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HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF PLACER MINING

IN CALIFORNIA.

COMPILED BY W. W. JENKINS.

From the auriferous deposits of the State of California, $1,100,-
000,000 gold have been extracted during the last sixty years.
The magnitude of the mining operations required to produce this
enormous yield is but little known to the general public. The con-
tinuous flow of gold bullion has, however, made the State famous
and attracted the attention of political economists everywhere.
First Mention of California: The first mention of the name "Cal-
ifornia" occurs in connection with the supposed great island where
gold and precious stones were found in abundance, described in a
romance called "Las Sergus de Esplandian," published in Spain A.
D. 1510. The followers of Cortez had a chimerical idea of some
hidden El Dorado, and, strange to say, they applied the name "Cali-
fornia" to that unknown country north of Mexico with which they
associated the notion of a region of fabulous wealth.
Discovery of Lower California: The first expedition sent out by
Cortez in 1534 discovered what is now called Lower California.
According to Father Venegas, this expedition numbering some seven
hundred souls, was fitted out at the Port of Tehuantepec in the year
1537, and sailed north to the head of the Gulf of California, but never
reached the line which marks the southern boundary of the State of
California.
Contemporaneously with the departure of this party, four persons
named "Alvarez Nunez," "Cabeza de Vaca," "Castillo," and "Dor-
mente," with a negro named ''Estevancio," arrived at Culdiacan, on
the Gulf of California, from the Peninsula of Florida. These were
the sole survivors of the three hundred Spaniards who, in 1527,
landed with Pamfilo Narvaez on the coast of Florida with the in-
tention of conquering that country. Nunez subsequently conducted
the expedition which discovered the Rio de La Plata and effected the
first conquest of Paraguay.
Early Explorations: In I 542, Mendoza, Viceroy of Mexico, sent
Rodriguez Cabrillo, a Portuguese, to survey the west coast of Cali-
fornia. He explored the coast, naming numerous headlands, the
most northerly of which, in latitude 40 degrees north, he called Cape
:Mendocino. Thence he proceeded further north to latitude 44 de-
grees. which he reached March 10th, I 543.
In I 578, Sir Francis Drake entered the Pacific and sailed north as
high as latitude 48 degrees. According to Hakluyt's account of the