60 
CALIFORNIA ILLUSTRATED. 
day,) we were again under way, the day excessively hot, and 
at 12, M., arrived at “ Sutterville;” and, when opposite the town , 
found ourselves out of the channel, and aground. We all went 
on shore, and had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of 
one of the proprietors, with whom we walked a mile back from 
th e town, to view “ Capitol Hill” the anticipated site of the State 
House. Although we did not break ground for the corner¬ 
stone, we were among the first to know the precise spot. The 
town is situated four miles below Sacramento City, and three 
from the fort. It contained three houses, visible to the natural 
eye, but, to the eye of the worthy proprietor’s imagination, it 
numbered many thousands. This had caused a very perceptible 
rise in the value of city lots. 
It afterwards became a town of some twenty houses. The 
owners offered to a company owning the bark “Josephine,” 
thirty lots provided they would land their effects and make im¬ 
provements. The proposition was accepted, and the improve¬ 
ments commenced. (See Plate.) A cannon is seen in the fore¬ 
ground which was taken from the Josephine, and used to salute 
vessels in passing up and down the river, as occasion might 
require. At the left, are two Oregonians riding at full speed, 
and in the centre is seen the Indian chief, Olympia, his squaw, 
and several natives of lesser note. The Josephine is seen at the 
river bank. She was subsequently sold and sailed for Oregon. 
I here visited a family that had been wandering about since 
1845, without having entered a house. There were two men, a 
woman, and three children, from three months to five years of 
age. They started from one of the Eastern States, with a wag¬ 
on, two yoke of oxen, and two cows, passed through Missouri, 
crossed the Rocky Mountains into Oregon, and finally drove 
down to California. The children were all natives of the forest 
except the eldest. They were encamped under a large oak-tree 
a short distance from the river. The bed was made up on the 
ground, the sheets of snowy whiteness, the kitchen furniture was 
well arranged against the root of the tree, the children were 
building a playhouse of sticks, while the mother was sit¬ 
ting in a “Boston rocker” reading the Bible, with a Methodist 
hymn-book in her lap. The infant lay croaking on a white 
flannel-blanket, looking like a blown up life-preserver. While I 
