THE CAKES HURRIED UP. 
85 
had been boarding ns gratis. We had exhausted our lead 
and took our implements back to the first scene of operations. 
We continued to labor hard during the week, and Saturday 
night, on making out our balance sheet, we had earned $18.50 
each, which was less than the cost of our provisions. It is said 
that prosperity begets want, and it was precisely so in our case. 
On Sunday morning we went to the store, purchased flour at 
seventy-five cents per pound, and a frying-pan for $5, determined 
to spend the day in feasting. 
A team had just arrived from Sacramento with eight fortu¬ 
nate individuals, who had heard that this was the place where 
men were getting $1,500 per hour, and as they had just arrived 
from the States, they were willing to commence even at that rate . 
The teamster informed me that Bent, Harry, and Sam u put in ” 
at Sacramento, in “stress of weather,” having got on a drunken 
spree, and spent the $200. On our arrival at the encampment 
Tracy took his basket, put in some water, stirred in flour, and 
was soon using our frying-pan. I practiced turning the cakes, 
and soon became so skilled that I could hit the pan every time. 
We held a consultation. Tracy was determined to continue 
mining, but I resolved to go to Sacramento and prepare to em¬ 
bark in something that would pay better. A few individuals 
were doing well in the mines, and there were comparatively but 
few. Ours was about the average success. The mass were 
merely paying expenses. There were a thousand extravagant 
stories constantly circulating, of men who had made fortunes in 
an hour, and Mr. Eccles did really in that length of time, get 
$1,500 in our immediate vicinity. Each one naturally consid¬ 
ered himself destined to be one of the fortunate ones, and if he has 
only made a dollar to-day, he is quite confident that he will 
make a hundred to-morrow, or, perhaps, a thousand. The same 
influences operate upon the mind as in gambling, and chances 
of success are about equal, although mining is not attended with 
the same disastrous results. 
The country is rich in gold, the supply is inexhaustible. The 
entire soil of the mountainous parts is impregnated with it. It 
seems an ingredient or constituent of the soil. Still, in its 
natural distribution, it is not sufficiently abundant to pay for 
collecting. It is found most plentifully on bars in the rivers. 
