The Shasta courier., 1866-03-31
"Reminiscences of Early Times in Calitcr-
nia.
| good deaf S.

Most forty-niners remember old Green
wood. the mountaineer He had been n
hunter and trapper from boyhood-one of
those men who always keep to the westward
of civilization, and, very unwittingly on
their part, prepare the wilderness. in some
degree, for its coming. lie had hunted
across the continent in days when from the
Missouri river to the Bay Of San Francisco
was terra iheogniG, and in his old age found
himself, with his Indian wife and troop Of
half breeds, located only for a time, as he
supposed, in valley now called Greenwood
Valley, in Ell Dorado coanty.
Soon after, he heard that gold had been
discovered not far away, and then heard ru-
mors of men coming to this coast by hun
dreds and thousands, by land and by water
1t was all mudlle to him. He had small
idea of the uses of gold, except that it was
available to buy powder and lead. he was
only annoyed at the crowd. But the inexo
rable Pacific hemmed him in, and there
were no new hunting gro unds to the west
ward.
Oae day in 1919 he went to Fort Sutler
! (Sacramento) where he had heard town
was being built, to see for himself the new
condition of things. He walked the streets
in maze. At last, bewildered, in the rush
and throng Of men, he stepped into house
half restaurant, half gambling saloon, and
| joined party Of grey y-shirted gentlemen who
were looking at parcel of nuggets, chunks
Of yellow metal, displayed upon a counter
| He gathered from the conversation that it
was the vertablc gold of which be had heard
so much The dull yellow rocks looked
familiar to him. With generous conf
dence few of his hearers would have initiated,
he told, his story. He said that one Summer
some wears before he was with his family
for several weeks in little valley, away up
in the Sierras. While re hunted. his chll-
dren PLAYED about the camp. Their range
of TOYS was limited, and when they gathered
a lot of those smooth, yellow boulders, of
which there was an abundance in the valley,
they were 50 well pleased with them, that
when they left the valley, they took with
them a few of the smallest and smoothest
for playthings But that afterward, wish
ing to make a Iong tramp, and finding the
pebbles heavy and the children having
grown tired of them, he threw them away.
The old mans face and manner convinced
the hearers of the truth of his story. They
invited him to 60 with them to private
room. Having furnished him with plenty
| of whisky-for which he had weakness-
they induced him, nothing 10th, to tell them
further of the valley where his children found
the yellow rocks. He described, as well as
he could, the location of the place. There
were few well known landmarks then, ex-
cept rivers and ridges. But he marked on
the table the route-first to the valley at the
head of Bear river then across ridge to
small valley still beyond, and then by the
way of ridges and hills which had no name
then, and which he could only describe, to
the valley of their search. lying near the
summit Of the Sierras. Finally, warmed
with good cheer, he proposed that if they
would come to his home in Greenwood Val
ley, he would join them there and pilot
them to the very place. They eagerly as
sented, aud the party separated.
No one noticed that the negro. who served
the party with their numerous potations.
fingered and listened attentively while the
old man described the valley and marked
the route.
Greenwood went home A few days af-
terward the party arrived at his place,
equipped for the proposed expedition-just
in time to find the old man dying and see
him die. After his burial they questioned
bis son, young lad, concerning the facts
narrated by mis- father. lie remembered the
circumstance of finding the yellow pebbles,
though it happened when he was mere
child, and he was sure he could recognize
the valley if he saw it, and perhaps guide
them to it. So they started and the boy
with them. They reached Bear Valley, and
the smaller valley beyond now Two Mile
Valley. There they were at fault. The
landmarks beyond were either indistinctly
described by the old man, or indistinctly
understood or remembered by them. They
wandered about the hills and valleys until
their Trovisons gave out, and then returned
in despair-not wiser, but much sadder
men.
Soon afterward the negro waiter left the
saloon at Sacramento and disappeared with
a companion of his own race. A month or
two later, two negroes appeared at Marys-
vile, It was rumored that they had an i'm