forced to leave for other more populous sections—the greater portion of them following the golden current to the head-centers of population, i. e., the great cities below. Many, however, abandoned their calling, and becoming desperate engaged in the business of mining. A few, however, turned their attention to what in their opinion seemed the most remunerative, and most in accordance with their natures: they became travelling stage agents, upon the various routes throughout the mining regions; inspecting the various coaches which they met in lonesome out-of-way places. When found to be overloaded with a larger amount or weight of precious metal than the law allows in such cases, these vehicles would be relieved of the surplus, and in many cases a little more besides. The greater number of this gentry were, however, in course of time captured through the vigilance of certain well-known and energetic detectives, such as J. Hume and a few others.
In a few short years the placer diggings were almost entirely exhausted, and, as before mentioned, the annual yield of gold had been somewhat reduced in consequence; but the yield from the ancient river beds will, no doubt, remain a constant quantity for many long years, until they also become exhausted, or the profits becoming too small will lead to their abandonment, and ultimately fall into the hands of the Mongolian race, which will, doubtless, continue working them for the next three hundred years at least. Quartz mining, however, is of a different nature, and in consequence of the great number of ledges throughout the State, as well as the great depth in which gold-bearing quartz has been found, many ages will be required to entirely exhaust them, amounting doubtless to hundreds of years, or as long, perhaps, as gold is used for the purposes of exchange.
After a residence here among the hills of the mining regions of six or seven years’ duration, we had acquired a knowledge of the peculiarities of the climate of the country, the time of the changes of its seasons from wet to dry, and vice versa, and we found that there was no uniformity in the various changes, and no possible manner of foretelling what the following winter or its nature would be; whether it would be a wet or a dry one, or what the nature of the following dry season was to be. No two seasons were alike, but differed in many respects from all preceding ones. The Indians, however, pretended to have discovered a means of forecasting the nature of the following winters, but they missed it occasionally. It was also claimed that the squirrels were endowed with foresight, and would lay in a winter’s supply accordingly. These, too, missed it occasionally, from which fact it was evident, as the oldest inhabitant was forced to admit upon his dying bed, that no sure means of prognosticating the future condition of the weather in California were possible.
The rains commenced in the mining regions usually about the last of October, and continued at intervals throughout the season until on or about April 10th, and occasionally, with a few light showers thrown in as good measure, up to the 20th. These rainy seasons throughout the central portion of the mining regions were usually warm and pleasant, with but very little snow and ice, and, with the exception of a few days towards the last of December, mining could be continued throughout the year. The dry seasons, in some localities, were very hot for a short time during July and August, but the nights, however, in the hottest of weather were invariably cool.
The orchards and vineyards were about this time coming into bearing, demonstrating the fact that the soil was well adapted to fruit growing. Many of the ravines and flats, from which the soil had previously been washed away in the search for gold, were by means of brush dams again filled up to a proper level by the muddy streams from mining claims higher up, and converted into rich garden spots, giving an appearance similar to the older, settled portions of our country. It soon became apparent that fruit raising could be made remunerative, and hundreds of miners throughout the central portions of the mining regions turned their attention to this new and profitable industry. Orchards and vineyards in a few short years could be found blooming upon every available point where water for irrigation could be obtained; upon flats, benches and slides, and even in some cases upon the tops of the highest hills, for up here the soil was of a lighter character and better adapted to the vine than that of lower and colder localities. The long, dry summer seasons here are well adapted to fruit raising, and it was soon found that tropical fruits would mature and ripen in certain well-protected localities, such, for instance, as the orange, lemon and fig.
Various flowering plants, also, which in much lower latitudes of the Atlantic slope can only be raised in hot-houses, are here an ordinary garden plant, and but very seldom injured by the frosts of spring. The long, dry summers and cloudless skies are to the new comers an agreeable contrast with those at the East, and for a few years are very enjoyable, but in time become monotonous to those who were born and raised under less favorable conditions in colder climates, many becoming wearied at the continuance of such a long and cloudless atmosphere, which in some seasons embraces a period of eight to ten months. They seem to pine for other conditions, where heavy rains, hailstorms and cyclones are frequent and break the monotony of the scene. This desire for a change is a disease, the remedy for which is well known, for many who have returned to their Eastern homes to be cured have again wended their way to California, perfectly convalescent after spending one short year away, satisfied and content and willing to endure the tedious monotony of eight long months beneath the cloudless skies here, rather than to risk an unequal contest with the blizzards and cyclones of an Eastern winter.
The mining classes are usually of a restless nature and ready to wander forth at any time in search of new fields, and will, as it has been proved in the earlier experiences of Gold Bluff, Salmon and the Snake River excitement, as well as in the more recent discoveries of Frazer River, British Columbia and Montana, abandon ranches and good paying mines, carried away by the anticipation of finding away yonder rich mines and better pay than can be found nearer home. But the greater portion eventually return, satisfied that small wages at home are better than searching among the mountain ranges of other sections of the country for uncertainties. In the course of some eight years from the first discovery of gold in California, the entire country, extending from Arizona and New Mexico on the south, up through the British possessions to the Alaska line on the north, and as far as the Black Hills at the east, were traveled over and prospected by various companies of miners who were in search of another Eldorado. Although many rich localities were discovered from which a great amount of gold was extracted, yet the mines were spotted, the gold generally at a great depth and confined to a few gulches or ravines only, demonstrating the fact that no other portion of the earth’s surface, at least upon our own continent, will ever be discovered where the gold is
distributed so uniformly over the surface among the numerous ravines, rivers and gulches, and in such immense quantities, as was found to be the case in California. In fact, I doubt the existence of a similar deposit and of such an extent, anywhere upon the earth’s surface. Neither has there been so far discovered anywhere upon the Pacific Coast mining districts that contain within their limits such a vast number of quartz ledges bearing free gold in paying quantities, as can be found in the mining regions of California at the present time.