FOOTNOTES
[1] El Dorado. Refer to [p. 14] for the origin of this name.
[2] The War hardly ended. Confusion exists as to the precise date of the gold discovery. Larkin says, on the spot, January or February. Hittell, a well-informed writer, says January 19. Royce, January. Bancroft is not accessible as I pen this note.
[3] Captain Sutter's Men. Some of those who were either in his employ or under his military command, became wealthy and influential citizens of the State. Among them John Bidwell, Pearson B. Reading, Samuel J. Hensley, and Charles M. Weber may be named.
[4] Mormon Diggings. The Mormons who were found here by Mr. Larkin in June, probably came into California overland with Colonel Cooke, or with Samuel Brannan by sea in July, 1846. Governor Mason reports them as preparing to go to Salt Lake. See [Note 5].
[5] The Two Newspapers. The "Californian" (later "Alta California"), first published in Monterey, then in San Francisco; founded 1846 by Walter Colton and Robert Semple; edited by Semple after its removal to San Francisco. The "California Star," founded by Samuel Brannan early in 1847, was merged with the "California." See [Note 4].
SWARMING THROUGH THE GOLDEN GATE.[1]
Meanwhile the area of the gold-fields was being rapidly enlarged on all sides by new discoveries. Each day had its story of the finding of some richer placer for which a general rush was made. As time wore on, gold was found in all the streams which cut their way through the foothills of the great Sierra.[2] By midsummer four thousand people, half of whom were Indians, were washing for gold as if it had been the only employment of their lives.
By this time too the first guarded statements made about the extent and richness of the gold-fields gave place to predictions as bold as they were hard to believe. For instance, Governor Mason, who had been over-cautious at first, soon had no hesitation in saying that there was more gold in the country than would pay the cost of the war a hundred times over.