Meigs County telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy [Ohio]) 1848-1859, 1852-09-28

10Th, and gave up the team to the owners, l nc
being able to work, in consequence OF my wounds
My employers then paid me 500, for my hal
months labor. 1t was not quite half month
but they being men of proper feelings, they pitie
my misfortune, and they would have paid me muc
more had | taken it; for they were well aware tina
we had stood by their property at the peril OF ou
lives.
After arriving at Sacramento City on the lot
of April, John G. had just left the Hospital, an
he and myself then rented room, and commence
keeping house for ourselves. He was, however
still very bad of the scurvy, diarrhea, and piles
and he was not able to perform hard labor til
about the 1st of August ensuing.
The wounds which 1received from the Indlan
were not very painful, and my arm healed up il
about one month, so that was able to commence
hard labor, and then obtained the use OF q yok'
of oxen and wagon, to work on the shares
agreeing to pay the owner of the team the half o
all might earn, and engaged in the business
hauling lumber in this city (Which business have
kept up more or less ever since) and kept the
said team till l was enabled to purchase yoke
of oxen and wagon for myself, which at thai
time cost me 1925.
| believe that have fulfilled the task assigned
myself when commenced writing this letter.
which was to give you short outline OF our Jour
ney to California, etc. AS was to be expected,
took more notes of our journey than l have re
lated herein; but they are deemed uninterestlng
to you, so much so, that they would not be likely
to repay the expense of postage, and the trouble
of peruSal. And should | attempt to give you Q
minute description Of the route, the crooks and
turns in the road, the various streams and springs
the good places for encampmentS, the lay OF the
country, the character and quality of the soil,
the kinds of animals and vegetables, and the
tribes of Indians inbabiting the different localities
of the route, etc., it would swell my letter to q
volume. And moreover, there are doubtless plenty
of publications (and of character, too, more wor
thy of perusal than any could give you) giving
minute description of the geography and topog-
raphy of the country, to which you can have easy
access, should your curiosity prompt you thereto.
Since arriving in California, vast changes have
taken place in her POLITICAL social, agricultural,
and mining condition.
On the 18th of November, 1S49, (Which as
only four days after our arrival at the first settle
ments>, an election was held in California, for
Governor, Lieut.. Governor, members of The State
Legislature, Representative in Congress, and for
the ratification of the Constitution for the state,
nh hod cIh hnnif tod IN bv fba
Convention which had been held for that pnrpoSe-
sonctffne previously -tnerervs NO 1segtuIuvurv
which was elected at that time, shortly after meet
ing together elected two U. S. Senators, and made
application for admission into the Union, and our
Congressional delegation Immediately repaired to
Washington, and presented themselves for ad-
mission, and urged the admission of California as
one of the States of the Union, etc. The admis-
sion of California, with her present Constitution,
together with the admission of the members of
Congress, and especially the admission Of the
Senators without an election by the State Legis-
lature after her admission brought on las you are
OF course aware) the most protraeted and warm
discussions that perhaps ever occurred in Con-
gress. The recognition of the right of territory
to form a State Constitution before permission
from Congress, and her right to elect Senators to
Congress before her admission into the Union,
presented an anomaly in the legislation of our
country; and, in my view, the whole legislation
on that subject was of so extraordinary charac-
ter, that although the abest talent of our country
was elected on the OCCASION and our wiseSt and
best statesmen of both political parties exerted
themselves to procure the passage Of the measures
which resulted in what is called the Compromise
Act yet it is apparent that their laborS have not
produced entire satisfaction, nor prevented agita-
ton, and the whole subject seems to be as little
understood or conceded as ever, as to the extent
of the powers of Congress over the subject of
slavery-whether Congress has the power to pre-
vent slavery in the territories of the Union
whether slavery can exist except by virtue of
law-whether the respective territories have not
the exclusive right to determine for themselves
whether they shall or shall not recognize slavery
and whether Congress possesses the right to insist
on the recognition of slavery, as sine qua
nom when state or territory makes application
for admission into the sisterhood of states.
Since arriving in California, numerous cities
and villages have sprung up, as if by magic
farms have been opened, and farm houses have
been erected and settlements established to
great extent throughout the state, and agricultu-
raj experiments have been tested in sufficient
abundance to demonstrate that the soil of Cali
fornia is unsurpassed in productven ess by any on
the face of the globe. In her mineral regions,
her hills, mountains valleys, gulcheS, and ravines
have been uprooted, and her rivers damned, and
flumed, and turned from their natural channel in
many places, and her quartz rocks ground and
crushed by the power of machinery, and the pre-
cious 'ore' thus extracted proving beyond doubt
that her mineral resources are almost nexhauSt-
BILE, and wealth being supposed to be easily at
tanabe here, it has attracted not only the avarce
and cupidity of our own citizens and those of Eu-
rope, but also of the Celestial Empire, and the
Islands of the Pacific Almost every vessel that
arrives at San Francisco from China is loaded
with Chinese passengers, and this latter influx Of
emigration has been so great for some time past,
as to create great alarm amongst the citizens Of
California.
The Executive of our state, in a special mes