62 HISTORY OF CALIFORJaA. 



• 



The plan of operations adopted by most of tlie 

 miners who were not Indians or Californians, was to 

 form bands of three, five or ten, under the command 

 of one of the number, whose name the party took, and 

 by wliich it was afterwards known. Some larger 

 companies were formed in the United States, and 

 repaired to California, and their operations were of 

 course, on a more extensive scale ; tlicy having all 

 the necessary equipments of gold-washers and miners. 

 Written rules were generally drawn up for the govern- 

 ment of the parties, varying in particulars according 

 to the peculiar views of the framers. These rules 

 provided for the modus operandi of procuring the 

 gold, supplying the party with necessaries, attending 

 to the sick, and the division of the fruits of their labor. 



One of the most frequented placers of California is 

 called the Stanislaus mine, situated near the Stanis- 

 laus River. It was one of the first places worked to 

 any extent by the gold-seekers, but not satisfying the 

 expectations of some of the most greedy, it has since 

 been partially abandoned. A description of this mine, 

 and of the living and operations of its workers in the 

 winter of 1848-49, will give a good general idea of the 

 toils and privations endured by the early gold-seekers in 

 that region, and, also, of their mode of procuring the 

 precious metal at most of the mines. We extract 

 from a recently published work, distinguished for 

 minuteness of detail and accuracy of description.* 



" The mine w^as a deep ravine, embosomed amidst 

 lofty hills, surmounted by, and covered with pine, and 

 having, in the bottom itself, abundance of rock, mud, 

 and sand. Ilalliday and I encamped at the very 



* Personal Adventures in Upper and Lower California, by William 

 Redmond Ryan. 



