Prospects at the gold mines were so favorable that every man felt an irresistible desire to enrich himself, and so they left their families at the Missions and in the towns and rushed off to the mines.

Nearly all of them expected to return by winter.
I think I must stop right here and tell about the California carriages of which I had seen several at Los Angeles and at the Missions along our road.

The first time I saw one it was a great curiosity, I assure you.
The wheels were cut off the end of a sycamore log a little over two feet in diameter and each section about a foot long.

The axle was a piece of wood eight inches square with a tongue fastened to it long enough to be used with a yoke of oxen, and the ends of the axle were roughly rounded, leaving something of a shoulder.

The wheels were retained in place by a big lynch-pin.