Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-08-17
"THE DESERTED YILLAGE. "
GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF THE RE
MAINS OF A ONCE LIVELY TOWN.
Mosquitoes Sitting among the Eucalyptus
Branches and Warbling Love
Songs to Their Mates.
IFrom an occasional Correspondent !

once upon time, so lar Dack In tne
fifties that only we old folks remember it,
there was a little village bloomed into ex.
istence in Solano county and, like Mr.
Finnsy's turnip, ut grew and it grew until
it could grow no longer" 1t was before
the days of booms, but it collapsed like a
regularly organized boom of the present
day. 1t struggled for breath under the
name of Silveyville, deriving it form its
founder, Elijah Silvey, who long since
slumbered under the sod of its church
yard.
! Unhappily some of its main citizens
found greater attractions elsewhere, and
moved their goods and chattels to other
parts, and like the snails took their castles
along with them. This restive spirit took
possession of the neighbors who were left
in sight of the vacant lots and gaping
cellars, and in but few years all of the
business men folded their tents and van
ished, leaving only ghost of the former
busy little burg. To-day it is the home of
/
home, and the name of Silveyville de-
ceased is mentioned but seldom. A few
relics remain on the site of the city, one
being the old square brick house of Mr..
Silvey.
This was the main hotel of the place,
where were ample accommodations for
tired man and beast. 1t was the day of
teamine, when railroads were in the un-
certain hence, and to reach Sacramento,
then large village, the rancher must
traverse the weary miles with his mule
teams. 1t must have been busy time, when
the noisy teamsters came in with jangle
and whoop and took the little old inn by
storm. A railroad was projected from
Vallejo to Marysville, and, in fact, the
grade was thrown up but it was like the
honest man, it "didn't was"
On the former site of the postofice,
where the populace gathered each day to
spin yarns and interview the stage-driver,
a fine garden fourished varieties and
quantities sufficient to stock small coun-
try fair. Where stood the village kirk,
are rows add rows of shapeiy almond trees,
hanging full of the green woolly nuts. Yes,
they even took the church away, and dug
| up the wells and cellars to cut into post
holes. That is in advance of custom in
the mining regions, where Methodist
church was turned into dancing hall and
the pulpit torn away to make room for
stage, where travelling troupes might in
| fict their talent on the people.
A few yards up street, Baptist church
was used to hold the 'groaning tables" on
the occasion of ball, and many and many
time the sound of the violin and banjo
and marching feet came pouring out its
windows, instead of the nasal, "And
fourthly, my dearly beloved brethren of
few years previous. The pulpit was
draped with flags, flowers and banners gay,
and here the string band fiddled the happy
hours away. Over their heads in large
black letters ran the legend: 'Holiness be
Unto Thine House, oh Lordw This was
sometimes covered with spicy cedar boughs
and wreaths, and as often it was not. Right
now al enterprising man uses it as store
house for his fruit. That town has not
| been struck by lightning, and it enjoys
quite degree of prosperity.
But let us travel back to Silveyville. /
can sec the peaceful town on Sabbath morn
| ings. when the work of the week ceased,
and the people gathered for morning serv
| ice in the close little church-house, COM
| ing in from all points Of the compass,
| through dust and mud alike, in vehicles of
all descriptions. The horses nibbled at
| the rack, the flies vascillated in the open
windows, the deacons peacefully dreamed
| on the foremost benches and the small boy,
in an agony of quiet and shoes and stock
ings, gazed longingly at the fields, and but
terfies and jack rabbits.
All, that was fair and glorious country
then, before the advent of surveyors chains
and barb wire-one unbroken expanse of
! fertile land, covered with flowers as vivid
in colors as a country Fourth Of July.
There were antelope running at large, and
the antlered elk stalked proudly through
the tall wild oats. (You know it is the
'49er's pet topic to enlarge on the wild
oats.) Coyotes and grasshoppers, too,
made merry the level sea. Indians were
| plentiful but the march of civilization has
laid waste the rancheres, and the redskins
are scattered to the four winds. You see
none of the old fashioned sons of Lo now.
The grim old hombras have taken up aresi-
dence in the happy hunting-ground, and
their posterity affect red neckties and hair
oil in place Of the abbreviated dress of
their fathers.
One tottering landmark of departed
glory is rickety old shebang that gen.
erous-leaved fig tree endeavors to screen
from dust and public gaze. 1t, too, was a
hostelry and sported the name of the
"Elkhorn" on a sign which fiuttered and
creaked in the winds, till it finally felt
the downfall of the town SO keenly that it
fell to the earth like a mellow apple and
hid its warped and weather=heaten- face in
the dust, never to rise again. The gate is
nailed and wired and renaiIed and rewired.
Where once it answered to every conner
with a hospitable click, the latch is rusted
and silent Dried grass, knee-high, has
choked up the front path, and an asth-
matte old pump at one side answers to a
hand-shake with broken-winded gurgle.
There is little of the porch left, and at
every step one goes through the rotten
boards to Mother Earth's bosom. The
windows are black holes, tile doors hinge
less, and the walls. that could tell tales of
iovial scenes within their bounds, stand
mildewed, black and bare. with strings of
musty paper dangling like ghostly arms.
In the ''lean tov kitchen, in place of the
clink of dishes and the siz1e and scent OF
supper, the quiet is appalling, and the
stencil of mold and decay turns the olfac-
tories towards convenient opening.
Just across the road, and elbowing this
relic of bygone days. stands a small Queen
Anne residence, Delightfully."- in contrast
with the warped old pile that a grove oi
cypress tries to hide. Up low, wide steps
under little balcony, veranda runs
round square bay window that juts out
into mass OF blooming flowers.
Architects and decorators have iavished
all their most beautiful dreams on the
structure, ard the result is most gratifying
{ to the eye. A smooth, well-kept lawn
stretches away in fruit to low fence, and
, in this green spot children and kittens
and pups tumble and roll through all the
long day. Like bright band around
the dense green is circle of handsome
flowers, where bees aud butterflies dir
into the cups of lilies and skim over the
scarlet geraniums, old-fashioned verbena:
and pinks, while every breeze scatter:
fragrant rose petals over the velvet carpet
All around and around extends grove
| of eucalyptus trees-some 200-planted II
the palmy days of the town, and as tai
and straight and naked as the masts O
some gray old ship. Around their naSec
bodies creeping vines climb hand over
hand like sailors in a ships rigging. The