IN THE MINI\ T G DISTRICT 227 



arms, and then our little company started on its march. 

 We were: Rothrock, the teamster; Fritz Giinther, bis 

 brother-in-law, both German- Americans, and lately from 

 Jefferson City; Charles Kamke from Dantzig; August 

 Braun from Memel ; a young man named Reinhard, and 

 Fritz Schmetzer, whom Rothrock had brought from 

 Marysville, and myself. 



As I mentioned before, the "Wisconsin House" is at 

 the edge of the Sacramento valley, about 14 miles North- 

 east from Marysville, about midway between the Yuba 

 and the Feather rivers. The country which we crossed 

 on that hot afternoon of our first traveling day, offered a 

 perfect parallel to the lovely landscape around Long Bar, 

 which I have tried to describe in my former letter. 

 Among the softly undulating hills lay the valleys with 

 their carpet of flowers and their old oak trees, and here 

 and there a cozy farm house. Of these we encountered 

 six or seven during that afternoon. Situated as they are 

 on the only road that runs at present between the Yuba 

 and the Feather rivers to the Sierra Nevada, they are 

 kept as inns, and the board we get there is good. Espe- 

 cially one of these houses pleased me very much— the 

 "Galena House"— as well on account of its picturesque 

 situation as of the toute ensemble, the owner a German- 

 American— having built it in the style of a Swiss cot- 

 tage, probably as a compliment to his young wife, a na- 

 tive of Switzerland. 



AMi en you travel with an ox team, you do not get over 

 the ground as fast as you would on the wim:;s of Pega- 

 sus. Sauntering slowly along we took a good view of 

 all we encountered on the road— teams, horsemen and 

 mule trains, who from afar announced themselves 

 through the bells of their leaders; but what pleased us 

 most were the constantly changing, charming landscapes, 

 which the now setting sun covered with a purple tint. 

 It was after sundown when we came to a halt on a mea- 

 dow in a valley near the "Tennessee House," about 20 

 miles from the "Wisconsin." On the bank of a small 

 laughing stream, under an oak tree heavy with age, on 



