CALIFORNIA ILLUSTRATED. 
of “Joseph.” They believe the Book of Mormon to be a his¬ 
tory of the western, as the Bible is a history of the eastern con¬ 
tinent. Those here were a good set of fellows, somewhat reck¬ 
less, fine horsemen, fond of sprees, and an occasional fight. 
Many of them had belonged to the “Mormon battalion,” under 
the late Gen. Kearney, of whom they spoke in the most enthu¬ 
siastic terms. They had all been at “ Salt Lake,” and considered 
that their country, and home, many of them having left their 
families there. They believe all other religions heresy, and 
quote Scripture to prove, that the appearance of Smith, and the 
promulgation of his doctrine, was predicted long before the 
Christian era, and that that doctrine must prevail universally 
before the coming of the Millenium. They were all hard work¬ 
ers, and fond of gambling. They had spent ten weeks in canal- 
ling the bar, and the first indications were extremely favorable, 
but it was soon necessary to incur additional expense, in order 
to drain the deep holes in the bed of the river. The edges of 
these holes were rich with gold; in spots the granite being quite 
yellow, so that the gold was scraped up with spoons. It was 
the natural conclusion that the edges being rich, the bottoms 
must be more so. The company, that is to say, Amasa Lyman, 
(for, being one of the prophets, his word was law,) resolved to 
construct a hose of duck to carry off the water as it was pumped 
from the holes, consequently sent to town and purchased three 
hundred yards of duck, which, using three widths, made the 
hose one hundred yards in length, costing $600—the pump cost¬ 
ing $50. 
We now commenced draining the deepest and consequently 
the richest hole, and soon had it in working order; the richness 
of the margin was, as we thought, infallible evidence that the 
bottom must yield abundantly; we removed a quantity of dirt 
and stone, and commenced to wash from the bottom, but, to 
our surprise, it did not contain a particle of gold; this, like 
most of the theories in reference to operations in California, was 
not founded on correct principles. The influence of the stag¬ 
nant water in the holes seemed to extend to the surface, holding 
the passing water in check. The current, as it is bearing the 
gold down stream, comes in contact with this dead water, and 
parts; receiving a sufficient check to allow the gold to deposit 
