While St. John was occupied as narrated in the preceding chapter, we remained at Ford's Bar, and prayed that the river might speedily fall.

The same day on which we bought the armour I went with Dr. Browne to a spot not far from Jacob's Ladder, to put up a notice of our intention to construct a wing-dam at that place as soon as the water permitted. This simple bit of paper, with our names and signatures attached, was posted in a conspicuous position on a tree hard by, and secured to us possession of the territory therein described as effectually as all the sealed and witnessed and recorded formalities of more artificial society.

The spot we had selected had been found unusually rich the year before, and it was but natural to conclude that a great deal of the precious deposit still remained, which could be reached, however, only by a wing-dam. This is nothing but a thick mound or dike of stones and earth, projecting half way across the river, and then running down the stream fifty or perhaps several hundred feet. When possible, it is built just above a fall or rapid, which lowers the water in the partially enclosed space sufficiently to enable the miner with long-handled shovels to dig out the earth without much difficulty; but when no such rapids are to be found, the only advantage of a wing-dam consists in the stillness of the water, the current being generally so violent that it would be quite impossible, without some such expedient, to raise a shovelful of earth above the surface.

The miner then, standing in the water up to his middle, scoops up the gravel from the bottom, and either flings it on to the bank or empties it into a bucket held by one of his companions. Much of the gold is unavoidably lost by this imperfect process, but the labour is so slight compared with the ordinary method of damming, and requires so much less expenditure of time and money, that the miner can well afford to overlook its peculiar disadvantages.

With a wing-dam in prospect, and one fourth of a submarine armour in actual possession, we thought we might safely bid defiance to fortune. The water, however, was yet too high, and in the mean time we worked, though very interruptedly, here and there along the banks, sometimes making half an ounce apiece, and at others spending the whole day in prospecting without earning a dollar. The 12th of June was uncomfortably cool, and a slight shower fell in the morning, the first rain we had known for more than six weeks. The next day the river had contracted so much with the cold that we made a beginning in our claim at the lower end of the bar, but the water again rising, drove us out at thirty buckets.

In the afternoon we walked down to the store to see a wonderful instrument that had just been brought into the valley. On entering the store, we found a large crowd assembled, and in the midst a heavy-looking Dutchman, who held in his hands a strip of whalebone apparently taken from an umbrella, and split in two about half its length.

The Dutchman was talking very earnestly, and the crowd, as if afraid of his potent wand, kept at a respectful distance while he expounded to them the extraordinary properties lodged in this innocent-looking bit of umbrella, and the way in which it could be used to most advantage. Just as I forced my way into the circle, the operator, astrologer, magician, or what not, grasped the two ends of the split firmly in his hands, giving the whole nearly the form of the letter Y, when a pan of gold being placed under the point, it was at once depressed from a horizontal to a vertical position, as if drawn by some mysterious and irresistible attraction.

Having with some difficulty persuaded the owner to trust his magic in my profane hands, I found that the weight of the rod caused it to twist with considerable violence; but if this were to be regarded as any indication of the presence of gold, the whole floor of the tent must be underlaid with that precious metal.

Our Dutchman, however, still maintained that in his hands it manifested this dipping propensity only over the pan of gold, and explained its perversity when in my keeping by the same theory as that advanced by the believers in animal magnetism, that some constitutions are more susceptible or impressible than others. While he was defending his opinion, with a good deal of volubility and ill-temper, a buckskin purse was brought in half full of black sand, and laid upon the ground for a second experiment. On being held over it the point sunk as rapidly as before, whereupon the unbelievers set up a laugh, and even the faithful looked somewhat disconcerted; but the wary conjuror, nothing daunted on learning the contents of the purse, ingeniously contended that this was a stronger proof of his position—that there must be, of course, a few grains of gold still sticking in the corners, and that they had affected the delicate nerves of his divining-rod.

He even had the assurance to offer his services in discovering rich deposits, demanding only ten per cent. for his own share; but, the miners being generally unable to appreciate the value of his invention, he joined himself to a party possessed of superior discernment, who, trusting to the guidance of the witch-whalebone, (I never knew whether its having been part of an umbrella had anything to do with its remarkable properties,) dug one hole after another on the banks of Otter Creek, and would undoubtedly have at length discovered the treasure, had not the same envious, and malignant sprites that guard the spoils of Captain Kidd hurried it away, just as they were on the point of success.

As we were now in constant expectation of receiving an answer to the letter I had written in February, in regard to the submarine armour, we walked to Georgetown as often as we could muster courage to ascend the hill; and, though we were often disappointed in the object of our visit, we never failed to be rewarded for our labour. After living so long in that narrow valley, the high rolling country above seemed almost like a new creation. Our thoughts expanded with the horizon, and we breathed purer and easier, as if we had just escaped from prison, or the dismal depths of a mine. We stopped repeatedly to satiate our eyes, long unused to such telescopic vision, on the circling prospect, and to inhale the larger air that came sifting through those giant pines. Every thing about us was on a grander and more magnificent scale, and Ford's Bar seemed a baby-house, a world in miniature, where the sky, the trees, the winds, were all alike stunted and Lilliputian.

In fact, we were becoming heartily tired of Ford's Bar, and of the Middle Fork, and not without reason; for neither was exactly the place that one would choose for a summer residence. By the first of July, the heat had become almost intolerable; pent up in such close quarters, it was reverberated from mountain to mountain, till their dark, slaty sides became charged like immense reservoirs, from which it was poured down upon our heads. By shortening the sun's reign, however, several hours, morning and evening, the hills sensibly diminished the evil; and a fresh breeze that flowed through the valley all the middle of the day, still farther reduced the temperature. But when, as was sometimes the case, the surrounding atmosphere was warmer than our bodies, the breeze seemed rather like the breath of an oven, and the coolest place was that least exposed to its influence.

The mercury often stood at a hundred, and rose several times to one hundred and ten; when the only way of obtaining relief was to sit down, up to our chins in the water of the Creek, like so many pond-lillies just raising their heads above the surface.

To make any exertion in such weather, was not to be thought of for a moment. We had read all the books in the circulating library—Dr. Tabisch had returned to Mormon Island—Dr. Browne had also gone thither on a visit—the river fell slower than it was ever known to do before—and, in short, everything conspired to make the state of ennui to which we were now reduced more and more intolerable.

Under these circumstances, it is not very wonderful that we tired of our way of life—of sleeping on the ground—of cooking our own food—of wearing dirty clothes—of talking of our unvaried theme; or that we should long for some rational amusement—for white sheets and table-cloths—for cream in our coffee, and ice on our butter—for carpets and easy-chairs—for books and music, and the sight of a pretty face, whether of child or woman—and for a New England Sabbath.

It was not till the middle of July that the shrinking of the river brought a temporary interruption to this indolent existence, by enabling us at length to take undivided possession of our claim. The earth paid from fifteen to fifty cents to the bucket; but there was so little of it, that we were compelled to put a prudent restraint upon our energies, and work only half the time, lest we should be left entirely without occupation.

About this time, the miners who camped on Otter Creek were horribly scared by the nocturnal visits of a large grizzly bear, who came prowling round their tents, and carried off sundry legs of bacon that were hanging on trees before their doors. As our tents would prove a slight protection, in case he should desire to extend his acquaintance, it was determined, if possible, to rout the enemy out of the neighbourhood.

Accordingly, one fine morning, long before the sun had gilded the topmost edge of our western boundary, a party of ten or twelve bold hunters started off in pursuit, firmly resolved not to return without a trophy; and, though I had never been hunting in my life, I could not withstand the temptation to accompany them.

I slung a heavy rifle over my shoulder, and the whole party, after advancing several miles up the Creek, began slowly to ascend the mountain, following without difficulty the rude trail of the slouching monster; till being at length, as we supposed, somewhere in his vicinity, we halted to arrange our plan of operations. The place where we stood was directly under a low, steep bank, and had evidently been occupied as a lair by the animal, as it was easy to see the hollow he had scooped out for his bed, and the coarse dark hair sticking in little tufts, where he had rubbed himself against the rocks.

"Now, boys!" said our leader, who had taken that office upon himself, by virtue of his greater skill and experience, "the plaguey varmint is somewhere here about, I reckon; so we may as well be all ready for him; for when he does come, he'll likely be pooty sudden and uproarious. But don't go to being skeered, but jist wait till you ken see the white of his eyes, and then blaze away."

"Never mind, cap'n, about our being afraid, but just tell us how we're agoing to find him; we might scuttle about among these everlasting bushes for a month without—"

"Oh, don't you be alarmed," interrupted a third, "we'll find him soon enough, I'll warrant;" and the words were hardly out of his mouth, before they were followed by a something between a snort and a roar, that seemed to come from over our heads, and almost in our very ears.

Raising our eyes all at once to the bank above, we saw the bushes parted by the pointed head, leg-of-mutton-paws, and monstrous front of a full-grown grizzly, apparently in the very act of springing upon us. His coming had, indeed, been sudden and uproarious in the last degree; no one thought of waiting till he could see the white of his eyes, but away we went, over rocks and bushes, like a bevy of partridges, in every direction; and, so successfully did we execute this manoeuvre, that no two of us were left together, and we came into the camp, one after the other, all the rest of the day, with the unanimous conviction, that if we had frightened the bear half so much as he had frightened us, he would never pay us a second visit.

This incident produced a good deal of mirth at our expense, and was the occasion of several entertaining stories. An old backwoodsman who had lived many years in Oregon was listened to with the greatest attention.

He was hunting one day in the mountains with a single companion, when coming to a little clump of rocks and bushes, they each took a different path intending to meet at the other end. On reaching the spot, however, he saw nothing of his companion; but hearing just then the report of a rifle, he walked round the other side to see what was going on. He had not gone far when he came upon a large grizzly bear sitting upright on the snow like a dog, but not a man was in sight. Wondering what all this could mean he took deliberate aim and fired, when the brute sprang growling towards him, but suddenly stopped and then walked slowly off in another direction.

Anxious to learn what had befallen his friend the hunter left the bear, and continued his search; and the next moment coming to the place where the bear had been sitting, he found his companion pressed down into the snow, and almost suffocated by his close confinement. It seems he had fired at the bear, who had rushed upon him before he could reload, and throwing him down without inflicting any serious injury, had then expressed his contempt in the most emphatic manner by seating himself directly upon his prostrate foe.

Another anecdote still better illustrated the almost human cunning of this dangerous brute. A party who were out in pursuit of cattle encountered a bear of unusual size; and being desirous of taking him alive, attacked him with their lassoes. The sagacious animal no sooner found his progress impeded by the lasso which had been thrown over his hind leg, than sitting upright on his haunches he seized the line in his forepaws and proceeded to draw towards him the luckless horse and rider, just as a fisherman would pull in a cod or halibut.

The whole thing was so sudden and unexpected that no one had time to interfere,—in an instant he laid open the horse's belly by a single blow, and the rider only avoided the same fate by falling off backwards and thus making his escape. This bear was afterwards killed, and found to weigh when dressed upwards of a thousand pounds.

On the 22d of July, having walked over to Georgetown, I received the long-expected letter announcing that a diving dress had been shipped from New York according to my directions; and St. John coming the same day from Big Bar with an unfavourable report of the aspect of affairs at that place, we determined to sell our share as speedily as possible.

In the evening a party of poor fellows just arrived in the mines were sitting round their camp-fire before the store. Leaning against the door-post, I looked at them awhile with half-shut eyes, and presently I began to laugh. In fact, I couldn't help it. I couldn't hear what they were talking about, but I knew just as well as if I had. I even knew their very thoughts. Poor simpletons! what a bitter experience was before them! what a sad seesaw of fear and faith! hope slow drowning, like a nine-and-a-half-days' puppy, opening its eyes just in time to die.

Then my eyelids drooped still farther, and my inward sight grew stronger. I saw the waiting ones at home—the young wife—the widowed mother—the helpless orphan—waiting—watching—weeping—oh how wearily!—the death-list, and the long despair.

When I opened my eyes again, the party in which I had insensibly become so interested, were just stooping to enter their tent; I flung off the chills and damps that were creeping over me, and walked swiftly up the creek.

A few days after I walked to Coloma to receive the price of our armour. Passing through Georgetown without stopping, I arrived at Coloma about noon; and after resting a few hours, as my man had not yet arrived, I thought I could do no better than to take a walk down the river to the bar that Number Four and I had prospected a year before.

I found the selfsame hole that we had dug with so much fruitless labour, and moralized over it in the most edifying and affecting manner. It was, in good sooth, fitted to excite "a most humorous sadness," and I could have wept it full of tears to think of all the brilliant hopes that had faded and gone out since we first struck our spades into the gravel. A number of miners were at work hard by, and from them I learned that the place paid only four or five cents to the bucket, and had hence received the significant title of Poverty Bar.

"Only four or five cents!" I repeated; "surely you must be mistaken. A friend of mine, a very scientific man, assured me that the formation was unusually promising."

"Formation be d——d," replied the other; "I've been at work here these three weeks, and the most I've made any day yet is four dollars and a half; but perhaps," he added, with a leer, "I don't go to work in a scientific fashion."

Turning my back on Poverty Bar, with a feeling of secret satisfaction that our conclusions had been so fully verified, I took a short cut across the hills, and presently came to a bend in the river where a large party of Dutchmen had commenced the most extensive damming operations I had yet witnessed. The river at this point made almost a complete circle, so that by digging through a hill a quarter of a mile in width they drained a mile and a half of the channel. The tunnel was about ten feet square, dug through a ledge of rotten granite. The work went on day and night, and a wooden railroad with small hand-cars was employed to remove the rubbish. When completed the tunnel was found too small to conduct the river, and the lateness of the season obliged the company to postpone further operations till the next summer.

I took supper at a boarding-house kept by the most enterprising merchant in all that section. The extent of his business operations may be inferred from a single fact. At a time when flour was worth a dollar a pound, he was said to have from one to two hundred thousand pounds in store, and other staples in nearly equal proportions. His warehouse at Coloma was a long low building, stuffed with goods of every description, from which he supplied the trading posts he had established at Ford's Bar, and other places on the Middle Fork.

The company assembled at table was of a very mixed character, and the conversation, which had by some strange accident strayed from mining to politics, was more free and easy than is usual on such occasions. I was not a little amused by one of the company, a Col. Somebody, from Ohio, who asserted, in the same tone as if he were stating a truism, that Andrew Jackson was the greatest man that ever lived except St. Paul. I leave it to more theological politicians, or more political theologians than I, to settle this knotty question.

The next morning, having received my money, I set out on my return, but after walking about two miles remembered an important errand I had neglected, and was obliged to retrace my steps to Coloma. This was but a foretaste of what was to follow. A new road had recently been constructed by the merchants of Georgetown and Coloma, winding in a very picturesque manner along the face of the mountain, and reminding me, to compare great things with small, of Napoleon's road over the Simplon. Having reached the summit, and turned my back upon the vast panorama that had presented itself in so many different aspects as the road dragged its length like a wounded snake in irregular curves from point to point, I walked on more rapidly, without paying much attention to my path, till an uneasy instinctive impression that I had lost my way brought me to a sudden pause.

The old and new roads came together seven miles from Coloma; but though, as I supposed, I had walked much further than that distance, there was yet nothing about me that I remembered to have seen before. I found myself in a narrow winding footpath that ran along the elevated ridge or backbone of the mountain, and in the midst of a dark pine forest. The solitude was most profound. It seemed an immense manufactory of silence, enough to supply the whole world, where nothing was ever heard but the melancholy cry of the mourning-dove, the only safety-valve of a stillness pent up till it was like to burst. This bird is the most skilful of all ventriloquists; for, though he may be perched directly over your head, his voice seems always to proceed from a great distance, which gives it a startling unearthly sound impossible to be described.

After walking irresolutely back and forth a few minutes, I determined to proceed, trusting soon to meet some one who could give me the necessary information. The narrow footpath presently led me to the brow of the hill, when, instantly recognising the wide road that skirted its base as the one I had travelled the preceding day, I descended with a bound, inwardly congratulating myself on the sagacity and good fortune that had prevented me from turning back as I had at first intended. Meeting a wagon soon after, I asked the driver with the utmost confidence how far it was to Georgetown, to which he replied with a grin that, if I meant Greenwood Valley, it was not more than five or six miles, but Georgetown was in a very different direction.

On explaining my situation, he very good-naturedly informed me that I was in the wrong road entirely; and that I ought to have taken the right hand turning several miles back, at somebody's ranch. I thanked him, and promised to follow his directions to the very letter, if ever I travelled that way again, but what I wanted to know then was the nearest way to Georgetown. Opening his mouth, and setting his eyes very hard on vacancy, while he pressed his forefinger on his nether lip, he appeared to meditate for a moment; and then replied, pointing with his whip, that the nearest way was over that hill yonder, but if he was me he should go right on to Greenwood Valley and take a clean start from there.

I very reluctantly followed his advice, and having obtained a drink of water from a lonely shingle-maker I encountered in the forest, I hastened on, and came in due time to the prettiest village I had seen in California. The single broad street with its bright white houses, of canvass indeed, instead of painted clapboards, reminded me strongly of New England; but I had just then little relish of beauty of any sort, and was passing through in very ill humour, when I was saluted with, "Hullo, stranger! is that you?" and turning round, I recognised, to my equal pleasure and surprise, one of the company who had started with us from Mormon Island and afterwards left us, as already narrated, on their way to Rector's Bar. The judge was there also, keeping a bowling alley and its usual concomitants; and a little further down the street two more of the company partners in a store and boarding house. They confirmed the accounts we had already heard of Rector's; on their arrival at that place in April, they found the ground white with snow, provisions enormously dear, and no possibility of doing any thing for months. They finally broke up their camp, and came down to Greenwood, where they had been so far successful as to make them forget their former losses.

A tedious walk of eight miles brought me to Georgetown, where I stopped half an hour to rest, very foolishly as it happened; for when I prepared to go, I could hardly rise from my seat, and did not succeed in gaining an erect position till I reached the bottom of the hill at CaÑon Creek. Sitting down on a log that bridged the sluggish current, I bathed my feet in the muddy water, and, thus refreshed, made my way down the mountain at Ford's Bar, just as the miners were returning from their day's work.

The next morning, the river having now fallen sufficiently, we made trial of the spot where we had designed building a wing-dam, but found that the great depth of water at that place rendered such an undertaking altogether impracticable. We spent several of the succeeding days in running up and down the river, in pursuit of some of those rich pickings we had so confidently expected; but without success. Lest the reader should think this was entirely our own fault, I would add, that we did not find them, because they were not there. The banks, instead of improving as the waters receded, became even worse and worse—the first miners, naturally, commenced at low-water mark, and they had done their work so effectually, that nothing was left for their successors.

Before leaving Ford's Bar, we determined, however, to make one more trial of damming, and selected for that purpose a portion of the river just above the mouth of Otter Creek. For two whole days I stood up to my middle in water, painfully scooping out the sand and gravel with a long-handled shovel; and, in all that time, owing to the peculiar difficulties of the situation, only succeeded in digging a hole four feet in depth. As there was very little gold in any of the earth I had thrown out, we went no further; but another party, undeterred by our example, at once took possession, and having, after several weeks, completed their dam, found, to their own chagrin and our equal complacency, that the place was, as we had concluded, entirely worthless.

We now made up our minds to leave the Middle Fork as soon as possible, and sent Tertium on in advance to make a rapid and comprehensive survey of the diggings for a distance of ten or fifteen miles above Mormon Island.

While he was gone, we still continued to mine here and there along the banks. Returning, one day, from a longer tramp than usual, we came to a tent occupied by a party we had met several months before, on their first arrival in the mines. They were then in fine spirits; not even the clumsy packs, that bent them almost double, could crush their vigorous hope; and though I tried, with most disinterested benevolence, to moderate their extravagant expectations, it was easy to see that they gave no credit to my assertions. One of their number now lay in his graveclothes before their door; and his companions, themselves enfeebled by sickness, were waiting till some one should pass who would assist in carrying the body to the grave.

We offered our services, and, each taking a handle of the rude bier to which the body was lashed, we walked on in silence, our companions leading the way. After proceeding a quarter of a mile down the river, over such a path as we have already described, we turned to the left and began to ascend the mountain at the only place practicable in that neighbourhood. It was extremely steep and slippery; and it was only by clinging to the bushes, and sliding the bier along the ground, that we at length reached the elevated shelf or plateau where the grave had been dug. A few handfuls of fern were thrown over the body, wrapt simply in a blanket; two boards laid upon it, in the form of a roof; the earth thrown in, and all was over. Our companions thanked us for our assistance, and we returned to the bar, to inform the doctor that the patient he had seen almost well the day before, was dead and buried.

Sunday, came a letter from Tertium, advising us to return to Mormon Island, or Natoma, as it was now called; and the next Wednesday we packed our luggage on two mules, almost extinguishing them beneath the cumbrous load, and began, for the last time, painfully to ascend the winding path by which alone we could reach the lofty table-land above. We were obliged to halt repeatedly to re-adjust some perverse rocker or impracticable frying-pan; and, once or twice, the whole concern, mule and all, was only saved from rolling, in an avalanche of legs and tin kettles, down the mountain, by our catching sudden hold of the bridle, and, with the other hand, griping fast the bushes. Having reached the top in safety, we stopped awhile to breathe; then, filing softly on through the glorious pine forest, demolishing a whole colony of ant-lions at every step—like some moon-headed giant, striding from one planet to another, and unwittingly dusting away with his foot Broadway or St. Paul's—we came in a few hours to Georgetown, where we stopped till the next day.

We took supper at an eating-house kept by an honest Missourian, who had come across the Plains, and brought with him his whole family. He had the highest opinion of California, and well he might; one of his children, an interesting little girl of five, having already received quite a handsome dowry, a pint cupful of gold, presented to her at different times by the hard-fisted miners, whom her infantile grace had so pleasantly reminded of their own distant firesides.

We found very comfortable and genteel lodgings under an immense hay-rick, containing several hundred tons, in one corner of the village; and the next morning, having found a wagon going down to Sacramento, engaged the driver for ten dollars, to carry our luggage as far as Natoma. We rode this last part of the way, and had thus an opportunity of learning each other's experience. Our driver was comparatively a novus homo; he had been but a few months in the country, yet had already made several thousand dollars, and evidently placed no faith in our assertions, that we had, thus far, met with nothing but disappointment. He could not understand how a man could be a whole year in California without acquiring at least a moderate fortune. He had a store far up on the Middle Fork, where he was doing a fine business; and was now going down to Sacramento for a fresh supply of goods. It was not in human nature to feel no touches of envy, as we listened to his confident anticipations; yet I was really sorry on hearing, several months after, that he had lost his whole property by the failure of an extensive damming operation, in which he was largely interested. This is but a specimen of the ups and downs of California life.