THE FINDER OF THE FIRST CALIFORNIAN GOLD.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume I, Issue 24, 28 May 1892, Page 7

THE FINDER OF THE FIRST CALIFORNIAN GOLD.

California lias-allowed "her greatest one Marshall, to.die of want. Marshall,was the,first;insin..to discover! ■gold in .the. virgin soil .^'X ha^ve often,^' -says; a. correspondent to a; contemporary, '" seen the -first nugget, .at '.his ,house in <Coloma-^-ari almost pure —nugget, about thr^efinches longby an inch or so wide, : ancl [averaging { the thickness Jof a silver 'dollar.. ; Jt.was irregular in form and , crooked at the -end. X have 'Often heard Marshall* partner tell the story pf.the ifiud. * /When the mill -was •done,'her said,!* vwe found that the water back upon the wheel,- and Jim and •I went down the race to, see .where w ; e «could dig it away. iSuddenly Jim says, "" Pete, what's ;that that,shines so by the 'toe of your boot?" 1 told him .it was -tin,. probably...," Jim," says he, ," how •did it\h) get;down-,there;?'' r Jim'came : along and picked it up, and scraped it •to see what it was. ,He says, "Who iknows ibut >what that is gold.?" fie 'took it to the /house where my wife had. 'been boiling some lye for soap, and we iput it'right in the lye and boiled it most -all day. It came out aa bright as a .guinea, and we decided that it was gold. We got a pan and went into the race, ■where I washed out some more small 'lumps, : while Jim lighted out for Monterey to have his fine tested.'" What haa ; become of the first Californian, aiqgget.? 4