J.H. Woods not to expect father, who had been
ill in the mines, but we were to go to his home until father could
arrive from Scorpion Gulch, where he and brother had a store, and it
was slow travel with the six-mule "schooner," over hills and dusty
roads to Stockton.
It was quite a change from the great steamer Tennessee to the little
stern-wheel boat as it slowly puffed across the bay through Carquinez
straits and up the slough, turning and winding along, sometimes being
caught by a sharp turn in the stream and one or two stops on the sand
bars if the water was too low. We did not sleep much because
everything was so strange and small. We were always in fear of some
accident. The hours dragged slowly until morning, when the boat came
to a stop about seven o'clock. At eight o'clock the small cannon was
fired, informing the people that the steamer had arrived. The captain
came about nine o'clock for us and we breakfasted with him and the
officers. We were the only female passengers, as we had parted with
the other friends at San Francisco, they having gone to Sacramento and
Marysville, with their husbands, to the mines. It was like the parting
of a large family. We had been together two long months, sharing the
changes and rough traveling and the happy evenings on board where the
genial officers did all they could to make the voyage comfortable with
the means they possessed. Before we came only men traveled and they
put up with any inconvenience to get to the gold fields.
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