Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-02-23
RECORDS BROKEN.
THE PRESENT WINTER ENTITLED TO
THE RAINFALL CHAMPIONSHIP.
The Famous Winters of is4o and 1862
Must Now Retire Hiram Arents'
Comparison.

1
markaole one go far nobody needs to be
told. The "oldest inhabitant' has fire.
quently been appealed to for a comparison,
but he has invariably lodged the question.
Old forty miners are 10th to admit that
anything ever eclipsed the great winter OF
1S49-50 as regards severity and some have
even gone so far as to proclaim that the pres
ent winter has been picnic when CON-
pared with that which greeted them upon
their arrival in the land of gold. There
has never been anything like it and never
will be- is their usual declaration. There
has been much discussion on the subject,
but nope of a substantial nature, owing to
the absence of statistics.
The REcoRD-UNIoN, with a view to set
thing this important matter, prevailed upon
Hiram Areuts, well-known forty-niner,
formerly of Sacramento, but at present q
resident of Oroville, to throw some light
upon the subject. Mr.. Arents has q PEN
chant for old records of all kinds, and
probably is one of the best posted men on
California history alive to-day. He is
well known in this city and his COMPARE
interest, particularly by the old timers.
THE FALL OF 40.
81 had been mining" says Mr. Arents,
"early in the fail of 40 at Reading Springs,
afterwards called Shasta, and also on Clear
creek twelve miles above its junction with
the Sacramento river, at place which our
party named Midtown, after a favorite
pack mule We lost by falling from high
bank down among the rocks below, break
ing his neck. Poor 'Dirty-face Jack 2
THAT was the name we gave him). We
have erected monument to your memory
and your innocent race in naming the
town after you 1t was here that | was
Frustrated with typhus fever. No physi-
clans were here to prescribe for the sick,
and no nourishment suitable for invalids
could be obtained; nothing but miners
hearty diet-pork and beans and slapjacks.
Daily my symptoms grew worse and worse
Finally my brother concluded 10 get me
out of this, and if possible down to Sacra-
mento. l was carried most of the way
down the canyon, twelve miles, reaching
the trading post at the junction of the Sac
ramento river and Clear creek. This was a
canvas town of stores, where provisions and
miners supplies could be bought for Read
ing Springs and other mines. 1t was on
the 25th of October when we reached this
place. My brother engaged passage for me
and my sick partner of an ox-teamster to
Sacramento, paying him four ounces of
gold dust for the use of his wagon. On the
morning of October 26th we started slowly
down the valley for Sacramento, camping
the first night some distance below Cotton
wood creek.
before leaving camp the next morning
1.-THE 27th) the first rain of 40 set in and
continued to fall in torrents, with scarcely
an intermission, during the next four days.
On the fifth day out the clouds dispersed,
the sun shone brightly and clearly We
had camped that night on the north side of
Sycamore slough. The water in the same
was about two feet deep, and it required
the united efforts of the thirteen yoke of
oxen to haul each wagon through the
mud and water to the south bank. In
pulling the last wagon over one of the hind
wheels broke, and the teamsters came to a
halt for the day to repair damages. They
gathered logs and brush and started rous-
ing fire. The sick were removed from the
wagons, placed near the FIRE to warm and
| dry their clothes. 1t was late in the after
noon when the damage was repaired and
everything put in readiness for q start next
morning. When night set in the sky was
covered with clouds. Rain followed and
continued with severity all night. Next
morning (November 2d) we started on our
| slow journey. Before reaching Nyes
ranch the bottom of the roads had fallen
out. If the oxen SHE'D one foot out of the
beaten track they would sink to their knees
and the wagon wheels would mire down to
the hubs. Rain continued to come down
softening the ground, and consequently our
travel was slow.
st was late in the afternoon of November
| 4th when we reached the I-street ferry on
the Yolo side of the Sacramento river
eight days on the road from the trading
post at the junction of Clear creek and the
Sacramento river. l was lifted from the
OK wagon, carried to the ferryboat and
across the river TO my tent, on lot No. 26 of
Slater's addition to Sacramento City. We
had bought this lot in July, 40, from Peter
Slater, one of the old Territorial pioneers,
and personal friend of Captain John A.
Suffer. The location of this lot is now
occupied by the Southern Pacific Com
pany's shops. 1t fronted on Jibboom street,
directly opposite the site of the first Yolo
bridge built across the Sacramento river.
| When we left Sacramento on our trip north
| to Reading Springs, the ferry landing was
then opposite to our lot, but some time
after we started up north it was moved to
the foot of l street.
THE RIVER ROSE.
1.-THE eight days shaking up in that dead
ak wagon caused relapse in my sickness
/ [ have no recollection of the rainfall in No
vember until nearly the close of that
month, but remember hearing my brother
say: The river is bank FULL if the rain
continues much longer l will have to re-
move you TO some safer place. The rain
| ceased falling and there were eight or zen
| days of clear, warm weather befure No
vember closed. The rivers ran down, as
there was then very little snow in the
mountains 10 feed them. December was
ushered in with cold rain-storm, which
continued day and night, but occasion
ally the sun would break through the
clouds and shine for few hours, then be-
come obscured and rain would fall again.
Rain, rain. rain AS the month was
| slowly passing away it became awfully mo-
notonous while lay in my bunk listening
| to it falling on the tent; and this was the
result of my watchfulness, and the impress
| sion it made on my memory never has been
| obliterated.
| Il concluded to notice how many days it
would miss raining during the month the
result was that not a single twenty-four
| hours the entire month of the thirty one days
did we miss down pour or light sprinkle
| of rain. On the 3ist, The month closed
with fierce gale of wind and rainstorm.
| Our tent was blown down. This storm
| continued some days in January, piling up
| the snow in the mountains and driving the
miners back to Sacramento. Finally the
weather moderated and warm rains con-
tinued to fall, rapidly melting the snow
and reaching we'll up to the higher points
| in the mountains. The rivers were rising
very fast The American was discharging
| immense volumes of water, reaching across
to the Yolo bank and backing up the Sac
ramento some miles. No one anticipated
such freshet as followed. and corse-
quently very little preparation was made
| for the disaster that followed.
at was P. NJ. of January, 1850, when
the surging waters were heard breaking
over the banks fronting the city. The
sonnd was like breakers rolling on the sea-
shore. Immediately the cry went forth:
'Tse river has broken over tie embarcadaro
and is rushing into the city,
| Little time was given the people in the
| CITY of tents TO place their goods in safety.
.y2A. NJ the waters OF the Sacramento
and American rivers had found their level
over the city from two TO six feet deep.
! The winter of 40 was a severe one.
Pioneers who went through the same will
never forget the priystions and sufterings
| they endured: particularly the mining class.