, they both saw the piece of gold
before mentioned, and Marshall picked it up. After an examination, the
gold was taken to the cabin of Weimer, and Mrs. Weimer instructed to
boil it in saleratus-water; but she, being engaged in making soap,
pitched the piece into the soap-kettle, where it was boiled all day and
all night. The following morning the strange piece of stuff was fished
out of the soap, all the brighter for the boiling.

"Discussion now commenced, and all expressed the opinion that perhaps
the yellow substance might be gold. Little was said on the subject; but
everyone each morning searched in the race for more, and every day found
several small scales. The Indians also picked up many small thin pieces,
and carried them always to Mrs. Weimer. About three weeks after the
first piece was obtained, Marshall took the fine gold, amounting to
between two and three ounces, and went to San Francisco to have the
strange metal tested. On his return he informed Weimer that the stuff
was gold.

"All hands now began to search for the 'root of all evil.' Shortly
after, Captain Sutter came to Coloma, and he and Marshall assembled the
Indians and bought of them a large tract of country about Coloma, in
exchange for a lot of beads and a few cotton handkerchiefs. They, under
color of this Indian title, required one-third of all the gold dug on
their domain, and collected at this rate until the fall of 1848, when a
mining party from Oregon declined paying 'tithes' as they called it.

"During February, 1848, Marshall and Weimer went down the river to
Mormon Island, and there found scales of gold on the rocks. Some weeks
later they sent Mr. Henderson, Sydney Willis and Mr. Fifield, Mormons,
down there to dig, telling them that that place was better than Coloma.
These were the first miners at Mormon Island."

Marshall was a man of an active, enthusiastic mind, and he at once
attached great importance to his discovery. His ideas, however, were
vague; he knew nothing about gold-mining; he did not know how to take
advantage of what he had found. Only an experienced gold-miner could
understand the importance of the discovery and make it of practical
value to all the world. That gold-miner, fortunately, was near at hand;
his name was Isaac Humphrey. He was residing in the town of San
Francisco, in the month of February, when a Mr. Bennett, one of the
party employed at Marshall's mill, went down to that place with some of
the dust t