San Andreas independent., 1857-05-09

some scientific and practical man, who had
taken great care to arrive at facts before adopt
ing the principles which governed the modus
operandi. The quartz looked mighty poor, but
as the gold runs in sulphurets, there no doubt
was enough to pay for crushing. Agood dinner
at Mr.. Alexander Fulton's hotel, and an hours
/" gass with the village blacksmith, who would
honor sGretna Green with his fund of wit,
knowledge and newspaper extracts, 1--WE ad-
mired his selections of poetry-the limitations
of Byron,) refreshed us sufficiently to take the
road to Vallecito.
After travelling near four miles through
long and circuitous canon, sparsely timbered
with oak, pine and manzanita, the road ascends
the divide which forms the basin of Vallecito.
Descending a steep hill, within almost hailing
distance of the camp, the entire valley was
spread out like map before US. To the North
bordered a series of bold, barren, and almost
perpendicular cliffs, which betokened new geo.
logical formations, and different pecuiarities Of
vegetation than any we had heretofore SEEN
Here commences the limestone formations, and
incidental features of mines and modes of mi
ming pertaining to deep diggings - such as
adopted at Murphy's and Douglass Flat. Near
ly the entire valley is fenced in or claimed for
mining purposes. Grain fields and gardens
line the road on either side, streets and lanes
zig-zag to and fro, in all possible directions so
as to make it difficult to find the road into
town. Just as we felt poetic, and thought of
Israels leader on Pisgahs brow viewing the
promised land, the wild and shrill notes of
sold Campbell's" pibroch came floating on the
breeze, which made delightful tremor of
pleasure tingle in every limb. We felt lib
eral enough to give our last quarter to the
minstrel, and kiss all the little girls (and big
ones too, if handsome), in the valley. At the
saloon of Messrs Imbrie & Wesson, we found
the centre ofattraction in the shape of a good
ly audience, of which the octogenarian Waterloo
bag-piper was the centre. The streets of VAL
lecito are so arranged as to join to each other
without crossing at right angles, but are not SO
narrow as those of some other camps Some
fine residences and elegant gardens are scat
| tered over the valley. The garden of DR.. Rus
q
and was planted in better taste than any other
which we saw. The Doctors grape vines
! some three hundred in number-were three
years old, and growing luxuriantly the locust
trees were in bloom, and much larger than any
others in that section; strawberries, currants,
gooseberries, and many other varieties of fruit
and flowers, were literally cultivated in this
extensive garden. Some of the other gardens
were also we'll cultivated and literally endowed
with everything which makes home" Para
disc, a thing of beauty and JOY forever"
Douglass Flat has similar dggings, gardens
and mining operations to those of Vallecito
some finely built, tastefuly located and beaut-
full dwellings skirt the road, peeping in and out
Of the thick foliage dropping from live-oak tim
Der. The grain fields were growing green, and
the cottages had cheerful air of life and care,
which betokened their owners as permanent
residents-men of families, who had made up
their minds to live in California, for better or
for worse. Limestone rocks = fantastically
formed - shaped as if coined in the devils
own mint, were piled on the table banks which
hold the treasures of the valley.
Winding through underneath the high fume
of the Union Company's Ditch, the town of
Murphy's suddenly appeared on the left, with
its numerous houses, extensive mining opera
tons, romantic mountain-scenery, and vallies
and hil-sdes clothed in all their vernal lowell
ness-whe flowers of every hue bedeck the
| III II
is level, wide, and near a mile long, bor-
dered with buildings and other improvements
the entire length. The town is amply supplied
with pure water, from the Union Ditch,-it is
distributed throughout the valley, irrigating
gardens, working sluces and filling hydrants
in every direction, and supplying all the requi-
site abluent and culinary wants of the place
with an element, cold and limpid, as it pitches
from the snow-clad, mountain-peaks of the
Sierra Nevada.
Sperry Perrys Hotel, is large fre-proof
building, combining every facility and comfort
of first-cass Hotel; its manifest advantages
are more than sustained by the excellent table
and neatness, cleanliness and order pervading
every department of the domestic relations of
bar-room, bedrooms and kitchen After
cool drink and a good wash in soft, snow water,
we sailed out for ''items." Adjacent, south
to the town, is a great number of high masts
erected to facilitate mining in deep diggings,
giving the scene a marine appearance; in this
direction we started, carefully circlng deep
holes, sluices, fumes and hydraulic nozzles, as
we sauntered along Mr. Jas. Stiver's claim is
wel-worked we identified the veritable Jeemes
face through dozen coats of compact slum,
buttered over his phiz by the splashing spray
OF hydraulic nozzle. Passing a complimentary
word, in which both agreed zee were handsome
the claim was overlooked in mutual admiration
] and ~ cd To tho Iotol