The Audience - So To Speak - Sit On,
Chairs Backed Against The Walls Of The Hotels And Stores, While Many
Prefer The Street Itself, And With Feet On Curb Or Other Coign Of
Vantage, Tilt Their Chairs At Most Alarming Angles.
A sort of animated
lovers' lane is thus formed, through which the promenaders have to run
the gauntlet, and are subjected to a certain amount of criticism.
Everyone knows everyone.
Good natured badinage plays like wild-fire, up
and down and across the street. Later on, the tinkle of mandolin and
guitar is heard far into the night watches.
Having determined to reach Auburn - thirty miles away - the next day, I
made an early start. Coloma lies at the bottom of the great canon of the
South Fork of the American River. Hastening down the grade, in a bend of
the road I almost ran into my friend. It seemed a strange meeting this,
in the heart of the old mining country, and I think we both gave a
perceptible start.
It was at Coloma that gold was first discovered in California, by James
W. Marshall, January 19, 1848. My companion had been so fortunate on the
previous day as to meet Mr. W. H. Hooper, who arrived in Coloma August
8, 1850, and who has lived there practically ever since. Though
eighty-three, he is still strong and vigorous. From him my friend
elicited some very interesting information in regard to Marshall
especially, the substance of which I append from his notes.
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