CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME. 105 



adventurer, from the fact of its never having been but little explored 

 save by the few wild Indians that live about the lakes, I at once pro- 

 posed acompanying him on this interesting trip. Von Schmidt was glad 

 to have me go, so I made up my mind to do so, for I- hadn 't had a hunt 

 for a long time. 



So on the evening of the sixteenth of September, 1853, we took the 

 good little steamer "Sophia" from San Francisco bound for Stockton. 

 At Stockton we secured wagon, mules and camping equipment and on 

 September 18 our party started on their journey. 



At noon of the second day out we reached the Stanislaus River — at 

 Heath and Emery's ferry — where we had our lunch, forded the river 

 and took the Mariposa road. The day was intensely warm and the road 

 heavy and dusty, as it wound through the low hills, sparsely covered 

 with oak and brush. After a few miles we saw a large track of a grizzly 

 which seemed to have just crossed the road. After tracking him through 

 the woods for a while I came to the conclusion that the old Growler had 

 made tracks to the river to quench his thirst and cool his hide, for the 

 day was melting hot and the hills around parched. I couldn't conceive 

 what brought him so far from water at that time of day — and such 

 a day! 



We made an uneventful camp that night and by sunrise the next day 

 (September 20) were on our way. We crossed the Tuolumne River at 

 Dickinson's ferry and camped on a creek that night. On September 21 

 we reached the Merced River at "Snelings," where we camped and 

 caught our first fish and killed our first game — a few quail. The fish 

 were full of fine bones — the same kind I have seen in all the fresh water 

 streams in California — and a very poor fish to eat. 



Leaving the river about six miles farther up, we proceeded toward 

 the foothills. As yet we had seen no game larger than quail, but as we 

 advanced towards the wilds the country became more interesting. On 

 September 26 we reached old Stearns' cabin, where we camped. Here 

 I shot quail and doves and one of the boys killed a hare. On the next 

 day we proceeded toward the Chowchilla River, where von Schmidt 

 received instructions from the Surveyor General and commenced his 

 surveying work. Here I went out hunting in the low hills for antelope 

 and came across a herd of them, but they were so wild I could not get 

 near enough to shoot one. Later we camped on the Fresno, then a dry 

 bed, but with a few water holes. Here we saw a large band of wild 

 horses — probably fifty in number — and they went snorting and charging 



In different courses, notably the Donner party; others fell away; and finally 

 Colonel Grayson, with his wife and child and onu horse, completed the journey alone. 



Almost needless to say. Colonel Grayson, like almost every one else in those 

 early days of California, went to the "diggings" and was so far successful as to be 

 considered one of the wealthy men of San Francisco at one time. His attempts at 

 mercantile pursuits, however, proved failures, as before. The wilds called to him and 

 he determined to renounce business again and adopt the life of a trapper, which 

 would afford him opportunities for the study of ornithology. One of his best known 

 works is his "Birds of the Pacific Slope," which is profusely illustrated with 

 colored drawings, the work of his own hand. So fine were some of these drawings 

 that the State Fair at Sacramento awarded him a special premium "for superior 

 drawings of native birds of California, exhibited at the Fair, 1855." 



This noted artist and naturalist, in his various wandermgs for the purpose of 

 studying wild life, accepted in 1853 an invitation from a friend to accompany a 

 surveying party to the plains of Tulare County. The accompanying extracts, slightly 

 revised are from a diary kept by Grayson which refer to the abundance of game 

 prevalent in that region at the time of the trip. The handwritten journal is deposited 

 in the Bancroft Library, of the University of California, and acknowledgement is 

 here made of the courtesy of the Library in allowing its publication. — Editor. 



