The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1850-03-02
An Interesting California Letter.

Deer Park, IN this county, for permission To pub
lish the following interesting letter from her hus
band, who is now in California II is needless I,
say that the writer had no thought of its ever BE-
Ing printed but il seemed really too interesting I,
be lost To such as are acquainted with Mr., 4.
his intrepid character and gri;-his narrator
will seem natural enough, sul they Viii receive i
with implicit faith. while in stranger il Will al
most excite inercdulity. Ii there il man in tn,
world able 10 take care Of him'elf Mr.. 4 can d,
it. The letter having been purely private, niucl
oi course i omitted n Of a character not Ia inter
est the public. 1t was dated Nov. 81, ls49.
When we were ON Humboldt or Marvs river
We were told tina, a new read was cpened-a cut
otF--tha, would take TO the mines in 10 mile :
All were for taking the new route. Isaiah and
opposed II. hut were oysrrulcd, and We finally
,ok 1t: but instead Of II miles We found it about
500 the worst road ever nl,n travelled !, kept
us about a month and half longer on the trip
than we should have been had We taken the right
road. The hoax WAS got up by u few uf the set
tiers on the Sacramento on this route. and their
lives are in danger fer it. The enIgran,s make no
bones OF shooting down their cattle which are in
fine order. bat wilder than deer. We got some
during this bad weather, haylAs heal several days
on fresh beef AMI grapes, until We could sell some
beef md buy flour Some ofthese wild cattle are
not marked 90 branded and are hence esteemed
common property. One day we killcl two, but
had time to dress bI, one If them. and We laid
down by the SIDE of it to take care of il. leaving
the other, which was some distance of The next
morning the pndressed one was eaten up by the
bears and wolves, And must tel you Of the
bear fight hal sew DAYS since. In company
with four others went hunting-Isaiah was not
with ne, unfortunately. | saw u very large griz
ley bear-I am confident he Weighed no less than
1000 lbs--some, they saw, weigh as much as 600
sho, him through the butt Of the ear, and he fell
like beef Ny companions all ran away like
! towards, As they were-but got them back a
gain We put six more shots into him, and at
every shot he appeared TO get better and finally
he got mp and moved off swan creek which We
we're bothered to cross, and crep; away into the
thicket Presently. however. we heard the noise
Of one near U.S. which we supposed To be the
same one returning to the attack. While we
prepared TO meet him. he stopped and squatted in
the bushes and grape vines. | went near him to
shoot. While taking aim, he sprany at me with
desperate yell, and 10 my horror now saw that
1t was another bear without wound or scratch
A second Jump brought him within yard Of me,
with his mouth open full Ii inches wide, and teeth
three inches long. | struck him with the gun IN
the mouth, thinking might get chance to escape
while he was gnawing it, but quick rs lightning
after ! struck him, he laid me SPRAYING on my
back with his paw. And now thought 1t was all
day with me but in mere desperation gave such
scream. that it appeared to frlghten him, for he
dropped the gun, which he had kept in his mouth,
and ran away. The gun il badly gnawed, both
in stock aud barrel, and will ALWAYS show the
marks OF his teeth To my surprise, on being able
to look round, found that my companions, altho
had cried Justify to them for help, had run away
as fast as their legs would carry them; nor could
l. on regainlng them, by all my art Of persuasion
induce them IN go back with me to look for any
more bear tracks or bears blood Some idea may
be formed of the weight of this bear from the fast
that the three feet on which he stood when he
struck me sank three or four inches into the
ground
We are now in Sacramento valley, on the road
to the Feather river diggings. Isaiah and Hur.
ace lett me in the mountains and went to the
mines, while attempted to bring up the team
But Ii ha, rained so that have been able TO ira
vel but two days in three weeks. Yesterday lsl.
iah came back TO me from the mines, af..r having
swan fourteen streams tn reach me He made
from two to fourteen dollars a dav in the mines.
and paid 81 night for the privilege Of laying in
tor: on his own blanket 1t has not raned for
the last four DAYS, so that We shall be able to
move forward again
1t "a spring here. Tho gras7 and Will on, are
growing finely. and the farmers have commenced
putting in their crops
send this to San Francisco by Capt Rogers,
OF the government party that WAS sent out TO re-
lieve suffering emgranls, and which is on its re.
turn. hope TO write you more satisfactory
letter from the mines in few weeks There Is
undoubtedly money to be made here, and we
shall have some of it.