pure gold.

All the men at the mill promised to keep the secret. They were all
digging up gold when not working in the mill. As soon as the mill
should be done, they were going to wash gold.

But the secret could not be kept. A teamster who came to the mill was
told about it. He got a few grains of the precious gold.

When the teamster got back to Sutter's Fort, he went to a store to buy
a bottle of whisky, but he had no money. The storekeeper would not sell
to him without money. The teamster then took out some grains of gold.
The storekeeper was surprised. He let the man have what he wanted. The
teamster would not tell where he got the gold. But after he had taken
two or three drinks of the whisky, he was not able to keep his secret.
He soon told all he knew about the finding of gold at Sutter's Mill.

The news spread like fire in dry grass. Men rushed to the mill in the
mountains to find gold. Gold was also found at other places. Merchants
in the towns of California left their stores. Mechanics laid down their
tools, and farmers left their fields, to dig gold. Some got rich in a
few weeks. Others were not so lucky.

Soon the news went across the continent. It traveled also to other
countries. More than one hundred thousand men went to California the
first year after gold was found, and still more poured in the next
year. Thousands of men went through the Indian country with wagons. Of
course, there were no railroads to the west in that day.

Millions and millions of dollars' worth of gold was dug. In a short
time California became a rich State. Railroads were built across the
country. Ships sailed on the Pacific Ocean to carry on the trade of
this great State. Every nation of the earth had gold from California.

And it all started from one little, round, yellow bead of gold, that
happened to lie shining at the bottom of a ditch, on a cold morning not
so very long ago.

DESCENDING THE GRAND CANYON.

The Colorado River is the strangest river in the United States. For
hundreds of miles it runs through channels in solid rocks. These
channels are often thousands of feet deep. In some places the rocks
rise straight up like walls. These walls are quite bare. There are no
trees and no grass on them. There is not even any moss to be seen. The
bare rocks are of many colors. When the sunlight strikes upon them,
they are as beautiful as flowers and as gorgeous as the clouds, we are
told.

These deep cuts, thr