Weekly Trinity journal., 1858-05-08
Ten Mile. Down River

On Monday we were at Oregon Guich, Sturue-
wants Ranch, and thence up the river to the
mouth of Weaver Creek The district is all
alive with enterprise, and all seem prosperous
Mr.. Felter has fine ranch at the mouth of Ore
gon Gulch where abundance of garden vegeta-
bles will soon be fit for use. He has FASTENED the
topped boxes The yield of the ranch will be
very large this year
A little below, Messrs. Sturdevant l. Co. have
a farm of 800 acres, 200 of which are in cultiva-
tion, irrigated by fume high enough to water
all the grounds. The growing grain is about
three feet high, and is beginning to head. They
have, also, saw mill and grist mill-the latter
not finished. Mr.. Sturdevant was, short time
since, very near to death, but is nearly recover
ed He is a favorite citizen of Trinity, is spoken
of with respect by everybody, and is reckoned
one of the best of men.
On the river all is activity the chief feature
is the magnitude of the wheels for raising water
to work the bars. From the Arkansas Dam up
to the mouth of Weaver Creek there are nineteen
wheels, two of them disabled by the freshet. They
are from 40 to 81 feet in diameter, and three of
them have double setts of buckets. Thomas u
Co.'s Wheel at Reddings Bar, is 81 feet high,
has 40 paddles, so buckets holding Is gallons
each, making four revolutions minute. 1t can
be raised % feet by fixtures to regulate it, ac-
cording to the stage of water in the river This
wheel cost $4,000. Seventeen of these monsters
in distance Of eight miles, padding away and
groaning with their upraising burdens, give the
river u very busness-like appearance. Wereck-
on they are the largest and most expensive wheels
in the mines anywhere,
The fume bridges impress the stranger with
vast idea of miners enterprise. There are seven
crossing the river at elevation of from 60 to 80
feet, built very strongly, and showing great cal
culaton and judgment in construction. They
must have been planned and executed by first
rate worhmen. A vast amount of capital has
been invested in wheels, fumes and bridges, in
that short distance and labor considered, the in
vestment must have been prodigious We wish
that persons, owning property there and else
where on the river, whom we had not oppOrtuni-
ty of conversng with, would send us statement Of
the cost of structures, and their estimated value.
The Cinnamon on Weaver Creek are working
with great industry and system. Their wheels
and fixtures bear marks of the Americans hatch
et for we hardly think they possess constructive
powers sufficient to make them.
Gold is found, in paying quantities, all along
the hll-sdes from Weaverville to Oregon Gulch
If water enough could be obtained, this district
would be alive with mining enterprise Trinity
county is immensely rich in gold its mines are
not of the spotted sort they pay evenly and
surely, and are inexhaustible. Flats hill-sides,
ravines and river beds are full of gold, not in
vast deposits, but in quantities that will repay
labor judiciously applied. The mines here do
not present the dug out appearance that they
do in Nevada and FL Dorado they are SC arcely
begun nature has protected them by placing
above the reach of water, except at great cost
But they are not beyond the reach OF capital and
avaree abundance of water can be brought by
the expenditure of few hundreds of thousands,
and before long parties will be found TO make the
necessary investment. Gold, known to exist
under ground, will work itself out, however great
the difficulty of approach.