This scarcity of rain, however, though it interfered so materially with the plan of our winter operations, was full of promise for the approaching summer. The rivers would probably be unusually low; and it was this circumstance that led us, in spite of our former disappointment, to turn once more a favourable eye upon our unlucky dam. As early as the 5th of January I had put up a notice signifying my intention to work the claim the next summer, which Cameron, our bonny Scot, no sooner discovered than he scrawled his own name beneath, and by this characteristic stroke of policy made at once two hundred and fifty dollars. The other members of the company having destroyed their constitution and dispersed in different directions, we anticipated no trouble from that quarter; but we regarded with considerable uneasiness the movements of another party who, seeing the claim abandoned, had also put up a notice, and of an earlier date than my own. As they were already in possession, however, of another claim a mile below the island, and as my having been a member of the Washington Company gave us, in spite of my long neglect, no slight advantage, we determined to maintain our ground, and tore down their notices without further ceremony. Still more to strengthen our hands, we now proposed to form an alliance with two of the principal miners in the red bank, whose numerous retainers would enable us, if need were, to repel force by force. The first, whom we have already mentioned by the name of Capt. Sampson, was a New York Texan, who had patched the cautious calculation of his native State with the sudden enterprise of the frontier. The two tempers had not united—there was the iron and the carbon, but not the steel. He made money and he lost it with equal facility.
Dr. Ecossais was the other, whom we, or rather Capt. Sampson, proposed as a partner in our new enterprise. He had also made money, by keeping a tavern in the village; and he had also lost all he had made, by speculating in dams. He was one of the first to settle on the red bank, where he was now in a fair way to retrieve his losses.
While this important negotiation was still in progress, I went down to San Francisco to attend to certain matters which required our attention. I left Natoma on foot, hoping soon to fall in with a wagon that would carry me to Sacramento, but none overtook me till I had walked more than half the distance. We arrived at Sacramento about noon, and at two I started in the steamer Confidence for San Francisco. An exciting race with the Senator made the first half-hour pass pleasantly enough, but when we at length yielded the palm, and I had gone through the boat and sufficiently admired the fine engravings in the saloon, I became impatient even of twenty miles an hour. My only companion was Dr. Ripsome, with his enamelled dickey, who, having tried both doctoring and digging in vain, was now going to practise his profession at San Francisco. We reached that city about nine, and my companion led me blunderingly to a hotel at the head of Sansome street, where, for the first time since leaving home, I crept in between the snow-white sheets, with an awkwardness that seemed to say that I had no right in such dainty lodgings. An alarm of fire during the night—the ringing of the bells and the hoarse cries of the boys—made me believe myself for a moment at home, but a glance at the bare rafters of my narrow cell soon dispelled that illusion.
San Francisco had not changed so much as Sacramento. The most striking feature was the old hulks lying in the very heart of the city, with streets and houses all about them, and suggesting vague and puzzling analogies to the ark on Mount Ararat.
I saw here a number of my fellow-passengers in the Leucothea, and having obtained a large supply of books and papers, the first of which I bought at the stalls that were to be found at every corner, I returned in the Senator to Sacramento, and the next day to Natoma. I had very unadvisedly taken my blankets with me, and I had now, in addition to this burden, two thick coats, the eighth volume of the Spectator, the first volume of Macaulay's History—both large octavos—and five small volumes of Gil Blas, besides a bundle of papers. I was very glad on reaching Willow Spring to throw my pack into a wagon, and thus lightened I made the rest of my way with tolerable facility.
During my brief absence river stock had rapidly risen, and the prospect for the summer was more favourable than ever. Cameron had agreed to sell his half of the Washington Dam for two hundred and fifty dollars, and my brothers had then disposed of it to Sampson and Ecossais at a slight advance. The next day, however, they refused to complete the purchase, for fear of trouble from some members of the Washington Company, who had at this late hour set up a claim. We walked two or three miles up the river to the place where these unreasonables were at work, to hold a palaver, and if possible effect a compromise; but finding them fixed in their resolution of working on the dam the next summer, we told them they shouldn't, and came home very much discouraged.
Tuesday, March 11, we went to work on the race in order to get the start of our numerous competitors. Cameron at first refused to join us. "You'll lose your share then," said St. John. "I'll chance it," he cried, but finally consented and went. We worked several hours clearing out the canal, which was in many places almost obliterated by the rubbish that had been thrown into it. In the afternoon St. John had a long talk with Capt. Sampson, and represented our superior claims so strongly that he agreed to make the proposed arrangement if Dr. Ecossais would join him.
"We are all inclined to buy out Cameron at all events, but the risk is almost too great. Four p. m., Sampson changes his mind once more and concludes to buy—while we are talking about it, Cameron comes in in his usual hurry—after a little haggling sells for two hundred and fifty dollars—then runs a mile up the river to communicate the intelligence to another party with whom he had about completed a bargain."
Wednesday, we sold one of our remaining shares to a young Missourian for two hundred dollars, and the next day went to work with eight men. The party below having heard of our operations now sent out a small detachment to reconnoitre the ground, and if possible reason us out of the claim. Possession in California is more than nine points of the law, and we paid little heed to their arguments. They had one effect, however, which at the time was rather disheartening—the young Missourian, not having yet paid for his share, was frightened at the first appearance of a storm, and at night quietly removed his tools without saying a word to any one, and we did not discover his defection till the following morning. A few days after, our rivals made us a second visit in larger numbers, accompanied by a famous orator, who endeavoured to persuade us to settle the matter by arbitration. We held a meeting in the evening, and having chosen Capt. Sampson president, and framed a constitution and by-laws, determined unanimously, in our corporate capacity, to make no such concession. The whole red bank was ready to take up arms in our defence, which strengthened our stomachs mightily, but we had no further trouble from any quarter. We continued our labour in the raceway for nearly a week, when a succession of violent rains, that raised the river higher than it had been during the whole winter, interrupted our work, and we were not able to resume it till the last of June.