Gold Fever

Gold! Gold! Gold! The California Gold Rush is legendary. Thousands of people flocked west to mine for gold following the 1848 news that there was gold in abundance. Waterbury was not immune to the "gold fever." An unknown number of people from Waterbury rushed out west following the discovery of gold in California, hoping to get rich quick. Very few had any success. Some lost their lives.

Currier & Ives, Gold Mining in California, c. 1871
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division

California

While the original thirteen states started out as English colonies, California was colonized by Spain in the 1700s. Just as the English colonies broke away and formed a new nation, Mexico (which included California) achieved its independence in 1821. (The Library of Congress has a good online history of California.) 

During the 1840s, military explorers and immigrants from the United States began arriving in significant numbers in California. When war between the U.S. and Mexico broke out in 1846, California was a battle ground. The U.S. military seized the major towns and outposts, claiming them by force for the U.S. At the end of the war, in February 1848, Mexico ceded a vast territory to the United States, from California through Texas.

At this point, there were approximately 150,000 indigenous peoples and 14,000 others in California. With California under U.S. control, white English-speaking men were now the most powerful group. Newly arrived white men were given more authority and more rights than Mexican and Native American people who had been there for generations. The nonwhite populations were treated as inherently inferior to the white settlers.

Approximately 100,000 people flocked to California in 1849 to seek their fortune either by mining the land or by providing services to the miners. The United States was eager to profit from its new territory, and California became a state on September 9, 1850.


The Beginning of the Gold Rush

On January 24, 1848, gold was found at Sutter's Mill in California. By July, the rush was on. Everyone in the San Francisco area was buzzing with the news.

According to one account, "Farmers have left their plow, lawyers their profession, merchants their desk, clerks the counter, and in fact towns and farms are being deserted daily." ("Correspondence of the Daily Courant, Monterey, Upper California, July 2, 1848," Hartford Daily Courant, 18 September 1848, p. 2)

Hartford Daily Courant, 18 September 1848, p. 2

 

The news reached Connecticut in September. By December 1848, gold fever was racing through the state. One of the first in Waterbury to declare that he was going pack up his business and head to California was Elisha Turner, owner of a dry goods store.

Waterbury American, 22 December 1848, p. 3

The Journey West

There was no easy way to get to California in 1849. The continental railroad didn't exist, nor did the Panama Canal. The simplest option was to take a ocean voyage all the way to Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America, then head north to San Francisco, but the trip took six months. ("The Panama Route to San Francisco," New London Democrat, 23 December 1848, p. 2)

Waterbury American, 22 December 1848, p. 3

Hartford Courant, 3 January 1849, p. 3

The fastest route involved traveling by sea to Panama, then up the Chagres River, and finally traveling by mule or foot across the isthmus to Panama City, where you could then book passage on a ship to San Francisco. Many daredevils, eager to get to the gold, were disappointed to find that they had to spend weeks or even months waiting at Panama City for an available ship. ("The Panama Route to San Francisco," New London Democrat, 23 December 1848, p. 2)

Detail of sketch, Crossing the Isthmus of Panama, 1851, by J. Goldsborough Bruff
Collection of The Huntington Library

Travelers could also choose to several overland routes. Those leaving from Connecticut would head to the frontier town of Independence, Missouri, where they picked up the California Trail taking them through plains and mountains to the gold region.

The risk involved was high. So much so, that advertisers targeted "California adventurers" for life insurance sales.

Advertisement, Waterbury American, 26 January 1849, p. 3

The gold rush was great fodder for advertisers. Waterbury's Elisha Leavenworth targeted quack medicine sales to "Those Going to California," promising to cure a wide variety of tropical diseases.

Advertisement, Waterbury American, 23 February 1849, p. 3

Mining Operations

Gold was found by digging in the ground and by sifting through sand and gravel with water. Gold could be found as nuggets, flakes, and dust. A brief overview of the different mining processes is available from the Library of Congress. An in-depth overview of the mining methods is available from the Calaveras County History website.

Angel's Camp Mine, 1852
Cowan's Auctions/Bidsquare, American Historical Ephemera and Photography, Lot 376, 19 November 2020

Elisha Turner (1822-1900)

At the end of 1848, Elisha Turner ran a series of advertisements stating that he was closing out his Waterbury business to seek his fortune in California. Born in New London, he was orphaned at a young age. An apprenticeship at a dry goods store opened the door for his first career operating a series of dry goods stores.

Turner's first dry goods business opened in New London in 1842, a partnership with William H. Chapin. Turner relocated to Waterbury in 1846, opening Turner & Co. in downtown Waterbury.

Advertisement, Waterbury American, 24 October 1846, p. 3

Elisha Turner declared in December 1848 that he had "the California fever" and would be selling off his business to head west. His fever seems to have cooled off rapidly. By March 1849, his advertising declared that "now is the time not to dig but to save Gold."

Advertisement, Waterbury American, 2 March 1849, p. 3

Turner may never have seriously considered heading out west. His advertisements often used the latest hot news headline to catch the reader's eye. Turner later his fortune in manufacturing, founding Turner & Seymour Manufacturing Co. in Torrington.


Lauren L. Stevens (1816-1870)

As with Elisha Turner, Lauren Stevens ran advertisements letting his customers know that he was heading to California and selling off his store's stock before leaving. Stevens emphasized that he needed cash fast. As with Turner, it appears that Stevens had no real plans to go west and instead used the latest news to get attention for his advertisement.

Advertisement, Waterbury American, 5 January 1849, p. 3

Advertisement, Waterbury American, 23 February 1849, p. 3

L. L. Stevens & Co. remained in business in Waterbury until 1866, when Stevens opened a photograph gallery at the train station in Naugatuck.



Mining and Trading Companies

While the legend of the forty-niners conjures up images of rugged individuals striking out on their own to seek their fortunes, there were also plenty of business men who started up joint stock companies for mining and trading out west.

The Connecticut, New Mexico and California Trading and Mining Company was formed in 1849 with the goal of recruiting 200 members who would invest $250 each into the venture.

The company's initial proposal was the establishment of a trading post at Socorro, New Mexico which would sell goods to miners in the region.

Advertisement, Waterbury American, 19 January 1849, p. 3

Advertisement, Waterbury American, 2 February 1849, p. 3

Principles of the corporation included Charles E. Moss, David B. Hurd, Samuel Thompson, and Thomas Jones. I have found no indication that the venture ever got off the ground.

The Waterbury mining venture may have lost out to the Quinnipiac Mining and Trading Co., which offered shares for $200 each, $50 less than shares in the Waterbury company. Quinnipiac was based in New Haven and advertised in Waterbury at the same time as the Waterbury company.

Advertisement, Waterbury American, 2 February 1849, p. 3

The Hayden Family

While some Waterburians talked about going west, members of the Hayden family actually did.

The story of the Hayden family in Waterbury starts with David Hayden, who came here from Massachusetts in 1808 and partnered with Abel Porter in the company that later became Scovill Manufacturing, and his brother Daniel Hayden, who came here in 1817 to work in the brass factory.

The most famous Hayden is Daniel's son, Hiram W. Hayden, a prolific inventor.

Five members of the Hayden family set out for California during the Gold Rush, the sons and grandsons of David and Daniel Hayden.

View of San Francisco harbor, 1851
Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division

David Hayden, Jr. (1805-1856)

David Hayden, Jr. tried following his father's example, starting up a button factory on Hancock Brook in what is now Waterville. After the business failed in 1828, David moved first to Illinois, then to Louisiana, where he established a successful career working for the federal government as a customs inspector and later as the Surveyor of the Port of New Orleans. His wife's connections may have helped his career: Almira (Eaton) Hayden was the daughter of Gen. William Eaton, celebrated for his actions at Tripoli and remembered for his role as the principal witness in the trial of Aaron Burr.

David was joined in New Orleans by his brothers, Lorenzo B. Hayden and Charles Sylvester Hayden, and their nephew, Willard William Hayden. 

Lorenzo and Willard set out for California on December 18, 1848, taking the steamer Falcon to Panama. Lorenzo never made it to California. He died of cholera on January 8, 1849 while waiting for a ship to take them to San Francisco. 

New Orleans Times-Picayune, 30 January 1849, p. 2

Willard Hayden arrived at San Francisco on May 6, 1849 and spent some time searching for gold at Angel's Camp. He wrote the following account in a letter to his uncle David on June 27, 1849:

     I have been in the gold region now about five weeks. I did not more than clear expenses until within the last ten days, when I struck a lead of gold deposit from which I have taken $1000.
     There is no telling how much my hole will yield me as yet. I am in what is called by the miners a pocket, where gold is deposited in the lowest place by means of its own superior specific gravity. I may not get $100 more, and I may get thousands of dollars. My best day's work was $400, my second best $150, third $150, yesterday only $100, but I did not work much on account of the excessive heat. It cost me $1.50 per day to live. My subsistence consists of pork, hams, fresh beef, flour, pickles &c., all of which is seasoned with good health, and good digestion. I see every body throwing away money here in drinking, gambling, &c., but I neither go where these scenes occur nor indulge in any kind of dissipation. I am for making money and getting home. It is no easy matter to make money here, unless one is lucky enough to strike good leads. Some get rich in a few weeks, while others, hundreds even, remain poor. I predict that in a few years there will be more poor people in California than in the good agricultural States. Those portions of California which I have seen are worthless for any purpose but gold digging. The earth everywhere appears to contain more or less gold.
     I have examined the soil, both on the hill tops and in the valleys, and have never washed a pan of earth without finding some particles of gold. When labor becomes cheap, the poorest gold earths, by scientific appliances, can be made profitable, but not now.
     This is the country for young men of iron nerve and good and industrious habits, who have nothing to do at home, and for the sake of making money would not think it a hardship to sleep on the edge of a rock, work in mud and water all day, chase Indians (though the Indians are not troublesome here,) upset rocks, tear down mountains, drain rivers and dig up their foundations. Let this description of men come to California--all others had better keep away from the gold diggings. While some persons have luck, and get rich rapidly, others obtain but from $5 to $10 per day. This is in the dry diggings. Many spend their money in gambling and dissipation as fast as they make it, and with a recklessness that is perfectly astonishing. I enclose you a specimen of the gold dust, such as I am finding. Charles has not yet arrived here, but I expect him daily. I feel confident that in two or three years we shall make a fortune; then I will be off. This is no country to live in.
      ("Gold Digging in California," New Orleans Times-Picayune, 22 September 1849, p. 4)

Willard was joined by Charles S. Hayden about three months later and the two men started up a store to sell various goods to the miners. The store was located on Angel's Creek at Indian Gulch in Calaveras County, supplying miners at Angel's Camp ("Letter from California," Waterbury American, 10 January 1851, p. 2).

David joined them in 1850, continuing his career as Deputy Naval Officer of the Port of San Francisco.

The Haydens had little success with mining. Despite Willard's determination to leave California in a few years, he and Charles both settled down into ranching after David's death in 1856, purchasing 160 acres each in San Joaquin County. (An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County, California. Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1890, p. 239-241)

Life in the Gold Mines, 1850s, lithographed from a photograph by Fishbourne & Gow, San Francisco
Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division

Edward Simeon Hayden (1825-1849)

Edward S. Hayden was the brother of Hiram W. Hayden, the grandson of Daniel Hayden, and the son of Joseph Shepard and Ruhamah (Guilford) Hayden. 

Edward arrived in San Francisco in June 1849, full of optimism. A letter he wrote to his brother Hiram upon arrival captures his enthusiasm:

     Dear Brother -- Well, here I am in San Francisco, the land of gold, and make no mistake! We made the land at 10 o'clock, and at 2 o'clock this morning we came into the bay in fine style, and dropped our anchor about sunset, in front of the town in a fleet of nearly one hundred vessels, about two miles from the town; the view of the bay is beautiful along the shore which lies at the foot of the green mountains. The tents are scattered all around among the houses, and at the side of the mountain. A boat came off from the shore as soon as we dropped our anchor and brought us the news; they say that there is gold in any quantity. The boat that came off to us brought on board one of the vessels here two men with $36,000 a piece in gold dust. The poorest men average one ounce and a half a day. One of the men had a bag of gold dust with him, which he showed us, in which were some lumps that weighed an ounce and over a piece.
     Some of our passengers have been on shore and have just come off, they say that the place is filled with gold, and every other house is a gambling house, where the gold is heaped up on the tables in piles of many thousand dollars--a thousand dollars is thought no more of here than one dollar is in New York. A single room, in a shanty, rents for $1,500 to $2,000 per month. Lumber of any kind is worth four or five thousand dollars per thousand feet. There is no end to the gold--the ships are all deserted and their crews gone to the mines. I am perfectly astonished! I did not expect to see but little if any gold here, and to find the people starving, but the streets, as you might say, are covered with gold, and the poor man has his thousands of dollars in his pocket. All kind of provisions are cheaper here than they are in New York; and clothing the same. One of the men who came off showed us some white shirts which he bought for 13 cents a piece. Flour from six to eight dollars a barrel, and every thing very cheap in the way of provisions--there has been so much brought in that the market is full. Every man that will work gets from twelve to twenty-five dollars a day. I have not been on shore yet, as we have not been at anchor more than two hours. The steam ship Oregon's mail closes to-morrow, (Sunday,) and I have to write this to-night, but what I tell you can be relied upon, for the men that brought the news are merchants and captains, the first [most upstanding] men in California. Some of our company have been on shore and tell the same story--they say that they saw a man throw a bag of gold at a dog in the street.
     Well, here I am, hearty and tough as an ox--I never enjoyed better health in my life--and there is gold in abundance, I expect to come back worth a fortune. They charge $20 passage up to Sutter's fort for a single person and a few clothes. You cannot get any freight up from Sutter's to the mines, you have to get it up the best way you can, and pay what they choose to ask. They say that there are plenty of provisions at the mines. I expect to have been on shore at least one day, and to have written you all of the news, but I must put this in the mail in the morning, as there will not be another mail till the first of August. I will send you this, and send you all of the news by the next steamer. They charge from one to five dollars to carry passengers from the ship to the shore, and if any one steals any thing in San Francisco they are shot--several such instances have occurred I am informed.
         (Letter published in the Waterbury American, 17 August 1849, p. 2)

Edward's time in California was tragically short. He died at the Revere Hotel in San Francisco on November 9, 1849 and was buried by the town ("List of Burials by the Town," Alta California, 1 December 1849, p. 2).

Portsmouth Square, San Francisco, 1851
Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division

Benjamin Franklin Leavenworth (1803-1850)

Frank Leavenworth, as he was known, was the son of  Mark and Anna (Cook) Leavenworth. His father was a renowned clockmaker whose work is still sought after by collectors today. Frank's sister, Anna Maria, married Green Kendrick, who became a prominent Waterbury manufacturer and politician, serving as Lt. Governor of Connecticut in 1851.

Frank Leavenworth tried his hand at manufacturing, partnering with his father in various businesses. During the 1820s, he spent many years selling Leavenworth clocks in North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. ("Extracts from the Diary of William Watson of Hartford, Conn., 1819-1836," The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 80, 1926, p. 55-6)

Frank appears to have been a playboy: when he married Jane Bartholomew of New Haven in 1833, he was immediately sued by two other women for breach of promise of marriage.

Marriage announcements, Columbian Register, 16 November 1833, p. 3

Frank set sail for California from New York on March 15, 1850 with David Hayden, Jr. and John A. Peck of Naugatuck. ("California News," Waterbury American, 15 March 1850, p. 2) 

Frank joined the Hayden family at their store near Angels Camp. While taking care of the store on October 14, 1850, Frank was assaulted and died from a skull fracture. News of the murder reached Waterbury two months later in a letter from Samuel P. Crafts to the Leavenworth family in Waterbury. 

     Dear Sir -- I do not know but some other hand has preceded me in my sad task, but if not, it becomes my painful duty to inform you that your relative and my friend, B. F. Leavenworth, is no more. Without a moment's warning he fell beneath the hand of the assassin. The facts are these; about 8 p.m., on the 14th inst., some one passing the store which he attended for the Hayden's, found him lying outside near the door, his skull all broken in, and blood scattered profusely around; life was extinct although the body was still warm. The key of the safe not being on his person the murderers were foiled of their intended booty, and with the exception of something like one hundred dollars and two pair of boots, they received no pecuniary advantage from the foul deed. The alarm was immediately given and the country round about thoroughly scoured during the night, but no clue was found; four to six white men and Mexicans were arrested, but nothing could be shown against them, and they were consequently discharged.
     Poor Frank! although but a short time there, had won the kind regards of all who knew him; and his melancholy end called forth one universal expression of regret, that he should have been the victim. I have passed by many a murdered man's grave within the past six months, but this is the first blow that has come home to me. Our relations were most friendly at home, but here in far away California, they were still more so; and many are the hours we have spent in speaking of home and friends, and of the glad hour when we should see them once again.
     Some six weeks since, as I was leaving him I cautioned him again and again to be very careful, for that he was situated in a lonely place, and alone as he was, he was very likely to be selected as a victim by the murderous gangs that infested the country.
     ("Murder of a Waterbury Californian," Waterbury American, 13 December 1850, p. 2)

David Hayden followed up with a letter to Frank's brother, Dr. Melines Conkling Leavenworth, on November 15:

Dear Sir:--The fact that Mr. Crafts (as he informed me at Stockton) had written by the last steamer acquainting you with the melancholy and horrible termination of the life of your brother, Benj. F. Leavenworth, at Indian Gulch, [Calaveras] County, Cal. by his being murdered (as is supposed) by three Mexicans, on the evening of the 11th October, 1850, relieves me of the painful necessity of being the first to communicate this most distressing news to his relatives and friends. I had myself been absent from Indian Gulch since last June, and at the time of your brother's murder I was 70 miles south of that place on the Mercede river. My nephew Willard was with me and one of the partners, Mr. Higginbotham. My brother Charles was temporarily absent from Indian Gulch, on business at Stockton, at the time. During the time of our absence we had hired two of our friends and neighbors to stop in the store with your brother--as there had been some murders and robberies committed through the country. They had left your brother eating his supper about dark, and went but a short distance to their cabin to eat their supper. During their absence--not one half hour--the horrible deed was committed. Upon their return they found him just outside the store door, prostrate upon the ground, his brains beaten out with a club, and just in time to witness his last convulsive gasp. Several Mexicans in the neighborhood were immediately arrested, but no proof could be found that they were the murders; $1,000 reward was offered for the arrest and conviction of the murderers. Your brother was buried at Angell's Camp in the American burying ground, his body enclosed in a coffin, funeral service read, and the funeral one of the largest ever witnessed in California. His grave is being enclosed with a good fence.
     Everybody in California loved Frank, and I know of no man who had so large a circle of friends and acquaintances as he had. We had never heard of his death at the Mercede and knew it not until our arrival at Indian Gulch on the 26th of October, three weeks after his death. We found brother Charles overwhelmed with horror and grief and nearly dangerously sick. This is the cause why I did not write last steamer.
                  ("Letter from California," Waterbury American, 10 January 1851, p. 2)

The murder, one of many in the desperate, greed-fueled mining community, was never solved. Although David Hayden wrote that the murder was committed by "three Mexicans," it could just as well have been committed by a white miner.

The Haydens closed their store after the murder. Peck returned to Naugatuck, where he established a successful store at the corner of Maple and Main Streets.


Benjamin Abbott (1820-1898)

Benjamin Abbott sailed from New York for San Francisco on the Robert Bowne, departing on February 6 and arriving on August 28, 1849. He wrote the following letter, full of innocence and naivete, to his brother Larmon W. Abbott on August 30:

     Here we are safely anchored in the most magnificent harbor in the world. We arrived August 28th and great was our joy and gratitude, for we had sailed 200 days upon the ocean without an accident or serious case of disease; and we are now all in good health and spirits.
     I have conversed with a number of candid men who have been to the mines, in order to come as near to the truth respecting the gold, as possible. They tell me that those who work steady, are sure to average one ounce per day, and that many who have the good fortune to strike rich veins earn far more. -- There is a good chance for every one who goes to find these veins, but all do not, but one ounce (16 dollars,) which they tell us all who work steadily are sure to collect in one day, will do very well for those who have brought their provisions, clothing and tools with them. They tell us the work is not very hard unless one chooses to make hard work of it, and that all can avoid being sick if they take care of themselves--that the best seasons for digging are the fall and winter--that the people at the mines are as peaceable as in a New England village, and strictly honest; gold and all kinds of property can be left any where without any danger of its being stolen.
     The above, I have every reason to believe. If it is different when I get to the mines, you shall know it. Some tell far more extravagant stories respecting the gold, but I am not prepared to credit them until I have seen for myself. Gold dust is constantly coming into San Francisco from the mines--abundance of it may be seen in the possession of almost every one. Wages are well up--four or five of our company who are carpenters, have hired out to work at their trades for $12 per day, until we are ready to go to the mines. One of the ship's stewards has accepted a situation at baking, at $250 per month and found. Our sailors were offered from $150 to $200 per month to go to Panama for passengers, but I believe none have accepted. Some of our other men are shoveling gravel and driving cart at $8 per day. The city and the mines are perfectly healthy at present, to all who are temperate and prudent--no contagious disease prevails. We shall be detained here some little time unloading freight brought out for other persons, after which we shall take the ship up the river, unless we can dispose of her here to better advantage. We are divided into small companies, for the purpose of tenting and cooking together; and we shall probably be in the mines two weeks from this time. I belong to a company of eight from New Britain, of whom Br. V. spoke in his letter. We have a tent, hammocks to sleep in, and other things necessary, and shall probably erect a log house when we become established, as we have carpenters with their tools in the company. The diggings are some fifty miles beyond Sacramento City, where our ship will have to stop if we take her up the river. I wish to send this by the mail which closes to-morrow, but as soon as I am sufficiently informed I will give you all the information you desire.
            ("Letter from San Francisco," Waterbury American, 19 October 1849, p. 2)

Britton & Rey, Sunday Morning / Log Cabin, c. 1851
Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division

Henry Baldwin Field (1811-1892)

Henry B. Field was the son of Waterbury's Dr. Edward Field, who had served as a naval surgeon in 1799 and lost the use of his right hand suppressing a mutiny in the Caribbean. Edward subsequently moved to Waterbury and married Sarah Baldwin, daughter of Dr. Isaac and Sarah (Leavenworth) Baldwin. Following her death, Edward married her sister, Esther, in 1810. Edward was one of two doctors authorized to inoculate Waterbury residents against smallpox in 1803.

The Fields were the last family in Waterbury to keep someone enslaved in their household, when Sarah Field inherited an enslaved woman, Phyllis, from her Leavenworth grandmother. Phyllis appears in the 1810 census as a slave in the Field household; by 1820, she had been freed but remained with the Field family, dying in 1821 at the age of 60.

Henry Field spent time in New Haven, where he married Sarah Bulkley in 1836. The couple had two children: Francis, born in 1843, and Charles Henry, born on March 21, 1849.

In 1850, Henry left his young family behind to try his luck in the gold mines of California. Two of his letters were published in the Waterbury American. Henry was a devout Christian; his "theology was of the evangelical type" (Anderson, Town and City of Waterbury, Vol. 2, p. 152). Much of his first letter discusses the state of worship and religious education in California. I've left that out, as well as a physical description of California, for the sake of brevity. Henry also disparages the local tribes as "savages" and tosses in some anti-Semitism as he ponders the history of the gold region in religious terms.

                                                                                            San Francisco, May 28th, 1850.
     Since I last wrote I have taken a trip to the mines. No one has seen California until he has been to the mines; yet many persons who come to this country fancy they see it when they reach this point, and not a few return home from this place with their curiosity gratified.
     I visited the celebrated Maraposa (sic) diggings, where Col. Fremont's immense fortune is said to be, although I must confess that I saw very little to indicate that I was upon land valued at six millions per acre. It may be worth it, but it will take many hard knocks to produce it. You can hardly conceive how laborious gold digging is, and especially at these mines. Fancy four or five men digging a wheel pit for one of your factories, and you have a tolerable idea of the labor necessary to get the gold out of the main arroga (sic), as it is termed, at the Maraposa mines. This arroga is probably the bed of what has been a river of three times the width of your Naugatuck; and the excavations are from five to eighteen feet to the soil where gold is to be expected. Four or five usually work together in a hole about ten feet square, and what encourages men to work is the hope of finding a "big lump," for which these diggings are somewhat more celebrated than most others. The more certain reward for labor is to be expected in working the bars of the rivers for finer gold. The greatest obstacle in working these deep holes is the water which rushes in with so much force as to require two men constantly at the pump to enable the others to dig to the bottom, which is usually a hard slate rock, and upon this and in the crevices is the gold found. Men working in these places are exposed to the cold water in which they stand, and the excessive hot rays of the sun on their heads. It is necessary to cool a crowbar in water before it can be handled if it has lain exposed to the sun but a short time. ....
     ... I was much struck with the force of the remark, "that men are not in this country what they appeared to be at home." This will apply especially to the deportment of the class who center at rich mining places, as I have described. Hard working miners, gamblers and loafers, seem to try to outvie each other in profanity and wickedness, and I could not but think, while looking upon these scenes I was compelled to witness, if man can become so vile and abandoned here, surrounded as he is with God's mercies and blessings, what must be the condition of the poor lost soul in that world where the light of His benign smile never comes!
     ... On the spot I am now standing, and on all these surrounding peaks, less than twelve months since, the savage Indian roamed undisputed tenant of the soil. Now, within the circumference of half a mile, some three thousand gold thirsty miners dwell, and the poor savage is driven back to a more secluded spot. The idea has been suggested that this is the celebrated land of Ophir of the Scriptures, where Hiram's navy, aided by Solomon's servants, made their three years voyage for the previous metal--this will be a question for the learned men of the age to settle; but of this I feel confident, that the gold must have laid much nearer the surface than at the present time, or that the disposition of Moses' people for hard labor has changed since that day, for I doubt whether a Jew is to be found in the mines, fond as they are of de monies.
     Nothing so often called you to mind when crossing the planes to reach the mines, as the constant vigilance I experienced on account of the snakes. They are very abundant, and some of them quite venomous. Your well known antipathy frequently occurred to me. On one occasion, I discovered before placing my blankets on the floor of a log hut, where I was to sleep, what appeared as if it might be a snake hole, so I adjusted myself to fasten its occupant in. A night or two after, another person occupied the same spot and had a visitor in the night in the shape of a snake, some three feet long, but escaped all harm. I saw the effect of a rattle snake's bite upon the nose of a poor mule, and a horrible sight it was. His head was enormously swollen, and his tongue had become stiff and cold, and appeared as if he would soon die, and he probably would but for the relief given him under Mexican treatment, which consisted of burning the wound with a live fire-brand, burning gun powder on the place, and puncturing the cheek with a sharp horn. The blood seemed to have been converted by the poison into water, and after the treatment described. it was discharged through the punctures made by the horn, and the poor brute soon got relief.
     If you were to ask me my private opinion about the success generally of the California adventurers, I should tell you no success at all. The truth is every thing is very uncertain here, and business of every kind partakes much of the nature of gambling. This great change may be attributed to the great competition occasioned by the great influx of emigrants, and the overstock of the market with every kind of goods.
                           ("California Correspondence," Waterbury American, 12 July 1850)

A second letter from Henry Field, written at San Francisco on September 30, 1850, described more of his examinations of the gold mining operations and the land. In this letter, he displays his bigotry towards Irish immigrants as he struggles to accept the randomness of luck and the frequent failure of hard work.

     I wrote you some three months since and gave you a brief description of one of the Southern mines, the Maraposa, and which mine I supposed peculiar and different from all others in California on account of the hard labor necessary to reach the gold. A recent trip to the Northern mines has convinced me of my error. The amount of labor to be performed in any of them is almost incredible. I have seen along the banks of Feather River, races cut through the hardest granite rock and gravelly soil, for a distance of half a mile, and of a capacity to hold the water of your Naugatuck at its ordinary Summer stage.... I am sorry to add that that this kind of mining has not proved generally successful. Indeed so few out of the large number engaged have been able to earn their expenses that I may say it has proved a total failure. It is not at all surprising so many return to the States discouraged. Of all kinds of business pursuits, none are more uncertain than mining. Occasionally we hear of a man fortunately striking a rich spot and taking out a snug fortune in a very few days; and it is often remarked that these fortunate strikes are oftener made by some lazy, worthless fellow, than by the hard working industrious man. I have seen a lump of fine gold weighing 18 lbs. and 3 oz. taken from a hole 31 feet deep. The hole was first sunk by a party 25 feet and abandoned, after which a paddy dug but six feet lower and turned up with his pick the piece, and which bore the mark of the pick when I saw it. These instances of good fortune are very rare. The divine law that "man shall earn his bread by the sweat of his brow," is not to be annulled by gold digging or any other pursuit.
     ... I am now back to what may well be styled the "fast city." It burns down fast and is re-built as fast. Our last great fire destroyed some 100 or 150 houses. This occurred early Tuesday morning. The following Friday I counted seventeen houses so nearly completed that the occupants might have moved in by the following Monday. Fortunes, too, are sometimes made fast, but I may add, they are often lost as fast. You will recollect my writing you soon after my arrival in California, and mentioning that I had rented a building at two thousand dollars a month. The first great fire destroyed most of the gambling houses in the city, and one of the principal gamblers came to me soon after, and offered me twenty-five hundred dollars a month for the lower floor only of my building. I told him I would not for the sake of making money, do in California what I would not in the States, and must therefore decline renting it for such a purpose. This man was for a time very successful in his games, at length a loser, and was soon fifty thousand dollars behind, but he returned home in the last steamer, I am credibly informed, with a little over 93,000 dollars. Certain I am that I do not envy him for either the money he possesses or any happiness it may afford him.
                       ("Letter from California," Waterbury American, 15 November 1850)

Henry Field returned from California in 1851 and soon after was placed in charge of the Waterbury Gaslight Company, which he ran until 1883.

View of the Burnt District, San Francisco, 1850
Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division

Henry Field had been preceded in California by his brother, Dr. Edward G. Field (1822-1899), who sent gold dust from San Francisco to Charles B. Merriman in Waterbury in 1849. Edward Field returned to New York around 1855 and became a broker.

Waterbury American, 28 November 1849, p. 2

Other Ventures

There were others from Waterbury who tried their luck in the gold mines, but I have found less information about their efforts.

Samuel Forrest (1781-1863) bequeathed nuggets of gold he brought from California to his Masonic lodge, which later sold the gold to help pay for the monument in the Masonic Burial Lot at Riverside Cemetery. (Anderson, The Town and City of Waterbury, Vol. 3, p. 1127)

Seymour H. Welton (1822-1888) was a Bucks Hill farmer. He left his wife, Elizabeth (Merriam) Welton, in Waterbury while he journeyed to California. During his absence, Elizabeth was injured in a dramatic accident in which the harness on her horse came loose, causing the horse to break out into a full run down North Main Street to the Green, ending with the carriage overturning and smashing into a tree. Elizabeth suffered a broken leg and various severe bruises. The newspaper noted that Seymour was away in California, and commended his wife for never losing control of her judgment. ("Another Painful Accident," Waterbury American, 12 July 1850, p. 2) The 1850 Census lists Seymour H. Welton as a miner at El Dorado, California. The Weltons later moved to Washington, Connecticut.

Simeon Bolivar Guilford (1828-1850), a cousin of the Hayden family and the son of Joshua Guilford, died on August 20, 1850, while in California. ("Deaths," Waterbury American, 14 March 1851, p. 2)

A. P. Lewis (c. 1823-1901) was one of a group of Connecticut men who headed to California in 1854.

Advertisement, Waterbury American, 10 March 1854, p. 2

There were undoubtedly others who tried their luck in at gold mining. Their stories have not yet been uncovered.