224 EAST PRUSSIA TO THE GOLDEN GATE 



Long Bar, Yuba River, Cal., 



(Begun) Sept. 1st, 1852. 

 Though I only the other day mailed my letter No. 16, 

 I shall now begin to make good my promise to give you 

 a detailed account of events; and since my letter written 

 on Nelson Creek, of which I made mention in my last, has 

 become almost illegible by wear and tear, I will begin 

 this letter by first copying the former. 



On Nelson Creek Near Hopkinsville, 



In the beginning of July, 1852. 



And so I am here at last, far up in the Sierra Nevada, 

 on the line of the eternal snow. 



When I wrote my last letter at Long Bar I not only 

 scarcely knew this place by name, but I certainly never 

 thought of passing the summer up here in the wilderness. 

 But that is the way here in California, no one can predict 

 at any given time either where he will be or what will be- 

 come of him, say, within the next eight days. In my last 

 letter I told you how few preparations it requires here for 

 any kind of a trip, and how little time it takes a man to 

 make up his mind about it, and to start on it; that is ex- 

 actly how it came about with me. 



On "Wednesday, June 2d, at about 3 o'clock in the aft- 

 ernoon, as I was at work, Charles Kamke came to me and 

 asked me if I would go with him to Nelson Creek; a Ger- 

 man from there had come to Long Bar to hire some men, 

 and that we might find him on the next day in the fore- 

 noon at the "Wisconsin House," about ten miles from 

 Long Bar, and there make our arrangements with him. 

 You will see that I did not have much time to make up 

 my mind; I went to my tent, packed up my bundle and 

 put rifle and revolver in order; then I brought my rocker 

 and other tools from the bar and placed them where they 

 would be safe during my absence; and on the following 

 morning I was ready to start on a trip of about 150 miles. 



On Thursday, June 3d, at sunrise I ate my last pancake 

 at Long Bar, and then turned ni} 7 back on the place, 

 where I had made my debut as a. miner, accompanied by 



