410 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
there. Two years later this building was swept away by a 
flood, and in 1781 a new church was commenced, half a league 
distant from the river, in a grove of oak-trees, the Indian 
name of which, ““Gerguensen,” was given to the vicinity. This 
church was destroyed by an earthquake in 1818. The present 
church was consecrated in 1822. 
§ 282. Columbia.—Columbia, the largest town of the south- 
ern mines, is sixty-five miles from Stockton. The place has a 
population of about three thousand, and includes many good 
brick buildings. The town was laid off in 1850. 
§ 283. Placerville.—Placerville, though it cast only nine 
hundred and thirty-four votes in 1861, is really, after Stockton, 
the most important town in the state, and its population will 
soon be proportionate to its business. It is on the main road 
from Sacramento to Washoe and Esmeralda, and is the point 
where travellers going eastward prepare for their trip over the 
rugged portion of the mountain, and those coming westward 
rest from their toils. It is also on the route of the great over- 
land mail and telegraph. It may be that there is less snow 
and an easier natural grade on the other roads across the Sierra 
Nevada, but the Placerville road has been more improved than 
any other. It is more convenient to the great body of trade 
and travel from San Francisco and Sacramento. It has more 
houses to accommodate and protect travellers, and, during the 
winter, has more travel, and receives more attention, and there- 
fore it is, for general use, the best road. 
§ 284. Yreka.—Yreka, the county seat of Siskiyou county, 
the largest town north of Marysville, has a population of about 
twenty-five hundred. It is situated at an elevation of fifteen 
hundred feet above the sea, in the valley of Shasta River, 
about twenty miles northwest from Mount Shasta. It is a 
mining town, being situated in a rich mining district, and 
founded on pay-dirt. The place is shut in by high mountains, 
the Siskiyou ridge on the north, the Sierra Nevada on the east, 
the Scott and Trinity ridges on the south, and the coast range 
on the west. The town is shut in by snows during part of 
