The hydraulic press. (North San Juan, Nev. Co., Cal.) 1858-18??, 1858-10-09
l0riginat.]
LOG CABIN INKLINGS.
No. VIII.

No. VIII.
In August, 1849, we-there were
four of us-left San Francisco Bay
on board ofthe little schooner Empire,
bound for Sacramento and the mines.
We had been idling a little and boat
ing little about the bay since the
9th of July, waiting for report from
one of our party who had gone up
the river as a pioneer to get intelli>
gence for our mutual advantage. We
hardly believed yet that the mines
were not cheat; we could not real
ize that gold might BE- had for the
picking up. Day after day we had
rambled over the drifting sand hills
of Yerba Buena, wondered at its
tents of trade, and stood amazed in
those hot canvas houses where money
was carelessly exposed in tempting
heaps upon the monte tables, and
men were bartering their integrity
so soon for the gamblers chance
of fortune. Everywhere wealth was
abundant. and signs of :" Sc Compra
Orc aqui," informed the passenger
where he might behold substantial
proofs of the golden discovery whose
mere rumor had brought him SO far.
Still there was Troublesome sense of
uncertainty remaining that we were
anxious to dissipate, no matter how.
The report came at last-favorable ;
indeed, glowingly so; and we were
soon on our way to the real Dorado.
What rich, eloquent sound there
was in those days to the word Sac
ramento! (albeit some of us who
were vain of little bad Spanish per-
sisted in calling the first town on the
river by the name of Nueua Helvet;a. }
1t was gloriously promising, foreign,
and golden. Visions of Castillian
steams and antique towns came across
my mind whenever I thought of it.
Gorgeous pictures of tropical scenery,
too, and Of golden lands, and rowing
companies of these enthusiastic for
tune-seekers whose researches in the
sixteenth century led to the ultimate
discovery not destined to be theirs.
Well, the river in those days was
bordered by most luxuriant banks.
Rank under-brush grew beneath tall
oaks and taller sycamores, and pen
dant masses of grapevine foliage
chung to every tree, making a green
wall on each side of the clear, tranquil
stream. Occasionally this thick mass
of vegetation would open and reveal
glimpses of wide prairie glowing in
all the colors of summer bloom and
bounded by the faint blue outlines Of
distant mountains. Closing up again,
bend in tho shore would hide the
course of the stream either way, and
seem to enclose us as in little lake.
Night came upon US in one Of these
delicious spots. Can I ever forget
the picture Of twilight hues changing
and blending and darkening into star
ry night over that lovely scene Our
little schooner was secured to the
trunk of lofty sycamore, whose
widespread branches thrust them-
selves through her rigging, and flung
q leafy shelter over her peopled deck.
The slender hull and graceful spars
Of the craft were mirrowed motionless
below US. The stars gazed upon their
own purity in the water as they have
done through countless ages and all
the loneliness of earth and heaven
was pictured in the liquid element.
All night we lay there, from early
eve till ".breezy MORN" drinking into
|npr souls the influence of scene
whosA loneliness few Of us had ever
seen equalled. Occasionally the pro-
found stiffness was broken by the
dolorousshoot Of an owl or the plant
Of some lonely dove; which only made