[3] CAPTAIN SUTTER'S MEN. Some of those who were either in his employ or under his military command, became wealthy and influential citizens of the State. Among them John Bidwell, Pearson B. Reading, Samuel J. Hensley, and Charles M. Weber may be named. [4] MORMON DIGGINGS. The Mormons who were found here by Mr. Larkin in June, probably came into California overland with Colonel Cooke, or with Samuel Brannan by sea in July, 1846. Governor Mason reports them as preparing to go to Salt Lake. See Note 5. [5] THE TWO NEWSPAPERS. The "Californian" (later "Alta California"), first published in Monterey, then in San Francisco; founded 1846 by Walter Colton and Robert Semple; edited by Semple after its removal to San Francisco. The "California Star," founded by Samuel Brannan early in 1847, was merged with the "California." See Note 4. SWARMING THROUGH THE GOLDEN GATE.[1] Meanwhile the area of the gold-fields was being rapidly enlarged on all sides by new discoveries. Each day had its story of the finding of some richer placer for which a general rush was made. As time wore on, gold was found in all the streams which cut their way through the foothills of the great Sierra.[2] By midsummer four thousand people, half of whom were Indians, were washing for gold as if it had been the only employment of their lives. By this time too the first guarded statements made about the extent and richness of the gold-fields gave place to predictions as bold as they were hard to believe. For instance, Governor Mason, who had been over-cautious at first, soon had no hesitation in saying that there was more gold in the country than would pay the cost of the war a hundred times over. [Illustration: THE GOLDEN GATE.] It is true that flour was worth fifty dollars a barrel, at the mines, and a common spade ten dollars, but when even the poor and degraded Indians of the rancherias[3] could afford the luxuries of life, the cost of necessaries was of little account to men who thought four golden ounces only a fair return for a day's labor. This is the story of only a few short months,—the preface, as one might say, to the larger history. It was yet too soon for the discovery to be known in the United States, but the time was drawing near when it would be the one all-engrossing topic in every hamlet from Maine to Florida. Meanwhile it spread to all the shores and isles of the Pacific. Dark-visaged Kanakas from the Sandwich Islands, swarthy Peruvians and Chilenos, added their thousands to the already composite character of the population of the land of gold. From the Russian Possessions in the north, from the Sandwich Islands in the midst of the Pacific, the wondrous tale was speeding on to China and the Australian Isles. Then with the autumnal rains the first chapter of this history of marvels was closed for a brief season. [Illustration: CHINESE LAUNDRYMAN.]