Mr. James Carson, the discoverer of these diggings, asserts that in 1848 the man who would work could make from fifty to one hundred pounds sterling a day, and I have no doubt of the truth of this.
At the time when this digging was first yielding such immense profits, strict honesty was the characteristic of the miners; and a man need have no fear then, as he has now, relative to keeping his dust after he had found it, for all had enough, and it is astonishing how virtuous we become under such circumstances. A sailor once asked his chum if a bishop was a good man? “He ought for to be,� replies the other, “for he has nothing to do but to eat, drink, and sleep, and altogether he has a deuced fine berth of it!� and Jack hit the truth in his own way.
And sailors are, perhaps, after their manner, tolerable Christians themselves; certainly they swear a little, and are said to devour in a sandwich the banknote that would serve to enrich a hospital, as from Bill Bobstay, Esq.; but whenever there is sickness or poverty among sailors, there Jack is found at the bedside the tenderest of nurses, and sharing—honest heart!—his last copper with a comrade. A sailor in the mines is at best a rough and uncomely fellow to the sight; but will you show me anything more pleasing to contemplate than that sturdy fellow there who plies his pickaxe to the tune of “Oh, Sally Brown!â€� that he may take at night to his sick friend in the tent hard by the luxuries he needs? The sailors in the mines have been ever distinguished for self-denial; and whenever I see “prim goodnessâ€� frown at the rough, careless sailor’s oath that will mingle now and then with his “ye-ho!â€� I think to myself, “Take out your heart, ‘prim goodness,’ and lay it by the side of Jack’s and offer me the choice of the two, and maybe it won’t be yours I’ll take, for all that you are faultless to the world’s eye.â€�
Liberality was so great in those days, that if a stranger came to the mines and had but the appearance of one who would work, he had no difficulty in borrowing from any one all that was required for starting him, his muscles and sinews being the sole guarantee for repayment.
It was near Carson’s Hill that poor Boyd worked with a gang of men, though with what success I do not know. Boyd was an English gentleman of independence; and in his yacht, the “Wanderer,� he had visited nearly every place on the globe. He was fitted in every respect for the roving life he had chosen, and was equally at home whether he roughed it in the mountains or played the host on board the “Wanderer.� Shortly after he left San Francisco, he landed at Solomon’s Island to shoot wild fowl, and there was cruelly murdered by the natives. None who knew him heard of his fate without regret; and as a finale to the life of this adventurous man, the “Wanderer� soon after went ashore and was lost.
A gulch which branches off from Carson’s, and which proved very rich, was discovered under circumstances of great solemnity, and I am indebted to Mr. Carson for the anecdote.
One of the miners died, and having been much respected, it was determined to give him a regular funeral. A digger in the vicinity, who, report said,
had once been a powerful preacher in the United States, was called upon to officiate; and after “drinks all round,â€� the party proceeded, with becoming gravity, to the grave, which had been dug at a distance of a hundred yards from the camp. When this spot was reached, the officiating minister commenced with an extempore prayer, during which all knelt round the grave. So far was well; but the prayer was unnecessarily long, and at last some of those who knelt, began, in an abstracted way, to finger the loose earth that had been thrown up from the grave. It was thick with gold; and an excitement was immediately apparent in the kneeling crowd. Upon this, the preacher stopped, and inquiringly said, “Boys, what’s that? Gold!â€� he continued, “and the richest kind of diggings,—the congregation are dismissed!â€� The poor miner was taken from his auriferous grave and was buried elsewhere, whilst the funeral party, with the parson at their head, lost no time in prospecting the new digging.
The population of the diggings, in 1848, was as varied as can be well imagined; every nation and calling was represented there, from an ex-governor to a digger Indian. But amongst this motley crew lawyers predominated; and if we may judge by the fees they received, and the quality of the law they exchanged for them, they had brought their forensic knowledge to a fine market. As magistrates and other officers were required in the different mining districts, they were elected by a majority of the miners, and formed a court of law.