“Mine Gott! vat vas dat noise I hear?”
They all jumped to their feet, and none too soon, for at this instant, the rear end of the room in which they were sitting fell in with a crash, and a huge boulder went crashing through the house, taking in its flight the stove, and, smashing through the front of the building into the road, rolled away into the creek, some seventy-five yards below.
To say that our German friend and the rest of them were astonished, or astounded would hardly express it, for they were simply paralyzed. After recovering his senses, he exclaimed, in the most solemn accents:
“Ach mine Gott! mine Gott! How vas dot den? Oh! mine grashus, vere ve go next! I vas most drowned out mit dose vaters in Sagramento, vas shaked all to bieces by dem earthquakes at San Francisco, und den I vas gone up here, vare dem earthquakes or dem waters do not come at all, vid mine family, und, but up here, mine grashus, dem mountains shust come right through mine house und smash dem all to bieces. Mine Gott, vare ve goes now to py oursellufs?”
His wife suggested that they had better go to San Francisco.
“Oh, mine grashus, no no. Dem earthquakes down dere vill shust shakes mine head off righd avay, und gife mine families the shakes all ofer. No I tink ve vill go pack to Shairmany, for we can find no blace to life here in dot strange country. By von blace you vas shake all to bieces by dem earthquake; den you go to anudder blace, und der vater come und vash you all avay; den you vas find anudder blace, vare you don’t see dem shakes or dem vaters, und den, py shiminy, dem hills is all loose, und dey shust dumble down right ofer on to mine house. I goes to Shairmany, mine frent, pooty quick; now don’t it?”
An event was now about to take place which was to change to a great extent the future condition of our new home upon the Pacific Coast. For although all were apparently content and well satisfied with our relative position, yet there was a certain feeling of disconnection, an impassable barrier between us and our old homesteads with the pleasing associations connected with them; there were between us high and lofty ranges of rugged mountains and barren plains that to many were absolutely impassable, while yet by water the voyage to visit friends and our Eastern friends was a long and tedious one; under such circumstances it was evident that something yet was wanting which would enable us to enjoy to the fullest extent the favorable conditions afforded by a residence here in California, and this something which all felt the necessity of was a rapid means of communication with our former Eastern homes. The great event, therefore, to which I alluded was the commencement, by a few energetic old-timers, of a railroad across the mountains. In early days the possibility of a railroad across the continent was often talked of among the miners, and those who had traveled and prospected among the deep cañons and rugged cliffs of the mountains were very strongly impressed with the conviction that the building of a railroad across and over them would be a physical impossibility; consequently, when all preparations were made for the purpose, it was the general opinion among them that it was the wild fancy of a few lunatics who were ignorant of railroads in general, or what natural barriers and obstacles were to be encountered in the building of this railroad in particular. Notwithstanding the protest and prophetic warnings of the old mountaineers, the work was formally commenced in Sacramento City in ’63, and the last (golden) spike driven in ’68, which formed the connecting link between the two roads, making a continuous line between the Atlantic and the Pacific Coasts. The effect of this connection was at once apparent, for we now felt as though we formed a part of the nation and under its protection; but whether the iron rails had any effect upon the electric conditions of the country (as was maintained by certain ones), causing atmospheric changes here, is immaterial; at any rate, social conditions, which heretofore had been unbalanced, were now properly adjusted, for, instead of dwelling away off in some remote corner of the universe, in a foreign land, as we imagined, separated entirely from intercourse with higher conditions of existence by mountain ranges and barren deserts, the iron rails had now broken down the barriers, and from this point in our history we felt more at home. But what said the old miners who had predicted all sorts of troubles, disasters, and failure of the lunatics, the originators of the undertaking, after its successful completion? “Well” (as one of them expressed himself—an Englishman), “give a company of Americans the right of way and a subsidy, and blast me yies if they wouldn’t run a tunnel through the earth and build a railroad to China, yer know.”
An observation of Nature’s works shows us that the wise Creator, in scattering upon the surface of our planet his treasures in the form of gems and rich mineral ores, decided it best to give to such portions of the surface as were the most barren and desolate, the most rugged and mountainous, as well as the least attractive and unfit for cultivation or civilization, the greatest amount of treasures in the form of precious stones or valuable mineral ores as some compensation for such defects, and an investigation of the earth’s surface shows us that this is almost universally the case. But in the case of California however, for some wise purpose, he saw fit to make one grand exception; for although containing, as it does, some of the richest mines in the world, yet it contains also some of the richest and most valuable farming lands, the low, red hills in the mining regions, the best adapted for the cultivation of the vine and all other varieties of fruit. It contains, also, the largest trees, as well as the highest waterfall in the world, the grandest scenery and the finest climate, as well as many other advantages possessed by no other country. The effects of this railroad connection with the East was to enable thousands to make their homes here in this favored country, or to travel through it for observation, with a design at some future time of again returning to dwell amidst the orange groves, and to breathe the pure air of this favored country, and, furthermore, to enable many of the old pioneers, who had abandoned all hopes of ever being able to visit the familiar scenes of their early days, to once more journey towards the rising sun; to visit their early homes in the East without fear of Indians, or starvation upon the desert plains, or of shipwreck upon the water.
CHAPTER XVI.
The Forty-niner—Syd at the North Pole—The Homes of the Old-timers—The Remains of the Cabins of the Forty-niners—Panning Out the Old Cabins.