towns and villages soon went to decay; the country presenting a very desolate and deserted appearance. This desolation would have increased as the mines became exhausted, and in course of time the whole mining region would have been silent and deserted, but for the important discovery having been made that the abandoned mining regions possessed a value for agricultural purposes far superior, of a more permanent character, and of greater value to the human family in general than the gold beneath the surface. To this cause can be attributed the change in the course of events, as well as the character of the country, and which also will in time be the means of transforming the now silent and deserted portions of the mining regions into populous and thriving settlements.

As the various mines became exhausted of their wealth, and the once prosperous villages were abandoned and left to decay, the gambling classes, and the gentlemen of elegant leisure were also