Volcano weekly ledger., 1857-03-28
Lower Rancheria Correspondence.
LOWER RAScHERIA, March 26th., '57


Ep. LEDeER:-After an absence of some
months from this vicinity, ] have returned to
my old diggings, and as listened with inter-
est to the news in this isolated camp 1t may
be of interest to your readers.
The glory of its early days is Departed
No more chunks Of gold as big as a western
iohnny-cake are found; no more quartz spec-
mems of astonishing size and richness. Here,
in the halcyon days of 80 they picked up
pieces of the precious metal big enough for
an oven lid One piece that was found by
the Indians must have been the largest erer
found; as each one of whole tribe had
piece of it as big as my hand! 1t was not
seen whole by any white man, aud as the
pieces were sold at different times, to different
traders its exact size was never known
That rich piece of quartz that was displayed
in the window of Hitler and Andrews, Sac
ramento, was found here. This was q por-
tion of Calaveras County, then; and the la
bel on the specimen states that it was found
in that county, and but few know that it
should now be credited to Amador.
/ was to day shown a piece weighing six
ounces and one dollar, found in the old local.
ity for big Jumps.
This would again be favorite camp if
water could be obtained Doubtless some of
the ditch companies will before long extend
branch of their canals to Lower Rancheria.
The old set who have been here for the last
five years, some Of them longer, still continue
to linger around the charmed spot, where
every man made fortune at least once a
month.
A night at the Rancheria Hotel would
bring you in contact with all the old settlers.
Capt. Nat. Parsons commands the old craft,
much in the same way that he commanded
the fishing smack Nancy Ann Jane" of
Portsmouth; where the crew did as they
pleased, and the cook was the chief officer
1t is truly heart rending to hear the Captain
tell how, in tremendous calm, in the harbor
where he belonged, a precious keeler of
"Dunda Funk" and jug of black-strap was
carried array from his locker.
This loss very nearly cost him his berth,
as when the owners came aboard and he took
them below to have little lunch and 'suthen
to take," they only found the lingering fra
GRANGE of the feast.
Rancheria, without Capt Nat, would be
an impossibiity. He is universal chairman,
delegate and committeeman on all occasions;
is public administrator, and never fails to send
to the proper ones all little mementos left by
the deceased. In politics be is a Democrat,
and nothing shorter; and bets all his money
on the Ledger.
Whitehead Wilson, Hoagland, Duel and
Culbert all of them of the old stock, are
here and are all subscribers to your paper
They are in one of their streaks of good
luck each having a good claim
have met here your poetical correspon-
dent who has written some good things for
the Ledger over the signature of IN. w. O."
He is at present laid up with a disease Of
the lungs In spontaneous sallies of wit, he
is as brilliant as ever.
A more jolly set Of men were never thrown
together in one camp than are to be found
here. Game is abundant and every man is
sportsman. There are but two women in the
place, and they are ladies in every sense of
the word-the angels of the camp in fact.
The stage is coming and close.
Yours, corrrespondingly,
RANCHERO