in trying to dispossess them. But his efforts were unavailing. The
laws, loosely administered then, seemed to be against him, and fate,
relentless fate, spared him not. Almost all that was left to him in
the end was the ring which he had made out of the lumps of the first
gold found, and on which was inscribed this legend: "The first gold
found in California, January, 1848." It tells a melancholy as well as
a joyous tale, in it are bound up histories and tragedies, in it the
happiness of multitudes, and even the fate of immortal souls! The
California legislature at length took pity on Sutter, and granted him
a pension of $250 per month, on which he lived until he was summoned,
at Washington, D.C., on June 17th, 1880, by the Angel of Death, to a
land whose gold mocks us not, and where everyone's "claim" is good,
if he be found worthy to pass through the Golden Gate. Marshall, too,
died a poor man, August 8th, 1885, having lived on a pension from the
State of California, which also has seen fit to honour his memory, as
the discoverer of gold, by erecting a monument to him at Coloma, the
scene of the most exciting events in his life. The names of these two
men, however, will endure in the thrilling histories of 1848 and 1849,
as long as time lasts--for all unconsciously they set the civilised
world in motion, gave new impulse to armies of men, spread sails on
the ocean, filled coffers with yellow gold, and added new chapters to
the graphic history of San Francisco and many another city. When the
tidings of the discovery of gold reached the outside world thousands
on thousands set their faces towards the El Dorado of the Pacific
slopes. There were many new Jasons. The Golden Fleece of the sunny
West was beckoning them on. New Argos were fitted out for the new
Colchis. The Argonauts of 1849 were willing to brave all dangers. It
is Joaquin Miller who sings--

"Full were they