I had laid by a few hundred dollars, and I joined a company of thirty to turn the South Fork of the American River into the North Fork, by so doing we expected to drain about one-fourth of a mile of the bed of the South Fork.  The banks of the river were rich and everything went to show that the bed of the river was very rich, and we went to work with great hopes of a big harvest of gold.  The first thing we did was to build a dam, and dig a canal, which we accomplished in about four months.  About this time snow and rain came on in the mountains, raised the water in the river and washed away part of our dam.  It was now too late to build again that season.

Now you see the hopes and disappointments of the miner.  While we were at work on the canal we had occasion to blast some boulders that were in our way.  We had a blacksmith to sharpen the picks and drills who had a portable forge on the point of land between the two rivers.  When we were ready to blast the rock we gave him timely warning, he paid no heed, the blast went off, and a portion of a boulder weighing about 500 pounds went directly for his forge and within about six inches of his legs and went on over into the North Fork.  The man turned about and hollered to the boys in the canal “I surrender.”

About this time the river had risen to such an extent that it was thought advisable to suspend operations until the next spring.  This was a dividing of the roads, and each member had to look out for himself.  I went to Mokelumne Hill, staked out some claims and went to work to sink a shaft through the lava to bedrock.  The lava on the surface is very hard, but grows softer as you go down.  While I was thus banging away with my pick and not making much headway, there came along a Mr. Ferguson from San Francisco, on a mule.  He stopped and looked at me a minute and then said, “Young man, how deep do you expect to go before you reach bedrock?” I said, “About 65 or 75 feet.”  “Well,” said he, “by —–­ you have got more pluck than any man I ever saw.”  He went on and so did I, and I have not seen him since.  It took me about two weeks to get so that I could not throw the dirt to the surface, then I had to make a windlass, get a tub and rope, and hire a man to help me at eight dollars a day, and 50 cents a point for sharpening picks.  These things completed and in operation, I was able to make two or three feet per day, and we finally reached the bedrock at a depth of 97 feet.  The last two feet in the bottom of the shaft I saved for washing, and had to haul it about one mile to water.  I washed it out and realized 3 1/2 ounces of very coarse gold.  Now we were on the bedrock and the next thing to do was to start three drifts in as many directions.  This called for two more men to work the drifts, and a man with his team to haul the dirt to the water, while I stood at the windless and watched both ends.  This went on for one week.  When I washed out my dirt, paid off my help and other expenses, I had two dollars and a half for myself.