ALONG THE SACRAMENTO. 621 



ing sombreros, sashes, and jingling spurs. Half-sub- 

 dued Indians abounded, wrapped in their blankets, 

 and decked with beads and feathers. While liere and 

 there appeared a shrewd Yankee, come across moun- 

 tains of snow and rocks to seek his fortune. 



The climate of Sacramento is charming, the average 

 temperature in winter being 45°; that in summer 

 69°. The thermometer does not vary ten degrees be- 

 tween night and day. The sea breezes are constant, 

 leavinor; rarelv an uncooled ni2;ht. Rainfall is a tenth 

 less than on the Atlantic Coast. Earlv autumn finds 

 this region dry and arid; its small streams dried up, 

 the green fields sere, the weeds snapping like glass. 



The winter rain begins in November, after six 

 months of clear weather, and under its grateful min- 

 istry the region "buds and blossoms like the rose." 



John A. Sutter, potentate of the region, in 1847, 

 needed lumber, and therefore needed a saw-mill. His 

 neighbors wanted lumber, too, and there would be a 

 good market for it in San Francisco. Therefore a saw- 

 mill would be profitable; but no trees suitable for this 

 purpose could be found short of the foot-hills. Con- 

 sequently the foot-hills were selected as the spot upon 

 which he would build. 



He engaged a motley company of all nationalities to 

 erect his mill, appointing James Wijson Marshall, a 

 native of New Jersey, as superintendent of the venture. 



In August they started for their new field of enter- 

 prise, taking their belongings in Mexican ox-carts, and 

 driving a flock of siieep before them for food. 



By New Year's day, 1848, the mill frame was up. 



On the afternoon of January twenty-fourth. Super- 

 intendent Marshall was inspecting the tail-race of the 



