n the actual discovery and
appreciation of gold and the influx from abroad that came in the
following years.

This condition was principally due to the class of men concerned. The
earliest miners were a very different lot from the majority of those who
arrived in the next few years. They were mostly the original population,
who had come out either as pioneers or in the government service. They
included the discharged soldiers of Stevenson's regiment of New York
Volunteers, who had been detailed for the war but who had arrived a
little late, the so-called Mormon Battalion, Sam Brannan's immigrants,
and those who had come as settlers since 1842. They were a rough lot
with both the virtues and the defects of the pioneer. Nevertheless among
their most marked characteristics were their honesty and their kindness.
Hittell gives an incident that illustrates the latter trait very well.
"It was a little camp, the name of which is not given and perhaps is not
important. The day was a hot one when a youth of sixteen came limping
along, footsore, weary, hungry, and penniless. There were at least
thirty robust miners at work in the ravine and it may well be believed
they were cheerful, probably now and then joining in a chorus or
laughing at a joke. The lad as he saw and heard them sat down upon the
bank, his face telling the sad story of his misfortunes. Though he said
nothing he was not unobserved. At length one of the miners, a stalwart
fellow, pointing up to the poor fellow on the bank, exclaimed to his
companions, 'Boys, I'll work an hour for that chap if you will.' All
answered in the affirmative and picks and shovels were plied with even
more activity than before. At the end of an hour a hundred dollars'
worth of gold-dust was poured into his handkerchief. As this was done
the miners who had crowded around the grateful boy made out a list of
tools and said to him: 'You go now and buy these tools and come back.
We'll have a good claim staked out for you; then you've got to paddle
for yourself.'"

Another reason for this distinguished honesty was the extent and
incredible richness of the diggings, combined with the firm belief that
this richness would last forever and possibly increase. The first gold
was often found actually at the roots of bushes, or could be picked out
from the veins in the rocks by the aid of an ordinary hunting-knife.
Such pockets were, to be sure, by no means numerous; but the miners did
not know that.