About this time, in company with my brother, I took a journey a distance
of eighty miles up the Sacramento River. The whole distance, the route
lay through the most beautiful valley of which imagination can conceive.
It was the season for flowers, and in every direction the most beautiful
floral blossoms met the eye. Oh, the beautiful ranches (farms we should
call them) that were situated on the banks of this magnificent stream!
We passed some fields of wheat, containing five hundred acres in one
inclosure. We forded numerous streams which intercepted our course. We
saw herds of antelope bounding gracefully from our path. To some we got
sufficiently near to see their clear, bright, shining eyes. Their
graceful symmetry of form, their agile, sylph-like motions, all combine
to render them one of the most beautiful animals in the country. The
fawn of the American deer, if captured before the pretty white spots
upon its sides have disappeared, will follow its captor anywhere, if he
will first carry it a little while in his arms. They are the perfection
of grace, innocence, and confidence. Probably there is no wild animal
more susceptible of domestication, when taken young, than the American
deer.
We saw, too, the elk, in large numbers. Once, as we were approaching a
stream, there were several drinking therefrom. As soon as they perceived
us, they reared aloft their heads, surmounted by huge and stately
antlers, and dashed away with the velocity of the wind. As we neared a
ranch belonging to Mr. N----, everything bespoke the wealth and
prosperity of the ranchholder. He possessed a herd of one thousand
horses. That day they were corralled, for the purpose of branding those
not already bearing the owner’s mark. This seems to me a cruel process,
yet an unavoidable one there, where so many different people’s stock are
running together over the plains. They blindfold the beast, and chain it
to a post deeply imbedded in the earth. Then the blacksmith takes the
branding-iron, bearing the owner’s stamp, heats it red hot, and applies
it quickly to the shoulder or haunch of the animal. How the seared hair
and hide smoke! and how the poor creature plunges and rears with fright
and pain! I have too much sympathy for the poor brutes ever to be a
ranchholder, or the wife of one. We dined at the ranch of Mr. L----,
whose waving fields of grain, with other appurtenances, revealed in a
measure the extent of his wealth.
We travelled on through elysian valleys, until we reached our
destination. The only objection a person could have to a residence in
these sunny vales is the annoyance one is subjected to from myriads of
musquetoes, which, at certain seasons, swarm the country. I have seen
laborers at work in the fields with green veils tied to their hats, and
drawn down over their faces, and fastened about their necks. When we
reached our destination (the ranch of Mr. S----), I was very much
fatigued; but that, in a measure, was dispelled by the hearty welcome I
received from Mrs. B---- (Mr. S----’s daughter), an interesting lady
from New York, who arrived in the country at the time I did. Her father
was a very wealthy ranchholder.
Their dwelling-house was constructed of adobe brick. It was only one
story high, but more than sixty feet long. Mr. S---- employed a host of
Indians upon his ranch. The beautiful gardens and extensive fields of
grain furnished convincing proofs of the enterprise, industry, and
energy of the proprietor. Nineteen years’ salutary training had, in a
measure, eradicated the indolent propensities inherent to the Digger
race. Mr. S---- had been a resident in California, and on that ranch,
for nineteen long years. What caused him to leave his family and native
land, to seek a home in the wilds of California, is unknown to me. But
so he did. When he left his home, Mrs. B----, the daughter then with
him, was a babe scarcely six months old. During those long years of
separation, the wife knew not the whereabouts of her husband, or of his
existence even. His little children grew to man’s and woman’s estate in
the interim, never dreaming they had a father in California. Some were
old enough to recollect him before his self-banishment from their
presence; but they soon learned to speak of him as one gone to the
spirit-land.
One chill autumn eve in 1850, might have been seen a man a little past
the meridian of life, whose silvered locks and furrowed cheeks gave
evidence of past griefs, of sufferings that had roughly stirred the
deep fountains within,--else the surface would not have been so deeply
channelled,--standing irresolutely before the door of a neat mansion in
New York city. Conflicting emotions of pleasure and of pain were rapidly
crossing each other upon his countenance; and well they might, for he
was standing, after an absence of nineteen years, at the door of his own
house, desiring, yet scarcely daring, to enter. He summoned courage to
ring; the door opened, and he crossed the threshold of his
home,--confronted his wife--how changed from the young and blooming
woman he left so long ago! yet, the instant their eyes met, the
recognition was mutual. The little Bessy he left a babe, was all the
child remaining at home. He remained with his wife and child that
winter; but there existed a yearning for his home in California, that he
vainly endeavored to conquer. He must return. Would his wife and child
go with him? The daughter would, for she manifested unusual affection
for her father, so recently found. The wife preferred to remain behind.
In the spring, father and daughter left New York for the home in
California. They were unavoidably detained at Panama. While there, the
daughter became acquainted with a young gentleman from her native city.
He proposed, was accepted, and they were united at Panama, before
proceeding on their voyage. And here they were domesticated, away in the
interior of California. They appeared to be enjoying as much happiness
as ever falls to the lot of mortals. How pleasant it seemed to enter
that adobe building, and find everything arranged with a neatness and
regularity eliciting admiration. Mrs. B---- performed no household
duties herself. She had five or six well-trained Indian women for house
servants, who labored hard for no other remuneration than their food and
raiment. The last-mentioned stipulation, however, was easily complied
with, as they require but very little clothing--just as much as decency
requires, and no more.
Mrs. B---- is a lovely woman, well qualified to grace the most refined
and intelligent society. There was a novelty and charm connected with
their residence in that remote place, which rendered life peculiarly
pleasant. The extensive tract of land which Mr. S. possessed (since the
confirmation of the ranch titles) has rendered him immensely wealthy.
Immediately upon our arrival, our horses were allowed to revel in the
luxuries of wild oats. They were actually up to their eyes in acres of
the nutritious grain. After the business which had led us to that
remote place had been ratified; we started on our homeward journey, with
much more extended views of the agricultural resources of California
than we had hitherto enjoyed. Soon after this, my brother left for
distant mines.