DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN UTAH TERRITORY.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVII, Issue 1845, 21 March 1863, Page 5

DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN UTAH TERRITORY.

(From the Special Correspondent of the '• Daily Alta California.') Camp Douglass (near Salt Lake City), November 21, 1802. Two days Bince a party of Salmon River miners reported a discovery of gold in City Creek Canon, at points some fifteen miles from the New Jerusalem. The tale connected therewith, " which I tell as it was told to me," neither vouching for the truthfulness or untruthfulncsa of all the particulars. runß thus ; — Months since a gentleman in California met with a Mormon miner who asserted that ho had dug gold in Utah Territory for Brigham Young ; that no one knew of the locality save the President and six persons employed by him to work the mines ; that the miners were not permitted to touch the gold in any manner, a clerk being constantly present to receive the pans and do tha cleaning up; that they each received 2 dollars 50 cents per day wages, and averaged 20 dollars to the man per day in the gold dug ; that he did not care whether use was made of the information or not, because Brigham insisted upon his taking a second wife, which he would not do, wherefore Brigham had got a down on him ; thac the locality is about fourteen miles from the city, up City Creek Canon. The gentleman came to Salt Lake, and, finding some fifty miners from Salmon River wintering here, told them the story. Now, whether upon good grounds or not, the belief rulinj?"in large portions of this community is, that gold abounds in the region ; that certain persons have at different times discovered it ; that parties have actually dug the metal, but have in some cases been shot, and in all compelled to desist, after swearing themselves to eternal aecresy concerning the localities ; and that no persons will be permitted by the Mormons to take the gold so long as it can be prevented. Accordingly, application was made to Colonel Connor to know whether he would give protection to miners in case gold should be found. As no lands in this Territory, andjjfespecially no mineral lands, have ever been deeded away by Government, and hence ' as those lands are usually free to all citizens of the United States, the colonel assured them of protection, should \k be needed; and they started on a prospecting tour. Taking different roads, they met at a point fourteen miles distant from the city, and spent three days in examining various localities. As the result of their investigations they report the diggings rich and extensive— sufficient for 12,000 miners — and abundantly watered by the City creek. Some of their pans ran as high as 40 cents the average being 25 to 30 cents. They state that at Salmon River 10 to 20 cents is a fair average ; and that while the quality of this gold is not quite &o good as that of Salmon (being about 17 dollars to the ounce), yet the region is much more easily worked, richer, the season longer and supplies nearer, more abundant and certain. Their atory differs from that of the Mormon miner only in stating the distance at fifteen miles instead of fourteen. la it all ;i hoax? Burton, in his -•« City of the Saints, page. 281, saya :— 11 Gold, according to Hutnboldt, is constant in meridtonial mountains, and we may «xpect to find

it in a country abounding with crystalline rocks cut by dykes of black and grey basalt and porous trap, gneiss, micaceous schists, clayey and Blaty shales, and other argillaceous formations. It is generally believed that gold exists upon the Washaw mountains, within sight of Great Salt Lake City; and in 186 L a travelling party is reported to have found a fine digging in the North. Lumps of virgin silver are said to have been discovered upon the White Mountains in the south of the territory ; and Judge Ralston, I am informed, has lately hit upon a mine near the western route. 1 ' Upon page 270, describing an interview with Apostle John Taylor, Burton gays; — " When talking about the probability of gold digging being developed near Great Salt Lake City, he said that the Mormons are aware of that, but that they look upon agriculture as their real wealth. The Gentiles, however — it is curious that they do not form a company among themselves for prospecting—assert that the Church has very rich mines, which are guarded by these dragons of Danites more fiercely than the Hesperidian Gardens, which will never be known till Miss Utah becomes Mistress Deseret ' ' I am credibly informed that during a visit made by Bishop Simpson, of the Methodist Church, to President Young, a few weeks since, the President told him, "Bishop, 1 can stand in my door and see all the gold any man could wish for. Have you never in your life been actually tired of packing gold bars to a place of security?" " No, President, I never had that misfortune." II Well, I have. There- is gold in abundance here; but if our people knew it, they would go mad." " But, President, you have no right to deprive the people of so much wealth.' 1 " Whether I have tho right or not, I shall do it." It is said, too, that old stakes are yet standing in Big Cotton Wood Canon which were driven by miners in 1851 to mark their claims, from which, however, they were compelled to skedaddle. These are but a portion of the best authenticated evidences ; many lesser, though strongly corroborating ones, could be narrated. And pointing as they do to the fact that gold does exist near by, they go far towards establishing the proposition that, whether the four miners have actually found ifc or not, rich diggings can in all probability be discovered if diligently sought for. By the by, where did the Church get the gold out of which was coined the five-dollar pieces ? It did not come from California, simply because no gold has been extracted there of the same 'colour, allowance being made for the alloy ; and it did not come from the Salmon region, for the reason that the coinage was made previous to the discovery of gold thereabouts. That President Young ia exceedingly averse to any working of such mines, is 'assorted upon the most credible authority. Ifitbetrue that City Creek Canon which was presented to him, and across the mouth of which ho has built a wall, so that the only waggon entrance to ifc is said to be through his private grounds — contains gold ; and if it be true that in said canon he ha? either a private mine, or a mine for the benefit of the Church, then one, and a most natural, reason for hi 3 aversion becomes patent. The influence which extensive mines at this point would exert upon the relations of California to the Atlantic States is a question worth consideration. Constituting, as it virtually does, the the half-way house between New York or Washington and San Francisco, Salt Lake City would soon become an interior metropolis, whose growth, wealth and importance might rival the past of Chicago. The broad valleys and the narrow valleys hereabouts would bo mado to yield far more abundantly than men can now imagine. They would be peopled by and would feed thousands. They would afford that most vital ofall railroad incomes, the incomes of way-freight and travel. From out these hills would be extracted large quantities of iron and coal, and from off them could be drawn the wood wherewith to build and maintain the Pacific railroad. Just what '49 did for California would the discovery of gold in '62 do for Utah ; and the difference between San Francisco in 'GO and San Francisco in '60 might prove to be an approximately fair criterion of Salt Lake growth during the coming decade. In view of the possibility of war with foreign powers, anything that secures a speedy, safe, and capacious transit across the continent strengthens the bands that tie California to Washington. All the military posts, all the railways, all the money of the Government could not so effectually overpower the Indians, bridge the deserts, or shorten the miles as would the picks of 100,000 miners, bringing after them as they always do, farms, cities, telegraphi, railroads and permanent might.