Rensselaer Republican, Volume 14, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 February 1882 — California Correspondence. [ARTICLE]

California Correspondence.

At Ogd«n, on the northern border of Great Salt Lake, we change ears for the Central Pacific. We pass Ogden in the night, and see hut little of the town, and nothing of the lake. We cross Great Salt Lake Desert daring the night, and arrive at Humboldt Wells just at break of day. The Wells are chiefly interesting at the point where the early emigrants rested their teams after their passage across the desert. * These wells which are about 20 in number,look like wells indeed. The water rises to the surface and escapes through the loose soil. They have been sounded to a great depth, but no bottom has ever been reached, they are undoubtedly craters of extinct volcanos. Leaving the Wells we follow the Tlumboldt River valley <lfbr 250 miles, and arrive at the Palisade or Twelve mile canyon. This canyon in many respects equals Weber and Echo, but the abscence of the varied colorings is noted.

Graveley Ford, on the Humboldt, uras a noted point in other days. Here the early emigrant trains sometimes had to wait days for river to subside before they iould cross. During one of these pauses a young girl of 18 sickened and died and was here buried. The builders of the Pacific road •'ound the lonely,unprotected grave, Ind inclosed it with a solid wall, tnd over it erected a large cross. 4)n one side of the cross are the words: “The Maiden’s Grave.’’ m the other side simply the name: Lucinda Duncan. At Battle Mountain we see numerous aborigines, with faces painted ted. \t Humboldt station on the eastern border of the Great Nevada Desert, one can witness the wonderful effects of irrigation on this -*andy, sage brush country. Passing* alkali beds, sage brush knobs, ♦and ? hills &c., we soon find ourselves fairly upon the Great Nevada desert 1 . We paps around to t)ie northward of' Humboldt Lake -a widening, or sink, where Humboldt river loses itself in an ocean >f sand. We cross the Sierra,Nevada mountains during the night*, ind so miss seeing some of the wildest scenery of the whole night. It dawn we find ourselves gliding mpidly down the slope of the Sieri as into the beartiful valley of the Sacramento. At Roseville junction <8 miles east of Sacramento, we iliglit covered with the “dust of iges," and for the the first time uat our feet upon the “Golden t?.!iore.”

At' the junction we take the lain upon-the Oregon division of the C. .P R. R. Although there is i white frost the grass is beginning <•0 quite green. Leaving the j unction we pass through the everchanging scenery, of the foot-hills. Through groves of oik, about which graze large flocks of sheep, passing Bear River, with wide Willeys mostly covered with sand washed from the mining regions to the east, we come to Wheatland, .a, place very properly named as it l surrounded by ou* vast expanse of wheatfields. Passing inrough rich.farming regions, we come to the aouth bank of the Yuba River, and cross a dyke which extends up and .down the river to prevent it from overflowing the surrounding aountry.. The river bottoms, about, a.mile wide, were once line agricultural lands, but are now covered,to the.depth of from two io/our feet;, by the wash aud tioIjrjs from the mines above. The I X.Ubn was once a navigable* stream

feet deep has been filed up, and were it not for the dikes it would flood the town of Marysville. Marysville is an old town, settled in 1849. It has about 5,000 inhabitants, and was named in honor of- the first white female inhabitant. It is subetantatially built, with many elegant public and private buildings. Its wide streets are shaded with trees and shrubs, while there is scarcely a dwelling that is not surrounded with ornamental and fruit trees, including orange and lemon trees, which are loaded with their beautiful golden fruit. This beautiful town once stood high above the possibility of floods, but through the effects of hydraulic mining in the gulches and ravines a hove, its once happy citizens live in constant dread of the rising waters. It may be that the prevailing use of the ardent here is owing to the aversion the citizens feel for that element, so often inflicted upon them without measure. Upon almost every corner may be seen the bars where the accursed beverage is sold. But the temperance people of Cal - iforma are at w’ork, and in time these scenes will be changed. For-ty-three mile* north from Marysville is Chico, and about the same distance farther on is lied Bluffs the northern limit of our journey. Frank Maybew comes on board the train and we alight and find the family waiting to welcome us.

JOE.

Mr. Clifford F. Hudson, of Elmira, N. Y., says: “My aged mother suffered greatly from poor digestion nnd^general debillity. She was always complaining of her jiver, and her bowels often pained her greatly. She was very weak. I bought her a bottle of Brown’s iron Bitters, and she says, ‘lt goes right ts the spot Clifford.’ She has greatly improved since using this excellent medicine.” H. B. Smith, the “boss” watchmaker can be found at Hamah's.