One of them
was more social than the rest and we soon got acquainted. His name was
Williams, from Missouri. He came down to the river with a pan of dirt,
and seeing me in my ignorance trying to wash some as well, he took the
pan from me and very kindly showed me how to work so as to let the dirt
go and save the gold. When he had the pan finished a few small, bright
scales remained. These to me were curious little follows and I examined
them closely and concluded there was a vast difference between gold and
lead mining. Williams became more friendly and we told him something
about our journey across the plains, and he seemed to think that we
deserved a good claim. He went to a dry gulch where a Spaniard was
working and told him that all of California, now that the war was over,
belonged to Americans and he must leave. Williams had his gun in his
hand and war might follow, so Mr. Spaniard left and his claim was
presented to Bennett and myself.
Williams had been twice to Santa Fe from Missouri and had learned the
Spanish language and could swear at them by note if necessary. We now
began work almost without tools, but our ground we had to work was quite
shallow and Williams helped us out by loaning us some of his tools at
times. We soon succeeded in scratching together some of the yellow stuff
and I went down to the store and bought a pan for five dollars, a shovel
for ten dollars, and a poor pick cost me ten dollars more. This took
about two ounces of my money.
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