Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-01-02

dosoTpiiR tnouSut Vi All, ahu VIC PAos.
habits or occupation of the individual had
no influence upon his mind or action at
this time. Our faces were all fixed
TOWARDS THE MINES,
And we turned not one way or the other
to see any of the other natural re-
sources of the country. The first gen.
eral and almost universal impression,
/ however, was that the country was almost
everywhere a barren waste-a worthless
desert. ALI indications of prior cultivation
were then obliterated, and the green car
pet of vegetation of the early spring so
early had turned to the brown and crisped
covering of midsummer. But few OF us
had read of the wonderful productiveness
| of the soil, as proven by the unprecedented
crops and rapidly multiplying herds OF the
Mission Fathers, nor did we know of the
great achievements which Captain Suffer
within the past few years had accomplished
in creating an agricultural establishment
at New Helvetia or Suffers Fort, or OF the
bountiful crops he would have reaped in
the summer of lS4S had not the mines
been discovered. We only looked for the
/ gold mines, and could or would see moth
ing else. Neither
! AGRICULTURE NOR COMMERCE
I Could have any attractions or inducements
| for the men who had come for gold only
| The gold excitement had to have its run,
and with me the active fever lasted about
four months. In the following November
/ returned to Sacramento, having dug from
| the bars Of the American and Bear rivers, and
saved, after paying expenses and living.
! about 81 600, In gold dust. During the
winter of $50 | was engaged In the
general produce business as one of the firm
of Nelson, Myrick & Co., on j street,
about where Lyon & Barnes. store is now
| located, and although one floor was about
/ two feet above the natural surface of the
ground, we lived for some two months of
that winter on temporary floor, made on
the topsof pork and liquor barrels set on end
with the water within about a foot of our
temporary foor-and this, it will be re.
membered, was prior to the bottoms of the
Sacramento or American being raised by
! the
DEPOSITS OF THE MINING DEBRIS IN THEM.
When l first returned from the mines,
in November, my attention was attracted
to rope ferry plying between Sacramento
and the opposite bank of the Sacramento
river, landing about midway from the site
of the present bridge and the old mouth of
the American river. During the winter
formed the acquaintance of a Mr.. A. B.
Carlisle, man of considerable experience
as boatman and mechanical genius. He
was camping on the west bank of the river,
and in his tent first met Sam. Seabough,
formerly editor of the Sacramento Union.
CariiAle and myself agreed as to the future
value of ferry across the river at this
point, and we agreed to establish such
Ferry IN the spring. We purchased scoW
that had been brought out by New \ orK
company and put up here, with the inten-
ton of running up some OF the rivers to
the mines, and by steam power and dredg-
ing machinery, which they also brought
with them, to lift the tons of gold that
they supposed laid In the bottom of the
river up on the scow. Finding
THEIR PLANS IMPRAoTIoABLE,
The company had broken up and were
selling out their effects, and we paid them
50, 900 for the scow. This scow laid just
at the old mouth of the American river,
and while negotiating for its purchase my
attention was attracted by the extreme
clearness and depth of the water of that
river at this point The depth was over
thirty feet, and the water was so clear and
colorless that we could plainly see the bot
tom. The engines that had been brought
out by the company had been previously
sold, and had been set up in a sawmill
about one mile above the city on the west
bank of the Sacramento, with the intention
of getting out oak lumber for the Sacra-
mento market, but the enterprise having
proved pro6tless one, had been aban-
doned, and they were still lying there
idle. We could have purchased them at that
time very cheaply, but we thought horse
power would be sufficient to propel our
ferryboat, and we put a couple of endless
chain horse-powers on her and started the
ferry about March, 1850.
THE RAPID CURRENT
OF the high water and the heavy March
north winds, soon convinced us that we
had not power enough. We abandoned
the horse power, purchased the engines
above referred to, and within month had
the first steam ferry boat ever built west of
the Rocky Mountains plying across the
Sacramento river, from the foot of 1 street,
| in Sacramento, to Harriet street, in Wash
ington. In the mean time purchased Car
isles interest in the ferry and afterwards
sold half interest to ]. w. Myrick, my
mining and trading partner. The first Leg
islature, in 1885, passed law by which
| ferries might be licensed by the Courts of
! Sessions and secure exclusive rights for a
mile up and down on any of the rivers Of
the State by complying with certain con.
ditions of notice, giving bonds, etc.
| We obtained a license, and the rope
ferry which belonged to Joseph Chiies
and the late jerome c. Davis, which was
found to be running in violation of law, was
! forced to withdraw. Our little ferryboat,
which we christened the Alpha, proved
! to be
| GOOD INVESTMENT.
During the summer and fall of 1850
there was great rush to the northern
mines about Shasta, and the route travelled
to reach these mines was to cross the Sac
ramento here and go up on the west side
of the river. That fall, also, the immigra-
ton across the plains brought a large
number of cattle and horses with
them. a very large proportion of this
stock was sold to parties who had taken
up stock ranches in Yolo, Solano, Napa
and Sonoma counties, or were sent over
there to ranch and between the freight
ing for the northern mines and the immi.
grant cattle we had busy time and good
harvest. During the three months of
August, September and October the re.
ceipts of the little Alpha were over S27,-
600. In the spring of this year became
a resident of Washington, Yolo county,
aud in the fall the house in which l have
since and now reside was built. The frame
and all the lumber of which it was origin
ally built was imported from Maine. The
ruling price for lumber at this time was
ten cents foot, Or 500 thousand in
Sacramento.
AGRICULTURE OF 1850.
l well remember that, when returning
from the mines in October, lS49, coming
to point from which there was good
view Of the Sacramento valley below, ]
was struck with its wonderful beauty, its
vast expanse of level plains, stretching out
from the foothills of the Sierras to those OF
the coast range opposite. 1 traced the
course Of the American, Sacramento and
Bear rivers by their borders of dark green
timber, and the thought flashed across my
mind, and / involuntarily gave it ex-
preston in words, "There must be some
mistake about this country, after all-that