ery acceptable, and he provided for
me the most comfortable of his bunks for sleeping. He informed me that
it was twenty-five miles from Coloma, and there was but one place on the
way where I could get water to drink. I started after breakfast,
refreshed. After travelling some miles, I came to the smoke of the
camp-fire of Indians, just ahead of me. It was rumored that the Oregon
men were in the habit of shooting an Indian on sight when they had a
chance. The Indians killed white men in retaliation, as they could not
make peace until they had killed as many whites as they had lost,
according to their ideas of equity. As I did not care particularly about
being one to make up the number, I struck off in a ravine and passed
around so as to avoid their camping ground and came to the road beyond
them. What truth there was about the shooting of them I could not say,
but it was currently reported at the time. About 4 o'clock, P.M., I got
to a stopping place six miles from Coloma. There I met a man with a long
beard, slouched hat, a sash around his body, a flannel shirt, evidently
a miner. I had a long talk with him. He posted me about the gold
diggings and I him about the news from the States. As we were about to
part, he asked me to take a drink. He inquired of the proprietor if he
had champagne? He said, yes, at $10 a bottle. The man said, pass us
down a bottle, which we drank together. He, evidently, had struck good
diggings. We parted, as I was anxious to get to Coloma before dark,
which I did, just as the sun was setting, having made twenty-five miles
in one day on foot. I found a regular tavern here, kept by a man from
Mississippi, with his family. I sat down to a regular table for my
supper, which seemed quite a treat. He informed me that he had no
bed-room for me; that I could sleep on the dining-room floor, or in his
barn. He had just had some new hay put in. I chose the latter. It was a
kind of a shanty building, but the soft bed of new hay was a luxury
after my twenty-five miles walk.

I awoke the next morning refreshed. After my breakfast I took in the
place and went to the raceway where the first piece of gold was
discovered. There were three or four stores in the place to supply the
miners of the surrounding region. I got my direction how to find the
Dutch Bar, eight miles from there. Proceeding on my way, after going
about five miles, I came to a person, his face covered with a long
beard, whom I recognized, by