I crossed the Stanislaus--a large river, which does not at any part of its course afford very rich diggings--by a ferry which was the property of two or three Englishmen, who had lived for many years in the Sandwich Islands. The force of the current was here very strong, and by an ingenious contrivance was made available for working the ferry. A stout cable was stretched across the river, and traversing on this were two blocks, to which were made fast the head and stern of a large scow. By lengthening the stern line, the scow assumed a diagonal position, and, under the influence of the current and of the opposing force of the cable, she traveled rapidly across the river, very much on the same principle on which a ship holds her course with the wind abeam. Ferries or bridges, on much-traveled roads, were very valuable property. They were erected at those points on the rivers where the mountain on each side offered a tolerably easy ascent, and where, in consequence, a line of travel had commenced. But very frequently more easy routes were found than the one first adopted; opposition ferries were then started, and the public got the full benefit of the competition between the rival proprietors, who sought to secure the traveling custom by improving the roads which led to their respective ferries. In opposition to this ferry on the Stanislaus, another had been started a few miles down the river; so the Englishmen, in order to keep up the value of their property and maintain the superiority of their route, had made a good wagon-road, more than a mile in length, from the river to the summit of the mountain.