Golden Dreams and Leaden Realities 40

Golden Dreams and Leaden Realities 40

I saw here a number of my fellow-passengers in the Leucothea, and

having obtained a large supply of books and papers, the first of

which I bought at the stalls that were to be found at every corner,

I returned in the Senator to Sacramento, and the next day to Natoma.

I had very unadvisedly taken my blankets with me, and I had now,

in addition to this burden, two thick coats, the eighth volume of

the Spectator, the first volume of Macaulay's History--both large

octavos--and five small volumes of Gil Blas, besides a bundle of

papers. I was very glad on reaching Willow Spring to throw my pack

into a wagon, and thus lightened I made the rest of my way with

tolerable facility.

 

During my brief absence river stock had rapidly risen, and the

prospect for the summer was more favourable than ever. Cameron had

agreed to sell his half of the Washington Dam for two hundred and

fifty dollars, and my brothers had then disposed of it to Sampson and

Ecossais at a slight advance. The next day, however, they refused

to complete the purchase, for fear of trouble from some members of

the Washington Company, who had at this late hour set up a claim.

We walked two or three miles up the river to the place where these

unreasonables were at work, to hold a palaver, and if possible effect

a compromise; but finding them fixed in their resolution of working on

the dam the next summer, we told them they shouldn't, and came home

very much discouraged.

 

Tuesday, March 11, we went to work on the race in order to get the

start of our numerous competitors. Cameron at first refused to join

us. "You'll lose your share then," said St. John. "I'll chance it,"

he cried, but finally consented and went. We worked several hours

clearing out the canal, which was in many places almost obliterated

by the rubbish that had been thrown into it. In the afternoon St.

John had a long talk with Capt. Sampson, and represented our superior

claims so strongly that he agreed to make the proposed arrangement if

Dr. Ecossais would join him.

 

"We are all inclined to buy out Cameron at all events, but the risk

is almost too great. Four P. M., Sampson changes his mind

once more and concludes to buy--while we are talking about it,

Cameron comes in in his usual hurry--after a little haggling sells

for two hundred and fifty dollars--then runs a mile up the river to

communicate the intelligence to another party with whom he had about

completed a bargain."

 

Wednesday, we sold one of our remaining shares to a young Missourian

for two hundred dollars, and the next day went to work with eight

men. The party below having heard of our operations now sent out a

small detachment to reconnoitre the ground, and if possible reason us

out of the claim. Possession in California is more than nine points

of the law, and we paid little heed to their arguments. They had one

effect, however, which at the time was rather disheartening--the

young Missourian, not having yet paid for his share, was frightened

at the first appearance of a storm, and at night quietly removed his

tools without saying a word to any one, and we did not discover his

defection till the following morning. A few days after, our rivals

made us a second visit in larger numbers, accompanied by a famous

orator, who endeavoured to persuade us to settle the matter by

arbitration. We held a meeting in the evening, and having chosen Capt.

Sampson president, and framed a constitution and by-laws, determined

unanimously, in our corporate capacity, to make no such concession.

The whole red bank was ready to take up arms in our defence, which

strengthened our stomachs mightily, but we had no further trouble from

any quarter. We continued our labour in the raceway for nearly a week,

when a succession of violent rains, that raised the river higher than

it had been during the whole winter, interrupted our work, and we were

not able to resume it till the last of June.

 

The 25th of March we left our snug quarters under the bank, our tent

interfering with the operations of a New York lawyer behind us, and

removed to a point farther up the river and directly opposite the

centre of our claim. The place we had now selected was the most

delightful and picturesque we occupied in California. Our tent was

pitched on the brow of a steep hill that descended at two bounds to

the river a hundred feet below. On the south we were protected by a

small but leafy oak springing from the base of a huge isolated rock,

whose perpendicular sides rose higher than the roof. A numerous and

contented family of squirrels had dug their winding burrow under its

friendly walls--and we often saw the father or mother scampering over

the grass, and the young ones playing before the door. Behind and

around us spread the open parklike forest, and in front an immense

extent of elevated table land stretching away over to the North Fork.

Our river claim, which was very large, comprised three distinct

hollows--the upper nearly hidden from sight by a projecting buttress

of the hillside, while the second and smallest lay as round as a cup

and deep as a well directly at our feet. The river here turning at

right angles plunged into this little basin over a fall formed by a

bar of the wildest and most cunningly balanced rocks, producing a

pleasing murmur, and imparting an air of coolness to the landscape

that was indescribably refreshing in the torrid heats of midsummer. On

the opposite side of the river was American Island, about a thousand

feet in length, with our canal winding round it and occasionally

betraying its course by the flashing foam on its surface. With the

assistance of some of our neighbours we moved our tent almost bodily

to this new location, and at the end of the second day everything

was finally arranged to our satisfaction; though a peevish rain that

continued the whole week rendered this undertaking anything but

agreeable.

 

A few nights after our removal we were far more seriously annoyed. A

violent storm of wind and rain, after keeping us awake for several

hours, had at last lulled us to sleep by its ceaseless beating, when

we were all at once roused by the lively warning of a rattlesnake

in some part of our tent. Communicating our fears to each other by

one of those expressive grunts supposed to be characteristic of the

North American Indian, but which our experience had shown to be the

natural language of all who have lived a long time in the same limited

and therefore close communion, we at length succeeded in lighting a

candle without venturing on to the floor, and then arming ourselves

with long sticks, we took up an advantageous position on bags and

boxes and began industriously to stir up the enemy. A small pile of

firewood lay near the stove, and in this the unwelcome guest had taken

up his abode for the night, and was now apparently busy in warming

his toes and fingers. Suddenly his ugly head was thrust waggishly out

of a small opening as if to inquire the reason of his being disturbed

at such an unseasonable hour--the next moment, being provoked by an

ineffectual blow, he made a wide-awake spring that tumbled us all

backward upon our beds. Mutually confirming each other's resolution we

speedily returned to the attack, and having disabled our antagonist

by a lucky thrust we despatched him by repeated blows. He measured

nearly five feet in length--was as big as a man's arm--and had eleven

rattles. I afterwards while hunting in the neighbourhood encountered

and shot two others, neither of them, however, so large as the first.

Snakes of a different species, and apparently harmless, were far more

numerous--the big rock that overhung our tent was their favourite

resort, and I often saw them gliding among the crevices or lying

motionless in watch for some unlucky lizard.

 

The 1st of May, Tertium left us to return home. We had already

sold two of our shares to miners on the red bank, reserving only

one apiece; and as his could be worked to almost equal advantage

by hired labour, and nothing could be done at present, he could no

longer resist the temptation to anticipate the time fixed upon for

our return. The prospect was at this time far from encouraging.

The rain, which had kept off all winter, had now come in earnest,

so that the time of commencing our operations seemed farther off

than ever. Furthermore, our claim was considered by nearly all the

miners in the neighbourhood absolutely worthless, and we were made

the laughing-stock of the whole river. Yet under all these adverse

circumstances the price of shares had steadily advanced, and our

hopes were insensibly borne onward by the swelling tide. When we had

first put up our notice signifying our intention to rebuild the dam,

we had offered the whole concern for three hundred dollars. A month

afterwards, we would gladly have sold for fifty dollars a share. Even

so late as March, Number Four, to whom we proposed a partnership, was

unwilling to give one hundred dollars, but now a share could not be

bought for less than four hundred.

 

In the mean time our days passed pleasantly in reading the books I had

brought from San Francisco, and in roaming at will through those fresh

and untamed solitudes. Every morning after breakfast, says my journal

of May 24, we take our guns, both double-barrelled--St. John hangs a

dirty game bag round his neck--we fasten the tent with an ingenious

catch of T.'s invention, and away into the woods. If game is scarce,

there is a fine opportunity for revery and castle building, or from

the top of one of the many hills we enjoy a vast and dreamy prospect.

Sometimes we get separated from each other and imagine all kinds of

accidents. After our return, while enjoying, with a hunter's relish,

the quail and pigeons or hares and squirrels we have conquered, we

recount all the incidents of our morning's sport, the stratagems we

have employed, and the mishaps we have met with.

 

There is perhaps no country in the world more delightful for such

rambles than that part of California. There is such a pleasing variety

of hill and valley--the trees are arranged with such perfection of

art that one is continually led on from one point to another without

knowing when to stop; while the absence of all natural or artificial

obstructions, such as fences or tangled underbrush, communicates a

feeling of most entire liberty and independence. I have wandered thus

for miles without encountering any human thing, except, now and then,

a deserted roofless cabin standing in some lonely ravine, or the white

tents seen miles away among the woods.

 

Often, especially in misty weather, I climbed to the summit of a lofty

hill several miles from our camp, and, resting upon a projecting crag,

seemed for a while to lose myself in the great soul of the universe.

"The grandeur, the astonishing melancholy of that picture, cannot be

expressed in human language. In vain in our cultivated fields the

imagination seeks to extend itself--it encounters on all sides the

habitations of men; but in those wild countries the soul delights to

plunge itself into an ocean of forests; to alight on the mysterious

summits of the distant mountains; and, so to speak, to find itself

alone with God."

 

The game that we found in greatest abundance was the quail that were

now leading forth exultingly their timid young. Their flesh, however,

was dry and tasteless compared with that of the pigeon, which was as

juicy as the nicest steak. Besides the moaning dove already mentioned,

and which was no bigger than a lark, there were three distinct

varieties of pigeon, the largest of which was fully equal in size to

the crow. The squirrels also attained an unusual size, one that we

shot measuring twenty-seven inches from the end of his nose to the tip

of his tail, and their flesh furnished us with many a savoury stew.

 

Our attention was one day attracted by a great commotion in a little

thicket near which we were passing. On coming nearer to ascertain the

cause, we discovered an owl that had tarried too long at the night's

banquet, and was now surrounded by a crowd of noisy chatterers, like

the unfeeling persecutors that hedge the way of the luckless toper

who has continued all night over his cups. Anxious, if possible, to

secure him alive, I advanced slowly till within about thirty yards,

and fired. He fluttered feebly a few feet to a log on which he was

compelled to alight, when I ran up and hastily extinguished him with

my hat. On taking him out I found, to my amazement, that he had

shrunk from the size of a hen to be no bigger than a pigeon, the

downy texture of his feathers and his immense wings having caused the

illusion. He seemed at first quite unwell, but recovered soon after my

reaching home, and having tied a stout cord round his leg, I placed

him on the ground to observe him more carefully. He was very gaily

drest in bright yellow and ash, and, as if to display his attractions

to the utmost, again swelled out his feathers, and expanding his wings

stood looking us straight in the face, and teetering slowly from one

foot to the other in a manner evidently intended to be in the highest

degree dignified and imposing. His beauty, however, was somewhat

marred by large yellow eyes that resembled those of the cat, and had

moreover a most uncompromising squint. Two small tufts of feathers

on the top of his head, shaped like the ears of a cat, completed the

resemblance, and added still more to the grotesque of what Dr. Browne

would have called his tootin cymbal; so that it may be doubted if a

more purely comic character ever existed. I kept him a week, but as

he firmly refused to eat during all that time, and I was ignorant

of the art of stuffing, I felt constrained to give him his liberty.

He floated away on his ash-coloured wings, as large as those of a

goose, without any apparent effort, like a gossamer or soap-bubble,

and we saw him several hours after again surrounded by his officious satellites.