Monterey Mayor tells his Story

The news also got to the Mayor of Monterey on that same day on May 29. The Mayor of Monterey, Reverend Walter Colton, pointed this out in his California Diary:

 “Our town was startled out of its quiet dreams to-day, by the announcement that gold had been discovered on the American Fork. The men wondered and talked, and the women too; but neither believed. The sibyls were less skeptical; they said the moon had, for several nights, appeared not more than a cable’s length from the earth; that a white raven had been seen playing with an infant; and that an owl had rung the church bells.” Colton sent off a messenger to the mines to establish for himself and the people of Monterey if the astonishing information was true. And on June 20, the messenger came back and everyone went running to hear the news.

“As he drew forth the yellow lumps from his pockets, and passed them around among the eager crowd, the doubts, which had lingered till now, fled. All admitted they were gold, except one old man, who still persisted they were some Yankee invention, got up to reconcile the people to the change of flag.”

“The excitement produced was intense; and many were soon busy in their hasty preparations for a departure to the mines.... The blacksmith dropped his hammer, the carpenter his plane, the mason his trowel, the farmer his sickle, the baker his loaf, and the tapster his bottle. I have only women left, and a gang of prisoners, here and there a soldier, who will give his captain the slip at first chance.”

The 49’ers herded in from everywhere, they came from Mexico, Europe, Oregon, Utah, and many other places all with the dream of finding gold. The gold was not only found along the American River but also along the Yuba and Feather Rivers. Discoveries were also made in the Tuolumne, the Mokelumne, the Stanislaus and the Consumnes Rivers. The prospectors that passed by the Oregon Territory also found gold along the Trinity River.

These people were not only looking to get gold however; they were in addition fascinated in the American Dream of Freedom. The interesting thing was that during this time the people did not have any laws or regulations to live by, they based themselves on the principle of honor. There was not a lot of crime during the first few years either. Everyone would respect each other’s areas and they were not into taking other people’s gold and they did not interfere in other people’s claims.

Men had the freedom to dig and work as long as they felt like, and were able to spend what they wanted to as well. There was always the gratification that they would be able to make more the next day if they desired to. This is why this was considered one of the best times for the history of mankind.

During that time a big number of camps were set up as well; later on these camps then turned into small towns. The site that where Marshall had found the gold went from having only a small number of men to having over three thousand five hundred people by July 1849. Soon after it increased up to a population of ten thousand people, and thirteen hotels and over fifty saloons were opened.

The towns had interesting names to them and most of them were named according to an even that had taken place in the town or a characteristic of the town. For example, Placerville was formally known as Dry Diggings due to the fact that it did not have a lot of water, however after someone was hung there the name changed to Hang Town. After the gold rush finished the people in the town decided to change its name to Placerville. In the same way all the camps had their own small story to them and this was reflected in their names such as Illinois town, Chinese Camp, Loafer Hill, Rich Bar, Coffee Gulch, Fair Play, Cut Throat etc.