one half cents, twenty-five cents, fifty cents, one dollar, five
dollars, ten dollars. Each boleta had a picture, by which the illiterate
could ascertain its denomination, viz: twelve and a half cents, a pig;
twenty-five cents, a calf; fifty cents, a rooster; one dollar, a horse;
five dollars, a bull; ten dollars, a lion. With these "boletas" the
hands were paid off every Saturday, and they were currency at the
stores, and among the merchants of the country and in Mexico. When a run
of silver was made, anyone holding tickets could have them redeemed in
silver bars, or in exchange on San Francisco. This primitive system of
greenbacks worked very well,--everybody holding boletas was interested
in the success of the mines; and the whole community was dependent on
the prosperity of the company. They were all redeemed. Mines form the
bank of Nature, and industry puts the money in circulation, to the
benefit of mankind.

In the autumn of 1857 a detachment from the regiment of First Dragoons
arrived in the Santa Cruz Valley, for the purpose of establishing a
military post, and for the protection of the infant settlements. The
officers were Colonel Blake, Major Stein, and Captain Ewell. The first
military post was established at Calaveras, and the arrival of the
officers made quite an addition to the society on the Santa Cruz.

Incident to the arrival of the military on the Santa Cruz was a
citizens' train of wagons laden with supplies,--twelve wagons of twelve
mules each,--belonging to Santiago Hubbell, of New Mexico. While he was
encamped at Tubac I inquired the price of freight, and learned it was
fifteen cents a pound from Kansas City. I inquired what he would charge
to take back a freight of ores, and he agreed to haul them from the
Heintzelman mine to Kansas City and a steamboat for twelve and a half
cents a pound, and I loaded his wagons with ores in rawhide bags,--a ton