The
entire gold district, with very few exceptions of grants made some
years ago by the Mexican authorities, is on land belonging to the
United States. It was a matter of serious reflection to me, how I could
secure to the Government certain rents or fees for the privilege of
securing this gold; but upon considering the large extent of country,
the character of the people engaged, and the small scattered force at
my command, I resolved not to interfere, but permit all to work freely,
unless broils and crimes should call for interference.
"The discovery of these vast deposits of gold has entirely changed the
character of Upper California. Its people, before engaged in
cultivating their small patches of ground, and guarding their herds of
cattle and horses, have all gone to the mines, or are on their way
thither. Labourers of every trade have left their work-benches, and
tradesmen their shops; sailors desert their ships as fast as they
arrive on the coast; and several vessels have gone to sea with hardly
enough hands to spread a sail. Two or three are now at anchor in San
Francisco, with no crew on board.
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