"I've Found the Gold!" (II)

一百五十多年前,当“我捡到金子了!”这句话传遍美国大陆时，狂热的淘金者蜂拥而至，从此，美国历史掀开了崭新的篇章。本文披露了一些鲜为人知的史料，值得一读。

Lawless World: By then, almost 100,000 forty-niners were crowding into the gold fields. Hutchings described his first attempts: Properly equipped with pickax(21 ) shovel and pan, I tried my fortune and made $5,70. It doesn’t do to become discouraged but work on in hope.

The miners dug, scraped and sifted for the gleaming grains(22) that would change their lives. In the process, they threw up helter-skelter towns(23) with such names as Hog Eye, You Bet, and Pinch ‘em Tight. The air rang with the shouts and curses of men in a dozen European and Indian languages. The gold rush created a rough world, without government or clergy—and with few women.

Louise Clappe, a petite young woman from New Jersey, followed her doctor husband to the hell-raising camp of Rich Bar. In  a letter to he sister back East, she wrote: The news spreads that wonderful “diggings” have been discovered at such a place. Those worse than fiends rush vulture-like upon the scene(24) and erect a round tent, wherein gambling, drinking, swearing and fighting.

In the early months crime was almost nonexistent, since it was as easy to find gold as steal it. Heaps were left unguarded inside tents or thrown on hillsides while men worked. But as gold GREw harder to find, violence became epidemic. In 24 days, Clappe wrote, we have had murders, fearful accidents bloody deaths, a mob, whippings, a hanging—and a fatal duel(25).

In the lawless atmosphere, miners killed Indians and seized their lands. Slave hunters raided Indian village, taking women and children. The Indian population before the gold rush was probably more than 150,000; in 1870 it was 30,000.

Winners and Losers: The GREatest fortunes were made not by those with pans but those with ledgers(26) . In a land where a boiled egg sold for 75 cents, flour for $2 a pound and boots for $35, a canny(27) businessman could  amass wealth with astonishing speed.

One merchant who did work the mines was Leland Stanford from Watervliet, N.Y.. When he secured possession of a gold mine, Stanford and the foreman took a pan and pickax, entered the tunnel and started chopping. The ecstatic（28）Stanford found 76 ounces of gold. Eventually, $50,000 worth of gold was extracted from a space less than 12 feet square.

The mine proved to be one of California’s richest. Earnings from it provided Stanford a stepping-stone to the governorship of California and to the U.S. Senate. Later, when his son died at age 15, Stanford honored him by converting his Palo Alto horse farm into a college. Chelsea Clinton, daughter of the former President, attended Stanford University.

But what became of those less celebrated California dreamers? Louise Clappe moved to San Francisco and became a beloved schoolteacher, she eventually retired to New Jersey, her birthplace.

After digging two months, James Hutchings amassed several thousand dollars’ worth of gold and deposited it in a bank. But the bank collapsed and Hutchings lost everything. Undaunted(29), he moved on and again struck(30) gold-$8000 worth (equal to $136,000 today). He invested this money in his own publishing enterprises and earned a second fortune as a chronicler（31） of life in the mining camps. He remained in Yosemite, Calif., throughout his career.

While John Sutter seemed destined for wealth and glory, his gold came to nothing. Miners overran his property and tore apart his mill for equipment. By the end of 1849, virtually everything Sutter owned had been stolen. Not until 1864 did the California state legislature vote him a stipend（32） of $3000 per year.

James Marshall, who found the first nugget, wandered the gold fields for years, followed by newcomers convinced he had a magical ability to find gold. But he never did again. When he died in 1885, his property was auctioned off（33） to pay his debts. It brought $150.

Today the GREen water of the American River’s South Fork still rushes over the rocks where a gleam of gold caught James Marshall’s eye. And if you close your eyes and listen, you can still hear the dim clink of picks, the scrape of gravel(34) and the shouts of discovery: “Gold! Gold! I’ve found it!”

Notes:

21.镐 22.挖地，刮石，筛沙，寻找金光闪闪的金粒 23.他们匆匆地建起了城镇 24.那些比恶魔还坏的家伙就像秃鹫一样贪得无厌，他们匆匆地赶到淘金现场 25.生死决斗 26.有银行帐号的人 27.精明而谨慎的，狡诈的 28.狂喜的，心醉神迷的 29.无畏的，大胆的 30.遇到，偶然发现。31.（事件的）记录者 32.俸给，薪金 33.拍卖他的财产以抵消债务 34.隐约可以听到镐头的叮当声，砾石磨擦的沙沙声