From this Indian village we walked on until we arrived at the present site of Millerton on the south bank of the San Joaquin River.  Our sufferings were terrible from hunger, cold, and wet, for the rains were almost continual at this elevation, and we had been forced several times to swim.  The sudden change from the dried-up desert to a rainy region was pretty severe on us.  On our arrival at the San Joaquin River we found a camp of wealthy Mexicans who gave us a small amount of food, and seemed to want us to pass on that they might be rid of us.  I can well believe that a company of twenty-one starving men was the cause of some disquietude to them.  They gave us some hides taken from some of the cattle they had recently slain, and from these we constructed a boat and ferry rope in which we crossed the river, and then continued our journey to the mining camp on Aqua Frio, in Mariposa county.

It is very strange to think that since that time I have never met a single man of that party of twenty-one.  I had kept quite full notes of the whole trip from the state of New York to the mines, and including my early mining experience up to the year 1851.  Unfortunately this manuscript was burned at the Russ House fire in Fresno, where I also lost many personal effects.”

In the year 1892 Mr. Coker was living in Fresno, or near that city, in fairly comfortable health, and it is to be hoped that the evening of his days, to which all the old pioneers are rapidly approaching, may be to him all that his brightest hopes pictured.

CHAPTER XV.

Having followed the various little parties into which the great train had resolved itself when it began to feel the pressure of suffering and trouble which came with contact with the desert, followed them in their various ways till they came through to the Pacific Slope, the travels and experiences of the Author are again resumed.

It will be remembered that he had rested at Los Angeles, working for Mr. Brier who had temporarily turned boarding house keeper, and finally made arrangements with some drovers to assist in taking a small stock of horses north to the mines.  His story is thus continued:—­

We followed the wagon road which the companies that had gone on before had made, and got along very well.  At night I acted independently—­staked out my mule and ate my meal of dried meat and crackers—­then joined the others around a large fire, and all seemed to enjoy the company.  After a few days the two men who owned the horses proposed to me to let my mule carry the provisions, and they wanted me to ride one of their horses that was not carrying a pack, as they said it would keep it more gentle to ride it.

To please the old gentleman from Sacramento I agreed to the proposition, for I thought perhaps by being accommodating I could get along more pleasantly.