286 Beyond the Sierras. 



from the city authorities came to meet ViS, and in a short time we were dis- 

 tributed thruugli the city, partly at our own will and partly at the will of 

 others. 



The companion of the writer, as we walked up to the principal street,, 

 said to him, "On an old counter in a little house standing on that corner I 

 one time saw a bushel of gold dust in a single heap." There are some mar- 

 velous things not only about the history of Sacramento, but also about its- 

 present conditions and surroundings. When the city was built the valley 

 here was at a much lower level than at present. In fact, the first stories of 

 the houses are now underground, so that buildings on principal streets ap- 

 pear to be lower by one story than they are. That is, the floors of the 

 second stories are now on a level with the streets— and thereby hangs a tale. 



Know then, reader, that gold has been produced in this State of Cali- 

 fornia. At the first the method, as you know, was the simple placer mining, 

 which so easily enriched the tirst adventurers. The accessible free gold, how- 

 ever, became scarce at length, and new methods of procuring it had to be 

 adopted. About twenty years ago hydraulic mining came into vogue. Reser- 

 voirs of water were established in the mountains. This was brought down in 

 great conduits, ending in a tremendous nozzle, sometimes as much as nine 

 inches in diameter. Few processes in the practical arts have ever more strik- 

 ingly illustraied the force and vehemence of natural agents than did the tre- 

 mendous, irresistible column of water shooting from the nozzle of the hy- 

 draulic apparatus. This water, directed against the hill-sides and mountain- 

 sides, knocked everything to right and left, and dashed and poured down the 

 solid earth and tumbling rocks in chaotic torrents into the sluices. The latter 

 were sometimes miles in length. A sluice resembles a mill-race. It is virt- 

 ually the same. Across the bottom are nailed the cleats, over which the 

 rushing torrent of muddy water pours along in its precipitous descent, but 

 deposits, as it flows, its heavy particles of gold. These lodge against the up- 

 per sides of the cleats, and afterward are gathered, a veriti\ble golden harvest. 



Now, the debris and detritus of all this business found its way, of course, 

 into the tributaries or main channels of the upper California rivers, and 

 they began to lill up and overflow their banks. The process continuetl,and 

 the streams spread wider and wider over the bottoms. These low lands 

 were the agricultural lands of the State, rich and valuable. In many places 

 the farmers along the banks of the rivers were at first disturbed, and then 

 ousted from their ranches. The towns and cities were frequently built on 

 the river banks, and these likewise felt the disastrous effects of the over- 

 flowing waters. Thus it was that here at Sacramento the river rose to a 

 higher and higher level. Dikes were used, and these in their turn were 

 overflowed. The streets were raised, and still the process went on. 



Here, then, was a conflict. The agricultural and commercial interests 

 were arrayed on one side, and the hydraulic miners on the other. The ripa- 

 rian Franks went to war with the gold-gathering Burgundians of the mount- 

 ains. The contest waxed furious. Never was a suit in any court pressed 



