Chapter 5 of Audubon's Western Journal, 1849-1850, by John Woodhouse Audubon. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 5 Through Arizona to San Diego September 14th, leaving Altar on the 10th, we crossed a desert-like plain or prairie for many miles to the Rancho La Zone, as usual a miserable cluster of mud jacals and surly Mexican boqueros, but we did not care for that. We bought and killed one of their cattle, paying four dollars for it. The next day the seller returned and asked seven, which we refused. On the lagoon near here we found the American Abbasette, Longbilled Curlew, and Canada Crane. I thought I saw the Sand Hill, but it was so far off I could not be certain. The red-shafted woodpecker is seen daily, and many small birds, new to me, but not so abundant as two hundred miles behind us. The soil of this country is beautiful in many places, but the want of water and timber renders it difficult to live here. The government is feeble, and desolation and poverty show that better days have been seen. Tomorrow we start westward at four a.m. for our march to the Colorado. How we shall get through the twenty leagues with almost no water or grass, I do not know, but it must be done. Some of the men, hearing the rattle of the snake of that name in a small bunch of mesquite and cactus, took shovels to dig him out, and after clearing away the brush soon found the holes the snakes live in. At about two feet down they came to a tolerably large female, which had in her nest nine young, beautiful little creatures about a foot long. They had great courage and coiled and struck with fury at anything placed near them. September 17, near Papagos villages. Last night, as for many preceding evenings, we sat down to our supper of bread and water, our sugar, coffee, and all other matters, culinary, having been used up, and the country affords no game. We all felt the want of coffee or meat after being up from five a.m. to seven p.m., but we shall, I hope, soon be through this desolate country. Four days since one of the party killed the largest and finest buck antelope I ever saw, and we expected a treat, but it was like the meat of a poor two-year-old beef, hardly so good. We found the horns of a rocky mountain sheet and of the black-tailed deer, but none have been killed or even seen as yet. The little water holes we came to were filled with animalculae and contained in many turtles and snakes and a few frogs and toads. For lizards this country cannot be surpassed. One little beauty with a banded tail runs before us and across our path by dozens. It makes frequent stops and each time curls its tail on its back and waves it gently four or five times, most gracefully, finally retreating to some hole in the sand or to a thicket of cactus which abounds. We have met no Indians of the old Aztec race. Fifty Papagos would count all we have seen, and they are fast passing away, judging from the dilapidation of the towns and the numbers of empty houses. The people live on turtles and what game they can get. I have seen some elk and antelope skins, dressed, and terrapin shells are everywhere. We have bought two terrapin, fresh-killed, some roots, and the fruit of a plant like the magway. We have seen one or two fine horses, small but well-formed, ridden with only a rope around the neck. Others had saddles, all the men ride lightly and well. We came to some of their burial mounds and saw the kettles and culinary articles of this poor people left for the dead to aid them on their journey to the happy hunting grounds prepared for them by the great spirit. They are happy in their faith and with no dissenting voices about this method of salvation or that. At one place, just after leaving the second ranch of Papago Indians on September 18th, we crossed what might certainly be called a part of the desert. Strips of red gravel, a mile or two long and two or three hundred yards wide, were frequently crossed and other strips looking like dried, parched-up white clay. The mountains are very irregularly formed and of a blackish stone, looking in the distance almost purple. I tried to take some sketches but could not make time. On September 19th, I procured two specimens of the Dipodomis Philipsii. The red tail and marsh hawks are abundant and ravens are seen as well as buzzards from time to time. We find many mounds of the Dipodomas Philipsii and prairie dog or some other marmot, but they are so shy that we have not killed one yet. We picked up yesterday horns of the Rocky Mountain sheep and the Papagos tell us they are found in plenty in the mountains around us. September 21st. The last village we passed of these Indians was situated on a large prairie of miserably poor soil, sandy and dry, covered with a peculiar small-leaved plant containing a great deal of astringent, gummy sap. We found this only on the poorest of soils, full of gravel and sand, and always hailed it with dislike, though its taste, a little of it, is pleasant, being slightly aromatic, and yet in some way reminding one of baked apple. Why it is that these Indians settle in such a country I cannot conceive, for even the lizards in most places innumerable are scarce here. The Indians kill them with a light wand, giving them a dexterous tap on the head. They pick up the game, question mark, slip the head under a belt or string around their waist, and when sufficient are collected a little fire is made, and this delicate repast is enjoyed by them, as an epicure would relish his brace of woodcock. I am told that a sort of mush is made of grasshoppers, which abound all over the country, some of which are very beautiful. The insects are caught and dried, then pounded, and mixed with what meal or pineal they have. The pineal, it generally consists of parched wheat or corn, spiced and pounded, or ground dry on the metale, the stone used by the Mexicans for making the meal used for their tortillas. The dish is considered quite a delicacy by both the Indians and Mexicans. The man who told me this said he had tasted it, found it pleasant, and, except for the idea, a pretty good dish. The horses of the Indians here are very tolerable, but they are spoiled by being ridden too young. They used them steadily when two years old, and I saw even colts with the hair of the tail still curly under boys 14 or 15 years of age. The houses are cones four or five feet high and eight to 15 feet across, thatched in the rudest manner. In front of nearly every one, however, there is a shade made by planting four poles and erecting on these a platform, first of sticks and brush, and finally earth on which some plants and grasses grow. I saw one covered with a gourd vine falling in festoons and strings and bearing its hard fruit in profusion. The pleasant verger looked very inviting as we rode by in the broiling sun. Two or three squaws were sitting under it on the palmetto mats coarsely made, occupying themselves with their daily avocations, some sewing on thin cotton stuff, some preparing the food. The women were generally large and square-faced, with low foreheads and ugly mouths, but fine eyes. They are generally dark and, very occasionally, a fairly good-looking girl is seen. We took an Indian guide here and offered him first a dollar a day. He took the money and held out his hand for more. Two men were with him, one of whom asked what else would we give. He was shown a half-worn shirt. Again he asked for more. A white shirt was given him. He looked at the shirts and the money and pointed to a bright butcher-knife. It was given to him.  Two or three of our party followed him, myself among the number, and saw him lay his treasures down before his father and family. He then put on the worn red shirt and with a low bow to all around him followed our company. After a long and tedious ride over a gravelly prairie with many cacti, mesquite, and wild sage growing on it, we passed between two Ironstone mountains up a valley to a well of sulfur water, which was also pretty well impregnated with salt, where all took a drink and, going over the next ridge, camped in poor grass and took our animals back to water them at the well. Some of the mules drank five buckets of water, one after the other, the common shaker buckets, and the average amount each animal drank may be put down at three-and-a-half. The want of water is the greatest privation you can give a mule, as the flesh literally seems to dry off them, and without water a mule will rapidly fall off from being a good-looking animal to a skeleton. But good grass and water, not too salt, will in a week restore them wonderfully. On our march today we came to a dry run, what Penny Packer calls a thundershower river, and after digging four feet found a better water than we had for some time. We were all thirsty and drank of it freely. I took two long drafts, and in half an hour was ready for more, and the poor mules had to be kept away by a guard. Some of these thunderstorm rivers rise so rapidly as to surround camps in less time than it takes to remove the provisions and other property, and I was told by some of the parties we met near the Gila that on the El Paso route, a party of General Wurstrain, lost their baggage by just such floods as we have to look out for. Leaving this waterhole, Boggs and myself walked to the peaks of one of the conical mountains of Ironstone, which here surround the plains. It was bluish-black, with heavy dashes of purple intermingled for yards at a time, and looked like huge masses of earth that had been frozen, and were just in the crumbling state which precedes thawing. The view from the top was very grand, but all the scenes we had as we ascended from the plain gave pleasure. At first the broad prairie stretched west as far as the line of horizon. A few feet higher on the mountain enabled us to see the conical heads of others, and as we went higher and higher, we saw hill after hill and mountain, capped mountain, and the straight line which formed our horizon at first was lost in the irregular one of peaks of the wildest character and desolation. As we looked north round the entire country to north again, our eyes surveyed miles of apparently waste-barren country without wood, water, or animated nature. One vulture alone sailed magnificently round us, surveying us from a closer circle at every whirl he made, his wings rustling as they glided past only a few feet from us. We admired his grace and envied his power as we watched the sun go down, and fancied that just beyond the hills we saw were the waves of the Gulf of California. We descended to camp in the evening shadows and made our meal of bread and water with good appetites. I remained behind this morning with one of the men to hunt up some missing mules so that the main party were some ten miles on the road ahead, but we overtook them at nine that night and camped down without water or grass. Daylight saw us on the march again, and at twelve we found good grass and halted for four hours, leaving at sundown for the hila, expecting to reach it by daylight, but our mules were so hungry we could not drive them, and we encamped again without grass or water. At daylight again we were off, and one o'clock brought us to the long-looked-for Pemos Valley with a rancho of one small house and a few broken-down mules. However, here we found water and a campground. Off again, as soon as light with ourselves and animals somewhat refreshed by a long day's rest, plenty of corn, water, and melons. Before our arrival here we had looked forward with pleasure to meeting others from home, traveling our road, hoping to have news of comparatively late date, as this valley is a sort of rendezvous, but we have no more than we bring, we pass and repass companies daily, but since we find they have no news for us, we go on with a single salutation. As we came unexpectedly upon the wagon-trail of the Gila route, an exclamation of joy came from almost everyone, and tired as we were, we journeyed until night in better spirits than we had been in for some time. The old chief of the Pemos came out to see us and presented letters from Colonel Cook, Colonel Graham, and others recommending him as honest, kind, and solicitous for the welfare of Americans. I gave him three broken-down mules and some other trifles for which he seemed grateful, but the extravagance of the Americans who have passed through has made it difficult for anyone to make reasonable bargains with either Pemos or Maricopas. We had to give him a flannel shirt for a little over a peck of corn, wheat, or beans. Many who came to trade had already made up their minds only to do so for some particular article, and in those cases it was not of the least avail to offer anything else. Sometimes they would refuse a flannel shirt in exchange for a couple of melons, but by tearing the shirt into strips and sewing these together two or three times the value of the garment may be obtained as they are delighted with anything resembling a sash or bands for the head. Jewelry had no value to them. Fancy beads were worthless. Stone beads, however, they traded for eagerly, but we had none. Red to blankets and blue, red flannel torn into long strips, they preferred to anything, though many of the women chose white shirts. Like all squaws they are very good-natured, they are dressed in a cotton homemade zarape if wearing a garment fastened around the waist, and leaving the whole upper part of the body exposed can be called dressed. Their hair is cut square across the forehead and worn not very long. We found some weed in the grass here very injurious to our horses and mules. I lost my mare here. Weed lost his and nearly all ran down so as to be scarcely fit for use. Having now four men without mounts, I was persuaded to buy a wagon and harness complete as I could get one for twenty-five dollars. The river bottom here forms a great flat, which was, I think, once irrigated. At all events it is cut up by a great many lagoons, nearly all muddy, but the water is not so salt in those that do not run as to be undrinkable. In some places the water is so impregnated that as the water evaporates, a cake of pure salt is deposited and the Indians on being asked for it five or six pounds in a lump. It was pure white when broken, but on the surface a sediment covered it. The country is nearly flat and on the light sandy soil there is found grass. In some places very sparse and thin and in the others pretty good. No water but rain water and that at long distances apart. We find on the few hills the columnar cactus in great abundance a great many of the same class of plants is on the Rio Grande and convoyably without number they seem to live on due. The soil of the hills is rocky and indeed sometimes for miles chalky limestone takes the place of rock entirely. October 1st. The first rise as we enter the desert gives the view of the plain for a great distance and it seems one vast waste of twenty by a hundred miles. The road is continuous clay and sand so impregnated with salt and other mineral matter deletrious to vegetation that sunflowers and salt grass and the accursed emblem of barrenness and sterility la ria mehi conna creosote plant according to Dr. Trask are all that are seen in the way of herbage. In places the sunflowers are marvellously legerient and cover miles of the country and are from five to seven feet high. Through them being the only gap in their almost solid ranks. The dust in this road is over the shoe tops and rises in clouds filling eyes and almost choking us as we trudge along, soar and jaded men, horses, mules, cattle. We stop at night after eight hours travel having made only fifteen or twenty miles often without food except by chance for our animals. Grass is only found in good bends of the river which we may strike or may not. October 3rd. Left at eight in the morning and rode fifteen miles where we found water in some holes we had noticed a very heavy rain yesterday in this direction which had probably filled them. We rode on until night when we camped until one in the morning when by the light of a full moon we repacked and started on and reached at eight in the morning. Resting here for four hours we started to make five miles or more. Necessity demanded our doing this to arrive at good grass. Passing along the sandy trail we saw hundreds of the plume to partridge the brown headed. I shot five in about ten minutes. I could not delay longer as my fast walking little mule was too jaded to put to the pain of going faster to catch up with the train. Birds at this season seemed to feed on the seeds of the pig weed which is now and then seen in patches of many acres putting one in mind of old potato fields. The sandy desolation of the river bottom is beyond belief. Nothing but the sand hills of the Carolina coast can compare with it. October 5th. A few cotton woods and scrub willow with dried weeds and some sunflower plants make thickets here and there and this is all that is to be seen in the way of vegetation for about a hundred miles below the Pimos villages which a hundred miles we made in five days and are now thanks to a placard at the forks of the road across the far famed gila in a sandy bottom of course swamp tufts which is a better than nothing but our animals do not seem to like it much though they eat it in their starved condition. The river here is a very rapid stream at this season about a hundred and fifty yards wide and from eighteen to twenty inches deep with very deep holes in places. The bottom is shifting quicksand delightfully buried with drift logs put exactly where they can best trip up the mules as the water is like that of the Mississippi below St. Louis you never see the logs until you are over them. We look and long for gila trout and wild fowl but in vain. I shot two blue wings and one of our men caught two little trout. Our road is garnished almost every league with dead cattle horses or oxen and wagons, log chains and many valuable things are left at almost every camping ground by the travelers. We ourselves have had to do the same to relieve our worn and jaded mules able now to carry only about a hundred pounds. Our personal effects amount to about one change each with our ammunition and arms all else discarded or used up or stolen. Opposite our camp about three miles from us is a hot spring of beautifully clear water. It is so hot as to just be bearable we have now no thermometer and is tasteless. Night far the prairie is always solemn but when in a doubtful country where one is uncertain as to the friendliness of the Indians our watch became one of silence and caution. We saw a long line of regularly placed fires burn up and hour after hour could see them flare up as fresh fuel was placed on them. We had heard that Captain Thorn with a hundred immigrants was just behind us and we thought this might be this camp. But when morning came and a long line of dark objects met my eyes as I left my tent I wondered if they could be mules so regular in their distances and march. I soon saw it was a procession of a hundred and fifty squaws each carrying the provisions like a pack mule for her husband who hero like armed with spear, shield and bow proudly bore himself and his quiver made of wild cat, cougar or other skin full of arrows on to the wars of the Maricopas and Apaches so it was said. Probably the object was to assist the humas against the Americans. Of this we had no proof for all was quiet owing no doubt to the good effect produced by the appearance of the Americans and the prompt shooting of a party of Texans who had shot one or two Yuma Indians for not making the right landing. Such summary proceedings never occurred again. We also heard that Lieutenant Coates said that he had been the main cause of the favorable change in the Indians towards the Americans, especially on the part of the humas. We saw many of this tribe riding their horses with ropes in the animal's mouths, pads for saddles and ropes around the bodies in which they can slip their feet. October 14 16 days of travel from the Pimos village and such travel as please God I trust we may none of us ever see again brought us to within three miles of the Gila. If we thought ourselves badly off at Altar we are much more reduced in every way than we were there. The food, poor monotonous and inefficient has been forced down simply to sustain life. We have lost more mules of course, our wagon weighed us at least ten miles a day and we left it after using it three days. We were on the Kiviva for Indians all the time. Lack of water and grass we have almost come to regard as inevitable. Truly we looked and are a forlorn spectacle and we feel I am sure worse than we look. With all this there has been no useless complaining, no murmuring and with all our privations greater than I care to enumerate or even to think about we are none of us ill, though a good many feel the effects of their hardships and are weakened to buy them. John Stevens walked all the way from the last Pimos village and declares he never felt better. Henry Mallory, Bob Layton and I have done almost as much walking and are perfectly well. All along the road we have been told we could trade with the humus here but a few pumpkins seem to be all they had and as our provisions were at the lowest ebb we left for the crossing of the Colorado. We had the use of a boat in the crossing which belonged to a Mr. Harris who came from Texas near Houston. It was really a large wagon body made into a scow and very useful we found it. Mr. Harris treated us with the greatest kindness and aided us with provisions to the best of his abilities and we most sincerely thank him and his amiable wife all happiness and comfort. We found Lieutenant Commander Coates most kind and hospitable with the aid of his sergeant's boat, a wagon body we crossed with everything. In two days I found the Indians who swam our mules the fastest and most powerful swimmers I ever saw being able to swim round the horses and guide them with readiness and facility that astonished us all. They swim overhanded. I could find no one willing to sell or trade horses and we are about to start on this much herd of and much dreaded desert having lost two mules which were drowned after the company had crossed. They returned to drink and losing footing could not regain it and had not sufficient strength to battle against the current. Last evening I was invited to take supper with Lieutenant Coates and we enjoyed for seldom have I eaten with such an appetite and I found the beef steak excellent after being without meat for so long a time. For some weeks we have had nothing but an occasional partridge. Meat in the accepted sense of the word we had only eaten twice since we left Altar September 12th to date. October 16 living on beans, a little rice and as luck would have even sent at the hot springs. Lieutenant Engineer Whipple now making observations at the junction of the Gila and Colorado rivers was very kind to me and this evening Colonel Thorn came up with us. We have been expecting this for some time. Colonel Collins, Collier the collector from San Francisco treated us with great courtesy and I shall reluctantly bid these gentlemen goodbye and start across the desert with 46 mountains mounted, one quarter the rations we should have had mules jaded but the men thank God all in good health. October 17th we went only two miles to our first camp but today came twelve up the river through a cottonwood bottom. On the road we heard that Captain Thorn had been drowned. The canoe in which he was making his last trip was capsized and one of the Mexicans who could not manor that he could not shake him off nor hold him so as to save him and they went down together. So ends the life of an officer of distinction whose quiet, gentlemanly manner won from me my admiration and good fellowship during the few hours of intercourse we had enjoyed. We passed one or two Indian huts, all humas, they were scarcely friendly and our trading was very limited. I saw three about to cross the river here like the Ohio when it has low banks but muddy. They had a float of dried rushes on which they put their few garments. The two men stripped without hesitation but the squaw seemed a good deal put out at our presence. She commenced undoing her sarope two or three times. Eventually with a laugh and joke with her companions she waded into the muddy stream until the water nearly touched her garment and the sea and grace removed it the same instant sinking into the water so quickly that her person was not in the least exposed and she swam the river fully as rapidly as her associates. October 18th we camped a few miles further on with nothing for our horses and morning saw us trapping over dust and sand to the sandhills twelve miles distant. When we reached them I mounted one of them to see how it would lay. Immediately the rolling sandhills of the Carolina coast were brought to mind. There was not a tree to be seen nor the least sign of vegetation and the sun pouring down on us made our journey seem twice the length it really was. No date. We encamped at the wells Cook's Wells and started out at two in the morning to go thirty-six miles to the next grass having given our animals a good feed of mesquite beans which we found in great abundance about five miles below us. We went on well until we came to the lagoons and truly here was a scene of desolation. Broken wagons, dead, shriveled up cattle, horses and mules as well, lay baking in the sun around the dried up wells that had been opened in the hopes of getting water. Not a blade of grass or green thing of any kind relieved the monotony of the parched ash-colored earth and the most melancholy scene presented itself that I have seen since I left the Rio Grande. We turned to our road at twelve o'clock, the sun blazing down on us and expecting to go nine miles more without water. I feared the mules would never do it, but about two miles further on we came to good water and after a short rest on we went for seven more when we found shade and a good supper for the sergeant's guard had killed a wild cow and made us a present of part of it. The thirty-six miles had been made and the worst part of the road was passed. No date. Here we stayed one day to wait for some of our party who had waited, hoping to purchase provisions. They were sorely jaded, but had not lost a mule when they rejoined us. Leaving them to rest I went to Colonel Collins' camp for fifty pounds of biscuit and some rice and we took the way west for the next water-hole our horses loaded with grass, which as it had been good we had taken the precaution to secure before we started at four o'clock. No date. We camped at a pretty lake, shallow but clear and good to drink. At the back was one of those peculiar rocky mountains so common in this country and I made an outline of it. Some wagoners killed the knocks, but to me it was why I turned in as usual on bread and beans and the luxury of a cup of tea. Bachman lost his mules here and he and Walsh stayed until daylight, the rest of us leaving much earlier. I have felt rather anxious about Bachman as he is not strong. October 23, Zamfilipe. Three days of sunny road and three nights of freezing cold have brought us to Zamfilipe and a pretty valley and no wood of any consequence. Still there is enough for travellers' purposes and the side of the trees gave us great pleasure after the dearth of vegetation through which we have been passing. We find no food here and most of the company have gone to Santa Isabella a rancho fifteen miles distant where they expect to get all we want. Zamfilipe October 24. My own mules having been tired and I have stayed here leaving Mess Six consisting of Joseph Lambert, Heirs, Weed and Steel five miles behind to wait for Bachman and Walsh. The rest started with John Stevens in charge for Santa Isabella. I ascended the first hill and had a view of the long rows of cottonwoods bordering the irrigating ditches of the once highly cultivated but now deserted mission grounds. They rained everywhere, decayed stumps of gigantic trees planted by hand, indications of shrines from the clumps of beautiful cedars by which they are so frequently surrounded and other tokens of industry told of the comfort that had formerly been enjoyed in this lovely valley. The hills to the east are all bare but those to the west have many beautiful live oaks running up the steep ravines each sharp ridge. No date. As we rode up the valley entering the mountains the contrast between the scene before us and the desert we had just left was like coming into paradise and we trotted along the banks of a clear little brook and sauntered on through patches of wild sage and wild oats the first we had seen with real pleasure. As we reached the top of the ridge one of those beautiful natural parks to be seen only in our southern latitudes was before us and we had the first glimpse of what might be called California. The pleasure I felt then is and will be a lasting one. Passing the dividing line we began our descent following another stream adorned on both sides with the most magnificent California oaks and sycamores not so excessively large but of splendid form and broad spreading shade and foliage in full tropical luxuriance. At sundown far down the valley of Santa Maria we rejoined our camp and found all well and Mr. Browning treated me to a pound or two of most delicious grapes. They tasted so refreshing and delicious that for a few minutes I forgot everything else all my anxieties for the termination of our long and tedious journey with the attendant troubles and difficulties seemed smoothed over. No date. We arrived today at Santa Maria itself, twenty miles further on our way, really enjoying our march through this beautiful valley. San Diego Mission, November 3 we spent the night at Santa Maria and then left for San Diego. The country contains many lovely valleys and some of the hills are beautiful and richly covered with wild oats possessing all but water and the most desirable land for the farmer. At sundown we reached the mission of San Diego once evidently beautiful and comfortable. Its gardens still contain many palms, olives and grapes and no doubt the plane below when irrigated must have been most productive. We found an American soldier in charge and as the last reflection of sunlight tipped the ways of the Pacific Ocean with gold and the sullen roar of birds born in on the last of the sea breeze for that day came to my ears, tired and sad, I sat on the tiled edge of the long biatza leaning against one of the brick pillars in a most melancholy mood. I could remain here a long time musing on what is before me, realizing in the desertion of all about me that all things mortal pass, but it is necessary to continue our journey as we are six miles from anything to eat, and we know that two long hours will be requisite to get over the distance, so we must go. San Diego, November 4, Mr. Browning on his fine horse Yureis led the way, and I came close at his heels on my favorite mule. Nine o'clock brought us to this town, no hotel nor boarding house, so we went to the quartermaster things and find a place to put our horses. He received us most kindly, his wife setting before us some excellent venison, and the first real bread and butter we had seen since we left New Orleans, to all of which we did complete justice. The lieutenant apologized for not giving me a bed following this up by the presentation of a pillow, and regrets that he could do nothing better than this and was soon comfortably asleep under the first roof I had slept under since we parted from Jesus Maria. Lieutenant Ord lay next to me, and this morning left for the steamer bound for San Francisco, and I went to the office for letters but found none, so set to work to get provisions ready for the company. Five miles from San Diego is the bay beautiful enough on one side, but opposite are long islands and the view ends in distant hills far below, no doubt the coastline. Here I saw many old acquaintances among the birds, the brown pelican wheels and plunges for his prey, as on the Gulf of Mexico turns Gurlou's the long build, the California black-bellied blover, and great numbers of the horned grebe. I killed two of them and left them with Mr. Murray as I carried my gun when I left for our provisions, which were stored in old hide warehouses. The traffic in hides and jerked beef has been for many years the great industry at this place. I rode on to our camp in the rain, the first we had had for some weeks, and though now cold and chilling us to the bone we would have given whirls for it a short time previously whilst crossing the dreary desert. Chapter 6 of Audubon's Western Journal 1849-1850 by John Woodhouse Audubon this liberal box recording is in the public domain. Chapter 6 California from San Diego to San Francisco San Diego, November 6, 1849. We started for Los Angeles at 10 this morning, leaving behind Havens, Sloat, Watkinson, Lee, Snyder, Barrie, Dr. Hill, Bachman, Stevens, and Cree to follow by boat. Cree remained at my request to take care of Stevens, who is seriously ill, and Bachman is not strong enough to march further. The road from San Diego is a pleasant one, northwest over a few moderate hills brings the traveler to the edge of a large bay, which from its appearance seems to be shallow. To the west mountains, not the coast is a beautiful hollow, rather than valley, opens, and after six or eight miles leads to some steep and disagreeable hills where our first night from San Diego will be passed. I did not regret leaving San Diego except for the kindness received there, it is a miserable Mexican town, and our own rather forlorn condition. About forty men continue with me, half of us on foot, the way is much better as our animals are woefully jaded, but we could not stop, for we are even worse off for funds than for mounts, as we have only about four hundred dollars for all our expenses for over six hundred miles. But our outlay will be small, for with all the assistance of the officers, which has been liberally given, we have only secured half rations of flour and pork. We are so accustomed to sugar and coffee that we scarcely care for it. November 7. We were off at daylight according to custom and followed the trail over hill and hollow with an occasional valley. At times the ocean was in full view, its soft blue horizon line melting into the clear cloudless sky. To our right high over the mission of San Luis Del Rey, smiled glistened in the snowy purity the highest peaks of the ocean's Sierra Nevada. The soil is black loam and the bottom's still blacker, but on this day's travel much of the soil has been salt. Seeing a few ducks alight at a little lake, almost like a running stream, I went after them and found some hundreds of gadwalls and boltpates and in half an hour had sufficient for all our company, which I need not tell you we enjoyed, though or a la canvas back. Hundreds of California marmots are seen daily at a distance looking like a common squirrel, so much so that the men all call them squirrels, their color varies very much, being every shade of gray and reddish brown. The mission of Luis Del Rey, as it is now called, now in the possession of the Americans, is kept by an old Mexican. It presents, as you get the first view of it going north, one of the most impressive scenes I can recall. It's long row of low but regular arches, the façade whitewashed and the church at the east end with many outlying buildings covered with red tiles, the whole standing in a broad valley running eastward for miles until the view ends in the snowy peaks of the Sierra Nevada, compels the traveler to pause and to admire. As we stood looking at all this hill higher than the one on which we were, swooped a California vulture coming towards us until, at about fifty yards having satisfied his curiosity, though not mine, he rose in majestic circles high above us and with a sudden dash took a straight line somewhat inclining downwards towards the mountains across the valley and was lost to sight from actual distance. The garden of the mission has been beautiful and we found it still well stocked with vines, olives, figs, etc. but the same desolation is visible everywhere through this country of splendid soil which here is rather sandy. There is still lack of wood and water irrigation has been universal. The missions seem to have been divided into the residents with beautiful gardens, the church, the stock farm and the grain growing lands and all have possessed much comfort if not considerable wealth. Naturally those who lived in them wished to isolate themselves from the world and to surrender the pleasures and ambitions found there for the advancement of their religion or at least were willing to do so. I have already seen the nucleus of an American rancho in this country which is lonely rather than desolate. We have passed many fine old missions at least six or seven but though in the midst of beautiful land with hundreds of horses and cattle and many herds of sheep and goats the indolence of the people has left all decaying and they live in dirt and ignorance and merely vegetate away this life in listlessness except for the occasional excitement of a trade in horses or a game of monte. We have had many melons late in the season as we are they are pulled and put up as the French do pairs and keep fresh for many weeks. All the people here ride well and fast, many without saddles. These ladder tie a rope or if they have it a single buckle that around the body of the horse and stick both knees under it so that it is a great assistance to them. The gallop is the usual gate at which they travel. The continual absence of wood gives an appearance to all the hills of old fields but many of the valleys are truly beautiful. Fine sycamores oaks and cotton woods along the water making everything look refreshing to a degree that none can realize but those who have been for weeks exposed to sun and rain, keen winds and cold nights without woods for shelter or fire. In cooking we have often had to keep up a fire with weeds. Some men attending to this fried our meat, made coffee and what we called bread. Los Angeles This city of the angels is anything else unless the angels are fallen ones and antiquated dilapidated air pervades all but Americans are pouring in and in a few years will make a beautiful place of it. It is well watered by a pretty little river, let off in irrigating ditches like those at San Antonio de Bexar. The whole town is surrounded to the south with very luxuriant binds and the grapes are quite delightful. We parted from them with great regret as fruit is such a luxury to us, many of the men took bushels and only paid small sums for them. The hills to the north command the whole town and will be the place for the garrison. San Pedro, 27 miles southwest is the port and is said to have a good harbor. All the country round is rolling and in many places almost mountainous. Before you get to the coast range the soil is most of it very good and the cattle are fine. Wild mustard grows everywhere to the height of five feet or more. In the richest soil attaining seven and eight feet and we have twice cooked our meal with no fuel but the stocks of this weed. We have had great trouble with our mules and the poor things wandered miles and we lost some few and had difficulty in getting the others. After long consultations we decided to divide eleven of us to bring on the mules and take the valley of the Tulare for our route. The rest of the company under Henry Mallory going up in the bark hector for thirty dollars each as our mules are utterly broken down and we want to get them through to San Francisco if we can. So much for our splendid outfit so much for the plans of our military commander. But let it pass and I will try to describe our route. No date. Leaving Los Angeles at one o'clock about forty six mules and ten men I making the eleventh and two of the number being my true friends Browning and Simpson we passed eastward of the town and followed the little river of the same name and camped on the best grass we had and with so good a beginning expected to have the same for our poor animals for the rest of our journey and in some degree recruit them and heal their sore backs. No date. Today our ride of about eighteen miles was over a plain of rather poor soil and we found the rancho. It was formerly the mission of San Fernando. Like most of the others it has a long portico and arches. A few pictures of the Virgin and some images of the saints are still standing but from an artistic point of view they are poor trash. The garden is still most luxuriant and many grapes are grown there and wine made as well as other liquors distilled. It looks like sacrilege to me to see the uses made of sacred places but so the changes appear to be in these countries. Delapidation immediately follows the removal of the mists. Great dislike was manifested to the Americans here and they would neither give nor sell any of the fruits they had in such abundance, grapes and melons wasting on the ground. Leaving this rancho we camped five miles further on our way up an arroyo in tall rush-like grass where we had only bad water being so charged with sulfur and various salts as to be undrinkable. The hills are of a fryable whitish clay and sandstone and after a very steep ascent we gradually descended into a beautiful valley to the Rancho San Francisco and encamped inside of it with good water and plenty of wood. In the morning Rhodes killed the first black tailed deer that any of the party had secured. We found it very good meat and quite enjoyed it after the continuance of beef we have had since our arrival on this side of the Great Divide as at the Rancho we can usually buy fine young cattle for from eight to twelve dollars. No date. We now commenced the regular ascent of the coast range. The mountains at first were sandy loam and sandstone. We had no great views even of distance and we lost two of our mules from fatigue. Our descent was rapid for some miles to the gorge leading to the dividing ridge where was a rapid torrent about up to our knees and as we followed it scenes of the wildest description presented themselves. Sometimes it looked as if our further progress was completely at an end and again a turn at right angles showed us half a mile more of our road. The rocks here are shell a sandstone looking at first sight at a distance like slate. The tops of all the mountains are covered with snow and the wind from the northwest was blowing so hard as to bring our tired mules to a standstill as the puffs struck them. As we came out into the plain or valley a few squalls of hail and rain came on and we were glad to camp near some cotton woods not deeming it prudent to be under them as their limbs had already some of them yielded it to the mountain and fallen. No date to Lauri Valley. One more day brought us to this great valley and the view from the last hill looking to northwest was quite grand stretching on one hand until lost in distance and on the other the snowy mountains on the east of the to Lauri Valley. Here for the first time I saw the Lewis Woodpecker and Stellars Jay in this country. I have seen many California vultures and a new hawk with a white tail and red shoulders. During the dry season this great plain may be traveled on but now numerous ponds and lakes exist and the ground is in places for miles too boggy to ride over so we were forced to skirt the hills. This compelled us sometimes to take three days when too should have been ample. Our journeys now are not more than twenty miles a day penetrating and cold that four blankets are not too many. No date. Our mornings ride as we had anticipated was pleasant after the hills but not directly on our course as the late rains had made the soil always soft impassable for our mules from the mud. We wound round the mountains for about twenty-five miles to the first Indian village we had seen though we had passed a single hut. Being far ahead of the train I had time to look at their household style of living and saw them grinding their acorns and fanning grass and other seeds so as to prepare their winter's food. They appear to make a sort of pulp of the acorn by grinding it in a most simple mill of stone using two kinds as convenience or ownership suggests. Whether a kind of mortar and pestle style the mortar being formed by continual use of the same place until from two to six inches deep and if the large stone is favorable from ten to twelve holes are seen in the same one. These Indians were friendly and seemed pleased to see Americans coming into the country and I have no doubt but that their condition will be greatly ameliorated by the change from savage civilized life. We saw one company already installing themselves in this beautiful valley where they hoped to make permanent homes. For two days heavy rolling hills of black soil, clay and gravel with an occasional arroyo of sand made our journey tedious but we gradually arrived in better country for traveling but less grass and as we neared the San Joaquin River immense rivers of antelope and elk were seen so wild that it was difficult to approach them. No date. This is our second day on the San Joaquin River and we have secured a fine elk and an antelope, three geese and two sand hill cranes. I am sure different from ours so that we have feasted luxuriously. Many thousand geese are seen daily and we are traveling on cheerfully making our 25 miles with ease and camping by half past four or five o'clock. After supper we sit around our camp fires for an hour or so and then turn in for the night to be ready for the early start in the morrow. The nights here are in great contrast to the days and are exceedingly cold for all the icy mountains send their damp air down as the sun sinks behind them. Following down the San Joaquin southwest and west we came to the river of the lakes and stood off northwest, its general course for nearly two days, but were so impeded in our progress by the bull rushes that we turned aside to a clump of trees where we expected to find water and grass, but not succeeding returned to the river about eight miles and with great difficulty reached the edge of it for water at dusk cold, tired and regretting our lost time. We resolved, nevertheless, to steer off from the rushes next day. This is the locality from which I suppose the valley takes its name to Lare, meaning rush, this plant taking here the place of all others. No date. Today I ran on to a herd of about a thousand elk so close was I that I could see their eyes perfectly. These elk must be greatly harassed by the wolves, which are very numerous, and so bold at night that we have had several pieces of meat and a fine goose stolen from over my tent door. Their long, lonely howl at night, the cries of myriads of wild geese, as well as Hutchinson's goose which is very abundant, and the discordant note of the night heron tell the melancholy truth all too plainly of the long, long distance from home and friends. There is no trail but that of wild horses and elk all terminating at some water hole, not a sign of civilization, not the track of a white man to be seen, and sometimes the loneliness and solitude seem unending. The water is a beautifully clear now and is full of fine-looking fish. The large salmon of these rivers is a very looking fellow, and may be fine-eating, but as yet we have not been fortunate enough to get one, though several have been shot by Hudson and Simpson as they lay in the shallows. The average width of the river here that is two days journey from the mountains is about eight yards, but as the snows are high up on the mountains, no doubt a great portion of the water is absorbed by the sandy soil it runs through. Among the folks the long acorns of two shapes a great deal like nuts and taste, but still astringent to a disagreeable degree are plentiful, and we eat a good many of them both roasted and raw by way of variety though objecting to the flavor. I have seen one or two nearly three inches long. Out of these acorns the Indians make their peote a kind of paste which they dry and then put into the water and flakes, no doubt to allow the acrid to matter to escape. No date, Stockton. For the last five days we have passed over vast plains of sandy soil and all the recollections of the desert would come upon us but for our nightly returns to the river. Passing two small rivers we came to the Stanislaus and went down it to the ferry having once tried unsuccessfully to pay a dollar each for about 20 yards and went on our way to Stockton. This mushroom town of skeleton houses and tents with every class of dwelling from log cabin with rush roof to the simple blanket spread to shelter the hardy miner is situated like Houston, Texas on an elevated flat so level that the water lying after every shower makes the mud as deep as I ever saw on the rich levees of Louisiana in winter. I find the climate much the same as that in Louisiana but without the beautifully luxuriant vegetation of that country and from all accounts it is quite as healthy except that the high mountains here give a pleasant retreat in summer from the diseases incident to that season. I left the men at the French camp the first prairie out of the water five miles to the southwest and came into Stockton with Hudson and Boggs at a pack mule to take out provisions for those at the camp. We went into the exchange hotel which might better be called the exchange of black legs. Such a crowd as the bar room of this hotel presents nightly cannot be found except where all nations meet. Cards were being played for stakes everywhere and the crowd around added to the picture once seen as difficult to forget. The tall, raw-boned westerner bearded and moustached like his Mexican neighbor beside him, the broad-headed German and a sallow Spaniard French, Irish, Scotch, I know not how many nationalities are here represented. I saw even two Chileans with their cold indifferent air all mixing together each man on his guard against his fellow man the tight-fitting jacket and flowing Zarape touched each other all blending into weirdness in the dim light of a few candles, wood that I had time and opportunity to sketch some of the many scenes I be held. Having bought what we required, we made our way back to camp through the dark dismal night, wind blowing and rain falling in torrents. No date. Today we went up to Stockton again. The way we approach is through mud and mire, or rather water, reminding one of that at Houston from the south. The mud, if anything, more disagreeable to walk through. One wonders at the way in which men stay here day after day, gambling going on incessantly. Of course the sharpers and experts get all the money. The poor dupes continue to put down gold dust, even though they take professional card players and they have to return to the mines to dig. The craze for the mines is beyond all credence. Mechanics refuse $16 a day to go to the mines where half an ounce is the regular gain, though sometimes 10 times that amount. No date. We leave tomorrow for San Francisco. Today I made a sketch of the east suburb of the town and as a proof of the good intentions of the people to be honest and keep up good principles a gallows is the chief object in the foreground. It was erected to execute a man for murder and robbery. A party here got up a club called the Hounds at first as a patrol and were of real service but later bad habits crept in such as knocking up any barkeeper at any hour of the night and making a night of it. For some time this on the following day always saying as they went out to the charge of the hounds but at last the charge became the last of the matter. Eventually thefts were committed and the thief was convicted by a regular jury and sentenced. The day for his execution came and he felt assured that he would be rescued by his friends and probably would have been but for the arrival of a shipload of immigrants who on being informed of the fact marched out fully armed to see the law carried into effect. The prices of everything here are beyond belief. Flower $40 per barrel pork $65 per barrel pilot bread $0.20 per pound India rubber boots $50 to $60 flannel shirts $6 to $8 shop $0.30 per pound powder $1 to $1.50 per pound government tents $40 at home $12 India rubber $100 freight to the mines $0.50 per pound and almost every other article in proportion for cleaning my watch and putting on a new crystal $16. Yet with these high prices scarcely one becomes rich board $3 to $6 a day without lodging washing and ironing $6 a dozen. We are in a forlorn condition almost without clothes and our mules broken down yet wretched as we are no company coming by land has done better and mine is only the second yet holding together this shows how honorable the men are for with wages from $5 to $10 per day mechanics of which our company has several getting from $10 to $16 men stand by their contract no date we none of us regret leaving Stockton where we have been for four days delayed by the steamer our ill luck as regards waiting still follows us we are going on in the steamer Captain Southern question mark San Francisco December 23 the day we left Stockton we had one of the most violent gales I have seen for many a week and our boat a little steam side wheeler was so flat and so light that the strong wind from the south east had us ashore 20 times in the first hour on the banks of the slew which leads to the San Joaquin the main stream leading to the upper bay Suison finally anchors and all were dragged high on the bull rushes and we were delayed two days more we reached San Francisco on Saturday night December 21st and stayed in our blankets on the floor of the steamer until morning when we went off on what is called the long dock into mud half leg deep we paid 50 cents for a cup of coffee and a bit of bread and I went for my letters but found none so went off to hunt up my men found them all right and returned to Henry Mallory who having received letters was able to set my anxieties about my family at rest but I alone of all the company had no home news I sat on the deck of the steamer the most quiet place I could find reread my old letters and went about my business with a heavy heart San Francisco December 25th 1849 Christmas Day Happy Christmas Merry Christmas Dear to me at any rate and this pandemonium of a city not a lady to be seen and the women poor things sad and silent except when drunk or excited the place full of gamblers hundreds of them and men of the lowest type more blasphemous and with less regard for God and His commands than all I have ever seen on the Mississippi in New Orleans or Texas which give us to some extent it is true but instead of a few dozen or a hundred gaming at a time here there are thousands and one house alone pays one hundred and fifty thousand dollars per annum for the rent of the Monty Tables Sunday makes no difference certainly not Christmas except for a little more drunkenness and a little extra effort on the part of the hotel keepers to take in more money looking over my journal and regret it has been kept so irregularly yet as I read it and recall my experiences since last March I wonder that I have been able to keep it at all I dined with Havens Mr. McClee, Lieutenant Browning and Henry Mallory and you may be sure home was in our thoughts all the time even if other topics of conversation were on our lips it was impossible for me to shake off my depression December 26 I was not made more cheerful by finding that our agents had so conducted our affairs that instead of finding all our provisions and implements nicely stored and in good order waiting for us I discovered that all that was most useful to us had been sold and the balance lay about in the wet and mud or was rotting half dry for want of the requisite cover the expenses had eaten up the money procured by the sales or so we were told and I found myself with 40 men to take care of and in debt I was on the point of breaking up the company and letting every man shift for himself but felt that it was neither brave nor honorable so decided to make one more effort I drew on my brother for $1,000 borrowed all I could from the boys who had brought their own mules on with them and concluded to take all who were not mechanics with me to the mines the mechanics had without exception found work instantly at exorbitant prices they were to keep half they made and to pay in the other half to the company I have been offered $35 a day to draw plans for houses stores etc but though I never intended to go to the mines myself I feel now for the sake of the men who stood by me that I must stay by them my paints and canvas have been left on the desert my few specimens lost or thrown away and lack of time and the weakness produced by my two illnesses at Monterey and Paris and the monotonous food have robbed me of all enthusiasm often I had to force myself to swallow the little I did knowing I must if I was to get through at all Van Horn and Dr. Perry will remain in San Francisco and the men who go up to the mines with me are Haven, Slayton, Hughes Bloomfield, McGowan, Lee Watkinson, Jonathan R. Lambert Joseph Lambert, J.S. Lambert Hutchinson, Damon Jonathan Stevens, Creve and Buren, Ayers, Hinckley Jonathan Stevenson, Black Liskum, Elmsley, E.A. Lambert Dr. Trask, Steele Weed, Henry Mallory Mitchell, Walsh, Valentine Simpson, McCusker, Tone Hudson, Penny Packer, Clement Boggs, Lieutenant Browning with myself, 38 in number December 29 We left San Francisco in the same steamer we had traveled on from Stockton The weeks ran over with a bay like a mirror and a clear sky over all it was an enchanting scene I thought with gratitude of the kindness I had received from Essers-Jittenden Edmondson, McClee and many others not only had they frequently made me their guest but they had given me most valuable information and advice in reference to my future proceedings As we moved off I could see the whole town situated on high hills facing the bay to the southeast on one side to the southwest on the other I could almost fancy as we made our way to the open bay through the crowd of vessels that I could hear the chink-chink of dollars as the gamblers put them down on the Monty Tables and a picture of the whole place a regular inferno came before me as plainly as if I actually saw it Every house with rare exceptions letting out their bar rooms as well as all other available space for gambling purposes immense rents being paid for a mere shell of a house In some of the hotels $100 a day was paid for space to place a single Monty Table but I will leave all this and sail on over the beautiful bay towards the east which sends the gold that makes this hell-hole of crime and dissipation Passing out of the mass of shipping to the left opens out the pass to the ocean and ahead of us surrounded by beautiful hills smooth but steep green and velvety to look upon a few tall redwoods ended the view to the south The water was as smooth as a lake and the moon rose on so calm a sheet that its reflection was a long straight line of light almost as brilliant as itself and I sat late on the deck to admire it and to think of all at home but at last went down to the filthy myself in my blankets and lay down in a corner possibly a shade less dirty than the others We reached Stockton and after a day in the mud I found my goods stored safely and all ready for packing Mr. Starbuck to whom I had entrusted them having been most faithful We went to the hotel for supper which was worth perhaps ten cents but cost a dollar and a half each with Browning, Simpson, Stevens, Bloomfield and some of the others I took a look up and down the town The gambling was going on as usual the tables had changed hands in some instances but the many are still sitting behind their banks A young English nobleman who asked me to keep his name a secret laughed and said we are all bankers here One young man too young for such work terrible at any age I felt sorry to see he had evidently been a winner to judge from the large amount before him having a wall of gold dust ounce high and three rows deep leaving a space of nearly a foot square inside well filled with gold pieces of old stamps and countries the sixteen, eight and four of the Spanish the eagles and half eagles of the United States sovereigns and half sovereigns of England from apparently all over the world lumps even of unalloyed gold had all fallen into his hands today he seemed quite alone his candles were still burning and he rested his cheek on a delicate well formed hand which looked as if it had not been made for the shovel and pick of the mines he was a very handsome young fellow I should judge from Virginia with a profusion of half curling light hair and deep gray eyes suddenly he rose looked about him and said in a quivering voice well I came here to make my fortune I've made it there it is but oh God how can I face my mother he burst into tears and dashed from the room which for an instant was an absolute stillness two men came up spoke to the banker question mark in low tones swept the gold into two canvas bags and followed the youth or so I presume end of chapter 6 chapter 7 of Audubon's Western Journal 1849 to 1850 by John Woodhouse Audubon this LibriVox recording is in the public domain chapter 7 a tour of the gold fields part 1 January 2nd, 1850 leaving Stockton we tramped through mud and water so like the coast of Louisiana the Mississippi that it might have been winter there instead of in California we had packed the day before leaving so left early for our walk of 20 miles after our packmules and went over a partially sandy prairie to the Stanislaw river and at eight that night reached Goodwood and water and encamped about three miles from the river next morning January 3rd we left in the rain for the ferry but owing to the bad weather heavy roads and exhaustion of Bachman and McGown stopped at a good camping ground with excellent grass after going only three miles the rain poured all day and all night and we lost two days here in consequence for the river rose so rapidly that we could not cross our mules the next day the most did get over and Clement and Hudson remained behind to look after the mules January 6th leaving the middle ferry known as Islips our first day was over a good road with occasional quicksands in the way the next day January 7th, 1850 as we had a cold northeast drizzle we lay by and the following morning January 8th left for our destination the Chinese mines many of the views before us as we mounted hill after hill looking towards the mountains are very beautiful park like country the roads are a series of mud holes and quicksands at this season and the trees either swamp or post oak with occasionally a fine ridge of a species of live oak at times we had to pack the cargoes of the weaker mules every few hundred yards and at one place had nine mules mired at the same time the mud being so tenacious that even when the packs were taken off the poor animals could not get out without our help three days of such traveling brought us to our present camp the soil red clay and sand mixed thinly with white quartz of various sizes but generally small not more than two or at most three inches in diameter and generally even smaller no date we went up to the diggings on the morning after our arrival and looked around to see what prospects were ahead of us we found the little branches bored and pitted and washed out in every direction so much so that we tried to prospect for ourselves and we lost three days we found the men already there kind and polite showing the mode of working and watching of digging and drawing and tomorrow open a pit close beside some of the most fortunate the uncertainty of digging renders the life of the minor for profit that of a gambler for most of his good luck depends on chance at times you may see two pits side by side one man getting two ounces a day and the other hardly two dollars we heard of one instance of much greater disparity two friends working next to each other found that at the end of the week one had an ounce of gold worth about twenty dollars the other gold worth six thousand dollars and so it goes and we shall have to work hard again and again I am overwhelmed by the thought that I am at these dreary minds I who started intent on drawing and obtaining new specimens to have so different a destiny thrust upon me is bewildering the ground there is a beautiful rolling valley of sandy clay so like the post oak country of Texas that one might almost fancy himself there a few pines are scattered about the cones are very large say six inches long and three in diameter the seed is a pleasant nut about the size and shape of a small shelled almond the quantity of rosin contained is very great and at the end of every leaf of the cones quite as seen the ultra marine jay and stillers the red shafted woodpecker and California quail are abundant and many fetches some new and others that I know are everywhere but I have no time to skin and preserve specimens then to the black-tailed deer California hair and grizzly bear are common as well as the small hair there are some few squirrels and I have not been able to procure them I have also seen the robin of this country and many others the country is otherwise barren I wish I was out of it January 20th 1850 Chinese diggings it does not seem possible remembering the difficulties of the road that we are only 70 miles from Stockton the men began rocking yesterday one cradle and got about a dollar an hour but hoped to get more when in the way of it those at work around us get an average of 14 a day and at times much more then again a week's work is lost the quantity of gold so I am told by those who know more of it than I do is very great but so diffused that great labor is required to get it the lottery of the whole affair is beyond belief the richest are supposed to be those on the river the duolomy or the creeks leading to the river the pit or piece of ground allotted to each man is 16 feet square this having been settled by the diggers and the law is enforced by an Alcalda many is the week's work the men say when they do not get the price of their board and again large amounts are found one individual told me he was getting two ounces a day and gave his claim up to join a company in digging out the bed of a river which they had drained off he worked a month at the river scarcely making two dollars a day while the man who bought his first place had accumulated several thousands I have heard 50 such stories but as a whole this country will pay the laborer and the mechanic better than the miners unless the latter have capital had we come my route and reached here a hundred mules a fortune could soon have been made by packing but alas against my better judgment I allowed myself to be swayed by Colonel Webb who had his own way at the cost of twenty seven thousand dollars thirteen lives and the loss of many months to all the men who came through Chinese diggings February first 1850 Friday and a most beautiful day birds all around are in chatter and the song of the raven Jay like but sweet to listen to from the attempt at softness as he nods and abows with swelling throat to his mate it is like March in Louisiana alas for the poor fellas who have left the southern states to come to this and settle here as farmers to be drowned out in winter and burnt up in summer however when the excitement of the gold fever ceases as it stops California will find its level with the other states and many a hastily made fortune will be as rapidly lost I am leaving for the north fork of the Stanislaus twenty five miles to make one more effort to keep the company together and to pay off our indebtedness to the stockholders but I fear my efforts will be useless Murphy's digging Sunday February ten everything seems against us weather season water and rain interrupt us in all our attempts at work and ill luck seems to follow us after fruitless labor at the Chinese diggings I came here where the diggings are said to be very rich but where we have to wait for the waters to subside perhaps two months and I have not the means to keep the men for that length of time even if the date of their contract did not expire before then these diggings are said to be the richest in the southern mining district and here I came to make my last effort for the good of my men for myself my home is awaiting me and ample means to pay off all the indebtedness I have personally incurred many times a day I thank God I never asked one man to join the venture though I feel strongly that some notably Clement Walsh Bowden poor fellow my cousin Howard Bakewell and a few others joined because I did knowing this and knowing how many have risks there all I hesitate to leave as long as I feel I can be of help in any way and shall go into the matter very carefully with the men most of whom however I know feel as I do February 25th 1850 today we all met together and after much serious talk I told the men that their time was more than up and that consequently they were their own masters and the company dissolved I told them too that I was ready to help each and all to the best of my ability poor enough but I believed we could do better in other ways than mining not a word was said and silently all went to their tents we had been a year together in sickness and trouble in boisterous mirth and sorrowful anxiety and like old and tried friends we felt the coming separation keenly we were all greatly depressed I shall be with the men for some weeks and shall then try to make up for part of what I have lost making drawings and sketches and collecting such specimens as I can I am bitterly disappointed for the men who have been so faithful and who have stood by me so staunchly but as tone said to me some hours after our talk there's more money made here by land speculations and every kind of work than there is in mining and those who work will get on I quite agree with him and when one hears of the return of men with large fortunes ask if speculations in land or trade, bar keeping or Monty dealing has not swollen the first few hundreds dug and gained with hard labour privation or in rare cases wonderful luck even then for one man who has a thousand there are hundreds who will not average a tenth of it after expenses are paid March 6th again on the road from Stockton east towards the mines I have been to San Francisco and am now on my way to join Leighton to bring my tour of the mining and agricultural districts of this now most fairy like country everything so smiling and beautiful flowers of the smaller varieties by thousands and the snow melting since its waters down all the little rills and rivulets clear and pure giving freshness and luxuriance to the whole country could it retain so much beauty through the summer I should pronounce it at once the most enchanting land I had ever seen and yet as I think of the beautiful shrubs of the east and where they do exist of the magnolias wild roses and flowering vines and trees we have I think the country's balanced for here two species of oak three pines the redwood and the laurel will almost enumerate the whole of the common varieties of trees farther south back of San Diego in the valley of Santa Maria I saw the finest sycamores I have ever come across they grow where they have room enough to extend their gigantic limbs laterally instead of forcing huge trunks in rivalry with the oaks to get fresh air and sunshine the country from Stockton is a clay flat so little of an inclination to the land that the water appears to lie until evaporated and the slews in many places are sluggish and seem to be more water holes than running streams until they reach the Calaveras which is a beautiful creek nearly dry four months of the year but they're eight giving good water the meadow like flats about it look just ready for the plow though by using that a sword of good grass would be lost the country from here becomes very gradually more and more undulating changing the nature of the soil every few miles in some places the hills are of clay and valleys of grayish loam or red sand thickly mixed in with quartz in many cases water worn but all is so beautiful that were the woods more dense and the water courses now so inviting never failing the farmer would here find his paradise and by selecting his land so as to avoid the gravelly subsoil which is too abundant for richness and choosing that which has the clay foundation his plantation might be one of a great permanence for the range where do not wash off much of the soil March 8th following up one of the north forks of the Calaveras we passed through the beautiful valleys green and luxuriant but very short stretches of grass the hills at times so close together at the base that the valley was almost lost but the ascent was rapid and we found ourselves soon on the singular hills of this country within a mile of the muck mountains where we camped for the night March 9th, 1850 the ice this morning was half an inch thick and the cold at daylight intense one hour after sunrise the day began to be summer and at nine o'clock our coats were off and we were riding towards the beautiful view made by the interesting lines of Macalomy Hill and its adjacent fellows all eccentric and all interesting the soil and the ravines here is mostly clay but from time to time partakes of the sandy red clay so common in this country resembling very much the gravelly hills of the post-oaks of Texas the ride up the stream to Macalomy Rich Gulch is very interesting passing between two hills or lines of hills with occasional ravines leading down to the creek we were following we passed an Indian village of six huts because we're pounding acorns to make peyote and natural mortars formed by the slight indentations being used constantly the pounding of the stone small granite boulders waterworn smooth sometimes where the holes a foot deep but they are generally deserted before that depth is reached a smooth flat stone as usually preferred by the Indians to begin on and if the country suits their purposes and the lodges remain any length of time in the neighborhood the stone is often marked with thirty or forty of these mortar holes no date leaving Rich Gulch we took a southerly course over the ridge and wound down the branches of the Calaveras until the various rivulets united and formed what is called the north branch of the Calaveras where we crossed it was about eighteen inches deep and runs over the rough bed of various sized pebbles with larger lumps of granite and quartz for the horses to stumble over making the ford when the stream is muddy from recent rains very treacherous the soil is of the same character for a mile or two occasionally of a reddish loam containing both clay and sand mixed with gravel of angular formation very small and with more or less quartz equally various as to the size and quantity of the pieces the pits dug by the miners at the Chinese diggings five miles from the Tuolumne river and midway between the mountains and plains among the hills present ordinarily a superficial loam of from six to eighteen inches rich at times but again of the light bluish clay the next stratum is of reddish clay and gravel ending in slaty rock soft and dead to pick at and having the usual friability of the trapped slate that is so plentiful all over the country, sticking up in places like the headstones of a deserted churchyard at woods diggings the same appearance is seen but with the slate in more upright strata and hard March 18 at Murphy's new diggings the gulch is full of lumps of granite and heavy gravel in the part called the flat in the lower part of the valley the soil is of great depth in places eight to ten feet less in others March 20 from Murphy's new diggings to Angel's camp is six miles the country first undulating inviting the squatter to put up his log house made from the few pines that from time to time form little clusters as always to arrest the attention and call forth the admiration of the wanderer through these lonely hills where the want of woods to me gives more solitude than our densest forest so much for habit for I recollect well that beaver, my Delaware Indian guide in Texas always was anxious for the prairie whenever I took him into the deep swamps of the Brassos or Guadalupe Angel's diggings is one of the many petitions of the same thing seen every day a beautiful little brook with precipitous sides and gravelly or rocky beds high hills of red clay elone mixed or sprinkled with bits of quartz and slate forming continual amphitheaters at almost every bend of the creek here I met a gentleman who had for many years been washing gold in the Carolinas he had a quick silver machine which was priced $1,000 which he was working with six men he told me he was getting a pound a day from the sands he was washing which had been washed already in the Common Rocker he did not feel so sure of its efficacy in the clay diggings but for sand it certainly was admirable these diggings like all I have seen that were worth anything were completely riddled first by the top washing and dry washing of the Mexicans then by the hurried superficial panning out of the lucky American who came first and reaped his fortune next better dug out by the gold digger for his three ounces a day and now toil and hard labor gave the strong determined washer from small amounts to occasionally an ounce a day when the water will permit him to work March 23 on the road to Coyote made a V from Murphy's over a poor soil with nothing of interest along the six miles but a small elevation of semi basalt exan stone mixed with granite with large particles of crystal like spar the approach to Coyote is down a red clay hill of course and is on a point made by two little rivers I should call them streams which meet at the lower end of the diggings one is called the Coyote river a branch of the north fork of the Stanislaus and the diggings are about ten miles up if you follow the windings of the creek but by the road only five to the Stanislaus the first year these diggings were worked many large amounts of gold were dug here with little labor the second year required harder labor for poorer results and it is its early reputation that keeps it up though some wells are still paying well I was told four out of the fifty then being worked the largest amount taken in the time I have been here two days was found by five Englishmen two pounds and three ounces others are well content with an ounce a day and do not give up their holes if much less than that is the result of ten hours or more work there are a few Indians near this place poor miserable devils dirty and half cloth for they have given up buckskin for Mexican blankets their faces begrimed with dirt and their whole appearance one of neglect and filth they dig a little gold from time to time and leave a good share of it with a French trader a poillon by name he makes his trade pay by giving them presents in the morning to secure their goodwill and a little extra change at night on his provisions I saw him selling the lowest part of a leg from the four quarters of a very poor beef at an abominable price and he turned to me with a pitiful expression and asked if he ought to let it go for so small a price showing me an ounce of gold all Indian trading appears to be done in the same way making them presents and then charge double the value of the gift on the first article they buy the food of these Indians is chiefly made from the acorns into a kind of gruel rather astringent to the taste of the white man but to an Indian digestion all seems good that can be swallowed I have a papoose too small to walk with a stone in his hand half as big as his head shelling out the nuts of the pinecone cracking and eating them with the judgment of a monkey and looking very much like one their wigwams faced the south and formed an irregular cluster of bark and mud cones the usual number of fox and wolf like dogs gave the same effect that I am accustomed to but the tribe is not as handsome as the Indians of the east or even the Yuma's Pimas or the Maricopa's on the Giva leaving coyote diggings the trail for five miles passes between two moderately high ridges to Carson's Creek where the soil changes to a much poorer quality. Crossing the creek we ascended a fairly high hill from which I took a sketch across the Stanislaus the sunset effect was fine but I had no colors with me March 25 after crossing the Stanislaus we ascended a long hill leading about southwest towards the Mormon Gulch three miles distant the road wound up ravines for the first two miles and would have made as beautiful a walk as it did a ride all nature was still and calm and the silent scene brought Sunday to both our minds and we agreed that whether in the wilderness or at home the day brought a feeling of tranquility we almost changed our minds when we reached the diggings so different was the scene the bar rooms were all doing a thriving business and the Monte dealers were doing even a better gloating over the hard-earned piles to have served a better purpose passing all this and going up a beautiful gorge winding at times so as almost to form a semi-circle we turned our course and came upon a most exquisite cascade the water split upon a bold rock about 50 feet high and tumbled in leaps of from 6 to 10 feet until it reached the rocky bed where it rushed on boiling and bubbling impetuously until it joined the stannous loss our walk to woods creek was hot and tiresome and after cooling off we took a sponge bath the water being too cold for a plunge and then sauntered about looking for the best points at which to take views of this most beautiful part of the country situated by comparison in a basin and straggling up and down the creek are here situated woods diggings Jamestown Yorktown the soil looks poor and the rock is granite and sandstone with some slate on the high points and peaks of Table Mountain huge masses of conglomerate boulders two feet and more in diameter are scattered everywhere and give a dreary look to all the north side of woods diggings the hill to the west which shot up into beautiful obelisks of quartz and you only cease to admire it to be in raptures over the views seen by turning east to look over mountain beyond mountain snowy peaks bare of trees and between them the rounded points of hills looking tiny by comparison to the south bold rounded but high mountains full of verger and with most graceful outlines enchant you while the verdant stretches at the foot of these mountains have a pastoral air made us think of home March 27th my day passed in a vain attempt to transfer to canvas the scenes before our tent when I had worked some hours I went into the tent next two hours where lies a poor man ill pale dejected unable to move even a few steps his mud roof leaks the soil forming the side of his cabin is so porous that it admits such quantities of water is necessary to carry it off from the dirt floor this man came round the horn and the long voyage and poor food left him such a victim of scurvy that since he arrived in California the first of last October he has worked only six days the relative with whom he came and who has toiled for both has only been able to keep them in provisions with his best endeavors he has no money to get home now his only wish this man is the brother of Barnum the museum man he has written to him and is awaiting a draft which will enable him to return day and night these beautiful moonlit nights flock after flock of wild geese pass almost hourly over our heads to the north I give up in despair trying to fathom the use of their migration when hundreds of their fellows so far south their court ship is kept up as they fly high over the grassy plains where they fed the last fall for if you look closely at the flock you will see that with the exception of the old gander a fourth larger than the others as a rule all the rest are in pairs and the males follow the females so closely that the mine is composed of two very near together two a little distant from them and so on to the end March 28 woods diggings have given me such sketches as I could take we took the valley road to Chinese diggings en route for Hawkins Bar on the Tuolumne we were assured before we left that woods are now only giving five dollars at the most to good workers once gave as many ounces and is now kept up on its past reputation by the storekeepers as all prospectors must pay something one takes a drink another some fresh meat another a pair of boots all is sold at exorbitant prices and storekeepers get rich if no one else does we are now leaving Leighton for Sonora camp and I for Hawkins Bar every turn give some vista of beauty in this garden of Eden the soft southerly breeze the red odor of millions of the smaller varieties of prairie flowers in some places so abundant as to color acres whole hillsides so thickly as to hide the ground and my mule had to eat flowers rather than grass one without home ties might well feel all his days could be passed in the beauties of these valleys rosy at yellow and blue so soft that the purest sky cannot surpass the color for delicacy tangled masses of vines climb everywhere hiding the hard surfaces of the quartz rocks and beyond this exquisite vegetation always some view wild and impressive meets the eye but two facts Bob Leighton says don't bring your wagons through Chinese diggings and I agree with him unless you have nine yoke of pretty good oxen to your load 3,500 pounds I believe that teams such as these do get about three miles a day across the boggy flat and post oak quicksands of these diggings in many places the body of the luggage wagon is six inches deep in the mud this condition lasts from December to March inclusive what this country must be in summer I cannot say but if it cracks as the soil does south of Los Angeles it must indeed be miserable and the stories of the Mexicans we met below the Colorado must be true when they said it was almost impassable a few miles on towards Hawking's bar on the Tuolumne the country is very fine and little plains and valleys fill the six miles all but the last one which is a steep descent short and rugged over clay and rocks on this ridge the grass is sparse and arrow would was plenty the days march over you set up your tent and find cool and delicious water from the Tuolumne just as it leaves its mountain gorge a little creek on the left which has taken its rise below the altitude of snow is twenty degrees warmer and so more welcome for bathing purposes part 7 part 1