San Andreas independent., 1857-10-24
LETTER FROM SACRAMENTO.
sAcRAmssro CRY, Sunday, Oct. 18th

ouivers amid clouds of dust, the sturdy
sycamore bows its head, and the people
wink both eyes and hold on their hats to
the breeze-whilst |, who am writing on
lay subjects, might be more religiously
employed-but at the same time feel in
clined to pitch into anybody interfering
with the liberty of sending our friends Of
the INDEPENDENT a Sundays letter.
Great bells toll, and little bells twang,
communicating the usual weekly aston
ishment to slumDering bats in the stee-
Piles, and inviting the people to Church.
To the sanguine, excitable and ener-
getlc of temperament, times are especially
dull on Sunday, in Sacramento city
There is none of that open "negociation,"
nor gambling, nor other similarly delight
full occupations that give our every day
life busy charm-neithcr is there any
barber shaving performed, nor any Cheap
John enterprise to cnliven us with negro
melodies gratis, or to enlighten us with
its peculiar flow of oratory Scarcely
aught Is to be seen in fact, other than
persons interested in the active consump-
tion of beef and potatoes, or similar con-
dimcnts-or good folks proceeding to or
from the hearing of their spiritual pastors.
The streets, otherwise, are mostly bare of
aught but the outside of the houses, and
the smoke coming out of the chinlnies
and save the hideous shouting of a sea
lion in the j street menagerie, the most
puritanical of the Covenanters might have
been delighted to have seen Sacramento
on Sunday, in the fall of the year 1857.
In the matter of news | am almost re-
duced to the necessity of quotations of
the prices current of pork-there is
fearful dearth nobody hung, no suicides,
yet this week coffin-m makers have been
busy. Ere the week is out, you will have
enough of news by the coming tub-com
lnanded, it might be, by the coming man,
possibly never to arrive.
The foundations for the piers of the
Sacramento new bridge are being put in.
Another pile-driver has been set going,
and We are informed that 124, 900 feet of
lumber lies down stream ready for the
framing Of the bridge, upon which some
thirty to fifty carpenters will soon be set
to work ; and the contractor anticipates
completing the work by May, next en-
suing of 1858. There will be six sepa
rate spans, including the two draws. The
whole breadth of the river is. 1T this
point, about 780 or $50 feet ihe pres
ent depth OF water uelr the Sacramento
side, is about feet
Those persons to whom it is of most
interest, are becoming somewhat alarmed
at the sedentaly deposits YOU mountain
people send down to us with the water
from the mountains The Yuba at some
places near Marysville, has Swallowed from
- feet to feet, and close at hand are
islands being formed, which will, no doubt.
IN the course of time become deltas of
land. For my part, notwithstanding the
alarming circumstances of Captains and
Commodores of vessels, and others dis
trlbutlng greater than ordinary number
OF nautical eEithets aud other conversa-
tlonal embellishments gu the subject, ]
think the country is safe. ] don't sup
pose we shall ever be In worse fix than
the folks Of Holland, or of the marshlands
of Lincolnshire in England, or those bor-
derlng the Po in Italy. all of whom, hav
ing been under the necessity of raising
the banks of their several rivers or water
courses to permanent height, have
thereby obtained permanent possession to
land teeming in volurtuous agriculture.
| think it will be one great source of
prosperity to California, as soon as labor
is applied to the purpose, for when the
water of our rivers shall have to be made
to run in higher, shorter and narrower
channel, hydraulic pressure and capillary
attraction will perform for us what people
seem in vain to look for at present from
the inventor of an effective subsoil plough,
or effeetual irrigation to accomplish, viz
a constant dampness of soil for never
ending and constant succession of crops,
of which these vallies are thus emincntly
qualified by climate and situation.
| had the pleasure to look over the
paint-grinding establishment of Covert &
Co. here, the other day. | am not at all
putting the affair, but will give YOU an
idea of what | saw of the material. The
basis of the paint, which is of several
tints of a brown and greenish hue, seems
to me to be decomposed slate from the
vicinity of a quartz vein, in partially
talcose gangue, such as is found in the
foot hills, and obtains its coloring matter
from impregnation by sulphurcted oxides
of copper, iron and antimony, and car
Donate of magncsia, if indeed the last cal
be said to communicate any colouring
basis to pigment, and also the oxides Of |
simple minerals, not distinguishable with
out scientific analysis.
This paint, by its affinity, is fitted for !
common purposes, such as the painting of |
roofs, exterior of houses, garden ratings,
&C., &C., for which it is as eminently /
qualified as any other paint not having
lead or zinc as its basis. Intrinscally, |
~ Al. L