The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1850-09-14
Late From California!
SrRiSsTowS, July 90, 1850

Editors ftec TraIer-Duriuy the las, cisys O
4 June had my Affairs in the Valky arrsnged an,
: came here to superintend the wuking Of ,Li
g claim.
After nearly completing Our dam the wate
which Is still high perco.atcd through the rae,
I and the gravel and the unfinished dam o. mucl
i that our claim was not dry enough to work ",
thought however. that by thrown out wing NJ
the head of our claim we could drain 4 bar suffi
GENTLY dry to sink hole to the bed rock. Ac
cordins'y We commenced operations by falling .
|, tall pine that stood on the brink convenient fol
the purpose Of masking an abutmcut Our com
pany was composed of n Frenchman, the first dis
cover Of gold in Australia, an Englishman from
Sydney, New Holland, one New Yorker. tire,
stout Yankees from Name aud three men from
Maryland The most of us were in the river
clearing the bed from brush and dirt VIXEN the
tree was ready to fall, the word was given and all
got out in time but n,yself< l happened to be in
the middle Of the stream and in the dsepcst part
ana owing to the strong current was unable to get
| out. made n few steps upward wa,chin, III.
tree, when became .atisfcni. WAS coming ON Ia
me. lsteprel back, whcn it swayed around, and
1t was now clear :nat was directly in its course
My wife and helpless children came into my
inlnd. still | felt perfectly collected with the
thought that If WAS killed my companions could
tell what had become OF me- which was more than
many poor fellow who has persisted in the wea
~ search for gold could have done for him. and
strange as !. may seem ray of comfort shot
/ through my heart. Blu; there is no man who is
threatened with such death, who will not 10.
s'incliveiy make an exertion to save bis life, how
ever worthless 1t may be to hrm OF course
,hese thoughts passed through my mind IN much
less time than II takes to tell II. | made one des
perate effort more tn avoid the falling tree, anh
la ty-n
rent anu the stones being covered with slime and
very slippery fell at full length under water a
the Tree came Crashing laundering down. and
found myself with only slight bruiSe amid the
branches and spreading limbs. within two or three
J iee' oi tue trunk verifying the old proverb that
ne VINO IS born TO be hung Will never be drown
ca raising myself Ike turtle from the wa.
Ter saw the men standing aghast on the bank,
sure mat was Killed. We'll, boys, shouted,
shaking oil tho water "she lays exactly right
could not have done better II we had tried"
my Hod are you huriF was the eager en-
curry So-no' not IN the least Let us trim
II, Gu. on ana crack IN our dam IN less than no
me uo"t know "hv II was, but at that mo
i''eu' my escape was no' IN my mind Out the men
~ 81 '''u'h "s''''eu 'ha' 'ney Could scarcely
spas
40 py Gar easped the honest trenciman-
m YOU JUST leei MN here--'hnu,p' uump,
"."p, sec Tue 'rec--he ieli see you no
81 see n''h XIII you sure no, could
np.r" ~ al isue ssoot sun VI nay NOUN ~'ue
Oh . 90. s''e ,ie "e".s eong'a'u'"''ohs.-
,I w., ~ "e. rom "a'''e power
limb. s. ~ si 'o0s ,"c axe w 'i'nh 'he
s,anrai "r ~. w. a,'' s.","s upon 'ne uu"s
Ill ~. "sa", ','lt 10 !" sAr' ne my
~ e. !. Meie 'na' cannot stand never
Ia. ~ my nc anu !, was ho' until
~, 49,. II, '.'iti' 'ha' began 'ni'y 10 sfpree'
s.ss ,t,, AIMS CIV T W,i escape anu Iaeh con-
49, '"''' 'o' " "'''o "HNe' III! Anees were weak
-, "
., III, Viz ua'n oeH's li''sheu, We ehIea'ored
- 80" ", ". NE ea"ie ~ - ias' 'ha'
iii ,b., $3.50 W "o va, u iot 'eW JAYS
cnn,I cor,rvo ~ - 81. n, .'u UNI we
.,lv.,,.nas W ".I'" ~ n'o'e |A.er, IaSins
go 81, VI iYf,e " o"!s VI leisure went
u;r,, and - u.u ~ Nn n III IomP~"y WIN Dun
Thss i;.t,r. ',"' anu -'o,'o,' i'ou' hisnawaka|
n,,b 20 ,h. ,on IS ~. - ln '" 80 so'u n,u'e
T "rIs.a;J -. VI nv, ny iIo'i mere wehaG
''"' A"e ,i,'u"S'us are ofoken ana
r. II " - ''ue' ",'.n uenes uesc',pt'o"-
~, y, t"Hs rear 'ne', oafk heaas ~ con
.I'eu aid orohen masses "h'ie al one point We
ogie''eu wAe''ia1i y, the distance OF hvc or six
"nn" appeared IKE u ntead hanging about
-. - " VIC n'Ou''"''s were
:n'ee ,Hous"hu lee' high. Inc perpendicular fall
Is sa'u 20 oe rom elsht hundred 70 thousand
i ,ee'' otr view was bounded on the east BY
ions hsn granite mountain perfectly ta'd with
ou snruo Oh vsse'A'ion' ana which Is sad to
e :, many mics Paraiiei with the Valley
W W., couiu DC more picturesque or romontic
We 'iouen' OF attempting 10 reach the falls, and
eon''ienceu descent 10 tue river where We held
several eiaihs; II was nor quite perpendicular,
Uu 60 steep mat u we had lost ioot-ho!d we
shGu,u nave sla and 'nm6ied more than thous-
"''a Ic.t over Tue ueeayeu granite Out by taxing
an "'sihg course We reaehed the bottom N safe
W.
heHesh'ng ourselves from our knapsacks we
nuenP'ed 10 reach the fall by clamber'ng over
lne 'pehs a'ong me run An hours hard labor
on'y Drought Us nan mile, and We were finally
conpened 20 give u up TINS time;
y, ana men came me task OF climbing the hill
,ook US 'uIiy Two hours and half and by night
IaIi we mao reached little nii' when exhausted
we sai'K upon Inc ground and slept soundy till
I' ,;.. we reached Rome completely used up
I.ue oel"Ie noon oil the second day
us s"'1 mat misery makes strange bed.fei-
N,N,. aoes eaiii0rn,a l had one the other