Crusoe's island . may not be a man of imagination; but in the secretdepths of his soul there is a latent hope that some dayor other he will strike a lead, and who knows but itmay be a solid mountain of gold, spangled with dia-monds ? The road from Placerville to Strawberry Flat is forthe most part graded, and no doubt is a very good roadin summer; but it would be a violation of conscience torecommend it in the month of April. The melting ofthe accumulated snows of the past winter had partiallywashed it away, and what remained was deeply furrowedby the innumerable streams that sought an ou
Crusoe's island . may not be a man of imagination; but in the secretdepths of his soul there is a latent hope that some dayor other he will strike a lead, and who knows but itmay be a solid mountain of gold, spangled with dia-monds ? The road from Placerville to Strawberry Flat is forthe most part graded, and no doubt is a very good roadin summer; but it would be a violation of conscience torecommend it in the month of April. The melting ofthe accumulated snows of the past winter had partiallywashed it away, and what remained was deeply furrowedby the innumerable streams that sought an outlet in theravines. In many places it seemed absolutely impracti-cable for wheeled vehicles; but it is an article of faithwith California teamsters that wherever a horse can goa wagon can follow. There were some exceptions tothis rule, however, for the road was literally lined withbroken-clown stages, wagons, and carts, presenting everyvariety of aspect, from the general smash-up to the ordi- A PEEP AT WASHOE. 333. riary capsize. Wheels had taken rectangular cuts to thebottom ; broken tongues projected from the mud ; loadsof dry-goods and whisky-barrels lay wallowing in thegeneral wreck of matter; stout beams cut from the road-side were scattered here and there, having served invain efforts to extricate the wagons from the oozy these patches of bad road extended formiles, and here the scenes were stirring in the highestdes^e. Whole trains of pack-mules struggled frantic-ally to make the transit from one dry point to another; burros, heavily laden, were frequently buried up to 334 A PEEP AT WASHOE. the neck, and had to be hauled out by main force. Nowand then an enterprising mule would emerge from themud, and, by attempting to keep the edge of the road,lose his foothold, and go rolling to the bottom of thecanon, pack and all. Amid the confusion worse con-founded, the cries and maledictions of the vaqueros wereperfectly overwhelming; but when the mules stuck fas
Size: 1533px × 1629px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade, booksubjectminesandmineralresources
