308 EAST PRUSSIA TO THE GOLDEN GATE 



with some of the lowest characters. Naturally I did not 

 take kindly to their excesses and was assaulted on two 

 occasions for my righteous opposition. Both shots 

 missed their mark, but hastened my leave-taking last 

 June. Since then I have been at my brushes again, 

 working for G oiler, the carriage builder. He is greatly 

 pleased with my work. By the middle of July I 

 was able to return to Olias the ninety dollars I owed 

 him, whereupon he resolved to return home at once, 

 as his earnest endeavors met with so little success. 

 I wished him "Godspeed." He tried his best to suc- 

 ceed. This day finds me in a new position. Capt. Henry 

 Hancock, county surveyor of Los Angeles, engaged me 

 as flagman of one of his surveying parties at sixty dol- 

 lars a month. 



December 31st, 1855. 

 The outdoor life agrees marvelously well with me. Am 

 in high spirits, as Capt. Hancock promoted me to head 

 a company as compass man, with a salary of seventy- 

 five dollars. We are working in the Mojave desert and 

 swamps. 



June 30th, 1856. 

 Hancock's expedition ended in January and with two 

 hundred and twenty-six dollars to my credit. Although 

 assured of future employment, I took once more to paint- 

 ing in order to avoid idleness. At last, on March 10th, 

 Capt. Hancock sent two new expeditions to the Mojave 

 valley, one of these headed by Deputy County Surveyor 

 George Hansen, while the command of the other was 

 entrusted to me at eighty-five dollars a month. We 

 surveyed the Canada de Sole'dad and neighboring val- 

 leys along the Northeastern foothills of the Sierra Ne- 

 vada.* Again Capt. Hancock showed his appreciation of 

 my work by raising my wages to one hundred dollars 



*Of these early maps, as drawn by the careful hand of young" 

 Lecouvreur, one of the best known local surveyors, Alfred Street, 

 assures the translator that there is nothing in the possession of 



