“Gold is also believed to exist on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada; and, when at the mines, I was informed by an intelligent Mormon that it had been found near the Great Salt Lake by some of his fraternity.  Nearly all the Mormons are leaving California to go to the Salt Lake; and this they surely would not do unless they were sure of finding gold there, in the same abundance as they now do on the Sacramento.

“I have the honour to be,

“Your most obedient Servant,

“R.B.  MASON, Colonel 1st Dragoons, commanding.

“Brigadier-General R. Jones,
Adjutant-General, U.S.A., Washington, D.C.”

CHAPTER XVII.

  Rate of Wages
  Mode of procuring the Gold
  Extent of Gold Region
  Price of Provisions.

It will be seen, from the later accounts that each new report continues to realize the wildest expectation.  The following letter dated Monterey, November 16th, is highly interesting—­

“We can now call ourselves citizens of the United States.  We have now only to go by law, as we formerly went by custom; that is, when Congress gives us a government and code.  The old foreign residents of California, having done very well ten or twenty years without law, care but very little whether Congress pays early or late attention to the subject.  Those who have emigrated from the Atlantic States within the last three or four years deem the subject an important one; I only call it difficult.  The carrying out a code of laws, under existing circumstances, is far from being an easy task.  The general Government may appoint governors, secretaries, and other public functionaries; and judges, marshals, collectors, etc., may accept offices with salaries of 3000 or 4000 dollars per annum; but how they are to obtain their petty officers, at half these sums, remains to be seen.  The pay of a member of Congress will be accepted here by those alone who do not know enough to better themselves.  Mechanics can now get 10 to 16 dollars per day; labourers on the wharfs or elsewhere, 5 to 10 dollars; clerks and storekeepers, 1000 to 3000 dollars per annum—­some engage to keep store during their pleasure at 8 dollars per day, or 1 lb. or 1-1/2 lb. of gold per month; cooks and stewards, 60 to 100 dollars per month.  In fact, labour of every description commands exorbitant prices.

“The Sandwich Islands, Oregon, and Lower California are fast parting with their inhabitants, all bound for this coast, and thence to the great ‘placer’ of the Sacramento Valley, where the digging and washing of one man that does not produce 100 troy ounces of gold, 23 carats, from the size of a half spangle to one pound in a month, sets the digger to ‘prospecting,’ that is, looking for better grounds.  Your ‘Paisano’ can point out many a man who has, for fifteen to twenty days in succession, bagged up five to ten ounces of gold a-day.  Our placer, or gold region, now extends