name was Mr. Garthwait. He called at my store and said, "Woolley, I have
a lot of Oregon Standard flour in the warehouse. The storage is paid for
one month, and I will sell you what you want for $6 and three bits a
barrel, and you can take it out from time to time as you like." After
looking the situation over for a few minutes I came to the conclusion
that I could not buy any lower. I said, "Well, I will take one hundred
barrels." "All right," said he, and drove off. In a few days I went down
and paid for it. About the middle of December 1861 it commenced to rain
in the valleys and a few days later it rained in the mountains
throughout the State, and the snow commenced to melt and that, together
with the rain in the valleys, started the rivers to rising, and as the
rivers went up so did the flour. The water gauge at Sacramento indicated
feet and inches in going up while flour indicated dollars and cents in
going up. On the first of January, 1862, it was still raining and the
water coming down in a greater volume. Communication was cut off from
all parts of the country except by water. The Legislature was in session
that winter and was obliged to adjourn and go to San Francisco to finish
its labors. In order that my readers may adequately realize the
greatness of this flood it is no more than fair to say that the river
boats from San Francisco went up J and K streets in Sacramento City and
took people out of the second-story windows. Now, then we will call this
high-water mark and flour $10 a barrel and going up. During this time I
was letting my customers have what they wanted at the quotation price.
It continued to advance about one dollar per day until it reached
sixteen dollars per barrel. At this time I had very little left and it
all went at that price. Very soon after this flour came in from Oregon
and the price went down, as well as the water, and the market assumed a
lower level and business went on as usual. It must be remembered that
all transportation at this time was either by water or highway.