rock, with which their currents have come in contact. All of them appear to be equally rich. This is shown by the fact that a laboring man may collect nearly as much in one river as he can in another. They intersect and cut through the gold region, running from east to west, at irregular distances of fifteen to twenty, and perhaps some of them thirty miles apart.

Hence it appears that the gold veins are equally rich in all parts of that most remarkable section of country. Were it wanting, there are further proofs of this in the ravines and dry diggings, which uniformly confirm what nature so plainly shows in the rivers.

About two hundred miles west of Los Angeles, near the Spanish Trail-indicated by the dotted line on the map in this volume-is the celebrated Gold Mountain, which yields from two dollars and fifty cents to ten dollars in value to a pound of rock. The mountain is about four hundred and fifty feet in height, forming the side of a deep gorge or canon, and extends one-fourth of a mile. The region about it is a sterile desert, infested by immense numbers of rattlesnakes, with no water, except that which is poisonous, within sixteen miles. The vast and unexplored country between the San Joaquin and the Colorado will probably become the great theater of mining in a short time. It is known to be a gold region, and it abounds also in silver and copper. The Desert Mine, in the Gold Mountain, is worked by a company. As the surface gold of California is becoming, to a certain extent, exhausted, companies are forming to prosecute the business by the use of machinery of every kind. The following description of the method adopted for collecting the gold, together with a sketch of life in the mines, we give in the language of a gentleman who was at the mines on the Sacramento in the summer of 1849.

Arriving on the bar, the scene presented to us was new indeed, and not more extraordinary than impressive. Some, with longhandled shovels, delved among clumps, of bushes, or by the side of large rocks, never raising their eyes for an instant; others, with pick and shovel, worked among stone and gravel, or with trowels searched under banks and roots of trees, where, if rewarded with small lumps of gold, the eye shone brighter for an instant, when the search was immediately and more ardently resumed. At the edge of the stream, or knee-deep and waist-deep in water, as cold as melted ice and snow could make it, some were washing gold with tin-pans, or the common cradle-rocker, while the rays of the sun were pouring down on their heads with an intensity exceeding anything we ever experienced at home, though it was but the middle of April.

The thirst for gold and the labor of acquisition overruled all else, and totally absorbed every faculty. Complete silence reigned among the miners; they addressed not a word to each other, and seemed averse to all conversation. All the sympathies of our common humanity, all the finer and nobler attributes of our

nature seemed lost, buried beneath the soil they were eagerly delving, or swept away with the rushing waters that revealed the shining treasure.

The "placer," or bar, is simply the higher portion of the sandy and rocky bed of the stream, which, during the seasons of high water, is covered with the rushing torrent, but was now partially or entirely exposed. This is covered with large stones and rocks, or on the smooth sand with clumps of bushes or trees. Selecting a spot, we inquired of those nearest whether any other "diggers claimed a prior possession; and such not being the case, we went to work. First fixing our machine firmly at the edge of the stream, we dug and carried down a pile of earth to be washed; and when sufficient was collected, one filled the machine with earth and kept it in motion, while the other supplied it with water. Getting but a small quantity of gold at that spot, we waded through a little inlet to another part of the bar nearer the stream, and our labors not being well rewarded here, we again shipped our position nearer the other miners. There we fixed upon the edge of a bank, where the ground had been broken by an old miner and deserted. Digging through about a foot of sand and stones, which we rejected, we came to a clay deposit mixed with sand; with this we filled the buckets, and carried it to the machine. The upper or sandy layer contains no gold, but the gold grains, by their weight, and the action of the water, sift through this into the clay, where they are found, until the blue clay or granite formation is reached, which, in these diggings, is generally three to four feet; but in some of the others the miners dig ten or fifteen feet. It was now mid-day, and the heat of the sun was quite intolerable to all but salamanders; and finding in our machines about four dollars value of gold to the twenty bucketsful of earth, we discontinued our labors for that day.

It is to be remembered, however, that this was, by no means, what was considered rich earth, which can only be got at when the streams are lowest, and the bars fully exposed. While on this bar we carefully noticed the operations of experienced diggers and miners, and were soon convinced of the superior utility of the pan and common wooden rocker for washing gold in California.

The rocker is simply a wooden cradle, the same as a child's cradle, except that the back rocker is higher than the front one, thus forming an inclined plane of the bottom, across which two or three wooden cleets are nailed a foot apart. Over the top is a grating or tin sieve to catch the pebbles and coarse sand; on this the earth and water is thrown, while the cradle is worked by a long handle or lever at the side, and the gold lodges on the bottom on the upper side of the cleets, the lower end of the table being open for the escape of the earth and water. These rockers were of different sizes; some could be worked by one man, and others requiring five. At the close of the day's work the gold is removed, and there is no interruption for this purpose during the day. The common

tin-pan is everywhere necessary and useful, and on some of the most inaccessible bars in the deepest canons of the mountains, no other washer can be transported or used.

The bars, like the one just described, are denominated the wet diggings, and are generally in the deep canons of the mountains. A canon is the narrow opening between two mountains, several hundred, and sometimes several thousand feet in depth; rising some of them like perpendicular cliffs on either hand, as if torn asunder by a violent convulsion of nature. Through these pour the rushing mountain torrents of the wet diggings of the gold regions of California.

Some of our party visited the dry diggings of the ravines and gulches of the sides of the mountains. A gulch differs from a common ravine in being more steep, abrupt, and inaccessible. The sound of gulch is like that of a sudden plunge into a deep hole, which is just the character of the thing itself. The gold obtained there is chiefly by washing the red clay with a pan, in the pools of the ravines, formed by the rainy season, or in some little mountain rivulet, often several hundred yards from the spot where

the earth is obtained.

The crevices of the white-veined quartz works also furnished gold in lumps nearly pure, or mixed with the quartz; and a good deal is extracted in this way by the common butcher or sailor's sheathknife, which is best for the purpose. Not near as much gold, however, is thus obtained as has been commonly supposed. The faces, hairs, brows, and eyelashes of the miners in the dry diggings become continually plastered with the red clay, in which they work and wash. India-rubber aprons are some protection, but the boots of that material soon cut on the rocks; and, in fact, a deerskin suit, with fisherman's boots, furnish the best clothing a miner can possibly have.

In the dry diggings during the summer, the great difficulty the miner has to contend with, is scarcity of water. The finding of ever so small a spring is then an important event, and if near the rich diggings, the water is frequently sold as high as from a half to one dollar a pailful. A ditch is then dug as near the spring as possible, five or six feet wide, and three or four deep; across this fogs are laid, on which the rocker is placed. The miner then carries or packs a pile of the earth to the side of the trench, where, having secured a supply of water, he is able, by the use of buckets and pans, to save a portion of it as it runs off from his cradle. Many employ their time in summer simply to collect the earth, to be washed in the rainy or winter season, when the watery element is by no means scarce.

Returning to camp, we renewed our trading, witnessing on some days illustrations of life in the gold diggings. Miners were continually coming in from different diggings, to expend a part or all of their gold on what they term "a burst" which is a constant revel, night and day, for three or four days, and often a week at a

time. Drinking brandy at eight dollars, and champaign at sixteen dollars a bottle, as freely as water, they wandered and roved about from groggery to store, and store to tent, wild with intoxication, brandishing bowie-knives in sport, or shooting with the rifle at any mark they fancied, with the ball often but half home, and the rammer in. Others would leap into the saddle, and yelling with excitement, gallop furiously in every direction, regardless of all obstacles, frequently being thrown and nearly killed. Profanity of the vilest description-oaths, such as we never conceived could be uttered by human lips, incessantly filled the air. The deep disgust we experienced at the revolting profanity of life in the gold dig gings, we can never forget.

With some of the men, who appeared good natured in their excesses, we ventured to remonstrate. We said: "This digging gold is toilsome and hard labor, why do you not try and keep some for a rainy day?" And their reply was: "Oh! we know where there's plenty more, and when we want it, we can dig it."

Among all the roving and reckless characters by whom we were surrounded, were two special curiosities, named Bill and Gus. Now, Bill and Gus had come over from the Middle Fork for a particular, general, and universal "burst." Being well known diggers, they had not only plenty of the dust, but when that was gone, they had abundant credit, both at the traders and groggeries. As bosom friends, they never were apart, and with hearts softened by the fumes of liquor, they loved all around them, attaching themselves as fixtures to our tent. This was annoying, but like many other things in California, must be borne. Bill was as wiry as an Indian, and with his jet locks and furtive eyes, resembled one not a little; while Gus, with his sleek and rounded limbs, was like an elder uncle to him. One of our party, after being strongly solicited, sold Bill a bottle of French brandy, laid in for medical purposes, at half an ounce of gold, or eight dollars. He immediately insisted on our drinking with him; but on our refusing several times, he dashed it violently against a tree, thus throwing away his half ounce and his brandy both. In paying for something, he dropped a small lump of gold, worth two or three dollars, which we picked up and offered him. Without taking it, he looked at us with a comical mixture of amazement and ill-humor, and at length broke out with, "Well, stranger, you are a curiosity! I guess you haint been in the diggings long, and better keep that for a sample." They finally purchased a barrel of ale, at three dollars per bottle, and sardines at half an ounce per box; and with a bottle under each arm, and a glass in hand, went about forcing everybody to drink.

The quicksilver mines of California are numerous, extensive and very valuable. The cinnabar ore, which produces the quicksilver, lies near the surface, and is easily procured. Quicksilver is very useful for gold washing. By means of a rocker of a peculiar con. struction, with three or four lateral gutters filled with quicksilver,

the gold is taken up almost perfectly. The quicksilver, while it rejects the sand, collects and absorbs the particles of gold and forms an amalgam with it. The quicksilver is afterward evaporated in a retort by means of heat, leaving the pure gold. In gathering the minute gold dust in the quartz rock, pulverized by machinery, quicksilver is indispensable.

In 1850, the population of California was estimated at 200,000; and the three largest towns, San Francisco, Sacramento City and Stockton, respectively at thirty, ten and five thousand each. Vallejo, the seat of government, is a new city, laid out on the bay of San Francisco, twenty-five miles from San Francisco. San Francisco is on the same latitude with Richmond, Virginia, and distant, in an air line from it, two thousand five hundred miles. Previous to the discovery of gold, it was an insignificant village, with about a dozen houses only. It was then called Yerba Buena, i. e. Good Herb, from the wild mint growing on the hills.

TERRIBLE SUFFERINGS OF A PARTY OF CALIFORNIA EMIGRANTS. NOTWITHSTANDING the great sufferings of various parties of overland emigrants to California since the era of the gold discovery, they will bear no comparison with those about to be related.

In the latter part of the year 1846, a party of eighty emigrants, men, women, and children, known as Reed and Donner's Company, by exploring a new route through the deserts of Utah, and from other causes, lost so much time that they did not reach the Pass of the Sierra Nevada until the 31st of October, when they should have been there a month earlier. The snow, unfortunately, had commenced falling two or three weeks earlier than usual, and when they arrived at the foot of the pass in the mountains, it had become so deep that they found it impossible to proceed. They erected cabins on the banks of Truckee Lake, near the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada, about one hundred miles northeast of the site of Sacramento City, and ere relief reached them, thirty-six of their number perished from cold and starvation, while the unfortunate survivors were obliged to subsist on the corpses of their companions, in order to escape a like fate.

From the 1st of November, until the 16th of December, several attempts were made by some of the emigrants to cross the mountains from their cabins into the settlements, to bring relief to the company; but owing to the softness and the depth of the snow, they were obliged to turn back. On that day, expecting that they would be enabled to reach the settlements in ten days, seven men, five women, a boy, and two Indians, having prepared themselves with snow-shoes, again started on the perilous undertaking, determined to succeed or perish.

On first starting, the snow was so light and loose that even with