On the East Coast, groups of men formed corporations with the sole purpose of hiring a ship to bring them to California's gold fields where they would then work together to strike it rich. The groups had mixed success; problems began even before they reached the West Coast in that divisions developed in some groups during the difficult passage.
While I don't have details on the Cochituate Mining Co., I will endeavor to trace the success (or lack thereof) of one of the companies as a matter of interest.
August 2, 1999: John Ireland provided the following from an out-of-print book Argonauts of '49, which he found via the internet, and adds: I can't locate who "son of Salem" is. No index in book but it has information on 124 mining groups in the appendix, usually including name of ship, captain, mates, and some officers of the mining company.
Cochituate Mining and Trading Company Sailed from Boston, November 6, 1849, on schooner Civilian, Thomas Dodge, master; John Dillingham of Brewster, mate; Paul Howes of Dennis, second mate. The shares were two hundred dollars each and Captain Dodge was given one free for his services. The Civilian was a nearly new schooner of 170 tons and she arrived at San Francisco, April 5, 1850, making the fast passage via Magellan. She left San Francisco in 1850 and was sold to Peruvian parties. 43 in company.The topsail schooner Civilian, Captain Thomas Dodge, sailed from Fisk's Wharf, Boston, for California, November 6, 1849, carrying the Cochituate Trading and Mining Company. The company was raised by Josiah Hayward and son of Salem and numbered sixty men from towns in Essex County and Cape Cod. The shares were two hundred dollars each and the captain received one free for his services. The Civilian stopped five days at St. Catherine's and five at Valparaiso and arrived out in one hundred and forty-five days, going via Magellan. The company divided up one hundred dollars a share.
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