Gestans ahena, nec severus
Uncus abest, liquidumque plumbum.”
There was both irony and wisdom in the counsel given by the Mormon leaders to their followers after their settlement on the Salt Lake. “The true use of gold is for paving streets, covering houses, making culinary dishes; and when the saints shall have preached the gospel, raised grain, and built up cities enough, the Lord will open up the way for a supply of gold to the perfect satisfaction of his people.” This kept the mass of their followers from moving to the diggings of Western California. They remained around the lake “to be healthy and happy, to raise grain and build cities.”[[12]]
But the occurrence of individual disappointment, or misery in procuring it, will not prevent the gold itself from afterwards exercising its natural influence upon society when it has been brought into the markets of the world. When the riches of California began to arrive, therefore, graver minds, whose thoughts were turned to the future as much as to the present, inquired, first, how much gold are these new diggings sending into the markets?—and, second, how long is this yield likely to last?
1st, To the first of these questions—owing to the numerous channels along which the gold of California finds its way into commerce—it seems impossible to obtain more than an approximate answer. Mr Theodore Johnson (p. 246) estimates the produce for
1848, at 8 million dollars.
1849, from 22 to 37 million dollars.
Or in the latter year, from four to seven millions sterling. It would, of course, be more in 1850, as it is assumed to be by Mr Wyld, from whose pamphlet (p. 22) we copy the following table of the estimated total yield of gold and silver by all the known mines of the world, in the five years named in the first column:—
| Gold. | Silver. | Total. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1800 | £10,250,000 | ||
| 1840 | £5,000,000 | £6,750,000 | 11,750,000 |
| 1848 | 7,000,000 | 6,750,000 | 13,750,000 |
| 1850 | 17,500,000 | 7,500,000 | 25,000,000 |
| 1851 | 22,500,000 | 7,500,000 | 30,000,000 |
Supposing the Russian mines, from which upwards of four millions’ worth of the gold of 1848 was derived, to have remained equally productive in 1850 and 1851, this estimate assigns a yield of £10,000,000 worth of gold to California in 1850, and £15,000,000 to California and Australia together in 1851.