SERENO WATSON. 407 



to prepare himself for the next work in view. But he was now on the 

 eve of a total and unforeseen change of plan, by which he soon en- 

 tered on a sphere of activity in which all his previous training was 

 utilized. This change of base and plan are best described in his 

 own words. The account is thoroughly characteristic. It is dated 

 San Francisco, April 28, 1867. 



" The request in your last letter that I should ' open ' would have 

 received prompter attention had there been anything to say for myself 

 beyond conjecture. There is at least this much certain at present, 

 that I have left New England again and am safely landed in this capital 

 city of the Land of Gold. I have been ready to start on short notice 

 for several months, but one thing after another turned up which in- 

 volved the possibility of my not coming at all, so that I was kept in a 

 state of uncertainty, and not able to say definitely whether I was 

 coming here or not. One proposition was made to me to take ten 

 thousand dollars and go into the drug business at Selma, but this fell 

 through. Another was to buy a saw-mill and go into the lumber 

 business with Mr. Weruyss at Mobile. A week's delay of the mails 

 flanked that movement. Mr. Barnard offered me a clerkship in the 

 new Educational Department at Washington, of which he is appointed 

 Commissioner, and this I declined. One Friday I found myself clear 

 of all questions of the kind, and, to give no time for any more to come, 

 I determined to take the next steamer, which sailed on Monday. To 

 pack up, close up, say good by, and get to New York by Saturday 

 evening, left of course very little spare time. I wrote no letters, and 

 did not stop to see friends in East Windsor or Hartford, but made my 

 escape by the flank, and am consequently now here. . . . 



" I am not yet settled, and do not know where it will be nor at what 

 business. I started with a dozen strings to my bow, some of which 

 snapped at the first trial. I am confident that some of the rest will 

 do better. I have no idea of going to the mines." 



It appears that at first Watson thought of farming in California. 

 Even in the early years after graduation from college he had con- 

 templated taking a farm in Connecticut with his brother, and this 

 occupation always had great attractions for him. But suddenly he 

 gave up the idea of purchasing a farm in California, and started from 

 Woodland across the Sierra Nevada to join the Geological Survey of 

 the Fortieth Parallel. Doubtless he had heard something of the pro- 

 posed survey from the leader of the expedition. Clarence King, who 

 passed a part of the previous winter in New Haven. 



He reached the camp on the Truckee River on a July night, coming 



