Imitation lumps of gold have been made and brought into circulation in California. The State Assayer states that above forty specimens have been brought to his notice. They are generally in size from four to five ounces to a pound in weight--quartz, and every thing else necessary to make them look right, properly intermixed.
It has been definitely settled that gold does exist in the vicinity of San José. Specimens have been taken to San Francisco.
Several artesian wells have been constructed at San Francisco, since the second great fire, and it is thought that others will soon add to the comfort and convenience of the people of that city. The want of good water for drinking purposes, has been the most serious objection to San Francisco as a place of residence; and additional incentive to exertion in the matter is furnished by the constant apprehension of destructive fires.[20]
Coal has been discovered in California, in various places, and is reported to abound in considerable quantities in the neighborhood of San Francisco. Every day developes some new wealth of this land of treasure, and we regard the discovery of the abundance of coal as in the highest degree important to the residents of California. Even amid the news of the extraordinary yield of the gold region during the present year, 1850, when a single vessel, in one trip, brings $2,000,000 worth of gold dust to the United States we can pause to notice the discovery of the more useful substances.
The Trinity River and Humboldt Harbor, in the north-western part of California, have lately become a resort for the superfluous population of the Sacramento and San Joaquin regions. The harbor is pronounced a very good one, and the discovery of abundance of gold on the branches of Trinity River, will, doubtless, contribute to the building of a large town upon its shores.
In the middle of June, there was much excitement in San Francisco, caused by the reported discovery of a gold lake, among the mountains between the South Fork of Feather River and the Yuba. One man was said to have got $7000 in four days, and a party of ten Kanakas were reported to have got $75,000 in a week. A vast number of people were by this means attracted to the sources of the Feather and Yuba Rivers, and though they found the lake story a hoax of a vile character, they found tolerably fair diggings, which would console them for their disappointment.