The union Democrat., 1867-11-02
Notes OF Travel.


Cove &c. being the field in which we intend
Ell TO operate. As we wished 10 reach Fer
sasons mill, 81 miles distant, that night on
account Of having the company Of friend
! lancock--who was going there-we had but
little time to stop on the way, taking the
advice of our friend we went right through,
and then breasted back We ereached Mr..
Shanes ranch at noan, and learned that lie
was not ut home. Oar old irienl Andrew
Rocta has rich quartz mine close to Shanes
which lie has recently purchased of a Mr..
Wright. His mill is on the North Fork Of
| the Merced, near the Bower Cave, there was
not sufficient water to run the MILL hut hands
were at work getting out rock and putting
the mine in order. The? will he at NJ loss
for work until rain comes. We stopped at
Rocca's long enough to take dinner nni then
pushed on. The country around Shanc's.
Bower Cave. Bull Greek and all along the
route to the top Of the hill whore thu descent
into h we mean the Mere! II yer. begins,
is not very ronsh, and is we'll timberel with
gar and yellow pines, Oak. e.. B1t from
the moment we commenced Discerning. the
scene changed, and when gntahout Il third
o. the way down the hill we took water
from spring that trickled over the rocks.
Ffom this point we hal splendid view Of
tie country. if country it can be called. For
a more wild. rugSel. and uninvitins region
can hardly be imagined. As we 10 kel.of
INTO the deep CANYON through wlich The Mer-
ced river flows, and had the .:outc Of our trail
pointed ont hy II we thon-h. what Il bless
ing it would he to the inhabitants Of This lie.
lightrul country if-hy some Dlrwnian nro-
cess of selection, a new variety Of animal
could be propaga,ed for equestrian purposes.
We would suggest that something in the m.
ture of cross between and eagle and mule
would just fill the bill. Because in places
where it is much safer to fly than walk, his
wings would be decidedly useful We left
the spring which is the only one on the hil'.
and worried our way dowh n very steep and
zizzag trail to the river. On turning the last
angle in the descent, II. remarked that. right
here mule fell into The river with a load of
beef. lie landed in deep wa:er-as an Irish.
man would say-went down. came up again,
and then sunk. as the packer thought for
good. But strange to >av. he was found two
or three days after on rocky bar, short
distance down stream, and not scratch on
him. At the foat ofthe hill arc two old quartz
mills that have been abandoned for several
| in
miles now interviewed between US and Fergu-
sons mill The trail all this distance il cut
in the very steep, anil in some places, almost
perpendicular hill side. that must of necessity
be called the bank of the river. When almost
dusk. we reached McCamn's store, little
above tho junction of the Main River and
South Fork, which h-wonderfui to reate-is
located Oil a little flat. In fact We could not
help regarding this fat as an interloper-a
fore ener in q community of mountains,
g,rges and prccipices Mr. McCann has one
decided advantage over outside barbarian>,
he will not have to purchase blinds to keeT
the sun out of his windows. The mountains
on either side save him that expense. Thus
we perceive that there is nothing so dark. hut
there is a bright side to it. The first oil, t
that met our gaze on entering McCann's
store, struck us dumb with astonishment.
We were prepared to find the usual articles
of commerce in country store, such as flour,
whisky, tea, gin, sardnes. boots, lager heer.
seven-u up and even forty ives, but crnoline
never Yet there it was We could not be-
lieve the evidence Of our eyes until we stealth.
lily reached out our hand and felt it. Bran
new ladies hoops, for sale! Presently we
caught Il glimpse Of skirt which undoubt-
edly contained lady. angels an minis
ters of grace" we thought. how did ladies
the question to Hancock as soon as we were
out of eat shot Of the house. Ladies'" said he,
why there's six of them at the mill Mr..
| McCann is married man and his mother in.
law lives with him. There's one at Aed's
Gulch and five or six at the Cove But how
did they get here We reiterated. Game
the way we did, and there was one lady.
who rode from the top Of the hill to Fergu-
son s with a babe in her arms We thought
Of the place where the butchers mule went
off. We thought Of another delightful pl,ce.
which Hancock kindly pointed ca, while we
were astride of his stumbling ola horse Dick
and which spoiled cur appetite for riding
| AS the place where a mule went IF with Il
stove on his back That mule never was
known 10 kick any body after thar, senten-
,ously remarked Hancock. After looking
over the precipice we had not the least dnub'
! If his ysracis. We thought Of these and
>undry other places and came to tho concIu
sion that that laiv bad more than an orlin
a:y share OF pluck. A mile and ha f mnrs
ever little better trail asd we reached
| FERGGscys 5 Mill at half past six. with
good appetite for surper WHICH, if we did not
appe.se Was our own fault. We expected to
| find few old frieads there, but had nc idea