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Volume 4 (1859-1860) (600 pages)
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Page: of 600
106 HUTCHINGS’ CALIFORNIA MAGAZINE.
£
keeper, J. Hopper, Esq., as well as to
the employés at the mill, Mr. Darling,
Mr. Morrison, and Mr. Philipps.
Starting for the residence of Col. Fremont, about half a mile to the south we
pass the snowy piles of tailings, from
the above named mill, the immense
quantity of which gives us a correct idea
of the work performed since its establishment; and after visiting the vegetable garden of an Italian, who makes a
comfortable living by raising potatoes,
tomatoes, beans, lettuce, cabbage, &e.,
we enter the park-like grounds that surround the modest, hut lovely residence
of the Colonel and his family.
The difference between spring and
summer is here most remarkable. When
e Ss
RESIDENCE OF COL. J. C, FREMONT.
we first visited this spot, it was last March, . .
and the scene was perfectly bewitching.
The beautiful groups of oaks and pines
contrasted, in the differing colors of their
foliage, to the greatest advantage ; the
shrubbery was in flower, and the grass
plots covered with a soft, green, velvetlike carpet, were here and there intersversed with spring flowers of all hues;
ana in we center of all these natural
beauties, on a little eminence, the rather
small white cottage is located. How different this place appears at the present
summer season! But we will not describe
the change originated by the burning
. beams of “Old Sol”; nor will we destroy
the first impression that this quiet spot
made upon our mind, and this point alone
we will leave to the imagination of the
reader : but we can assure him that every
person in the yalley and abroad is well
aware that, although our mountains have
lost their bridal garments—although the
searching eye cannot discover a single
flower—the roses in that little white cottage never lose their loveliness and
charm.
Over hills and intervening creeks we
wind our way through the bushes, and
after a ‘walk of half a mile arrived in
the town of Bear Valley, sometimes called Simpsonville. Although
small, and at present quiet
and dull, we find here as good
hotels, and as fine a company
as at any place in the southern mines — cities, even, not
excepted. The St. Charles
Hotel and the Oro House are
kept well, and Mr. Sheppard
and Mr. Bates are first-rate
hosts. The merchants, mechanics, and other business
men are persons of the highest character; and the laborers and miners constitute a
set of robust, energetic and
driving workmen.
Taking the stage-road in the direction
towards Quartzburg, and.then following
the course of a small creek, we arrive,
after a walk of half a mile, at the Oso
Mine and mill. This mine was discovered in October, 1851, by Cristobal Ortega, and created a great excitement
throughout the State. The Alta California of June 27th, 1855, says in regard to
this discovery: “Many of our readers
will remember the excitement produced
throughout the southern mines, in the
fall and winter of 1851, by the discovery