arrival they came well and safe. All of them, even to the faithful camp
dog, Cuff, were glad to see me. Old Cuff followed me all around town,
but when we got ready to start for camp the dog was gone and could not
be found. Some one had hidden him away knowing he could not be gotten
any other way, for six ounces would not have bought him. We had raised
him in Wisconsin, made him a good deer dog, and with us he had crossed
the dry and sandy deserts. He had been a great protection to Bennett's
children on the plains, and company for us all.

We now located claims on the creek bottom. The channel of the creek was
claimed by Holman of Alabama and the Helms brothers of Missouri. They
had turned the stream into a ditch in order to work the bed of the
stream, believing that their claims had all the gold in them. Our claims
joined theirs.

Mr. W.M. Stockton, who left his family in Los Angeles, came with Mr.
Bennett and went to work with us. As everything here was very high we
concluded to let Mr. Stockton take the team and go to Sacramento for
provisions for our own use. Flour and meat were each fifty cents a
pound, potatoes twenty-five cents a pound and onions one dollar and
twenty-five cents each. Onions and potatoes eaten raw were considered
very necessary to prevent and cure scurvy, which was quite a common
complaint. Whiskey, if not watered, cost one dollar a drink.

Our claims were about ten feet deep. The bottom was wet and a pump
needed, so we went to a whip saw-mill and got four narrow strips one by
three and one by five and twelve feet long, paying for them by weight,
the price being twelve cents a pound. Out of these strips we made a good
pump by fixing a valve at the end and nailing a piece of green rawhide
on a pole, which answered for a plunger, and with the pump set at
forty-five degrees it worked easily and well. One man could easily keep
the water out and we made fair wages.

In the creek bottom Mr. Bush of Missouri had a saloon. The building was
made mainly of brush, with a split piece for a counter, and another one
for a shelf for his whiskey keg, a box of cigars, a few decks of cards
and half a dozen glasses, which made up the entire stock of trade for
the shop. In front was a table made of two puncheons with a blanket
thrown over all, and a few rough seats around. There was no roof except
the brush, and through the dry season none was needed except for shade.

There was also at this place five brothers b