Weekly Trinity journal., 1871-06-03
From the Overland Monthly for June,
THE TRINITY DIAMOND.
By Il. p. AVERY.

1t was hot June day in 1880 when we
started, Brandy and |, from the American River, /
where we had been for nearly year, upsuccess- |
fully mining, to seek our fortunes on the Trim
ity. tramp of three hundred miles, through |
treeless valley and over rugged mountains, lay /
before us but we were full of pluck and |
strength. Glowing reports had reached us from
the far north, and we liked adventure. The |
country was new, strange and unpeopled 1t /
seemed as foreign to us the West Indies and /
Mexico did to the Spanish adventures under
Columbus and Cortez, and we had the same
golden dreams that lured those pioneers, tinging
all our future with blissful hopes Imagine two
young fellows, with unkempt locks, under
broad -brmmed, felt hats of u drab color, clad
in gray wooen shirts and blue dungaree trow
sers-the latter held up by a leather belt about
the waist and tucked into long-legged boot, the
belt itself holding sheath-knlte, revolver, tin
drinking-Cup and rubber flask on their backs
neatly bundled blankets strapped across their
shoulders, and inclosing small package of raw
pork, abiscuit and tea, while over each bun
die lay, bottom up, large tin-pan, ghstening in
the sun, and suggesting visions OF the dairy and
rural hones far away. There you have the por-
trait of two prospectors. We belonged to the
noble army Of explorers that found and opened
the treasure vaults of the Sierra Nevada and
Rocky Mountains that planted the seeds of
empire, from the upper Missouri to the Pacific
that whitened western seas and streams with
the sails of new commerce, and aroused the
sluggish civilization of Asia to new motives.
Those heroes of the pick and pan were not ro-
mantle figures; their triumphs were not bloody
ones but what they achieved for the world,
and cease to dispise them if they generally failed
to achieve much for themselves.
AS for Brandy and |, we trudged on, chatting, |
whstng and singing, intent only on finding yir-
gin god-beds far from the crowded placers we |
had Iaft No ho1 bol had
the gold formation through South and Central
America and Mexico to California fancied it /
must link farther north with that in Siberia and
the Ural chain, and were resolved to push even
beyond the Trinity, if that stream did not enrich
us speedily, Our mining implements, a tent, |
some cooking utensils few clothes, and sew
eral months supply of salt meat and flour, we
had sent ahead in a wagon to Readings Springs,
in the Shasta Hills, whence they were to be
transferred by pack-mules to Trinity river on
our arrival. The scanty provisions we carried
on our backs we expected to exc out with oeca-
sional meals at the ranchoS along the Sacramento
river. One of us carried II rifle for protection
against any unfriendly Indian savage beast
that might obstruct our way. Thus equipped, |
we pushed ahead, averaging thirty miles day
with ease. The level valley was covered with
ripening growth of wild oats, and looked like
vast harvest-hed, bounded one side by the |
purple wall of the Coast Range, on the other by
tne nuEy outlines OF lne more distant O4eTIu ana |
ahead only by the dazzling sky, save where an
occasional grove of oaks marked a bend or
branch Of the river, and loomed up in the hot
shimmering air, with effect as if q silyery
sheet Of water flooded its site. 1t was n lovely .
spectacle, as this of grain, in places as high
as our heads, waved its yellowing surface like
true ocean. The road through it was not we'll |
defined after we left Knights Landing, and we
wandered off by Indian trails far from the river
iTAVplp1 m
without meeting water fit to drink. A few
pools, the remnants of the previous winters .
flood, were found in hollows of blue, clayey soil |
hot, putrescent and sickening. At such
place, where lone tree broke the monotony of
the plain, the air was populous with dragon flies
of great size and brilliant colors, whose gauzy
wings often touched our hands aud faces while
swarms of yellow hornets hovered over the mud
and myriads of mosquitoes hummed their mad
dening song. few yellow blossoms still I
faunted their beauty on the spot, though most
of the plants had been trampled down by thirsty
cattle. We pushed on till late in the night, then
spread our blankets on the earth, and, regard
less of the coyotes that barked querulously
around us, slept under a roof Of splendid stars.
What delight it was, after hot tramp, to
reach clear, pebbly creek, to drink and bathe
in its waters, and then, under grove of noble
oaks trellised with vines, to drink milk from the
adjoining rancho, and eat blackberries picked by
'Ht lHulduS dlOuS lue SlICdHl AZ ludL tlIut tue
settlements on the upper Sacramento were few
and far between. They consisted of an adobe
house or two, tenanted by family Of mixed
races-the man being an American or European,
the woman a Mexican or Kanaka; while near
by were the earthern huts of few amable Dig
ger Indians, who did the fishing and hunting,
and most Of the farm work, satisfied with beads,
blankets, coffee and sugar, and few old clothes
for their wages. These rdneh0s were usually on
the bank of the Sacramento or some continent,
and were stocked with large herds Of half-wild
cattle. Some OF them become the sites Of towns
at later day. Their owners were very hOspita-
bic to the few adventurers who called on them,
before the grand rush to the northern mines set
in, and ] often recall their hearty words and
homely cheer with gratitude
One night we stopped at a log-cabn, lately
built by Missouri squatters, As we neared it,
sometime after dark, we heard the sound of
fiddle, went to the open doorway and looked in.
There was rude bar garnished with few black
bottles. At one end of the bar sat the fiddler
upon keg, while number Of stout fellows in
buckskin were leaning on the front Of the bar, or
against the long walls. Presently tall, broad
shouldered man in butternut suit opened a
rough ''shake" door leading into a second apart
ment, and shouted, " Gentlemen make way for
the ladies !" AT this he led forward female