j68 ELDORADO 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



PERSONAL NARRATIVE CONTINUED. 



In the spring of 1856 I disposed of my property in- 

 terests on the Consumnes river in Sacramento county 

 for the purpose of returning to the States. It was to 

 fulfill a promise made to my mother when eleven years 

 of age, on the death of my brothers in 1837 that I 

 would care for her and father when they became old. 

 That time had now come. The promise was kept, and 

 at their death a monument was erected to their mem- 

 ory, on the one side "To my mother," "Blessed are the 

 dead who die in the Lord;" on the other, "Gone to his 

 rest." For the third and last time I returned to Cali- 

 fornia. 



Before leaving for the States with my wife and six 

 months' old child (I was married in San Francisco 

 January 19th, 1854), I visited various districts of the 

 mining region with which I had not previously been 

 familiar, traveling by stage as an "occasional" corre- 

 spondent of the Sacramento Union. 



Except by pack train, the old Concord stage coach 

 was the only mode of traveling over the mountains in 

 those days, with six broncos attached and the cele- 

 brated "Hank Monk" or other fearless Jehus for 

 drivers. The perilous rides at breakneck speed along 



