diff options
Diffstat (limited to '12518-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 12518-0.txt | 2972 |
1 files changed, 2972 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/12518-0.txt b/12518-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..63d127b --- /dev/null +++ b/12518-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2972 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12518 *** + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 12518-h.htm or 12518-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/5/1/12518/12518-h/12518-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/5/1/12518/12518-h.zip) + + + + + +THE ADVENTURES OF A FORTY-NINER + +An Historic Description of California, with Events and Ideas +of San Francisco and Its People in Those Early Days + +By + +DANIEL KNOWER + +1894 + + + + + + +DEDICATED TO +Colonel Jonathan Stevenson, +Colonel John C. Freemont, and +Captain John A. Sutter, + +THE THREE PRE-EMINENT PIONEERS OF CALIFORNIA. + + + +[Illustration: DANIEL KNOWER.] + + + +PREFACE + +The discovery of gold in California, in 1848, with its other mineral +resources, including the Alamada quicksilver mine at San José, which is +an article of first necessity in working gold or silver ore; and the +great silver mines of Nevada, in 1860, the Comstock lode, in which, in +ten years, from five to eight hundred millions of gold and silver were +taken out, a larger amount than was ever taken from one locality before, +the Alamada quicksilver mine being the second most productive of any in +the world, the one in Spain being the largest, said to be owned by the +Rothschilds. Its effect upon the general prosperity and development of +our country has been immense, almost incalculable. Before these +discoveries the amount of gold in the United States was estimated at +about seventy millions, now it is conceded to be seven hundred millions. +The Northern Pacific coast was then almost unpopulated. California a +territory three times as large as New York and Oregon and the State of +Washington, all now being cultivated and containing large and populous +cities, and railroads connecting them with the East. Why that country +should have remained uninhabited for untold ages, where universal +stillness must have prevailed as far as human activity is concerned, is +one of the unfathomable mysteries of nature. It is only one hundred and +twenty-five years since the Bay of San Francisco was first discovered, +one of the grandest harbors in the world, being land-locked, extending +thirty miles, where all the vessels of the world could anchor in safety. +The early pioneers of those two years immediately after the gold was +discovered (of which I am writing) are passing away. As Ossian says, +"People are like the waves of the ocean, like the leafs of woody marvin +that pass away in the rustling blast, and other leaves lift up their +green heads." There is probably not five per cent of the population of +California to-day, of those days, scenes and events of which I have +tried to portray. Another generation have taken their places who can +know but little of those times except by tradition. I, being one of the +pioneers, felt it a duty, or an inspiration seemed to come over me as an +obligation I owed to myself and compatriots of those times, to do what I +could to perpetuate the memory of them to some extent in the history of +our country as far as I had the ability to do it. + +THE AUTHOR. + + + +THE CALIFORNIA PIONEER SOCIETY. + +The California Pioneer Society was organized in August, 1850. The +photograph of their building appears on the cover of this book, W.D.M. +Howard was their first president. Among their early presidents, and +prominent in the days of Forty-niners, were Samuel Branan, Thomas +Larkins, Wm. D. Farewell, and James Lick--who liberally endowed it. + +[Illustration: BUILDING OF THE SOCIETY OF CALIFORNIA PIONEERS.] + +It was organized for the purpose of perpetuating the memory of the +events of those days and for the benefit and mutual protection of its +members. No person was eligible for membership except he had arrived in +California before the 1st of January, 1850, and the descendants of +Forty-niners when arriving at the age of twenty-one are eligible. At the +opening of the World's Fair in San Francisco in January last, in the +ceremonies in the marching of the procession through the streets of the +city, they were received with the greatest enthusiasm and cheers, which +was a marked manifestation of the veneration in which they are held by +the people of California. + + + +THE ADVENTURES OF A FORTY-NINER. + +The writer was practising his profession in the city of Albany, his +native place, in 1848, when reports came of the discovery of gold in +California. In a short time samples of scales of the metal of the river +diggings were on exhibition, sent to friends in the city in letters. +Many of Colonel Stevenson's regiment had been recruited in that city. +Soon these rumors were exaggerated. It was said that barrels of gold +were dug by individuals named. Soon the excitement extended all over the +country, and the only barrier to wealth, it seemed, was the difficulty +of getting to the Eldorado. Why the discovery of gold there should have +produced so much excitement cannot be fathomed. It seemed an era in +human affairs, like the Crusades and other events of great importance +that occur. Your correspondent became one of its votaries, and organized +a company to go to the gold rivers and secure a fortune for all +interested in it, and it seemed all that was required was to get there +and return in a short time and ride in your carriage and astonish your +friends with your riches. Suffice it to say, this company was fully +organized (with its by-laws and system of government drawn up by the +writer), and sailed from the port of New York on the ship _Tarrolinter_ +on the 13th of January, 1849, to go around Cape Horn, arriving in San +Francisco on the following July. From that time I became absorbed in all +the news from the gold regions, and losing confidence somewhat in the +certainty of a fortune from my interest in the company, and reading of +the high price of lumber, the scarcity of houses, and the extraordinary +high wages of mechanics there, conceived the project of shipping the +materials for some houses there, having all the work put on them here +that could be done, thus saving the difference in wages, and to have +them arrive there before the rainy season set in, and thus realize the +imaginary fortune that I had expected from my interest in the company. +In the following spring I had twelve houses constructed. The main point +upon which my speculation seemed to rest was to get them to San +Francisco before the rainy season commenced. I went to New York to +secure freight for them in the fastest vessel. Fortunately for me, as I +conceived at the time, I found the day before I arrived in New York, the +_Prince de Joinville,_ a Havre packet ship, had been put up to sail for +the port of San Francisco, and as yet had engaged no freight. I made a +bargain with them at once to take my houses at sixty cents per square +foot, and had the contract signed, half to be delivered at the side of +the ship by such a date and the other half at a subsequent date. I +delivered the first half of the houses on the time agreed, sending them +down the Hudson river by a barge on a tow. I sent the second half on a +barge to get there on the day they were due, apprehending no trouble, I +going down myself a few days in advance. They commenced complaining at +the ship that they would not have room for the balance of my houses on +board, although I had their written contract to take them at sixty cents +per foot. + +There was great California excitement about this time, and other parties +had come to the conclusion that the _Prince de Joinville_ was probably +the fastest ship taking freight for San Francisco. I saw them accept of +offers at $1.50 per foot, when their contract with me was for less than +half that price, which would make a difference of several thousand +dollars in their favor. So, if the balance of my houses did not arrive +within the time stated in the contract, they would not be taken on that +vessel, and my speculation ruined. The time was up the next day at +twelve o'clock. I was down on the Battery the next morning early +watching for the tow, with the barge with my houses. The ship was at the +dock in the East river. About ten o'clock, A.M., I had the good fortune +to see the barge rounding the Battery. I cried out to the captain to cut +loose from the tow, employ the first steam tug and I would pay the bill, +which he did, getting on the side of the vessel by eleven o'clock, thus +saving my contract by one hour. But they did not commence taking them on +board, so the captain of the barge put a demurrage of $20 per day for +detention. In the meantime, I had bought my ticket to sail by the +steamer _Georgia_ to the Isthmus to go on the 1st of July which was but +a few days off. They, seeing that I had them on my contract, came to me +and said that my houses should go on their ship according to contract, +if they had to throw other freight out, and that they would sign a +regular bill of lading for all the material deliverable to me upon the +arrival of the _Prince de Joinville_ at the port of San Francisco, and +take my carpenters' specifications for the description of them, which +seemed all right to me. + +The following is an article from the _Albany Evening Atlas_ of June 23, +1849: + + "CALIFORNIA HOUSES. + + "Our estimable fellow citizen Dr. Knower, who is to start + for California by the Crescent City _via_ Panama, is about + to ship to that place twelve houses, complete and ready to + put up on arrival at San Francisco. The venture is a costly + one, the freight on the material approaching the cost of as + many frame buildings in this quarter, and the projector, we + think, has managed the speculation with great foresight and + judgment. The best timber has been selected, and the best + work men employed, and a plan of architecture pursued, + which is supposed to offer the greatest advantages with the + most economical expenditures of material. Four of these + buildings are 18 feet front and 25 feet deep. A partition + running lengthways divides the buildings into two rooms, and + the stairs leads to a second platform, which is large enough + for bedrooms, or for storing materials and tools of miners. + Two others are 18 feet front and 18 feet deep, with a small + extension in the rear of 8 feet. Two are 16 feet in front + and 22 feet deep, with the entrance on the gable front; and + the four others are 18 feet front by 14 deep. The sides of + the building will be composed of a double framework of + boards planed, grooved and tongued, fitting air tight on + each side of the timber, the interval between them being + either filled with the moss of the country or left vacant, + the confined column of the air being found sufficient to + keep off the excess of cold or heat. The roofs of all the + buildings shed from the front, except two of which are of + gable shape. The roofs are to be made of solid, + close-fitting planks, covered with fine ticking and coated + with the patent indestructible fire-proof paint, and + applications which our citizens have just begun to use here, + and which they have, found entirely successful. + + "The houses can be easily transported to the placers or may + be put up on the sea-board. We should suppose that the + numerous land-owners who are speculating on the prospects of + future cities would be glad to give the land necessary for + the location of this village. + + "The houses go by the _Prince de Joinville_, a first-class + vessel, which leaves New York soon." + +I sailed on the steamer which left New York at 5 P.M., July 1, 1849. +Friends were there to see me off, but there were no persons on the boat +that I had ever seen before--I was wondering who would be my first +acquaintance. + +Being very tired, I retired soon to my berth, and woke up the next +morning on the broad ocean. Two days of sea sickness and I was all right +again. There were about one thousand passengers from all parts of our +country. I tried to fathom the motives and standing of different ones. +Colonel B. from Kentucky, an aristocratic-looking man, with his slave +for a body servant, who could not have been bought for less than $1,500 +in Kentucky, where slavery existed at that time. Why a man in his +circumstances should be going to California to seek gold I could not +fathom. One day a party of us were seated around the table talking +matters over. It was proposed that each should reveal to the others what +he expected to do and his motives for the expedition. We each related +our expectations and the motives that had inspired us. My aristocratic +friend was one of the party. My curiosity was at its height to know his +views. He said: "Well, gentlemen, you have all been candid in your +statements, and I shall be the same; I am going to California to deal +Faro, the great American gambling game, and I don't care who knows it." + +Later on in my narrative, I shall have occasion to refer to Colonel B. +again under other circumstances. The fourth day out being the fourth of +July, was duly celebrated on the steamer in true American style. Our +course was to the east of Cuba. We passed in sight of the green hills of +San Domingo to our left, and in sight of Jamaica to our right, crossing +the Caribbean sea, whose grand, gorgeous sunsets I shall never forget. I +could not buy a ticket in New York for the steamer from Panama to San +Francisco, but was informed at the office in New York that sixty tickets +were for sale in Panama by Zackery, Nelson & Co., the American Consul, +who were agents for the steamer on the Pacific side. I naturally +supposed that those who offered their money first for those tickets +could buy them. The price was $300 for the first cabin, and $150 for +the second, from Panama to San Francisco; but a fraction of the +passengers had a ticket for the Pacific side. + +The objective point was to get to Panama to secure a ticket, so I made +an arrangement with four others; three were to take charge of the +baggage of the five, and take it leisurely, and Lieutenant M., of South +Carolina, and myself were selected to run an express across the Isthmus +and get there ahead of the other passengers and secure tickets for the +five, and try and be the first to land at Chagres. We came to anchor in +the bay. The captain announced that no passengers would be permitted to +go ashore until the government officials had inspected the vessel. A +boat came from shore with the officials. After a short stay the +officials went down the side of the steamer to their boat to return to +the shore. There was a guard to keep all but the proper persons from +getting into the boat. I had a small carpet bag in my hand, passed the +guard, slipped a $5 gold piece in his hands, and took my seat in the +boat, and, of course, passed as one of the officials, and was the first +passenger to land from the steamer. The first point to be made was to +secure a boat for passage up the Chagres river. I was recommended to +Colonel P., who was the head man in that business there. He was a +colonel in the Granadian army. I found him a full-blooded African, but +an active business man in his way. I got his price for a boat and two of +his best men, and then offered double the price if they would row night +and day, and an extra present to the men if they made good time, for +every thing seemed to depend on securing those tickets on the Pacific +side. By the time I had all my arrangements made, Lieutenant M. made his +appearance. He said he was the second passenger that landed from the +steamer. Then behold us in what they called a dug-out, a boat somewhat +similar to a canoe, with a little canopy over the center that you could +crawl under to lay down with the two naked natives, with the exception +of a cloth around their loins, neither understanding each other's +language, to whom we could only communicate by signs. At 4 P.M., +starting for Gorgona, fifty-five miles up the river, where we were to +land and take mules for Panama. Eight miles was the first stopping +place. We felt elated that we had got so good a start of all the other +passengers. The denseness of the vegetation first attracted our +attention on the banks of the river. The trees, the vines, the +shrubbery, the vines clinging to the trees, hanging in all fantastic +shapes, it seemed to be impenetrable, an ocean of green, unlike any +thing we had ever seen before. + +Early in the evening we arrived at the first stopping place, eight miles +on our way up the river, where we both made ourselves at home, excited +at the strangeness of the scene, surrounded by the thatched huts of the +natives, who were having a dance on the square in the village. After we +had been there an hour, we thought our men had their rest, and it was +time to go on according to our contract, to be rowed night and day. + +In the meantime it seems the natives had taken some offense at +Lieutenant M.'s familiarity, and they appeared with handles of long +knives projecting back of their necks in a threatening manner. We +likewise learned that that was the home of one of our men, and that he +proposed to stay there all night in violation of the contract. So we had +a consultation to decide what to do to get away. It was pitch dark; we +laid our plan. Lieutenant M. beckoned one of the men away from the dance +as if he wanted to give him something, and drew his pistol on him and +marched him down to the boat, while I, with a pistol, kept him there +while he went for the other man. + +After a while he came with him and we got them both in the boat and +started. About this time there was a storm came up with the rain, and +thunder and lightning, as the elements can only perform in that way in +the tropics, surrounded by impenetrable darkness, and to us an unknown +river, with its serpents and alligators, with our two naked savages, +that we only got in the boat by force, and, of course, could not feel +very friendly toward us. Expecting to be fired on from the shore, if +they could see us through the darkness, we took our departure from our +first landing place on the Chagres river, surrounded by romance enough +to satisfy the most romantic imagination in that line. Our men kept +steadily to work. After a while the clouds broke away, the moon showed +itself, and we made good progress that night. We had no trouble with our +men after that. The colonel at Chagres had evidently given us his best +man. They found that we were masters of the situation and it was for +their interest to submit. We treated them kindly after that, and all +went well, for we passed every boat we came to. I shall never forget the +look of despair at two Frenchmen, evidently gentlemen, as we went by +them, and they informed us the length of time they had been coming up +the river, and that they could do nothing with their men. That afternoon +we came in sight of a thatched hut on the banks, evidently a ranch. We +thought it for our interest to rest. We saw a man whom we took for the +proprietor, entirely naked, rubbing his back against a post. On landing +and approaching him he excused himself for a short time, and returned +dressed, walking with the air of a lord of a manor, which dress +consisted of a coarse bagging shirt, coming down to his knees. We +arrived the next day at 11 A.M., at Gorgona, and took our dinner at the +hotel kept by the Alcalde of the place, and bargained with him for a +guide and three mules to continue our journey to Panama. As soon as our +guides and mules were ready, about 1 P.M., we started for Panama. We +soon got enough of our mules by being thrown a number of times over +their heads. They did not understand our language. "Get up and go +along," was Greek to them, but when the guide said "mula vamous" they +knew what it meant. On reaching the place where we were to stay all +night, we arose in the morning refreshed, but concluded to leave our +mules and make the rest of the way a-foot, as we considered them a +nuisance, and as we had no baggage but my little satchel previously +referred to, in which I had bills of lading of my houses, they being +consigned to me, the specifications of my carpenter's schedule, my +letters and a gold chronometer watch, worth $250, belonging to H., a +broker in New York, a friend, and a bottle of the best brandy, which he +presented to me to keep off the fever in crossing the Isthmus. This bag +I handed to the guide boy, about seventeen years of age, taking out the +brandy bottle. The watch I was to sell, for he had two nephews who had +gone to California, and if they were in need, to supply their wants. I +did not meet them; sold the watch for $500 to Mr. Haight, one of the +owners of the Miners' Bank in San Francisco, and remitted the money to +my friend, so I shall not refer to the watch again. + +We were walking on at a free pace, our guide boy following behind. +Looking back after awhile we could not see him. We stopped and waited +some time, but he did not come, so we thought we would go on and he +would follow. The result was we lost our way and craved for a sight of +the Pacific ocean with all the ardor that Gilboa could have done, the +first Spanish discoverer of it, and on the same route, after our +wanderings all day, almost without hope, until four in the afternoon, we +came to a stream of water; oppressed with the heat of the tropics and +fatigued I threw myself in the water. Lieutenant M. exclaimed: "Do not +give up in that way." "I am not giving up," I replied; "only refreshing +myself." In a short time he did the same thing. As we lay there we +thought we heard voices. In looking back who should we see but one of +our countrymen, the most gladdening sight to us. We felt saved at once. +We asked him if he had any provision. He said he thought not. Then he +said one of his companions might have a little piece of ham left and +some crackers. He said there were three of them, and they would soon be +there, and when they came one of them had some bacon and a few crackers, +which he gave to us. The eating of it soon refreshed us. As I had some +of the brandy left in the bottle, I extended it to them, which they were +very glad to receive. Explanations ensued. We, by chance, had struck the +Crusos road, and were but ten miles from Panama. They had come from +Philadelphia in a brig, and had started across from Crusos, the head of +boating on the Chagres river, and had been from two to three weeks +getting so far across the Isthmus, and were perfectly astonished at the +rapidity with which we had come. So we joined them and arrived in Panama +that evening. Lieutenant M. and myself were the first of the one +thousand passengers of the _Georgia_ to enter the city. The office of +the agents of the Pacific steamers was closed. I went, the first thing +in the morning, to purchase the five tickets for our party. Alas for +human expectation! I was informed it would be several weeks before the +steamer would sail. She had not yet returned from the first trip to San +Francisco. They said there were but sixty tickets for sale, and they +would not be offered until a few days before the departure of the +steamer. Of course, all we could do was to abide our chances of getting +them. The city was walled around and dyked like those of the Middle +Ages. Toward the bay the wall was one hundred feet high by twenty broad. +The city had been on the decline for most a hundred years. We could see +the ruins of what it once had been. At one time Spain owned all South +America, Mexico, California, Louisiana and Florida. Panama was the only +port of entry on the Pacific coast, and controlled its commerce. As you +enter the gates of the walled city there is a chapel just inside, where +the lights are always burning on its altars. The first thing on entering +all good Catholics enter, kneel and make their devotions, seeking the +protection of the patron saint of the city. The head alcalder of the +city was a Castilian Spaniard, a venerable-looking gentleman, white as +any Northern man, evidently of Scandinavian descent, who ages back +conquered Spain and divided the land up among themselves and became its +nobility, from whom the present rulers of Spain are descendants. It is +said that when conquered, the original inhabitants of Spain, to a great +extent, fled to their vessels, put to sea, and found the island of +Ireland, from which the present inhabitants are descendants. The second +alcalder was a negro as black as I have ever seen. + +In the city of Panama in its days of prosperity, when under Spain, the +higher classes must have lived in great luxuries, the negroes their +slaves. The natives the peons were in a condition similar to slavery, +they could not leave the land as long as they owed any thing. But the +despotism of old Spain became so great that when they struck for +freedom, all classes united. They gave freedom to the negroes and the +peons, and even the priests of the Catholic church had been so +tyrannized over by the mother church in Spain that they joined the +revolutionists and all classes are represented in the government. I +called at a watchmaker's to have a crystal put in my watch. Two brothers +had furnished rooms like a parlor. I could not speak Spanish, nor they +English. I could speak a little French. I found they could speak it +fluently. I asked them where they learned it. They said, "At the Jesuit +college at Granada." Then one, of them, when he learned that I was from +the United States, went to the piano and played Hail Columbia as a +compliment to my country, which would trouble most of us to do the same +for their country. + +There are now great trees growing up in the ruins of what was once its +great cathedral. The freebooter Morgan is said to have plundered one of +its altars of a million of gold and silver, and massacred many of its +inhabitants, perpetrating on them the atrocities that their ancestors +had upon the original natives. It is said that when Pizarro captured +Peru and took the Inca, their king, prisoner, he issued a decree that if +his subjects would fill a room with gold, he would release him, which +they did. Instead of doing it, he sentenced him to be burned at the +stake, and only commuted it to hanging on condition that he confessed +the Christian religion. Madam Roland, when she was about to be +guillotined in the French revolution, exclaimed, "O Liberty, what +crimes have been committed in thy name." O Christianity, what terrible +atrocities have been perpetrated in thy name! + +Panama is a healthy city to those acclimated, facing a beautiful bay, +unlike Chagres, on this side of the Isthmus of Darien, which is the most +unhealthy spot on this continent. Excuse this diversion, I must get back +to my subject, the days of the forty-niners. + +I stopped at the American Hotel. I was somewhat in a dilapidated +condition from the experiences of my trip from Chagres. The waiter in my +room at the hotel took the best of care of me. I soon found he was no +ordinary waiter. He had resigned a position in Washington of $2,000 a +year to go to the gold Eldorado. He had been in Panama several months, +and had been taken down with the fever twice, which had exhausted his +funds and was working at the hotel for his board, but never thought of +turning back. He was bound for California. He was quite enfeebled from +the effects of the fever. He got hold of my sympathies and secured my +friendship. (More of him anon.) I had been here four or five days +without seeing our guide, the boy with my satchel, containing my +valuables, particularly the bills of lading of my houses. I was in a +quandary and anxiety about it, not knowing what to do, when one day as I +was going to dinner, something pulled my coat from behind, and looking +around, what should I see to my great joy and satisfaction but the +native boy with my satchel, contents there all safe. It was an instance +of honesty that would do honor to any nation. I gave some honest +Catholic priest credit for it. The boy had evidently been instructed +what to do. + +The great objective point now was, how to get to San Francisco. There +was no hope for a sailing vessel from this place, for we saw one return +for water that had been chartered by a party that had been out three +weeks, and scarcely got out of sight of the city. There is very little +chance for a sailing vessel from there until they get west several +hundred miles, and strike the trade winds. The chances were better with +the sailing vessel to start from New York and go around Cape Horn. So +the only hope seemed to be the steamer with its sixty tickets and with +from one thousand to fifteen hundred passengers waiting to buy them, all +seeking to bring some influence to bear to secure one. I saw in the +office of the steamer agent a young man, the book-keeper, whom I took a +fancy to, and sought his acquaintance. I found he was from Hudson, N.Y., +and I, from Albany, both from the banks of the Hudson river. It ripened +into a warm friendship. I explained my situation to him, and my desire, +if it was possible, to get off on the steamer, but did not venture to +ask his influence to try and get me a ticket. At this time the cholera +and Panama fever was raging in full force. The acclimatednacclimated +Americans were dying in every direction. I was conversing at 8 A.M. with +a healthy looking man, one of our passengers, from New York. At 5 P.M., +the same day, I inquired for him and was informed that he was dead and +buried. He had been attacked with the cholera. It was a law of the city +that they must be buried within one hour after death from a contagious +disease. I was finally myself taken down with the Panama fever, lay +unconscious and unnoticed in my room at the hotel for a long time, and +then came to and found myself burning with the raging fever, had a +doctor sent for, and after a time recovered so I could venture out. In +the meantime, the steamer _Panama_ had arrived, and its day of sailing +for San Francisco announced. Zackary, Nelson & Co. had issued an order +that the sixty tickets would be put up to be drawn for. Those having the +winning numbers could have the privilege of purchasing them; that they +must register their names on such a day. Probably one thousand names +and but sixty tickets. The chances were small, but the only hope. On +that day, I went early to register, as I was still very weak from the +effects of the fever, and at my best in the morning. As I entered, there +was a great number there registering. When my turn came, and I was about +to put down my name, I looked behind the desk and saw my friend, the +book-keeper. He shook his head for me not to. I knew that meant +something favorable. I backed out. I returned at once to the hotel. In +the evening, about 8 o'clock, my friend came to my room with a second +cabin ticket. The joys of Paradise centered into my possession of that +ticket. I asked him how did he obtain it? He said he was about to resign +his position, and was going up on the same steamer to California. The +night before the drawing he asked Mr. Nelson if his services had been +satisfactory to him. He said they had. He then said if he should ask +him a favor on leaving him if he would grant it? He replied certainly. +He then said that he wanted one of those sixty tickets for a particular +friend. Mr. Nelson said, "If I had known what you was going to ask for, +I could not have granted it; but since I have pledged my word, I shall +give you the ticket." + +The next day passengers would be received on the steamer, which was +anchored out in the bay, some distance from shore. It was announced that +no sick persons could go on the steamer. As I was quite enfeebled from +my sickness, and was at my best in the morning, I thought I would make +an early start, so as to be sure and be aboard, as they were all to be +on board the vessel to sail early the next morning. I started out for a +boat to take me out to it with the highest elasticity of feelings, not +so much from the prospect of financial success as the idea that if I +could get North again my physical health would be restored, and the +steamer was going North. It seemed at times that I would have given +$1,000 for one good breath of Northern air. As I was going along, some +distance ahead of me, sitting at the doors of a doggery, with his head +almost between his knees, the picture of despair, was my Washington +friend, who waited on my room at the hotel when I first arrived, did me +many favors, and got hold of my sympathies. I said to myself, poor +fellow, I can do nothing for you. I must not let him see me, so I dodged +and passed him. When I got some distance by him my conscience smote me. +I will go back and speak to him; so I did. I had advised him a few days +previous to go and see some officers of the boat and offer to go up as +waiter without pay. I asked him if he had done so, and what luck? He +said there was no hope. They told him they had been offered $300 for the +privilege of going up as waiter. I then told him I had a ticket. I was +going then for a boat to go on board. That his case was desperate, and +that desperate cases required desperate remedies; that he had been down +twice with the fever, and the next time he would probably die; that he +had no friends there nor money; if he would do as I told him I would +stand by him and he must have nerve. He said to me: "How can a man have +nerve without a dollar in his pocket?" which exclamation has occurred to +me many times since. I asked him to hire a boat to get him out to the +vessel, and what it would cost. He said $2. I gave him the money and +told him to get his baggage. He said he had none. I told him to come +about 11 o'clock and go to work among the hands as if he was one of +them; that all were new hands and officers, and they would not know the +difference. He said that the captain had said if any person was caught +on board without a ticket they would be put on shore at the first +uninhabited island. I told him I would attend to that in his case. I +went on board and got my berth and baggage all in. About 11 o'clock I +saw my friend coming over the water making for the vessel. There was +considerable confusion on board at the time, passengers constantly +arriving, and he was not noticed, and he went to work among the hands as +if he had been regularly employed. In a short time the officers were +arranging the men in line to pass the baggage, and said to him: "You +stand here and help pass it," of course, taking him for one of the men +of the boat. In the evening he came and spoke to me. I said all right so +far. But in the morning, he said, they are going to examine every +person, then they will put me ashore. I said, keep a stiff upper lip. If +you get in trouble, come to me. + +The next morning the gun fired, the anchor was raised, and we sailed +down to Bogota, an island similar to Staten Island in the New York +Harbor. The health officers came out. Then my friend trembled and +thought the day of judgment had come to him, but the health officers +were on board but a short time. No examination of those on board took +place. The signal gun for departure was fired. We passed out of the +harbor. The bow of our vessel was pointed north, and we felt extremely +happy. I said to him, "This vessel is bound for San Francisco, and you +are aboard, and will get there as soon as I will." A few days after that +the mate was arranging the employment of the men, and when he came to my +friend's turn he said to him, "Who employed you? You are not an +able-bodied seaman." He made no reply. They could see he was a man of +intelligence, and his pale look showed he had been sick. It may have +moved the sympathies of the officer, who said to him, "This vessel is +crowded with people; it wont do for us to be short of water, and I will +put the water in your charge, and you must not let any passenger, or +even the steward, have any except according to the regulations, and if +you attend to that properly no other services will be required of you." +That took him off of the anxious seat and put him on the solid. In all +his adversities he never thought of turning back. That commanded my +esteem. His attentions to me, when sick, aroused my sympathies for him, +which good action on his part saved him. Of one thousand passengers +desirous of getting on that steamer, and there was room but for sixty on +the day of its departure; his chance looked the most hopeless, being +penniless, but he was one of the fortunate ones, while those who had +plenty of money were left. It illustrated the old maxim, "Where there is +a will there is a way." + +Nothing of interest occurred until we got to the port of Acupulco, the +largest place on the west coast of Mexico. We were about to enter the +harbor when a government boat with officials came out and ordered us to +stop. If we proceeded any further there would be "matter trouble" in +broken English. There were Americans on shore who had crossed over from +Vera Cruz for the purpose of taking this steamer. It would be a month +before there would be another one, and then there would be no certainty +of their getting aboard of that. The captain held a consultation of the +passengers, who all decided to have them come on board. They were our +countrymen and we would share our berths with them, although the vessel +was then crowded, and some of the passengers volunteered to row ashore +with the small boats to bring them aboard, which they did. When they +approached the shore there was a company of soldiers waded in the water +with pointed guns, forbidding them to approach any nearer. The Americans +who were on the bank informed them that the soldiers would fire, and +warning them not to approach any nearer, while bewailing their fate that +they had to be left, so they returned. Then the captain received notice +to leave in half an hour or the guns of the fort would open fire on us. +It was a bright moonlight night. The fort was on a high knoll just above +us, and could have blown us out of the water. So we thought discretion +was the better part of valor, and we had to leave. The laws of nations +were on their side. We were from an infected port, Panama, where cholera +prevailed. + +On board the steamer were some men of prominence. W.F. McCondery, from +Boston, a retired East India sea captain, a man of wealth, who had been +out of business for three years and craved for a more exciting life; who +started the largest commission-house in San Francisco, and had consigned +to him about all the shipments from Boston, and likewise the _Prince de +Joinville_ with my houses; Mr. G., from Liverpool, an Englishman, who +had about all the consignments from that city; Rothschild's nephew, who +had represented that house as a banker in Valparaiso, Chili, was going +to establish a branch of those great bankers' house in San Francisco; +Judge Terry, from Louisiana, who had the reputation at that time of +being a dead shot with a pistol, who afterward challenged United States +Senator Broderick to fight a duel, from political influences, and killed +him, and some years afterward was assassinated himself from a +disagreement with parties about a lawsuit. We came opposite Mazland at +the mouth of the Gulf of California, and took on board some passengers +and freight. + +The next incident in our voyage was when we came in sight of San Diego, +California, and saw the American flag floating from the flag staff. +There was an instantaneous shout went up from every American on board. +We were once more to be under its protection in our own country. + + Love of country, mystic fire from heaven, + To light our race up to stateliest heights 'tis given. + +We were entering the Golden Gate. It was but four miles to the harbor +where we cast anchor, opposite the city of San Francisco, which was the +goal of our hopes for so long a time, and which was about to be +realized; which was also the objective point from almost every part of +the world where adventurers are seeking to get. We had come three +thousand, five hundred miles since we left Panama. We engaged a row-boat +to take us ashore. My friend attended to getting my baggage out of the +boat, and went with me to the shore. He had signed no papers, and +entered into no bonds not to desert the vessel at San Francisco, as the +other sailors had. He was free to do as he pleased. + +I had the chills and fever all the way up, from the effects of the +Panama fever. My first idea was to get in good quarters, whatever +expense, to regain my health. I was informed that there was a good hotel +kept by a widow woman on Montgomery street, where we landed. Some of the +other passengers were going to stop there. I inquired the terms. They +said $5 per day. I thought I would try it for a while. My sleeping-room +was a mattress laid on the floor, with muslin partitions to separate us +from the next room. The table was very indifferent, no vegetables, which +I required, which we lacked on the ship coming up. Being in poor health, +I needed them. After being there a few days one of our passengers asked +me if I knew what the charges were. I said yes, $5 per day. He said it +was more; I had better ask again, which I did. I was informed it was $5 +for the room and extra for the meals. I paid my bill and looked out for +other quarters. I had brought in my baggage an Indian rubber mattress +and pillow which was folded up in a small space and could be blown up +with your breath and filled with air, made a soft bed, a pair of new +Mackinaw blankets and other things to provide for any contingency, and +took my meals at a restaurant, which were numerous, including the +Chinese which we often patronized, and found myself satisfactorily +quartered. It may not be inappropriate to make some general remarks +about the history of California. + +Although my subject is strictly on the days of forty-niners, which +consisted of about two years from the discovery of the gold, when it was +supposed that the future prosperity of the country depended exclusively +on the mining interest. How different it has turned out since has +nothing to do with my subject. I want to try to paint to the mind of the +reader the condition of California at that time, and the views of the +pioneers in those days. I am doing it in the form of a personal +narrative, as it enables me more distinctly to recall to my mind the +events of those days in which I was a participant. Such fluctuations of +fortune as then occurred, the world never saw before in the same space +of time, and probably never will again, where common labor was $16 per +day. There were some very interesting and truthful articles published in +the _Century_ magazine two years ago from the pen of the pioneers, but +there has been no book published as a standard work for the present and +future, and the participants in it are passing away, for it is +forty-five years since they occurred. California is three times larger +in territory than the State of New York. Its population before the +discovery of gold, including Indians and all, was but a few thousand. +Cattle could be bought for $1 per head, and all the land they ranged +upon thrown in the bargain for nothing. They were killed for their +hides, and the meat thrown away, as there was no one to eat it. + + +A FEW HISTORICAL ITEMS. + +San Francisco bay, first discovered the 25th of October, 1769. The first +ship that ever entered the harbor was the _San Carlos_, June, 1775. The +mission of Dolores founded by the Jesuit Fathers in 1769. Colonel +Jonathan Stevenson arrived at California with one thousand men on the +7th of March, 1847. The treaty of Hidalgo ceding California to the +United States by Mexico, officially proclaimed by the president, July 4, +1848. Gold first discovered by Marshall, January 9, 1848. January, 1848, +the whole white population of California was fourteen thousand, January, +1849, the population of San Francisco was two thousand. The three most +prominent publicmen at the time of my arrival in California were Colonel +Freemont, who had conducted an expedition overland; Colonel Stevenson, +who came by sea with one thousand men, appointed by William L. Marcy, +who was secretary of war during the conflict with Mexico, from whom I +had a letter of introduction as a family connection of Governor Marcy, +similar to the following letter to Brigadier Major-General P.F. Smith, +which was not delivered: + + ALBANY, _June_ 24, 1849. + + My Dear Sir--I desire to present to your favorable notice, + the bearer hereof, Dr. Daniel Knower. He is on the eve of + departing for California. He is a family connection of mine, + a gentleman of talents and respectability, and I commend him + to your favorable notice. + + Yours truly, + + WILLIAM L. MARCY. + + BRIG.-GEN. P.F. SMITH. + +I soon found the colonel one of the warmest of friends. Captain John A. +Sutter, who was a captain in the Swiss Guards of Charles the Tenth of +France, after the revolution of 1830 in that country, came to the United +States, who some years previous had wandered across the country to +Oregon, and the Russian Fur Company secured for him a large grant of +land from Mexico in California, on which the city of Sacramento now +stands, extending back from that city many miles to where the gold was +first discovered. He was having a raceway dug on the American river for +the purpose of erecting a saw-mill, as there was no lumber in the +country. He had constructed a fort some miles back from the Sacramento +river, where he made his home. The object of the Russian Fur Company was +to have a place where they could purchase grain, as there was none +raised there at that time, and they had a contract with him, and that +they were to send a vessel at such a time, and he was to settle up the +country and cultivate it. Sutter was the most social and generous of +men. The latch-string of his cabin was always on the outside, and all +callers were welcome, and the hospitalities of the fort extended to all +callers. + +At the time of my arrival, on August 18, 1849, there were several +hundreds of ships anchored in the bay deserted by their crews, who had +gone to the mines. They could make more in one day there than their +wages would amount to in a month on the vessel. + +In the city a large portion of its population were living in tents. +There were not buildings enough. Vessels were constantly arriving loaded +with people from all parts of the world. As my health permitted I +investigated matters there. I took a walk out. I met what looked like a +laboring man. I asked him how long he had been there? He said two +months. I said to him: "And not gone up to the mines yet?" He said to me +he was in no particular hurry. He said he had a row-boat and made $20 a +day rowing passengers to and from the vessels (there was then no dock). +He had his boy with him, who gathered mussels and sold them. Between the +two they averaged $30 per day, which explained why he was in no hurry to +go to the gold diggings. + +Lumber was bringing fabulous prices. It looked very favorable for my +house ventures. Mr. G., the Englishman, had been very anxious to buy +them. He had seen the specifications of the carpenter on the steamer +coming up. On Saturday P.M. I called at his office. He asked me if I had +made up my mind to sell him the houses. I said to him: "If I should put +a price on them you would not take me up." He said "try me." I named a +price. He said he would take them and go to my lawyer to draw up the +contract. I said I would just as soon go to his (which was a fatal +mistake). I knew his was a State senator from Florida, and had come up +on the steamer with us. We found the lawyer in his office, and he +commenced drawing up the contract. I made my statement that I sold the +houses from my carpenter's specifications (not from any representations +I made myself), and from the bills of lading and from my insurance +policy, which ranked the ship _Prince de Joinville_, formerly a Havre +packet, classed A, No. 1. He was to deposit bills of lading of the ship +_St. George_ from Liverpool, consigned to him, in value to the amount of +$50,000, with a third party, as collateral security, that on the +arrival of the _Prince de Joinville,_ and the delivery of the houses, he +was to pay me the sum agreed upon. + +The lawyer, after writing a little, complained of a headache, and asked +if it made any difference if he put it off until Monday morning. I said, +Mr. G. had been very anxious to buy the houses, and I had not cared +about selling them to arrive, preferring to take my chances when the +vessel got here, but since I had consented to sell them, I preferred to +have it on the solid. I said, I supposed the transaction was not of +great importance to Mr. G., but I had all that I was worth in the world +at stake on the venture, and would prefer to have it closed now. He +commenced writing, and again complained of the headache. I then +consented to put it off until Monday morning at 10 o'clock. We both +pledged our honor to meet there at that time and consummate it. I was +there on Monday morning at the time designated. Mr. G. came in at 11 +o'clock and said he had changed his mind and would not take the houses. +I said all right, but his word of pledge of honor would have no value +with me hereafter. + +I would have made $18,000 profit, but I was selling them for a good deal +less than they would have brought if they had been there. Lumber was +selling as high as from three to four hundred dollars per thousand feet +in San Francisco at that time. But I was making certain of a good profit +and running no risk of what might happen in the future. + +I had another offer of a number of lots on Stockton street, the next +street above the plaza in the heart of the city, for six of the smaller +ones, which, if I had consummated, would have made my fortune. "There is +a tide in the affairs of men, which, if taken at the flood tide, leads +on to fortune, or, if not seized, are forever lost." (Shakespeare.) + +The ideas of the people there at that time was, that a railroad across +the continent, connecting California with the East, was entirely +impracticable. That there were one thousand miles of desert to cross, +where there was no water, and the Sierra Nevada mountains presented an +impassable barrier, and they thought how could it ever be an +agricultural country, when there was no rain for more than seven months +in the year. The idea of irrigation was not thought of then. How +different every thing has turned out since, I have nothing to do with. I +must be true to my subject, the days of the Forty-niners. + +As it would be, at least, three months before the ship could come in +with my houses, and my health had improved, I was anxious to get up to +the mines. I was informed that there was a party from Albany at the +Dutch bar, on the south fork of the American river, about eight miles +from Coloma, where gold was first discovered, with whom I was +acquainted. I found a sloop about to sail for Sacramento (there were no +steamers then) the starting point to the northern mine. I took passage +on board with all the passengers the boat could accommodate. I noticed +on the passage up that the mosquitoes were very large, with penetrating +bills. It was as much as we could do to protect our faces. + +The only important event on the passage was that a Jew had potatoes that +he was taking up on speculation, and that he was going to treat his +fellow passengers to some, one day at dinner. We were a little +disappointed when we found they were sweet ones, but still they were a +treat. Vegetables were scarce, potatoes selling from forty to sixty +cents per pound. After a few days we arrived at Sacramento, it being +about one hundred miles from San Francisco by water. There were no hacks +at the landing, nobody that wanted a job to carry your baggage. Governor +Shannon, of Ohio, was among the passengers. He had been minister to +Mexico, yet he had to carry his own baggage, and make several trips to +do it. One of the passengers assisted him. He was president of a mining +company organized in Ohio. + +It was evening. We stopped at a hotel, and I slept in my Mackinaw +blanket that I carried with me, on the dining-room floor. The next +morning after breakfast, about 9 o'clock, I went out on the front +portico to take observations of the place. The landlord was there. There +was a loaferish-looking fellow going by on the opposite side of the +street. The landlord cries out to him: "Bill, what will you charge to +chop wood for me from now until night?" He cries back, "What will you +give?" He replies, "$10." Bill answers back, "Can't chop for less than +an ounce," which was $16, and walked right on. It was evident that +common labor was not suffering there for want of employment. I was there +some days, and could find no one to post me how to get to Coloma. All +was excitement and bustle. While there, Sam. Brannan--who had built a +new hotel there (just finished), called the City Hotel--gave a free +entertainment for one day to the public. He must have expended $1,000 +for refreshments. He had been a Mormon preacher, and was a captain in +Colonel Stevenson's regiment. He was very enterprising and generous, a +prominent figure with the "Forty-niners." + +I saw an article in the paper a few years ago from a California +correspondent, giving a biography of him; that he was, at one time, +worth several millions, and went into some big enterprise--which I +cannot now recall--and was unfortunate and lost all his wealth, and that +he was, at that time, in San Francisco at a twenty-five-cent +lodging-house, and that he told him that he passed two men that day who +had crossed the street to avoid him, to whom he had furnished the money +from which they had made their fortunes. Well, I finally found an +Oregon man with a yoke of oxen, who was freighting goods up to Coloma. +He said he had seven hundred and fifty acres of land in Oregon, but no +cattle on it. He thought he would come to California and get gold enough +to buy them, and his wife was keeping a cake and pie stand on the +streets of that city. I never saw him after that trip, but coming with +so modest expectations, I have no doubt he was successful. + +We started on our journey in the afternoon. The country through which we +traveled looked as if it had been an old-settled land, and deserted by +its inhabitants. It seemed that we must come to a farm-house, but there +was none. There were scattering trees in the country and occasionally a +woods, but no dense forest. We made eight miles, then camped for the +night on the edge of a woods. I had brought no provisions with me, so I +offered him $1 per meal to eat with him, which was accepted. He made +tea, cooked some Indian meal, and had a jug of molasses; so we made a +very good supper. I got my satchel out of the wagon for a pillow, and +with my blankets made my bed on the ground under the wagon. I thought it +would keep the dew off, but there was none. + +There is no danger of taking cold sleeping on the ground in the dry +season, when it does not rain for seven months. He had set fire to a +dead tree to keep the grizzly bears off, and about the time I got +comfortably laid down, there was a pack of coyote wolves came howling +around. Amid those surroundings, the burning of the fire to keep the +grizzlies off and howling of the wolves, I fell asleep and did not wake +until morning, refreshed from my slumbers. After a breakfast similar to +the meal the night before, we proceeded on our journey, but the ox team +travelled so slow that in walking I got away ahead of it, and then got +tired of waiting for it to come up to me, and so went on alone. Toward +night I came to Mormon Island, the first gold diggings. I inquired if +there was a place where I could get quarters for the night. They said I +might, at the hospital. It was a log cabin with bunks in it, and what +was my astonishment to find the proprietor, a doctor from Troy, N.Y., an +old acquaintance. I was more than welcome. We were both delighted to see +each other. I to find such comfortable quarters, and he to meet with a +friend in the wilderness, and to hear the latest news from the East. He +got for me the best supper that the surroundings would afford; as I had +eaten nothing since morning, it was very acceptable, and he provided for +me the most comfortable of his bunks for sleeping. He informed me that +it was twenty-five miles from Coloma, and there was but one place on the +way where I could get water to drink. I started after breakfast, +refreshed. After travelling some miles, I came to the smoke of the +camp-fire of Indians, just ahead of me. It was rumored that the Oregon +men were in the habit of shooting an Indian on sight when they had a +chance. The Indians killed white men in retaliation, as they could not +make peace until they had killed as many whites as they had lost, +according to their ideas of equity. As I did not care particularly about +being one to make up the number, I struck off in a ravine and passed +around so as to avoid their camping ground and came to the road beyond +them. What truth there was about the shooting of them I could not say, +but it was currently reported at the time. About 4 o'clock, P.M., I got +to a stopping place six miles from Coloma. There I met a man with a long +beard, slouched hat, a sash around his body, a flannel shirt, evidently +a miner. I had a long talk with him. He posted me about the gold +diggings and I him about the news from the States. As we were about to +part, he asked me to take a drink. He inquired of the proprietor if he +had champagne? He said, yes, at $10 a bottle. The man said, pass us +down a bottle, which we drank together. He, evidently, had struck good +diggings. We parted, as I was anxious to get to Coloma before dark, +which I did, just as the sun was setting, having made twenty-five miles +in one day on foot. I found a regular tavern here, kept by a man from +Mississippi, with his family. I sat down to a regular table for my +supper, which seemed quite a treat. He informed me that he had no +bed-room for me; that I could sleep on the dining-room floor, or in his +barn. He had just had some new hay put in. I chose the latter. It was a +kind of a shanty building, but the soft bed of new hay was a luxury +after my twenty-five miles walk. + +I awoke the next morning refreshed. After my breakfast I took in the +place and went to the raceway where the first piece of gold was +discovered. There were three or four stores in the place to supply the +miners of the surrounding region. I got my direction how to find the +Dutch Bar, eight miles from there. Proceeding on my way, after going +about five miles, I came to a person, his face covered with a long +beard, whom I recognized, by the expression of his eyes, as a person who +I knew in Albany, and who belonged to the party I was seeking. He +informed me that I was within three miles of them, and he gave me plain +directions how to find them. I soon came to their camp and there was a +genial meeting and exchange of news. There were five in the company. +They had a tent and owned a pair of mules. I joined them, as I had not +come to depend on mining, as I never had been accustomed to physical +labor. At first I thought it was awful hard work, and that it was lucky +for me that I had not come to California depending on it, but after a +short time I got used to it and liked it. They took turns in cooking, so +each one had one day in the week that he did the cooking. We lived on +fried pork and flapjacks made from wheat flour fried in the fat of the +pork, tin cups for our tea and coffee, and tin dishes. We each had stone +seats, and a big one in the center for our table. At night we slept +under our tent. The gold rivers were not navigable. They were sunk way +down deep in the earth. When the rainy season sets in during the winter +months, and sometimes rains every day in the month, causing the snow to +melt on the Sierra Nevada mountains, where these streams take their +rise, will cause the water to rise often from ten to twenty feet in a +night, and in the course of ages has worn their depth down into the +earth, and is supposed to have washed out of the earth the scales of +gold that are found on the banks of the rivers. The first mining was a +very simple process. A party of three could work together to the best +advantage. A virgin bar was where the river had once run over and now +receded from it. Three persons worked together, one to clear off the +sand on the ground to within six inches of the hardpan. The top earth +was not considered worth washing, the scales of gold, being heavier, had +settled through it, but could not penetrate that portion of the earth +called the hardpan, so the earth within six inches of it was impregnated +with more or less gold, and one to carry the bucket to the rocker, and +the other to run the rocker, which was located close to the water. The +rocker was a trough about three feet in length with three slats in it +and a sieve at the upper end, on which the bucket of earth was thrown. +The man worked the rocker with one hand and dipped the water out of the +river with a tin-handled dipper. As he worked the rocker the fine earth +and scales of gold passed through the holes of the sieve and settled +behind the slats in the trough, and the stones and large lumps in which +there was no gold were caught in the sieve and thrown away. After a +certain number of buckets of earth had been run through in that way, the +settlings behind the slats in the trough were put in a milk-pan and the +water was allowed to run in the pan and the fine earth and sand would +float on the top of the water. You would let that run off. + +After a few operations of that kind you would see the yellow scales of +gold on the edge of the sand. You would continue that process until +there was but a little of the sand left; then you would take it with you +when you went to the tank and warm it by a fire to dry the sand; then +with your breath you would blow away the sand and have the gold, which +you carried in a buckskin bag, which was the currency of the country, at +$16 per ounce, and at the mint in Philadelphia was worth $18.25. I have +carried three hundred buckets in a day, and at twenty-five cents worth +of gold in a bucket, it would amount to $75, $25 to each man for his +day's work, which was frequently the average. In those days all it cost +for a party of three for capital to start mining was about $15. Then you +had the chances of striking a pocket. That was a cavity in the rocks +where gold had settled. In the course of ages, and where the strong +currents of the streams, when the rivers were high, could not reach it +to wash it out, I have known a person to take out $800 of gold in less +than an hour. The first miners, when they found gold on the banks of the +river, thought if they could only dig in the deep holes of the bed they +would find chunks of it, and they went to a big expense, and those who +had money hired laborers to assist in constructing raceways at $16 per +day, to change the current of the river; but when they had effected +their object and dug there they found no gold, for there was nothing to +prevent the strong current from carrying it off; but I knew a party to +draw off the water and expose the bed of the river, where there were +rapids, and they were successful, and the gold had settled down between +the crevices of the rocks, and the currents could not disturb it. + +There were some other kinds of diggings discovered different from the +river mining, called cañons, one I know of, called the Oregon. It was +described like a tunnel, deep down in the earth, where a party of three +persons from near our locality went and returned in about three weeks +and had from three to five thousand dollars apiece, which they showed +me. It was not scale gold, but nuggets of all sizes. Of course, they had +unusual luck. + +On the river mining each person was entitled to so many feet, as long as +they left any implements of labor on it. No person would trespass upon +it; but if he took every thing away, then it was inferred he had given +it up, and anybody had a right to take it. All regulations were strictly +respected and every thing was safe, and a person told me that he would +not be afraid to leave his bag of gold in his tent. Every thing was +honorable and safe until the overland emigrants from western Missouri +arrived there. + +They were a different kind of people; more of the brute order. When +they saw a party of two or three that had a good claim, and they were +the strongest, they would dispossess them. (I suppose the same class +that raided Kansas in John Brown's time.) They became so obnoxious that +a respectable man would deny his State. + +And another corrupt element arrived by sea, the ex-convicts from Sidney. + +I went to Coloma one day to get supplies for the party. I rode one of +the mules, the other followed to be packed with the purchases. When I +bought what was wanted, I handed the storekeeper my bag of gold to pay +him. When he returned it to me, I found his statement made was between +three and four dollars less than I knew was in it. I informed him of the +discrepancy. He said he did not see how that could be; that he weighed +it right. He came in in a few minutes and apologized, saying that he had +weighed it in the scales that he used when he traded with the Indians. +It needs no comment to know that the Christian man is not always +superior to the Indian in integrity. There was an Indian who had struck +a pocket. He came to Coloma with $800 in gold dust that he got out in a +short time. He invested it all with the storekeepers in a few hours. He +had dressed himself in the height of fashion, including a gold watch. He +was dressed as no California Indian ever had been before. The gold he +could not eat nor drink. + +[Illustration: DRESSED AS NO CALIFORNIA INDIAN EVER WAS BEFORE.] + +How the gold came there is one of the mysteries of nature. One theory +is, that the Sierra Nevada mountains were once the banks of the Pacific +ocean, and all California had been thrown up from the bottom of the sea +from that depth where gold was a part of the formation of the earth, in +connection with quartz, and as all gold appears in a molten state, which +would go to corroborate this theory. A person informed me that he went +through a ravine where one side of the road was half of a large rock, +and on the other side, the other half. He could see where the two halves +would match each other exactly. Well, I lived that life for two months. +We had an addition to what I have described to eat--pork and beans on +Sunday, and Chili pudding. It had been baked and sweetened, and then +ground up like flour and put in bags. All you had to do was to moisten +it with water to eat it. All our flour came from that country, put up in +sacks of fifty and one hundred pounds each, but we had no vegetables. +One day we heard that they had dried-apple sauce at the hotel at Coloma +for dinner. The next day, Sunday, three of us walked eight miles to get +there to dinner to get a taste of it. We paid $2 apiece for our dinner, +and they had the sauce; it tasted so good that we did not begrudge the +price of the dinner and the walk back again. We were fully satisfied. + +The rainy season set in. It rained three days, and although it was +three or four weeks before it would be possible for my houses to arrive, +yet it was a new country and no bridges. The streams might get up so as +to be impassable, and the houses were consigned to me, and no one but +myself to receive them. I thought I had better get back to San Francisco +at once. What I was making in the mines was mere nothing to what I had +at stake in the houses. Although, to tell the truth, I never left a +place with more regret, as hard as the fare was. We were interested +every day in the work for gold, and did not know when we might make a +rich strike. My last day there it rained. Notwithstanding, a companion +and myself went out to dig for a couple of hours. When we returned, we +had $25 worth. That was the last of my mining. I started the next +morning for Sacramento afoot. I sold my pistol and blankets for an ounce +each, $16 apiece. On my route I met a man bound for the same place. We +joined teams and became very intimate. + +The only incident of importance was when we got within five miles of +Sacramento. We stopped at a log cabin and ordered dinner. A short time +after my companion came to me in some excitement and said he had looked +through the window and that they were cooking potatoes for dinner. I +could not believe the good news, and so went and looked for myself and +found it was true. I had not tasted one in two months. We took the +steamer _Senator_ that evening for San Francisco. It had been a Long +Island steamboat and had arrived since my departure for the mines. It +was the first steamer that had ever sailed the interior waters of +California, and had been put on to run from San Francisco to Sacramento. +I think it belonged to Grenell, Minton & Co., a prominent shipping firm +of New York city. Charley Minton had charge of it. Of course its profits +were great. But I could not sleep in my state-room berth; I had been so +long used to a hard bed I was restless, but we arrived safe the next +morning at San Francisco. The bulk of my book will be events that +occurred during my residence in that city. I scarcely know how to begin +to describe it. My efforts will be to portray them truthfully. To do so +I must continue in the form of a personal narrative. That is the only +way I can recall the events to my mind of so long ago. + +At this time more changes took place there in a month than in most any +other place in a year. Every thing was done by the month. Buildings were +rented by the month; money was loaned by the month; ten per cent per +month was the regular interest. There was but one bank, called the +Miners', on the corner of the plaza, owned by three parties. During my +absence a great boom had taken place--influenced by new arrivals and +most favorable news from the gold mining sections. This was the fall of +1849. The lots that I had thought of trading six of my houses for had +tripled in value, but lumber was still bringing fabulous prices and +every thing looked favorable for a big strike on my houses when they +arrived. Montgomery street was on the banks of the bay. There was one +pier at this time constructed from it in the bay, and a temporary pier +by Colonel Stevenson at the north beach. The city was growing up toward +Happy Valley. Portsmouth Square, the plaza, still had some of the adobe +buildings on it. The best hotel was the Parker House, on the west corner +of it. The plaza was sand, no vegetation on it. + +Rincon Point, on Telegraph Hill, was the spot where ships and steamers +were signalled. Steamers coming in but once a month, they brought the +last news from the East. The New York papers were peddled at $1 each. +Long lines of people were formed to get the mail, and you had to take +sometimes half a day before you could reach the office. Oakland, +opposite the bay, had no existence. Goat Island had plenty of wild +goats on it, and we could never imagine how the first goat ever got +there. There was no scarcity of meat--plenty of beef and grizzly bears +were hung out at the doors of the restaurants as a sign, and plenty of +venison. I can recall now to my mind, venison steaks that we would get +in the evening with their rich jellies on it. The luxuries of Asia were +coming in there. Many China restaurants with their signs from Canton or +Pekin. But there was a great scarcity of vegetables. Onions and potatoes +sold for forty cents per pound. + +A day or two after my arrival, my friend who came down with me from the +mines came to me and said that there were a lot of blankets to be sold +at auction; that he had no money, or he would buy them; that if I would +buy them he would take them up in the mines and peddle them out for me +for half of the profit. As I knew they were in great demand there--I had +sold, when I left there, mine for $16--I told him if he could buy them +for $4 per pair to bid them off and I would furnish the money to pay for +them. He came back in a short time and said he had bought them, and that +they came to $800. We had them taken to the steamer _Senator_ to ship to +Sacramento. We paid $10 a load to have them carted from the store where +they were bought to the steamer. (The result of this speculation later +on.) + +There were at this time several hundred vessels anchored in the bay, +deserted by their officers and crews. A ship could be bought for +probably one-third of what it was worth in New York, and I conceived the +project of buying a ship as soon as I sold my houses, which I expected +soon to arrive, being on so fast a ship as the _Prince de Joinville_, +and going myself to the Sandwich Islands and buying a load of onions and +potatoes, as I was informed that they could be bought as cheap there as +in the States, and ciphered out that one successful venture of that +kind would make my fortune. So I went among the idle ships to see what I +could do in that line, and to have one selected, ready to close the +bargain as soon as the houses arrived. I came across a brig that had +been running to Sacramento, but was condemned as a foreign bottom, when +Collier, the collector, arrived there, a short time before, and extended +the marine laws of the United States over California. The captain and +crew were aboard. The captain was an Englishman; the crew, +cosmopolitan--a Hindostan, a Mexican named Edwin Jesus, an English +sailor and an American. I inquired of the captain about the history of +the vessel. He said she had been built at Quavqiel, down the coast, and +had belonged to a Mexican general, and was built partially of an +American whaler that had been wrecked on the coast, so I got American +timbers in her. They wanted to sell the vessel. I told him I might buy +her. I would let them know in a day or two. So I went to Colonel +Stevenson and gave him a history of it, and asked him if he would see +Collier, the collector of the port, and see if I could not get her +papers as an American vessel, which he did, and informed me the next day +that it was all right. I went at once and bought the brig. As soon as I +got its American papers it was worth twice what I had to pay for it. I +kept the same captain, as he knew the navigation of the rivers, which +few did at that time. I gave him $250 per month and put a supercargo at +$150 per month, and kept the same crew. I had it put up for Stockton, +the head depot for the Southern lines. The first month it made two +trips. Its receipts were $3,100; its expenses, $1,100; so it earned me +$2,000 clear. + +There was a friend of mine named R., who owned a third interest in a +factory that belonged to a relative of mine who got the gold fever when +I did, and got me to negotiate the sale of his interest in it to him, +which I did for $8,000, so he could go to California with me. When he +arrived there he proposed to build a brewery. His father had been a +brewer in Scotland. He bought a lot, a part of the city called Happy +Valley, and started to build the first brewery on the Pacific coast. He +commenced to build one that would cost $30,000 with that capital, which +was his mistake. If he had commenced in a small way he would have made +his fortune. (In my personal narrative he had much to do with my +affairs.) + +At this point in writing my manuscript, I have just heard of the death +of Colonel Jonathan Stevenson, aged ninety-four, in California, to whom +I had a letter of introduction from Governor William L. Marcy. I found +him the warmest, the truest and most generous friend. He was a little +unpopular when I first met him, for what I conceived the most noble +action of his life. There were in his regiment roughs from the city of +New York, where it was organized, who, when the war was over with +Mexico, would go into saloons and places and help them selves to what +they wanted and refused to pay. They were termed "The Hounds." There was +a vigilance committee organized against them, which public sentiment, at +that time, fully indorsed. They had seized a number of them and were +about to hang them. Colonel Stevenson faced the excited crowd and asked +to have them give the men a trial and punish the guilty. He said that +when he returned to New York and their mothers asked him what had become +of their sons, how could he face them if they were put to death in that +way; but if he could say to them that they had a fair trial, were found +guilty of crime, and had been punished according to law, it would be +different. I think they were not executed, but banished; but it set up a +cry against the colonel that he had taken the part of "The Hounds," so +unjust is often, for a time, public sentiment. That was the first +vigilance committee; the great one came afterward, but I am confined to +the days of the "Forty-niners." + +It was rumored, at the time, that there was a jealousy between him and +Colonel Freemont. It was not on the part of Stevenson. I boarded at the +same hotel with Freemont. + +See illustration for bill which I received while at the hotel with +Colonel Freemont: + +[Illustration: HOTEL BILL.] + +The colonel asked me one day to speak to Freemont at dinner, and +request him, if convenient, to stop in his office as he came from +dinner, which I did. Stevenson's office was on the plaza, but Freemont +never called. + +There was great difficulty about the title to lots at that time. There +were contentions set up, and claims of property from different Mexican +grants, as it became valuable. It was guaranteed by the United States, +at the treaty of Hidalgo, when California was ceded to us, that all +titles that were good under the Mexican government should be recognized +by us. L., the chaplain of Stevenson's regiment, seems to have been the +butt of the boys before the gold was discovered. + +They, as a farce, elected him alcalde of San Francisco, which position +is a combination of mayor and judge, as we would understand it, and his +election was declared illegal. Then they elected him for spite. He +served one year. There was a Mexican law that in any village in that +country a person had a right to settle on one hundred veras of land so +many feet, about three hundred, and if he put up any kind of a building +on it, and held undisputed possession for one year, he could go to the +alcalde, and by paying $16, get a good and valid title. When the lots +became so valuable in San Francisco, after the gold was discovered, many +lots based on those kinds of grants became very valuable two or three +years after the discovery of gold. L. became quite wealthy, it was said, +by advances in real estate. There were rumors of bogus titles in the +names of dead soldiers and others who had left the country, but could be +traced to no authentic source. He was estimated to be worth several +hundred thousand dollars, made in the rise of real estate. I met him but +once and I sold him some lumber. + +My shipping merchant who negotiated freight for my brig got a legal +title of that kind. + + +HIS STORY. + +He said he was a book-keeper for a firm in Newport, Rhode Island, at a +small salary. He made up his mind that if they would not raise his pay +$100 per year on the 1st of January he would leave them. They refused, +so he lost his situation, and it was dull times, and he could not get +another one, so he shipped on a whaling vessel as a sailor. His health +was poor, and he found he could not stand the hardships of that life. +The vessel put in the harbor of San Francisco for water and fresh meat +on their way to the Arctic ocean, so he deserted the ship and secreted +himself until it left. Then he had to do something there for a living, +so he squatted on one hundred veras of land on the beach, and put up a +shanty and sold fruit and probably some liquor, etc., to make a living. +No one disturbed him for one year. He applied to the alcalde and paid +his $16 and got a good, valid title. After the gold was discovered it +became the most valuable property in the city. When I was doing +business with him he had a three-story brick store, which he owned. The +whaling ship had been gone to the Arctic ocean two or three years and +had heard nothing of the discovery of the gold, and wonderful changes in +San Francisco, and the captain thought he would put in that port on his +return and hunt up his runaway sailor, and behold, his absconding sailor +was rich enough when he found him to buy his ship and his whole cargo of +whale oil. I was introduced by him to his captain and shook hands with +him, and we had a good talk over it. Wherein does our stories of +fiction, of our boyhood, of Arabian Nights, surpass the actual events of +life, of the wonderful fluctuations of fortunes in California in the +days of the Forty-niners? + +[Illustration: THE CAPTAIN AND THE RUNAWAY SAILOR.] + +On the death of President Taylor, a meeting was called for the purpose +of having funeral obsequies there in his honor. A man was named for +president of the day. Then it was proposed to name a vice-president for +each State and Territory, which was done. There were persons in the +crowd from every one of them. A day was set apart for the ceremonies, +and all business was to be suspended. There was a long procession on +that day, and the masons and all societies and the people in general +turned out in full force, including the Chinese, who were smart enough +to think it would make a favorable impression in their favor. After the +parade was dismissed in the plaza, the Chinese were requested to remain, +and a missionary addressed them, and a Chinaman interpreted to them in +their own language. I noticed that their language was much more +condensed than ours. It took about a third of the time for him to +translate what the missionary said. When the missionary closed, he said +he hoped that we would all meet together in another and a better world. +It seemed to them so absurd that they looked at each other and smiled as +if it was a good joke. In those early days there were no particular +prejudices against them. Pagans, as we call them, practised the +Christian virtues toward their own countrymen. When the ship arrived +from China they were down to greet the newcomers, whom they had never +seen before, and invite them to their homes. The present laws of +restriction against them, I think, are all right. We cannot afford to +run the risk of having the institutions of our country injured by an +emigration that is uncongenial to it. We have gone too far in that line +already, not from selfishness, but to perpetuate the institutions +founded by our revolutionary ancestors, in their purity, for the +interests of mankind. + +I received a letter from my blanket friend. He informed me that he could +not sell the blankets, and had traded them off for flour, and would +start the next day for the Yuba, which was the most remote gold river. +That was all a lie. He did that so that I would not follow him up. He +had not a dollar invested in them. They were my property. I knew at once +I had been dealing with a rascal, but I was powerless to do any thing +about it, so I wrote him back that it was all right; that I had bought a +brig; and that I had it running to Stockton, and he could take ventures +up on that and make up what we had lost on the blankets, and much more. +(More of him later on.) + + +THE GAMBLING OF THAT DAY. + +It was public most everywhere. Faro tables, the great American gambling +game, Monte, the Mexican and Roulette. The Eldorado, on the corner of +the plaza, was the most celebrated gambling house of that time. There +had been a great deal of money expended in fitting it up. It had an +orchestra of fifteen persons. It was run all night and day, with two +sets of hands. It was gorgeously fitted up. What they used to stir up +the sugar in the drinks cost $300. It was solid gold. Numerous gambling +tables, piled up with gold and silver, to tempt the better, behind which +were hired dealers. The owners of the Eldorado were not known. Many a +miner has come with his few thousand dollars to San Francisco to sail +for home, and taking in the sights, visited the Eldorado, got interested +in the different games, and lost it all and went back to the gold +regions broken and penniless to try his luck over again. I heard of one +that lost his all three times in that way. I saw a man once put down a +bag of gold, which contained $5,000, bet $1,000 on one turn of the card +at Monte. He lost. While I was looking at him in the course of half an +hour, he lost it all. I thought what independence that amount would have +given some family in the East. + +In those early days there was often but a muslin partition between you +and the next room, and you could hear every word in the next apartment. +About 1 o'clock in the morning I was awaken by two men entering and +taking the next room to mine, whom I saw running a Roulette table on the +plaza. They seemed to be considerably excited. They said they would be +willing to lose some money to get rid of that tapper. Of course, I +could not understand, at first, what they meant by that expression, but +come to find out from their conversation, they had their Roulette table +arranged so that they could make the ball stop on the red or black, as +it happened to be for their interest to have it do. So, if there were +$20 bet upon the red, the tapper would bet $10 on the black, and they +could not make the red lose without making the black win. So the tapper +was getting half of their gains. I would advise all my friends to let +Roulette alone, unless they are sure they can place themselves in the +position of the tapper. + +One morning on the plaza I took a look into a gambling saloon. I saw a +Greaser that had been betting against Monte all night, and had had +wonderful luck. He announced that he would tap the bank for $1,800, +which was more money than he ever had before, or could ever expect to +have again, which meant that he would bet that amount for whatever sum +the dealer could show to meet it on the turn of one card. He lost, and +the dealer showed $1,800 in the bank and took all his money. Monte is +the great National gambling game of Mexico, and his idea of Paradise is +to be able to break a Monte bank. + +Mr. B. from Kentucky, whom I took for so rich a nabob, referred to among +the passengers when out of New York. I saw him take out his gold watch, +a valuable one, and bet it behind the queen, on the game of Faro, for +$100. He was evidently about broke. It won. Then he went the $200, and +it won again. Then he went it the third time, and it won. In about +twenty minutes he had his watch back and $700, then he left. Some one +asked me a few months after that if I knew that he was worth $80,000? He +had been very lucky, and that he was to run for sheriff of San Francisco +county on the Democratic ticket, and that the Whigs had nominated Jack +Hayes, the celebrated Texan ranger. Hayes had been in the Mexican war. +It was told of him that when the American and Mexican armies were +encamped opposite each other, that a Mexican officer, splendidly +equipped, came forward on horseback, and challenged any American to meet +him in single combat between the two forces. Jack Hayes volunteered to +go, and he killed him. He took his horse, gold watch and personal +effects. He afterward learned who he was, and that he left a widow. He +sent all his personal effects to her as a present. Of course, we were +interested warmly on his side, and he was elected. They say Colonel B. +spent all his $80,000 on his side and was defeated. No reputable citizen +of San Francisco or business man would allow himself to be seen betting +at any of the public gambling tables. He would feel that he was losing +character. I am trying to portray the scenes of those days exactly as +they occurred, and if I left the gambling scenes out it would not be a +true history. + +At first public offices went a begging; nobody wanted them. Fine +clothes were at a discount. He was looked upon as a tender-foot who knew +nothing about the gold regions. But a flannel-shirted, roughly-dressed +miner was the lion. He could tell something about the gold regions. The +governor appointed a loafer fellow, in the early days, Port Warden. +Nobody wanted it, and he was indorsed by one firm. As the city grew very +rapidly the office soon became valuable. Somebody told the governor what +kind of a man he had appointed Port Warden, and the governor wrote him a +letter requesting him to resign, stating to him what representations had +been made to him about his character, which, if he had known, he would +not have appointed him. He wrote back to the governor refusing to +resign, saying to him, he had better read the papers and look after his +own character. The governor was up for re-election and the opposition +papers were pitching into him. + + +THE GRIZZLY BEARS. + +One warm afternoon my friend Me and myself thought we would take a walk +over to Pesedeo; that was about three miles to the Pacific ocean. The +seal rocks is where the sea lions or seals can always be seen. It was +the entrance to the Golden Gates, where the roar of the Pacific ocean is +twice that of the Atlantic, it being six thousand miles broad, twice +that of the Atlantic. On our way we stopped into a tent to get a drink +of water. We found it occupied by three miners, one of whom was quite +lame. I inquired of him what was the matter. He said his hip had been +dislocated by the grizzlies. I asked him how it happened. He said they +went up to the Trinity river to dig for gold. I knew that was the most +remote gold river. He said they were lucky and found rich diggings, but +after awhile their provisions gave out and they could not procure any +unless they returned to the settlements. On their way, returning on +horseback, they came to three grizzly bears grazing in a field. It was +very dangerous to attack them, but they were very hungry. They thought +if they could kill one of them it would supply them with meat, so they +finally decided they would take their chances and fire on them, which +they did, and wounded one. The other two took after the man whose hip +was dislocated. He fled and came to a buckeye tree, the body of which +slants, and he got up in it, the bears came on under it. After awhile +they found they could not reach him. It being a low tree one of them +commenced climbing it after him. He thought his last hour had come; all +the events of his life seemed to rush on his mind, and a picture of the +old-fashioned spelling book, where the man plays dead on the bear, came +before him, which I distinctly recollected. He thought his only chance +was to drop from the tree and hold his breath, and play dead on the +bear, which he did, and fell on his face. One bear grabbed him by the +shoulders and the other by the ankle, and in pulling, dislocated his +hip. He had a thick overcoat on which they tore to pieces. He held his +breath. After awhile they went off and left him. After a little while he +raised his head to see if they were gone, and they came trotting back +and smelt him all over again, and went away again, he holding his +breath. Then he laid a long time, fearing to move, and his companions +came up + + "Each fainter trace that memory holds + So darkly of departed years, + In one broad glance, the soul beholds, + And all that was at once appears" + +In the cases of imminent danger such is said to be the case. It is +evident that is what saved this man's life. Truth is stranger than +fiction. + +[Illustration: PURSUED BY THE GRIZZLIES.] + +The State seal of California is Minerva, with a spear and shield and the +grizzly bear at her feet. Before the discovery of gold they were quite +numerous. They roamed in full possession, apparently, of the +country--no one to molest them or make them afraid. It was a very +formidable animal, weighing from seven to eight hundred pounds. When the +rainy season set in, late in the fall, and the winter months, during +which the grass commenced to grow, he fed on it in the valleys and +fields, and became fat and powerful. In the spring, when the dry season +set in and no rain for seven months, and fields dried up with a dusty +brown, he fled to the tops of the mountains to browse on the leaves of +the trees to support life until the next rainy season commenced. It is +said he is not a ferocious animal if unmolested, and will not attack you +if you let him alone, unless it is a she bear with cubs, or you shoot at +them and wound them. They are very hard to kill. To be hit by a bullet +has very little effect on them, unless hit in a vital spot. An +acquaintance of mine was walking on a road in the interior and saw a big +grizzly coming down the road in the opposite direction toward him. He +knew it would not do to undertake to run. He had been posted on their +natures, so he kept walking right on, as if he was undisturbed and had +no fear, the bear coming nearer to him all the time, with his gait +unchanged, or he his, until they passed each other, he looking the +grizzly in the eye and treating each other with due respect and +consideration as friends. As an illustration of their strength, an old +Californian informed me that he knew of an instance where a grizzly came +into a pack of live mules and took one off and carried it to his den and +ate it. In corroboration of that fact, another man informed me that he +saw a bear chasing a mule and fired on the bear and hit him, and the +bear turned toward him, and the mule escaped. + +[Illustration: THE MINER AND THE GRIZZLY.] + +There was a Mr. W., who opened a fashionable hotel on the east side of +the plaza. I was invited to be one of a party of twenty to give a +complimentary dinner to a friend, who was about to return East. The bill +was just $400, which was $20 apiece, the most I ever paid for a +California dinner. The landlord became quite popular and was thought to +be a very responsible person. A great many persons from the long voyages +around Cape Horn arrived, sick with the scurvy, owing to want of +vegetables at sea, most of whose systems underwent a change to become +acclimated to the country; some seriously and others more mildly. It was +thought it would be a good thing to do to erect a hospital for the +benefit of the public and those arriving sick. There was $30,000 raised +at the first meeting called, and Mr. W., the landlord, was elected +treasurer. + +[Illustration: THE MAN WHO ESCAPED FROM THE SANDWICH ISLANDS.] + +One night he got betting against the game of Faro, lost, and I suppose +got over excited, and in trying to recover his losses, lost every thing, +including $30,000. Of course it was not known that he ever gambled or he +would not have been trusted with the money. As soon as it was known it +created great excitement and indignation, that so sacred a fund should +have been wasted in that way. He fled, and the Mayor offered $3,000 +reward for his apprehension. It seems he had escaped on a vessel to the +Sandwich Islands, and had no money, and got in debt there and could not +leave there as long as he owed any thing, according to their laws, and +he was in despair, until one day fortune smiled upon him. Accidentally +he came across a California paper in which was the $3,000 reward offered +by the Mayor of San Francisco for his arrest, and this was his +opportunity and he seized it at once. Then hope dawned upon him. He +found a vessel about to sail for San Francisco. He took the paper and +showed it to the captain and told him if he would advance the money so +he could pay his debts, he would return with him to San Francisco and he +could surrender him and they would divide the reward. The captain +accepted his offer and delivered him up upon his arrival at San +Francisco, and got the reward. Two or three months had elapsed since +his departure, and that was more time than so many years in any other +country, and all excitement about it had subsided, and I think it was +called a breach of trust, and I have no recollection that he was +punished in any other way. + + +MY BLANKET MAN. + +When he wrote me that he had traded the blankets for flour, and had gone +to the Yuba river with the flour, I knew that it was a lie, and that he +was a rascal, and I found that blankets had been in great demand, at a +high price, and likewise learned that he had been connected with a +forgery in New York city, but that his brother was a respectable +merchant there, so for the time I gave up my $800 as lost. What was my +surprise after six weeks at my hotel (which was an expensive one), to +see my man at the tea table. I greeted him most cordially and asked no +questions about the blankets, but talked to him about the brig I owned +and had running to Stockton; that I had been looking for him to come +back; there was such a splendid chance for us to make purchases in San +Francisco, and for him to take them up on my vessel and sell them out in +the Southern gold mines, near that place; that what we had lost on the +blankets we could more than make up on the first venture, and that there +would be big money in that kind of a speculation. We spent the evening +together most cordially. The next morning I detained him in conversation +until about the time for the Miners' Bank to open, then we went out +together. When we got opposite the bank I took out my watch and said to +him, that I did not think it was so late. I said I had a note of $800 +due there that morning; I asked him if he had the gold dust about him to +that amount. He said yes. I said let me have it and I will take up my +note. He said there was no place to weigh it. I said yes, here there was +a place where I was acquainted. It was weighed and handed to me. I told +him I would see him at dinner, which I did. I then opened on him, and +told him how despicably he had acted when I so generously trusted to his +honor. He made no reply; he virtually admitted the truth of my +statement. I never saw him afterward. That was the only time I ever +played the confidence game in my life, and my conscience has approved of +it ever since. + +My friend, Mr. R., had got his brewery well under way in Happy Valley, +as they called that part of the city, had used up his $8,000 and +commenced borrowing money on my indorsement, at ten per cent a month, +the regular interest at that time. He had a friend, Lieutenant S., who +resigned from the regular army, a graduate from West Point, who had been +up in the country, and came back with a flaming account of a place on +the Toulama river, which empties into the San Joaquin, which was the +head of navigation on that river, and was the place to start a town, +and if we would furnish him with $1,500 to do it with, we would each own +a third of it. I did not take to it, but Mr. R. was so earnest about it, +and had such confidence in his friend, that I finally let him have the +money. There was quite a spirit of speculation of that kind at that +time. Colonel Stevenson had laid out one on Suisan bay, at the mouth of +the San Joaquin river, named New York of the Pacific. Marysville, on the +Sacramento river, was laid out a short time previous, and proved a great +success, making the fortunes of the projectors. Of course, a few were +successful, and many failed. It seemed to have been a legitimate thing +to do to make a fortune in a new country. I became acquainted with +Broderick. It was Koyler & Broderick. They had an office in the same +building with Colonel Stevenson. Broderick, who was afterward United +States Senator from California, and I became very intimate. He was not +intellectually a very brilliant man, but a solid, able and strictly +honest man, and a thoroughly posted politician of his day. He had run as +a Democratic candidate for Congress from the city of New York, but was +not elected. In California he was first elected to the State Senate from +the city. It was he who conceived the project of laying out the water +lots on the bay, and got the bill through the Legislature. He advised me +to buy one or more. I looked at where he suggested to me to buy, and +found them six feet under water. Although they could be bought very +cheap then, their prospective value seemed so remote to me I thought +they were not worth the trouble of bothering with. It shows how easy it +is to be mistaken in apprehending the future. I understand they are now +the most valuable part of the city. + + +THE MAN IN HIS TENT. + +The man in his tent, who had squatted on Rincon Point, an elevated +locality, that commanded a grand view of the bay, informed me that when +he squatted there with his tent, that he could find no person who +claimed the land. He had been there but a few days, when some parties +came to him and offered to give him so much a month for the privilege of +putting up their tent near his. He said he had no objections. They paid +him. Then other parties who wanted to put up their tents were referred +to him. From these various persons he was getting a very liberal income. +He informed me that as long as it lasted, he was in no hurry to go to +the mines. + + +THE CLIPPER SHIPS. + +About this time was the first appearance of the celebrated clipper +ships. They anchored off of Happy Valley and attracted great attention; +they could make the trip around Cape Horn from New York to San Francisco +in three or four months; they run wet; their bows were very sharp, and, +in a rough sea, instead of mounting the waves, they cut them, and the +bows ran under water, and their progress was not impeded by the waves, +saving two or three months' time, which was of great consideration then. +There was no railroad across the Isthmus then, and there was no other +way of transporting freight between the cities of New York and San +Francisco except around Cape Horn. They had great fame then. England +conceded their superiority over all other sailing vessels for speed; but +they have passed away, the railroad reducing the time to from five to +eight days; of course, there is a great difference between that and +three or four months. The days of sailing vessels, however great their +speed, to a great extent, is gone. Besides, there are regular lines of +steamers to most every port of the world, and the ocean is covered with +tramp steamers. + +That winter a convention was called to organize a State government and +apply for admission to the Union. The Southern element there wanted to +make it a slave State. The Northerners, including both Whigs and +Democrats, wanted it free. They did not want to be brought in +competition with slave labor in the mines, and have their occupation +degraded in that way. Their pride, as well as interest, was at stake, +and there was great feeling on the subject. Meetings were called all +through the mines and addresses made and candidates nominated. The +average of intelligence there was away above any other part of the +country. For they were men of enterprise, or they would not have been +there in that early day. At Mormon Island, one of the miners got up and +made a speech. He so impressed them with his ability that they +unanimously nominated him as their candidate to the Constitutional +Convention. He was an old acquaintance of mine. In 1847 or 1848 he was a +Democratic member of the Legislature of the State of New York, from +Washington county, and was chosen by that body to deliver the oration +on Washington's birthday. His name was George Washington Sherwood. He +was elected to the Constitutional Convention of California, and wrote +its first Constitution, copied after that of his native State, New York. +The Northern element prevailed in that convention, and California came +in a free State by its unanimous vote. Broderick headed the Northern +sentiment; Gwin, who had been a United States Marshal in Mississippi, +the Southern. I met him often. He would come into a bar-room and say: "I +did not come here to dig gold, but to represent you in the United States +Senate." He would then say: "Come up all, and take a drink." I thought +that was a strange way to inspire the people with the idea that he was +the proper person to represent them in the United States Senate. He was +elected, with Colonel Freemont, the first two United States Senators +from California. At the next election for United States Senators, +Broderick got absolute control, and although Gwin had fought him +bitterly, they were the two senators to be elected again. Broderick had +the magnanimity to induce his friends to go for Gwin and had him elected +with him, and Gwin showed his ingratitude by going at once to Washington +and securing from Buchanan the control of all the appointments of the +government in the State of California. So when Broderick came there, +there were none to give his friends. Gwin was afterward very prominent +in the rebellion. He went out in a boat in Charleston harbor, crying out +from it his advice to Major Anderson, advising him to surrender at the +time of the attack on Fort Sumter. (This is a matter of history that +occurred after the time of which I am writing.) + + +A BULL FIGHT. + +There were bills posted about the city that three of the most celebrated +fighters of Mexico would have an exhibition in the evening, and combat +with animals. As my friend and myself never had seen one we thought we +would go. It was an amphitheatre, with circular seats about the pit, +with thick planks around it, the seats commencing about twenty feet from +the bottom of the pit. There was a door at the side of the pit, which +was raised by pulleys, which admitted the bull. They were wild ones. Our +seat was about the fifth row back. The house was crowded and brilliantly +illuminated. Then the bull-fighters were in the pit, one on horseback, +two on foot, gorgeously and brilliantly dressed, with swords, the blades +pointed like spears, with red flags in their hands to attract the bull. +The door was raised and the animal came rushing in; he was a terrible +one to look at. Blinded by the lights and the scene, he rushed and +roared around the arena; I trembled in my seat, although I was in no +possible danger. The first feat of the bull-fighters was to plant a +rosette on the shoulders of the animal with a barb implanted in his +flesh, which enraged him more, with colored ribbons, two or three feet +in length, attached to the rosette, which was flying in the air as he +went around, indicating to the audience the success of the feat. Then +the same feat was performed on the other shoulder. Then when the bull +attacked the man again, a rosette was implanted between his horns, and +the man escaped, which was the most difficult of all. They had red flags +in one hand to enrage and blind him, but this bull, he became so furious +and enraged that they could not master him. He rushed upon the man on +horseback, threw the horse and rider, and, with his horns, tore the +entrails out of the horse and killed it. The man was wounded, but +escaped. The rest of the fighters fled, and one climbed up the side of +the paling and came within two inches of being impaled alive against the +side by the bull's horns. As I write I can, in imagination, hear the +sound of the animal's horns as they struck the boards in missing the +man. The bull was master of the situation; he had cleared the ring. It +was a terrible sight as he roared around in his fury. Then the most +startling event of all occurred. It seems incredible, but it is the +truth of history, and I must write it. + +[Illustration: THE BULL FIGHT] + +A greaser, with no weapon, but simply his _seraper_, a shawl that he +wore around his shoulders, took that off and stretching it out in his +hands, jumped down into the pit of the ring alone, to the entire +astonishment of the audience, looked Mr. Bull in the eyes and dodged him +with his shawl as the animal attacked him. He had probably been brought +up among wild bulls. The audience all arose in excitement, expecting to +see him torn to pieces, and crying out for him to escape. The +professional bull-fighters got their red flags and drew the bull off, +and the greaser escaped, and seemed to be surprised at the excitement of +the audience. They succeeded in getting the bull out, and dragging out +the dead horse, and letting in a less ferocious one. The same +performance was gone through with him, as already described, except that +this one was conquered. At last, when the bull pitched at the man, he +holds his sword in such a way that the weight of the animal comes on it, +and passes between his foreshoulders and penetrates his heart. In an +instant the back wilts and the animal lies dead. It was the most sudden +change, from full vitality to death; it startled you. It's a shock to +your nervous system. My friend and myself said it was the first and last +bull-fight we would ever see. + +The price of lumber and vegetables kept up. I paid forty cents a pound +for potatoes in buying provisions for the hands on my brig. I furnished +them enough to last them on the up trip, but not for the return, so they +would hurry back. It was now time for the vessel with the houses to +arrive, and I expected to buy a ship with the money, and to go to the +Sandwich Islands and make, what I considered, a fortune for me, but +alas! no _Prince de Joinville_ came. It was hope deferred. Finally the +rainy season set in in full blast, and all consumption of lumber +stopped. The high price had stimulated shipments from everywhere. There +was a big reaction in the price. The first prominent failure in the city +took place, I think it was Ward & Co., commission merchants and private +bankers. It was said it was owing to his large orders of shipments of +lumber to that market. He shot himself with a pistol in the morning in +his bedroom and died, knowing that he could not meet his creditors if he +went to his place of business. About this time it was announced from +Telegraph Hill that my vessel, with the houses, was entering the port +two or three months after she was due, striking a glutted market. I had +four or five thousand dollars to raise to pay the freight on them to get +possession of them, or I would lose the capital invested. So instead of +making $18,000 profit, which I might have made if they had come on time, +I was running the risk of losing the capital invested in them. Colonel +Stevenson had selected six of them some time before, which he wanted for +his New York of the Pacific, which he said he would make me an offer on +as soon as they arrived. I saw it was my only chance to save myself to +close that sale. I was at his office in the morning as soon as there was +any probability of they being there. I said to him: "The houses have +arrived. I am ready to receive your offer for the six you selected." He +said he had no money now. I said I did not want any (which was a white +lie). I said I would take a draft on Prosper, Whetmore & Co., of New +York city, for $3,000, payable in ninety days, and his note for the +balance, on his own time. He looked over the plan of the houses again. +He said he would not give but so much. I said to him, that was not the +question, what will you give? He said I will give you that amount, +naming the sum. I said at once, they are sold, they are yours. He gave +me the draft on Whetmore & Co., for $3,000, payable in ninety days. Just +at this time, his partner, Dr. Parker, came in. The colonel informed him +he had bought six of my houses. He said, you have made a mistake. Lumber +is in a glutted market. It is falling rapidly. The colonel said, that +makes no difference now, I have bought them. The colonel was considered +rich. No one there questioned the soundness of his draft. I went with it +to all the brokers in the city, but could get no offer for it. I then +went to Charley Minton, the agent of the steamer _Senator_. I thought he +could send it to New York to the owners of the steamer for its face +value. He said, the best he could do with me was to give me $2,250 for +it. Money was ten per cent a month, and scarce at that. Three months +time, at the rate of interest there, would be $900. I said, I would +take it. He gave me a check on his broker for that amount. He paid me in +gold, $16 Spanish doubloon pieces. I tied them up in my handkerchief, +and went to McCondery & Co., and said to him, the vessel, with my +houses, I see, are consigned to you. I will pay you $2,000 now on the +freight, and before they are all taken off of the ship, I will pay you +the balance. He said, take them all off, and pay the balance at your +convenience (we were acquainted and had come up on the same steamer, and +played whist together). It cost me $800 to get them ashore. There were +no wharves then. They had to be taken ashore on lighters. I expected my +brig down from Stockton soon, with $2,000 freight money, so I was out of +the woods financially for the present. I then made arrangement with the +colonel to have them landed on the North Beach on land owned by him, +where I could retail out my other six houses, which I had to sell, when +I got a proper price for them. We formed a copartnership. I was to take +one of my smallest houses, and have it erected there, to be used for an +office, and to use the grounds as a lumber yard to sell on commission, +and as a place for storage, which was very scarce then. There were quite +a number who had taken the liberty of piling lumber and other articles +on it, using it as public ground. I took formal possession of it in the +name of Colonel Stevenson, and gave notice to the different parties that +if they did not remove their materials from the premises in ten days +they would be charged so much for storage. Some removed, and others did +not. I recollect the German house that did not remove it in thirty days +after the ten days of notice. It was a wealthy house, and I handed them +a bill of $250 for storage, at which they demurred very seriously, +questioning our title; but they paid it. When I went out to the ship to +see about taking my houses off, I met the first mate, whom I got +acquainted with in New York. I told him I thought the ship had been +lost; that all the old tugs of ships had got in ahead of them. He said +to me, I have had the worst time I ever had in my life. I have had to +carry that old man on my shoulders (referring to the captain) all the +way. Whenever we had a good breeze and sails were all full, he would +come on deck and order shorten sail to check our speed, or we might have +been here a month sooner. That told the whole story. I saw them take +freight, in my presence, when they were offered $1.50 per foot, when +they told me there was no room for the other half of my houses to go on +the ship, when I had a legal contract with them at sixty cents per foot. +My freight alone would have made a difference of two or three thousand +dollars by excluding it and taking the other in at the difference in the +price of it. There is no doubt they served many other shippers and put +their goods on other vessels, and kept theirs back until the other +ships would get to San Francisco ahead of them, so that they could +deliver the freight according to their bills of lading on the arrival of +the _Prince de Joinville_. That was why my speculation was ruined by +their dishonesty. Instead of being the fastest ship, it was a fraud, a +decoy, a dead trap on those who were unfortunate enough to ship by it. +When I saw the captain he was very humble. He had all kinds of apologies +to make, and invited me to go to China with him. I could have the best +state-room on his ship. It should not cost me a dollar. I could go +around the world with him. I saw that my speculation was ruined by their +dishonesty, and there was no remedy, and, like all human events, that +ended it, and I had to abandon my Sandwich Island expedition and throw +my anticipated fortune from it to the winds. Mr. Meighs, the one who +failed and ran away to Chili, and built the railroad in that country +from Valparaiso to its capital, and then organized a company and +constructed railroads in Peru, had a lumber yard side of me. I sold, +after a while, my other six houses, one at a time, retailing them out, +and, by careful management, just succeeded in saving my original +capital. + +I was satisfied with San Francisco, with my interest in the lumber +yards, and with my partnership with Colonel Stevenson on the North +Beach. My interest in my brig, when it came down, and my prospective +interest in what was to be the city of Toulom, and my associations with +Mr. R., who was building the first brewery on the Pacific, which I was +backing up with my indorsement, and I was to have one-third interest +when it was completed, if I wanted it, at first cost, looked like a very +favorable investment for me at that time. I was living an active and +enterprising life, with bright hopes of future fortune. One morning when +I went down to the North Beach I found there had been a house erected on +our land in the night. I, of course, informed the colonel at once. He +informed me it was a man by the name of Colton, who pretended to have a +title under what he called the "Colton Grant," and that it was bogus, +and that he had the building erected to try and force his title. The +colonel said he would see the judge of the court in the city, and get an +order for its removal. In about two hours he sent a messenger with an +order from the judge authorizing us to remove it. He instructed me to +employ all the men that were necessary, and have the material removed +from the premises and he would pay the bill, which I did, and our title +was not disputed after that. + +I had never been on a trip to Stockton, and I had chartered the freight +capacity of the brig to a man for $1,800. He was to put in it all the +freight he chose to. I thought it would not be for his interest to +overload it. If the vessel sunk there was no insurance--his cargo would +be a total loss. I had reserved the deck and the passenger room. The +conditions of the charter were that the freight was to be delivered in +Stockton by a certain date or I was to forfeit the $1,800. The freight +was aboard; he had loaded the vessel deeper than I had expected. I had a +number of passengers at $15 each. They were to furnish their own +provisions, but to have the privileges of the cooking stove on deck. The +vessel was anchored out in the bay, to sail at 2 P.M., when the tide was +most favorable. I had a new chain for the anchor, and the captain said +he wanted a kedge anchor for safety, so I ordered one from McCondery & +Co., for $35, on condition that, without fail, they would have it on +board before 2 P.M. We were all on board by 1 o'clock, waiting for the +favorable tide, to start. At 1:30 no anchor and the bay was very rough. +The captain said it would not come, they would not venture out in that +sea in a small boat. I said it would be there certain, I knew my man. +Sure enough, in a few moments we could just see a boat in the distance, +two men rowing and one guiding the rudder. They came alongside and we +had the anchor aboard in five minutes. In the stern was Mr. Watson, one +of the firm. He said he was afraid to trust his men in that sea for fear +they would fail to deliver it. The profit on it to them was only $3.50, +and it was a very wealthy firm, but they had pledged their word to me +that they would have it there at that time. (Would that there were more +of such honorable men.) We hoisted anchor, the tide in our favor and a +stiff breeze blowing. We passed out of the bay of San Francisco into the +bay of Los Angles, and crossed that into the Straits of Benica, which is +four miles long and connects with Suisan bay. The Straits of Benica was +a perfectly safe anchorage. It was approaching night, and blowing almost +a gale. I was in hopes and expected that the captain would come to +anchor in the straits and wait until morning before venturing out into +the Suisan bay, which was twenty miles across to the mouth of the San +Joaquin river, where we were bound. The bay was almost like the open +sea; you could get out of sight of land. I think he would have come to +anchor if I, the owner, had not been on board, and had not urged upon +him the importance of having the vessel in Stockton in time. As he was +the captain I felt sensitive about interfering with his business, and +had hoped and expected, all the way through the straits, that he would +come to anchor, and not undertake to cross the bay that night. Darkness +was setting in, but he did not come to anchor. The gale increased to a +hurricane; all sails were taken in, and we were scudding under bare +poles, and had a lantern hung up in the rigging. The captain came to me +and said, loaded as we were, we could not live in that gale; he would +have to seek a place to anchor on the side of the bay. I said to him, he +was the captain. The line was thrown out every few minutes. At last we +found sounding, and the anchor was cast. We had been there but a short +time before another vessel, more than twice as large as ours, came aside +of us, with a heavy deck-load of lumber, and got entangled in our anchor +chain, and kept drawing us nearer to them. If they had struck our vessel +we knew we were lost. They would have sunk us at once. Seven times they +came down on us and each time, by superhuman efforts, we warded the +blow, all hands and passengers doing their best, fully realizing the +danger they were in. It seems to me that I hear now the oaths of the +captain of the other vessel rising above the sounds of the terrific +hurricane as he was ordering his men, for they, too, were in danger if +they collided with us. Of course, he was on the bare poles. As he came +on us the eighth time they hoisted their jib sail. As the wind struck +it, it seemed to lift their vessel out of the water, and, thank God, we +were freed from it. It was forty-five years ago, and, as I write, it +all lives before me as visible as if it were yesterday. The captain of +the other vessel had seen our light, and, supposing we were in the right +channel, had followed us. We had escaped what seemed almost certain +death, but were not out of danger. Our new good chain was attached to +our bad chain, and the captain had let out all our chain to free us from +the other vessel, so we were actually hanging by our bad chain in the +open roadstead, not in the protection of a harbor, and liable to drag +our anchor or break our chain and be wrecked; but we could do nothing +more than submit to our fate. I thought I would get into my berth and +try and get to sleep, and, if I found myself alive in the morning, we +might be saved. I did sleep, and when I awoke it was daylight. The gale +was subsiding. We had dragged our anchor. The bow of our brig was very +sharp; the banks were soft mud, and we had struck it with such force +that we were wedged in. The tide was low and we were almost out of +water. We fortunately had struck the land with our bow, and that was +what saved us. If we had struck with the side of the vessel we would +have been wrecked. So, ever since we had been freed from the other +vessel, we had been in safety and did not know it. We waited for the +tide to rise and then got our kedge anchor out and pulled the vessel out +off the bank as the tide rose. The sea was very rough, but the gale had +subsided, and by 11 o'clock we were entering the mouth of the San +Joaquin river in safety. It was forty miles up the river to Stockton. +The river was in a valley of Tullieries. The land seemed to be in the +course of formation. There was but one tree between the mouth and +Stockton, a willow, called the Lone Tree. The only place on its banks +where the soil had formed solid enough to produce one, surrounded by +hills at that season of the year, covered with beautiful wild flowers. +The scenery was magnificent. As the river curved we could see the white +sails of other vessels. They looked as if they were in a field. You +could not see the water at a little distance, the river being narrow. We +could almost jump from our deck to the banks. We felt in perfect safety. +Contrasting that with the night before in that terrible hurricane and in +the death struggles for our lives, it produced a supreme feeling of +ethereal ideal happiness that this earth seemed almost a Paradise. The +captain informed me that there was one place on the river where we might +have to anchor. It was called the Devil's Elbow. There was a sharp turn +in the river and the current was rapid, and we might have to pull the +vessel around it; but sometimes, if it was favorable, he could sail +around it, and if done successfully, then the vessels that had come to +anchor could find no fault; otherwise you had to come to behind the +others and take your turn. When we were coming to it, he was at the helm +and I at his side, to see what was the best to do. As we approached, we +saw several vessels had come to for the purpose of pulling around. The +last was a large vessel that the captain said could never get around. If +we anchored behind it we might not be able to deliver our freight +according to the charter. We had put an English sailor in the hold to +let the anchor go, in case we did not succeed, if we gave him the signal +to do so. As we came to the place with all sails set, there was a breeze +sprung up, filling all the sails. I said to the captain, let her go. As +we passed the vessels that had come to anchor there was a howling and +yelling from them of derision and anger at us for going by them. Just as +we got two-thirds of the way around, the sailor in the hold let the +anchor go without orders. He got frightened. If he had not, we would +have made it successfully. As it was, we got ahead of all the other +vessels, and got to Stockton in ample time. The next morning there was a +drove of mules at the side of the brig, and the cargo was being +discharged and packed on their backs to be taken to the mining camps, as +there were no good roads there in those early days. About all the grain +and flour came from Valparaiso and Chili, put up very nicely in fifty +and one hundred pound sacks, so it was easy to handle. As soon as all +the mules were packed, the head mule, who had on a bell fastened around +his neck, which rang as he went, was started first, and all the rest, in +single file, followed him, and they were going for the different mining +camps in the interior. In two or three days we were unloaded, and we +were prepared to return. The freight money was paid to me in gold, at +$16 per ounce in full, all being satisfactory to the shipper. I had +delivered it within the time specified. One of the passengers who came +up with me, a tailor, from Salem, Mass., asked me if I would not give +him a free passage back on the vessel to San Francisco; that he wanted +to try to get home; he was discouraged. I said to him you have traveled +eighteen thousand miles to get to the gold mines, and now you are within +half a day of them and want to go home without trying your fortune. If +you do go, you will never forgive yourself, but go to the mines and try +your luck; then, if you are discouraged and want to go back, I will give +you a free passage, as we have no passengers on our return trip. + + +HOME SICKNESS. + +When a person was attacked with it, it seemed the worst kind of malady, +as it would take them months to return if they had the money to pay +their passage. Many were married men, separated a great distance from +their wives and children. Others, young men, who had their engaged ones +waiting for them to return, with their fortunes made in the gold mines, +to marry them. I can recall several instances where I have known them to +lie down and die from despair. I was talking with an old Californian of +those days. He said he had once given up and made up his mind to wander +off by himself on the mountains and die, which he did. As he lay there +in despair, after a while he thought he would look around him, and he +saw the hill was covered with every variety of beautiful wild flowers. +He said their beauty seemed to refresh and revive his mind, and give him +new resolution, and he decided to try his fortune again, and he became +successful and returned to the States with a competency. + +[Illustration: THE DESPONDENT MINER.] + +The early pioneers had some conflict with the Indians in the interior of +the country. Five Oregon men were massacred by them when engaged in +digging gold, but a terrible retribution was visited upon those Indians +concerned in it by the enraged Forty-niners. The Indians, at first, had +nothing but bows and arrows, and, of course, could not compete with +rifles. Several other small engagements were rumored, but they soon +gave up all contests with the whites, for they saw it was useless. There +was an acorn that was quite plenty in California, being longer than +ours, but not of a bitter taste. The squaws made flour of them. The +Digger Indians were the next tribe east of them; they were probably the +lowest grade. They would set fire to the prairie grass to burn the +grasshoppers, and pick them up and eat them. They deemed them a luxury. +The Oregon tribes were a higher grade, a warlike race, and superior in +every respect. The highest grade of them, in the United States now, are +the Choctaws and Chicksaws that formerly occupied the northern parts of +the State of Mississippi. When a young man, I spent three weeks in their +nation, travelling alone, and was treated with great hospitality by +them. They are quite intelligent, and they have laws and customs as +civilized nations. We generally look upon all of them as alike, but such +is not the case--there is as great a difference between different +tribes as much as between different white nations. The California +Indians were not naturally warlike, and when the early pioneers expected +any trouble from them, they would appoint a committee to go and see +them, and they generally settled their difficulty without any conflicts. + + +JESUIT MISSION STATIONS. + +There were about sixteen Jesuit missionary stations in the country +before the discovery of gold, and were there for the purpose of +converting the Indians to the Catholic church, and when converted, +generally made them work to sustain their missionary establishments. + +I had returned to my office on the North Beach after my only trip to +Stockton on my brig. My friend R. was progressing with his brewery. He +had received a favorable letter from Lieutenant S. about our Touwalma +city, and informing me that S. had a diamond ring that cost $800 in Rio +Janeiro, at a broker's office, as collateral security for $250 borrowed +on it at ten per cent per month, and the time was about up. If I would +redeem the ring I could keep it and wear it until he paid me. I went and +saw the ring. It was as represented, and I redeemed it and wore it for a +considerable time. One day R. came to me with a naming letter from S. +that he had laid out the city and been elected alcalde, and we would +make our fortune, and there was a friend of S. that was going up there, +and if I would send up the ring by him he would appreciate it so much, +and he would be responsible that I should not lose any thing by it. I +was foolish enough to be persuaded by him and handed him the ring, for +which act I have never forgiven myself. That was the last I ever saw of +the ring or any of the money invested in Touwalma city, for it turned +out a failure. It was never the head of navigation on the river, or any +thing else that was ever heard of. + +There were three unfortunate events that occurred in California in the +winter months of 1849 and the beginning of 1850. The rainy season had +destroyed all the dams constructed on the gold rivers and raceways, +which had been constructed at great expense for the purpose of working +the beds of the river for gold, the rivers often rising from ten to +eighteen feet in a night, and the current running with terrible force. +The second, the flooding of Sacramento, destroying large quantities of +merchandise and carrying away and undermining the houses there. The +third was the great fire in San Francisco, destroying one-third of the +main business portion of the city, upon which there was no insurance. +There were no companies organized or agents there to insure property +then, as it was too risky. There was one four-story fire-proof building +that was stored full of the most valuable goods, at a large price for +storage, for it was considered absolutely fire-proof, but when the fire +came the heat of the fire from the buildings around it caused the iron +sides of it to expand, which let the roof fall in and burned every thing +to the ground, so that nothing was saved. Instead of being a place of +safety, it was the most destructive of all. + +Some ships in the bay were burned. I succeeded in getting in the rear of +the fire to save my brig. I ordered the men to hoist anchor and put out +further in the bay, which saved it. These unfortunate events destroyed +and marred the fortune of many. On the day before I called on a private +banker, G., on the plaza, and presented my check for $800. He said to +me, if it made no difference, it being steamer day (once a month they +went East when the gold was shipped to the mint in Philadelphia by +them), and if I would call in the morning for it, it would be an +accommodation to him. I said I wanted to use it. He commenced weighing +it out. I then thought it would make no difference to me and it was +mean not to accommodate him, for I might want some favor of him. I said, +if I can have it in three days without fail it would answer my purpose. +He said, you can have it now, pouring the gold in the scales to weigh +it. I said never mind, I don't want it now. The fire came that night, +burnt his place up and all his property. He was a ruined man. I never +saw him afterward. + +Mr. G., to whom I had bargained to sell my houses to arrive, (and he +backed out) was an Englishman from Liverpool. He had about all the +consignments of shipments from that city (evidently being very popular +there), to sell on commission at ten per cent; when the goods came and +were sold, instead of remitting the capital to the owners and being +satisfied with his commission, he used it in buying property and in +erecting buildings in San Francisco. He had constructed a fire-proof +building which he rented to the government for a post-office, at a large +sum per month, likewise the first theatre in the city, and other +buildings. He informed me at one time how much his rents amounted to per +month; the sum was several thousand dollars. Money was worth but three +to five per cent in England per year to the owners of the merchandise; +while in California it was in demand at ten per cent per month. I +suppose he thought he would make a great fortune for himself and then +return to England (where he had a wife and children) and pay up all his +obligations with extra allowance, for the use of the money, and make all +satisfactory; but the great fire destroyed all his buildings, and he was +a ruined man, there being no insurance in the city then. I met a friend +in New York about two years after my return from California; I asked him +when he saw Mr. G. last. He said, "it was about 11 o'clock one day at a +hotel where he invited some friends to take a drink. Mr. G. was there, +he declined; but afterward called him to one side and asked him to loan +him $1, saying he had had no breakfast that morning." Such was an +example of some of the fluctuations of fortune in those days. + +Some parties came with various kinds of machinery that was to make a +certain fortune for them, and was taken up into the interior at great +expense. I never knew of one that was successful. About all the +companies that were formed in the States to go around Cape Horn for +mining purposes generally dissolved after arriving in California, but +what they brought with them for supplies, sold for so high a price that +it generally sold for more than the cost of their passage, and they had +money coming to them. Some companies bought the ships as they came in +and hired the captain. I recollect one, called the _Mechanics' Own_. +Every person joining their company in the States had to be voted in and +pay $1,000. They put on airs and talked quite aristocratic of their +captain as their boy. + +Three persons started the first bank in San Francisco, called the +Miners' Bank, on the northwestern corner of the plaza. Mr. Haight, who +was from Rochester, N.Y., and the sutler of Colonel Stevenson's +regiment, was one of them. It was said that at first they bought gold as +low as $8 per ounce, when it was worth more than $18 at the mint East. +The owners of the bank made $100,000 each in three or four years. + +Before the discovery of gold the then small places on the Pacific Coast +obtained their supplies from small trading vessels that sailed along the +coast and stopped at their towns occasionally. After the discovery of +gold, at first goods went up four or five times their previous value, +and when one of these vessels was seen entering the port, parties would +put out in small boats to get aboard of them before they came to anchor +(they on board knowing nothing about the discovery of the gold), would +bargain with them for some of their goods, and finally offer them so +much for all their cargo. It being beyond their expectations the offer +was generally accepted, and thus some big speculations were made. + +A lieutenant of Stevenson's regiment, who had been down in Monterey and +had not heard of the gold discovery, on his first day in San Francisco, +informed me that he did not know what to make of things. Most of his old +acquaintances wanted to know if he did not want to borrow some money; +they had some that he could have as well as not. + +The steamers came in once a month with letters and papers. Then long +lines were formed to the post-office. Sometimes it took half a day to +get there. The New York papers at first sold for $1 each. Then they got +down to fifty cents. I sold the _New York Herald_, that was more than a +month old, that contained the latest news there from the States in the +interior, for $5, and the man coaxed it out of me at that, for I wanted +to give it to a party of friends I was going to see in the mining +districts. I knew it would be a great treat to them. It is almost +impossible to recall all the exact scenes of those days, so as to have +them fully realized by the reader. + +The city of San Francisco was extending more rapidly in what they called +the Happy Valley district, which was toward the Mission of Dolores, +established by the Jesuits. I visited it when the building was intact. I +recollect a painting of an Indian warrior, with his bows and arrows, the +implements of war, represented as a saint ascending to heaven--I suppose +to create favorable impression on Indians and make converts of them. + +My friend was going on with his brewery, and borrowing money and getting +me deeper on his paper. He heard that I had $2,500 deposited with +McCondery & Co., and pleaded with me to let him have it as it would +carry him through. I had lost all confidence in him, and felt it would +be like throwing it in the sea. I informed him that I had shipped it +the day before, which I had not, but went right down and gave an order +for its shipment, for fear he might over-persuade me to let him have it, +and I thus saved it. When most completed, a barrel of alcohol that was +in the building bursted, and it ran down to the furnace and set it on +fire, and burnt it up. That was the fate of the first brewery started in +California. Since then there have been millions made in that business +there. + +The North Beach property, after I had sold all my houses out, I closed +my interest in. It proved a failure to use for a wharf or shipping +point. + +During the seven months of summer the north-west wind blew there so hard +every afternoon that it was not a safe place for vessels, and the +property would never have any value for that purpose, and I do not think +it has ever been used since for that. + +In the winter months, which is generally the rainy season, the wind +blows from the south for five months, and the other seven months it +blows from the north-west over six thousand miles of ocean, and, +consequently, is not impregnated with any decayed vegetable matter, and +is as pure as air can be. In San Francisco the sun would rise in a clear +sky every morning and there would be a perfect calm; by 11 A.M. there +would be a little breeze; by 2 or 3 o'clock, a gale. When the sun set +the wind would subside and there would be a perfect calm again. Every +day would be the same, month after month. What was almost a gale on the +coast would be a gentle breeze up in the mining district, in the +interior. The next day that air would be displaced by another gale from +over the thousand miles of ocean, for it is impossible to imagine any +other country with purer air. + +During that time there were various visionary reports of new discoveries +of gold regions, one of a lake that the sands of its banks were rich +with gold. All you had to do, to make your fortune, was to wash it out, +which produced quite a sensation, and parties were organized to go +there, but they never found it. The next year after the purchase of my +brig, there were small steamers constructed to run to Stockton, and they +had already some sailing vessels put on, built there, and the price of +freight had commenced falling, and I thought I had better sell my vessel +while I could get a good price for it. There was a man who came to me +and said he wanted to buy it; that he had been a captain of a boat on +Lake Erie. I stated to him my price for it. He said that was not out of +the way, but he would like to try it one trip before closing the +purchase, and referred me to a mercantile house there as his reference. +They said he had run vessels for them on Lake Erie when they were doing +business in Buffalo. I concluded that was entirely satisfactory; that +that had evidently been his regular business. He said he wanted to +employ all his own hands. I had the vessel, at the time, half loaded +with freight, which I turned over to him. I paid my men and discharged +them, and told them the vessel was about to change owners, and put him +in full possession of it. Of course I had nothing more to do with it +until he returned from the trip to Stockton; then I expected he would +close the purchase as he said that the price was satisfactory to him. +After a few weeks I commenced looking for the return of my brig, but it +did not come. Finally I heard a rumor that the captain had left the +vessel at Stockton, but did not believe it, but thought that some +accident might have happened. I had borrowed a spy-glass to investigate +the bay. I could have recognized my vessel by the red streak around it. +Finally, after it had been gone long enough to make several trips, I +discovered it at anchor in the bay. I went and supplied myself with +money, in case it should prove true that the captain had left the +vessel, to pay his men in full before they got ashore, because the +vessel was liable for their wages, whoever might have employed them; so +I hired a boat to row me out to it. I met a man on the deck that seemed +to be in command. I inquired of him where the captain was. He said he +had run away. I spoke to him in a sharp tone of voice and said, how do +you know that? He said, because I saw him on the back of a mule going +over the plain. Then he asked me, are you the owner? I said, yes. Then I +said, you have all got your pay before he went; I did not employ you. He +said, some of them have got some. + +As you seem to be in command, I suppose you have kept an account of how +it stands. He said, "Come down in the cabin and I will show it to you." +I said, "It was hard on me to be robbed of all my freight money, but it +was also hard for them to be cheated out of their hard earnings, and I +would see what I could do for them." He presented the statement of what +each man had received and what was due them. I was surprised at his +correctness. I said: It seems all right and I would pay them, which I +did, and took their receipt. I was afraid if they went ashore and found +the vessel was liable for their wages they might make any kind of +demands, so I got possession of my vessel again, very much damaged. +Before leaving the port he had let the steamer _Senator_ run into the +bows of the vessel, and it cost me $700 to have it repaired, ship +carpenters' wages being $20 per day, payable in gold. The events which I +had anticipated of the decline of that kind of property had come, and, +after it was repaired, I put it up at auction and sold it, so that +rascal cost me several thousand dollars. Such was life in California in +the days of the Forty-niners. + +Having some leisure I thought I would take a trip up the mining regions, +and make a visit to my old friends there. More than a year had passed, +and greater changes had taken place than would have occurred in any +other country in many years. The population of California increased one +hundred thousand the first year after the discovery of the gold, which +had accounted for the great changes which had taken place since my +previous trip. I went up on the steamer _Senator_ to Sacramento, which +had become quite a city, and the next morning started for Coloma in a +stage full of passengers, drawn by mules. I took a seat aside of the +driver. I got in conversation with the driver. I asked him what pay he +received? He said, only $450 per month and his board. I asked him if he +had driven stages before? He said, yes, out of Boston. I said, at what +wages? He said, $14 a month. I said that there was a big difference +between that and $450. He said, yes, but that this was his last trip. He +took a party of three up only a few weeks ago, and he brought them down +yesterday, and they had between $3,000 and $4,000 apiece, and he was not +going to waste his time driving for $450 a month. He was going to the +mines the next day. It was quite probable that the party referred to had +made an unusual lucky strike, for I had met parties that had done the +same thing. I had had in my hands at one time, in San Francisco, a piece +of solid gold metal, something in the shape of the cover of a sugar +loaf, that was worth $4,500, found by a couple of green Irishmen. They +inquired of some miners in the interior where was a good place to dig. +The miners said in fun, dig there in that sand bank behind you. The +Irishmen took them up in earnest and went to digging. In a short time +they found that chunk of gold, where no experienced miner would think of +digging. + +I have dug gold in the cellar of the brewery in San Francisco. I think +most all the soil of that part of California is impregnated with gold. +But the point is to find it in sufficient quantities to pay to dig it. +As an illustration, if you knew that in a certain piece of ground there +was $5,000 worth of gold, and it cost you $10,000 to wash all the ground +to get it, of course that land would have no gold value. I found at +Coloma that my friends had left the Dutch bar and gone to the middle +fork of the American river, some distance from there. I got directions +how to get there and started on foot. Toward night I met a young man who +had just came overland and had separated that day from his party to get +work in the mining camp. I told him where I was going, and that he had +better go with me, and that he could get from $10 to $16 per day to work +for other parties, or to join two others and work a claim for himself, +which he did. So as it was getting toward night, we camped under a tree +and slept until morning, and took a fresh start. That day we found the +middle fork of the American river and my friends. The river was sunk +way down in the earth. It seemed almost a mile down to the water where +they were to work. It was quite a large mining place. The excitement +there every day was when the "dummy" went into the river. It was a +diving armor that had been used in the gulf of Lower California to go +down in the deep waters to hunt for pearls, and had been bought by a +party of five, each putting in $800, making $4,000, expecting to make +their fortunes by getting into the deep water of the gold rivers. (As I +have shown before, the torrents and force of the currents had prevented +any gold from ever lodging there.) Every day at such an hour, it was +announced that the "dummy" was a going in the river. The other miners +quit their work to see it, and the proprietors of the "dummy" always +treated the crowd in the most lavish manner. Its credit was good for any +store bills. Its always treating the crowd had made it popular, and +nobody would trade with the storekeeper who would not trust it, so it +was death to the prosperity of the storekeeper, whether he trusted it or +not. They never got any gold while there through "dummy," and when he +left to go further down the river to try another place, the main +storekeeper there lost $800 by trusting it, which broke him. These +stores were tents, to supply immediate wants of the miners. I never +heard of "dummy" afterward. I have no doubt he operated on all the store +tents until he came to grief like all evil-doers. + +The productiveness of the gold rivers had not diminished any that I +could perceive. I talked to a man who had been off a little ways to +prospect in another place. I asked him what luck? He said, there was +nothing there. I said, was there no gold? He said; yes, there was some, +but of no value. He said a man could make $10 a day, and who was a going +to waste their time on that. My visit over, I returned to San Francisco. +My friend R.'s brewery was not completed. I was informed he had been +borrowing money from a Jew at twenty per cent a month. It was no use for +me to back him any more, however valuable it might be, if completed, and +I had no doubt there was a fortune in it, but neither he nor I had the +capital to do it. + +I had some other financial entangling matters, and I was afraid if I +kept on with them I might get broke, and the only way I saw of getting +out with them was to announce that I was going to leave, and going down +to Relago, Central America. + +There was an English steamer advertised to sail for that port and +Panama. I thought I would go for sixty days and then return and commence +again and manage my affairs in a more conservative way, and what I could +control. Well I closed my matters out the best I could and engaged my +passage on the steamer for Relago. There was considerable excitement at +this time about the Nicaragua route. The above place would be the +terminus on the Pacific coast, and, consequently, a place of importance. +As I had missed it in trading six of my houses for lots in San +Francisco, there might be a chance to get some there in advance of any +rise on them. Any way, I wanted to get out of my entangling alliances +and take a fresh start. The night before I sailed Mr. Brady (Colonel +Stevenson's son-in-law) came to me and said the colonel did not like to +have me go. I told him I had paid my passage, $200. He said the colonel +understood that. He put his hand in his vest pocket and pulled out a +roll of bills. He said, here is the $200, which he told me to give you, +so you will not lose any thing by not going. There was once a lady, the +wife of one of the officers of his regiment, who arrived there, +expecting to meet her husband, but he was up in the country. The colonel +asked me to go down to the steamer and meet her, and escort her to a +boarding-house to stay until her husband arrived, which I did. I told +him that she was short of funds, having expected to meet her husband. He +gave me $150 and told me to give it to her, as if I loaned it to her, +and when her husband paid me I could return it to him. I mention these +little incidents to show that whatever faults he may have had, he was +the most generous of friends. + +Colonels Stevenson, Freemont and Captain Sutter will stand pre-eminent +in the future history of the State as its most prominent founders. + +I sailed out of the port of San Francisco on the steamer _Ecuador_ for +Relago, Central America, expecting to return to California within sixty +days. In a few days, out at sea, we began to hear unfavorable rumors +about our vessel; that the engineer had left the day before our sailing; +that he did not consider it safe to go in it; that it could not carry +coal enough to take it to Acapulco, the next coaling place. And we were +informed that it was a steamer that had been running from Panama to +Valparaiso, and had been bought up by a speculator and sent up to San +Francisco as an experiment, to see if it would pay. The officers and men +had never been up the coast before, and knew nothing about the port. One +day we were startled in mid ocean by the stopping of the engine. We soon +found the cause. The captain was about to try his sails so as to save +coal (which verified the reports about being short of coal). We made +some headway with the sails, but lost it again when the wind subsided, +by the currents of the ocean; so that project was abandoned, and after +some days we put into the port of San Blas, in Mexico, for fuel. There +was no coal there, so we laid in all the wood we could to try and reach +Acapulco (here we could not buy any thing with our $5 gold pieces, but +they were ready to sell for silver). The cholera had been there, they +said, but had left. The priests had had a procession, and, with their +incense boxes, had marched through the streets and driven it out. We +took in all the wood we could get and started to make the port of +Acapulco, the regular coaling port for all the steamers on that coast. +It was Sunday P.M. We could raise fuel enough to make only four knots an +hour. It was an iron steamer. We were burning what there was of the +woodwork of the vessel, for if we could not make the port before dark we +were lost. The officers were not acquainted with the coast. We had not +fuel enough to keep steam up all night, and we would be on the broad +Pacific ocean, six thousand miles across, without the remotest +possibility of meeting any other vessel, without any control of our +steamer, subject to be driven in any direction. I heard the mate talking +to the captain about the propriety of wrecking the vessel and saving +what lives they could, although we were in sight of land. The captain +said the under-tow was so great that none could be saved in that way. +It is twice as great on the Pacific as the Atlantic. There were no +female passengers. One man said he had $10,000 in gold with him; if his +wife and children only had that he would be content to meet his fate, +under the circumstances, but it was hard to leave them without it. All +the passengers had more or less gold, or they would not have been +returning. + +You can imagine with what anxiety we watched every indication of the +coast to see if there was any chance of us nearing the port. Finally, +toward night, we saw a high projection of land on the coast, and that +was predicted that it was the entrance to the port. If we could reach +that point before dark, we might be saved. The passengers went to work +to break up any thing for the fires that would make steam. The captain +made no objections, but told them to burn all woodwork on the vessel to +save their lives. At dark we reached the point we had in view, and it +was fortunate for us that it was the entrance to the port. As the vessel +turned to enter, you could see, coming over the waters of the ocean, a +tropical storm, accompanied with wind, thunder and lightning. Twenty +minutes later it would have reached us, and we would have been lost. As +soon as we got safely in port (and it was very dark), I can hear now, in +imagination, the sound of the anchor as it was let down in the water, +which assured our entire safety. It thundered and lightninged, and +blowing a high gale, which was music in our ears, as we knew we were out +of danger, and feeling the supreme gratification of knowing what we had +escaped. Blessed to us was the high mountains which surrounded the port. +The entrance to it is narrow, but when you get inside it is one of the +safest harbors in the world, being perfectly land-locked. The next day +opened on a happy lot of passengers. I felt as if I was commencing life +anew. We went ashore expecting to be there several days, as they +proposed to take in a full supply of coal. This place had been once +quite a city, but many years ago had been partly destroyed by an +earthquake. It was said that the water went out of the bay most to the +tops of the mountains, and then reacted to its usual level in the +harbor; that there was a French ship carried up to the sides of the +mountains, and when the water reacted, carried back in safety in the +harbor. Hundreds of buildings were destroyed, the ruins of which are now +visible where the city once extended. + +I was introduced to General Alvarado. He was the most prominent man in +Mexico, on the Pacific coast, at that time, and afterward became very +prominent in the public affairs of his country. On our return to the +vessel that evening there was quite an excitement on board. Among the +passengers was a party of three who had been quite successful in +Sacramento in the bottling of soda and summer beer, and peddling it out +through the city. They had picked up by chance an old acquaintance from +Waterford who belonged to an aristocratic family there, and by his +habits of dissipation was a mortification to them. So when the +California excitement broke out, they furnished him the money to go to +the gold regions. It would either reform him or they would get rid of +him. Of course, such men were no good in California, and he had spent +his money and wanted to return. These men came across him and told him +they were going to return East in sixty days, and if he would keep +straight, and drive one of their wagons for them, they would take him +home with them. When they went ashore the first day they left him in +charge of their baggage, and promised him that he could go ashore the +next. They had their private store of wines and brandy. He had found it +and tried it and got full, and treated all the sailors and everybody on +board that would drink with him, and was the most popular man on board +with the sailors. He repented the next day and begged their +forgiveness, and they took him home with them. Like a bad penny, he +returned as he was before. Distance did not reform him. + +Well, our next port was Relago my destination. Just after dark one day +we got opposite to what, according to the charts, was that port. It was +necessary for them to wait until morning before they could undertake to +enter it, as they had never been there before, and there were no pilots, +and they decided not to let the steam go down, and they concluded that +they would sail slowly around in a circle, so as to be opposite to the +port in the morning. When morning came it was foggy, and we could not +see the land. But they had such confidence in the correctness of their +chart that they determined to enter it. Instead of the port, we came to +the white caps, dashing against the rocks almost mountains high, and we +came within an ace of being dashed to pieces against them. If the +engineer had not reversed the movement of the engine the instant he +did, we would have been wrecked. The captain was now completely +befogged. In a short time he came to me with a paper to sign agreeing to +go to Panama. It should cost me nothing extra for my passage there; that +the few other passengers for that port had signed it. I thought I had +better sign to go anywhere than to take any more chances in that +steamer. Come to find out afterward, instead of being opposite the port +that morning, we were twenty miles from it, the currents of the ocean +having carried us that distance while we were sailing around in a +circle, which they had not ciphered on, and thus came so near wrecking +us. By chance we saw a sailing vessel. The captain gave orders for the +steamer to follow it, and, when we overtook it, we found it was bound +for Relago. There was a man on board of it who was acquainted with the +port. They got him to come on our steamer and had him pilot us to that +port, so I expected to go ashore, and got my baggage in readiness, and, +when the time came, had it brought up on deck. They did not enter the +port, but came to outside. There were two passengers, it seems, that +would not sign the paper to go to Panama, and it was to land them he had +come to, and when I went to have my baggage put in the small boat the +captain informed me I had signed to go to Panama, and some of the other +passengers said I was very foolish to risk my life in that sea in so +small a boat. Before I scarcely knew it the boat had pushed off without +me, and, consequently, the whole current and course of my life was +changed. Upon such little incidents often do the events of human life +depend. It may have been fortunate for me that I did not land there. + +There was in Nicaragua at the time a filibustering expedition under the +command of Captain Walker, who went from California to overthrow the +government there by taking sides with the revolutionary movement that +had been started, and to get an American control of the government, +which I did not approve of, for I considered it a dishonorable movement; +but still, if I had landed, they being my countrymen, I might have got +mixed up with them. They were conquered and all sentenced to death, and +shot. It is barely possible I might have shared their fate. I have often +thought since I made a good escape by not landing. + + +SCENES ON THE PACIFIC OCEAN. + +The course of the steamer is frequently in sight of land. The storms I +have referred to were tropical storms, lasting but a short time. The +ocean is generally very mild all the distance, three thousand five +hundred miles from Panama to San Francisco. North of San Francisco the +storms are somewhat similar to the Atlantic ocean storms. The passengers +on the return trip were in the best of spirits; they were returning +home; all of them had been more or less successful in California, and I +can recall to my mind many pleasant times we had on board the steamship. +The porpoise are very numerous on the Pacific ocean; there were often, +for days, schools of them on the sides of the steamer, throwing +themselves out of the water, and then diving in again; great numbers, at +the same time, seeming like the motion of a revolving wheel. +Occasionally we would hear the cry, "There she blows;" a jet of water +being thrown up many feet high in the air--a sperm whale had come up to +breathe. We frequently saw flying fish. One day there was a school of +them landed on the steamer; they are similar to other fish, except +having wings, but not of a very large size. At another time a booby bird +came on the steamer. It got its name from its stupidity. We frequently +saw them on the water, floating on a piece of board or a stick of wood; +sailors say they have seen them five hundred miles out to sea in that +way. This one you could take up and handle; it made no resistance. On +the coast of Central America we saw two mountain peaks of great height, +standing out, individually, like the Pyramids, said to be extinct +volcanoes that were thrown up from the internal fires of the earth, and +which, at one time, belched forth melted lava and fire. + +We arrived safe in Panama. I was so near home that I thought I might as +well return and see my friends, and take a fresh start for California, +and try my fortune once more. They had commenced building the railroad +over the Isthmus, but it was not completed, so we crossed over to +Cruize, the head of navigation on the Chagres river, and went down that +to its mouth, and there took the steamer _Georgia_ for New York, +commanded by Captain Porter, of the United States navy--the man who had +control of the vessels in going down the Mississippi river and +successfully passing Vicksburg, which had so much to do with its +capture. He was a perfect gentleman, and commanded your admiration with +the skill of his management of the vessel. There were on the vessel +well-dressed pickpockets, who went from New York to the Isthmus, to +return by the steamers to the city, for the chances of robbing the +returning Californians of their gold dust, as all of them had more or +less of it on their persons. One unfortunate victim of their wiles +appealed strongly to my sympathies. He was an English sailor, and had +been two or three years up in the gold mines, and had $3,000 or $4,000 +in gold dust in a buckskin bag on his person. He showed it to me. I +advised him to deposit it with the purser for safety; that I had done so +with mine. He said they could not rob him. He was about the happiest man +I ever saw. He was richer, in feeling, than the Vanderbilts. He said he +had a wife and children in Liverpool, and would take the first steamer +from New York for that port. He said he had not seen his family for +several years, and now that he had the gold he could make them all +happy. He was in the steerage. A few days after I heard he was sick. He +had fainted. Some parties had helped him up; evidently pickpockets had +taken that opportunity to rob him; his gold was all gone. I explained +his case to Captain Porter, but nothing could be done. There was no way +to identify his gold dust from any other; it was all alike. When he +arrived in New York, he would have to go to the hospital until he got +well enough to ship on some other vessel for $14 per month, and not be +able to return to his wife and children with his gold, and make them +happy, while these black-hearted villainsillians were spending his +money, his hard earnings of years. I entered in a bond, with myself, +that if I were ever on a jury I would never show any mercy to a thief. + +As we were sailing along many ships and schooners came in sight. We were +evidently nearing the great port of New York. The land of Staten Island +soon came in sight covered with snow. It was late in the fall. It was +the first I had seen since my departure from the same port, except on +the highest peaks of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Here ends my personal +adventures of the days of the Forty-niners, to be continued by the +peroration on California. + + +PERORATION. + +On my return, in looking over my finances, I was no poorer than when I +left. It must be evident to the reader that I had acquired no wealth to +astonish my friends with my riches, which was the visionary expectation +of the early pioneers to the gold Eldorado. I have been writing from +personal recollections of events that occurred forty-five years ago. Of +course, there was nothing in my enterprises, or the little fluctuations +of fortune that would be of particular interest to any one; but in the +form of a personal narrative, it was the only way I could recall +vividly to my mind, the events of so long ago. There were a series of +articles published in the _Century_ magazine two years ago, which I read +with great interest, for they were truthful, but no book has ever been +published that took in fully those two years when common labor was $16 +per day, payable in gold. Such an event was never known to occur before, +and probably never will again. I have not drawn on my imagination in the +least in this narrative. I have simply attempted to portray from memory +events that actually occurred under my own observation. Any Forty-niner +will concede the truth of my narrative. I did not return to California +as I had expected. Cupid's arrow pierced my heart in the person of a +young lady, and sealed my fate. I had a cottage built in the quiet and +beautiful valley of Schoharie, where I have passed more than thirty +years of happy married life. While not possessing the wealth of the +successful pioneer, I have been content. + +"A MONUMENT TO JACOB A.L. FISHER, A UNION SOLDIER. + +"_Interview with Doctor Knower, who has Charge of It--Some Interesting +Reminiscences of Forty-niners._ + +"A monument to be erected in the Old Stone Fort Cemetery to Jacob A.L. +Fisher, a Union soldier, by Abraham Schell, his uncle, of California. + +"A draft of the above monument is before us. It is quite an affair, +about twenty-seven feet high, with a full length statue of a soldier on +top. It is now being constructed in Des Moines, Iowa, to be shipped by +the 1st of May, and unveiled on the 4th day of July, 1894, with +appropriate ceremonies. Dr. Knower, in 76, in laying the corner-stone to +the David Williams State monument, gave the grandest celebration that +ever occurred in this county. This one he expects to rely to a great +extent on the local army organizations of the county, as this honor paid +to one of their compatriots in arms is an honor to them. + +"We have before us a copy of the Stockton (Cal.) _Evening Mail_ of +November 9, 1893, containing a seven column article descriptive of +Abraham Schell's vineyard at Knight's Ferry, Cal. We quote from it: 'A +characteristic act of Abraham Schell was to give a deed to the entire +place and all of its appurtenances, last summer, to Herrick R. Schell, +his nephew, who had served him faithfully as assistant and business +associate for twenty-six years.' The property conveyed consisted of +three thousand acres, upon which Mr. Schell had expended at the time the +deed was given a quarter of a million of dollars. We see by the same +article that Abraham Schell's landed purchases in that locality, in the +early days, amounted to fifteen thousand five hundred and thirty-five +acres. + +"Mr. Schell joined a company formed by Dr. Knower (who made an +investment in it, and was then a resident of Albany), which sailed on +the ship _Tarolinton_ from the port of New York, on the 13th of +January, 1849. The doctor, the following spring, shipped from Albany, +twelve houses around Cape Horn, the freight on which was $5,000, he +going by the way of the Isthmus, arriving in San Francisco on the 25th +of September, 1849. On the steamer going up from Panama was Judge Terry, +of Louisiana, who killed United States Senator Broderick in a duel, and +who was years afterward assassinated. + +"In these early days there was a contest between Northern and Southern +pioneers whether California should come in the Union a free or a slave +State. Broderick, a Democrat from the city of New York, represented the +Northern sentiment, and was supported by the Whigs of the State. Common +labor at that time was $16 per day, payable in gold. It was more from +pride than from any thing to do with the moral question of slavery. They +did not want to come in competition with slave labor. The Northern +element predominated, and California came in a free State. Its first +constitution was written by George Washington Sherwood, who was a +Democratic member of the New York Legislature from Washington county, +and copied after the constitution of this State. + +"California may be said to be the child of the State of New York; her +citizens may be said to have been pre-eminent in its development and +present greatness. + +"Abraham Schell was born in Gallupville, and proposes to be buried in +the neighboring village of Middleburgh, his wife's native place, where +he has erected a monument. + +"They say that all Forty-niners who remained in California either became +millionaires or paupers. It seems that Mr. Schell was one of the former. +He was an unconditional Union man in the rebellion, visiting the +hospitals of the wounded soldiers, and assisting them by his means, and +the erection of this monument to his nephew for his services in that +war is but in accord with his acts of patriotism at that time." + +The above article inspired this undertaking at this time. I expected to +find my friend on at the dedication of the monument, and thought I would +have the manuscript ready on his arrival and submit it to him, and +propose to have him go in partnership with me in its publication, and +have him revise it with me. He was a man of high literary attainments, +and an experienced Forty-niner, who could have added many important +events to it that did not come under my observation. He was wealthy, and +had the means to bring it properly before the public. + + +DEATH OF A FORMER SCHOHARIAN. + +Intelligence reaches us of the death of Abraham Schell, at his home at +Knight's Ferry, California, in the early part of February. Mr. Schell +was seventy-six years old, and was a native of this county, having been +born in the town of Wright. At the time of the gold excitement in 1849 +he was in the mercantile business in Albany, but sold out and joining a +company of friends journeyed to California, where he invested his means +to good advantage and became highly successful, amassing a large +fortune. His vineyards and their product have long been celebrated. A +man of independent thought and fine literary attainments, he was one of +the sons of Schoharie county, whose enterprise and intellectual culture +we may take just pride in. + +His remains are deposited in a vault there, to be brought here in the +spring by his nephew, and interred in their final resting place in the +cemetery at Middleburgh, where he has a $2,000 monument erected. + +We learn from Dr. Knower that the proposed monument to his nephew at Old +Stone Fort will undoubtedly be erected, as it has been contracted for, +but the full details he will not be posted on until the arrival of the +nephew in the spring. + +The above will show that death, which plays an important hand in the +events of human life, intervened; so I have gone on alone and submit it +to the public, such as it is. I hope and trust it may meet the approval +of all Californians, more particularly of those of the days to which it +refers. If they will give their approval, it will add to the happiness +and gratification of one of their compatriots of those early days of the +pioneers and founders of the State of California. What California has +become since, we, at that time, had no realization of. Instead of +conceiving it an utter impossibility of ever building one railroad +across the continent, we now have five. Instead of conceiving the idea +that it would never be an agricultural country, it may be said to be the +vineyard and wine producing country of the world, and it has a greater +variety of productions than most any other land. + +The city of San Francisco, when I first entered it, had not as many good +buildings as a common eastern village. Now it has a population of +nearly four hundred thousand, and edifices that cost millions. It has +produced more millionaires, from persons that went there poor, than any +other country before in the history of the world, and more money has +been donated to science and education by those successful pioneers, who +were the creators of their own fortune in the same time, than all the +rest of the world in the past forty-five years, since the days of the +Forty-niners. + +Lick's institution for the science of astronomy, Leland Stanford's +twenty millions to the Alto University of Learning, open to all +students, are illustrations of the above statements. + +The foundation of the fortunes of many bankers and wealthy capitalists +of the East were made in California in the days of the Forty-niners. +Mill, the owner of the great building at the corner of Broadway and Wall +street, the ground on which it stands costing a million, who is many +times a millionaire, went from Sing Sing, in this State, a poor boy in +1849. Armour, the great millionaire cattle dealer of Chicago, made his +first money there in those days, which laid the foundation of his great +fortune, and many others I can recall to mind too numerous to mention. + +While all did not succeed, as they never do in any human enterprise, +some got discouraged, others fell by the way and laid down and died from +disappointment, yet others more than realized their most fabulous +conception of wealth. I was told when I was a boy if I went where the +sun set and dug for gold I would find it. When I became a man I went +three thousand miles in the direction of the sun setting and dug and +found gold. It is not a dream, for as I close this writing I see on my +little finger a gold ring made from the gold I there dug, which has been +there for forty-five years. It is so fine that it has been wearing away, +and it is not more than one-fourth the size it was when I first put it +on, and time is likewise wearing on me, and it will probably last as +long as I do, and we will disappear together, as Shakespeare says, +"besmeared with sluttish time." + +THE END. + + + + +APPENDIX. + +It was the brains and statesmanship of Wm. L. Marcy, when he was +secretary of war under President Polk, that inaugurated and generaled +the movements that resulted in our securing possession of California--by +his expeditions, sent by sea and by land, of regular forces, followed by +the volunteer regiment of one thousand men, under the command of Col. +Jonathan Stevenson, as the following able State paper indicates: + +[Confidential.] + +[Illustration: W.L. Marcy] + +WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, _June_ 3, 1846. + +SIR.--I herewith send you a copy of my letter to the governor of +Missouri for an additional force of one thousand mounted men. The object +of thus adding to the force under your command is not, as you will +perceive, fully set forth in that letter, for the reason that it is +deemed prudent that it should not, at this time, become a matter of +public notoriety; but to you it is proper and necessary that it should +be stated. + +It has been decided by the president to be of the greatest importance in +the pending war with Mexico to take the earliest possession of Upper +California. An expedition with that view is hereby ordered, and you are +designated to command it. To enable you to be in sufficient force to +conduct it successfully this additional force of a thousand mounted men +has been provided, to follow you in the direction of Santa Fe, to be +under your orders or the officer you may leave in command at Santa Fe. + +It cannot be determined how far this additional force will be behind +that designated for the Santa Fe expedition, but it will not probably be +more than a few weeks. When you arrive at Santa Fe with the force +already called, and shall have taken possession of it, you may find +yourself in a condition to garrison it with a small part of your +command (as the additional force will soon be at that place), and with +the remainder, press forward to California. In that case you will make +such arrangements as to being followed by the reinforcements before +mentioned, as in your judgment may be deemed safe and prudent. I need +not say to you that in case you conquer Santa Fe (and with it will be +included the department of the State of New Mexico), it will be +important to provide for retaining safe possession of it. Should you +deem it prudent to have still more troops for the accomplishment of the +object herein designated, you will lose no time in communicating that +opinion on that point, and all others connected with the enterprise, to +this department. Indeed you are hereby authorized to make a direct +requisition for it upon the governor of Missouri. + +It is known that a large body of Mormon emigrants are en route to +California for the purpose of settling in that country. You are desired +to use all proper means to have a good understanding with them, to the +end that the United States may have their co-operation in taking +possession of and holding that country. It has been suggested here that +many of these Mormons would willingly enter into the service of the +United States and aid us in our expedition against California. You are +hereby authorized to muster into service such as can be induced to +volunteer; not, however, to a number exceeding one-third of your entire +force. Should they enter the service they will be paid as other +volunteers, and you can allow them to designate, so far as it can be +properly done, the persons to act as officers thereof. It is understood +that a considerable number of American citizens are now settled on the +Sacramento river, near Sutter's establishment, called "Nueva Helvetia," +who are well disposed toward the United States. Should you, on your +arrival in the country, find this to be the true state of things there, +you are authorized to organize and receive into the service of the +United States such portion of these citizens as you may think useful to +aid you to hold the possession of the country. You will in that case +allow them, so far as you shall judge proper, to select their own +officers. A large discretionary power is invested in you in regard to +these matters, as well as to all others, in relation to the expedition +confided to your command. + +The choice of routes by which you will enter California will be left to +your better knowledge and ampler means of getting accurate information. +We are assured that a southern route (called the Caravan route, by which +the wild horses are brought from that country into New Mexico) is +practicable, and it is suggested as not improbable that it can be passed +over in the winter months, or at least late in autumn. It is hoped that +this information may prove to be correct. + +In regard to routes; the practicability of procuring needful supplies +for men and animals, and transporting baggage is a point to be well +considered. Should the president be disappointed in his cherished hope +that you will be able to reach the interior of Upper California before +winter, you are then desired to make the best arrangement you can for +sustaining your forces during the winter, and for an early movement in +the spring. Though it is very desirable that the expedition should reach +California this season (and the president does not doubt you will make +every possible effort to accomplish this object), yet if, in your +judgment, it cannot be undertaken with a reasonable assurance of +success, you will defer it, as above suggested, until spring. You are +left unembarrassed by any specific directions in the matter. + +It is expected that the naval forces of the United States which are now, +or will soon be in the Pacific, will be in possession of all the towns +on the seacoast, and will co-operate with you in the conquest of +California. Arms, ordnance, munitions of war, and provisions to be used +in that country, will be sent by sea to our squadron in the Pacific for +the use of the land forces. + +Should you conquer and take possession of New Mexico and Upper +California, or considerable places in either, you will establish +temporary civil government therein, abolishing all arbitrary +restrictions that may exist, so far as it may be done with safety. + +In performing this duty, it would be wise and prudent to continue in +their employment all such of the existing officers as are known to be +friendly to the United States, and will take the oath of allegiance to +them. The duties of the custom-house ought, at once, to be reduced to +such a rate as may be barely sufficient to maintain the necessary +officers without yielding any revenue to the government. You may assure +the people of these provinces that it is the wish and design of the +United States to provide for them a free government with the least +possible delay, similar to that which exists in our territories. They +will then be called on to exercise the rights of freemen in electing +their own representatives to the territorial legislature. It is foreseen +that what relates to the civil government will be a difficult and +unpleasant part of your duty, and much must necessarily be left to your +own discretion. In your whole conduct you will act in such a manner as +best to conciliate the inhabitants and render them friendly to the +United States. + +It is desirable that the usual trade between the citizens of the United +States and the Mexican provinces should be continued, as far as +practicable, under the changed condition of things between the two +countries. In consequence of extending your expedition into California +it may be proper that you should increase your supply for goods to be +distributed as presents to the Indians. The United States +superintendent of Indian affairs at St. Louis will aid you in procuring +these goods. You will be furnished with a proclamation in the Spanish +language, to be issued by you and circulated among the Mexican people on +your entering into or approaching their country. You will use your +utmost endeavors to have the pledges and promises therein contained +carried out to the utmost extent. + +I am directed by the president to say that the rank of brevet +brigadier-general will be conferred on you as soon as you commence your +movement toward California, and sent round to you by sea or over the +country, or to the care of the commandant of our squadron in the +Pacific. In that way cannon, arms, ammunition and supplies for the land +forces will be sent to you. + +Very respectfully, your obedient servant, + +W.L. MARCY, + +_Secretary of War_. + +COLONEL S. N. KEARNEY, _Fort Leavenworth, Missouri._ + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12518 *** |