Show THE TEM BATTALION BOYS AND THE GOLD DISCOVERY in producing the admirable series 0 of articles on the early history ol 01 california and be gold discovery the century is presenting the most I 1 interesting reading matter at least to the tile greaties great wea Wes that has his ever graced the pages cf of any of the american periodicals not by their literary elegance nor particularly by the generous touch by which they are illustrated lust rated have these papers won the popularity they enjoy on the contrary they are in the main plain narratives by plain men and the en gramingo gra with which they are adorned are conspicuous rather as true representations of primitive scenes than as triumphs ot of either the artists or the limners gimners lim ners handiwork they deal with a time when neither literary superiority nor skill would have hive stood its possessor in much stead but they describe the hardy conquest of a mighty empire and picture the ba bo ginnings of some of the actors in a drama which has never had a prototype tince since the word began to local readers the most interesting ot at the sketches thus far produced is the one in the february number entitled the discovery of gold in california in it the mormon boys of the battalion are given deserved credit for the part they took in the world startling discovery the author mr john S hittell explains how they came to bo in california at that eventful time and how they happened to remain there during the w winter inter in which the precious metal was first found sn in the tail tall race of at captain Sut lers mill will lie ile observes that of the three white survivors of the party which built the mill two are residents of utah ilenin henry y IV bigler of st george and A azaria smith of manti the portraits of both these veterans appear in the article but the important point is hat that mr big lers diary is the only document in existence in which the finding of the parth barthles part bles les of the yellow metal is mentioned on the exact day james marshall first detected them marshall himself claimed that he made the dieco discovery vory about the or of 0 january 1848 afterwards he be fixed upon the and for many years that waa was tha the accepted date bubin september on the occasion of the anniversary annive reary of the admission of the state into the union mr hittell delivered an address on the gold discovery before the pioneer society of san francisco a copy of which address be sent to ta mr bigler at fit george the latter discredited the date till then accepted as correct and quoted his own diary to prove that maday the tho of january was the truo date mr bittell sought corroborative evidence and found it in tha the dairy of mr azariah smith written upon up on the sunday following the discovery and in captain batters Sut lers dairy referring a law few days later to the arrival of marshall Mars ball at butters fort on important business then mr sent for and obtained a fac simile of mr Big Bi glera lers dairy for the date mentioned and an engraving of tho the invaluable page is given to the world through the Cent columns in naive and simple language the startling story is told without vil hout regard to style or spelling here it id monday this dy day gomo Klud of mettle wan was found lu ia tha the till til race that looks like alk goald arst discovered by james martial the sow boss ot of the 4 sunday both clear has been all tho the last week oar our metal has hu been tride and grooves to be goald it is thought to be rich wo ivo have up more than a hundred dollars worth last week the directness and obvious accuracy curacy of these statements put an end to all controversy binca since 1880 1886 when mr bittell made known the existence of this has bean universally recognized as the true data mr bigler contributes an important to the history of the me coast and the country |