270 EIvDORADO 



the mountains, but now a lively railroad town on the 

 line of the Central Pacific railroad. Auburn, Gold 

 Hill, Dutchflat, Grass Valley, Nevada City, Timbuctoo 

 and Marysville were also visited, all of which were 

 lively mining centers. I had previously visited a part 

 of the mining camps of the foothill region in El Do- 

 rado and Sacramento counties, with a company or- 

 ganized to pursue the noted robber and land pirate, 

 Joaquin Murrieta. 



The exploits and crimes committed by this cele- 

 brated bandit form a part of the early history of Cali- 

 fornia familiar to all early pioneers. It was said that 

 while living peaceably with his young wife in 

 Tuolumne county, engaged in mining, three young 

 men, said to have been Americans, entered his cabin 

 while they were partaking of their frugal mid-day 

 meal, and after tying the young husband, brutally 

 abused and outraged his wife before his eves. He fol- 

 lowed and killed the whole number. This justifiable 

 act made him an outlaw, and from that time a heavy 

 reward was placed upon his head, dead or alive. He 

 was joined by other Spanish desperadoes and for many 

 months thev defied the authorities, murdering and rob- 

 bing at will, and making their escape upon their fleet 

 animals into the remote valleys or mountain fast- 

 nesses. Some citizens on their way to church in 

 Stockton one Sunday morning, noticed a single horse- 

 man, wearing a Spanish sombrero, serape, silver spurs 

 and riding a finely caparisoned saddle, alight and read 

 the notice posted on a billboard of a "reward of $Sooo 

 for the arrest, 'dead or alive,' of Joaquin Murrieta. 

 They observed that he wrote something thereon. After 

 he had ridden leisurely away, the passers by were led 



