San Andreas independent., 1856-10-04
The Calaveras Emigrant Route

The CalaVeraS Emigrant Route.
We understand that number of gen.
tlemen from Mokelumne Hill have Sc
cured the services of DIR. r. Brewster, our
present Surveyor General, and have started
out for the purpose of surveying the route
!. between Carson's Valley and this county.
The route by the Big Tree is without
any doubt the best leading to any part Of
the State, and the trip from Carson Val
ley to Murphy's has been made in twenty
three travelling hours, on mules, by Mr..
j. Cooper, and other citizens of our tcayn.
The most of the way is level, pleasant
road, free from the long and steep hills
that make the northern part of our State
so difficult of access, and combining a
beautiful and picturesque scenery, with the
more practical advantages sought after by
an emigrant train, yet heretofore, while
the people of more northern counties have
gone to work with ardor and energy-lay-
ing low the loftiest hills, filling up the deep
ravines, building roads along the most in
accessible places, thereby encouraging and
inviting the emigrants to abide with them;
we, with natural advantages surprising
them all, shut the door against emigration,
byneglecting or refusing to build road by
which they can come among us.
1t has been repeatedly stated that with
an outlay of from five to six thousand dol
lars, road better fitted for travelling, could
be built between the Big Tree and Carson
Valley, than any other leading into the
State.
The public mind was for some time agi-
tated with regard to this project. Meet
ings were held, statements made, the testi-
mony of those who had actually tested the
road was offered and taken,-Committees
appointed to report the feasibility of its
construction, and its practicability when
constructed, for travelling, and the re-
ports were eminently satisfactory. But
when our pockets were invaded the voices
OF its warmest supporters and admirers
were hushed, and the great wagon route to
Carson Valley was well nigh abandoned,
or but little talked about. Since then eff
forts have been made to call the public at
tention to this subject Cards from emf
grants who have passed over it have been
published; and now some enterprising
gentlemen of our county have succeeded in
enlisting the attention of our Surveyor Gen
eral in its behalf.
1t is needless to enumerate the advan-
tages that ensue from the settlement of
emigrants amongus The stability it gives
to society and property,-the tone that
families give to our social relations, as well
as the moral results that flow from an in
crease in such a population as the emigra-
tion of the present period throws in our
midst.
Pecuniarily the advantage is perhaps
still greater The increase in the number
of house-holders increases, necessarily, the
number of tax-paying citizens and the
amount of taxable property, and greater
confidence is felt in the stability and value
of property in our mining districts. The
cultivation of land which now lies open for
the first settler, will materially reduce the
price OF provisions, and give other induce
ments for working-men and artisans Of all
kinds to settle among us, We are glad
to say that the efforts of those who are en-
gagged in its prosecution, will meet with a
hearty response from the citizens Of ST.
Andreas, and though butone of our citiz
responded to the call last year, yet WEI
do not hesitate to say to, the citizens
Aurphy's, Douglass ValIecito and
parts Of the county who have