SOCIETY. 403 
with the utmost generosity and liberauty ; no white man was 
turned away because of inability to pay for food or lodging. 
The first gold diggings were discovered about twenty-five 
miles eastward from the fort, which became the chief trading 
point between San Francisco and the mines. The adventurers 
ascended the Sacramento River to the mouth of the Ameri- 
can, where they landed, and their goods were taken by ox- 
wagons to the fort, two miles distant, where they prepared 
themselves for the land journey. Before the first year of 
gold mining had come to an end, it was evident there must be 
a town on the bank of the Sacramento at the mouth of the 
American, so the present town site was laid off in October, 
1848, and the New Year’s day following the building of the 
first house (of logs), near the Sacramento River, was com- 
menced. On the 8th January the lots were sold by auction, 
and were described as lying in the town of “ Sacramento.” 
The ford and its vicinity continued to be the chief place of 
business until April, ’49, when the bank of the Sacramento 
was found to be much more convenient for purposes of busi- 
ness, and the merchants and traders moved. The town very 
soon became the most important centre of trade and popula- 
tion in the state, next to San Francisco, and it has continued 
to hold the same relative position, growing with the growth 
of the state, notwithstanding many severe disasters to which 
it has been exposed. In 1851 there was a serious riot about 
land-titles ; on the 3d of November, 1852, the greater part 
of the town, including six hundred houses, was destroyed by 
fire, with a pecuniary loss estimated at the time at $5,000,000; 
and the city was flooded in January, 1850, in March, 1852, in 
January, 1853, and in December, 1861, and in January and 
February, 1862. In 1853 the business part of the town was 
raised about five feet, the streets being filled in with gravel to 
that depth, and a levee or embankment was built round the 
city, extending about a mile along the bank of the Sacramento 
and three or four miles along the bank of the American. The 
flood of 1861 an1’62 proved extremely disastrous. It filled 
