A Sportsman 19 



shortly afterwards, I became interested in them, and 

 they were placed on a tract of one hundred and sixty 

 acres midway between Sacramento and Auburn as a 

 desirable locality, and I have carried on the business 

 vmtil the present time in connection with other interests, 

 and now after nearly half a century the interest has 

 grown to an area of thirty thousand acres with nearly 

 twenty thousand sheep. 



My rambles about the mines and along the sluicing 

 ditches failed to give me the welcome sight of nuggets 

 I had expected my keen vision to discover. I had ex- 

 pected in my embryotic experience to sight a few of 

 the size of hen's eggs, which might have escaped the 

 observation of the miners, but afterwards concluded 

 that I would be satisfied with some of more moderate 

 dimensions, and finally thought I would be content 

 with a few small ones sufficient to set off some scarf- 

 pins; but none did I find, and returned somewhat dis- 

 appointed to San Francisco. Here I again declined 

 opportunities for business, and frequenting the markets 

 and game stalls more or less, which interested me more 

 than anything else, I saw that game and birds, though 

 plentiful, were fetching large prices. 



Obtaining particulars of the sources of supply, I 

 concluded that the situation was very favorable for 

 adventures to my liking. Small table birds, quail, 

 larks, snipe, robins, etc., were selling at five and six 

 dollars per dozen retail; venison, sixty and seventy- 

 five cents per pound; turkeys, ten dollars; chickens, 

 three dollars; eggs, three dollars per dozen; butter, 

 one dollar per pound. Here was my opportunity. I 

 learned that the Santa Clara Valley, at the south 

 end of the bay of San Francisco, was one grand field 



