The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-07-26

dirt in running water that came down
| small ravine since called Black Gulch..
| The result showed him good prospect OF
| coarse gold.
Thompson went back to his party and
showed his friends the yellow specks he
had washed out. The amount was not
great, but the coarse gold in it made them
hesitate to leave the place without further
prospecting. This they did, with even bet
ter results than those obtained by Thomp-
son, and later on, when they saw little
scales of gold clinging to the roots of the
long grass, they were still further con-
WINGED of the richness of their find.
With two or three fortunate exceptions
the men in this party were newcomers at
the mines and quite ignorant of mining
customs and laws, and the men who made
the exceptions were no better posted on
these matters than they should have been.
They knew enough, however, to tell the
others that they must organize district
and make regulations Accordingly a
meeting was held the next day, and
Thompson's Dry Diggings was formally or
ganized.
The size of the claims was fixed'at thirty
feet. This was done in Difference to the
opinion of the more experienced miners,
but the claims might legally have
been made fifty feet, though this was
not known until the claims had been
staked off and work commenced ON them.
Ii was too late to change then, and, as it
was, the claims yielded fortunes to their
owners. Thompson and his partner, Bell,
were given an extra claim between them
for the discovery.
celebrated dry diggings of Yreka Flats
How men poured in from all directions
and Shasta Butte City, with a popula-
ton of 5000 souls, sprang into being in less
than six months from the time that
Thompson washed his first painful would
be an interesting narrative in itself.
Since those days Yreka's history has
been even more varied and picturesque
than that of the average town that was
ushered into being during the exciting |
days of the gold fever in California. Once |
upon a time ii cost the citizens of Yreka |
So to transmit letter and half that amount |
TO send newspaper. Famines have oc-
Cured several times. Twice large part |
of the town has been laid waste by flames. |
Until eight years ago the nearest railroad |
station was Redding, over 100 miles to the !
south, and often in winter the SHOWS or
heavy freshets have made the roads I'M |
passable, cutting off communication with |
the outer world. Yreka has had, too, her |
vigilance committee, her periods of law
lessness, her political turmolls, and last |
and most recently, murder sensation |
that, while it lasted, rivaled even the |
Deelning horrors in Australia.
To-day Yreka is staid and proper county |
seat of less than 1000 population, but still |
the center of rich mining and cattle
raising district ana the Immediate source |
of supplies for a large territory.
From the south there is but one ap- |
proach to Yreka, and this leads up through |
the beautiful Sacramento River canyon to
the crest of Mount Shasta's giant foot
hills at Black Butte Summit, then down.
ward into Shasta Valley through |
the forests and pasture lands of |
Southern Siskiyou, past Edgewood and
Gazelle to Montague. Here branch road |
shoots off into Yreka Valley and carries the
traveller into a region where, for at least |
eight months in the year, the surrounding |
hills are covered with snow. Leave Sacra-
mento in April, when the thermometer
registers perhaps an even 80 degrees, and |
by noon the next day find yourself |
in Yreaa. where ho the temperature
you think. but you do not |
find it nearly as cold as you expected. |
for the altitude of Yreka robs the climate |
of it's terrors for even those unused to win |
ter SHOWS. You find the trees green and |
the lilacs and wild flowers in bloom, while |
off on the hills that meet the eyes in what |
ever direction they are turned, and some |
of which appear to be not more than a |
stones throw from the edge of the city, |
lies glistening white mantle that dazzles
the eyes when the sun falls on it. Per-
hapsthe next day it grows warmer. Then
you have summer in the valley and winter
on the mountains, and you can look from
one to the other, or, if you WISH you may
walk out of summer into winter.
In the winter months the snow comes
down into the valley. Then, too, Yreka
has charm of its own, and those who long
for the sports and scenes of an Eastern
winter can there find both of them in
abundance for less than a days travel.
But summer and autumn are the scenic
artists months in this region, for then the
roads are open and camping out of doors is
not a hardship. In Scott Valley there are
the Moffit Creek Mountains. Marble Noun
tain and many an unnamed canyon and
butte that should be famous for their
scenic beauty.
The same is true along the Klamath
River. at Shovel Greek, and at a score of
other points all contiguous to Yreka. The
scenery here is of the wild, majestic type,
difficult of access, much of it, but repaying
amply all the hardships it costs to view. In
his wild region Joaquin Miller found much
IF his inspiration for the ''Songs of the
Sierras." Some day, perhaps, mankind
will cease to worship the golden calf.
Then Yreka will come into her own and be
amous as the center of one of the most
regions on the coast.
LUKE NORTH.