north side, and visited many small camps of men, in what were called the “dry diggings.”  Little pools of water stood in the beds of the streams, and these were used to wash the dirt; and there the gold was in every conceivable shape and size, some of the specimens weighing several ounces.  Some of these “diggings” were extremely rich, but as a whole they were more precarious in results than at the river.  Sometimes a lucky fellow would hit on a “pocket,” and collect several thousand dollars in a few days, and then again he would be shifting about from place to place, “prospecting,” and spending all he had made.  Little stores were being opened at every point, where flour, bacon, etc., were sold; every thing being a dollar a pound, and a meal usually costing three dollars.  Nobody paid for a bed, for he slept on the ground, without fear of cold or rain.  We spent nearly a week in that region, and were quite bewildered by the fabulous tales of recent discoveries, which at the time were confined to the several forks of the American and Yuba Rivers.’  All this time our horses had nothing to eat but the sparse grass in that region, and we were forced to work our way down toward the Sacramento Valley, or to see our animals perish.  Still we contemplated a visit to the Yuba and Feather Rivers, from which we had heard of more wonderful “diggings;” but met a courier, who announced the arrival of a ship at Monterey, with dispatches of great importance from Mazatlan.  We accordingly turned our horses back to Sutter’s Fort.  Crossing the Sacramento again by swimming our horses, and ferrying their loads in that solitary canoe, we took our back track as far as the Napa, and then turned to Benicia, on Carquinez Straits.  We found there a solitary adobe-house, occupied by Mr. Hastings and his family, embracing Dr. Semple, the proprietor of the ferry.  This ferry was a ship’s-boat, with a latteen-sail, which could carry across at one time six or eight horses.

It took us several days to cross over, and during that time we got well acquainted with the doctor, who was quite a character.  He had come to California from Illinois, and was brother to Senator Semple.  He was about seven feet high, and very intelligent.  When we first reached Monterey, he had a printing-press, which belonged to the United States, having been captured at the custom-house, and had been used to print custom-house blanks.  With this Dr. Semple, as editor, published the Californian, a small sheet of news, once a week; and it was a curiosity in its line, using two v’s for a w, and other combinations of letters, made necessary by want of type.  After some time he removed to Yerba Buena with his paper, and it grew up to be the Alta California of today.  Foreseeing, as he thought, the growth of a great city somewhere on the Bay of San Francisco, he selected Carquinez Straits as its location, and obtained from General Vallejo a title to a league of land, on condition of building