98 EXPLORATIONS ACROSS THE GREAT BASIN OF UTAH. 



worth $18 per ounce, it being mostly shot-gold, and not in the dust. Two miles from 

 Barry's a side cut of excellent grade commences, which continues for 25 miles, and is 

 a piece of road which would do credit to any of our older States. Its defects are in 

 not being sufficiently wide for teams of more than two draught animals to turn (except 

 with the greatest care) its sometimes sharp angles, and in places it does not admit of 

 teams passing each other. These defects should be rectified. Ten miles from Barry's 

 reach Boswell's, a very good log-house, and place of refreshment and lodging. Seven- 

 teen miles more, at ll£ o'clock, reach Peter Burdie's, where we dine and feed animals. 



Leave at 25 minutes of 2. One and a half miles from Burdie's, cross South Fork 

 of American River to south side by bridge, and do not see it again till we reach Sacra- 

 mento. To this point (the bridge) we have been traveling from summit of Johnston's 

 Pass along north side of this river, which at times we could see as much as 1,000 feet 

 ye ow us, and always raging, rushing, and making a din, out of which we have not been 

 since we got on it. As yesterday, until about 5 miles back, the granite has shown 

 iTsvlt 111 magnificent proportions. 



As soon as we cross the American Fork we emerged from the mountainous region, 

 and the country became more open and rolling. Farms, farm-houses, and improve- 

 ments generally, increase as you approach Placerville, and the fences, fruit-trees 

 (principally peach), wheat, potatoes, gardens, domestic pigeons, reddish Maryland 

 color ot the soil, and large umbrageous oaks, which become more frequent, internim- 

 lmg with the pines, make you almost think you are east of the Rocky Mountains in 

 an old settled country. Indeed, until my present exploration, I have had no proper 

 idea either of the Sierra Nevada or of the country at its western base. The transit 

 from the and plains east of the Sierra Nevada to the quick teemino- country W 

 011 its western slope is most singularly marked and sudden, and shows how much 

 irrespective of latitude, the laws of climate and production are dependent uponnhvsical 

 circumstances and features of country. 



Pass a tavern called Sportsman Hall, 6.5 miles from bridge over South Fork of 

 American and 12 miles mmy brought us, about sundown, to Placerville, a mining-town 

 on a small tributary of the South Fork of the American, 79.5 miles by Daggett's trail 

 isT^IM 110 * 1, ■ 11 rmVU ' S 1)Ullr princi l ,all - v u i H)H ° ne street > and is divided into what 

 lnimbe' !f Per er town riu ' latter is the outness portion, and has a great 



num >ei o *tores: some pretty white cottages, with roses clambering up the porticoes, 

 and gardens h led with vegetables and fruit-trees, being visible. Pits seen every- 

 le re where hey have been diggmg tor gold, and the little stream coursing throu,h 

 the town is red with the sediment, which has been the result of gold-washinos The 

 streets, I notice, are filled with people, and the hotels -n-e tall ■■■•* 11 tl * " T f 



7 11^, cum me lion IH ,,, 



of a convention tor the nomination of county officers. Thanks, however to the kind- 

 ness and forethought of friends, a room has been reserved tor MnW I .„d .„. and n,vs, f 

 at the Carey House. Population of town about 3,500, and of township 10 Odo \ V ,s 

 called on by several influential men of the place, who congratulated us upon the suc- 

 cess of our espedtttonm getting across the Great Basin and shortening the ,i 

 overland mad-route so much. Col. Fred. A. Bee, the president of the cental overland 

 called the Placerville and Saint Joseph Telegraph Companv, was particularly .„,mh„l 



