~ 
a 30° 
it is commonly called, old Placer. Several foreigners live here. The first, 
one I saw was Mr. Watrous, a New Englander, but for many years a resi- 
dent of thiscountry. He received me very hospitably, and invited me to his 
dwelling. Some fresh. skins of grizzly bears were spread out on scaffolds, 
the sure American rifle stood in the corner, and everything else bore the char- 
acter of the backwoodsman; but by his intelligent conversation he showed 
himself a man of very good sense, and as an acute observer. ough Mr. 
Watrous had not himself been engaged in mining, he paid attention to his 
whole neigitborhood, and showed me many specimens of gold ores, which 
in his rambles through the mountains he had collected. I took a walk 
coarse pieces of gravel, and then, by well balanced shaking, all the earthy 
and sandy particles, till at last nothing is left at the bottom but the finest 
sand, from which all the visible portions of gold are picked out. The 
poorer class of Mexicans are generally occupied with those gold washes in 
the creek ; and they divide for that purpose the creek with the water amongst 
themselves, in lots, which often call forth as many claims and contests as the 
finest building lots in our cities.. As the gold is apparently carried here b 
the waters of the creek from higher auriferous regions, the gain from these 
washings is different according to the season. ‘I'he most gold is generally 
found in and after the rainy season, and it diminishes with the failing of 
water. Occasionally they discover a larger piece of gold in the sand; but 
generally the gold is so divided, that a whole day’s work will amount on 
an average to not more than a quarter or half a dollar» Every evening 
ed wor up. . To 
had worked it for one year, and found it very profitable. The gold vein 
NNW., wi i i from 
two to four feet wide, Mr. 'l'ournier has sunk a shaft alread 
depth of 40 varas, and with the drift of about 30 varas, and the ore prom-. 
