We left Mormon Island early Monday morning, leaving the trees that
had supported the ridge-pole of our tent--the heavy fortification
around it--and the rude but not inelegant bedsteads where we had
slept so many months, still standing in their original position, but
looking weird and fantastic now that the tent which had harmonized
them so well was at length removed. It reminded me of Eothen's amiable
shrinking from giving up again to the desert the little spot of sand
that had borne, even for a single night, the print of London boots and
patent portmanteaux--and I threw backward many an involuntary glance
towards the bit of earth we had so long rescued from the wild, and
which seemed now to reproach us for the desertion.
We packed the most valuable of the articles we left behind us in a
large cask, as the safest storehouse we could find, and left it in
charge of Number Four till our return. We carried with us our tent,
bedding, tools, cooking utensils, and a quantity of provisions; and
to transport all this baggage we employed the same individual of whom
we bought our claim in the bank, and who since that time had been
engaged in a sort of peddling between Sacramento and different parts
of the mines. Besides our own goods the judge, for so he was called,
had agreed to carry nearly as many more for two other parties who
lived in a ravine a mile up the river, and were now travelling in the
same direction. On arriving at their houses, which were covered with
thatch quite down to the ground, and presented a very picturesque
appearance, we found they had made few preparations for departure,
and the wagon was consequently obliged to wait several hours. St.
John, who had been unwell for nearly a week, had now a violent sick
headache, and all the symptoms of a bilious fever; and we tried to
persuade him to remain behind a day or two, till his health should be
somewhat restored, and he could travel with safety; but he insisted
that he should feel better after we had once started, and I finally
consented to walk on with him in advance.
After a brisk walk of several miles, we found we had taken the wrong
turning, and retracing our steps, we struck into a by-path that we
concluded would lead us into the Coloma road, and then hurried on
faster than ever, in hopes of overtaking our companions, who we
doubted not had entered the path before us. It had been drizzling
undecidedly all the morning, but the rain now poured down in torrents,
and even an India-rubber coat with which St. John was provided proved
but an insufficient protection. We came at last, however, into the
right road, and stopping at the first house, or rather skeleton, as
there was nothing of it but the frame, we endeavored to learn if our
wagon had yet passed.
They could tell us nothing, so we crouched down on the wet floor, and
looked enviously at the warm matron that was frying some beef over
a cook-stove, the only sight of comfort anywhere to be found. Some
parties of miners who joined us, one after the other, looked wringing
wet and intensely unhappy. Little puddles collected round their feet,
as round a guttered candle, or a dripping umbrella. They slapped their
hats forcibly against the posts to free them from the superabundant
moisture, and put them back flabbily on to their lank hair. They made
no attempt at conversation except by whistling, and the rain took all
the tune out of that as effectually as the stiffening out of a dickey.
An hour passed and still no sign of our companions. The fever in St.
John's veins was quelled by the wind that searched us through, and we
were compelled to warm our blood by taking once more to the road. We
measured back three weary miles, expecting every moment to meet our
little caravan; then, fearing lest we should miss them in some of the
crossroads, we hurried back to our stopping place, having thus walked
ten miles to accomplish not more than three.
The wagon came along at noon; we hailed its appearance with a sigh of
satisfaction, and resolved not to lose sight of it again, that day
at least. The road for the next four miles was well nigh invisible;
but our course was marked with tolerable certainty by the quagmires
through which we floundered. Some of the party were kept constantly
in advance, sounding the mire with long sticks in order to find the
hardest bottom, and it was nearly sundown when we came in sight of our
intended stopping place. In sight of it, but not at it, for the road
here took a wide circuit to avoid a low piece of ground, where the
wagon would have been reduced to a total wreck.
"Don't leave me here, boys!" cried the judge, in despair, as he saw
two or three skulking off towards the house, and surveyed with rueful
countenance the prospect before him;--"the mules can never get through
here in the world--see that now!" and at the word, the wheels on one
side sunk quite up to the hub, and probably nothing but the axle
prevented them from going quite out of sight. We were now, however,
somewhat accustomed to this course of things, so putting our hands
to the spokes with sullen resignation, while the driver whipped and
shouted on his staggering mules, we in another hour arrived within
a hundred yards of the inn, where the wagon stuck fast, nor men nor
mules could move it further, every effort only serving to sink it
deeper in the mire.
We took out our blankets and carried them to the house, while the
judge unharnessed his mules and tied them to a tree in the rear of
the building. The dining-room was full of guests, and I noticed
that, without moving their heads, their eyes continually followed the
movements of a buxom servant maid, who was darting back and forth
between the supper-table and a cook-stove standing in the open porch.
The look of quiet complacency that slowly came out on their weary
faces was not owing merely to the fragrant steam that was lazily
curling from the tempting dishes before them; it was dreamy and
imaginative, and showed that their thoughts were far away by their own
wives, and children, and cheerful firesides. After supper the tables
were crowded to one side, and a single drowsy candle, that could
hardly keep its own eyes open, watched over the busy sleepers. We
spread our blankets in the open porch or verandah, and threw ourselves
down, saturated with mud and water, and anything but enlivened by this
dismal commencement of our expedition.
The next morning, however, the sun shone brightly; it dried our
damps, revived our spirits, and gave us courage to encounter the
dangers of the road, which the travellers who came from that direction
represented as far worse than what we had already passed. We found
their accounts by no means exaggerated. We had not gone far before
one of the mules, stumbling in the slough, fell and broke the pole
of the wagon, which we were then obliged to haul out ourselves.
After repairing this damage, which was a very tedious operation, we
again set forward; but were presently again brought to a stand-still
by a long stretch of marshy ground where the mules were entirely
helpless. Nothing was left for us but to carry everything across on
our shoulders, and then, pulling the wagon over to firmer ground, we
reloaded our goods and once more got under way--all in less than an
hour. Broken carts and wagons strewed all the road; ten yoke of oxen
were sometimes required to extricate one of the lumbering arks that
had come over the plains, and we always knew long beforehand when we
were approaching any place of unusual difficulty by the shouting, or
rather yelling, of the drivers, which in those profound solitudes
could be heard to a great distance.
By making incredible exertions, we succeeded in reaching Weaver Creek,
ten miles from our last stopping-place, and here we halted for the
night. Quite a village had grown up here since my first visit; a stage
whirled, or, I should say, crawled through just after dark, and, in
spite of the expostulations of the more timid passengers, kept on to
Coloma. We slept under the wheels of a huge ox-wagon, over which we
had spread the fly of our tent. The night was cold and damp, and in
the morning I emptied half a pint of dew out of the hollow of the
cloth; yet all the while St. John was drying up with a burning fever,
and his strength was so far reduced that he could hardly endure the
fatigue of even our short journeys. There was no help for it now,
however, but to push on.
The next morning we crossed the creek. It was swollen by the late
rains into an impetuous torrent, and it was a fine sight to watch the
long train of wagons coming down to the ford one by one;--a splash--a
spring--a scramble up the gravelly hill beyond. We crossed it lower
down, on a fallen tree, and entered at once into the hill-country.
Here we were no longer incommoded with mud, but found nearly as great
an obstacle in the loose stones that covered the road, and the jagged
rocks projecting from its surface. The forward axle received such a
strain in one of these encounters that it snapped just after crossing
the new bridge at Coloma, and we were consequently obliged to remain
here till the next morning. We made a good supper out of our stores,
slept magnificently in a carpenter's shop, and started the next day,
about ten, to ascend the great Coloma hill. We had been told that
it was utterly impossible for two mules to draw a loaded wagon up
this ascent. However, we succeeded in torturing our way by spasmodic
efforts to an elevation of several hundred feet, and then, finding it
impossible to proceed any further, half of the load was taken out;
and while the judge went on to the summit, followed by the rest of our
companions, I remained behind, to watch over our goods and assist him
in reloading on his return.
The scene before me was one never to be forgotten. Drawn back among
the bushes and trees that shaded the hill, I looked down the winding
path upon a wide valley, like an immense panorama, with the South
Fork glancing, here and there, like a string of pearls among the
hills, that peeped over each other's shoulders on every side as
far as the eye could reach, bounded only in one direction, by the
everlasting snows of the Sierra Nevada. Parties of miners flowed by
in a continuous current, generally with packmules, but now and then
a loaded wagon. All seemed bent on some urgent business; if they
lagged for a few steps, the next moment they roused themselves, and,
quickening their pace, urged on their unsympathizing four-footed
companions. It was absolutely awful to see the crowds, and I
involuntarily drew back farther into my snug retreat.
The whole of the mining region was at this season in a ferment. An
ant-hill, just disturbed by some sudden alarm--a crowded steamboat, on
the point of starting--afford apt illustrations of the frenzy that had
now invaded the entire population. From a plausible conclusion that
generally prevailed that the rivers would prove the richer the nearer
their source, the great object with many was to penetrate as far into
the mountains as possible. Rector's Bar, far up the Middle Fork, was
the principal point of attraction in this section, while hundreds and
thousands were hurrying with the same breathless eagerness over on to
the Sacramento, the Yuba, and the Feather rivers.
Every one was afraid he should be too late--that he should not go to
the richest placers--that he should not find the fortune intended for
him--that he shouldn't be able to return home the coming winter--in
short, that he should not improve the present golden opportunity to
the very utmost. And the question was, in truth, one of no trifling
interest. Such an opportunity would never again present itself, and
hundreds who had thus far been disappointed, trusted to it as to their
last resource,--hoping, in some of these, as they thought, untrodden
valleys, to reap the same rich rewards that had fallen to the share of
the first adventurers. On their present decision rested, therefore, in
great measure, all their subsequent fortune.
We entered into these feelings to the fullest extent. Before us lay an
immense tract of mining country; Murderer's Bar, Spanish Bar, Ford's
Bar, Big Bar, and Rector's Bar, on the Middle Fork--the more northern
rivers still beyond, and cañons without number on every side. We knew
nothing of all these except by reports, and those so contradictory
that they involved the subject in yet greater perplexity.
After several hours, I heard our wagon jolting down the stony hill.
We hastily threw in our goods, and winding up the long and toilsome
ascent, at last reached the summit, where we found our companions
lying prone at the foot of a steepling pine, the bark of which was
punctured as high as we could see with holes just big enough to admit
the slender acorn that was stowed in each for winter's use, but
whether of bird or squirrel we could not discover.
Georgetown, fourteen miles from Coloma, was the present end of our
journey. This is a small and sombre collection of log-houses in the
midst of a dark pine forest. There are few objects more pleasing and
picturesque than a log-house standing by itself in an open clearing;
but twenty or more of them together, in formal rows, are anything but
attractive. Their dark rough walls drink up all the sunshine. They are
as much out of place as an Indian or trapper in a great city, and have
an air of melancholy about them, as if they pined for their native
solitudes.
We found here, however, a very decent lodging, where they gave us a
good supper, swept the floor clean for our blankets, and charged us
only two dollars apiece for all these attentions. The next morning
before breakfast the judge hauled our luggage over to a neighbouring
hill, where we suspended our tent between two trees, and our
companions pitched theirs at a short distance, to wait till one of
their number who had "gone a prospecting" should give them the result
of his explorations.
Monday, the 15th, they started for Rector's Bar, which they had
finally selected as offering the greatest promise. We would gladly
have accompanied them, but St. John's illness, which had now become
very serious and alarming, obliged us to remain; and before he was
well enough to travel, we heard such accounts as induced us to abandon
that scheme altogether.
The week succeeding their departure was one of uninterrupted quiet.
All around us rose hundreds of "tall and sombrous pines," many of
which were scathed and blackened by fire, their naked, branchless
trunks standing like mouldering tombstones in a churchyard of giants.
The ground sloped away in front into a deep and narrow ravine. There
was near us no human sight nor sound--a rising hill hid the drowsy
little village entirely from our view, and the whirling tide of which
we had so lately formed a part, swept by unheeded.
Often, as we lay reclined on the thick bed of pine that covered the
floor of our tent, the wind sounding hollow among the trees imposed
upon us the delightful illusion that we heard afar off the bells of
our native city; time and space were forgotten--everything about us
seemed dreamy and unsubstantial--a curious phantasmagoria, to which we
surrendered ourselves without any interfering reflection. A story that
I happened to have with me, written by Horace Smith, and the scene of
which was laid at Venice, was in perfect harmony with this indolent
after-dinner existence.
Friday, a cold dismal rain darkened this agreeable melancholy into
gloom, and in the afternoon I padded over to the village in quest
of a little excitement. The gambling houses were in full blast, nor
was this at all a matter of wonder; in the absence of all rational
amusement, and on such a day as this, I rather felt inclined to wonder
that I did not gamble myself.
As St. John's health was nearly restored by this week's rest,
it seemed time to be looking about us in search of a favourable
opening. The rivers, so far as we could learn, had not yet begun to
fall, and the accounts we heard from Rector's were so discouraging
that we abandoned all present thought of advancing any further
into the mountains. There was no lack of ravines in the immediate
neighbourhood, from some of which immense sums had been extracted; but
almost every foot of ground was appropriated; and the labour, beside
being far more toilsome and disagreeable, was entirely different from
that to which we had been accustomed. Buried in those deep valleys,
shut out from the wholesome light of the sun, breathing the pestilent
damps of stagnant water, and a rank vegetation, the unlucky miners who
worked there purchased their gold at the highest possible rate, in
cramps, and agues, and premature old age.
Our old friend Dr. Browne was only seven miles off, at Ford's Bar;
and no better alternative presenting itself, I set out early Monday
morning to make him a visit and see what could be done at that point
in the way of mining. My path ran at first through the open level of
the pine forest, then cutting off the head of Oregon Cañon, made a
sudden dive about three miles from Georgetown into Cañon Creek.
Capt. Fayreweather in his wanderings had come as far as this place,
and had given us a marvellous account of the steepness of the hill,
and the depth of the valley; where, he said, the sun never shone, even
at midday, and the miners who entered into it were obliged to climb
every evening to the upper air to expel and evaporate the noisome
vapours they had absorbed. Perhaps a little incident that occurred at
the time may partially explain this bitterness on the part of the too
sensitive old patriarch.
One night, after a long and fatiguing day, he found himself far from
home, and gladly accepted the invitation of some chance acquaintance
to accompany them to their camp; but when, after a long tramp over
two or three high hills, they at last reached the spot, instead of
the snug log cabin he expected he found nothing but two big logs laid
cornerwise; which, however it might suggest the first rudiments or
tender shoot of what might in time grow into a royal palace, as yet
afforded but little protection against the biting winds. His friends
having ushered him into this truly aboriginal bed-chamber, set about
preparing and eating their own supper without wasting a thought upon
their unhappy visitor, who would undoubtedly have starved before
morning with hunger and cold, if he had not fortunately had the
precaution to fill his pockets with bread and cheese before leaving
home.
Having descended the hill, not without several tumbles, I crossed
the narrow stream running through the bottom, and which was diverted
from its original channel in a hundred places by the indefatigable
miners, and again ascending, came in less than an hour to the brow
of the hill overlooking the Middle Fork. Much had already been told
me of the rugged wildness of this river, but I was wholly unprepared
for the scene that now so suddenly burst upon me. Two thousand feet
below, but so near that it seemed as if a vigorous leap would land me
in the middle, Ford's Bar, like a mighty wedding cake, lay sleeping
in the sun: the stones on its surface dwindled into sugar plums and
almonds--the tents into sugar houses, with almost invisible mites
creeping among them. Directly opposite, rose a hill of still taller
proportions, running in and out, in irregular phalanx, as far as
the eye could see up and down the narrow crooked valley--so crooked
that the first thought was of wonder how the river ever got in--the
second of still greater wonder how it could ever get out. A solitary
turkey-buzzard, sailing like a practised skater in long swinging
curves down the stream, now grazed with his wing the stunted bushes on
this hillside, and the next moment threw his shadow athwart the rugged
slope of the other.
To venture into such a chasm was like the frogs jumping into the
well; but fortifying myself with the reflection that we should never
have heard of such a place unless some one had returned from it to
the upper world, I commenced the descent. The narrow shelvy path
ran in short zig-zags down the face of the mountain, and naturally
supposing it to know best, I followed its example. I found this mode
of progression much easier than walking, though I was often obliged to
check my career by clutching at the low bushes that had thrust their
roots among the disjointed rocks, and in half an hour reached the
bottom, my knees trembling and knocking against each other so that I
could hardly stand.
Dr. Browne was at the upper end of the bar engaged, so he informed me,
in the erection of a hospital for the accommodation of his numerous
patients; for since his arrival at this place, where he had no longer
to divide his profits with the cunning Oldbuck, he had entered in
earnest on the practice of his profession. The building or edifice
honoured by this lofty appellation, was a tent about six feet square,
and barely high enough in the middle for a man to stand upright. It
stood in the midst of burning rocks without a rag of shade about
it, and seemed in every respect well fitted to test the efficacy of
fire-practice in the treatment of diseases.
The prospect on the Middle Fork was not encouraging, and when I left
the bar, I fully intended never to return. I was an hour and a half
in ascending the hill, whose slaty sides almost crackled under the
intense heat of the sun; that now declining from the zenith, levelled
his perpendicular rays full against the western slope. But this being
past, and the mountain forest receiving me into its grateful shadow,
I was able to give wider scope to the consideration of the important
matter now before me. Wherever I turned, I was headed off by the ugly
question, "If you don't go to Ford's Bar, where _will_ you go?" There
was no way of dodging it, so we effected a compromise, and I concluded
to go over a few days to give the place a trial, the result of which
would perhaps enable us to arrive at a final conclusion. So have I
seen a long-headed rat arguing to himself the expediency of choosing
a trap for his future residence, and finally concluding with equal
sagacity to go in, just to give the place a trial.
However, my brothers inclining to the same opinion, early the next
morning I quietly submitted to having packed on my back the fly of our
tent and one of our cradles, a burden more inconvenient from its size
than weight,--St. John was similarly equipped with our blankets,--we
each carried in our dexter hand a shovel or a pick, and thus accoutred
we went humping along the road, in a strain of the profoundest
humility. Tertium accompanied us to the brow of the hill, with the sap
yoke and two well-filled buckets; and then returned to Georgetown to
wait, in solitary dignity, the arrival of a portion of our goods that
had been left behind at Mormon Island.
In addition to our former burden, we now each took one of the buckets
in his other hand, and committed ourselves to the descent. Subsequent
experience made the difficulties of this passage seem trifling in
comparison, but at the time they presented themselves with a most
formidable aspect. The elevation, indeed, was inconsiderable, compared
even with that of Mount Washington, but the steepness of the path, its
uneven, slippery surface, broken into steps a yard high, or covered
with minute fragments of slate that afforded no sure foothold, and,
more than all, our awkward burdens that sadly dislocated our centre of
gravity even on level ground, compelled us to proceed with the same
high-strung intensity of muscle as a dancer on the tight rope.
Once or twice I dropped in haste what I carried in my hands in order
to save myself from blundering over a precipice by clinging to the
bushes; and the rocker on my back received many an unlucky bump, and
my dignity many a grievous affront from the compulsory sittings-down
that I encountered. In an hour and a half we reached the bottom in
safety, and then picked our weary way stoopedly over the stones to the
store where Dr. B. had fixed his quarters. This store, a large oblong
tent, stood at the upper end of the bar, near the mouth of a brook
called Otter Creek, that found its way down in a succession of small
cascades between two spurs of the mountain range, and emptied at this
place into the Middle Fork.
We proceeded a short distance up this stream, and kneeling down
camelwise upon the ground, contrived, with some difficulty, to ease
our shoulders of their unaccustomed burden. Our first object after
recovering somewhat from our fatigue, was to find a few poles on which
to suspend our tent, or rather the long broad piece of drilling that
was to take its place. This was not so simple a matter as it might
seem; there was nothing in the immediate neighbourhood but two or
three gigantic pines and scattered clumps of bushes; and we had to go
a long way up the continuous arbour that shaded the creek before we
could find anything fit for our purpose. For bedding we covered the
floor with an aromatic shrub resembling the willow, the odour of which
was so pungent that it filled our eyes with tears, and brought on an
interminable fit of sneezing.
Having thus completed our simple arrangements, we were at leisure to
look about us, and see what kind of a world it was into which we had
fallen. There were about a hundred miners in this place, some of whom
had pitched their tents, like our own, on the banks of the creek; but
the greater part were scattered up and down the bar. Besides these,
there was at least an equal number who had camped here and there
along the river for several miles above and below, but were in the
habit of coming to Ford's Bar to buy their provisions. There were two
stores, the one already mentioned, belonging to a merchant in Coloma,
and kept by a genuine Nantucketer, smooth-faced, disputatious, lank,
cadaverous, and good natured; and another about the middle of the bar,
owned by a man who was in every respect the opposite of the first, and
went by the name of Dutch Tom.
Wednesday, we went to work in a claim given us by Dr. B., who, having
taken up another of greater value, was unable longer to retain
possession. In opposition to the prevailing rule, the surface was here
richer than the earth below, the first foot yielding fifteen cents to
the bucket, and the stratum lying immediately beneath, only four or
five. But neither was fifteen-cent dirt at all suited to our notions;
we had done far better than that at Mormon Island, and thought it no
great things either; so the next day, leaving a pick in the hole, by
which, according to the laws of the bar, we could hold possession four
days without working, we set off a prospecting down the river, in the
confident expectation of lighting upon a spot richer than we had yet
seen except in dreams.
The Middle Fork here presented the strange anomaly of a river without
banks; the mountains stood face to face, foot to foot, their broad
stubbed toes actually fitting into each other, and breaking up the
stream into a constant succession of falls and rapids. The bar
afforded comparatively easy walking, but this being past, we found
ourselves now sidling along the face of a precipice, now leaping from
rock to rock at its base. Here and there, a little brook, bubbling out
far up among the nodding pines, came trickling, like tears or sweat,
down the deep wrinkles of the mountain, till it was drunk up by the
spongy moss, and juicy bushes thick with fragrant flowers.
But wherever we came, others had been before us; and, in fact, in all
my California rambles--I record it with grief and shame--I never had
the exquisite pleasure of going where man had never been before, and
never, except once or twice, of digging a hole where there were not
others all around in most disheartening proximity.
This river, which we had thought to find an unexplored, almost virgin
stream, had been already trampled by a thousand feet, and far more
effectually ransacked than even the South Fork itself. This was
partially accounted for by the comparatively small quantity of soil,
which both in depth and extent bore no proportion to the broad deep
banks of the latter river. Except on the bars it was very unusual
to find earth more than two feet in thickness; and often there was
nothing but the crumbling slate in whose crevices the gold had found a
lodging.
The result of our explorations, while it at once precipitated us from
the pinnacle of present promise, left us the largest liberty to hope
as much as we pleased from the morrow; and thus our fall was broken
by the same never-failing feather bed of future anticipation on which
the gallant Micawber so often rested. The river must fall some time
or other, though it was certainly very long about it; and then, every
body said, we should find rich pickings.
In the mean time we were in great perplexity where to spend the next
six weeks; we thought at first of returning to Weaverville or Coloma,
until the melting snows should cease to swell the rivers, but a
natural aversion to taking any step backward interfered.
We passed the evening at the store, where a small party was usually
assembled; some engaged in card-playing, others in conversing on
various topics, among which the mines furnished the most frequent
and the most interesting. Some veteran gold-hunter, with the beard
of '48 still on his face, commonly occupied the post of honour, and,
with the importance, he had also a full share of the license of the
professional story-teller. We were of course, like all good citizens,
devout believers in every thing appertaining to the early history of
our little colony; and Ford, from whom the bar received its name, was
with many nearly as great a hero as Captain Kidd. For three weeks in
succession he took out seven hundred dollars a day from a particular
spot that was ever after regarded with almost religious reverence; but
being then taken sick, he was obliged to leave the mines and make the
best of his way down to Sutter's Fort, at that time the nearest point
where he could obtain the necessary assistance. Before he reached
the fort, however, he had not only spent all his previous earnings,
but was besides in debt to the amount of fifteen hundred dollars;
the enormous price he had to pay for medicine and attendance having
swallowed up in a few days what would have sufficed for his whole life.
Whether this story were true or not, the ending was in strict
accordance with all my own observation. I had at different times
encountered many of the first year miners, but, though they all
professed to have met with the like incredible success, not one of
them was then a whit the better. They no sooner succeeded in scraping
together a few thousands than they either got into a drunken frolic
and drank it all up--which was no difficult matter with liquor at
fifty dollars a bottle--or went down to San Francisco, where they
found at the gaming table a still more expeditious riddance. This
universal delirium must be ascribed in part to the ease with which
they obtained their wealth; but far more to the character of the men
themselves--disbanded soldiers--runaway sailors--and the half savage
scouts or pioneers of civilization scattered over California and the
adjacent countries.