Bridges, ferries, roads, watercourses, dams, hotels, and stage coaches, have nearly all been started by means of the capital obtained from the soil over which they run, or on which they are constructed. No one knows what a waggon will undergo, until he has mastered Californian trails and gulches. The worst places are the steep descents that skirt the base of a mountain, where the road has an inclination of about thirty degrees towards the precipice beneath.
In such places you may fasten a rope to the axle of the waggon, and passing the other end round a tree or rock as a check, you may let her “slide,� which she will do without any further trouble on your part.
We were now approaching a spot where a few days previously the Indians had made some successful descents upon mining parties, cutting off some of their number. The Indians of this region promise to be a great annoyance, for they are mounted and brave, and are gradually becoming possessed of rifles.
There is an Indian commission in the country, and portions of territory, called “Indian Reserves,� have been marked out as in other states, and presented to the Indians from their good father, the President. These “Reservations� the Indians accept and occupy, but the lurking idea still remains, that the rest of the country is theirs also, and in the mean time they “lift hair,�[14] from time to time, to keep their hands in.
When Indians, labouring under the ridiculous notion that anything can belong to them that the white man wants, become troublesome, it is customary to drive them back; but the Indians of this region when so driven, will find their revenge in carrying on an exterminating warfare against the overland emigration—at least so it appears to me.
Still, the policy of conciliation pursued by the “Commissioners� is the only one that lies open, and if they can persuade these savages “that half a loaf is better than no bread,� they will have carried out their diplomatic mission to its full extent. But it is easier to lull Indian suspicions than to eradicate them; and unfortunately for all parties, these aborigines cherish morbid ideas relative to the “graves of their fathers,� from which, under the influence of diplomacy, they have been induced to retire: and certainly in those cases, where their progenitors have been buried in auriferous soil, their remains are not more religiously respected than would they have been had their fate consigned them to some of our intramural burying grounds. For although, in a civilised country, one’s great grandmother’s skull may be thrown up with impunity, when her lease of the grave is out, these Indians cling to the absurd superstition that the great “Manitou� looks wrathfully on those who wilfully disturb the dead!
We ascended hill after hill, and by noon, being hot, tired, and dusty, the scenery had no longer charms for our eyes; we passed gigantic red-woods only to sneer at them; we pooh-pooh’d cascades that fell from masses of black basaltic rock; the honeysuckles that lent their sweetness to the air around us, were pronounced disgusting; and even the botanist reproached the yellow poppies with being “stinking,� as if he couldn’t have borne with them.
But when we pulled up at “Smith’s ranche� and bathed and dined, we dismissed these unhealthy feelings, and took the honeysuckles to our bosoms again. We now began to experience the change of air consequent on our increased elevation, and the ascent was so rapid here, that thirty miles ahead of us the snow was reported to be lying fifteen feet in depth.
Where we now were, the main trail was little worn, but at a certain point we struck off to the right through the forest, and following the “blazed trees� we suddenly emerged on a clear and rocky ledge on the side of the mountain. Here was the quartz vein we had come to see, and its thirteen American owners lived upon the spot in a couple of log huts.
We were received with great hospitality, although this was of less substantial kind than it would have been, had not our entertainers been “out of everything� but flour, water, and tea. We had fortunately brought some provisions with us, otherwise we might have indulged in the luxury of a mountain appetite longer than was conducive to comfort. During two days we inspected the quartz mine, and having to the best of our ability satisfied ourselves of its wealth, we retraced our road to Sacramento, taking care to avoid the residence of the “old she goat,� but calling on Crockett, whom we again found with his “skin cracking� at some imaginary insult to his wife.