[1] After finding gold in Brown's Valley, six African American men organized the Sweet Vengeance mine company to work the claim.

[2] Moses Rodgers, an African American engineer and metallurgist whose services were highly in demand, also became a partner in the Sweet Vengeance Mine.

[3] In 1919, historian Delilah L. Beasley wrote, “Judging from the title, it would seem to indicate that they were bent on proving to the world that colored men were capable of conducting successfully a mining business, even in the pioneer days in California.”[2] Although there was an "atmosphere of equality" among miners,[1] in the competition for gold, there was also a tendency for White miners and claim jumpers to try to drive out non-Whites.

[4] On one occasion, Vosburg was attacked by a gang of White claim jumpers, and stabbed their leader with a long knife.

[4][1] According to the journal kept by Vosburg, Holland, and Simms, the Sweet Vengeance Mine was especially profitable between April and May 1852, when they noted that they had found "rich dirt".