James M. Hutchings was born in England and came to California in 1848 and mined for gold during the 1949 Gold Rush.  He became a wealthy man but lost almost everything when the bank where he kept all his money failed.  He became wealthy again through his publishing businesses.  Having been a miner himself and knowing that there was very little law and order in the gold towns, he wrote the Miner’s Ten Commandments in 1853.  Thousands of copies were sold.  With the money he made, Hutchings was able to publish a very successful magazine called Hutchings’ California Magazine. 

In the introduction of the Miners’ Ten Commandments, he writes about “seeing the elephant”.  This was an expression used by miners that was based on the following story.  The expression appears to have been said by a farmer. The farmer had wanted to see a real elephant all of his life. Then he heard that a circus was coming to the town he was living in.  When he heard that there would a circus elephant, he loaded his wagon with fruits and vegetables, dressed in his best clothes and then rode off to “see the elephant”. When he got to town and turned the corner, he saw an elephant leading the parade.  This  event scared his horse and threw the farmer off the wagon.  The wagon broke, his new clothes were destroyed, and the horses ran off. When his friends came to his aid he said “ But at least I got to see the elephant!” Prospectors adopted that expression to mean that going to California would be full of disappointments and hardships and even death but it would be exciting, too.

Hopefully, by following the commandments, a miner would have some chance of surviving the misfortunes and adventures that came with mining for gold.