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Collection: Directories and Documents > Historical Clippings

Historical Clippings Book (HC-22) (197 pages)

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FORDS AND FERRIES OF EARLY CALIFORNIA 105 He was compelled to ask one of his men to swim its icy current to high ground and walk to the nearest ferry on the San Joaquin—which might have been a Jong journey. Fortunately a ferry was close. The ferryman, Bridges, answered the call by coming with his ferry to the relief of the army engineers. Crossing the horses and pack mules in that little ferry boat was a feat in balancing. A queer and sad experience came to a party of sailors who deserted the ship Sarah Eliza at Monterey and rushed pell-mell over Pacheco Pass, bound for the Southern Mines. In late summer the Coast Range was waterless, and the parched plain nearly finished the sailors. Frantically they dug a ‘‘cistern,’’ but found no water. One of their number, a ‘‘tall Tennesseean’’—the sailors seemed to know him by no other name—died of thirst and exhaustion, and they buried him there almost within gunshot of the San Joaquin River, whose nearness they did not suspect. They took up their march again and soon came to the great river. They could find no ford, but here was water, the element they knew. They abandoned their search for gold, built a ferry, and operated it for the benefit of the procession of gold seekers which came streaming over the pass. Misa cH THIS DRAWING SHOWS THE PRINCIPLE OF THE FERRY The Shortened Rope Turns the Boat Slantwise to the River Current So That the Current Pushes the Boat Across the Stream.