The Beginnings Of San Francisco : From The Expedition Of Anza, 1774, To The City Charter Of April 15, 1850, By ZOETH S. ELDREDGE. 1912. VOLUME II. CONTAINS Chapters XIII. to XVII. Notes 33 to 40 Appendix Index CHAPTER XIII. THE COMING OF THE ARGONAWS 1849-1 850 YEARS before the discovery of goId on the American river gold placers had been worked in California with varying degrees of success. But little attention was paid to rhis industry and it was not considered of much importance by either the Californians or the foreigners residing in their midst. The priests discouraged mining, the rancheros were indifferent to it, and neither class wished to see the country filled with a mining population. On March 2, x844., the deputy for California to the Mexican congress, Don Manuel Castaiares, reported to his government the discovery of gold in the vicinity of Los AngeIes the previous year. These mines had produced from about the middle of the year to December 1843 two thousand ounces, the...