Thus the
mines were opened at far distant points.
The first printed notice of the discovery of gold was given in the
California newspaper published in San Francisco on the 10th of March.
On the 29th of May the same paper, announcing that its publication
would be suspended, says: "The whole country, from San Francisco to
Los Angeles, and from the seashore to the base of the Sierra Nevada,
resound the sordid cry of _gold! gold! gold!_ while the field is left
half planted, the house half built and everything neglected but the
manufacture of pick and shovels, and the means of transportation to
the spot where one man obtained one hundred and twenty-eight dollars'
worth of the real stuff in one day's washing; and the average for all
concerned, is twenty dollars per diem. The first to commence quartz
mining in California were Capt. Win. Jackson and Mr. Eliason, both
Virginians, and the first machine used was a Chilian mill.
The Reid Mine, in North Carolina, was the first gold mine discovered
and worked in the United States, and the only one in North America
from which, up to 1825, gold was sent to the Mint.
HOW TO MAKE ARTIFICIAL GOLD.
The following oroid or imitation gold is sometimes sold for the
genuine article which it closely resembles. Pure copper, 100 parts by
weight, is melted in a crucible, and then 6 parts of magnesia, 3.6 of
sal-ammoniac, 1.8 of quicklime and 9. of tartar are added separately
and gradually in the form of powder. The whole is then stirred for
about half an hour, and 17 parts of zinc or tin in small grains are
thrown in and thoroughly mixed.
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