46 HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. 



when Captain Weber had to take it. The prices of 

 all things are high, and yet Indians, who before hardly 

 knew what a breech cloth was, can now afford to buy 

 the most gaudy dresses. 



^ The country on either side of Weber's creek is 

 much broken up by hills, and is intersected in every 

 direction by small streams or ravines, which contain 

 mo/e or less gold. Those that have been worked are 

 barely scratched ; and although thousands of ounces 

 have been carried away, I do not consider that a seri 

 ous impression has been made upon the whole. Every 

 day was developing new and richer deposits ; and the 

 only impression seemed to be, that the metal would be 

 found in such abundance as seriously to depreciate in 

 value. 



" On the 8th of July, I returned to the lower mines, 

 and on the following day to Slitter's, where, on the 

 19th, I was making preparations for a visit to the 

 Feather, Yuba, and Bear Rivers, when I received a 

 letter from Commander A. R. Long, United States 

 Navy, who had just arrived at San Francisco from 

 Mazatlan with a crew for the sloop-of-war Warren, 

 with orders to take that vessel to the squadron at La 

 Paz. Captain Long wrote to me that the Mexican 

 Congress had adjourned without ratifying the treaty 

 of peace, that he had letters from Commodore Jones, 

 and that his orders were to sail with the Warren on or 

 before the 20th of July. In consequence of these, I 

 determined to return to Monterey, and accordingly 

 arrived here on the 17th of July. Before leaving 

 Suiter's, I satisfied myself that gold existed in the bed 

 of the Feather River, in the Yuba and Bear, and in 

 many of the smaller streams that lie between the 

 latter and the American Fork ; also, that it had been 



