The full distance traveled from Independence, Mo., to the Sacramento River, at Lassen’s Ranch, as kept by me, is as follows:
In May, 73 miles; in June, 429 miles; in July, 436 miles; in August, 471 miles; in September, 523 miles; in October, 198 miles. This makes it 2,130 miles to Sacramento River. To Feather River, near Oroville, 2,178 miles.
CHAPTER V.
THE LAND OF GOLD.
The following pages are from the original manuscript written by Kimball Webster, which relates a few of the many experiences in California from October, 1849, to June, 1851, and in Oregon from June, 1851, to July, 1854.—Editor.
At that time California and Oregon were both territories and belonged to the United States, and both in a semi-primitive condition. California had been a part of Mexico until 1847, only two years prior to the time of which I am writing. This seems difficult to comprehend at the present time, 1914, when California and Oregon have taken their places among the great and leading states of the Union, as to population, wealth and influences.
On the arrival in California of the gold seekers of 1849, the prospects did not present as favorable and promising an appearance to a large percentage of the newly arrived immigrants as they had been led to picture to their imagination. Very many of them had believed that once they were in the mines, gold would be found in such quantities it would require but a few weeks, or months at the most, for them to be able to gather enough of the precious metal to enable them to return to their homes independent for the rest of their lives.
Many, however, were doomed to a most sad and bitter disappointment, and far better would it have been for such had they remained at home and enjoyed the domestic pleasures which they had left behind.
It was found that to make a success of mining gold from the California mines was one of the most laborious kinds of employment that a man could engage in; and required energy and perseverance to ensure a reasonably profitable return as a whole.
Some, it is true, were fortunate in finding gold in such quantities as to enable them to gather a moderate fortune in comparatively a short time and return to their homes. But these were exceptions.
I believe that one ounce of gold per day was above the average pay of the miners then actually at work in mining in the placer mines of California.