LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY Of
CALIFORNIA
THE WORKS
OF
HUBERT HOWE BANCROFT
THE WORKS
OF
HUBERT HOWE BANCROFT
VOLUME XXIII.
HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA
VOL. VI. 1848-1859
PRINTED IN FACSIMILE FROM THE FIRST AMERICAN EDITION
PUBLISHED AT SANTA BARBARA BY WALLACE HEBBERD
COPYRIGHT 1970 by WALLACE HEBBERD
To
RAY ALLEN BILLINGTON
Your name is great
In mouths of wisest censure.
Othello, Act II
THE WORKS
OF
HUBERT HOWE BANCROFT.
THE WORKS
OF
HUBERT HOWE BANCROFT.
VOLUME XXIII.
HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA.
VOL. VI. 1848-1859.
SAN FRANCISCO:
THE HISTORY COMPANY, PUBLISHERS.
1888.
Entered according to Act of Congress in the Year 1888, by
HUBERT H. BANCROFT,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
All Rights Reserved.
V .
CONTENTS OF THIS VOLUME.
CHAPTER I.
CALIFORNIA JUST PRIOR TO THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
January, 1848.
PAGE
The Valley of California Quality of Population The Later Incomers
Kispano American, Anglo-American, and Others Settlers around
San Francisco Bay San Jose The Peninsula San Francisco
Across the Bay Alameda and Contra Costa Valleys Valleys of the
San Joaquin and Sacramento Sutter s Fort Grants and Ranchos^-
About Carquines Strait Napa, Sonoma, and Santa Rosa Valleys
San Rafael, Bodega, and the Northern Coast Natural Wealth and
Environment 1
CHAPTER II.
THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD.
January, 1848.
Situation of Sutter His Need of Lumber Search for a Mill Site in the
Mountains Culuma James W. Marshall The Building of a Saw
mill Determined upon A Party Sets Forth Its Personnel Char
acter of Marshall The Finding of Gold What Marshall and his
Men Thought of It Marshall Rides to New Helvetia and Informs
Sutter The Interview Sutter Visits the Mill Attempt to Secure
the Indian Title to the Land 26
CHAPTER III.
THE SECRET ESCAPES.
February, 1848.
Bennett Goes to Monterey Sees Pfister at Benicia There is What will
Beat Coal! Bennett Meets Isaac Humphrey at San Francisco Un
successful at Monterey Sutter s Swiss Teamster The Boy Wimmer
Tells Him of the Gold The Mother Wimmer, to Prove her Boy not a
Liar, Shows It And the Teamster, Who is Thirsty, Shows It at the
Fort Affairs at the Mill Proceed as Usual Bigler s Sunday Medi
tations Gold Found at Live Oak Bar Bigler Writes his Three
(v)
8276
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Friends the Secret Who Unite with Them Other Three to Help
Them Keep It Three Come to Coloma Discovery at Mormon Island
The Mormon Exit. . . 42
CHAPTER IV.
PROXIMATE EFFECT OF THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
March- August, 1848.
The People Sceptical at First Attitude of the Press The Country
Converted by a Sight of the Metal The Epidemic at San Francisco
At San Jose, Monterey, and down the Coast The Exodus De
sertion of Soldiers and Sailors Abandonment of Business, of Farms,
and of All Kinds of Positions and Property 52
CHAPTER V.
FURTHER DISCOVERIES.
March-December, 1848.
Isaac Humphrey again Bidwell and his Bar Reading and his Indians
on Clear Creek Population in the Mines On Feather River and
the Yuba John Sinclair on the American River The Irishman
Yankee Jim Dr Todd in Todd Valley Kelsey Weber on Weber
Creek The Stockton Mining Company Murphy Hangtown On
the Stanislaus Knight, Wood, Savage, and Heffernan Party from
Oregon On the Mokelumne and Cosumnes The Sonorans on the
Tuolumne Coronel and Party 67
CHAPTER VI.
AT THE MINES.
1848.
Variety of Social Phases Individuality of the Year 1848 Noticeable
Absence of Bad Characters during this Year Mining Operations
Ignorance of the Miners of Mining Implements and Processes
Yield in the Different Districts Price of Gold-dust Prices of Mer
chandise A New Order of Things Extension of Development
Affairs at Sutter s Fort Bibliography Effect on Sutter and Marshall
Character and Career of These Two Men . . 82
CHAPTER VII.
BROADER EFFECTS OF THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
1848-1849.
The Real Effects Eternal How the Intelligence was Carried over the
Sierra To the Hawaiian Islands British Columbia Oregon and
Washington The Tidings in Mexico Mason s Messenger in Wash-
CONTENTS. vii
PAGE
ington California Gold at the War Office At the Philadelphia
Mint The Newspaper Press upon the Subject Bibliography
Greeley s Prophecies Industrial Stimulation Overland and Oceanic
Routes General Effect in the Eastern States and Europe Interest
in Asia, South America, and Australia 110
CHAPTER VIII.
THE VOYAGE BY OCEAN.
1848-1849
Modern Argonauts Pacific Mail Steamship Company Establishment of
the Mail Line from New York via Panama to Oregon Sailing of the
First Steamers San Francisco Made the Terminus The Panama
Transit The First Rush of Gold-seekers Disappointments at Pan
ama Sufferings on the Voyage Arrivals of Notable Men by the
First Steamship 126
CHAPTER IX.
THE JOURNEY OVERLAND.
1849.
Organization of Parties Brittle Contracts of These Associations Missis
sippi River Rendezvous On the Trail Overland Routine Along
the Platte Through the South Pass Cholera The Different Routes
-Across the Desert Trials of the Pilgrims Starvation, Disease,
and Death Passage of the Sierra Nevada Relief Parties from
California Route through Mexico Estimates of the Numbers of
Arrivals Bewilderment of the Incomers Regeneration and a New
Life 143
CHAPTER X.
SAN FRANCISCO.
1848-1850.
Site and Surroundings Rivals Effect of the Mines Shipping Influx
of Population Physical and Commercial Aspects Business Firms
Public and Private Buildings National Localities Hotels and Res
taurants Prices Current Property Values Auction Sales
Wharves and Streets Early Errors Historic Fires Engines and
Companies Immigration and Speculation Politics The Hounds
City Government 164
CHAPTER XL
SOCIETY.
1849-1850.
Ingathering of Nationalities Peculiarities of Dress and Manners Phys
ical and Moral Features Levelling of Rank and Position In the
viii CONTENTS.
PAGE
Mines Cholera Hardsmps and Self-denials A Community of Men
Adulation of Woman Arrival and Departure of Steamers Sani
tary Condition of San Francisco Rats and Other Vermin The
Drinking Habit Amusements Gambling Lotteries and Raffles
Bull and Bear Fighting The Drama Sunday in the Mines Sum
mary 221
CHAPTER XII.
POLITICAL HISTORY.
1846-1849.
The Slavery Question before Congress Inaction and Delay Military
Rule in California Mexican Forms of Civil and Judicial Govern
ment Maintained Federal Officials in California -Governor Mason
Pranks of T. Butler King Governor Riley Legislative Assembly
Constitutional Convention at Monterey Some Biographies Per-
sonnel of the Convention Money Matters Adoption of the Consti
tution Election ... 251
CHAPTER XIII.
POLITICAL HISTORY.
1849-1850.
The First Legislature Qrestioii of State Capital Meeting of the Legis
lature at San Jose Organization and Acts Personnel of the Body
State Officers Further State Capital Schemes California in Con
gress Impending I3sues Slavery or No Slavery Admission into
the Union California Rejoices 308
CHAPTER XIV.
UNFOLDING OF MINERAL WEALTH.
1848-1856.
Extent of Gold Region in 1848-9 American River the Centre El Do
rado County South Fork and Southward Middle Branch Placer,
Nevada, Yuba, Sierra, Plumas, Butte, and Shasta Counties Trinity
and Klamath Gold Bluff Excitement, 1850-1 Del Norte, Hum-
boldt, and Siskiyou In the South Amador, Calaveras, and Tuol-
umne Table Mountain Mariposa, Kern, San Bernardino Los
Angeles and San Diego Along the Ocean _ 351
CHAPTER XV.
GEOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL ANATOMY OF THE MINES.
1848-1856.
Physical Formation of the California Valley The Three Geologic Belts
Physical Aspect of the Gold Regions Geologic Formations In-
CONTENTS. ix
PAGE
dications that Influence the Prospector Origin of Rushes and Camps
Society along the Foothills Hut and Camp Life Sunday in the
Mines Catalogue of California Mining Rushes Mariposa, Kern,
Ocean Beach, Nevada, Gold Lake, Lost Cabin, Gold Bluff, Siskiyou,
Sonora, Australia, Fraser River, Nevada, Colorado, and the Rest
Mining Laws and Regulations Mining Tax Discrimination against
Foreigners 381
CHAPTER XVI.
MINING METHODS.
1848-1856.
Primitive Mining Machinery Improved Means for Poor Diggings
California Inventions Tom, Sluice, Fluming Hydraulic Mining
Ditches, Shafts, and Tunnels Quartz Mining The First Mills Ex
citement, Failure, and Revival Improved Machinery Coopera
tion Yield Average Gains Cost of Gold Evil and Beneficial
Effects of Mining 409
CHAPTER XVII.
BIRTH OF TOWNS.
1769-1869.
Mexican Town-maKing Mission, Presidio, and Pueblo The Anglo-
American Method Clearing away the Wilderness The American
Municipal Idea Necessities Attending Self-government Home
made Laws and Justice Arbitration and Litigation Camp and
Town Sites Creation of Counties Nomenclature Rivers and Har
bors Industries and Progress 429
CHAPTER XVIII.
CITY BUILDING.
1848-1888.
The Great Interior River and Plain Sutterville and Sacramento Plan
of Survey The Thrice Simple Swiss Better for the Country than
a Better Man Healthy and Hearty Competition Development of
Sacramento City Marysville Stockton Placerville Sonora Ne
vada Grass Valley Benicia Valle jo Martinez Oakland and Vi
cinity Northern and Southern Cities 446
CHAPTER XIX.
CALIFORNIA IN COUNTIES.
1848-1888.
Affairs under the Hispano-Californians Coming of the Anglo-Americans
El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, Yuba, and Other Counties North
and South Their Origin, Industries, Wealth, and Progress 481
x CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XX.
MEXICAN LAND TITLES.
1851-1887.
PAGE
The Colonization System Land Grants by Spain and Mexico Informal
ities of Title Treaty Obligations of the United States Effect of the
Gold Discovery The Squatters Reports of Jones and Halleck
Discussions in Congress Fremont, Benton, and Gwin The Act of
1851 The Land Commission Progress and Statistics of Litigation
Principles Floating Grants Surveys Fraudulent Claims Speci
men Cases Castillero Fremont Gomez Limantour Peralta
Santillan Sutter Vallejo Mission Lands Friars, Neophytes,
and Church Pico s Sales Archbishop s Claim Pueblo Lands The
Case of San Francisco Statistics of 1880 More of Squatterism
Black and Jones Attempts to Reopen Litigation General Conclu
sions The Act of 1851 Oppressive and Ruinous What should have
been Done 529
CHAPTER XXL
FILIBUSTERING.
1850-1860.
Attractions of Spanish America to Unprincipled Men of the United
States Filibustering in Texas The Morehead Expedition from
California to Mexico Failure Charles de Pin dray s Efforts and
Death Raoulx de Raousset-Boulbon s Attempts at Destruction
Capture of Hermosillo and Return to San Francisco Trial of Del
Valle Raousset s Death at Guaymas Walker s Operations Re
public of Lower California Walker in Sonora Walker in Nicara
gua His Execution in Honduras Crabb, the Stockton Lawyer .... 582
CHAPTER XXII.
FINANCES.
1849-1869.
An Empty Treasury Temporary State Loan Act State Debt Licenses
and Taxation Extravagance and Peculation Alarming Increase of
Debt Bonds State Indebtedness Illegal Repudiation Rejected
Thieving Officials Enormous Payments to Steamship Companies
Federal Appropriations Indian Agents Mint Navy-yard Fortifi
cations Coast Survey Land Commission Public Lands Home
stead Act Educational Interests The People above All 604
CHAPTER XXIII.
N POLITICAL HISTORY.
1850-1854.
Quality of our Early Rulers Governor Burnett Governor McDougal
Senatorial Election Sowing Dragon s Teeth Democratic Conven-
CONTENTS. xi
tion Senator Gwin, the Almighty Providence of California Party
Issues Governor Bigler Broderick White vs Black Slavery or
Death ! Legislative Proceedings Talk of a New Constitution
Whigs, Democrats, and Independents Another Legislature 643
CHAPTER XXIV.
POLITICAL HISTORY.
1854-1859.
Warm and Wicked Election One Party tho Same aa Another, only
Worse Senatorial Contest Broderick s Election Bill Bitter Feuds
A Two-edged Convention Bigler s Administration Rise and Fall
of the Knowiiothing Party Gwin s Sale of Patronage Broderick in
Congress He is Misrepresented and Maligned Another Election
Chivalry and Slavery Broderick s Death Determined on The Duel
Character of Broderick 678
CHAPTER XXV.
POPULAR TRIBUNALS.
1849-1856.
State of Society Miners Courts Crimes and Punishments Criminal
Class The Hounds Berdue and Wildred Organized Ruffianism
Committees of Vigilance The Jenkins Affair Villanous Law Courts
James Stuart Political and Judicial Corruption James King of
William His Assassination Seizure, Trial, and Execution of Crim
inals A Vacillating Governor A Bloody-minded Judge Attitude
of United States Officials Success of the San Francisco Vigilance
Committee under Trying Circumstances Disbandment 740
CHAPTER XXVI.
ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
1851-1856.
A Period of Trials Land Titles City Limits Mexican Grants Spu
rious Claims Water Lots Fluctuations of Values The Van Ness
Ordinance Villanous Administration A New Charter Municipal
Maladministration Popular Protests Honest and Genial Villains
Increased Taxation Vigilance Movements Reforms Another
Charter Real Estate Sales The Baptism by Fire and Blood Ma
terial and Social Progress Schools, Churches, and Benevolent Socie
tiesThe Transformed City 75
HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA.
CHAPTER I.
CALIFORNIA JUST PRIOR TO THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
JANUARY, 1848.
THE VALLEY OF CALIFORNIA QUALITY OF POPULATION THE LATER INCOM
ERS HISPANO-AMERICAN, ANGLO-AMERICAN, AND OTHERS SETTLERS
AROUND SAN FRANCISCO BAY SAN JOSE THE PENINSULA SAN FRAN
CISCOACROSS THE BAY ALAMEDA AND CONTRA COSTA VALLEYS VAL
LEYS OF THE SAN JOAQUIN AND SACRAMENTO SUTTER s FORT GRANTS
AND RANCHOS ABOUT CARQUINES STRAIT NAPA, SONOMA, AND SANTA
ROSA VALLEYS SAN RAFAEL, BODEGA, AND THE NORTHERN COAST
NATURAL WEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT.
ALTHOUGH the California seaboard, from San Diego
to San Francisco bays, had been explored by Euro
peans for three hundred years, and had been occu
pied by missionary and military bands, with a
sprinkling of settlers, for three quarters of a century,
the great valley of the interior, at the opening of the
year 1848, remained practically undisturbed by civili
zation.
The whole of Alta California comprises a seaboard
strip eight hundred miles in length by one or two
hundred in width, marked off from the western earth s
end of the temperate zone; it was the last to be occu
pied by civilized man, and, to say the least, as full of
fair conditions as any along the belt. The whole
area is rimmed on either side, the Coast Range roll
ing up in stony waves along the outer edge, and for
VOL. VI. 1
2 CALIFORNIA JUST PRIOR TO THE GOLD DISCOVERY
background the lofty Sierra, upheaved in crumpled
folds from primeval ocean. The intervening space is
somewhere overspread with hills and vales, but for
the most part comprises an oblong plain, the Valley
of California, the northern portion being called the
Sacramento Valley, and the southern the San Joa-
quin Valley, from the names of the streams that
water the respective parts. The prospect thus pre
sented opens toward the setting sun.
Humanity here is varied. There is already round
San Francisco Bay raw material enough of divers
types to develop a new race, howsoever inferior the
quality might be. It is a kind of refuse lot, blown
in partly from the ocean, and in part having perco
lated through the mountains; yet there is amidst the
chaff good seed that time and events might winnow.
But time and events are destined here to be employed
for higher purpose, in the fashioning of nobler metal.
Of the condition of the aborigines I have spoken
elsewhere, and shall presently speak again. So far
the withering influence of a strange civilization upon
the true proprietors of the soil had emanated from
Mexican incomers. Now a stronger phase of it is
appearing in another influx, which is to overwhelm
both of the existing races, and which, like the original
invasion of Mexico, of America, is to consist of a fair-
hued people from toward the rising sun. They come
not as their predecessors came, slowly, in the shadow
of the cross, or aggressively, with sword and firelock.
Quietly, with deferential air, they drop in asking
hospitality; first as way-worn stragglers from trap
ping expeditions, or as deserting sailors from vessels
prowling along the coast in quest of trade and secrets.
Then compact bands of restless frontier settlers
slip over the border, followed by the firmer tread of
determined pioneers, who wait /or strength and
opportunity. Not being as yet formally ceded, the
land remains under a mingled military-civil govern
ment, wherein Hispano-Californians still control local
MATERIALS FOR SOCIETY. 3
management in the south, while in the north men
from the United States predominate*
These later arrivals are already nearly equal numeri
cally to the former, numbering somewhat over 6,000,
while the Hispano-Californians may be placed at
1,000 more. The ex-neophyte natives in and about
the ranches and towns are estimated at from 3,000
to 4,000, with twice as many among the gentile tribes.
The new element, classed as foreign before the con
quest of 1846, had from 150 in 1830 grown slowly till
1845, after which it took a bound, assisted by over
2,000 who came as soldiers in the regular and volunteer
corps, not including the naval muster-rolls. These
troops served to check another sudden influx contem
plated by the migrating Mormons, whose economic
value as colonists cannot be questioned, in view of
their honesty and thrift. An advance column of about
200 had come in 1846, followed by the Mormon battal
ion in the United States service, 350 strong, of which
a portion remained. The first steady stream of immi
grants is composed of stalwart, restless backwoods
men from the western frontier of the United States;
self-reliant, and of ready resource in building homes,
even if less enterprising and broadly utilitarian than
those who followed them from the eastern states;
the latter full of latent vivacity; of strong intellect,
here quickening under electric air and new environ
ment; high-strung, attenuated, grave, shrewd, and
practical, and with impressive positiveness.
By the side of the Americanized Anglo-Saxon,
elevated by vitalizing freedom of thought and inter
course with nature, we find the English representa
tive, burly of mind and body, full of animal energy,
marked by aggressive stubbornness, tinctured with
brusqueness and conceit. More sympathetic and self-
adaptive than the arrogant and prejudiced English
man, or the coldly calculating Scot, is the omnipresent,
quick-witted Celt, and the easy-going, plodding Ger
man, with his love of knowledge and deep solidity of
4 CALIFORNIA JUST PRIOR TO THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
mind. Intermediate between these races and the
native Californian stands the pure-blooded Spaniard,
wrapped in the reflection of ancestral preeminence,
and using his superior excellence as a means to affirm
his foothold among humbler race connections. An
approximate affinity of blood and language here paves
the way for the imaginative though superficial French
man and Italian, no less polite than insincere, yet
cheerful and aBsthetic. A few Hawaiian Islanders
have been brought over, and are tolerated until
prouder people press them back and under.
Even now events are giving a decisive predomi
nance to the lately inflowing migration, by reason of
the energy displayed in the rapid extension of indus
trial arts, notably agriculture, with improved methods
and machinery, and growing traffic with such standard-
bearers of civilization as the public press and a steam
boat. So far this influx has confined itself to the
central part of the state, round San Francisco Bay and
northward, because the gateway for the immigration
across the plains opens into this section, which more
over presents equal if not superior agricultural features,
and greater commercial prospects. The occupation of
the south by a different race serves naturally to point
out and affirm the limits.
San Jose, founded as a pueblo within the first dec
ade of Spanish occupation, and now grown into a
respectable town of about 700 inhabitants, is the
most prominent of the northern settlements wherein
the Hispano-Californian element still predominates.
Notwithstanding the incipient greatness of the city at
the Gate, San Jose holds high pretensions as a central
inland town, on the border line between the settled
south and the growing north, with aspirations to sup
plant Monterey as the capital. This accounts in a
measure for the large inflowing of foreigners, who have
lately acquired sufficient influence to elect the alcalde
from among themselves, the present incumbent being
James W. Weeks. The fertile valley around counts
CENTRAL CALIFORNIA IN 1848.
(5)
6 CALIFORNIA JUST PRIOR TO THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
among its numerous farmers several of them, notably
the Scotch sailor, John Gilroy, 1 who in 1814 became
the first foreigner permanently to settle in California,
and Thomas W. Doak, who arrived two years later,
the first American settler. North of San Jose and
the adjoining Santa Clara mission, 2 where Padre Real
holds out manfully against claimants, are several set
tlers clustering round the present Alviscx 3 Westward
Rafael Soto has established a landing at San Fran-
cisquito Creek, and Whisman has located himself a
dozen miles below. 4
Along the eastern slope of the peninsula leads a
well-worn road past scattered ranchos, among which
are those of John Cooper on San Mateo Creek, and
John Coppinger on Canada de Raimundo; and near
by are Dennis Martin and Charles Brown, the latter
having just erected a saw-mill. 5
San Francisco, at the end of the peninsula, however
ill-favored the site in some respects, seems topographi
cally marked for greatness, rising on a series of hills,
with a great harbor on one side, a great ocean on the
other, and mighty waters ever passing by to the outlet
of the wide-spread river system of the country. It is
already in many respects the most thriving town in
California, the prospective metropolis of the coast, with
200 buildings and 800 inhabitants, governed by Alcalde
1 The town bearing his name, in the southern part of the valley, is situated
on his former rancho. Other early settlers were Mat. Fellora, Harry Bee,
John Burton, J. A, Forbes, J. W. Weeks, and Wm Gulnac, who in 1842
joined Weber in erecting a flour-mill.
2 Brannan & Co. had a tannery at this place.
5 Including the families of Alviso, Berreyesa, Valencia, John Martin, and
Leo Norris, the latter an American, on Cherro rancho.
*Near the present Mountain View. J. W. Whisman was in 1848 joined
by I. Whisman. J. Coppinger lived for a time on Soto s rancho, married to
his daughter. S. Robles had bought Santa Rita rancho from J. Pena.
5 Called Mountain Home. The last two had settled near the present
Woods! de. G. F. Wyman and James Peace were also in the same vicinity ,
the latter as lumberer. The leading grants were Las Pulgas of Luis Argiiello,
35, 000 acres; San Gregorio of A. Buelna, 18,000 acres; BuriBuriof I. Sanchez,
14,600 acres; Canada de Raimundo of J. Coppinger, 12,500 acres; Canada del
Corte de Madera of M. Martinez, 13,000 acres. Other grants, ranging from
9,000 to 4,000 acres, were San Pedro, Corral de Tierra, Felix, Miramontes,
Canada Verde, San Antonio, Butano, and Punta del Afio Nuevo, following
southward.
THE PENINSULA. 7
George Hyde and a sapient council. The population
is chiefly composed of enterprising Americans, sturdy
pioneers, with a due admixture of backwoodsmen
and seafarers, numerous artisans, and a sprinkling of
traders and professional men all stanch townsmen,
figuring for beach lots at prices ranging as high as
$600, and for local offices. There are rival districts
struggling for supremacy, and two zealous weekly
newspapers.
Less imposing are the immediate surroundings;
for the town spreads out in a straggling crescent
along the slope of the Clay-street hill, bordered by
the converging inclines of Broadway and California
streets on the north and south respectively. A thin
coating of grass and melancholy shrubs covers the
sandy surface between and around, with here and
there patches of dwarfed oaks, old and decrepit, bend
ing before the sweeping west wind. The monotony
incident to Spanish and Mexican towns, however,
with their low and bare adobe houses and sluggish
population, is here relieved by the large proportion of
compact wooden buildings in northern European style, 6
and the greater activity of the dwellers. The beach,
hollowed by the shallow Yerba Buena Cove, on which
fronts the present Montgomery street, presents quite
an animated scene for these sleepy shores, with its
bales of merchandise strewn about, and piled-up boxes
and barrels, its bustling or lounging frequenters, and
its three projecting wharves; 7 while a short distance
off lie scattered a few craft, including one or two
ocean-going vessels. Farther away, fringed by the
fading hills of Contra Costa, rises the isle of Yerba
Buena, for which some wild goats shortly provide
the new name of Goat Island- On its eastern side is a
half-ruined rancheria, still braving the encroachments
of time and culture.
"There were 160 frame buildings and only 35 adobe houses, although the
latter were more conspicuous by their length and brightness.
7 At California, Clay, and Broadway streets.
8 CALIFORNIA JUST PRIOR TO THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
il ii i! i! II li ij
..Jl i 1 Jl 1 1 il lL_JL
f Irttl
n
8 ^L . N : F & AN C 1 SO C
SAN FBANCISCO IN 1848.
ABOUT THE BAY. 9
In the rear of the town, which extends only be
tween California and Vallejo streets to Powell on the
west, from the direction of the Lone Mountain and
beyond, comes a spur of the Coast Range, tipped by
the Papas Peaks. To either side diverges a trail, one
toward the inlet of the bay, where is the presidio
enclosure, with its low adobe buildings, and to which
the new American occupants have added frame houses,
and earthworks with ordnance superior to the blatant
muzzles of yore. Two miles to the south, beyond the
sand hills, lies Mission Dolores, its dilapidated walls
marked by darkened tile roofs, scantily relieved by
clumps of trees and shrubs. The cheerless stone
fences now enclose winter s verdure, and beyond the
eddying creek, which flows through the adjoining
fields, the sandy waste expands into inviting pasture,
partly covered by the Rincon farm and government
reserve. 8
The opposite shores of the bay present a most beau
tiful park-like expanse, the native lawn, brilliant with
flowers, and dotted by eastward-bending oaks, watered
by the creeks of Alameda, San Lorenzo, San Leandro,
and their tributaries, and enclosed by the spurs of the
Diablo mountains. It had early attracted settlers,
whose grants now cover the entire ground. The first
to occupy there was the Mission San Jose, famed for
its orchards and vineyards, 9 and now counting among
its tenants and settlers James F. Reed, Perry Mor
rison, Earl Marshall, and John M. Horner ; 10 Below
are the ranches of Agua Caliente and Los Tularcitos ;
and above, Potrero de los Cerritos; 11 while behind,
among encircling hills, is the valley of San Jose, the
pathway to the Sacramento, and through which runs
8 Padre P. Santillan, who afterward became conspicuous as a claimant to
the mission ground, was in charge at Dolores. The Raucho Puuta de Lobos
of B. Diaz extended to the north-west.
9 In charge of Padre Real. The claim of Alvarado and Pico to the soil was
later rejected.
10 The latter a Mormon, living with his wife at the present Washington
Corners, and subsequently prominent.
11 The former two square leagues in extent, and transferred by A. Sufiol to
F. Higueraj the latter three leagues, and held by A. Alviso and T. Pacheco.
10 CALIFORNIA JUST PRIOR TO THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
the upper Alameda. Here lives the venturesome
English sailor, Robert Livermore, by whose name the
nook is becoming known, and whose rapidly increasing
possessions embrace stock-ranges, wheat-fields, vine
yards, and orchards, with even a rude grist-mill. 12 Ad
joining him are the ranchos Valle de San Jose of
J. and A. Bernal, and Sunol and San Ramon of J. M.
Amador, also known by his name. Northward, along
the bay, lies the Rancho Arroyo de la Alameda of
Jose Jesus Vallejo; the San Lorenzo of G. Castro
and F. Soto; the San Leandro of J. J. Estudillo; the
Sobrante of J. I. Castro; and in the hills and along
the shore, covering the present Oakland and Alameda,
the San Antonio of Luis M. Peralta and his sons. 13
Similar to the Alameda Valley, and formed by the
rear of the same range, enclosing the towering Monte
del Diablo, lies the vale of Contra Costa, watered by
several creeks, among them the San Pablo and San
Ramon, or Walnut, and extending into the marshes
of the San Joaquin. Here also the most desirable
tracts are covered by grants, notably the San Pablo
tract of F. Castro; El Pinole of Ignacio Martinez,
with vineyards and orchards; the Acalanes of C.
Valencia, on which are now settled Elam Brown,
justice of the peace, and Nat. Jones; 14 the Palos
Colorados of J. Moraga; the Monte del Diablo of S.
Pacheco; the Medanos belonging to the Mesa fam
ily; and the Meganos of Dr John Marsh, the said
doctor being a kind of crank from Harvard college,
12 His neighbor on Rancho Los Pozitos, of two square leagues, was Jose"
Noriega; and west and south in the valley extended Rancho Valle de San
Jose, 48,000 acres, Santa Rita, 9,000 acres, belonging to J. D. Pacheco, the
San Ramon rancho of Amador, four square leagues, and Canada de los Va-
queros of Livermore. Both Colton, Three Years, 266, and Taylor, El Dorado,
i. 73, refer to the spot as Livermore Pass, leading from San Jos6 town to the
valley of the Sacramento.
13 D. Peralta received the Berkeley part, V. the Oakland, M. the East Oak
land and Alameda, and I. the south-east. The grant covered five leagues.
The extent of the Alameda, San Lorenzo, and San Leandro grants was in
square leagues respectively about four, seven, and one; Sobrante was eleven
leagues.
u By purchase in 1847, the latter owning one tenth of the three-quarter
league.
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY. 11
who settled here in 1837, 15 in an adobe hut, and
achieved distinction as a misanthrope and miser,
sympathetic with the spirit at whose mountain s feet
he crouched.
The upper part of the San Joaquin Valley had so
far been shunned by fixed settlers, owing to Indian
hostility toward the Spanish race. With others the
aborigines agreed better; and gaining their favor
through the mediation of the influential Sutter, the
German Charles M. Weber had located himself on
French Camp rancho, which he sought to develop by
introducing colonists. In this he had so far met with
little success; but his farm prospering, arid his em
ployes increasing, he laid out the town of Tuleburg,
soon to rise into prominence under the new name of
Stockton. 16 He foresaw the importance of the place
as a station on the road to the Sacramento, and as the
gateway to the San Joaquin, on which a settlement
had been formed in 1846, as far up as the Stanislaus,
by a party of Mormons. On the north bank of this
tributary, a mile and a half from the San Joaquin, the
migratory saints founded New Hope, or Stanislaus,
which in April 1847 boasted ten or twelve colonists
and several houses. Shortly afterward a summons
15 He bought it from J. Noriega, and called it the Pulpunes; extent, three
leagues by four. The San Pablo and Piuole covered four leagues each, the
Palos Colorados three leagues, the Monte del Diablo, on which Pacheco had
some 5,000 head of cattle, four leagues. The aggressive Indians had disturbed
several settlers, killing F. Briones, driving away Wm Welch, who settled in
1832, and the Romero brothers. Brown settled in 1847, and began to ship
lumber to San Francisco. There were also the grants of Las Juntas of Wm
Welch, three square leagues; Arroyo de las Nueces of J. S. Pacheco and
Canada del Hambre of T. Soto, the two latter two square leagues each.
16 Among the residents were B. K. Thompson, Eli Randall, Jos. Buzzell,
Andrew Baker, James Sirey, H. F. Fanning, George Frazer, W. H. Fairchild,
James McKee, Pyle, and many Mexicans and servants of Weber. See fur
ther in Tinkham s Hist. Stockton; San Joaquin Co. Hist.; Gal. Star, May 13,
1848, etc. Taylor reports two log cabins on the site in 1847, those of Buzzell
and Sirey. Nic. Gann s wife, while halting in Oct. 1847, gave birth to a son,
William. The name French Camp came from the trappers who frequently
camped here. T. Lindsay, while in charge in 1845, was killed by Indian
raiders. The war of 1847 had caused an exodus of proposed settlers.
12 CALIFORNIA JUST PRIOR TO THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
from Salt Lake came to assist the floods in breaking
up the colony. 17
North of Stockton Dr J. C. Isbel settled on the
Calaveras, and Turner Elder on the Mokelumne,
together with Smith and Edward Robinson. 18 The
latter, on Dry Creek tributary, has for a neighbor
Thomas Rhoads, three of whose daughters married T.
Elder, William Daylor an English sailor, and Jared
Sheldon. The last two occupy their grants on the
north bank of the Cosumnes, well stocked, and sup
porting a grist-mill. Along the south bank extend
the grants of Hartnell and San Jon de los Moque-
lumnes, occupied by Martin Murphy, Jr, and Anas-
tasio Chaboila. South of them lies the Rancho
Arroyo Seco of T, Yorba, on Dry Creek, where
William Hicks holds a stock-range. 19
The radiating point for all these settlements of the
Great Valley, south and north, is Sutter s Fort,
founded as its first settlement, in 1839, by the enter
prising Swiss, John A. Sutter. It stands on a small
hill, skirted by a creek which runs into the American
River near its junction with the Sacramento, and
overlooking a vast extent of ditch-enclosed fields and
park stock-ranges, broken by groves and belts of tim
ber. At this time and for three months to come
there is no sign of town or "habitation around what is
now Sacramento, except this fortress, and one old
adobe, called the hospital, east of the fort. A garden
17 Stout, the leader, had given dissatisfaction. Buckland, the last to leave,
moved to Stockton. The place is also called Stanislaus City. Bigler, Diary,
MS., 48-9, speaks of a Mormon settlement on the Merced, meaning the above.
18 The former on Dry Creek, near the present Liberty, which he transferred
to Robinson, married to his aunt, and removed to the Mokelumne, where
twins were born in November 1847; he then proceeded to Daylor s. Thomas
Pyle settled near Lockeford, but transferred his place to Smith.
19 The Chaboila, Hartnell, Sheldon-Day lor, and Yorba grants were 8, 6,
5, and 11 leagues in extent, respectively. The claims of E. Rufus and E.
Pratt, north of the Cosumnes, failed to be condoned. Cat. Star, Oct. 23, 1847,
alludes to the flouring mill on Sheldon s rancho. See Suiter s Pers. Rem. , MS.,
162, in which Taylor arid Chamberlain are said to live on the Cosumnes. In
the San Joaquin district were three eleven-league and one eight-league grants
claimed by Jos6 Castro, John Rowland, B. S. Lippincott, and A. B. Thompson,
all rejected except the last.
SACRAMENTO VALLEY. 13
of eight or ten acres was attached to the fort, laid
out with taste arid skill, where flourished all kinds of
vegetables, grapes, apples, peaches, pears, olives, figs,
and almonds. Horses, cattle, and sheep cover the
surrounding plains; boats lie at the erabarcadero.
The fort is a parallelogram of adobe walls, 500 feet
long by 150 in breadth, with loop-holes and bastions
at the angles, mounted with a dozen cannon that
sweep the curtains. Within is a collection of gran
aries and warehouses, shops and stores, dwellings
and outhouses, extending near and along the walls
round the central building occupied by the Swiss
potentate, who holds sway as patriarch and priest,
judge and father. The interior of the houses is rough,
with rafters and unpanelled walls, with benches and
deal tables, the exception being the audience-room
and private apartments of the owner, who has ob
tained from the Russians a clumsy set of California
laurel furniture. 20 In front of the main building, on
the small square, is a brass gun, guarded by the
sentinel, whose measured tramp, lost in the hum of
day, marks the stillness of the night, and stops alone
beneath the belfry-post to chime the passing hour.
Throughout the day the enclosure presents an
animated scene of work and trafficking, by bustling
laborers, diligent mechanics, and eager traders, all to
the chorus clang of the smithy and reverberating
strokes of the carpenters. Horsemen dash to and fro
at the bidding of duty and pleasure, and an occasional
wagon creaks along upon the gravelly road-bed, sure
to pause for recuperating purposes before the trad
ing store, 21 where confused voices mingle with laugh
ter and the sometimes discordant strains of drunken
20 The first made in the country, he says, and strikingly superior to the
crude furniture of the Calif ornians, with rawhide and bullock -head chairs and
bed -stretchers. Suiter s Pers. JRem., MS., 164, et seq. Bryant describes the
dining-room as having merely benches and deal table, yet displaying silver
spoons and China bowls, the latter serving for dishes as well as cups. What I
Saw, 269-70.
21 One kept by Smith and Brannan. Prices at this time were $1 a foot for
horse-shoeing, $1 a bushel for wheat, peas $1.50, unbolted flour $8 a 100 U>s.
14 CALIFORNIA JUST PRIOR TO THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
singers. Such is the capital of the vast interior valley,
pregnant with approaching importance. In Decem
ber 1847 Sutter reported a white population of 289
in the district, with 16 half-breeds, Hawaiians, and
negroes, 479 tame Indians, and a large number of
gentiles, estimated with not very great precision at
21,873 for the valley, including the region above the
Buttes. 22 There are 60 houses in or near the fort,
and six mills and one tannery in the district; 14,000
fanegas of wheat were raised during the season, and
40,000 expected during the following year, besides
other crops. Sutter owns 12,000 cattle, 2,000 horses
and mules, from 10,000 to 15,000 sheep, and 1,000
hogs. 23 John Sinclair figures as alcalde, and George
McKinstry as sheriff.
The greater portion of the people round the fort
depend upon Sutter as permanent or temporary em
ploy ^s, the latter embracing immigrants preparing to
settle, and Mormons intent on presently proceeding
to Great Salt Lake. As a class they present a hardy,
backwoods type of rough exterior, relieved here and
there by bits of Hispano-Californian attire, in bright
sashes, wide sombreros, and jingling spurs. The na
tives appear probably to better advantage here than
elsewhere in California, in the body of half a hundred
well-clothed soldiers trained by Sutter, and among
his staff of steady servants and helpers, who have ac
quired both skill and neatness. A horde of subdued
savages, engaged as herders, tillers, and laborers, are
conspicuous by their half-naked, swarthy bodies; and
others may be seen moving about, bent on gossip or
trade, stalking along, shrouded in the all-shielding
blanket, which the winter chill has obliged them to
put on. Head and neck, however, bear evidence to
their love of finery, in gaudy kerchiefs, strings of beads,
and other ornaments.
32 McKinstry Pap., MS., 28.
28 There were 30 ploughs in operation. Suttees Pers. Bern., MS., 43. The
version reproduced in Sac. Co. Hist., 31, differs somewhat.
SUITER S FORT. 15
The fort is evidently reserved for a manor-seat, de
spite its bustle; for early in 1846 Sutter had laid
out the town of Sutterville, three miles below on the
Sacramento. This has now several houses, 24 having
received a great impulse from the location there, in
1847, of two companies of troops under Major Kings-
bury. It shares in the traffic regularly maintained
with San Francisco by means of a twenty-ton sloop,
the Amelia, belonging to Sutter and manned by half
a dozen savages. It is supported during the busy
season by. two other vessels, which make trips far up
the Sacramento and San Joaquin. The ferry at the
fort landing is merely a canoe handled by an Indian,
but a large boat is a-building. 25
Six miles up the American River, so called by Sut
ter as the pathway for American immigration, the
Mormons are constructing a flour-mill for him, 26 and
another party are in like manner engaged on a saw
mill building and race at Coloma Valley, forty miles
above, on the south fork. Opposite Sutter s Fort, on
the north bank of the American, John Sinclair, the
alcalde, holds the large El Paso rancho, 27 and above
him stretches the San Juan rancho of Joel P. Ded-
mond, facing the Leidesdorff grant on the southern
bank. 28 There is more land than men; instead of
100 acres, the neighbors do not regard 100,000 acres
as out of the way. Sutter s confirmed grant of eleven
leagues in due time is scattered in different direc
tions, owing to documentary and other irregularities.
A portion is made to cover Hock Farm on Feather
24 Sutter built the first house, Hadel and Zins followed the example, Zins
being the first real brick building erected in the country. Morse, Hist. Sac.,
places the founding in 1844.
25 As well as one for Montezuma. Col. Star, Oct. 23, 1847; Gregson s Stat.,
MS., 7..
26 With four pairs of stones, which was fast approaching completion. A
dam had been constructed, with a four-mile race. Description and progress
in Id.; Bights Diary, MS., 56-7; Sutter s Pers. Rem., MS., 159. Brighton
has now risen on the site.
27 Of some 44^000 acres, chiefly for his Hawaiian patron, E. Grimes.
28 Of 35,500 acres; Dedmond s was 20,000. Leidesdorff had erected a house
in 1846, at the present Routier s.
16 CALIFORNIA JUST PRIOR TO THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
River, 29 his chief stock-range, and also embracing fine
plantations. 30 On the east side of this region lies the
tract of Nicolaus Altgeier, 31 and along the north bank
of Bear River, Sebastian Keyser and the family of
William Johnson have located themselves; 32 oppo
site are two Frenchmen, Theodore Sicard and Claude
Chanon. The south bank of the Yuba is occupied
by Michael C. Nye, John Smith, and George Pat
terson. 33 Facing them, along Feather River, Theo
dore Cordua had settled in 1842, and established a
trading post, owning some 12,000 head of stock. 3 *
Charles Roether had in 1845 located himself on Hon-
cut Creek, and near him are now Edward A. Farwell
and Thomas Fallon. 35 The lands of Samuel Neal and
David Dutton are on Butte Creek; William North-
grave s place is on Little Butte; W. Dickey, Sanders,
and Yates had in 1845 taken up the tract on Chico
Creek which John Bidwell is at this time entering
upon. 36 Peter Lassen, the famous Danish trapper, had
settled on Deer Creek, and erected a mill and smithy, 37
granting a league to Daniel Sill, Sen. Moon s ranch
is held by W. C. Moon and Merritt. A. G. Toomes
occupies a tract north of the creek which bears his
29 A name applied by Sutter from the feather ornaments of the natives.
30 It was founded in 1841, and managed successively by Bidwell, Benitz,
S. J. Hensley, and Kanaka Jim. It had 5,000 head of cattle and 1,200 horses.
31 Who settled on the present site of Nicolaus. North of Hock Farm, C.
W. Fliigge had obtained a grant which was transferred to Consul Larkin.
32 On the five-league rancho given to P. Gutierrez, deceased, by Sutter, who
made several grants in the valley, by authority. They bought land and cattle
and divided.
33 Smith, who came first, in 1845, sold a part of his tract to Patterson.
The first two had nearly 2,000 head of stock.
34 This rancho, on the site of the present Marysville, he called New Meck
lenburg, in honor of his native German state. Chas Covillaud was manager;
trade relations were had with San Francisco.
35 The former on a grant claimed by Huber; the two latter on Farwell s
rancho.
36 Northgrave was a settler on the tract claimed by S. J. Hensley, but
disallowed afterward. James W. Marshall had abandoned his holding on the
same tract. The confirmed grants were Fernandez, 4 leagues; Arroyo Chico
of Bidwell, 5 leagues; Agua Fria of Pratt, 6 leagues; Llano Seco of Parrott,
4 leagues; Bosquejo of Lassen, 5 leagues; Boga of Larkin, 5 leagues; Esquon
of Neal, 5 leagues. The claims of Cambuston, Huber, Hensley} Nye, and
others were rejected.
37 BidwdVs Cal. 1841-8, MS., 231-2.
ALONG THE SACRAMENTO. 17
name, and above, on Antelope Creek, lives Job F.
Dye, below P. B. Reading, who ranks as the most
northern settler in the valley, on Cotton wood Creek, 38
one of the numerous tributaries here fed by the adja
cent snow-crowned summits dominated by the majes
tic Shasta.
Descending along the west bank of the Sacramento,
we encounter the rancho of William B. Ide, of Bear-flag
fame ; 39 below him, on Elder Creek, is William C. Chard,
and R. H. Thomes on the creek named after him. 40
On Stony Creek, whence Sutter obtains grindstones, 41
live Granville P. Swift, Franklin Sears, and Bryant;
below them John S. Williams has lately settled with
his wife, the first white woman in this region. 42 Watt
Anderson is found on Sycamore Slough, and on the
north side of Cache Creek the family of William Gor
don. 43 Eastward lies the rancho of William Knight, 44
and below him, facing the mouth of Feather River,
that of Thomas M. Hardy. 45 In a hut of tule, facing
the Sutter s-fort grant, lives John Schwartz, a reticent
uilder of airy castles upon his broad domain, and of
whom it is said that, having lost his own language,
he never learned another. A northern slice of his
land he sold to James McDowell and family. 46 On
Putah Creek, John R. Wolfskill had, since 1842, oc
cupied a four-league grant. Adjoining, on Ulattis
58 One Julian occupied it for him in 1845, and he himself settled theie in
1847.
3a Just below the present Red Bluff, a tract bought by him from Josiah
Belden. These northern grants averaged five leagues each.
40 He built the first dwelling in the county, on the site of Tehama
41 Cut by Moon, Merritt, and Lassen.
42 Of Colusa county, daughter of Jos. Gordon. He located himself two
miles south of Princeton, on the Larkin children s grant, with 800 head of
cattle, on shares with Larkin. M. Diaz claim to 11 leagues was rejected.
43 Who built the first dwelling in Yolo county, in 1842, on Quesisosi grant.
His son-in-law, Nathan Coombs, was probably the first white bridegroom in
the Sacramento Valley. Married by Sutter in 1844. His son William was
the first white child of Yolo county. Coombs soon moved to Napa Valley.
44 Who settled at the present Knight s Landing.
45 An Englishman, hostile to Americans.
46 McDowell built a log house at the present Washington, and was, in 1847,
presented with the first white girl of Yolo county. He paid Schwartz 12
cents an acre for GOO acres.
HIST. CAL., VOL. VI. 2
18 CALIFORNIA JUST PRIOR TO THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
Creek, extends the grant of Vaca and Pena, and at
its mouth are Feltis Miller J D. Hoppe, and Daniel
K. Berry.
Hence, down the Sacramento for four leagues
stretches the Ulpinos grant of John Bidwell, which
he sought to improve by sending, in 1846, a party
of immigrants to transform the lonely house then
standing there into a town. After a few months
suffering from hunger and hardships, the party aban
doned a site for which the Indian name of Halo Che-
muck, nothing to eat/ was for a time appropriately
retained. Charles D. Hoppe bought a fourth of the
tract in 1847/ 7 Equally unsuccessful was the con
temporaneous effort of L. W. Hastings, a Mormon
agent, to found the town of Montezuma, fifteen miles
below, at the junction of the Sacramento and San
Joaquin in Suisun Bay. His co-religionists objected
to the site as devoid of timber; yet he remained hope
ful, and ordered a windmill and ferry-boat to increase
the attractions of his solitary house.* 8
These efforts at city building indicate how widely
appreciated was the importance of a town which
should tap, not merely each section of the great val
ley, as at Sutter s Fort and Stockton, but the joint
outlet of the Sacramento and San Joaquin. It was
foreseen that hence would flow the main wealth of
the country, although the metallic nature of the first
current was little anticipated. The idea seems to
have struck simultaneously Bidwell, Hastings, and
Semple. The last named, with a judgment worthy of
the towering editor of the Ccdifornian, selected the bil
lowy slopes of the headland guarding the opening of
this western Bosphorus, the strait of Carquines, the
inner golden gate of San Francisco Bay. Indeed, the
47 The present town of Rio Vista lies just below the site. Another version
has it that the three families settled there were carried away by the gold-
fever, and that halachummuck was called out by Indians when they here
killed a party of starving hunters.
48 Col. Star, Oct. 23, 1847; Bu/um s Four Month*, 9 Here rose, later,
e hamlet of Collinsville.
NAPA AND SONOMA VALLEYS. 19
superiority of the site for a metropolis is unequalled on
the Pacific seaboard, and unsurpassed by any spot in
the world, lying as it does at the junction of the valley
outlet with the head of ocean navigation, with fine
anchorage and land-locked harbor, easy ferriage
across the bay, fine climate, smooth and slightly ris
ing ground, with a magnificent view over bays and
isles, and the lovely valley of the contra costa nestling
at the foot of Mount Diablo. And Benicia, as it
was finally called, prospered under the energetic man
agement. Although less than a year old, it now
boasted nearly a score of buildings, with two hundred
lots sold, a serviceable ferry, and with prospects that,
utterly eclipsing those of adjoining aspirants, were
creating a flutter of alarm in the city at the Gate. 49
Passing on the extreme right the Armijo rancho, 50
and proceeding up the Napa Valley, now famed alike
for its scenery and vineyards, we find a large number
of settlers. Foremost among them is the veteran
trapper, George Yount, who in 1836 built here the
first American block-house of the country, as well as
the first flour and saw mill, and extended warm hos
pitality to subsequent comers. North of him entered
soon afterward J. B. Chiles and William Pope into
the small valleys bearing their names, and E. T.
Bale and John York. 51 The Berreyesa brothers oc
cupy their large valley across the range, on the head
waters of Putah Creek; and on the site of the present
Napa City, just about to be laid out, stand the two
houses of Cayetano Juarez and Nicolas Higuera, who
had settled on this spot in 1840, followed by Salvador
Vallejo, and later by Joel P. Walker and Nathan
49 Stephen Cooper was alcalde. For other names, see preceding volume, v.
672 et seq.
50 Properly in Suisun Valley, near the present Fairfield, where bordered
also the grants of Suisun and Suscol, the latter claimed by Vallejo, but which
claim was rejected. Mare Island was used as a stock-range by V. Castro,
its yrantee.
51 At the present St Helena and Calistoga, respectively. With Yount was
C. Hopper; with Pope, Barnett; and with Chiles, Baldridge. Below extended
the Chimiles grant of J. I. Berreyesa.
20 CALIFORNIA JUST PRIOR TO THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
Coombs; ana by John Rose and J. C. Davis, who in
1846 built a schooner here, and were now erecting a
mill for Vallejo. 52 Northward, in the region round
Clear Lake, Stone and Kelsey occupy a stock-range,
and George Rock holds the Guenoc rancho. 53
The similar and parallel valley of Sonoma, signifying
of the moon, is even more thickly occupied under
the auspices of M. G. Vallejo, the potentate of this
region and ranking foremost among Hispano-Cal-
ifornians. This town of Sonoma, founded as a pre
sidio thirteen years before, near the dilapidated mis
sion Solano, claims now a population of 260, under
Alcalde Lilburn W. Boggs, with twoscore houses,
among which the two-story adobe of the general is
regarded as one of the most imposing in the country.
The barrack is occupied by a company of New York
volunteers under Captain Brackett, which adds greatly
to the animation of the place. Several members of
Vallejo s family occupy lands above and below on
Sonoma Creek, as, for instance, Jacob P. Leese; west
ward on Petaluma Creek, Juan Miranda and family
have settled; above are James Hudspeth, the large
frant of the Carrillos, 54 and the fertile ranchos of
lark West and John B. R. Cooper, the latter with
mill and smithy. At Bodega, Stephen Smith had
in 1846 established a saw-mill, worked by the first
steam-engine in California, and obtained a vast grant, 55
which embraced the former Russian settlement with
its dismantled stockade fort. Edward M. Mclntosh
and James Dawson s widow hold the adjoining ran
chos of Jonive and Pogolomi, the latter having planted
a vineyard on the Estero Americano. Above on the
52 There were a number of other settlers, nearly four score, by this time,
and two saw-mills and two flour-mills. CuL Star, Jan. 22, April 1, 1848.
53 Of 21,000 acres. J. P. Leese and the Vallejos had stock, the latter claim
ing the Lupyomi tract of 16 leagues, which was rejected, and Rob F Ridley
that of Collayomi of 8,000 acres, which was confirmed.
61 Mrs Carrillo s covering the present Santa Rosa, and Joaquin Carrillo s
that of Sebastopol.
55 Of 35,000 acres. Both men had been sailors, the former from Scotland,
the other from Erin.
THE NORTHERN SEABOARD. 21
coast are the tracts of William Benhz and Ernest
Rufus, the latter with a grist-mill. 58 Along Russian
River stretches the Sotoyome grant of H. D. Fitch,
with vineyards and mill. 57 Cyrus Alexander, lately
Fitch s agent, had occupied Alexander Valley, and
below him now live Lindsay Carson and Louis Le
gend re. 58
The hilly peninsula between the bay and ocean,
named after the Indian chief Marin, is indebted for a
comparatively compact occupation mainly to its posi
tion relative to other settlements, and to the impulse
given by the now secularized and decaying mission
establishment of San Rafael. This lovely spot was
budding into a town, and contained several settlers, 59
besides Tiinoteo Murphy, in charge of the mission es
tate. Above extend the tracts of Novato 60 and Ni-
casio, the latter owned by James Black, 61 and adjoin
ing, those of Ramon Mesa and Bartolome Bojorques.
Rafael Garcia and Gregorio Briones are located on
the ranehos of Tomales and Bolinas, owning many
cattle; and William A. Richardson holds that of Sau-
zalito, which is already an anchorage and supply sta
tion, 62 yet with aspirations cramped by the closely
pressing hills, and overshadowed by the looming me
tropolis. 83
56 Erected by H. Hiigler on Walhalla River, -which is now usually called
Gualala River.
57 Covering the present site of Healdsburg.
58 Among other settlers may be mentioned Frank Bedwell, Mose Carson,
Fred. Starke, Hoeppner, Wilson, the Pinas, and the Gordons.
39 Among them Mrs Merriner and sons, Jacob and J. O. B. ; Short and
Mrs Miller near by. Ignacio Pacheco was justice of the peace.
60 Obtained by F. Fales in 1839 and transferred to Leese.
1 Who had obtained it from J. O Farrell, in exchange for his grant near
Bodega.
62 The earliest settler here, since 1826, had been John J. Read, who subse
quently obtained the Corte de Madera rancho, where he planted orchards and
erected a grist-mill, followed by a saw-mill in 1843, the year of his death.
Angel Island was for a time occupied by A. M. Osio. Among other settlers
were Martin and Tom Wood, the latter a famous vaquero.
63 On the map presented I mark with preference the names of settlers,
giving the rancho only when the actual holder is in doubt, as represented by
proxy or tenant, or claiming merely by virtue of grant. The preceding mat
ter has been drawn from official documents, books, and manuscripts, with uo
small supplementing by the mouths of living men
22 CALIFORNIA JUST PRIOR TO THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
Such is the detail of the picture which I wish to
present of central and northern California in Jan
uary 1848. I will complete it with some generalities
of physical features and population, thus giving as a
whole the inhabitants and their environment.
It is the dawn of history in these parts, presently
to be followed by a golden sunlight flooding the
whole western world. All along the centuries Cali
fornia had lain slumbering, wrapt in obscurity, and
lulled by the monotone of ocean. The first fitful
dreams of explorers in search of an ever-eluding
strait, of cities stored with treasures, had subsided
into pastoral scenes, with converts and settlers clus
tering round white-walled missions in the shadow of
the cross. Then came the awakening, impelled by a
ruder invasion of soldiers and land-greedy backwoods
men, the premonitory ripple of international interest
and world-absorbing excitement.
Strewn lavishly about is what men most covet, those
portions of nature s handiwork called wealth and
wealth-making material, the acquisition of which is the
great burden progressive men conventionally lay upon
themselves as the price of their civilization. These
resources reveal themselves in the long snow-clad
uplands of the Sierra, with their timber and metals, in
the northern foothills, revelling in perennial spring,
and in the semi-tropic vegetation of the central and
southern valleys. The extremes of heat and cold, of
desert aridity and unhealthy rankness, are rare and
of small extent, serving rather to illustrate as rem
nants the method and means of nature in producing
one of her masterpieces. Such are the unsightly
marshes in different localities; the Colorado desert
bordering the river of that name, and its link along
the eastern declivity of the Sierra Nevada with the
great basin of the interior, which in the south is
marked by a dismal stretch of bare ridges and inter
vening valleys of sand and volcanic scoria, with occa
sional muddy salt pools and cracked surfaces frosted
SOME PHYSICAL FEATURES. 23
with alkali, and in the south by a rugged lake basin.
Yet even here the evil is superficial, for nature has
left compensation in many valuable minerals; and
art promises to continue her task of reclamation by
means of palm-lined canals, health-bringing eucalyptus
groves, and rain-inviting forests.
It is a terrane younger than the eastern seaboard,
wrought not by the same slow and prosy process
of ordinary strata formation, but in many a fit of pas
sion, with upheavals and burstings asunder, with surg
ing floods and scorching blasts. The soil yet quivers
and is quick with electric force, and climatic moods
are fitful as ever; here a gentle summer s holiday,
there a winter of magnificent disorder; between, ex
hilarating spring, with buds and freshness, and beyond,
a torrid fringe, parched and enervating. Side by
side in close proximity are decided differences, with
a partial subordination of latitude and season to
local causes. Thus, on the peninsula of San Francisco
winter appears in vernal warmth and vigor, and sum
mer as damp and chilly autumn, while under the shel
ter of some ridge, or farther from the ocean, summer
is hot and arid, and winter cold and frosty.
While configuration permits surprises, it also tem
pers them, and as a rule the variations are not sud
den. The sea breezes are fairly constant whenever
their refreshing presence is most needed, leaving
rarely a night uncooled; and the seasons are marked
enough within their mild extremes. At San Fran
cisco a snow-fall is almost unknown, and a thunder
storm or a hot night extremely rare. Indeed, the
sweltering days number scarcely half a dozen during
the year. The average temperature is about 56 de
grees Fahrenheit, which is the mean for spring.. In
summer and autumn this rises to 60 and 59, respect
ively, falling in winter to 51, while at Sacramento the
average is 58 degrees, with 56, 69, 61, and 45 for
the four seasons respectively. At Humboldt Bay, in
the north, the temperature varies from 43 degrees in
24 CALIFORNIA JUST PRIOR TO THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
the winter to 57 in the summer, averaging 51 -^; and
at San Diego, in the south, it ranges as the extremes
from 52 to 71 degrees, 6 * while the average of summer
and winter and night and day does not vary over ten
degrees.
In summer an equilibrium is approached; in winter
the tiresome reserve is broken. By early autumn a
wide-spread deadness obtains ; the hills wear a bleached
appearance, the smaller streams are empty, the plain
is parched and dusty, the soil cracked in fissures from
excessive dryness; green fields have turned sere and
yellow, and the weeds snap like glass when trodden
on. It is the period of nature s repose. The grass is
not dead, but sleepeth. When the winter rains begin,
in November, after a respite of six months, vegetal
life revives; the softened soil puts on fresh garments;
the arid waste blossoms into a garden. The cooler
air of winter condenses the vapor-laden winds of ocean,
which, during the preceding months, are sapped of
their moisture by the hot and thirsty air. And all
this is effected with only half the amount of rain fall
ing in the Atlantic states, the average at San Fran
cisco being little over twenty inches annually, at
Sacramento one tenth less, and at San Diego one
half; while in the farther north the fall is heavier and
more evenly distributed.
In this dry, exhilarating atmosphere the effect of
the sun is not so depressing as in moister regions, and
with cool, refreshing nights, the hottest days are bear
able. It is one of the most vitalizing of climates for
mind and body, ever stimulating to activity and en
joyment. Land and sea vie with each other in life-
giving supremacy, while man steps in to enjoy the
benefits. When the one rises in undue warmth, the
other frowns it down; when one grows cold and sul
len, the other beams in happy sunshine. Winds and
64 Severe extremes are confined to a few torrid spots like Fort Yuma, and
to the summits of the eastern ranges. Comprehensive data on climate in
HitteWs Comm. and Indust., 62-81.
THE AWAKENING AT HAND. 25
currents, sun and configuration, the warm stream
from ancient Cathay, and the dominating mountains,
all aid in the equalization of differences.
Thus lay the valley of California a-dreaming, with
visions of empire far down the vistas of time, when
behold, the great awakening is already at hand ! Even
now noiseless bells are ringing the ingathering of the
nations; for here is presently to be found that cold,
impassive element which civilization accepts as its
symbol of the Most Desirable, and for which accord
ingly all men perform pilgrimage and crusade, to toil
and fight and die.
CHAPTER II.
THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD.
JANUARY, 1848.
SITUATION OF SUTTER His NEED OF LUMBER SEARCH FOR A MILL SITE IN
THE MOUNTAINS CULUMA JAMES W. MARSHALL THE BUILDING OF A
SAW-MILL DETERMINED UPON A PARTY SETS FORTH ITS PERSONNEL
CHARACTER OF MARSHALL THE FINDING OF GOLD WHAT MARSHALL
AND HIS MEN THOUGHT OF IT MARSHALL RIDES TO NEW HELVETIA AND
INFORMS S UTTER THE INTERVIEW SUTTER VISITS THE MILL ATTEMPT
TO SECURE THE INDIAN TITLE TO THE LAND.
JOHN A. SUTTER was the potentate of the Sacra
mento, as we have seen. He had houses and lands,
flocks and herds, mills and machinery; he counted his
skilled artisans by the score, and his savage retainers
by the hundred. He was, moreover, a man of prog
ress. Although he had come from cultured Europe,
and had established himself in an American wilderness,
he had no thought of drifting into savagism.
Among his more pressing wants at this moment
was a saw-mill. A larger supply of lumber was needed
for a multitude of purposes. Fencing was wanted.
The flour-mills, then in course of construction at
Brighton, would take a large quantity; the neighbors
would buy some, and boards might profitably be sent
to San Francisco, instead of bringing them from that
direction. 1 There were no good forest trees, with
1 Since 1845 Sutter had obtained lumber from the mountains, got ont by
whip-saws. BidwelVs Gal. 1841-8, MS., 226. The author of this most valu
able manuscript informs me further that Sutter had for years contemplated
building a saw-mill in order to avoid the labor and cost of sawing lumber by
hand in the redwoods on tfie coast, and bringing it round by the bay in his
vessel. With this object he at various times sent exploring parties into the
(26)
CULUMA, BEAUTIFUL VALE. 27
the requisite water-power, nearer than the foothills of
the mountains to the east. Just what point along
this base line would prove most suitable, search would
determine; and for some time past this search had
been going on, until it was interrupted by the war of
conquest. The war being over, explorations were
renewed.
Twoscore miles above Sutter s Fort, a short dis
tance up the south branch of American River, the
rocky gateway opens, and the mountains recede to the
south, leaving in their wake softly rounded hills cov
ered with pine, balsam, and oak, while on the north
are somewhat abrupt and rocky slopes, patched with
grease-wood and chemisal, and streaked with the
deepening shades of narrow gulches. Between these
bounds is a valley four miles in circumference, with
red soil now covered by a thin verdure, shaded here
and there by low bushes and stately groves. Culuma,
beautiful vale, 2 the place was called. At times sunk
in isolation, at times it was stirred by the presence
of a tribe of savages bearing its name, whose several
generations here cradled, after weary roaming, sought
repose upon the banks of a useful, happy, and some
times frolicsome stream. Within the half-year civil
ization had penetrated these precincts, to break the
periodic solitude with the sound of axe and rifle;
for here the saw-mill men had come, marking their
course by a tree-blazed route, presently to show the
way to the place where was now to be played the first
scene of a drama which had for its audience the world.
Among the retainers of the Swiss hacendado at
this time was a native of New Jersey, James Wilson
Marshall, a man of thirty-three years, who after drift
ing in the western states as carpenter and farmer, 3
mountains. Bidwell himself, in company with Semple, was on one of these
unsuccessful expeditions in 1846. Mrs Wimmer states that in June 1847 she
made ready her household effects to go to Battle Creek, where a saw-mill was
to be erected, but the men changed their plans and went to Coloma.
2 We of to-day write Colorna. and apply the name to the town risen there.
3 Born in 1812 iu Hope township, Hunterdon county, New Jersey, where
28 THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD.
came hither by way of Oregon to California. In July
1845 he entered the service of Sutter, and was duly
valued as a good mechanic. By and by he secured a
grant of land on Butte Creek, 4 on which he placed
some live-stock, and went to work. During his ab
sence in the war southward, this was lost or stolen;
and somewhat discouraged, he turned again to Sutter,
and readily entered into his views for building a saw
mill. 5
The old difficulty of finding a site still remained,
and several exploring excursions were now made by
Marshall, sometimes accompanied by Sutter, and by
others in Sutter s service. 6 On the 16th of May, 1847,
Marshall set out on one of these journeys, accompanied
by an Indian guide and two white men, Treador and
Graves. 7 On the 20th they were joined by one Gin
gery, who had been exploring with the same object
on the Cosumnes. They travelled up the stream
now called Weber Creek to its head, pushed on to
the American River, discovered Culuma, arid settled
upon this place as the best they had found, uniting
as it did the requisite water-power and timber, with a
his father had initiated him into his trade as wagon-builder. Shortly after
his twenty-first birthday the prevailing west ward current of migration carried
him through Indiana and Illinois to Missouri. Here he took up a homestead
land claim, and bid fair to prosper, when fever and ague brought him low,
whereupon, in 1844, he sought the Pacific Coast. Parxonx Life of Marshall,
6-8. He started in May 1844, and crossed by way of Fort Hall to Ore gon,
where he wintered. He then joined the McMahon-Clyman party for Califor
nia. See Hist. Cal., iv. 731, this series.
4 Bought, says Parsons, from S. J. Hensley.
Marshall claims to have first proposed the scheme to Sutter. Hutchinys
Mag., ii. 199. This is doubtful, as shown elsewhere, and is in any event
immaterial.
6 Marshall says that while stocking the ploughs, three men, Gingery, Wim-
mer, and McLellan, who had heard of his contemplated trip, undertook one
themselves, after obtaining what information and directions they could from
Marshall. Wimmer found timber and a trail on what is now known as the
Diamond Springs road, and the 13th of May he and Gingery began work some
thirteen miles west of the place where the Shingle Springs house subsequently
stood. Gingery was afterward with Marshall when the latter discovered the
site of the Coloma mill.
7 Marshall implies that this was his first trip. Sutter states definitely,
He went out several times to look for a site. I was with him twice on these
occasions. I was not with* him when he determined the site of the mill.
Butter s Pers. Jtem., MS., 160-1.
BUILDING THE MILL. 29
possible roadway to the fort. 8 Sutter resolved to
lose no time in erecting the mill, and invited Marshall
O
to join him as partner. 9 The agreement was signed
in the latter part of August, 10 and shortly afterward
Marshall set out with his party, carrying tools and
supplies on Mexican ox-carts, and driving a flock of
sheep for food. A week was occupied by the journey. 11
Shelter being the first thing required on arrival, a
double log house was erected, with a passage-way
between the two parts, distant a quarter of a mile or
more from the mill site. 12 Subsequently two other
cabins were constructed nearer the site. By New-
Year s day the mill frame had risen, and a fortnight
8 Marshall estimated that even then the lumber would have to be hauled
18 miles, and could be rafted the rest of the way. A mission Indian, the
alcalde of the Cosumnes, is said to have been sent to solve some doubts con
cerning the site. Marshall must indeed have been well disciplined. Not
many men of his temperament would have permitted an Indian to verify his
doubted word.
9 A contract was drawn up by John Bidwell, clerk, in which Sutter agreed
to furnish the men and means, while Marshall was to superintend the con
struction, and conduct work at the mill after its completion. It is difficult
to determine what the exact terms of this contract were. Sutter merely re
marks that he gave Marshall an interest in the mill. Pers. Item., MS., 160.
Bidwell says nothing more than that he drew up the agreement. Cal. 1841-8,
MS., 228. Marshall, in his communication to llutchinys Mcujazi/ie, con
tents himself with saying that after returning from his second trip, the co
partnership was completed. Parsons, in his Life of Marshall, 79-80, is more
explicit. The terms of this agreement, he writes, were to the effect that
Sutter should furnish the capital to build a mill on a site selected by Marshall,
who was to be the active partner, and to run the mill, receiving certain com
pensation for so doing. A verbal agreement was also entered into between
the "parties, to the effect that if at the close of the Mexican war then pending
California should belong to Mexico, Sutter as a citizen of that republic should
possess the mill site, Marshall retaining his rights to mill privileges, and to
cut timber, etc.; while if the country was ceded to the United States, Mar
shall as an American citizen should own the property. In the same work, p.
177, is an affidavit of John Winters, which certifies that he, Winters, and
Alden S. Bagley purchased, in Dec. 1848, John A. Sutter s interest in the
Coloma mill which interest was one half for $6,000, and also a third of the
interest of Marshall for $2,000, which implies that Marshall then owned the
other half. Mrs Wimmer, in her narrative, says that Sutter and Marshall
were equal partners. S. F. Bulletin, Dec. 19, 1874.
10 Marshall says Aug. 27th; Parsons, Aug. 19th; Bidwell, in a letter to the
author, Aug. or Sept.
11 Mrs Wimmer makes the time a fortnight.
12 One part of the house was occupied by the men, and the other part by
the Wimmers, Mrs Wimmer cooking for the company. About the close of
the year, however, a dispute arose, whereupon the men built for themselves a
cabin near the half-completed mill, and conducted their own culinary depart
ment. Their food was chiefly salt salmon and boiled wheat. Wimmer s
young sons assisted with the teaming.
30
THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD.
later the brush dam was finished, although not till
the fortitude of Marshall and his men had been tried
by a flood which threatened to sweep away the whole
structure.
Another trouble arose with the tail-race. In order
to economize labor, a dry channel had been selected,
forty or fifty rods long, which had to be deepened and
widened. This involved some blasting at the upper
end; but elsewhere it was found necessary merely to
loosen the earth in the bed, throwing out the larger
iMiiiia N I
SCENE OF DISCOVERY.
stones, and let the water during the night pass through
the sluice-gate to wash away the debris.
It was a busy scene presented at this advance post
of civilization, at the foot of the towering Sierra, and
it was fitly participated in by eight aboriginal lords of
the soil, partly trained at New Helvetia. The half-
score of white men were mostly Mormons of the dis
banded battalion, even now about to turn their faces
toward the new Zion. A family was represented in
the wife and children of Peter L. Wimmer, 13 the as-
13 Original form of name appears to have been Weimer, corrupted by Eng-
THE MILL MEN. 31
slstant of Marshall, and occupied in superintending the
Indians digging in the race. Henry W. Bigler was
drilling at its head; Charles Bennett and William
Scott were working at the bench ; Alexander Stephens
and James Barger were hewing timber; Azariah
Smith and William Johnson were felling trees; and
James O. Brown was whip-sawing with a savage. 1 *
They were a cheerful set, working with a will, yet
with a touch of insouciance, imparted to some extent
by the picturesque Mexican sombrero and sashes, and
sustained by an interchange of banter at the sim
plicity or awkwardness of the savages. In Marshall
they had a passable master, though sometimes called
queer. He was a man fitted by physique and tem
perament for the backwoods life, which had lured and
held him. Of medium size, strong rather than well
developed, his features were coarse, with a thin beard
round the chin and mouth, cut short like the brown
hair; broad forehead and penetrating eyes, by no
means unintelligent, yet lacking intellectuality, at
times gloomily bent on vacancy, at times flashing with
impatience. 15 He was essentially a man of moods;
his mind was of dual complexion. In the plain and
lish pronunciation to Wimmer. Bigler, Diary, MS., 60, has Werner, which
approaches the Weitner form.
u Among those who had set out with Marshall upon the first expedition of
construction were Ira Willis, Sidney Willis, William Kountze, and Ezekiel
Persons. The Willis brothers and Kountze returned to the fort in Septem
ber 1847, the two former to assist Sutter in throwing a dam across the Amer
ican River at the grist-mill, and the latter on account of ill health. Mention
is made of one Evans, sent by Sutter with Bigler, Smith, and Johnson, Ben
nett and Scott following a little later; but whether Evans or Persons were on
the ground at this time, or had left, no one states. Bigler, Stephens, Brown,
Barger, Johnson, Smith, the brothers Willis, and Kountze had formerly be
longed to the Mormon battalion.
15 Broad enough across the chest, free and natural in movement, he thought
lightly of fatigue and hardships. His complexion was a little shaded; the
mouth declined toward the corners; the nose and head were well shaped. In
this estimate I am assisted by an old daguerreotype lying before me, and
which reminds me of Marshall s answer to the editor of Hatchings Magazine
in 1857, when asked for his likeness. I wish to say that I feel it a duty I
owe to myself, he writes from Coloma the 5th of Sept., to retain my like
ness, as it is in fact all I have that I can call my own ; and I feel like any other
poor wretch, I want something for self. The sale of it may yet keep me
from starving, or it may buy me a dose of medicine in sickness, or pay for
the funeral of a dog, and such is all that I expect, judging from former kind
nesses. I owe the country nothing.
32 THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD.
proximate, he was sensible and skilful; in the obscure
and remote, he was utterly lost. In temper it was
so; with his companions and subordinates he was
free and friendly; with his superiors and the world
at large he was morbidly ill-tempered and surly. 16
He was taciturn, with visionary ideas, linked to
spiritualism, that repelled confidence, and made him
appear eccentric and morbid; he was restless, yet
capable of self-denying perseverance that was fre
quently stamped as obstinacy. 17
Early in the afternoon of Monday, the 24th 18 of
16 For example, Bigler, who worked under him, says of him, Diary, MS.,
57, An entire stranger to us, but proved to be a gentleman; and again, 72,
in a first-rate good humor, as he most always was. He was a truthful man,
so far as he knew the truth. Whatever Mr Marshall tells you, you may rely
on as correct, said the people of Coloma to one writing in Hutchings* Mag.,
ii. 201. This is the impression he made on his men. On the other hand, Sut-
ter, who surely knew him well enough, and would be the last person to
malign any one, says to the editor of the Lancaster Examiner: Marshall was
like a crazy man. He -\vas one of those visionary men who was always dream
ing about something. And to me Sutter remarked; He was a very curious
man, quarrelled with nearly everybody, though I could get along with him.
Pers. Hem., MS., 1GO.
17 Passionate, he was seldom violent; strong, he was capable of drinking
deeply and coming well out of it; but he did not care much for the pleasures of
intoxication, nor was he the drunkard and gambler that some have called him.
He was not always actuated by natural causes. Once in a restaurant in San
Francisco, in company with Sutter, he broke out: Are we alone? Yes,
Sutter said. No, we are not, Marshall replied, there is a body there which
you cannot see, but which I can. I have been inspired by heaven to act as a
medium, and I am to tell Major-General Sutter what to do. But though
foolish in some directions, he was in others a shrewd observer. Sutter, Pcrs.
Rem., MS., 1GO, and Bid well, Gal. 1841-8, MS., 228, both praise him as a
mechanic; and though in some respects a fool, he is still called an honest
man. Barstow s Stat., MS., 14; S. F. Alta Gal., Aug. 17, 1874. To dress,
naturally, he paid but little attention. He was frequently seen in white
linen trousers, buckskin leggings and moccasons, and Mexican sombrero.
18 The 19th of January is the date usually given; but I am satisfied it is
incorrect. There are but two authorities to choose between, Marshall, the
discoverer, and one Henry W. Bigler, a Mormon engaged upon the work at
the time. Besides confusion of mind in other respects, Marshall admits that
he does not know the date. On or about the 19th of January, he says,
Hutching* 1 Magazine, ii. 200; I am not quite certain to a day, but it was
between the 18th or 20th. Whereupon the 19th has been generally accepted.
Bigler, on the other hand, was a cool, clear-headed, methodical man; more
over, he kept a journal, in which he entered occurrences on the spot, and it
is from this journal I get my date. If further evidence be wanting, we have
it. Marshall states that four days after the discovery he proceeded to New
Helvetia with specimens. Now, by reference to another journal, N~ Helvetia
Diary, we find that Marshall arrived at the fort on the evening of the 28th.
If we reckon the day of discovery as one of the four days, allow Marshall one
IN THE TAIL-RACE. 33
January, 1848, while sauntering along the tail-race
inspecting the work, Marshall noticed yellow particles
mingled with the excavated earth which had been
washed by the late rains. He gave it little heed at
first; but preseatly seeing more, and some in scales,
the thought occurred to him that possibly it might be
gold. Sending an Indian to his cabin for a tin plate,
he washed out some of the dirt, separating thereby as
much of the dust as a ten-cent piece would hold; then
he went about his business, stopping a while to ponder
on the matter. During the evening he remarked
once or twice quietly, somewhat doubtingly, "Boys, I
believe I have found a gold mine." "I reckon not,"
was the response; "no such luck."
Up betimes next morning, according to his custom,
he walked down by the race to see the effect of the
night s sluicing, the head-gate being closed at day
break as usual. Other motives prompted his investi
gation, as may be supposed, and led to a closer exam
ination of the debris. On reaching the end of the
race a glitter from beneath the water caught his eye,
and bending down he picked from its lodgement
against a projection of soft granite, some six inches
below the surface, a larger piece of the yellow sub
stance than any he had seen. If gold, it was in value
equal to about half a dollar. As he examined it his
heart began to throb. Could it indeed be gold! Or
was it only mica, or sulphuret of copper, or other
ignis fatuus! Marshall was no metallurgist, yet he
had practical sense enough to know that gold is heavy
and malleable; so he turned it over, and weighed it in
his hand; then he bit it; and then he hammered it
between two stones. It must be gold! And the
mighty secret of the Sierra stood revealed I
Marshall took the matter coolly; he was a cool
enough man except where his pet lunacy was touched.
On further examination he found more of the metal.
night on the way, which Parsons gives him, and count the 28th one day, we
have the 24th as the date of discovery, trebly proved.
HIST. CAL., VOL. VI. 3
34 THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD.
He went to his companions and showed it to them, and
they collected some three ounces of it, flaky and in
grains, the largest piece not quite so large as a pea,
and from that down to less than a pin-head in size.
Half of this he put in his pouch, and two days later
mounted his horse and rode over to the fort. 19
19 The events which happened at Coloma in January 1848 are described
by four persons who were actually present. These are Bigler, Marshall, and
Wimmer and his wife. Of these Bigler has hitherto given nothing to the
public except a brief letter published in the San Francisco Bulletin, Dec. 31,
1870. To me, however, he kindly presented an abstract of the diary which
he kept at the time, with elaborations and comments, and which I esteem as
one of the most valuable original manuscripts in my possession. The version
given in this diary I have mainly followed in the text, as the most complete
and accurate account. The others wrote from memory, long after the event;
and it is to be feared too often from a memory distorted by a desire to exalt
their respective claims to an important share in the discovery. But Bigler
has no claims of this kind to support. He was not present when the first parti
cles were discovered, nor when the first piece was picked up in the race;
hence of these incidents he says little, confining himself mostly to what he saw
with his own eyes. Marshall claims to have been alone when he made the
discovery. It is on this point that the original authorities disagree. Bigler
says Marshall went down the race alone. Mrs Wimmer and her husband de
clare that the latter was with Marshall, and saw the gold at the same moment,
though both allow that Marshall was the first to stoop and pick it up. Later
Mrs Wimmer is allowed to claim the first discovery for her children, who show
their findings to their father, he informing Marshall, or at least enlightening
him as to the nature of the metal. Marshall tells his own story in a com
munication signed by him and published in Hutching S* May., ii. 199-201, and
less fully in a letter to C. E. Pickett, dated Jan. 28, 1856, in HitteWs Hand-
Book of Mining, 12; Wiggins Rem., MS., 17-18; and in various brief accounts
given to newspapers and interviewers. Parsons Life of Marshall is based on
information obtained directly from the discoverer, and must ever constitute a
leading authority on the subject. P. L. Wimmer furnished a brief account of
the discovery to the Coloma Argus in 1855, which is reprinted in HitteU s
Mining, 13. Mrs Wimmer s version, the result of an interview with Mary P.
Winslow, was first printed in the 8. F. Bulletin, Dec. 19, 1874, though the
substance of a previous interview with another person in 1852 is given in the
Gilroy Advocate, April 24, 1875. Another class of authorities, as important
as the foregoing, is composed of those who were the first to hear of the dis
covery, and appeared on the ground immediately afterward. Foremost among
these is Sutter. This veteran has at various times given accounts of the event
to a number of persons, the best perhaps being those printed by J. Tyrwhitt
Brooks in his Four Months among the Gold-finders, 40--71, in the Gilroy Advo
cate ot Apr. 24, 1875, and in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, July 17, 1875, the latter
taken from the Lancaster Examiner. Sutter s most complete printed narra
tive appears, however, in Hutch-ings Mag. , ii. 194-8. But more important
than any of these, because more detailed and prepared with greater care, is
the version contained in the manuscript entitled Sutter s Personal Reminis
cences, which I personally obtained from his lips. The same may be said of
those given in the manuscripts of John Bidwell, California 1841-8, and of
Gregson, Historical Statement, both of whom were at New Helvetia when the
news first reached there, and at once visited Coloma. Provoked by an article
in the Oregon Bulletin, with not very flattering reflections, Samuel Brannan
made a statement in the Calistoga Tribune, which changed matters in no im
portant particular. To attempt to give a list of all who have touched upon
ANCIENT GOLD-FIELDS. 35
Great discoveries stand more or less connected with
accident; that is to say, accidents which are sure to
happen. Newton was not seeking the law of gravi
tation, nor Columbus a new continent, nor Marshall
gold, when these things were thrust upon them. And
had it not been one of these, it would have been
some one else to make the discovery. Gold fevers
have had their periodic run since time immemorial,
when Scythians mined the Ural, and the desert of
Gobi lured the dwellers on the Indus; or when Ophir,
the goal of Phoenician traders, paled before the splen
dor of Apulia. The opening of America caused a re
vival which the disclosures by Cortes and Pizarro
turned into a virulent epidemic, raging for centuries,
the discovery of gold in California would be of no practical benefit to any one.
Next in importance, but throwing no additional light upon the subject, are
those in Alta CaL, June 26, 1853, May 5, 1872, June 26, 1873, and Aug. 18
and 19, 1874; Hays Col. Mining Cal.,\. 1; 8. F. Bulletin, Feb. 4, 1871, Jan.
12, 1872, Oct. 21, 1879, May 12, 1880; Scientific Press, May 11, 1872; Browned
Resources, 14-15; Batch s Mines and Miners, 78; Farnham s Cat., 354-6;
London Quarterly Review, xci. 507-8; California Past and Present, 73-105;
Weik, Cat. wie as ist, 29-51; Brooks Hist., 534; Mason s Official Rept; Lar-
kiit s Letters, to Secy State; Robinson s Gold Region, 33-46; Foster s Gold
Regions, 17-22; Shinn s Mining Camps, 105-22; Wiggins Rem., MS., 17-18;
Frost s Hist. CaL, 39-55; Jenkins U. S. Expl. Ex. , 43 1-2; Oakland Times,
Mar. 6, 1880; Revere s Tour of Duty, 228-52; Schlagintweit, CaL, 216; Wf*t
Shore Gaz., 15; SanJos6Pion.eer,Jan. 19, 1878; Pfeiffer, Second Journey, 290,
who is as accurate as excursionists generally are; Frignet, Hist. CaL, 79-80;
Merced People, June 18, 1872; Mining Rev. and Slock Ledger, 1878, 126;
Barxtow s Stat., MS., 3; Buffam s Six Months, 67-8; Treasury of Travel, 92-4;
Leivitt s Scrap-Book; Nevada Gazette, Jan. 22, 1868; Holinski, La CaL, 144;
Grass Valley Union, April 19, 1870; Sacramento Illust., 7; Saxon s Five Years
within the Golden Gate; Auger, Voyage en Calif ornie, 149-56; Annals of S. F.,
130-2; CaL Assoc. Pioneer, First Annual, 42; Capron s California, 184-5;
Bennett s Rec., MS., ii. 10-13. I have hardly thought it worth while to
notice the stories circulated at various times questioning Marshall s claim
as discoverer; as, for example, that Wimmer, or his boy, as before mentioned,
was the first to pick up gold; or that a native, called Indian Jim, observed
the shining metal, a piece as large as a brass button, which he gave to one of
the workmen, Sailor Ike, who showed it to Marshall. Even men away from
the spot at the time do not decline the honor. Gregson writes in his State
ment, MS., 9, we, the discoverers of gold, and in his History of Stockton,
73, Tinkham says: To those two pioneers of 1839 and 1841, Captain John
A. Sutter and Captain Charles M. Weber, belong the honor of discovering
the first gold-fields of California, and to them the state owes its wonderful
growth and prosperity. These men were neither of them the discoverers of
gold in any sense, nor were they the builders of this commonwealth. Some
have claimed that the Mormons discovered the gold at Mormon Island,
before Marshall found it at Coloma. Bidwell says that Brigham Young in
1864 assured him that this was the case. CaL 1841-8, MS., 214. Such man
ifest errors and misstatements are unworthy of serious consideration. There
is jiot the slightest doubt that Marshall was the discoverer.
36 THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD.
ever stimulated by advancing exploration and piratical
adventure. Every step northward in Mexico con
firmed the belief in still richer lands beyond, and gave
food for flaming tales like those told by Friar Marcos
de Niza.
Opinions were freely expressed upon the subject,
some of them taking the form of direct assertions.
These merit no attention. Had ever gold been found
in Marin county, we might accredit the statement of
Francis Drake, or his chaplain, Fletcher, that they
saw it there in 1579. As it is, we know they did not
see it. Many early writers mention gold in California,
referring to Lower California, yet leading some to
confound the two Californias, and to suppose that the
existence of the rnetal in the Sierra foothills was
then known. Instance Miguel Venegas, Shelvocke,
and others of the seventeenth and eighteenth centu
ries, and early encyclopaedia makers. It has always
been a favorite trick of navigators to speak of things
they either greatly feared or greatly desired as exist
ing. Vizcaino, Knight, and fifty others were certain
that the mountains of California contained gold. The
developments along the Colorado River led to the
same conviction; indeed, it was widely assumed that
the Jesuits knew of rich mines within and beyond
their precincts. Count Scala claims for the Russians
of Bodega knowledge of gold on Yuba River as early
as 1815, but he fails to support the assertion. Dana
and other professional men of his class are to be cen
sured for what they did not see, rather than praised
for the wonderful significance of certain remarks.
The mine at San Fernando, near Los Angeles, where
w r orkwas begun in 1842, is about the only satisfactory
instance on record of a knowledge of the existence of
gold in Alta California prior to the discovery of Mar
shall. And this was indeed a clew which could not
have failed to be taken up in due time by some one
among the host of observant fortune-hunters now
pouring in, and forced by circumstances into the for-
UNSUPPORTED PRETENSIONS. 37
ests and foothills in quest of slumbering resources.
The Sierra could not have long retained her secret. 20
The discovery by Marshall was the first that can
be called a California gold discovery, aside from the
petty placers found in the southern part of the state.
It is not impossible that white men may have seen
gold in the Sierra foothills before him. This region
had been traversed by trappers, by emigrants, and
even by men of science; but if they saw gold, either
they did not know it or they did not reveal it. No
sooner was the discovery announced than others
claimed to have been previously cognizant of the fact;
but such statements are not admissible. Most of
them are evident fabrications; as for the rest, not one
has been proved. They were made in the first in
stance, as a rule, to deprive Marshall of the fame of
his discovery, and they failed
20 Conspicuous among those not before mentioned are the opinions general
of Arthur Dobbs, Samuel Hearne, Jonathan Carver, Duflot de Mofras, Catala,
Pickett, Bid well, Larkin, Bandini, Osio; the statements of Antonio de Alcedo,
Alvarado, Vallejo, Jedediah Smith, Blake, Hastings, and others. Herewith
I give a list of authorities on the subject. 0*io, Historia de California, MS.,
506; CaL Dept. St Pap., viii. 6, 16, etc.; Larkin s Of. Cor., MS., i. 96; Ban-
dint, Hist. CaL, MS., 17-18; Bidwell s CaL 1841-8, MS., 214; Vallejo, Doc.,
MS., i. 140-1; Dep. Rec., MS., ix. 136; Vallejo, Notas Hi*t6ricas, MS., 35;
Cly man s Diary, MS.; Davis Glimpses, MS., 149-50; San Diego, Arch. Index,
MS., 92; Castanares, Col. Doc. CaL, MS., 23; Alvarado, Hist. CaL, MS.,
i. 77, and iv. 161; Galindo, Apuntes, MS., 68-9; Suiter s Pers. Obs., MS., 171;
Hall s Sonora, MS., 252; Castroville Argus, Sept. 7, 1872; Robinson s Life in
Cat., 190; Browne s Min. Res., 13-16; Monterey Herald, Oct. 15, 1875; Bry
ant s CaL, 451; Mex., Mem. ReL, 1835, no. 6; Mofras, Or. et CaL, i. 137; S.
F. Alta CaL, Mar. 28, 1857, and Jan. 28 and May 18, 1878; S. F. Herald,
June 1, 1855; Hesperian Mag., vii. 560; Drake s Voy.; Shelvocke s Voy.;
Dobls Hudson s Bay; Hardy s Travels in Mex., 331-2; Dunbar s Romance of
the Age, 93-4; Hughes CaL, 119; Mendocino Democrat, Feb. 1, 1872; Lake
County Bee, Mar. 18, 1873; Venegas, Hist. CaL, i. 177-8; Antioch Ledger, Feb.
3, 1872; Hittell s Mining, 10-11; Buf urn s Six Months, 45-6; Walker s Nar.,
11; Merced Argus, Sept. 2, 1874; Cronise s Nat. Wealth, 109; Hayes Col.
Mining CaL, i. 1; S. F. Bulletin, July 12 and Oct. 1, 1860, Aug. 14, 1865;
Tuthill s Hist. CaJ.,231; Gray s Hist. Or., 364; Dana s Two Years, 324; Red
Bluff Ind., Jan. 17, 1866; Hutchings Mag., v. 352; Hunt s Mer. Mag., xxiv.
768, xxxi. 385-6, xxxiv. 631-2; CaL Chronicle, Jan. 28, 1856; Dwindle, Ad.,
1866, 28; Reese Riv. Reveille, Aug. 10, 1865, and Jan. 29, 1872; Carson s State.
Reg., Jan. 27, 1862; Elho Independent, Jan. 15, 1870; Sac Union, June 7,
1861; Scala, Nouv. An. de* Voy., clxiv. 388-90; Quarterly Rev., no. 87, 1850,
416; Gomez, Lo queSabe, MS., 228-9; Hughs California, 119; Carson s Rec.,
58-9; Roberts Rec., MS., 10; Voile, Doc., MS., 57; Dept. St Pap., MS., xii.
63-5; Requeiia, Doc. t MS., 4-5; Los Angdes, Arch., MS., v. 331.
38 THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD.
It was late in the afternoon of the 28th of January
when Marshall dismounted at New Helvetia, 21 entered
the office where Sutter was busy writing, and abruptly
requested a private interview. The horseman was
dripping wet, for it was raining. Wondering what
could have happened,* as but the day before he had
sent to the mill all that was required, Sutter led the
way into a private room. "Are you alone?" demanded
the visitor. u Yes," was the reply. " Did you lock
the door?" "No, but I will if you wish it." "I
want two bowls of water," said Marshall. Sutter
rang the bell and the bowls were brought. " Now I
want a stick of redwood, and some twine, and some
sheet copper." " What do you want of all these
things, Marshall ? " " To make scales." " But I have
scales enough in the apothecary s shop," said Sutter;
and he brought a pair. Drawing forth his pouch,
Marshall emptied the contents into his hand, and held
it before Sutter s eyes, remarking, " I believe this is
gold; but the people at the mill laughed at me and
called me crazy." Sutter examined the stuff atten
tively, and finally said: " It certainly looks like it; we
will try it." First aquafortis was applied; and the
substance stood the test. Next three dollars in silver
coin were put into one of the scales, and balanced by
gold-dust in the other. Both were then immersed in
water, when down went the dust and up the silver coin.
Finally a volume of the American Encyclopaedia, of
which the fort contained a copy, was brought ont, and
the article on gold carefully studied, whereupon all
doubts vanished. 22
2l Dunbar, Romance of the Age, 48, dates the arrival at the fort Feb. 2d,
and intimates that the discovery was made the same morning. According to
Parsons, Marshall reached the fort about 9 o clock in the morning, having left
Coloma the day before, and passed the preceding night under a tree. On the
journey he discovered gold in a ravine in the foothills, and also at the place
afterward called Mormon Island, while examining the river for a lumber-yard
site. Life of Marshall, 84. Sutter, however, both in his Diary and in his Rem
iniscences, says that Marshall arrived at the fort in the afternoon. Marshall
himself makes no mention of discovering gold on the journey.
22 Sutter s Pers. Rem. , MS. , 163-7. In my conferences with Sutter, at Litiz,
I endeavored to draw from him every detail respecting the interview here
MARSHALL AND SUTTER. 39
Marshall proposed that S utter should return with
him to the mill that night, but the latter declined,
saying that he would be over the next day. It was
now supper-time, and still drizzling; would not the vis
itor rest himself till morning ? No, he must be off
immediately; and without even waiting to eat, he
wrapped his sarape about him, mounted his horse, and
rode off into the rain and darkness. Sutter slept little
that night. Though he knew nothing of the magni
tude of the affair, and did not fully realize the evils he
had presently to face, yet he felt there would soon be
enough of the fascination abroad to turn the heads of
his men, and to disarrange his plans. In a word, with
prophetic eye, as he expressed himself to me, he saw
that night the curse of the thing upon him.
On the morning of the 29th of January 23 Sutter
presented in a condensed form. Some accounts assert that when Marshall
desired the door to be locked Sutter was frightened, and looked about for his
gun. The general assured me this was riot the case. Neither was the mind
of Marshall wrought into such a fever as many represent. His manner was
hurried and excited, but he was sane enough. He was peculiar, and he wished
to despatch this business and be back at the mill. Barstow, in his Statement,
MS., 3, asserts that lie did not rush down to the fort, but waited until he had
business there. All the evidence indicates that neither Marshall nor Sutter
had any idea, as yet, of the importance of the discovery. How could they
have ? There might not be more than a handful of gold-dust in the whole
Sierra, from any fact thus far appearing. See BidwelCs California 1841-8,
MS., 230; Bi jler s Diary, MS., 64; Brooks Four Months, 40-3; Par tons Life
of Marshall, 84-5; Hatchings Mag., ii. 194. Gregson, Statement, MS., 8,
blacksmithing for Sutter when Marshall arrived, saw the gold in a greenish
ounce vial, about half rilled. Bigler gives Marshall s own words, as repeated
on his return to the mill. In every essential particular his account corresponds
with that given to me by Sutter.
23 The day on which Sutter followed Marshall to Coloma is questioned. In
his Reminiscences, and his statement in Hutching* Magazine, Sutter distinctly
says that he left for the saw-mill at seven o clock on the morning after Mar
shall s visit to the fort; but in his Diary is written Feb. 1st, which would be
the fourth day after the visit. Bigler, in his Diary, says that Sutter reached
the mill on the third or fourth day after Marshall s return. Marshall
shows his usual carelessness, or lack of memory, by stating that Sutter
reached Coloma about the 20th of February. Discovery of Gold, in Hutching*
Mg., ii. 201. Parsons is nearly as far wrong in saying that Sutter returned
with Marshall to Coloma. Life of Marshall, 86. Mrs Wimmer also says that
* Sutter came right up with Marshall. This is indeed partly true, as Marshall
in his restlessness went back to meet Sutter, and of course came into camp
with him. On the whole, I have determined to follow Sutter s words to me,
as I know them to be as he gave them. If Sutter did not set out until Feb.
1st, then Marshall did not reach the mill until the 31st of January, else Sut
ter s whole statement is erroneous.
40 THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD.
started for the saw-mill. When half-way there,
or more, he saw an object moving in the bushes
at one side. " What is that ? " demanded Sutter of
his attendant. " The man who was with you yester
day," was the reply. It was still raining. " Have
you been here all night?" asked Sutter of Marshall ; for
it w r as indeed he. " No," Marshall said, " I slept at
the mill, and came back to meet you." As they rode
along Marshall expressed the opinion that the whole
country was rich in gold. Arrived at the mill, Sutter
took up his quarters at a house Marshall had lately
built for himself, a little way up the mountain, and
yet not far from the mill. During the night the water
ran in the race, and in the morning it was shut off.
All present then proceeded down the channel, and
jumping into it at various points began to gather
gold. 24 With some contributions by the men, added
to what he himself picked up, Sutter secured enough
for a ring weighing an ounce and a half, which he soon
after exhibited with great pride as a specimen of the
first gold. A private examination by the partners up
the river disclosed gold all along its course, and in the
tributary ravines and creeks. 25
Sutter regarded the discovery as a misfortune.
Without laborers his extensive works must come to
a stop, presaging ruin. Gladly would he have shut
the knowledge from the world, for a time, at least.
With the men at the mill the best he could do was to
make them promise to continue their work, and say
nothing of the gold discovery for six weeks, by which
time he hoped to have his flour-mill completed, and
2 *Bigler, Diary, MS., 65-6, gives a joke which they undertook to. play on
the Old Cap, as Marshall called Sutter. This was nothing less than to salt
the mine in order that Sutter in his excitement might pass the bottle. Wim-
mer s boy, running on before, picked up the gold scattered in the race for the
harmless surprising of Sutter, and thus spoiled their sport.
25 Indeed, Sutter claims that he picked with a small knife from a dry gorge
a solid lump weighing nearly an ounce and a half, and regarded the tributaries
as the richer sources. The work-people obtained an inkling of their discovery,
although they sought henceforth to dampen the interest. One of the Indiana
who seems to have worked in a southern mine published his knowledge. Pers.
Hem., MS.
TREATY WITH THE CULUMAS. 41
his other affairs so arranged as to enable him to with
stand the result. The men, indeed, were not yet
prepared to relinquish good wages for the uncertain
ties of gold-gathering.
If only the land could be secured on which this
gold was scattered for probably it did not extend far
in any direction then interloping might be prevented,
mining controlled, and the discovery made profitable.
It was worth trying, at all events. Mexican grants
being no longer possible, Sutter began by opening
negotiations with the natives, after the mariner of the
English colonists on the other side of the continent.
Calling a council of the Culumas and some of their
neighbors, the lords aboriginal of those lands, Sutter
and Marshall obtained from them a three years lease
of a tract some ten or twelve miles square, on payment
of some shirts, hats, handkerchiefs, flour, and other
articles of no great value, the natives meanwhile to
be left unmolested in their homes. 26 Sutter then re
turned to New Helvetia, and the great discovery was
consummated.
26 BiylerJ Diary, MS., 66. Marshall speaks of this as the consummation
of an agreement we had made with this tribe of Indians in the month of
September previous, to wit, that we should live with them in peace on the
same laud. Discovery of Gold, in Hatchings Mag. , ii. 200.
CHAPTEE III.
THE SECRET ESCAPES.
FEBRUARY, 1848.
BENNETT GOES TO MONTEREY SEES PFISTER AT BENICIA THERE is WHAT
WILL BEAT COAL! BENNETT MEETS ISAAC HUMPHREY AT SAN FRANCISCO
UNSUCCESSFUL AT MONTEREY SUTTER S Swiss TEAMSTER THE BOY
WIMMER TELLS HIM OF THE GOLD THE MOTHER WIMMER, TO PROVE
HER BOY NOT A LlAR, SHOWS IT AND THE TEAMSTER, WHO IS THIRSTY,
SHOWS IT AT THE FORT AFFAIRS AT THE MILL PROCEED AS USUAL
BIGLER S SUNDAY MEDITATIONS GOLD FOUND AT LIVE OAK BAR
BIGLER WRITES HIS THREE FRIENDS THE SECRET WHO UNITE WITH
THEM OTHER THREE TO HELP THEM KEEP IT THREE COME TO COLOMA
DISCOVERY AT MORMON ISLAND THE MORMON EXIT.
OCCASIONALLY instances occur where one s destiny,
hitherto seemingly confined in the clouds, is let out
in a flood, and if weak, the recipient is overwhelmed
and carried down the stream by it; if he be strong,
and makes avail of it, his fortune is secured; in any
event, it is his opportunity.
Opportunity here presented itself in the first in
stance to a chosen dozen, none of whom appear to
have taken due advantage of it. Having no realiza
tion of their situation, they left the field to after-
comers, who by direct or indirect means drew fortune
from it. The chief actors, Marshall and Sutter, with
proportionately greater interests at stake, primarily
displayed no more skill than the others in making avail
of opportunity, the former drifting away without one
successful grasp, the latter making a brief stand
against the torrent, only in the end to sink amidst the
ruins of his projects and belongings.
BENNETT S MISSION.
Sutter disclosed his weakness in several ways. Al
though enjoining secrecy upon all concerned, and show
ing extreme fear lest the discovery should be known by
those about him, the inconstant Swiss could not him
self resist the temptation of telling it to his friends at
a distance. Writing Vallejo the 10th of February,
he says: "I have made a discovery of a gold mine,
which, according to experiments we have made, is ex
traordinarily rich." 1 Moreover, not wholly satisfied
with his Indian title, Sutter determined to despatch a
messenger to Monterey, for the purpose of further
securing the land to himself and Marshall through
Colonel R. B. Mason, chief representative of the
United States government in California. For this
mission was chosen Charles Bennett, one of Marshall s
associates, and standing next to him in intelligence
and ability at the saw-mill. The messenger was in
structed to say nothing about the discovery of gold,
but to secure the land with mill, pasture, and mineral
privileges, giving as a reason for including the last
the appearance of lead and silver in the soil. 2 The
man, however, was too weak for the purpose. With
him in a buckskin bag he carried some six ounces of
the secret, which, by the time he reached Benicia,
became too heavy for him. There, in Pfister s store,
hearing it said that coal had been found near Monte
del Diablo, and that in consequence California would
assume no small importance in the eyes of her new
owners, Bennett could contain himself no longer.
"Coal!" he exclaimed; "I have something here which
will beat coal, and make this the greatest country in
the world." Whereupon he produced his bag, and
passed it around among his listeners. 3
1 The accomplished potentate writes every man in his own language, though
his Spanish is not much better than his English. " Y he hecho un descubri-
miento de mina de oro, q e sigun hemos esperimentado es extraordinarimente
rica. Vallejo, Docs, MS., xii. 332.
2 This on the authority of Bigler. Diary of a Mormon, MS., 66. Some
say that Bennett held contracts with Marshall under Sutter. HunCs Mer. Mag.,
xx. 59; but for this there is no good authority. He set out for Monterey
toward the middle of February.
3 Several claim the honor of carrying the first gold beyond the precincts of
44 THE SECRET ESCAPES.
On reaching San Francisco Bennett heard of one
Isaac Humphrey, who, among other things, knew some
thing of gold-mining. He had followed that occupa
tion in Georgia, but hardly expected his talents in
that direction to be called in requisition in California.
Bennett sought an introduction, and again brought
forth his purse. Thus Sutter s secret was in a tine
way of being kept I Humphrey at once pronounced
the contents of the purse to be gold. At Monterey
Mason declined to make any promise respecting title to
lands, 4 and Bennett consoled himself for the failure of
his mission by offering further glimpses of his treasure.
In order to prevent a spreading infection among
his dependents, Sutter determined that so far as pos
sible all communication with the saw-mill should for
the present be stopped. Toward the latter end of
February, however, he found it necessary to send
thither provisions. 5 To a Swiss teamster, as. a per-
the California Valley. Bidwell, California 1841-8, MS., 231, says he was
the first to proclaim the news in Sonoma and S. F. I well remember Vallejo s
words, he writes, when I told him of the discovery and where it had taken
lace. He said, "As the water flows through Sutter s mill-race, may the gold
ow into Sutter s purse. " This must have been after or at the time of Ben
nett s journey; I do not think it preceded it. Bidwell calls the chief ruler at
Monterey Gov. Riley, instead of Col Mason; and if his memory is at fault
upon so conspicuous a point, he might easily overlook the fact that Bennett
preceded him. Furthermore, we have many who speak of meeting Bennett at
S. F., and of examining his gold, but not one who mentions Bid well s name
in that connection. Sutter was adopting a singular course, certainly, to have
his secret kept. Gregson, Stat., MS., 8, thinks that the first gold was taken by
McKinstry in Sutter s launch to S. F., and there delivered to Folsom. Such
statements as the following, though made in good faith, amount to little in
determining as to the first. That first seen or known by a person to him is first,
notwithstanding another s first may have been prior to his. 1 saw the first
gold that was brought down to S. F. It was in Howard & Mellus store,
and in their charge. It was in four-ounce vial, or near that size. Ayer s Per
sonal Adv., MS., 2.
* Sherman, Memoirs, i. 40, states that this application was made by two
persons, from which one might infer that Humphrey accompanied Bennett
to Monterey. They there displayed about half an ounce of placer gold.
They presented a letter from Sutter, to which Mason replied that Califor
nia was yet a Mexican province, simply held by us as a conquest; that no laws
of the U. S. yet applied to it, much less the land laws or preemption laws,
which could only apply after a public survey. See, further, Buff am 8 Six
Months in Gold Mines, 68; Bigler s Diary of a Mormon, MS., 66; BidwelVs Cal
ifornia 1841-8, MS., 231; Browne s Min. Res., 14; HitteLVs JJist. S. F., 125.
Gregson, Stat., MS., says that Bennett died in Oregon.
6 We had salt salmon and boiled wheat, and we, the discoverers of gold,
THE DRUNKEN TEAMSTER. 45
son specially reliable, this mission was intrusted.
The man would indeed die rather than betray any
secret of his kind countryman and master; but alas I
he loved intoxication, that too treacherous felicity.
Arrived at Coloma, the teamster encountered one of
the Wimmer boys, who exclaimed triumphantly, "We
have found gold up here." The teamster so ridiculed
the idea that the mother at length became some
what nettled, and to prove her son truthful, she not
only produced the stuff, but gave some to the teamster.
Returned to the fort, his arduous duty done, the man
must have a drink. Often he had tried at Smith and
Brannan s store to quench his thirst from the whis-
kay barrel, and pay for the same in promises. On
this occasion he presented at the counter a bold front
and demanded a bottle of the delectable, at the same
time laying down the dust. " What is that? " asked
Smith. " Gold," was the reply. Smith thought the
fellow was quizzing him; nevertheless he spoke of it
to Sutter, who finally acknowledged the fact. 8
About the time of Bennett s departure Sutter s
schooner went down the river, carrying specimens of
the new discovery, and Folsom, the quartermaster in
San Francisco, learned of the fact, informed, it is said,
by McKinstry. Then John Bidwell went to the Bay
and spread the news broadcast. Smith, store-keeper
at the fort, sent word of it to his partner, Brannan;
and thus by various ways the knowledge became gen
eral.
It was not long before the saw-mill society, which
numbered among its members one woman and two
were living on that when gold was found, and we were suffering from scurvy
afterward. Gregson s Statement, MS., 9. An infliction this man might un
dergo almost anywhere, being, if like his manuscript, something of a scurvy
fellow. Mark the we, the discoverers of gold, before noticed. Gregson
was not at the mill when gold was found.
6 I should have sent my Indians, groaned Sutter 28 years afterward. It
soems that the gentle Swiss always found his beloved aboriginals far less
treacherous than the white-skinned parasites. See Suiter s Rem. , MS. , 171-3;
Inter Pocula, this series; Hutchings* Mag. , ii. 196; Dunbar^s Romance of the
Age,
46 THE SECRET ESCAPES.
boys, found the matter, in common with the others,
too weighty for them. For a time affairs here pro
ceeded much as usual. The men, who for the most
part were honest and conscientious, had pledged their
word to six weeks work, and they meant to keep it.
The idea of self-sacrifice, if any such arose, was tem
pered by the thought that perhaps after all there was
but little gold, and that little confined within narrow
limits; hence if they abandoned profitable service for
an uncertainty, they might find themselves losers in
the end. As a matter of course, they could have no
conception of the extent and power of the spirit they
had awakened. It was not necessary, however, that
on Sundays they should resist the worship of Mam
mon, who was indeed now fast becoming the chief god
hereabout.
The historic tail-race, where first in these parts be
came incarnate this deity, more potent presently than
either Christ or Krishna, commanded first attention;
indeed, for some time after gold had been found in
other places, it remained the favorite picking-ground
of the mill-men. Their only tools as yet were their
knives, and with these from the seams and crevices
each person managed to extract metal at the rate of
from three to eight dollars a day. For the purpose
of calculating their gains, they constructed a light
pair of wooden scales, in which was weighed silver
coin against their gold. Thus, a Mexican real de
plata was balanced by two dollars worth of gold,
which they valued at sixteen dollars the ounce, less
than it was really worth, but more than could be ob
tained for it in the mines a few months later. Gold-
dust which balanced a silver quarter of a dollar was
deemed worth four dollars, and so on.
On the 6th of February, the second Sunday after
Marshall s discovery, while the others were as us.ua!
busied in the tail-race, Henry Bigler and James Bar-
ger crossed the river, and from a bare rock opposite
the mill, with nothing but their pocket-knives, ob-
THE GOLD-FIELDS. 47
tained together gold to the value of ten dollars. The
Saturday following, Bigler descended the river half a
mile, when, seeing on the other side some rocks left
bare by a land-slide, he stripped and crossed. There,
in the seams of the rocks, were particles of the pre
cious stuff exposed to view, of which the next day he
gathered half an ounce, and the Sunday following an
ounce. Snow preventing work at the mill, on Tues
day, the 22d, he set out for the same place, and ob
tained an ounce and a half. Up to this time he had
kept the matter to himself, carrying with him a gun
on pretext of shooting ducks, in order to divert suspi
cion. Questioned closely on this occasion, he told his
comrades what he had been doing, and the following
Sunday five of them accompanied him to the same
spot, and spent the day hunting in the sand. All
were well rewarded. In the opposite direction suc
cess proved no less satisfactory. Accompanied by
James Gregson, Marshall ascended the river three
miles; and at a place which he named Live Oak Bar,
if we may believe Gregson, they picked up with their
fingers without digging a pint of gold, in pieces up to
the size of a bean. 7 Thus was gradually enlarged the
area of the gold-field
About the 21st of February, Bigler wrote to certain
of his comrades of the Mormon battalion Jesse Mar
tin, Israel Evans, and Ephraim Green, who were at
work on Sutter s flour-mill informing them of the
discovery of gold, and charging them to keep it secret,
or to tell it to those only who could be trusted. The
result was the arrival, on the evening of the 27th, of
three men, Sidney Willis, Fiefield, and Wilford Hud-
1 Statement of James Gregson, MS., passim. The author was an English
man, who came to California in 1845 and engaged with Sutter as a whip-
sawyer. Lumber then cost $30 a thousand at Sutter s Fort. He served in
the war, and after the discovery of gold went to Coloma, accompanied by his
wife. Throwing up his engagement with Marshall, he secured that year
$3,000 in gold-dust. Sutter appears to have, in February, already set some
Indians to pick gold round the mill. His claim to this ground was long
respected.
43
THE SECRET ESCAPES.
son, who said they had come to search for gold.
Marshall received them graciously enough, and gave
them permission to mine in the tail-race. Accord
ingly, next morning they all went there, and soon
Hudson picked up a piece weighing six dollars. Thus
encouraged they continued their labors with fair
success till the 2d of March, when they felt obliged
to return to the flour-mill; for to all except Martin,
their informant, they had intimated that their trip to
,JLV i&dMmk
X ^N V A.V ^ .} , :,, . .\n t:t, , /-/ /,
MORMON ISLAND.
the saw-mill was merely to pay a visit, and to shoot
deer. Willis and Hudson followed the stream to con
tinue the search for gold, and Fiefield, accompanied
by Bigler, pursued the easier route by the road. On
meeting at the flour-mill, Hudson expressed disgust
at being able to show only a few fine particles, not
more than half a dollar in value, which he and his
companion had found at a bar opposite a little island,
about half-way down the river. Nevertheless the
disease worked its way into the blood of other Mor-
THE MORMONS. 49
mon boys, and Ephraim Green and Ira Willis, brother
of Sidney Willis, urged the prospectors to return,
that together they might examine the place which
had shown indications of gold. It was with difficulty
that they prevailed upon them to do so. Willis and
Hudson, however, finally consented; and the so lately
slighted spot presently became famous as the rich
Mormon Diggings, the island, Mormon Island, taking
its name from these battalion boys who had first
found gold there.
It is told elsewhere how the Mormons came to
California, some in the ship Brooklyn, and some as a
battalion by way of Santa Fe, and how they went
hence to the Great Salt Lake, part of them, however,
remaining permanently or for a time nearer the sea
board. I will only notice here, amidst the scenes
now every day becoming more and more absorbing,
bringing to the front the strongest passions in man s
nature, how at the call of what they deemed duty
these devotees of their religion unhesitatingly laid
down their wealth-winning implements, turned their
back on what all the world was just then making
ready with hot haste and mustered strength to grasp
at and struggle for, and marched through new toils and
dangers to meet their exiled brethren in the desert.
It will be remembered that some of the emigrants
O
by the Brooklyn had remained at San Francisco, some
at New Helvetia, while others had settled on the
Stanislaus River and elsewhere. A large detachment
of the late Mormon battalion, disbanded at Los An
geles, was on its way to Great Salt Lake, when, arriv
ing at Sutter s Fort, the men stopped to work a while,
no less to add a little to their slender store of clothing
and provisions than to await a better season for the
perilous journey across the mountains. It was while
thus employed that gold had been discovered. And
now, refreshed and better fitted, as spring approached
their minds once more turned toward the original pur-
HIST. CAL.. VOL. VI. 4
50 THE SECRET ESCAPES.
pose. They had promised Suiter to stand by him and
finish the saw-mill; this they did, starting it running"
on the llth of March. Henry Bigler was still there.
On the 7th of April Bigler, Stephens, and Brown
presented themselves at the fort to settle accounts
with Sutter, and discuss preliminaries for their jour
ney with their comrades. The 1st of June was fixed
upon for the start. Sutter was to be informed of
their intention, that he might provide other workmen.
Horses, cattle, and seeds were to be bought from him ;
also two brass cannon. Three of their number had
to precede to pioneer a route ; eight men were ready
to start as an overland express to the States, as the
loved land east of the Mississippi was then called. It
was not, however, until about a month later that the
Mormons could move, for the constantly increasing
gold excitement disarranged their plans and drew
from their numbers.
In the mean time the thrifty saints determined to
improve the opportunity, that they might carry to
their desert rest as much of the world s currency as
possible. On the llth of April, Bigler, Brown, and
Stephens set out on their return to Coloma, camping
fifteen miles above the flouring mill, on a creek. In
the morning they began to search for gold and found
ten dollars worth. Knowing that others of their
fraternity were at work in that vicinity, they followed
the stream upward and came upon them at Mormon
Island, where seven had taken out that day $250. 8
No little encouragement was added by this hitherto
unparalleled yield, due greatly to an improvement in
method by washing the dust-speckled earth in Indian
baskets and bowls, and thus sifting out also finer parti
cles. Under an agreement to divide the product of
8 The seven men were Sidney Willis and Wilford Hudson, who had first
found gold there, Ira Willis, Jesse B. Martin, Ephraim Green, Israel Evans,
and James Sly. In regard to the names of the last two Bigler is not positive.
Diary of a Mormon, MS., 76. See also Mendocino Democrat, Feb. 1, 1872;
HitteWs Mining, 14; Sherman s Mem., i. 51; Gold Dis., Account by a Mormon,
in Hayes CaL Mining, iii. 8; Oregon Bulletin, Jan. 12, 1872; Antioch Ledger,
Feb. 3, 1872; ftndla s Stat., MS., 6; 7?oss StcU., MS., 14.
EXODUS OF THE SAINTS. 51
their labor with Sutter and Marshall, who furnished
tools and provisions, Bigler and his associates mined
for two months, one mile below the saw-mill. 9 They
stopped in the midst of their success, however, arid
tearing themselves away from the fascination, they
started on June 17th in search of a suitable rendez
vous, where all the saints might congregate prior to
beginning their last pilgrimage across the mountains.
They found such a spot the next day, near where
Placerville now stands, calling it Pleasant Valley.
Parties arrived one after another, some driving loose
horses into a prepared timber corral, others swelling
the camp with wagons, cattle, and effects; and so the
gathering continued till the 3d of July, when a gen
eral move was made. As the wagons rolled up along
the divide between the American River and the
Cosunines on the national 4th, their cannon thundered
independence before the high Sierra. It was a strange
sight, exiles for their faith thus delighting to honor
the power that had driven them as outcasts into the
wilderness.
The party consisted of forty-five men and one
woman, the wife of William Coory. It was by almost
incredible toil that these brave men cut the way for
their wagons, lifted them up the stony ascents, and
let them down the steep declivities. Every step
added to the danger, as heralded by the death of
O t/
the three pioneers, Daniel Browett, Ezra H. Allen,
and Henderson Cox, who were found killed by the
Indians of the Sierra. And undaunted, though sor
rowful, and filled with many a foreboding, the survi
vors descended the eastern slope and wended their
way through the thirsty desert; and there we must
leave them and return to our gold-diggers.
9 Having an understanding with Mr Marshall to dig on shares. . .so long
as we worked on his claims or land. Bigler, Diary of a Mormon, MS., 75.
A Mormon writing in the Times and Transcript says: They undertook to
make us give them half the gold we got for the privilege of digging on their
land. This was afterward reduced to one third, and in a few weeks was
given up altogether. Mrs Wimtner states that Sutter and Marshall claimed
thirty per cent of the gold found on their grant; Brannan for a time secured
ten per cent on the pretext of tithes.
CHAPTER IY.
PROXIMATE EFFECT OF THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
MARCH- AUGUST, 1848.
THE PEOPLE SCEPTICAL AT FIRST ATTITUDE OF THE PRESS THE COUNTRY
CONVERTED BY A SIGHT OF THE METAL THE EPIDEMIC AT SAN FRAN
CISCO AT SAN JOSE, MONTEREY, AND DOWN THE COAST THE EXODUS
DESERTION OF SOLDIERS AND SAILORS ABANDONMENT OF BUSINESS,
OF FARMS, AND OF ALL KINDS OF POSITIONS AND PROPERTY.
As when some carcass, hidden in sequestered nook,
draws from every near and distant point myriads of
discordant vultures, so drew these little flakes of gold
the voracious sons of men. The strongest human
appetite was aroused the sum of appetites this
yellow dirt embodying the means for gratifying love,
hate, lust, and domination. This little scratch upon
the earth to make a backwoods mill-race touched the
cerebral nerve that quickened humanity, and sent a
thrill throughout the system. It tingled in the ear
and at the finger-ends ; it buzzed about the brain and
tickled in the stomach; it warmed the blood and
swelled the heart; new fires were kindled on the
hearth-stones, new castles builded in the air. If
Satan from Diablo s peak had sounded the knell of
time; if a heavenly angel from the Sierra s height
had heralded the millennial day; if the blessed Christ
himself had risen from that ditch and proclaimed to
all mankind amnesty their greedy hearts had never
half so thrilled.
The effect of the gold discovery could not be long
confined to the narrow limits of Sutter s domain. The
(52)
LITTLE THOUGHT OF IT AT FIRST. 63
information scattered by the Swiss and his dependents
had been further disseminated in different directions
by others. Nevertheless, while a few like Hum
phrey, the Georgia miner, responded at once to the
influence, as a rule little was thought of it at first,
particularly by those at a distance. The nature and
extent of the deposits being unknown, the significance
or importance of the discovery could not be appre
ciated. It was not uncommon at any time to hear of
gold or other metals being found here, there, or any
where, in America, Europe, or Asia, and nothing
come of it. To emigrants, among other attractions,
gold had been mentioned as one of the possible or prob
able resources of California; but to plodding agricul
turists or mechanics the idea of searching the wilder
ness for gold would have been deemed visionary, or
the fact of little moment that some one somewhere
had found gold. 1 When so intelligent a man as Sern-
ple at Benicia was told of it he said, "I would give
more for a good coal mine than for all the gold mines
in the universe." At Sonoma, Vallejo passed the
matter by with a piece of pleasantry.
The first small flakes of gold that Captain Folsom
examined at San Francisco he pronounced mica; he
did not believe a man who came down some time after
with twenty ounces when he claimed to have gathered
it in eight days. Some time in April Folsom wrote
to Mason at Monterey, making casual mention of the
existing rumor of gold on the Sacramento. In May
Bradley, a friend of Folsom s, went to Monterey, and
was asked by Mason if he knew anything of this gold
discovery on the American River. "I have heard of
1 The people here did not believe it, says Findla, they thought it was a
hoax. They had found in various places about S. F., notably on Pacific Street,
specimens of different minerals, gold and silver among them, but in very small
quantities; and so they were not inclined to believe in the discovery at Sut-
ter s mill. Gillespie testifies to the same. He did not at all credit the story.
Three samples in quills and vials were displayed before the infection took in the
town. Gillexpie s Vig. Com., MS., 4; Findla s Stat., MS., 4-6; Willetfs Thirty
Years, 19-20.
54 PROXIMATE EFFECT OF THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
it," replied Bradley. "A few fools have hurried to
the place, but you may be sure there is nothing in it."
On Wednesday, the 15th of March, the Califomian,
one of the two weekly newspapers then published at
San Francisco, contained a brief paragraph to the
effect that gold had been discovered in considerable
quantities at Sutter s saw-mill. 2 The editor hazarded
the remark that California was probably rich in min
erals. On the following Saturday the other weekly
paper, the California Star, mentioned, without edito
rial comment, that gold had been found forty miles
above Sutter s Fort.
The items, if noticed at all, certainly created no
excitement. Little if any more was thought of gold
probabilities than those of silvery or quicksilver, or
coal, and not half as much as of agriculture and fruit
growing. 3 This was in March.
In April a somewhat altered tone is noticed in ac
cording greater consideration to the gold discoveries. 4
2 This, the first printed notice of the discovery, ran as follows: Gold mine
found. In the newly made raceway of the saw-mill recently erected by Cap
tain Sutler on the American fork, gold has been found in considerable quan -
tities. One person brought thirty dollars worth to New Helvetia, gathered
there in a short time. California no doubt is rich in mineral wealth; great
chances here for scientific capitalists. Gold has been found in every part of
the country.
3 The editor of the Star, writing the 25th of March, says: A good move
it would be for all property holders in the place, who have no very settled
purpose of improving the town, and distant ideas of rare chances at specula
tion, to employ upon their unoccupied lands some few of our liquor-house
idlers, and in the process of ploughing, harrowing, hoeing, and planting it is
not idle to believe some hidden treasure would be brought out. Some silver
mines are wanted in this vicinity, could they be had without experiencing
the ill effects following in the train of their discovery. Monterey, our cap
ital, rests on a bed of quicksilver, so say the cute and knowing. We say if
we can discover ourselves upon a bed of silver we, for our single self, shall
straightway throw up the pen and cry aloud with Hood: A pickaxe or a
spade. On the same date he says: So great is the quantity of gold taken
from the mine recently found at New Helvetia that it has become an article
of traffic in that vicinity.
4 Fourgeaud, in a serial article on The Prospects of California, writes in
the Star the 1st of April: We saw, a few days ago, a beautiful specimen of
gold from the mine newly discovered on the American fork. From all ac
counts the mine is immensely rich, and already we learn that gold from it,
collected at random and without any trouble, has become an article of trade
at the upper settlements. This precious metal abounds in this country. We
h;ive heard of several other newly discovered mines of gold, but as these re
ports are not yet authenticated, \ve shall pass over them. However, it is well
known that there is a pJacero of gold a few miles from the Ciudad de los An-
THE MIGRATION QUIETLY SETS IN. 55
Yet the knowing ones are backward about committing
themselves; and when overcome by curiosity to see
the mines, they pretend business elsewhere rather
than admit their destination. Thus E. C. Kemble,
editor of the Star, announces on the 15th his inten
tion to " ruralize among the rustics of the country for
a few weeks." Hastening to the mines he makes his
observations, returns, and in jerky diction flippantly
remarks : " Great country, fine climate ; visit this great
valley, we would advise all who have not yet done so.
See it now. Full-flowing streams, mighty timber,
large crops, luxuriant clover, fragrant flowers, gold
and silver." This is all Mr Kemble says of his journey
in his issue of the 6th of May, the first number after
his return. Whether he walked as one blind and void
of intelligence, or saw more than his interests seem-
O
ingly permitted him to tell, does not appear.
There were men, however, more observant and out
spoken than the astute editor, some of whom left town
singly, or in small parties of seldom more than two
or three. They said little, as if fearing ridicule, but
crossed quietly to Sauzalito, and thence took the di
rection of Sonoma and Sutter s Fort. The mystery
of the movement in itself proved an incentive, to which
accumulating reports and specimens gave intensity, till
it reached a climax with the arrival of several well-
laden diggers, bringing bottles, tin cans, and buckskin
bags filled with the precious metal, which their owners
geles, and another on the San Joaquin. In another column of the same issue
we read that at the American River diggings the gold is found at a depth
of three feet below the surface, and in a strata of soft sand-rock. Explorations
made southward to the distance of twelve miles, and to the north five miles,
report the continuance of this strata and the mineral equally abundant. The
vein is from twelve to eighteen feet in thickness. Most advantageously to
this new mine, a stream of water flows in its immediate neighborhood, and
the washing will be attended with comparative ease. These, and the two
items already alluded to in the Star of the 18th and 25th of March, are the
only notices in this paper of the diggings prior to the 22d of April, when it
states: We have been informed, from unquestionable authority, that another
still more extensive and valuable gold mine lias been discovered towards the
head of the American fork, in the Sacramento Valley. We have seen several
specimens taken from it, to the amount of eight or ten ounces of pure virgin
gold. The Calif or nian said even less on the subject during the same period.
56 PROXIMATE EFFECT OF THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
treated with a familiarity hitherto unknown in these
parts to such worshipful wealth. Among the comers
was Samuel Brannan, the Mormon leader, who, hold
ing up a bottle of dust in one hand, and swinging his
hat with the other, passed along the street shouting,
" Gold ! Gold ! Gold from the American River I" 5
This took place in the early part of May. The
conversion of San Francisco was complete. Those
who had hitherto denied a lurking faith now unblush-
ingly proclaimed it; and others, who had refused to
believe even in specimens exhibited before their eyes,
hesitated no longer in accepting any reports, however
exaggerated, and in speeding them onward duly mag
nified. 6 Many were thrown into a fever of excitement, 7
and all yielded more or less to the subtle influence of
5 He took his hat off and swung it, shouting aloud in the streets. Bigler s
Diary, MS. , 79. Evans in the Oregon Bulletin makes the date about the 12th
of May. See also Findla s Stab., MS., 4-6; Ross Stat. t MS., 12; Jf. Helv.
Diary, passim. Gillespie, Vig. Com., MS., 4, refers to three samples seen by
him, the third was a whole quinine-bottle full, which set all the people wild.
6 By the 10th of June the sapient sceptic, Kemble, turned completely
around in expressing his opinion, denying that he had ever discouraged, not
to say denounced, the employment in which over two thirds of the white
population of this country are engaged. But it was too late to save either
his reputation or his journal. There were not wanting others still to denounce
in vain and loudly all mines and miners. I doubt, sir, one exclaims, in the
Californian, if ever the sun shone upon such a farce as is now being enacted
in California, though I fear it may prove a tragedy before the curtain drops.
I consider it your duty, Mr Editor, as a conservator of the public morals
and welfare, to raise your voice against the thing. It is to be hoped that
General Mason will despatch the volunteers to the scene of action, and send
these unfortunate people to their homes, and prevent others from going
thither. This man quickly enough belied a wisdom which led him unwit
tingly to perform the part of heavy simpleton in the drama. Dunbar, Romance
of the Age, 102, with his usual accuracy, places this communication in the
Alta California, May 24, 1848 impossible, from the fact that on that day no
paper was issued in California, and iheAlta never saw the light until the fol
lowing January.
7 Carson, Rec., 4, who for a long time had rejected all reports, was finally
convinced by a returning digger, who opened his well-tilled bag before him.
I looked on for a moment; he writes, a frenzy seized my soul; unbidden
my legs performed some entirely new movements of polka steps I took
several houses were too small for me to stay in; I was soon in the street in
search of necessary outfits; piles of gold rose up before me at every step;
castles of marble, dazzling the eye with their i*ich appliances; thousands of
slaves bowing to my beck and call; myriads of fair virgins contending with
each other for my love were among the fancies .of my fevered imagination.
The Rothschilds, Girards, and Astors appeared to me but poor people; in
short, I had a very violent attack of the gold fever. For further particulars,
see Larkirfs Doc,, MS., iv. passim.
ROUTES TO THE MINES. 57
the malady. 8 Men hastened to arrange their affairs,
dissolving partnerships, disposing of real estate, and
converting other effects into ready means for depart
ure. Within a few days an exodus set in that startled
those who had placed their hopes upon the peninsular
metropolis. 9 "Fleets of launches left this place on
Sunday and Monday," exclaims Editor Kemble,
"closely stowed with human beings. . .Was there
ever anything so superlatively silly?" 10 But sneers,
expostulations, and warnings availed not with a multi
tude so possessed.
The nearest route was naturally sought by water
up the Bay into the Sacramento, and thence where
fortune beckoned. The few available sloops, lighters,
arid nondescript craft were quickly engaged arid filled
for the mines. Many who could not obtain passage
in the larger vessels sold all their possessions, when
necessary, and bought a small boat; 11 every little
rickety cockleshell was made to serve the purpose;
and into these they bundled their effects, set up a sail,
and steered for Carquines Strait. Then there were
two routes by land : one across to Sauzalito by launch,
and thence by mule, mustang, or on foot, by way of
San Rafael and Sonoma, into the California Valley;
and the other round the southern end of the Bay and
through Livermore Pass.
o
8 Brooks writes in his diary, under date of May 10th: Nothing has been
talked of but the new gold placer, as people call it. Several parties, we
hear, are already made up to visit the diggings. May 13th: The gold excite
ment increases daily, as several fresh arrivals from the mines have been re
ported at San Francisco. Four Months among the Gold-finders, 14-15.
9 Several hundred people must have left here during the last few days,
writes Brooks in his diary, under date of May 20th. In the month of May
it was computed that at least 150 people had left S. F., and every day since
was adding to their number. Annals S. F., 203. The census taken the
March previous showed 810, of whom 177 were women and 60 children; so
that 150 would be over one fourth of the male population. See also letter of
Bassham to Cooper, May 15th, in Vallejo, Doc., MS., xxxv. 47. Those with
out means have only to go to a merchant and borrow from 1,000 to $2,000,
and give him an order on the gold mines, is the way Coutts, Diary, MS., 1 13,
puts it.
10 Cat. Star, May 20, 1848. Kemble, who is fast coming to grief, curses
the whole business, and pronounces the mines all sham, a supurb (sic) take-
in as was ever got up to guzzle the gullible.
11 Little row-boats, that before were probably sold for $50, were sold for
$400 or $500. Gillexpie, Vig. Com., MS., 3.
58 PROXIMATE EFFECT OF THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
Roads there were none save the trails between larger
settlements. With the sun for compass, and moun
tain peaks for finger-posts, new paths were marked
across the trackless plains and through the untrodden
woods. Most of the gold-seekers could afford a horse,
and even a pack-animal, which was still to be had for
fifteen dollars, 12 and thus proceed with greater speed
to the goal, to the envy of the number that had to
content themselves with wagons, which, though white-
covered and snug, with perhaps a family inside, were
cumbersome and slow, especially when drawn by oxen.
Often a pedestrian was passed trudging along under
his load, glad to get his effects carried across the stream
by some team, although he himself might have to
breast the current swimming, perchance holding to
the tail of some horse. There were ferries only at
rare points. Charles L. Ross 13 had left for the mines
the last of April, by way of Alviso, and crossed the
strait of Carquines by Semple s ferry at Martinez.
At this time he was the only person on the boat.
When he returned, less than a fortnight after, there
were 200 wagons on their way to the foothills, wait
ing their turn to cross at the ferry. 14
In the general eagerness personal comfort became
12 One rider rented his animals at the mines for f 100 per week. Brooks
crossed to Sauzalito with four companions who were attended by an Indian
servant to drive their six horses laden with baggage and camp equipments.
Vallejo, Hist. CaL, MS., iv., points out that Sonoma reaped benefit as a way-
station.
13 Experiences of a Pioneer of 1847 in California, by Charles L. Ross, is the
title of a manuscript written at the dictation of Mr Ross by my stenographer,
Mr Leighton, in 1878. Mr Ross left New Jersey in Nov. 1846, passed round
Cape Horn in the bark Whiton, arriving in Cal. in April 1847. The very in
teresting information contained in this manuscript is all embodied in the
pages of this history.
14 They having collected there in that short time men, women, and chil
dren, families who had left their homes, and gathered in there from down the
coast. They had organized a committee, and each man was registered on his
arrival, and each took his turn in crossing. The boat ran night and day,
carrying each time two wagons and horses and the people connected with
the. i. Some of them had to camp there quite a while. After a time somebody
else got a scow and started another ferry, and they got across faster. Ross*
Experiences, MS. , 1 1-12. Semple obtains from passengers some $20 per day,
and hass not a single boatman to help him. Only one man has offered to re
main, and he only for two weeks at $25 a week. Letter of Larkin to Mason
from San Jos6, May 26, 1848, iu Doc. Hist. CaL, MS.
EXCITEMENT. 59
of secondary consideration. Some started without a
dollar, or with insufficient supplies and covering, often
to suffer severely in reaching the ground; but once
there they expected quickly to fill their pockets with
what would buy the services of their masters, and ob
tain for them abundance to eat. Many were fed while
on the way as by the ravens of Midas; for there were
few in California then or since who would see a fellow-
being starve. But if blankets and provisions were
neglected, none overlooked the all-important shovel,
the price for which jumped from one dollar to six, ten,
or even more, 16 and stores were rummaged for pick
axes, hoes, bottles, vials, snuff-boxes, and brass tubes,
the latter for holding the prospective treasure. 16
Through June the excitement continued, after
which there were few left to be excited. Indeed, by
the middle of this month the abandonment of San
Francisco was complete; that is to say, three fourths
of the male population had gone to the mines. It was
as if an epidemic had swept the little town so lately
bustling with business, or as if it was always early
morning there. Since the presence of United States
forces San Francisco had put on pretensions, and
scores of buildings had been started. " But now,"
complains the Star, the 27th of May, "stores are
closed and places of business vacated, a large number
of houses tenantless, various kinds of mechanical labor
suspended or given up entirely, and nowhere the
pleasant hum of industry salutes the ear as of late;
but as if a curse had arrested our onward course of
enterprise, everything wears a desolate and sombre
look, everywhere all is dull, monotonous, dead." 17
15 I am informed $50 has been offered for one, writes Larkin on June 1st.
16 Earthen jars and even barrels have been put in requisition, observes
the Calif or nian of Aug. 5th.
17 The following advertisement appears in this issue: The highest mar
ket price will be paid for gold, either cash or merchandise, by Mellus & How
ard, Montgomery street. Again, by the same firm goods were offered for
sale for cash, hides and tallow, or placera gold. C<d. Star, May 27, 1848.
Of quite a different character was another notice in the same issue. Pay up
before you go everybody knows where, the editor cries. Papers can be
forwarded to Sutter s Fort with all regularity. But pay the printer, if you
60 PROXIMATE EFFECT OF THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
Real estate had dropped one half or more, and all
merchandise not used in the mines declined, while
labor rose tenfold in price. 18
Spreading their valedictions on fly-sheets, the only
two journals now faint dead away, the Californian on
the 29th of May, and the Star on the 14th of June.
" The whole country from San Francisco to Los An
geles," exclaimed the former, "and from the seashore
to the base of the Sierra Nevada, resounds to the sor
did cry of gold! GOLD! ! GOLD I ! ! while the field is
left half planted, the house half built, and everything
neglected but the manufacture of shovels and pick
axes, and the means of transportation to the spot
where one man obtained $128 worth of the real stuff in
one day s washing, and the average for all concerned
is $20 per diem." Sadly spoke Kemble, he who vis
ited the gold mines and saw nothing, he to whom
within four weeks the whole thing was a sham, a
superlatively silly sham, groaning within and without,
but always in very bad English, informing the world
that his paper " could not be made by magic, and the
labor of mechanism was as essential to its existence
as to all other arts;" and as neither men nor devils
please, all you in arrears. See also Findla s Stat., MS., 4-6. After quite a
busy life, during which he gained some pi ominence as editor of the Star and
Californian and the Alia California, and later as government official and
newspaper correspondent, Kemble died at the east the 10th of Feb. 188ii.
He was a man highly esteemed in certain circles.
18 Pay the cost of the house, and the lot would be thrown in. On the
fifty- vara corner Pine and Kearny streets was a house which had cost $400 to
build; both house and lot were offered for $350. Ross* Ex., MS., 12; Lar kin s
Doc., MS., vi., 144. On the door of a score of houses was posted the notice,
Gone to the Diggings! From San Jos6 Larkin writes to the governor,
The improvement of Yerba Buenafor the present is done. Letter, May 26th,
in Larkin s Doc. Hi$t. Gal., MS., vi. 74. Even yet the name San Francisco
has not become familiar to those accustomed to that of Yerba Buena. See also
Brooks Four Months, in which is written, under date of May 17th: Work
people have struck. Walking through the town to-day I observed that
laborers were employed only upon half a dozen of the fifty new buildings
which were in the course of being run up. May 20th: Sweating tells me
that his negro waiter has demanded and receives ten dollars a day. Larkin,
writing from S. F. to Secretary Buchanan, June 1st, remarks that some par
ties of from five to fifteen men have sent to this town and offered cooks $10
to $15 a day for a few weeks. Mechanics and teamsters, earning the year
past $5 to $8 per day, have struck and gone. . .A merchant lately from China
has even lost his Chinese servant.
DESERTING SAILORS. 61
could be kept to service, the wheels of progress here
must rest a while.
So also came to an end for a time the sittings of
the town council, and the services of the sanctuary,
all having gone after other gods. All through the
Sundays the little church on the plaza was silent, and
all through the week days the door of Alcalde Towns-
end s office remained locked. As for the shipping, it
was left to the anchor, even this dull metal some
times being inconstant. The sailors departing, cap
tain and officers could only follow their example. One
commander, on observing the drift of affairs, gave
promptly the order to put to sea. The crew refused
to work, and that night gagged the watch, lowered
the boat, and rowed away. In another instance the
watch joined in absconding. Not long afterward a
Peruvian brig entered the bay, the first within three
weeks. The houses were there, but no one came out
to welcome it. At length, hailing a Mexican who
was passing, the captain learned that everybody had
gone northward, where the valleys and mountains
were of gold. On the instant the crew were off. 19
19 So run these stories. Ferry, CaL, 306-13. The captain who sought to
put to sea commanded the Flora, according to a letter in June of a merchant.
Robinson s Gold Regions, 29-30; Revere s Tour of Duty, 254. One of the first
vessels to be deserted was a ship of the Hudson s Bay Company lying at
anchor in the bay; the sailors departing, the captain followed them, leaving
the vessel in charge of his wife and daughter. McKinstry, in the Lancaster
Examiner. Loud complaints appear in the Calif ornian, Sept. 5, 1848; every
ship loses most of her crew within forty-eight hours after arrival. See Brackett,
U. 8. Cavalry, 125-7. The first steamship, the California, arriving Feb. 28,
1849, was immediately deserted by her crew; Forbes asked Jones of the U. S.
squadron for men to take charge of the ship, but the poor commodore had
none. Crosby s Stat., MS., 12; Annals S. F., 220; First Steamship Pioneers,
124. To prevent desertion, the plan was tried of giving sailors two months
furlough; whereby some few returned, but most of them preferred liberty,
wealth, and dissipation to the tyranny of service. Swarfs Trip to the Gold
Mines, in CaL Pioneers, MS., no. 49. Some Mexicans arriving, and finding
the town depopulated of its natural defenders, broke into vacant houses and
took what they would. The Dinner s Hand-Book, 53. See also the Calif or-
nian, Aug. 4, 1848; George McKinstry, in Lancaster Examiner; Stockton I nd.,
Oct. 19, 1875; Saratov s Stat., MS., 3-4; Sac. 111., 7; Forbes* Gold Region,
17-18; TuthilVsCaL, 235-44; Three Weeks in Gold Mine*, 4; Canon s Early
Rec., 3-4; Lants, KaL, 24-31; Hayes Col. Cal. Fotes, v. 85; Revue des Deux
Mondes, Feb. 1, 1849, 4G9; Quarterly Review, no. 91, 1852,508; HitteWs Min
ing, 17; Brooks Four Months, 18; Overland Monthly, xi. 12-13; Ryan s Judges
and Crim., 72-7; Am. Quat. Reg., ii. 288-95, giving the report s of Larkin,
62 PROXIMATE EFFECT OF THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
Other towns and settlements in California were no
less slow than San Francisco to move under the new
fermentation. Indeed, they were more apathetic, and
were finally stirred into excitement less by the facts
than by the example of the little metropolis. Yet the
Mexicans were in madness no whit behind the Amer
icans, nor the farmers less impetuous than townsmen
when once the fury seized them. May had not wholly
passed when at San Jose the merchant closed his
store, or if the stock was perishable left open the doors
that people might help themselves, and incontinently
set out upon the pilgrimage. So the judge abandoned
his bench and the doctor his patients; even the alcalde
dropped the reins of government and went away with
his subjects. 20 Criminals slipped their fetters and
Mason, Jones, and Paymaster Rich on gold excitement; Wille.y s Decade Ser
mons, 12-17; Glcason s Cath. Church, ii. 175-93; Sherman s Memoirs, i. 46-9;
S. F. Directory, 1852-3, 8-9; 8. I. News, ii. 142-8, giving the extract of a
letter from S. F., May 27th; Vallejo Recorder, March 14, 1848; Cal. Past
and Present, 77; G dlc*pie\s Vig. Com., MS., 3-4; Findla s Stat., MS., 4-6.
The Calif ornian newspaper revived shortly after its suspension in May.
20 The alguacil, Henry Bee, had ten Indian prisoners under his charge in
the lock-up, two of them charged with murder. These he would have turned
over to the alcalde, but that functionary had already taken his departure.
Bee was puzzled how to dispose of his wards, for though he was determined
to go to the mines, it would never do to let them loose upon a community of
women and children. Finally he took all the prisoners with him to the
diggings, where they worked contentedly for him until other miners, jealous
of Bee s success, incited them to revolt. By that time, however, the alguacil
had made his fortune. So goes the story. San JO*Q Pioneer, Jan. 27, 1877.
Writing Mason the 26th of May from San Jose", Larkin says: Last night sev
eral of the most respectable American residents of this town arrived home
from a visit to the gold regions; next week they with their families, and I
think nine tenths of the foreign store-keepers, mechanics, and day-laborers of
this place, and perhaps of San Francisco, leave for the Sacramento. West, a
stable-keeper, had two brothers in the mines, who urged him at once to hasten
thither and bring his family. Burn the barn if you cannot dispose of it
otherwise, they said. C. L. Ross writes from the mines in April, Experience*
from 1847, MS.: I found John M. Horner, of the mission of San Jose", who
told me he had left about 500 acres of splendid wheat for the cattle
to roam over at will, he and his family having deserted their place en
tirely, and started off for the mines. J. Belden, Nov. 6th, writes Lar
kin from San Jose": The town is full of people coming from and going to
the gold mines. A man just from there told me he saw the governor and
Squire Colton there, in rusty rig, scratching gravel for gold, but with
little success. Larkirfs Doc., MS., vi. 219. And so in the north. Semple,
writing Larkin May 19th, says that in three days there would not be two
men left in Benicia; and Cooper, two days later, declared that everybody was
leaving except Brant and Semple. Larkin s Doc., MS., \i. 111,116; Valhjo,
Doc., MS., xii. 344. From Sonoma some one wrote in the California^, Aug.
5th, that the town was wellnigh depopulated. Not a laboring man or
IN THE SOUTH. 63
hastened northward; their keepers followed in pur
suit, if indeed they had not preceded, but they took
care not to find them. Soldiers fled from their posts;
others were sent for them, and none returned. Val
uable land grants were surrendered, and farms left
tenantless; waving fields of grain stood abandoned,
perchance opened to the roaming cattle, and gardens
were left to run to waste. The country seemed as if
smitten by a plague. 21
All along down the coast from Monterey to Santa
Barbara, Los Angeles, and San Diego, it was the
same. Towns and country were wellnigh depopu
lated. There the fever raged fiercest during the three
O O
summer months. At the capital a letter from Larkin
gave the impulse, and about the same time, upon the
statement of Swan, four Mormons called at Monterey
en route for Los Angeles, who were reported to carry
100 pounds avoirdupois of gold gathered in less than
a month at Mormon Island. This was in June. A
fortnight after the town was depopulated, 1,000 start
ing from that vicinity within a week. 22 At San Fran-
mechanic can be obtained in town. Vallejo says that the first notice of gold
having been discovered was conveyed to Sonoma through a flask of gold-dust
sent by Sutter to clear a boat-load of wheat which had been forwarded in part
payment for the Ross property, but lay seized for debt at Sonoma. Gov.
Boggs, then alcalde of Sonoma, and I, says Vallejo, started at once for Sac
ramento to test the truth of the report, and found that Sutter, Marshall, and
others had been taking out gold for some time at Coloma. . . \Ve came back to
Sonoma, and such was the enthusiasm of the people that the town and entire
country was soon deserted. Vallejo s Oration at Sonoma, July 4, 1876, in
Sonoma Democrat, July 8, 1876. The general evidently forgets, or at all
events ignores, the many rumors current prior to the reception of the flask,
as well as the positive statement with proofs of friends and passers-by.
21 Such is Mason s report. Maria Aiitonia Pico de Castro, announcing
from Monterey to her son Manuel in Mexico the grand discovery, says that
everybody is crazy for the gold; meanwhile stock is comparatively safe from
thieves, but on the other hand hides and tallow are worth nothing. Doc.
Hist. CaL, MS., i. 505. At Santa Cruz A. A. Hecox and eleven others peti
tioned the alcalde the 30th of Dec. for a year s extension of time in comply
ing with the conditions of the grants of land obtained by them according
to the usual form. Under the pressure of the gold excitement labor had
become so scarce and high that they found it impossible to have lumber drawn
for houses and fences. The petition was granted.
22 Swan s Trip, 1-3; Buffuiris Six Months, 68; Carson s Rec., 4. One
day, says Carson, who was then at Monterey, I saw a form, bent and filthy,
approaching me, and soon a cry of recognition was given between us. He was
an old acquaintance, and had been one of the first to visit the mines. Now
be stood before me. His hair hung out of his hat; his chin with beard was
64 PROXIMATE EFFECT OF THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
cisco commerce had been chiefly affected; here it was
government that was stricken. Mason s small force
was quickly thinned; and by the middle of July, if we
may believe the Reverend Colton, who never was
guilty of spoiling a story by too strict adherence to
truth, the governor and general-in-chief of California
was cooking his own dinner. 23
In a proclamation of July 25th, Colonel Mason
called on the people to assist in apprehending desert
ers. He threatened the foothills with a dragoon
force; but whence were to come the dragoons? The
officers were as eager to be off as the men ; many of
them obtained leave to go, and liberal furloughs were
O * O
granted to the soldiers, for those who could not obtain
leave went without leave. As the officers who re
mained could no longer afford to live in their accus
tomed way, a cook s wages being $300 a month, they
were allowed to draw rations in kind, which they ex
changed for board in private families. 24 But even
black, and his buckskins reached to his knees. The man had a bag of gold
on his back. The sight of its contents started Carson on his way at once. In
May Larkin had prophesied that by June the town would be without inhabi
tants. June 1st Mason at Monterey wrote Larkin at S. F. : The golden-yel
low fever has not yet, I believe, assumed here its worst type, though the
premonitory symptoms are beginning to exhibit themselves, and doubtless
the epidemic will pass over Monterey, leaving the marks of its ravages, as it
has done at S. F. and elsewhere. Take care you don t become so charged
with its malaria as to inoculate and infect us all when you return. Jackson
McDuffee, addressing Larkin on the same date, says: Monterey is very dull,
nothing doing, the gold fever is beginning to take a decided effect here, and a
large party will leave for the Sacramento the last of the week. Shovels,
spades, picks, and other articles wanted by these wild adventurers are in
great demand. Schallenberger on the 8th of June tells Larkin that a great
many are leaving Monterey. Times duller than when you left. In Sept.
there was not a doctor in the town, and Mrs Larkin who was lying ill with
fever had to do without medical attendance.
23 Gen. Mason, Lieut Lanman, and myself forma mess... This morning
for the fortieth time we had to take to the kitchen and cook our own break
fast. A general of the U. S. army, the commander of a man-of-war, and the
alcalde of Monterey in a smoking kitchen grinding coffee, toasting a herring,
and peeling onions! Three Years in Cal., 247-8. Reduit a faire lui-meme
sa cuisine, as one says of this incident in the Revue des Deux Mondes, Feb.
1849.
24 I of course could not escape the infection, says Sherman, Mem., i. 46,
and at last convinced Colonel Mason that it was our duty to go up and see
with our own eyes, that we might report the truth to our government. Swan
relates an anecdote of a party of sailors, including the master-at-urms, belong
ing to the Warren, who deserted in a boat. They hid themselves in the pine
PHILOSOPHY AND DESTINY. 65
then they grew restless, and soon disappeared, as Com
modore Jones asserts in his report to the secretary of
the navy the 2 5th of October. 25 Threats and entreat
ies were alike of little avail. Jones claims to have
checked desertion in his ranks by offering large re
wards; but if the publication of such notices produced
any marked effect, it was not until after there were
few left to desert. 26
In the midst of the excitement, however, there were
men who remained cairn, and here and there were
those who regarded not the product of the Sierra
foothills as the greatest good. Luis Peralta, who
had lived near upon a century, called to him his sons,
themselves approaching threescore years, and said:
"My sons, God has given this gold to the Americans.
Had he desired us to have it, he would have given it
to us ere now. Therefore go not after it, but let
others go. Plant your lands, and reap; these be your
woods till dark, and then came into town for provisions, but got so drunk
that on starting they lost the road, and went to sleep on the beach opposite
their own ship. Just before daylight one of them awoke, and hearing the
ship s bell strike, roused the others barely in time to make good their escape.
Swan afterward met them in the mines. Trip to the Gold Mines, MS., 3.
Certain volunteers from Lower California arriving in Monterey formed into
companies, helped themselves to stores, and then started for the mines. Green s
Life and Adventures, MS., 11; Californian, Aug. 14, 1848. The offer of $100
per month for sailors, made by Capt. Allyn of the Isaac Walton, brought
forward no accepters. Frisbie s Remin., MS., 30-2; Ferry, Col., 325-6; Sher-
man s Mem., i. 57; Bigler s Diary, MS., 78..
25 Xov. 2d he again writes: For the present, and I fear for years to come, it
will be impossible for the United States to maintain any naval or military es
tablishment in California; as at the present no hope of reward nor fear of
punishment is sufficient to make binding any contract between man and man
upon the suil of California. To send troops out here would be needless, for
they would immediately desert. . .Among the deserters from the squadron are
some of the best petty officers and seamen, having but few months to serve,
and large balances due them, amounting in the aggregate to over $10,000.
William Rich, Oct. 23d, writes the paymaster-general that nearly all of Com
pany F, 3d artillery, had deserted. The five men-of-war in port dared not
land a man through fear of desertion. Two companies alone remained in Cal.,
one of the first dragoons arid the other of the 3d artillery, *the latter reduced
to a mere skeleton by desertion, and the former in a fair way to share the
same fate. Hevere s Tour of Duty, 252-6; Sherman s Mem., i. 56-7; Lants,
KaL, 24-31.
26 In Nov. the commander gave notice through the Californian that
$40,000 would be given for the capture of deserters from his squadron, in the fol
lowing sums: for the first four deserting since July, $500 each, and for any
others, $200 each, the reward to be paid in silver dollars immediately on the
delivery of any culprit.
HIST. CAL., VOL. VI. 5
66 PROXIMATE EFFECT OF THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
best gold-fields, for all must eat while they live." 27
Others looked around and saw with prophetic eye the
turn in the tide when different resources must spring
into prominence; not only land grants with farms and
orchards, and forests with their varied products, but
metals and minerals of a baser kind, as quicksilver,
copper, coal. 28 They foresaw the rush from abroad of
gold-seekers, the gathering of vast fleets, the influx
of merchandise, with their consequent flow of traffic
and trade, the rise of cities and the growth of settle
ments. Those were the days of great opportunities,
when a hundred properly invested would soon have
yielded millions. We might have improved an oppor
tunity like Sutter s better than he did. So we think;
yet opportunities just as great perhaps present them
selves to us every day, and will present themselves,
but we do not see them.
27 Archives Santa Cruz, MS., 107; HalVs Hist., 190-1; Larkin s Doc.,
MS., vi.
28 Men began to quarrel afresh over the New Almaden claim, now aban
doned by its workmen for more fascinating fields; in the spring of this year
the country round Clear Lake had been searched for copper.
CHAPTER V.
FURTHER DISCOVERIES.
MARCH-DECEMBER, 1848.
ISAAC HUMPHREY AGAIN BIDWELL AND HIS BAR READING AND HIS IN
DIANS ON CLEAR CREEK POPULATION IN THE MINES ON FEATHER
RIVER AND THE YUBA JOHN SINCLAIR ON THE AMERICAN RIVER
THE IRISHMAN YANKEE JIM DR TODD IN TODD VALLEY KELSEY
WEBER ON WEBER CREEK THE STOCKTON MINING COMPANY MURPHY
HANGTOWN ON THE STANISLAUS KNIGHT, WOOD, SAVAGE, AND
HEFFERNAN PARTY FROM OREGON ON THE MOKELUMNE AND COSUM-
NES THE SONORANS ON THE TUOLUMNE CORONEL AND PARTY.
ONE of the first to realize the importance of Mar
shall s discovery was Isaac Humphrey, the Georgia
miner before mentioned, who accompanied Bennett
on his return to Suiter s Fort, after the failure to
obtain a grant of the gold region. Humphrey advised
^ome of his friends to go with him to seek gold, but
they only laughed at him. He reached Coloma on
the 7th of March; the 8th saw him out prospecting
with a pan; the 9th found him at work with a rocker.
The application of machinery to mining in California
was begun. A day or two later came to the mill a
French Canadian, Jean Baptiste Ruelle by name, com
monly called Baptiste, who had been a miner in Mex
ico, a trapper, and general backwoodsman. Impressed
by the geologic features of that region, and yet more
perhaps by an ardent fancy, he had five years before
applied to Sutter for an outfit to go and search for
gold in the mountains. Sutter declined, deeming him
unreliable, but gave him occupation at the whip-saw
on Weber Creek, ten miles east of Coloma. After
(67)
FURTHER DISCOVERIES.
THE GOLD REGION IN 1848, FROM TUOLUMNE TO TRINITY.
EXTENSION OF THE MINING DISTRICT. 69
examining the diggings at Coloma, he declared there
must be gold also on the creek, wondered he had never
found it there; indeed, the failure to do so seems
stupidity in a person so lately talking about gold-find
ing. Nevertheless, he with Humphrey was of great
service to the inexperienced gold-diggers, initiating
them as well in the mysteries of prospecting, or seek
ing for gold, as in washing it out, or separating it
from the earth. 1
So it was with John Bid well, who came to Coloma
toward the latter part of March. 2 Seeing the gold
and the soil, he said there were similar indications in
the vicinity of his rancho, at Chico. Returning home
he searched the streams thereabout, and was soon at
work with his native retainers on Feather River, at
the rich placer which took the name of Bidwell Bar. 3
Not long after Bidwell s visit to Coloma, 4 P. B.
Reading arrived there. He also was satisfied that
there was gold near his rancho at the northern end
of the great valley, and finding it, he worked the
1 Humphrey died at Victoria, B. C., Dec. 1, 1867. Alta CaL, Dec. 4, 1867.
Hittell, Mining, 15, ascribes to the Frenchman the first use of pan and rocker
on the coast.
2 He says that Humphrey, Ruelle, and others were at work with pans in
some ravines on the north side of the river. BklweWs Col. 1841-8, MS., 232.
He makes no mention of any rocker, although the machine must have been
new to him. It may have been there for all that.
3 On my return to Chico I stopped over night at Hamilton on the west
bank of Feather River. On trying some of the sand in the river here I found
light particles of gold, and reckoned that if light gold could be found that far
down the river, the heavier particles would certainly remain near the hills.
On reaching Chico an expedition was organized, but it took some time to get
everything ready. We had to send twice up to Peter Lassen s mill to obtain
flour; meat had to be dried, and w r e had to send to Sacramento for tools.
Our party were Mr Dicky, Potter, John Williams, William Northgraves,
and myself. We passed near Cherokee and up on the north fork. In nearly
all the places we prospected we found the color. One evening, while camped
at White Rocks, Dicky and I in a short time panned out about an ounce of
fine gold. The others refused to prospect any, and said the gold we had
obtained was so light that it would not weigh anything. At this time we
were all unfamiliar with the weight of gold-dust, but I am satisfied that
what we had would have weighed an ounce. At length we came home and
some of the men went to the American River to mine. Dicky, Northgraves,
and I went to what is now Bidwell s Bar, and there found gold and went to
mining. BidweWs CaL 1841-8, MS., 232-3; Sac. Union, Oct. 24, 1864.
* Sutter, in N. Helv. Diary, says he left the fort April 18th with Reading
and Edwin Kemble, was absent four days, and beside gold saw silver and iron
in abundance.
70 FURTHER DISCOVERIES.
deposits near Clear Creek with his Indians. Mean
while the metal was discovered at several inter
mediate points, 5 especially along the tributaries and
ravines of the south fork, which first disclosed it.
Thus at one leap the gold-fields extended their line
northward two hundred miles. It will also be noticed
that after the Mormons the foremost to make avail
of Marshall s discovery w r ere the settlers in the great
valley, who, gathering round them the Indians of
their vicinity, with such allurements as food, finery,
alcohol, went their several ways hunting the yellow
stuff up and down the creeks and gulches in every
direction. Sutter and Marshall had been working
their tamed Indians at Coloma in February. 6
As the field enlarged, so did the visions of its occu
pants. Reports of vast yields and richer and richer
diggings began to fly in all directions, swelling under
distorted fancy and lending wings to flocking crowds.
In May the influx assumed considerable proportions,
and the streams and ravines for thirty miles on either
side of Coloma were occupied one after another. The
estimate is, that there were then already 800 miners
at work, and the number was rapidly increasing.
Early in June Consul Larkin estimated them at 2,000,
mostly foreigners, half of whom were on the branches
of the American. There might have been 100 fami
lies, with teams and tents. He saw none who had
worked steadily a month. Few had come prepared
to stay over a week or a fortnight, and no matter how
rich the prospects, they were obliged to return home
and arrange their business. Those who had no home
or business must go somewhere for food.
When Mason visited the mines early in July, he
understood that 4,000 men were then at work, which
certainly cannot be called exaggerated if Indians are
5 As on the land of Leidesdorff, on the American River just above Sutter s
flour-mill, about the middle of April. S. F. Californian, April 19, 1848; Cal*
ifornia Star, April 22, 1848.
6 In his Diary, under date of April, Sutter says that some of his neighbors
had been very successful.
MINES AND MINING CAMPS. 71
included. By the turn of the season, in October, the
number had certainly doubled, although the white
mining population for the year could not have exceeded
10,000 men. Arrivals in 1848 have as a rule been
overestimated. News did not reach the outside world
in time for people to come from a distance during
that year. 7 It is impossible to trace the drift of the
miners, but I will give the movements of the leading
men, and, so far as they have come under my observa
tion, the founders of mining camps and towns.
The success of Bidwell in the north was quickly re
peated by others. Two miles from his camp on the
north fork of Feather River, one Potter from the
Far well grant opened another bar, known by his name.
Below Bidwell Bar lay Long Bar; opposite, Adams-
town, first worked by Neal. From Lassen s rancho
went one Davis and camped below Morris Ravine,
near Thompson Flat. Subsequently Dye and com
pany of Monterey with 50 Indians took out 273 pounds
in seven weeks, from mines on this river. The abo
rigines began to work largely on their own account,
Simpson should not say there were 3,000 or 4,000 miners at work three
months after the discovery of gold, because there were less than 500; four
months after the discovery there were less than 1,000; nor should the Reverend
Colton speak of 50,000 in Nov., when less than 10,000 white men were at work
in the mines. My researches indicate a population in California in the middle
of 1848 of 7,500 Hispano-Californians, excluding Indians, and 6,500 Ameri
cans, with a sprinkling of foreigners. Of the Californians, probably 1,300
went to the mines, out of a possible maximum of 2,000 able to go, allowing
for their larger families. Of the Americans, with smaller families and of
more roving disposition, soldiers, etc., 4,000 joined the rush. Add 1,500
Oregonians and northerners, arriving in 1848, and 2,500 Mexicans, Hawai-
ians, etc., and we have a total mining population of somewhat over 9,000.
Cal. Star, Sept. 2, 1848, Dec. 9, 1848, allows 2,000 Oregonians to arrive in
1848, and 100 wagons with U. S. emigrants. The gov. agent, T. B. King,
indicates his belief in a population at the end of 1848 of 15,000, or a little
more. Report, 15; U. S. Gov. Docs., 31st cong. 1st sess., H. Ex. Doc. 59, 7.
The committee of the Cal. const, convention, in statement of March 1850,
assumad a population of 26,000, whereof 8,000 Americans, 5,000 foreigners,
and 13,000 Californians, but the last two estimates are excessive. See also
Stillman s Golden Fleece, 32; Mayer s Mex. Aztec, ii. 393; Grimshaw, Narr.,
MS., enumerates only five sea-going vessels at San Francisco early in Nov.
1848, and these evidently all on trading trips, and as late as Feb. 1849, the
First Steamship Pioneers, found only a few ships here. It is difficult, there
fore, to make up 5,000 foreign arrivals before 1849, for the influx from Sonora
is shown elsewhere to have been moderate so far.
72 FURTHER DISCOVERIES.
and Bid well found more advantage in attending to a
trading post opened by him. 8
The success on Feather River led to the explora
tion of its main tributary, the Yuba, by Patrick Mc-
Christian, J. P. Leese, Jasper O Farrell, William
Leery, and Samuel Norris, who left Sonoma in July,
and were the first to dig there for gold, making in
three months $75,000 9 The diggings on the Yuba
were subsequently among the most famous in Califor
nia, and form the scene perhaps of more of the incidents
and reminiscences characteristic of the mining days
than any other locality. The leading bars or camps
were those of Parks, Long, and Foster, where miners,
although poorly supplied with implements, made from
$60 to $100 a day; and it is supposed that they
lost more gold than they saved, on account of the
clumsiness of their implements. 10 Below, on Bear
River, J. Tyrwhitt Brooks camped with a party. 11
Reading extended his field to Trinity River, the most
northerly point reached in 1848; but he had the mis
fortune to encounter a company of Oregon ians on
their way south, and these, imbittered against all
*BidwelVsCal. 1841-8, MS., 231-3; Seeton, in Oroville Mer., Dec. 31, 1875.
9 McChristian, in Pioneer Sketches, MS. , 9. Jonas Speot states in his Diary,
MS., that he found gold on the Yuba, near Long Bar, June 1st. See also
Yolo Co. Hist., 33; Yuba Co. Hist., 36.
10 Parks Bar on the Yuba was discovered in August by Stephen Cooper,
John Marsh, John P. Long and two brothers, Clay, Willis, and Nicholas
Hunsaker, who afterward held important positions in Contra Costa county.
Charles Covillaud opened a store there later, and employed a number of In
dians to dig gold for him. He married, on Christmas, 1848, Mary Murphy,
one of the survivors of the Donner party. He purchased the rancho where
Marysville now stands, laid out the town, and named it for his wife. Parks,
from whom the bar was named, came across the plains in 1848. Although
fifty miners were at work when he arrived, and had been for some time, the
bar was christened after him, because he was a man with a family, and more
persons answered to the name of Parks than to any other. See account by
Juanita, in Sacramento Rescue, Jan. 26, 1871. Juanita was a young Scotch
man, John C. McPherson by name, with considerable literary ability. While
mining at Long Bar he composed a song in praise of the Yuba, which became
a favorite among the miners, and has been frequently printed. Long tar
was named after Dr Long. Burnett and a number of his companions from
Oregon began their gold-seeking at this point. The population was then 80
men, 3 women, and 5 children. Foster Bar was one of the last opened in 1848.
The gravelly clay dirt, often twelve feet from the surface, was hard to work.
11 Brooks Four Month*, 119-28. His party obtained 115 Ibs of gold by
Sept Later, Buffum tried and failed.
TOWN-BUILDING. 73
Indians by the recent bloody wars in which they had
been engaged with their own aborigines, drove him
and his party of natives away from what afterward
proved to be an exceedingly rich locality. 12
Early in June John Sinclair went from his rancho,
near New Helvetia, to the junction of the north and
south branches of the American River, twelve miles
above his house, and there worked fifty natives with
good success. During the same month a party of
Mormons abandoned their claim on the south branch
of the American River, and crossing to the middle
tributary, discovered the deposits on what was later
known as Spanish Bar, twelve miles north-east from
Coloma. This stream was the richest of any in all
that rich region, this one spot alone yielding more
than a million of dollars.
Into a ravine between the north and middle branches
of the American River, fifteen miles north-east of
Coloma, stumbled one day an Irishman, to whom in
raillery had been given the nickname Yankee Jim,
which name, applied to the rich deposit he there found,
soon became famous. A few miles to the north-east
of Yankee Jim were Illinoistown and Iowa Hill,
found and named by persons from the states indicated.
W. R. Longley, once alcalde at Monterey, was
followed by Dr Todd into the place named Todd
Valley. Hereabout remained many Mormons, who
forgot their desert destination, turned publicans, and
waxed fat. There were Hannon, one wife and two
daughters, who kept the Mormon House; Wickson
and wife, the house to which under their successor
was given the name Franklin; while Blackmail kept
an inn at one of the fifty Dry Diggings, which, at
the great renaming, became known as Auburn. 13
12 Weaverville Trinity Journal, June 20, 1874; Pacific Rural Press, quoted
in M freed People, June 8, 1872.
13 Ferry, Col., 105-6; Oakland Transcript, April 13, 1873; Alamrda
Co. Gazette, April 19, 1873; Hutchings May., vol. ii. 197. On these streams
some deserters realized within a few days from $5,000 to 20,000 each, and
then left California by the first conveyance. Carson s Early Recollections, 6;
74 FURTHER DISCOVERIES.
North of Coloma Kelsey and party opened the
diggings which took his name. South of it Weber
Creek rose into fame under the discoveries of a com
pany from Weber s grant, now Stockton, including
some Hispano-Californians. After a trip to the Stan
islaus, and a more favorable trial on the Mokelumne,
with deep diggings, they proceeded on their route,
finding gold everywhere, and paused on the creek,
at a point about twelve miles from the saw-mill.
There they made their camp, which later took the
name of Weberville; and while some remained to
mine, the rest returned to Weber s rancho for supplies.
Trade no less than gold-digging being the object, a
joint-stock association, called the Stockton Mining
Company, was organized, with Charles M. Weber as
the leading member. 14 The company, although very
successful with its large native corps, was dissolved
in September of the same year by Weber, who wished
to turn his attention exclusively to building a town
upon his grant. 15 On the creek were also Sunol and
company, who employed thirty Indians, and Neligh.
The Stockton company had scarcely been established
at Weber Creek when a man belonging to the party of
William Daylor, a ranchero from the vicinity of New
Helvetia, struck into the hills one morning, and found
the mine first called, in common with many other
Buffum s Six Months, 77. Sinclair was one of the first to find gold on the
north branch. McChristian, in Pioneer Sketches, 9.
14 The other members were John M. Murphy, Joseph Bussel, Andy Baker,
Pyle, I. S. Isbel, and George Frazer. Not having at hand all the requisites
for the outfit, while the company proceeded to \V eber Creek, Weber went to
San Francisco and San Jos6, and there bought beads, calico, clothing, gro
ceries, and tools, which were sent by boat to Sutter s embarcadero, and thence
transported by wagons to Weber Creek, where a store was opened. Among3t
the other articles purchased was a quantity of silver coin, attractive to the
natives as ornaments. From the rancho were sent beef, cattle, and whatever
else was available for use or sale. Weber, in Tinkharrfs Hist. Stockton, 72.
According to San Joaquin Co. Hist., 21, there were other prominent members,
but they were more likely to have been only of the party, and may have
joined at another time and place.
15 Buffum, Six Months in the Gold Mines, 92, says that William Daylor, a
ranchero near Sutter s Fort, was with Weber at Weber Creek, and that the
two employed 1 ,000 Indians and took out $50,000. See, further, Carson s Early
Rec,, 5; S. F. Bulletin, Aug. 13, 1859; Alta CaL, July 31, 1856; Brooks Four
Months, 93.
INDIAN MINERS. 75
spots, Dry Diggings, afterward Hangtown, and later
Placerville. 16 It proved exceedingly rich, yielding
from three ounces to five pounds of gold daily to the
man; and from the middle of June, through July and
August, the 300 Hangtown men were the happiest
in the universe.
Thus far extended the northern district, which em
braced the tributaries of the Sacramento and the north
side of the Bay, 17 and centred in Colorna as the point
of primary attraction, and whence fresh discoveries
radiated. The region below, tributary to the San
Joaquin, was largely opened by Indians. 18
On the Stanislaus, where afterward was Knight s
Ferry, lived an Indian known to white men as Jose
Jesus. He had been instructed in the mysteries of
religion and civilization by the missionaries, and was
once alcalde at San Jose. Through some real or
fancied wrong he became offended, left San Jose, and
was ever after hostile to the Mexicans, though friendly
to others. Tall, well-proportioned, and possessed of
remarkable ability, with the dress and dignified mari
ner of a Mexican of the better class, he commanded
*Buffum s Six Months, 92-3; Ferry, CaL, 105-6. The gulches and ra
vines were opened about two feet wide and one foot in depth along their cen
tres, and the gold picked out from amongst the dirt with a knife. Carson s
Early Rec., 5.
17 The Calif or nian states that about this time there were many gold-seekers
digging in the vicinity of Sonoma and Santa Rosa.
18 A map, entitled Positions of the Upper and Lower Gold Mines on the
South Fork of the American River, California, July 20, 1848, is probably the
earliest map made expressly to show any part of the gold region, unless it was
preceded by another on a larger scale of the same diggings, which bears no
date. There is, however, another map, which is dated only five days later
than the first mentioned, and is entitled, Topographical Sketch of the Gold
and Quicksilver District of California, July 25, 1848, E. 0. C. D., Lt U. S. A.
This is not confined to one locality, but embraces the country west of the
Sierra Nevada from lat. 37 to 40, and has marked on it all the places where
gold had been found at that date. A Map of the Southern Mines, by C. D.
Gibbes, 1852, accompanies Carson s Early Recollections. The many books and
pamphlets published about California in Europe and the eastern states in 1 848-9
generally contained inferior maps, and in some cases an attempt was made to
show the gold regions. Such may be found, for instance, in Foster s Gold
Regions; Wilkes Western America; Brooks Four Months among the Gold-
Jinders; Hartmami s Geog. Stat.; Beschreibung von CaL; Hoppers Cal. Geaen*
wart; Oswald, Californien; Cohorts Three Years; and many other similar
works. The earliest purely geological map appears in Tyson s Report, pub
lished by the war department in 1849.
76 FURTHER DISCOVERIES.
universal respect, and on the death of Estanislao, that
is to say, Stanislaus, chief of the Wallas, Jose Jesus
was chosen his successor. Courting the friendship of
this savage, Weber had through the intervention of
Sutter made him his firm ally. On organizing the
Stockton company, W^eber requested of Jose Jesus
some able-bodied members of his tribe, such as would
make good gold-diggers. The chief sent him twenty-
five, who were despatched to Weber Creek and given
lessons in mining; after which they were directed to
return to the Stanislaus, there to dig for gold, and to
carry the proceeds of their labor to French Camp,
where the mayordomo would pay them in such articles
as they best loved. 19
This shrewd plan worked well. The gold brought
in by the natives proved coarser than any yet found.
Weber and the rest were delighted, and the Stockton
company determined at once to abandon Weber Creek
and remove to the Stanislaus, which was done in Au
gust. The news spreading, others went with them;
a large emigration set in, including some subsequently
notable persons who gave their names to different
5 laces, as Wood Creek, Angel Camp, Sullivan Bar,
amestown, Don Pedro (Sansevain) Bar. Murphy
Camp was named from John M. Murphy, one of the
partners. 20 William Knight established the trading
post at the point now known as Knight s Ferry.
19 They met with rare success, if the writer in San Joaquin Co. Hist., 21,
is to be believed. They found, he says, in July a lump of pure gold, weigh
ing 80 ounces avoirdupois, the general form of the nugget being that of
a kidney. Its rare beauty, purity, and size prompted the firm of Cross &
Hobson of San Francisco to paj for it $3, 000... to send to the Bank of
England, as a specimen from the newly discovered gold-fields of California.
Gold-dust-was selling at that time for $12 per ounce, and the specimen, had it
sold only for its value as metal, would have yielded the Stockton Mining
Company only $966.
*"San Joaquin Co. Hist., 21. Carson says, Early Rec., 6: In August the
old diggings were pronounced as being dug out, and many prospecting parties
had gone out. Part of Weber s trading establishments had secretly disap
peared, and rumors were afloat that the place where all the gold came from
had been discovered south, and a general rush of the miners commenced that
day. Tinkham asserts that Weber proclaimed the discovery on the Stanis
laus, and was willing every one should go there who wished. The greater
the number of people the more goods would be required.
TOWARD THE SOUTH. 77
Such was the richness of the field that, at Wood
Creek, Wood, Savage, and Heffernan were said to
have taken out for some time, with pick and knife
alone, $200 or $300 a day each.
The intermediate region, along the Mokelumne and
Cosumnes, had already become known through parties
en route from the south, such as Weber s partners.
J. H. Carson was directed by, an Indian to Carson
Creek, where he and his companions in ten days
gathered 180 ounces each. Angel camped at An
gel Creek. Sutter, who had for a time been mining
ten miles above Mormon Island with 100 Indians and
50 kanakas, came in July to Sutter Creek. Two
months later, when further gold placers on the Co
sumnes were discovered, Jose de Jesus Pico with ten
men left San Luis Obispo and proceeded through
Livermore pass to the Arroyo Seco of that locality
and began to mine. In four months he obtained suf
ficient to pay his men and have a surplus of $14,000. 21
Mokelumne or Big Bar was now fast rising in
importance. A party from Oregon discovered it early
in October and were highly successful. Their num
ber induced one Syrec to drive in a wagon laden with
provisions, a venture which proved so fortunate that
he opened a store in the beginning of November, on
a hill one mile from where the first mine was discov
ered. This became a trade centre under the name of
Mokelumne Hill.
The richest district in this region, however, was
beginning to appear on the head waters of the Tuol-
umne, round the later town of Sonora, which took its
name from the party of Mexicans from Sonora who
discovered it. 22 The Tuolumne may be regarded as
the limit of exploration southward in 1848. It was
21 Pico, Acontecimientox, MS., 77.
22 Amongst the first who helped to settle Sonora in 1848-9 were Joshua
Holden, Emanuel Lindberg, Casimir Labetour, Alonzo Green, Hiram W.
Theall, R. S. Ham, Charles F. Dodge, Theophilus Dodge, Terence Clark,
James Lane, William Shepperd, Alfred W. Luckett, Benjamin F. Moore,
William Norlinn, Francisco Pavia, Jos< M. Bosa, Elordi, Remigio Riveras,
and James Frasier. Hayes 1 CaL Mining, i. 33.
78 FURTHER DISCOVERIES.
reached in August, so that before the summer months
closed all the long Sierra base-line, as I have described,
had been overrun by the gold-seekers, the subsequent
months of the year being devoted to closer develop
ments. 23 One reason for the limitation was the hos
tility of the natives, who had in particular taken an
aversion to the Mexican people, or Hispano-Califor-
nians, their old taskmasters, and till lately prominent
in pursuing them for enslavement.
These Californians very naturally halted along the
San Joaquin tributaries, which lay on the route taken
from the southern settlements, and were reported even
richer than the northern mines. Among them was
Antonio Franco Coronel, with a party of thirty, who
had left Los Angeles in August by way of San Jose
and Livermore pass. 24 Priests as well as publicans,
it appears, were possessed by the demon in those days;
for at the Sari Joaquin Coronel met Padre Jose
Maria Suarez del Real who showed him a bag of gold
which he claimed to have brought from the Stanislaus
camp, that is to say, Sonora, recently discovered.
This decided Coronel and party to go to the Stanis
laus, where they found a company of New Mexicans,
lately arrived, a few Americans, as well as native
Californians from San Jose and proximate places. To
the camp where Coronel halted came seven savages,
25 Carson s Early Recollections, 6-7; Stockton Independent, Sept. 14, 1872;
Fiitdla s Statement, MS., 7; San Andreas Independent, Jan. 1861; Jansen,
Vida y Aventuras, 198-200; Pico, Acontecimientos, 77. According to a state
ment published in the Altaol Oct. 15, 1851, in the summer of 1848 one Bomon,
a Spanish doctor, while travelling with a large party of Spaniards, Italians, and
Frenchmen in the southern part of the state, came upon a river so rich in gold
that with their knives they took out five or six ounces a day to the man.
They got into trouble with the natives, however, who killed 48 of the party,
and forced the rest to flee for their lives. Bomon set out from Mariposa dig
gings with some companions in 1851 in search of this placer, and at the same
time a French company left the same place with a similar object; but both
expeditions failed. The narrator thinks that this might have been Kern
River, but the whole story is probably fiction.
24 The account I take from the valuable manuscript, written at the dicta
tion of Coronel by Mr Savage in 1877, Cosas de California, For ft Senor Don
Antonio Franco Coronel, vecino de la Ciudad de Los Anyeles. Obra en que el
antor trata particnlarmtnte de lo que acontecio en la parte del sur durante los
anosde 1846 y 1847.
CORONEL AND PARTY. 79
wishing to buy from him and his party, and offering
large quantities of gold for such articles as took their
fancy. One of Coronel s servants, Benito Perez, was
an expert in placer-mining. Struck with the display
made by the natives, he proposed to his master to let
him have one of his dumb Indians as a companion, so
that he might follow, and see whenc e the savages ob
tained their gold. It was dark before the Indians
had finished their purchases and set out for home, but
Benito Perez, with Indian Agustin, kept stealthily
upon their tracks, to the rancheria where Captain
Estanislao had formerly lived.
Perez passed the night upon a hill opposite the ran
cheria hidden among the trees, and waiting for the
Indians. Early the following morning the same seven
started for the gold-fields, taking their way toward the
east, followed by the Mexican and his companion.
At a place afterward called Canada del Barro the
seven began to dig with sharp-pointed stakes, where
upon Perez presented himself. The Indians were evi
dently annoyed; but Perez set to work with his knife,
and in a short time obtained three ounces in chispas,
or nuggets. Satisfied with his discovery, he went
back to Coronel. The two determined to take secret
possession; but eventually Coronel thought it would
be but right to inform his companions, especially as
Perez report indicated the mine to be rich. Secrecy
was moreover of little use; their movements were
watched. In order not to delay matters, Perez was
despatched with two dumb Indians to secure the
richest plats. This done, Coronel and the rest of his
friends started, though late in the night. Such was
their eagerness, that on reaching the ground they spent
the night in alloting claims in order to begin work at
daybreak.
Everybody was well satisfied with the first day s
working. Coronel, with his two dumb Indians, ob
tained forty-five ounces of coarse gold. Dolores Se-
pulveda, who was busy a few yards away, picked up a
80 FURTHER DISCOVERIES.
nugget fully twelve ounces in weight; and though
there were more than a hundred persons round about,
all had great success. On the same bar where Sepul-
veda found the nugget worked Valdes, alias Cha-
pamango, a Californian of Santa Barbara, who, by
digging to the depth of three feet, discovered a
pocket which had been formed by a large rock break
ing the force of the current and detaining quantities
of gold. He picked up enough to fill a large towel,
and then passed round to make known his good for
tune. Thinking that he had money enough, he sold
his claim to Lorenzo Soto, who took out in eight days
52 pounds of gold. Water was then struck, when the
claim was sold to Machado of San Diego, who also,
in a short time, secured a large quantity of gold.
Coronel, leaving his servants at his claim, started
to inspect the third bar of the Barro Canada, with an
experienced gambusino of the Sonorans known as
Chino Tirador. Choosing a favorable spot, the gam
busino marked out his claim, and Coronel took up his
a little lower. The Chino set to work, and at the
depth of four feet found a pocket of gold near an un
derground rock which divided the two claims. From
nine o clock in the morning till four in the afternoon
he lay gathering the gold with a horn spoon, throw
ing it into a wooden tray for the purpose of dry-wash
ing. By this time the tray had become so filled with
cleaned gold that the man could hardly carry it.
Tired with his work he returned to camp, giving Co
ronel permission to work his claim. The latter was
only too glad to do so, for with a great deal more labor,
and with the assistance of his servant, he had not
succeeded in obtaining six ounces. During the brief
daylight remaining Coronel made ample amends for
previous shortcomings. The Chino s luck caused
great excitement in the camp, where he offered to
sell clean gold for silver; and had disposed of a con
siderable quantity when Coronel arrived and bought
seventy-six ounces at the rate of two dollars and a
MINING LIFE. 81
half the ounce. The next day the Chino returned to
his claim; but as large numbers had been working it
by night, with the aid of candles, he decided on aban
doning the mine and starting upon a new venture.
Purchasing a bottle of whiskey for a double-handful
of gold, and spreading a blanket on the ground, he
opened a monte bank. By ten o clock that night he
was both penniless and drunk. 25 Such is one of the
many phases of mining as told by the men of 1848.
25 Coronet, Cosas de CaL, MS., 146-51.
HIST. CAL,., VOL. VI. 6
CHAPTER VI.
AT THE MINES.
1848.
VAKIETT OF SOCIAL PHASES INDI\ IDUALITY OF THE YEAR 1848 NOTICEABLE
ABSENCE OF BAD CHARACTERS DURING THIS YEAR MINING OPERATIONS
IGNORANCE OF THE MINERS OF MINING IMPLEMENTS AND PROCESSES
YIELD IN THE DIFFERENT DISTRICTS PRICE OF GOLD-DUSTPRICES
OF MERCHANDISE A NEW ORDER OF THINGS EXTENSION OF DEVELOP
MENTAFFAIRS AT SUTTER S FORT BIBLIOGRAPHY EFFECT ON SUTTER
AND MARSHALL CHARACTER AND CAREER OF THESE Two MEN.
SOCIETY in California from the beginning presents
itself in a multitude of phases. First there is the
aboriginal, wild and tame, half naked, eating his grass
hopper cake, and sleeping in his hut of bushes, or
piously sunning himself into civilization upon an adobe
mission fence, between the brief hours of work and
prayer; next the Mexicanized European, priest and
publican, missionary and military man, bland yet co
ercive, with the work-hating ranch ero and settler;
and then the restless rovers of all nations, particularly
the enterprising and impudent Yankee. With the
introduction of every new element, and under the de
velopments of every new condition, the face of society
changes, and the heart of humanity pulsates with
fresh purposes and aspirations.
The year of 1848 has its individuality. It is dif
ferent from every other California year before or
since. The men of 48 were of another class from
the men of 49. We have examined the ingredients
composing the community of 1848 ; the people of 1849
will in due time pass under analysis. Suffice it to say
(82)
THE INFLOWING CURRENT. 83
here, that the vile and criminal element from the con
tinental cities of civilization and the isles of ocean,
which later cursed the country, had not yet arrived.
Those first at the mines were the settlers of the Cali
fornia Valley, just and ingenuous, many of them with
their families and Indian retainers; they were neigh
bors and friends, who would not wrong each other in
the mountains more than in the valley. The immi
grants from the Mississippi border were accustomed
to honest toil; and the men from San Francisco Bay
and the southern seaboard were generally acquainted,
and had no thought of robbing or killing each other.
After the quiet inflowing from the valley adjacent
to the gold-fields came the exodus from San Francisco,
which began in May; in June San Jose, Monterey,
and the middle region contributed their quota, followed
in July and August by the southern settlements.
The predominance thus obtained from the start by
the Anglo-American element was well sustained,
partly from the fact that it was more attracted by
the glitter of gold than the lavish and indolent ran-
chero of Latin extraction, and less restrained from
yielding to it by ties of family and possessions. The
subsequent influx during the season from abroad pre
ponderated in the same direction. It began in Sep
tember, although assuming no large proportions until
two months later. The first flow came from the
Hawaiian Islands, followed by a larger stream from
Oregon, and a broad current from Mexico and beyond,
notably of Sonorans. who counted many experienced
miners in their ranks. Early in the season came also
an accidental representation from the Flowery king
dom. 1
It is not to be denied that this mixture of national
ities, with a tinge of inherited antipathy, and variety
1 Charles V. Gillespie, who reached S. F. from Hong-Kong in the brig Eagle,
Feb. 2, 1848, brought three Chinese, two men and a woman. The men sub
sequently went to the mines. These, he says, were the first Chinamen in Cal.,
with the exception of a very few who had come over as cooks or stewards of
vessels. Gille^p^s Viy. Com., MS., 1.
84 AT THE MINES.
of character, embracing some few aimless adventurers
and deserters as well as respectable settlers, could not
fail to bring to the surface some undesirable features.
Yet the crimes that mar this period are strikingly few
in comparison with the record of the following years,
when California was overrun by the dregs of the
world s society. Indeed, during this first year theft
was extremely rare, although temptations abounded,
and property lay almost unguarded. 2 Murder and
violence were almost unknown, and even disputes
seldom arose. Circumstances naturally required the
miners to take justice into their own hands; }^et with
all the severity and haste characterizing such admin
istration, I find only two instances of action by a
popular tribunal in the mining region. In one case a
Frenchman, a notorious horse-thief, was caught in the
act of practising his profession at the Dry Diggings;
in the other, a Spaniard was found with a stolen bag
of gold-dust in his possession, on the middle branch
of the American River. 3 Both of these men were
tried, convicted, and promptly hanged by the miners.
It has been the fashion to ascribe most infringe
ments of order to the Latin race, mainly because the
recorders nearly all belonged to the other side, and
because Anglo-Saxon culprits met with greater leni
ency, while the least infraction by the obnoxious
Spanish-speaking southerner was met by exemplary
2 Degroot, Six Months in 49, in Overland Monthly, xiv. 321. Honest
miners left their sacks of gold-dust exposed in their tents, without fear of loss.
Towards the close of the year a few robberies and murders were committed.
Burnett s Recollections, MS., ii. 142-3. Gov. Mason writing to L. W. Has
tings from New Helvetia Oct. 24, 1848, says: Although some murders have
been committed and horses stolen in the placer, I do riot lind that things are
worse here, if indeed they are so bad, as they were in our own mineral re
gions some years ago, when I was stationed near them. U, 8. Gov. Docs,
31st cong. 1st sess., H. Ex. Doc. 17. On the other hand, I find complaints of
outrages committed by disbanded volunteers at Monterey. Cat. Star and
Calif ornian, Dec. 9, 1848; of robbery and horse-thieving around the bay
missions, by a gang from the Tulare Valley, said to be composed chiefly of
deserters. Dr Marsh s residence on the Pulpunes rancho being plundered.
Cnl. Star, Feb. 26, June 3, 1848.
3 Hancock s Thirteen Years Residence on the Northwest Coast, MS.. 1 19-20;
Carson s Early Recoil., 26. Early instances of popular punishment of crime
at San Jos6 and elsewhere are mentioned in Popular Tribunals, i. 67-9, etc.,
tiiis series.
QUALITY OF DIGGINGS. 85
punishment at the hands of the overbearing and domi
nant northerner. Even during these early days, some
of the latter rendered themselves conspicuous by
encroachments on the rights of the former, such as
unwarrantable seizure of desirable claims.* While the
strict and prompt treatment of crime tended to main
tain order in the mining regions, the outskirts, or
rather the southern routes to the placers, became to
ward the end of the season haunted by a few robbers. 5
Another source of danger remained in the hostil
ity of the savages, who, already imbittered by the
encroachments and spoliation suffered in the coast
valleys, and from serf-hunting expeditions, naturally
objected to an influx that threatened to drive them
out of this their last retreat in the country. This
attitude, indeed, served to check the expansion of the
mining field for a time. In the south it was mainly
due to Mexican aggression, and in the north to incon
siderate action on the part of immigrants and Orego-
nian parties, whose prejudices had been roused by
conflicts on the plains and in the Columbia region. 6
Mining operations so far embraced surface picking,
shallow digging along the rivers and the tributary
ravines, attended by washing of metal-bearing soil,
and dry diggings, involving either laborious convey
ance, or packing, of pay-dirt to the distant water, or
the bringing of water, or the use of a special cleaning
process. This feature rendered the dry diggings more
precarious than river claims, with their extensive veins
* A. Janssens declares, in Viday Avent., MS., that he and several friends
were threatened in life and property; yet in their case all was amicably
arranged, after many contests.
5 Men whose lack of success in the gold-fields prompted to an indulgence
of hitherto restrained propensities. There are always travellers, however, who
love to tell thrilling tales. Janssens relates that, on turning homeward in
Dec., his small party was recommended to avoid the main road to and from
Stockton, ami speaks of the two headless bodies they found in a hut of
branches.
6 As related in the Merced People, June 8, 1872, on the authority of Read
ing. Brooks, Four Months, states that his party was attacked on Bear River,
had one killed and two wounded, and was subsequently robbed of 70 pounds
of gold by bandits.
86 AT THE MINES.
of fine and coarse gold, yielding a comparatively steady
return, with hopes centred rather in rich finds and
pockets.
The principal dry diggings were situated in the
country since comprised in Placer and El Dorado
counties, particularly about the spots where Auburn
and Placerville, their respective capitals, subsequently
rose. Smaller camps, generally named after their
discoverers, were thickly scattered throughout the
gold region. They were among the first discovered
after the rush set in from the towns, and were worked
by a great number of miners during June, July, and
part of August. After this they were deserted,
partly because the small streams resorted to for wash
ing dried up, but more because a stampede for the
southern mines began at that time. 7 A few prudent
and patient diggers remained, to collect pay-dirt in
readiness for the next season; and according to all
accounts they did wisely.
It was a wide-spread belief among the miners, few
of whom had any knowledge of geology or mineral
ogy, that the gold in the streams and gulches had
been washed down from some place where it lay in
solid beds, perhaps in mountains. Upon this source
their dreams and hopes centred, regardless of the
prospect that such a discovery might cause the
mineral to lose its value. They were sure that the
wonderful region would be found some day, and
the only fear of each was that another might be
the lucky discoverer. Many a prospecting party set
out to search for this El Dorado of El Dorados; and
to their restless wanderings may be greatly attributed
the extraordinarily rapid extension of the gold-fields.
No matter how rich a new placer, these henceforth
1 Kelsey and party discovered the first dry diggings, which were named
Kelsey s diggings. Next were the old dry diggings, out of which so many
thousands were taken. Among the discoverers were Isbel, and Daniel and
J-no. Murphy, who were connected with Capt. Weber s trading establish
ments, Murray and Failon of San Jose, and McKensey and Aram of Monterey.
Carson s Early Recollections, 5. See also, concerning the dry diggings, Oakland
Transcript, Apr. 13, 1873, and Oakland Alameda Co. Gazette, Apr. 19, 1873.
MINING METHODS. 87
fated rovers remained there not a moment after the
news came of richer diggings elsewhere. In their
wake rushed others; and thus it often happened that
men abandoned claims yielding from $50 to $200 a
day, and hurried off to fresh fields which proved far
less valuable or utterly worthless. Then they would
return to their old claims, but only to find them fallen
into other hands, thus being compelled by inexorable
necessity to continue the chase. They had come to
gather gold now, and bushels of it, not next year or
by the thimbleful. At $200 a day it would take
ten days to secure $2,000, a hundred days to get
$20,000, a thousand days to make $200,000, when a
million was wanted within a month. And so in the
midst of this wild pursuit of their ignis fatuus, multi
tudes of brave and foolish men fell .by the way, some
dropping into imbecility or the grave, while others,
less fortunate, were not permitted to rest till old age
and decrepitude came upon them.
Although in 1848 the average yield of gold for
each man engaged was far greater than in any sub
sequent year, yet the implements and methods of
mining then in use were primitive, slow of operation,
and wasteful. The tools were the knife, the pan,
and the rocker, or cradle. The knife was only used
in * crevicing/ that is, in picking the gold out of cracks
in the rocks, or occasionally in dry diggings rich in
coarse gold. 8 Yet the returns were large because
8 The pan was made of stiff tin or sheet-iron, with a flat bottom from 10
to 14 inches across, and sides from 4 to 6 inches high, rising outward at a
varying angle. It was used mainly for prospecting, and as an adjunct to the
rocker, but in the absence of the latter, claims were sometimes systematically
worked with it. In panning, as in all methods of placer-mining, the gold
was separated from earth and stones chiefly by relying on the superior spe
cific gravity of the metal. The pan was partly filled with dirt, lowered into
the water, and there shaken with a sideway and rotary motion, which caused
the dissolving soil and clay, and the light sand, to float away until nothing was
left but the gold which had settled at the bottom. Gravel and stones were
raked out with the hand. Except in extremely rich ground, such a process
was slow, and it was therefore seldom resorted to, save for *he purpose of as
certaining whether it would pay to bring the rocker t^ ..a spot. The cradle
resembled in size and shape a child s cradle, with similar rockers, and was
rocked by means of a perpendicular handle. The cradle- box consisted of a
wooden trough, about 20 in. wide and 40 long, with sides 4 in. high. The
88 AT THE MINES,
there were fewer to share the spoils, and because they
had the choice of the most easily worked placers; and
although they did not materially diminish the quantity
of gold, they picked up much of what was in sight.
lower end was left open. On the upper end sat the hopper, or riddle, a box 20
in. square, with wooden sides 4 in. high, and a bottom of sheet iron or zinc
pierced with holes in. in diameter. Under the hopper was an apron of
wood or canvas which sloped down from the lower end of the hopper to the
upper end of the cradle-box. Later an additional apron was added by many,
above the original one, sloping from the upper to the lower end. A strip of
wood an inch square, called a riffle-bar, was nailed across the bottom of the
cradle-box, about its middle, and another at its lower end. Under the whole
were nailed the rockers, and near the middle of the side rose an upright
handle for imparting motion. The rocker was placed in the spot to which
the pay-dirt, and especially a constant supply of water, could most conven
iently be brought. The hopper being nearly tilled with auriferous earth, the
operator, seated by its side, rocked the cradle with one hand, and with the
other poured water on the dirt, using a half-gallon dipper, until nothing was
left in the hopper but clean stones too large to pass through the sieve.
These being thrown out, the operation was repeated. The dissolved dirt fell
through the holes upon the apron, and was carried to the upper end of the
cradle-box, whence it ran down toward the open end. Much of the finer
gold remained upon the canvas-covered apron; the rest, with the heavier
particles of gravel, was caught behind the riffle-bars, while the water, thin
mud, and lighter substances were carried out of the machine. This descrip
tion of the rocker I have taken from HittelVs Mining in the Pacific States of
North America, S. F., 1861, and from the Miners Own Book, S. F., 1858.
The former is a well arranged hand-book of mining, and exhausts the subject.
The latter work treats only of the various methods of mining, which are
lucidly described, and illustrated by many excellent cuts, including one of
the rocker. Earlier miners and Indians used sieves of intertwisted willows
for washing dirt. Sonorans occasionally availed themselves of cloth for a
sieve, the water dissolving the dirt and leaving the gold sticking to it. Sev
eral times during the day the miner cleaned up by taking the retained dirt
into his pan and panning it out. The quantity of dirt that could be washed
with a rocker depended upon the nature of the diggings and the number of
men employed. If the diggings were shallow, that is to say, if the gold lay
near the surface, two men one to rock and one to fill the hopper could
wash out from 250 to 300 pans in a day, the pan representing about half
a cubic foot of dirt. But if several feet of barren dirt had to be stripped off
before the pay-dirt was reached, more time and men were required. Again,
if tough clay was encountered in the pay-dirt, it took an hour or more to
dissolve a hopperful of it. Dry-washing consisted in tossing the dirt into
the air while the wind was blowing, and thus gradually winnowing out the
gold. This method was mostly confined to the Mexicans, and could be used
to advantage only in rich diggings devoid of water, where the gold was
coarse. The Mexican generally obtained his pay-dirt by coyoting; that
is, by sinking a square hole to the bed-rock, and then burrowing from the
bottom along the ledge. For burrowing he used a small crowbar, pointed at
both ends, and with a big horn spoon he scraped up the loosened pay-dirt.
This, pounded into dust, he shook with great dexterity from a baiea, or
wooden bowl, upon an extended hide, repeating the process until the wind
had left little of the original mass except the gold. In this manner the
otherwise indolent Mexicans often made small fortunes during the dry
summer months, when the rest of the miners were squandering their gains iu
the towns.
ABSENCE OF MINING REGULATIONS. 89
Moreover, they were fettered by no local regulations,
or delays in obtaining possession of claims, but could
hasten from placer to placer, skimming the cream from
each. In February Governor Mason had abolished
the old Mexican system of denouncing mines, 9 with
out establishing any other mining regulations. 10 In
this way some ten millions n were gathered by a pop
ulation of 8,000 or 10,000, averaging an ounce a day,
or $1,000 and more to the man for the season, and
this notwithstanding the miners were not fairly at
work until July, and most of them went down to the
coast in October. Some, however, made $100 a day
for weeks at a time, while $500 or $700* a day was not
unusual. 12
Mason s order to this effect is dated at Monterey, Feb. 12, 1848. From
and after this date the Mexican laws and customs now prevailing in Califor
nia relative to the denouncement of mines are hereby abolished. The legality
of the denouncements which have taken place, and the possession obtained
under them since the occupation of the country by the United States forces,
are questions which will be disposed of by the American government after a
definitive treaty of peace shall have been established between the two repub
lics. U. S. Oov. Docs, 31st cong. 1st sess., H. Ex. Doc. 17, 477; San Diego
Arch., MS., 325; San Jost Arch,, MS., ii. 69; Arch. CaL, Unbound Docs, MS.,
318; 8. F. Californian, Feb. 23, 1848. This order caused dissatisfaction in
several quarters, chiefly because many, after expense and trouble in looking
for veins, had denounced them after Feb. 12th, but before the decree was
known to them. Mason to J. S. Moerenhout, consul of France at Monterey,
June 5, 1848, in U. S. Gov. Docs, as above, 56; Mason to alcalde of San Jose",
March 9, 1848, in S. Jose Arch., MS., 42; People of Monterey to Mason, March
9, 1848, in Arch. CaL, Unbound Docs, MS., 408-11.
10 The desirability of regulations is spoken of by Mason in a letter to J. R.
Snyder as early as May 23, 1848, as the latter is about to visit the gold region;
and he is requested to obtain information and submit a plan. U. S. Oov. Docs,
ubi sup. 554-6. In his letter to the U. S. adjt-gen. of Aug. 17, 1848, Mason
writes: It was a matter of serious reflection to me how I could secure to the
government certain rents or fees for the privilege of obtaining this gold; but
upon considering the large extent of country, the character of the people en
gaged, and the small scattered force at my command, I resolved not to inter
fere, but to permit all to work freely, unless broils and crimes should call for
interference.
11 This is the figure accepted in HittelVs Mining, 39, although the same
author, in Hist. S. F., 155, writes: The monthly gold yield of 1848 averaged
perhaps $300,000. The officially recorded export for 1848 was $2,000,-
000, but this forms only a proportion of the real export. Velasco, Son., 289-
90, for instance, gives the official import into Sonora alone at over half a
million, and assumes much more unrecorded. See also Annals S. F., 208.
Quart. Review, Ixxxvii. 422, wildly calculates the yield for 1848 at $45,000,000.
12 John Sullivan, an Irish teamster, took out $26,000 from the diggings
named after him on the Stanislaus. One Hudson obtained some $20,000 in
six weeks from a canon between Colomaand the American middle fork; while
n boy named Davenport found in the same place 77 ounces of pure gol 1 one
day, and CO ounces the next. At the Dry Diggings one Wilson took $2, COO
90 AT THE MINES.
In a country where trade had been chiefly conducted
by barter with hides and other produce, coin was nat-
from under his own door-step. Three Frenchmen discovered gold in remov
ing a stump which obstructed the road from Dry Diggings to Coloma, and
within a week secured $5,000. On the Yuba middle fork one man picked up
in 20 days nearly 30 pounds, from a piece of ground less than four feet square.
Amador relates that he saw diggings which yielded $8 to every spadeful of
earth; and he himself, with a companion and 20 native laborers, took out
from 7 to 9 pounds of gold a day. Robert Birnie, an employe of Consul
Forbes, saw miners at Dry Diggings making from 50 to 100 ounces daily.
Bu/um s Six Months, 126-9; Cal. Star, Nov. 18, Dec. 2, 1848; Amador, Me-
morias, MS., 177-80; Birnie s Biog., in Pioneer Soc. Arch., MS., 93-4. A
correspondent of the Californian writes from the Dry Diggings in the middle
of August that at the lower mines the success of the day is counted in dollars,
at the upper mines, near the mill, in ounces, and here in pounds! The earth,
he continues, is taken out of the ravines which make out of the mountain,
and is carried in wagons and packed on horses from one to three miles to the
water, where it is washed; $400 has been an average for a cart-load. In one
instance five loads of earth which had been dug out sold for 47 oz. ($752), and
yielded after washing $16,000. Instances have occurred here where men
have carried the earth on their backs, and collected from $800 to $1,500 in a
day. The fountain-head yet remains undiscovered, continues the writer,
who is of opinion that when proper machinery is introduced and the hills are
cut down, huge pieces must be found. At this time tidings had just arrived
of new placers on the Stanislaus, and 200 miners were accordingly preparing
to leave ground worth $400 a load, in the hope of finding something better in
the south. This letter is dated from the Dry Diggings, Aug. 15, 1848, and
is signed J. B. Similar stories are told by other correspondents; for instance,
Cosmopolite, in the Californian of July 15th, and Sonoma, in that of Aug.
14th. Coronel states that on the Stanislaus in three days he took out 45, 38,
and 59 ounces. At the same placer Valde s of Santa Barbara found under a
rock more gold-dust than he could carry in a towel, and the man to whom
he sold this claim took out within 8 days 52 pounds of gold. Close by a So-
noran filled a large batea with dust from the hollow of a rock, and went about
offering it for silver coin. Cosas de Cal., MS., 146-51.
And yet the middle fork of the American surpassed the other streams in
richness, the yield of Spanish Bar alone being placed at over a million dollars.
These tributaries also boasted of nuggets as big as any so far discovered.
Larkin writes: I have had in my hands several pieces of gold about 23 carats
fine, weighing from one to two pounds, and have it from good authority that
pieces have been found weighing 16 pounds. Indeed, I have heard of one
specimen that weighed 25 pounds. Colton heard of a twenty-pound piece,
and a writer in San Joaquin Co. Hist., 21, relates that the Stockton company
obtained from the Stanislaus a lump of pure gold weighing 80 ounces avoir
dupois, of kidney shape, which was brought as a specimen. Mason reports
that a party of four men employed at the lower mines averaged $100 a day.
On Weber Creek he found two ounces to be a fair day s yield. A small gut
ter, not more than 100 yards long by four feet wide and two or three feet
deep, was pointed out to me as the one where two men, William Daly and
Perry McCoou, had a short time before obtained $17,000 worth of gold. Cap
tain Weber informed me that he knew that these two men had employed four
white men and about 100 Indian,?, and that at the end of one* week s work
they paid off their party and had $10,000 worth of this gold. Another small
ravine was shown me, from which had been taken upwards of $12,000 worth
of gold. Hundreds of similar ravines, to all appearances, are as yet un
touched. I could not have credited these reports had I not seen in the abun
dance of the precious metal evidence of their truth. Mr Neligh, an agent of
Com. Stockton, had been at work about three weeks in the neighborhood, and
PLETHORA OF GOLD. 91
urally scarce. This no less than the sudden abundance
of gold tended to depress the value of the metal, so much
so that the miners often sold their dust for four dol
lars an ounce, and seldom obtained at first more than
eight or ten dollars. 13 The Indians were foremost in
showed me in bags and bottles over $2,000 worth of gold; and Mr Lyman, a
gentleman of education and worthy of every credit, said he had been engaged
with four others, with a machine on the American fork, just below Butter s
mill; that they worked eight days, and that his share was at the rate of $50
a day; but hearing that others were doing better at Weber s place, they had
removed there, and were then on the point of resuming operations. I might
tell of hundreds of similar instances, he concludes. John Sinclair, at the
junction of the north and middle branches of the American River, displayed
14 pounds of gold as the result of one week s work, with fifty Indians using
closely woven willow baskets. He had secured $16,000 in five weeks. Lar-
kin writes in a similar strain from the American forks. Referring to a party
of eight miners, he says: I suppose they made each $50 per day; their own
calculation was two pounds of gold a day, four ounces to a man, $64. I saw
two brothers that worked together, and only worked by washing the dirt in
a tin pan, weigh the gold they obtained in one day. The result was $7 to
one and $82 to the other. Buffum relates his own experiences on the middle
branch of the American. Scratching round the base of a great bowlder, and
removing the gravel and clay, he and his companions came to black sand,
mingled with which was gold strewn all over the surface of the rock, and of
which four of them gathered that day 26 ounces. The next day, our machine
being ready, he continues, we looked for a place to work it, and soon found
a little beach which extended back some five or six yards before it reached
the rocks. The upper soil was a light black sand, on the surface of which we
could see the particles of gold shining, and could in fact gather them up with
our fingers. In digging below this we struck a red stony gravel that ap
peared perfectly alive with gold, shining and pure. We threw off the top
earth and commenced our washings with the gravel, which proved so rich
that, excited by. curiosity, we weighed the gold extracted from the first wash
ing of 50 panfuls of earth, and found $75, or nearly five ounces of gold to be
the result. The whole day s work amounted to 25 ounces. A little lower on
the river he struck the stony bottom of pocket, which appeared to be of
pure gold, but upon probing it, I found it to be only a thin covering which
by its own weight and the pressure above it had spread and attached itself to
the rock. Crossing the river I continued my search, and after digging some
time struck upon a hard, reddish clay a few feet from the surface. After two
hours work I succeeded in finding a pocket out of which I extracted three
lumps of pure gold, and one small piece mixed with oxydized quartz 2D
ounces for the day; not much short of $500. There are a class of stories, sucu
as those related by H. L. Simpson and the Rev. Colton, of a wilder and more
romantic nature, apparently as easy to tell as those by writers of proved
veracity, and which, whether true or false, I will not trouble my readers with.
For additional information on yield, see more particularly Larkin s letters to
the U S. secty of state, dated S. F., June 1, Monterey, June 28, July 1, July
20, and Nov. 16, 1848, in Larkin s Official Corresp., MS., 131-41; Mason to
to the adjt-gen., Aug. 17, 1848: U. S. Oov. Docs, 31st cong. 1st sess., H. Ex.
Doc. 17, 528-36; Sherman s Memoirs, i. 46-54; Soulfs Annals of S. F., 210;
Carson s Early Recollections, passim; Hittell s Mining, 21; McChristian, in
Pioneer Sketches, 9; Burnett s Recollections, i. 374-5; and a number of miscel
laneous documents in Footer s Gold Regions. Also Simpson s Three Weeks in the
Gol I Mint s; Cotton s Three Years in Cal.
13 Jones writes in Nov. 1848 that miners often sold an ounce of gold for a sil
ver dollar. It had been bought of Indians for 50 cents. Revert 8 Tour of
92 AT THE MINES.
lowering the price, at least in the early part of the
season. They had no idea of the value of gold, and
would freely exchange it for almost anything that
caught their fancy. Although honest enough in
dealings among themselves, the miners did not scruple
to cheat the natives, 1 * the latter meanwhile thinking
they had outwitted the white man. Presently, how
ever, with growing experience, they began to insist
upon a scale of fixed prices, whereupon the trader
quoted prices of cotton cloth or calico at twenty
dollars a yard, plain white blankets at six ounces,
sarapes from twenty to thirty ounces each, beads
equal weight in gold, handkerchiefs and sashes two
ounces each. Care was moreover taken to arrange
scales and weights especially for trade with the sav
ages. To balance with gold the great slugs of lead,
which represented a digger ounce, the savages re
garded as fair dealing, and would pile on the precious
dust until the scales exactly balanced, using every
precaution to give no more than the precise weight.
The scales usually employed, often improvised, were
far from reliable; but a handful of gold-dust more or
less in those days was a matter of no great moment. 15
The inflowing miners arrived as a rule well sup
plied with provisions and other requirements, but they
had not counted fully on wear and tear, length of stay,
and accidents. As a consequence, they nearly all came
to want at the same time toward the close of the sea-
Duty, 254. Carson says that gold was worth but $6 per ounce in the mines.
Early Recollections, 14. Buffum says from $6 to $8. Six Month*, 96; Dally
that it could not be sold for more than $8 or $9. Narrative, MS., 53; Swan
says $4 to $8. Trip to the Gold Mines Birnie bought a quantity of dust at
$4 per oz. in Mexican coin. Biog. in Pioneer Soc. Arch., MS., 93-4.
14 We hear of ragged blankets and the like selling for their weight, 2 Ibs,
3 oz. of dust being given for one. Buffuni s Six Month*. 93-4, 126-9; Coronel,
Cosasde Cal., MS., 142-3; Fernandez, Cosas de Cat., MS., 175, 178; Tulare
Times, Sept. 19, 1874.
u Carson s Early Recollections, 35-6. Green relates that on the Tulare
plains he sold his cart and pair of oxen to a Frenchman for $600. The gold was
weighed by the Frenchman with improvised scales. Green fancied the French-"
man was getting the better of him, but said nothing. On reaching Slitter s
Fort he weighed the gold again and found it worth $2,000. Life and Adven
tures, MS., 17. A somewhat fanciful story.
ALONG THE ROAD AGAIN. 93
son, and the supply and means of transportation being
unequal to the demand, prices rose accordingly. 16 It
did not take men long to adapt themselves to the new
measurements of money ; nor could it be called extra v-
agance when a man would pay $300 for a horse worth
$6 a month before, ride it to the next camp, turn it
loose and buy another when he wanted one, provided
he could scrape from the ground the cost of an animal
more easily than he could take care of one for a
week or two. Extravagance is spending much when
one has little. Gold was too plentiful, too easily
obtained, to allow a little of it to stand in the way of
what one wanted. It was cheap. Perhaps there
were mounains of it near by, in which case six barrels
of it might be easily given for one barrel of meal.
And thus it was that all along this five hundred miles
of foothills, daily and hourly through this and the
following years, went up the wild cry of exultation
mingled with groans of despair. For even now the
unfortunate largely outnumbered the successful. It
may seem strange that so many at such a time, and
at this occupation above all others, should consent to
work for wages; but though little capital save a stock
of bread was required to work in the mines, some had
lost all, and had not even that. Then the excitement
and pressure of eager hope and restless labor told upon
the constitution no less than the hard and unaccus
tomed task under a broiling sun in moist ground, per
haps knee-deep in water, and with poor shelter during
the night, sleeping often on the bare ground. The
result was wide-spread sickness, notably fevers and
16 Sales are reported, for example, flour $800 a bbl; sugar, coffee, and
pork, $400; a pick, shovel, tin pan, pair of boots, blanket, a gallon of whis
key, and 500 other things, $100 each. Eggs were $3 each; drugs were $1 a
drop; pills, $1 each; doctor s visit, $100, or $50, or nothing; cook s wages,
$25 a day; hire of wagon and team, $50 a day; hire of rocker, $150 a day. If
there happened to be an overstock in one place, which was not often the case
during this year, prices were low accordingly. Any price, almost, would be
paid for an article that was wanted, and nothing for what was not wanted.
A Coloma store-keeper s bill in Dec. 1848 runs thus: 1 box sardines, $16; 1 Ib.
hard bread, $2; 1 Ib. butter, $6; Ib. cheese, $3; 2 bottles ale, $16; total, $43;
and this for not a very elaborate luncheon for two persons.
94 AT THE MINES.
dysentery, and also scurvy, owing to the lack of
vegetables. 17
The different exploitations resulted in the establish
ment of several permanent camps, marked during
this year by rude shanties, or at best by Jog huts,
for stores, hotels, and drinking-saloons. Some of them
surpassed in size and population Sutter s hitherto sol
itary fortress, yet this post maintained its preemi
nence as an entrep6t for trade and point of distribution,
at least for the northern and central mining* fields,
* O
and a number of houses were rising to increase its im
portance. On the river were several craft beating
up with passengers and goods, or unlading at the
landing. The ferry, now sporting a respectable
barge, was in constant operation, arid along the roads
were rolling freight trains under the lash and oaths of
frantic teamsters, stirring thick clouds of incandescent
dust into the hot air. Parties of horsemen, with
heavy packs on their saddles, moved along slowly
enough, yet faster than the tented ox-carts or mule-
wagons with their similar burdens. A still larger
proportion was foot-sore wanderers trudging along
under their roll of blankets, which enclosed a few
supplies of flour, bacon, and coffee, a little tobacco
and whiskey, perhaps some ammunition, and, sus
pended to the straps, a frying-pan of manifold utility,
the indispensable pick and shovel, tin pan and cup,
occasionally a gun, and at the belt a pair of pistols
and a dirk. Up the steep hills and over the parched
plains, toiling on beneath a broiling sun, such a load
became a heavy burden ere nightfall.
Within the fort all was bustle with the throno* of
O
coming and going traffickers and miners, mostly rough,
stalwart, bronze-faced men in red and blue woollen
shirts, some in deerskin suits, or in oiled-skin and
fishermen s boots, some in sombrero, Mexican sash, and
spurs, loaded with purchases or bearing enticingly
17 Buffum was attacked, but found a remedy in some bean-sprouts which
had sprung up from an accidental spill.
THE COMING WINTER. 95
plethoric pouches in striking contrast to their fre
quently ragged, unkempt, and woe-begone appear
ance. Hardly less numerous, though less conspicuous,
were the happy aboriginals, arrayed in civilization s
cotton shirts, some with duck trousers, squatting
in groups and eagerly discussing the yellow hand
kerchiefs, red blankets, and bad muskets just secured
by a little of this so lately worthless stuff which had
been lying in their streams with the other dirt these
past thousand years.
Every storehouse and shed was crammed with mer
chandise; provisions, hardware and dry goods, whis
key and tobacco, and a hundred other things heaped
in indiscriminate confusion. The dwelling of the
hospitable proprietor, who had a word for everybody,
and was held in the highest respect, was crowded
with visitors, and presented the appearance of a hotel
rather than private quarters. The guard-house, now
deserted by its Indian soldiers, and most of the build
ings had been rented to traders and hotel-keepers, 18
who drove a rushing business, the sales of one store
from May 1st to July 10th reaching more than $30,-
000. 19 The workshops were busy as ever, for the
places of deserting artisans could be instantly filled
from passers-by in temporary need.
In October the heavy rains and growing cold ren
dered mining difficult, and in many directions impos
sible. The steady tide of migration now turned
toward the coast. Yet a large number remained,
800 wintering at the Dry Diggings alone, and a large
number on the Yuba, working most of the time, for
the mines were yielding five ounces a day. Efforts
proved remunerative also in many other places. 20
18 A two-story house at $500 a month; rooms for $100.
19 Sterling s company wrote Larkin not to delay in forwarding stock, for
from 50 to 500 per cent could be made on everything. There were no fixed
rates.
20 Hayes Cat. Mininrj, i. 50; Burne.tC* Rec., MS., 369-70; Bujf urn s Six
Month*, 52; Cal. Star, bee. 12, 1848; Yuba Co. Hist., 37; HaWs Hist. S.
Jose, 172-3.
96 AT THE MINES.
The more prudent devoted a little time to erecting log
cabins, and otherwise making themselves comfortable ;
but many who could not resist the fascinations of
gold-hunting, and attempted, in ill-provided and cloth
and brushwood shanties, to brave the inclemency of
winter, suffered severely. From the beginning of
October till the end of the rainy season men, disap
pointed and sick, kept coining down to San Francisco,
cursing the country and their hard fate. 21 Indeed,
there were not many among the returning crowd, rich
or poor, who could present a respectable appearance.
They were a ragged, sun-burned lot, grimy and be-
spotted, with unshorn beards and long, tangled hair;
some shoeless, with their feet blistered and bandaged.
Many were now content to return home and enjoy
their good fortune, but many more remained to squan
der their earnings during the winter, to begin the
spring where they began the last one; yet as a body,
the men of 1848 profited more by their gains than
the men who came after them. 22
21 There was greater mortality at the end of 1848 than ever before, says
Grims/iaw, Narr., MS., 15.
a2 Among the noted visitors at the mines, upon whose testimony the last
chapters are to a great extent based, I would first mention J. H. Carson, the
discoverer of Carson Creek, as he subscribed himself in the title-page of his
book, Early Recollections of the Minr*, and a Description of the Great Tulare
Vidley, a small octavo of 64 pp., printed at Stockton in 1852, to accompany
the steamer edition of the San Joaquin Republican. It is significant, cer
tainly, of newspaper enterprise, when a country journal could print so im
portant and expensive an accompaniment to its regular issue. It ranks also
as the first book issued at Stockton. Note also the dedication: To the
Hon. A. Randall, of Monterey, Cal., Professor of Geology and Botany, who
has spared neither energy nor expense in the Historical Researches of Cal
ifornia, this humble work is most respectfully dedicated by his obliged and
obedient servant, The Author. Let not his name perish. Mr Carson has made
a very good book, an exceedingly valuable book. He sees well, thinks well,
and writes well, though with some coloring. Already in 1852 he begins to talk
with affection of the good old times, now past, when each day was big with
the wonders and discoveries of rich diggings. The first 16 pages are devoted
to a description of the mines; then follow some very good anecdotes and
sketches; the whole concluding with a description of the Tulare Valley.
Carson, a sergeant in the N. Y. reg., was residing at Monterey in the spring
of 1848, when he was seized with this new western dance of St Vitus, and was
carried on an old mule to the gold-diggings. He began work at Mormon
Island by annihilating earth in his wash-basin, standing up to his knees in
water, slashing and splashing as if resolving the universe to its original
elements. Fifty pans of dirt thus pulverized gave the fevered pilgrim but
fifty cents; whereupon a deep disgust filled his soul, and immediately with
HOW SOME WERE AFFECTED. 97
Obviously the effect for good and evil of finding
gold was first felt by those nearest the point of dis-
the departure of his malady the man departed. On passing through Weber s
Indian trading camp, however, he saw such heaps of glittering gold as brought
the ague on again more violent than ever, resulting in a prolonged stay at
Kelsey s and Hangtown. Instead of fortune, however, came sickness, which
drove him away to other pursuits, and brought him to the grave at Stockton
in April 1853, shortly after his election to the legislature. His widow and
daughter arrived from the east a month later, and being destitute, were
assisted to return by a generous subscription.
Another member of the same regiment, Henry I. Simpson, who started
the 18th of Aug., 1848, from Monterey to the mines, wrote a book chiefly
remarkable from its publication in New York, in 1848, describing a trip to the
mines which could not have been concluded much more than three months
before that time. It was not impossible, though it was quick work, if true,
and we will not place Mr Simpson, or his publishers, Joyce & Company,
under suspicion unless we find them clearly guilty. The title is a long one
for so thin a book, a pamphlet of thirty octavo pages, and somewhat preten
tious, as the result of only three weeks observation; but Mr Simpson is not
the only one who has attempted to enlighten the world respecting this region
after a ten or twenty days ride through it. and to tell more of the country
than the inhabitants had ever known, thinking that because things were new
to themselves they were new to everybody. Such personages are your Todds
and Riehardsons, your Grace Greenwoods, Pfeifers, Mary Cones, and fifty
others who cover their ignorance by brilliant flashes that gleam before the
simple as superior knowledge. Nevertheless, I will be charitable, and print
this title, which, indeed, gives more information than any other part of the
book. It reads: The Emigrant s Guide to the Gold Mines. Three Weeks in
the Gold Mines, or Adventures with the Gold-Diggers of California, in August,
1848, together with Advice to Emigrants, with full Instructions upon the bext
Methods of Getting There, Living, Expenses, etc., etc., and a Complete
Description of the Country. With a Map and Illustrations. And such a
map, and such illustrations! I should say that the draughtsman had taken
the chart of Cortes, or Vizcaino, thrown in some modern names, and daubed
yellow a strip north of San Francisco Bay to represent the gold-fields. In
deed, there is very little of California about this map. The price of the
book with the map was 25 cents; without the map, 12 cents. It is to be
hoped that purchasers took it in the latter form, for the less they had of it
the wiser they would be. As for illustrations, there are just four, whose only
merit is their badness. Fourteen pages of the work are devoted to the nar
rative of a trip to the mines; nine pages to a description of the country and
its inhabitants; the remainder being occupied by advice to emigrants con
cerning outfit and ways to reach the country. Mr Simpson s ideas are
rambling and inflated, and his pictures of the country more gaudy than
gorgeous. He certainly tells large stories Bigler says wrong stories of
river-beds paved with gold to the thickness of a hand, of $20,000 or $50,000
worth picked out almost in a moment, and so forth ; but he printed a book on
California gold in the year of its discovery, and this atones for many defects.
Had all done as well as this soldier-adventurer, we should not lack material
for the history of California.
J. Tyrwhitt Brooks, an Englisn physician lately from Oregon, started in
May 1848 from S. F. for the gold-field, with a well-equipped party of five.
After a fairly successful digging at Mormon Island they moved to Weber
Creek, and thence to Bear River, where, despite Indian hostility, 115 pounds
of gold were obtained, the greater part of which, however, was destined to fall
into the hands of highwaymen. The scenes and experiences of the trip Brooks
recorded in a diary, which, forwarded to his brother in London, was there pub
lished under title of Four Months among the Gold-Finders in Alto, California.
HIST. CAL., VOL. VI. 7
98 AT THE MINES.
covery. Upon the discoverer himself, in whose mind
so suddenly arose visions of wealth and influence, it
two editions appearing in London in 1849, and one in America, followed by a
translation at Paris. A map accompanies the English edition, with a yellow
and dotted line round the gold district then extending from R. d L. Muke-
lemnes to Bear River. The book is well written, and the author s observa
tions are such as command respect.
After many sermons preached against money as the root of all evil, and
after lamenting fervently the present dispensation for depriving him of his
servant, temptation also seized upon the Rev. Walter Colton, at the time
acting alcalde at Monterey, and formerly chaplain on board the U. S. ship
Congress. With ive companions, including Lt Simmons, Wilkinson, son of a
former U. S. minister to Russia, and Marcy, son of him who was once sec. of
war, he started for the diggings in Sept. 1848, freighting a wagon with cooking
utensils, mining tools, and articles for Indian traffic. He passed through
the Livermore gap to the Stanislaus, meeting on the way a ragged but richly
laden party, whose display of wealth gave activity to his movements. Two
months saw him back again, rich in experience if not in gold, and primed with
additional material for his Three Yearn in California, a book published in
New York in 1850, and covering the prominent incidents coming under his
observation during the important days between the summer of 1846 and the
Slimmer of 1849. Cal. life in mines and settlements, and among the Spanish
race, receives special attention, in a manner well calculated to bring out quaint
and characteristic features. Appearing as it did while the gold fever was still
raging, the work received much attention, and passed quickly through several
editions, later under the changed title, Land of Gold. It also assisted into
notice his Deck and Fort, a diary like the preceding, issued the same year, and
reaching the third edition, which treats of scenes and incidents during the
voyage to Cal. in 1845, and constitutes a prelude to the other book. While
the popularity of both rests mainly upon the time and topic, yet it owes much
to the style, for Colton is a genial writer, jocose, with an easy, careless flow
of language, but inclines to the exuberant, and is less exact in the use of
words than we should expect from a professed dealer in unadulterated truth,
natural and supernatural.
Six Months in the Gold Mines; being a Journal of Three Years Residence
in Upper and Lower California, 1847-9, is a small octavo of 172 pages by E.
Gould Buffum, sometime lieut in the first reg., N. Y. Volunteers, and before
that connected with the N. Y. press. It was published while the author re
mained in Cal., and constitutes one of the most important printed contribu
tions to the history of Cal., no less by reason of the scarcity of material
concerning the period it covers, 1848-9, than on account of the ability of the
author. For he was an educated man, remarkably free from prejudice, a close
observer, and possessing sound judgment. He is careful in his statements,
conscientious, not given to exaggeration, and his words and ways are such as
inspire confidence. The publishers notice is dated May 1850. The author s
introduction is dated at S. F. Jan. I, 1850. Hence his book cannot treat of
events happening later than 1849. First is given his visit to the mines, nota
bly on the Bear, Yuba, and American rivers, with the attendant experiences
and observations. Then follow a description of the gold region, the possibil
ities of the country in his opinion, movements toward government, descrip
tions of old and new towns, and a dissertation on Lower Cal. The style is
pleasant simple, terse, strong, yet graceful, and with no egoism or affecta
tions.
.No less valuable than the preceding for the present subject are a number
of manuscript journals and memoirs by pioneers, recording their personal ex
periences of matters connected with the mines, trade, and other features of
early Cal. periods. Most of them are referred t) elsewhere, and I need here
ouly instance two or three. A. F. Coronel, subsequently mayor of Los An-
SUTTER AND MARSHALL. 99
fell like the gold of Nibelungen, in the Edda, which
brought nothing but ill luck to the possessor. And
to Sutter, his partner, being a greater man, it proved
a greater curse. Yet this result was almost wholly
the fault of the man, not of the event. What might
have been is not my province to discuss; what was
and is alone remain for me to relate. We all think
that of the opportunity given these men we should
have made better use; doubtless it is true. They
were simple backwoods people; we have knocked our
heads against each other until they have become hard;
our tongues are sharpened by lying, and our brains
made subtle by much cheating. Sutter and Marshall,
though naturally no more honest than other men,
were less astute and calculating ; and while the former
O *
had often met trick with trick, it was against less
skilled players than those now entering the game. In
their intercourse with the outside world, although
geles, and a prominent Califorman, made a trip to the Stanislaus and found
rich deposits, as related in his Corns de Cat., a volume of 265 pp. , which forms
one of the best narratives, especially of happenings before the conquest. One
of his fellow-miners in 1848 was Agustin Janssens, a Frenchman, who came
to Cal. in 1834 as one of the colonists of that year. He left his rancho at
Santa Inds in Sept. 1848, with several Indian servants, and remained at the
Stanislaus till late in Dec. In his Vida y Aventuras en California de Don
Ayitxtin Janssens vecino de Santa Barbara, Dictadas por el mismo d Thomas
fiuvatje, MS., 1878, he shows the beginning of the race aggressions from which
the Latins were subsequently to suffer severely. Besides several hundred of
such dictations in separate and voluminous form, I have minor accounts in
letter and reports, bound with historic collections, such as Larkin, Docs, MS.,
i.-ix. ; Doc. Hist. Cal., MS., i.-iv. ; Vallejo, Docs, MS., i.-xxxvi. passim.
Instance the observations of Charles B. Sterling and James Williams, both in
the service of Larkin, and who mined and traded on the south and north
branches of the American, with some success. The official report of Thomas
O. Larkin to the sec. of state of June 28, 1848, was based on a personal visit
to the central mining region early in that month. So was that of Col R. B.
Mason, who left Monterey June 17th, attended by W. T, Sherman and Quar
termaster Folsom, escorted by four soldiers. By way of Sonoma they reached
Slitter s Fort, where the 4th of July was duly celebrated, and thence moved
up the south branch of the American River to Weber Creek. Mason was
summoned back to Monterey from this point, but had seen enough to enable
him to write the famous report of Aug. 17th to the adj. -gen. at Washington,
which started the gold fever ubroad. A later visit during the autumn ex
tended to the Stanislaus and Sonora diggings. Folsorn also made a report,
but gave little new information. He attempted to furnish the world, through
Gen. Jesup, with a history and description of the country, in which effort he
attained no signal success. He did not like the climate; he did not like the
mines. Yet he was gracious enough to say, I went to them in the most
sceptical frame of mind, and came away a believer.
100 AT THE MINES.
they were adventurers, they proved themselves little
better than children, and as such they were grossly
misused by the gold-thirsting rabble brought down
upon them by their discovery.
Marshall and Sutter kept the Mormons at work on
the saw-mill as best they were able, until it was com
pleted and in operation, which was on the llth of
March. The Mormons merited and received the ac
knowledgments of their employers for faithfulness in
holding to their agreements midst constantly increas
ing temptations. Both employers engaged also in
mining, especially near the mill, claiming a right, to
the ground about it, which claim at first was gener
ally respected. With the aid of their Indians they
took out a quantity of gold; but this was quickly lost;
and more was found and lost. Sutter mined else
where with Indians arid Kanakas, and claims never to
have derived any profit from these efforts. The mill
could not be made to pay. Several issues before long
arose between Marshall and the miners regarding
their respective rights and the treatment of the
natives.
Marshall was less fortunate than almost any of the
miners. This ill success, combined with an exagger
ated estimate of his merits as discoverer, left its
impress on his mind, subjecting it more and more to
his spiritualistic doctrines. In obedience to phantom
beckonings, he flitted hither and thither about the
foothills, but his supernatural friends failed him in
every instance. 23 He became petulant and querulous.
Dfscouraged and soured, he grows restive under en
croachments on his scanty property, 24 and the abuse
23 Should I go to new localities says Marshall, and commence to open a
new mine, before I could prospect the ground, numbers flocked in and com
menced seeking all around me, and, as numbers tell, some one would find the
lead before me and inform their party, and the ground was claimed. Then
I would travel again. Twice Sutter gave him a prospector s outfit and started
him. He was no longer content with his former plodding industry. He
was always after big things, Sutter said. I have wondered that he did not
in the first instance attribute his discovery to the direction of the spirits.
24 Early in 1849, after Winters and Bayley had purchased the half-interest
of Sutter in the saw-mill, and one third of the half-interest of Marshall,
THE LUCKLESS DISCOVERER. 101
and butchery of his aboriginal proteges. Forced by
the now enraged miners to flee from his home and
property, he shoulders his pack of forty pounds and
tramps the mountains and ravines, living on rice. He
seeks employment and is refused. " We employ you 1"
they cry ironically. "You must find gold for us.
You found it once, and you can again." And it is
told for a fact, and sworn to by his former partner,
that they " threatened to hang him to a tree, mob
him, etc., unless he would go with them and point
out the rich diggings." 25
There is something unaccountable in all this. Mar
shall must have rendered himself exceedingly obnox
ious to the miners, who, though capable of fiendish acts,
were not fiends. While badly treated in some respects,
he was undoubtedly to blame in others. Impelled by
the restlessness which had driven him west, and over
come by morbid reflections, he allowed many of his good
qualities to drift. In his dull, unimaginative way he
out-Timoned Timon in misanthropy. He fancied him
self followed by a merciless fate, and this was equiva
lent to courting such a destiny. 26 It is to be regretted
miners and others came in and squatted on the ground claimed by Marshall,
regardless of the posted notices warning them off. Thirteen of Sutter &
Marshall s oxen soon went down into the canon, says Marshall, and thence
down hungry men s throats. These cost $400 per yoke to replace. Seven of
my horses went to carry weary men s packs. The mill hands deserted, and
before the mill could be started again certain white men at Murderer s Bar
butchered some Indians and ravished their women. The Indians retaliated
and killed four or five white men. So far it was an even thing; the white
men had met only their just deserts. But the excuse to shoot natives was too
good to be lost. A mob gathered, and failing to find the hostile tribe, attacked
the Culumas, who were wholly innocent and friendly, and many of them at
work about the mill. Of these they shot down seveh; and when Marshall in
terfered to defend his people, the mob threatened him, so that he was obliged
to fly for his life. After a time he returned to Coloma only to find the place
claimed by others, who had laid out a town there. Completely bankrupt,
Marshall was obliged to leave the place in search of food, and soon he was in
formed that the miners had destroyed the dam, and stolen the mill timbers,
and that was the end of the saw mill. Neither Marshall, Winters, nor
Bayley ever received a dollar for their property. Parsons Life of Marshall,
188.
25 To save him, I procured and secreted a horse, and with this he escaped.
Affidavit of John Winters, in Parsons Life of Marshall, 178. See also Mar
shall s statement, in Dunbar s Romance of the A</e, 117-23.
26 I wandered for more than four years, he continues, . . . feeling myself
under some fatal influence, a curse, or at least some bad circumstances.
102 AT THE MINES.
that he sank also into poverty, passing the last twenty-
eight years of his life near Coloma, the centre of his
dreams, sustained by scanty fare and shadowy hopes
of recognition. 27
o
Finally he breaks forth: I see no reason why the government should give to
others and not to me. In God s name, can the circumstance of my being the
first to find the gold regions of California be a cause to deprive me of every
right pertaining to a citizen from under the flag? These, I say, are not the
sentiments of a healthy mind. The government was not giving more to others
than to him. One great trouble was, that he early conceived the idea, wholly
erroneous, that the government and the world owed him a great debt; that
but for him gold in California never would have been found. In some way
Marshall became mixed up with that delectable association, the Hounds. Of
course he denies having been one of them, but his knowledge of their watch
word and other secrets looks suspicious. .Judging entirely by his own state--
ments, particularly by his denials, I deem it more than probable that he was
a member of the band.
27 Returning to Coloma in the spring of 1857, he obtained some odd jobs of
work sawing wood, making gardens, and cleaning wells. Then for $15 he
purchased some land of little value on the hill-side adjacent and planted a
vineyard. He obtained for some years a small pension from the state. An
object of charity on the part of the state, says Barstow, Rtat., MS., 14. Sut-
ter, Pers. Rem., MS., 205, says the same. The Elko Independent, Jan. 15,
1870, states that he was then living at Kelsey s Diggings. He is upward of
fifty years of age, and though feeble, is obliged to work for his board and
clothes, not being able to earn more. Mr E. Weller writes me in Aug. 188 L
from Coloma: Mr Marshall is living at Kelsey, about three miles from this
place. He has a small orchard in this place which he rents out for $25 per
year. He was never married. He is trying a little at mining, but it is rather
up-hill work, for he is now a feeble old man. He died in August 1885, aged
73. Among authorities referring to him are Barstow s Stat., MS., 14; Burnett s
Rec., MS., ii. 10; Crosby s Events in CaL, MS., 17; Annals of S. F., 767, where
may be found a poor portrait; Sutler s Pers. Rec., MS., 160 and 205-6; Powers
Afoot, 292-3; Schlagintweit, CaL, 216. The Sac. ^cord-Union, Jan. 20, 1872,
states that he was forced in his old age to eke out a scanty subsistence by
delivering rough lectures based upon his wretched career. Further references,
Grass Valley Union, April 19, 1870; Santa Cruz Sentinel, July 17, 1875; Fol-
som Telegraph, Sept. 17, 1871; Solano Republican, Sept. 29, 1870; Nupa
Register, Aug. 1, 1874; Vallejo Chron., Oct. 10, 1874; Truckee Tribune,
Jan. 8, 1870; S. F. Alta CaL, May 5, 1872, and Aug. 17, 1874; 8. F. News
Letter, July 19, 1879; History of Nevada, 78; S. F. Bulletin, Dec. 6, 1855;
Aug. 10-14, 1885; Yolo Co. Hist., 86; Tinkham s Hixt. Stockton, 108; Lancey s
Cruise of the Dale, MS., 66; SanJoaquin County Hist., 20; SutterCo. Hist., 21.
The Romance of the Age, or the Discovery of Gold in California, by Edward E.
Dunbar, New York, 1867, was written with the view of securing government
relief for Sutter. Dunbar writes graphically, and begins his book with these
words: Somebody has said that history is an incorrigible liar. If all history
were written as Mr Dunbar writes, I should fully agree with him. Little
that is reliable has been printed on Marshall and the gold discovery, eye
witnesses, even, seemingly forgetting more than they remember. The most
important work upon the subject IB the Life and Adventures of James W,
Marshall, by George Frederic Parsons, published in Sacramento by James W.
Marshall and W. Burke, in 1870. The facts here brought out with the utmost
clearness and discrimination were taken from those best knowing them.
George Frederic Parsons was born at Brighton, England, June 15, 1840. He
was educated at private schools. Having spent five years at sea, during
which he several times visite^ the East Indies, he was attracted by tli
THE UNHAPPY SWISS. 103
With regard to Sutter, his position and possibilities,
there was within reach boundless wealth for him, could
he have seized it; his fall was as great though not so
rapid as Marshall s. Out of the saw-mill scheme he
came well enough, gathering gold below Coloma, and
selling his half-interest in the mill for $6,000. His
troubles began at the flour-mill. After he had ex
pended not less than $30,000 in a vain attempt to
complete it, it went to decay. 28 The men in tlie
reports of the gold-fields of Cariboo in 1862, and made an expedition thither.
Keturning from the mines unsuccessful, he entered journalism in Victoria,
V. I. In 1803 he started a paper called the North Pnific Time*, at New
Westminster, B. C. The population was too small to support it, and it was
abandoned in a few months. He then went t,o San Francisco, and joined the
staff of the Examiner. In 1867 he left that paper to take a position on the
/S F . F. Times. Entering the local staff, he finally became the chief editorial
wricer of the paper, and occupied that post when it was merged in the Ada,.
This occurred at the end of 1869, and the same winter Mr Parsons assumed
editorial control of the Sacramento Record, a republican journal. He con
tinued to edit the Record until it was consoli ated with the Sacramento
Union as the Record- Union, and subsequently to that until 1882, when he left
California and accepted a position on the editorial staff of the New York
Tribune. Mr Parsons was married in 1869, and had one daughter, Melami,
who died in 1881 of typhoid fever. He was a contributor to* the Overland
Monthly during the editorship of Bret Harte, and has written several short
items besides magazine articles, ordinary press work, reviews, and his life of
Marshall. Mr Parsons life has been notable for its quietness and evenness.
I have not known a journalist in the field of my history superior, if equal,
to him in philosophic insight, knowledge of men and things, critical famil
iarity \vith literature, or power and charm of style. He is not a man, how
ever, who would ever parade his name before the public. Personal notoriety
is repellant to him. Considering his capacity and character, the people of
the whole country are to be congratulated that he has taken an editorial place
on the Tribune, a journal of splendid talent and national influence, as the
sphere of his influence is thus greatly enlarged. Mr Parsons is a man of solid
accomplishments and sterling integrity. He is preeminently a hater of shams
in politics or society. It would be to the advantage of the people of the
United States if editors like him were more numerous.
36 My grist-mill never was finished. Everything was stolen, even the
stones. There is a saying that men will steal everything but a mile-stone and
a mill-stone. They stole my mill-stones. They stole the bells from the fort,
and gate-weights; the hides they stole, and salmon -barrels. I had 200 bar
rels which I had made for salmon. I was just beginning to cure salmon then.
I had put up some before, enough to try it, and to ascertain that it would be
a good business. Some of the cannon at the fort were stolen, and some I gave
to neighbors that they might fire them on the 4th of July. My property was
all left exposed, and at the mercy of the rabble, when gold was discovered.
My men all deserted me. I could not shut the gates of my fort and keep out
the rabble. They would have broken them down. The country swarmed with
lawless men. Emigrants drove their stock into my yard, and used my grain
with impunity. Expostulation did no good. I was alone. There was no
law. If one felt one s self insulted, one might shoot the offender. One man
shot another for a slight provocation in the fort under my very nose. Phil
osopher Pickett shot a very good man who differed with him on some ques-
104 AT THE MINES.
fields asked for more and more pay, until a demand
for ten dollars a day compelled Sutter to let them go.
These were the first to leave him ; then his clerk went,
then his cook, and finally his mechanics. 29 At the
tannery, which was now for the first time becoming
profitable, leather was left to rot in the vats, and a large
quantity of collected hides were rendered valueless.
So in all the manufactories, shoe-shop, saddle-shop,
hat and blacksmith shops, the men deserted, leaving
their work in a half-finished state. Where others suc
ceeded he failed; he tried merchandising at Coloma,
but in vain, and retired in January 1849. The noise of
interlopers and the bustle of business about the fort
discomfited the owner, and with his Indians he moved
to Hock Farm, then in charge of a majordomo. Sut
ter evidently could not cope with the world, partic
ularly with the sharp and noisy Yankee world. 30
Tenfold greater were Sutter s advantages to profit
by this discovery than were those of his neighbors,
who secured rich results. With a well-provisioned
fortress adjacent to the mines, a large grant of land
tion. Sutter s Pers. Rem., MS., 195-6. All Sutter s pains in establishing indus
tries went for nothing. Burnett s liec., MS., ii. 13; Thornton s Or. and Cal.,
ii. 270; Sac. III., 7; Browne s Res., 15; Gold Hill News, April 16, 1872; Lar-
k m s Docs, MS., vi. 63.
29 The Mormons did not like to leave my mill unfinished, Sutter remarks,
* but they got the gold fever like everybody else. Hutchings* Mag., ii. 197.
See also Santa Cruz Sentinel, July 17, 1875.
30 As a matter of fact, the Swiss had nothing whatever to complain of. He
was his own greatest enemy. His representations of the disastrous effect
upon him of the gold discovery were greatly exaggerated. They were by
no means so bad as he wished them to appear. During harvest-time in the
year of discovery he was much better off than his neighbors, who never
asked indemnification from the government. Says Col Mason, who was there ia
July: I before mentioned that the greater part of the farmers and rancheros
had abandoned their fields to go to the mines; this is not the case with Capt.
Sutter, who was carefully gathering his wheat, estimated at 40,000 bushels.
Flour is already worth at Sutter s $36 a barrel, and soon will be $-30. It was
reported that Capt. Sutter s crop of wheat for 1846 would be 75,000 bushels.
Sherwood s Pocket Guide to Cal., 18. He had received liberally from the
Mexican government what was liberally ratified by the American govern
ment. Far more manly, not to say respectable, would it have been had he
lived modestly on some small portion of the fruit of his labors, or of good
fortune, instead of spending his old age complaining, and importuning the
government for alms. Everything had been given him, fertile lands, and
golden opportunity. With these he should have been content. In return I
gladly record it he gave aid to suffering emigrants, and nobly exercised a
-bounteous hospitality, and that to many who afterward treated him vilely.
CLAIMS FOR RECOMPENSE 105
stocked with cattle and horses land on which shortly
after began to be built the second city in the state
and with broad fields under cultivation ; with a market,
at fabulous prices, for everything he could supply
he should have barrelled a schooner-load of gold-dust,
even though the emigrants did encroach on his claims,
settle on his land, steal his horses and other effects,
and butcher some of his cattle and hogs. Further
than this, it was not until more than a year after the
discovery, during which time the owner of New Hel
vetia abandoned his duties and let things drift, that
any serious inroads were made on his droves of wild
and uncared-for cattle. The truth is, had the grand
discovery been less, Sutter s loss would have been less;
had the discovery been quite small, Sutter s profit from
it would have been great. In other words, Sutter
was not man enough to grasp and master his good
fortune.
There are those who have deemed it their duty to
censure California for not doing more for Sutter and
Marshall. Such censure is not only unjust, but silly
and absurd. There was no particular harm in flinging
to these men a gratuity out of the public purse, and
something of the kind was done. It was wholly
proper to hang a portrait of Sutter in the hall of the
state capitol beside that of Yallejo and others.
If there are any who wish to worship the memory
of Marshall, let his likeness be also placed in the pan
theon. It is all a matter of taste. But when outside
critics begin to talk of duty and decency on the part
of the state, it is well enough to inquire more closely
into the matter, and determine just what, if anything,
is due to these men.
When a member of the commonwealth by his genius
or efforts renders the state a great service, it is proper
that such service should be publicly acknowledged,
and if the person or his family become poor and need
106 AT THE MINES.
pecuniary aid, the state should give it liberally and
ungrudgingly. The people of California are among
the most free-hearted and free-handed of any in the
world; there never has been any popular feeling
against Marshall and Sutter; that more was not given
them was neither a matter of money nor a matter of
ill-will or prejudice. The question was simply asked,
What had these men done to entitle them to lavish
reward on the part of the people? To one of them,
and him a foreigner, was secured by the general gov
ernment a title to princely possessions in the midst of
princely opportunities. That he failed to secure to
himself the best and most lasting advantages of his
position, and like a child let go his hold on all his vast
possessions, was no fault of the people, and entitles
him to no special sympathy. Marshall, made of quite
common clay, but still a free-born American citizen,
with rights equal to the best, happened to stumble on
gold a week, or a month, or six months before some
one else would certainly have done so. The fame of
it was his, and as much of the gold as he chose to
shovel up and carry away. There was not the least
merit on his part connected with the event. That he
failed to profit by his opportunity, assuming that the
world, by reason of the immortal accident, owed him a
great debt which it would not pay; that he became
petulant, half-crazed, and finally died in obscurity
was no fault of the people. Any free-born American
citizen has the right to do the same if he chooses. I
grant that he as well as Sutter could justly claim
recompense for spoliation by mobs though there is
no evidence that they ever suffered greatly at the
hands of mobs and the continuance of the temporary
pension granted them would not have been particu
larly objectionable, on grounds similar to those applied
to Hargrave, the Australian gold-finder. The services
of the latter, however, had the consecration of a self-
imposed task exploration with an aim. As a blind
GIVE EVERY MAN HIS DUE. 107
instrument in the hands of inevitable development,
as a momentary favorite of fortune, I concede Mar
shall every credit. I also admit that Sutter, as the
builder of a great establishment in the wilderness,
with industries supporting numerous dependents, thus
bringing the truest method of culture to savages, and
as the promoter of the undertaking at Coloma, is
entitled to a share in the recognition which must
connect him with the accidental founders of the golden
era of California. But to talk of injustice or niggard
liness on the part of the state of California; to imply
that there was any necessity for either of these men
to throw themselves away, or that the people of Cal
ifornia did not feel or do rightly by them is, as I
said before, silly and absurd. 31
31 Fuller references for the preceding six chapters are: Bidwell s Cal. in
1841-8, MS., passim; Galindo, Apuntes, MS., 68-9; Buff urn 1 8 Six Months,
45-6, 50, 53-5, 67-9, 104-5, 126-38; Dunbar s Romance of the Age, 92-100,
103, 107-16; Kip, in Overland Monthly, ii. 410; Zamacois, Hist. Mej., x. 1141;
Ferry, CaL, 103-4, 315-20; Illust. Napa Co., and Hist. Napa and Lake,
passim; Annals of S. F., 130-2, 174, 210, 311, 407, 486; Arch. Cal., Un
bound Docs, MS., 141, 318, 408-11; Clyman s Diary, MS.; Coltoris Three.
Years, 266, 451; Revere s Tour of Duty, 228-52; Castanares, Col. Doc., MS.,
23; Vallcjo (S.), Notas H istdricas, MS., 35; Hall s Hist., 192-3; Find la s State
ment, MS., 5-7; Tinkham s Hist. Stockton, 1-50, 71^, 108-15, 303; U. S.
Gov. Docs, H. Ex. 17, 528-36, 561; Farnham s Cal., 354-6; Dwinelle s Add.
lef ore Pioneers, 1866, 28; Hancock s Thirteen Years, MS., 121-2; Yolo Co.
Hist., passim; Dana s Two Years, 324; Coast Review, iv. 73-5, 217, 265-8;
v. 25-8, 65-8, 107-8; Treasury of Travel, 99-101; Napa Register, Aug. 1,
1874; First Steamship Pioneers, 368; Janssens, Vida y A vent. , MS., 198-200;
Johnson s Cal. and Or.; Coutt s Diary, MS., passim; Slocum and Co. s Contra
Costa Co. Hist., passim; Foster s Gold Regions, 17-22; Yuba Co. Hist., 33-7,
107, 129-30; Coronel, Cosas de CaL, MS.; Hist. Atlas Alameda Co., 17-20;
Revue, des Deux Mondes, Feb. 1, 1849; Tyler s Mormon Battalion, 333; Tut-
hiWs CaL, 226-34; Wood s Hist. Alam. Co., passim; Bandini, Apuntes Hist.
Alta CaL, MS., 7, 17-19, 48-9; Schuck s Scrap-Book, 76-83; Tullidge s Life
of Young, 203-4, 207-8; Hist. Marin Co., passim; Sac. Direct., 1871, 17;
Frignet, Hist. CaL, 79-80; Palmer s Wagon Trains, MS., 43; Truckee Trib
une, Jan. 8, 1870; Browne s Mining Res., 13-16; CaL Pioneers, Celebration
Scraps; Herbert Ainslie s Journal, Panama, Feb. 1849; Bryant s What I Saw
in CaL, 451, etc.; Gold Hill News, Apr. 16, 1872; Capron s CaL, 184-8;
Auger, Fo.y. en CaL, 149-56; Baxter s IV. Coast A mer. , 408; Oroville Mercury,
Dec. 31, 1875; Birnie s Biog., in Pion. Arch., 93-4; Monterey Herald, Oct. 15,
1875; Cal. Past and Pres., 72-105; J. Ross Browne, in Overland Monthly, xv.
345; Wells Hist. Butte Co., 129; Calistoya Tribune, Apr. 4, 11, 12, 1872;
Coloma Argus, in Hittell s Handbook, 14; Thompson and West s Hist. Sac.
Co., passim; Utah, Hdbk of Ref., 65; Frost s Hist. Cal., 39-55; Dept Rec.,
MS., ix. 136; Elliott & Co. s Hist. Ariz., 190; Centenn. Book Alam. Co.,
37-56; Colusa Co. Hist., 25-36; Placer Times, vol. i. no. 48, p. 2; Velasco,
Sonora, 288-97; Bol. Soc. Mex. Geog., xi. 108-9; Alam. Encinal, March 2,
1878; Butte Co. Illust.. 127-9; Carver s Travel*, 122; Willey s Pers. Mem.,
108 AT THE MINES.
MS., 19-26; Id., Thirty Years, 26; Salt Lake City Trib., June 11, 1879;
Bancroft s Pert. Obs., MS., 171; Illust. of Contra Costa, Co., 4-33; Whitney s
Metallic Wealth, pp. xxi.-xxxii.; J. J. Warner, in Alta Cal., May 18, 1868;
Austin Reese Riv. Rereule, July 17, 1864, Aug. 10, 1865, Jan. 29, 1872; Cal.
Chronicle, Jan. 28, 1856; Prescott Miner, Nov. 22, 1878; Niles Reg., Ixiii. 96;
Ixxv., index "gold mines;" Cronies Nat. Wealth, 109; Culver s Sac. City
Direct., 71; Barnes* Or. and Cal., MS., 11; George M. Evans, in the Oregon
Bulletin, Jan. 12, 1872, from Antioch Ledger, Feb. 3, 1872, and Mendocino
Dem., Feb. 1, 1872; Hunt s Merch. Mag., xxxi. 385-6; Barlow s Stat., MS.,
14; Carson State Reg., Jan. 27, 1872; Castroville Argus, Sept. 7, 1872; Wort-
ley s Travels in U. S., 223; Sac. Illust., 7; Lo Que Sabe, MS.; Green s Life
and Advent., 17; Trinity Journal, Weaverville, Feb. 1, 1868; June 20, 1874;
Gilroy Advocate, Apr. 24, 1875; Lake Co. Bee, March 8, 1873; Monitor
Gazette, Aug. 19, 1865; Los Angeles W. News, Oct. 26, 1872; Marshall s Dis-
cov. ofG.tld, in Hutchings Mag., ii. 200; U. 8. Gov. Docs, 30th cong. 2d sess.,
H. Ex. Doc. 1, pt i. 9-10, 51-69, in Mex. Treaties, vii. no. 9; Hist. Napa and
Lake Counties, passim; R\iss Biog., MS., 5; Oakland Times, March 6, 1880;
J lardy s Trav. in Mex., 331-2; 8. I. News, ii. 134, 142, 146-7, 151, 158-66,
193-4; Oroville W. Mercury, Dec. 31, 1875; New Tacoma W. Ledger, Oct. 8,
1880; Harle s Skaggs Husbands, 299-309; Cal. Star, passim; Calif or jiian,
passim; Cal. Star and Californian, 1848, passim; S. F. Direct., 1852-3, 8-9;
Ross Stat., MS., 14; Rul (Miguel), Consult. Diputado, 60; Red Bluff Indep.,
Jan. 17, 1866; Henshaw s Hist. Events, 4-6; Herald, Nov. 24, 1848; Jan. 20,
1849; Marin Co. Hist., 52-3; Sac. Rec.-Union, Jan. 20, 1872, Aug. 28, 1880;
8. Diego Arch., Index, 92; S. Diego Union, June 2, 1875; Nevada Gaz. t Jan.
22, 1868; -S. F. Call, Sept. 16, 1870; Sept. 23, 1871; S. Joaquin Co. Hist.,
passim; 8. F. News Letter, Sept. 11, 1875; 8. F. Post, Apr. 10, 1875; Roswag,
Metaux, 209-406; Sac. Daily Union, Apr. 27, 1855; June 5, 1858; Oct. 24,
1864; June 7, 1867, etc.; 8. F. Pac. News, Oct. 28, 1850; 8. F. Stock Rept,
March 19, 1880; Pfeifer s Sec. Journey, 290; Illust. Hist. San Mateo Co., 4-16;
San Joaquin Valley Argus, Sept. 12, 1874; C. E. Pickett, in Cal. Chron.,
Jan. 28, 1856; Powers Afoot, 290-2; 8. F. Jour, of Comm., Aug. 30, 1876;
Hist. Atlas Santa Clara Co., 9-10, 32-34, 77-81, 96-98, 116-26, 174-218,
244-77, 328-35, 4S4-8, 543-4; Hist. Santa Cruz Co., 7^9; S. Jose- Pioneer,
Jan. 27, 1877; Jan. 19, 1878; S. F. Picayune, Oct. 12, 1850; S. F. Herald,
Dec. 31, 1855; 8. F. New Age, June 22, 1867; Quigley s Irish Race, 146;
Sherman s Mem., i. 40-58; Scala, Nouv. Ann. Voy., cxx. 3(32-5; cxliii.
245; cxliv. 382-90; cxlvi. 118-21; Saxon s Five Years, passim; Sherwood s
Cal; Grass Valley Union, Apr. 19, 1870; Simpson s Gold Mines, 4-5, 17;
Holinski, La Cal., 142-4; Friend (Honolulu), July 1, 1848, Nov. 1, 1848, May
1, 1849, etc.; Scientific Press, May 11, 1872; Hist. Sonoma Co., passim; Hist.
Atlas Sonoma Co., passim; Stillman s Golden Fleece, 19-27; Stockton Indep.,
Oct. 9, 1869; Sept. 14, 1872; Oct. 19, 23, 1875; Dec. 6, 1879; Smith s Address
to Calveston, 14; El Sonorense, May 16, 1849; Clark s Statement, MS.; Hughe*
Cal., 119; Sutter, in Hutchings Mag., ii. 194-7; Taylor s Eldorado, i. 73;
Thomas Sprague, in Hutchings Mag., v. 352; Quart. Review, xci. 507-8;
1350, no. 87, p. 416; Santa Cruz Sentinel, July 17, 1875, May 29, 1880; Hist.
Tehama Co., 11-15, 53, 109-12; Mex. Mem. Sec. Est. y Rel, 1835, no. 6;
Mendocino Co. Hist., 52-3; Monterey Herald, Oct. 15, 1875; 8. F. Chron. ,
Jan. 8, Sept. 19, 1880; Simonin, Grand Quest, 286-9; Id., La Vie Souterraine,
3D9; Merced People, June 8, 1872; McKune, in Cal. Assoc. Pioneer, 1st
Annual, 42; South. Quart. Rev., viii. 199; S. F. Bulletin, Dec. 6, 1855; Oct.
2, Dec. 7, 31, 1858; Aug. 13, 1859, etc.; 8. F. Alta Cal., Oct. 15, 1851; May
3, Nov. 21, 1852; June 29, 1854; Dec. 22, 1855; July 31, 1856; March 28,
Nov. 11, 1857, etc.; Hist. Atl. Sol. Co., passim; Hist. Solano Co., passim;
Seattle Intelligencer, June 6, 1874; Hunt s Mer. Mag., xx. 91, 111, 209; xxi.
567-8; xxii. 226-7, 321; xxiv. 768; xxxiv. 631-2; J. W. Marshall, in Hutch-
ings Mag., ii. 199-201; Mining Rev., 5; Mining Rev. and Stock Ledger, 1878,
126; H txt. Sutter Co., 21-2; Hutchings Mag., ii. 196-201; iv. 340; U. 8. Gov.
Docs, H. Ex. Doc. no. 5, p. 158; no. 17, passim; Mason s Repts, July 19, Aug.
AUTHORITIES. 109
17, 1848; Uny^ Coll. Mining Cat., i. 1, 50; Id., Coll. Mining Srraps, v. 2,
3, 17, 175; LI., Colt. Cat. Notes, iii. 7-8; v. 17; Harry s Up arid Down, 92 3;
Robinson s Ccd. and its Gold Rpyion* t 17-27, 47-8; .Id., Life in Cal. t 190;
Duflot de Mofras, Expl. Or. et Cal., i. 137; WUkes Narr. U. 8. Ex. Exped.,
v. 181, 190, 195; Daily s Narr., MS., 63; Oslo, Hist. CaL, MS., 506; Biyler a
Diary of a Mormon, MS., passim; Ifallejo, Docs, MS., i. 140-1, 369-70; xii.
332; QillfSpie a Vig. Com., MS., passim; Alvarado, Hist. Cal., MS., i. 77; iv.
161; Slitter s Pers. Hem., MS., passim; Id., Diary, MS., passim; Burnett s
Recoil. Past, MS. i.-ii. passim; Amador, Memorias, MS., 177-80; Larkin s
Docs, MS., i. 116; iii. 98; iv. 318; v. 25; vi. passim; vii. 28, 80; Id., Off.
Corresp. t MS., i. 96; ii. 1^1-41; Carson s Earbj Recoil., passim; Polynesian,
iv. 114, 137; vt passim; Crosby s Events in CaL, MS., 2, 3, 17-19; Hittell a
Handbook Mining t passim; Frisbie s Reminiscences, MS., 30-32, 34-36.
CHAPTER VII.
BROADER EFFECTS OF THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
1848-1849.
THE REAL EFFECTS ETERNAL How THE INTELLIGENCE WAS CARRIED OVER
THE SIERRA To THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS BRITISH COLUMBIA OREGON
AND WASHINGTON THE TIDINGS IN MEXICO MASON S MESSENGER IN
WASHINGTON CALIFORNIA GOLD AT THE WAR OFFICE AT THE PHIL
ADELPHIA MINT THE NEWSPAPER PRESS UPON THE SUBJECT BIBLIOG
RAPHY GREELEY S PROPHECIES INDUSTRIAL STIMULATION OVERLAND
AND OCEANIC ROUTES GENERAL EFFECT IN THE EASTERN STATES AND
EUROPE INTEREST IN ASIA, SOUTH AMERICA, AND AUSTRALIA.
THE full and permanent effects of the California
gold discovery cannot be estimated. All over the
world impulse was given to industry, values changed,
and commerce, social economy, and finance were rev
olutionized. New enlightenment and new activities
succeeded these changes, and yet again followed
higher and broader developments. It was the fore
runner of like great discoveries of the precious metals
elsewhere, in Australia, in Nevada and Idaho and
Montana, in British Columbia and Alaska. There had
been nothing like it since the inpouring of gold
and silver to Europe, following the discovery of the
New World by Columbus. It is not in its fullest,
broadest sense, however, that the subject is to be
treated in this chapter. The grand results can only
be appreciated as we proceed in our history. It is
rather the reception of the news in the different parts
of the world, and the immediate action taken upon it,
that I will now refer to.
By various ways intelligence of the gold discovery
110
DISPERSION OF THE NEWS. Ill
travelled abroad. The Mormons carried it over the
Sierra, scattered it among the westward-bound emi
grants, and laid it before the people of Salt Lake,
whence it passed on to the east. Definite notice was
conveyed overland by the courier despatched specially
by the people of San Francisco, on the 1st of April,
1848, to carry letters, and to circulate in the states
east of the Mississippi the article prepared by Four-
geaud on the Prospects of California, and printed in
the California Star of several issues, in order to stim
ulate emigration. 1
The first foreign excitement was produced in the
Hawaiian Islands. With this western ocean rendez
vous San Francisco merchants had long maintained
commercial relations, and they now turned thither for
supplies incident to the increased demand growing out
of the new development. By the intelligence thus
conveyed, the hearts and minds of men were kindled
into a glow such as Kilauea or Manua Haleakala
never had produced. 2
1 The recent discovery of Marshall played no part whatever in originating
the article and the enterprise. A mere allusion was made to the finding of
gold; and nothing more was thought of it than the known presence of a dozen
other minerals, nor half so much as of the agricultural and manufacturing
possibilities.
2 As a forerunner announcing the new Inferno, with two pounds of the
jnetal as tangible proof, sailed from S. F. May 31st the Hawaiian schooner
Louise, Menzies master, arriving at Honolulu the 17th of June. In a half-
column article the editor of the Polynesian, of June 24th, makes known the
facts as gathered from the California papers, and congratulates Honolulu
merchants on the prospect of the speedy payment of debts due them by Cal-
ifornians, probably not less than $150,000. By the store-ship Matilda from
New York to Honolulu, touching at Valparaiso, Callao, and Monterey, Mr
Colton writes to Mr Damon, who publishes the letter in the Friend of July,
with a few editorial comments. Afterward arrived the Spanish brig Flecha,
Vasquez master, from Santa Barbara, the Hawaiian brig Euphemia, Vioget
master, from S. F., and others. The Hawaiian schooner Mary, Belcham
master, though sailing from S. F. before the Louise, did not arrive at Hono
lulu until the 19th. Ib., The Friend, July 1848. In its issue of July 8th, the
Polynesian speaks of the rising excitement and the issuing of passports,
except to absconding debtors, by the minister of foreign relations to those
wishing to depart. The fever rages high here, writes Samuel Varney, the
15th of -July, to Larkin, and there is much preparation made for emigration.
L( ckin s Doc*, MS., vi. 145. The file of the Polynesian runs on as fol
lows: July 15th, one crowded vessel departed the llth, and half a dozen
others are making ready; 24 persons give notice of their intention to depart
thiy kingdom; 2JO will probably leave within two months if passage can
be procured. Aug. 5th, 69 passports have been granted, and as many
112 BROADER EFFECTS OF THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
Before it could scale the northern mountains the
news swept round to Oregon by way of Honolulu,
and was thence conveyed by the Hudson s Bay people
to Victoria and other posts in British Columbia, to
forts Nisqually and Vancouver, reaching Oregon City
early in August. 3 The first doubts were dissipated by
increased light upon the subject, and streams of popu
lation set southward, both by land -and water, until
more than half of Oregon s strength and sinew was
emptied into California. 4
more have left without passports. Aug. 26th, three vessels sailed within a
week; one man set out in a whale-boat. Sept. 23d, excitement increases. A
vessel advertises to sail, and immediately every berth is secured. Sept 30th,
real estate a drug in the market. Business low; whole country changed.
Books at an auction will not sell; shovels fetch high prices. Common saluta
tion, When are you off? Oct. 7th, the Lahaimci sails with 40 passengers.
Honolulu to sail the 9th, and every berth engaged. Heavy freight $40 per
ton; cabin passage $100, steerage $80, deck $40. Oct. 21st, 27 vessels, ag
gregating a tonnage of 3,128, have left Honolulu since the gold discovery,
carrying 300 Europeans, besides many natives. The Islands suffer in conse
quence. Oct. 28th, natives returning, some with $500. Five vessels to sail
with 15 to 40 passengers each. The Sandwich Island News of Aug. 17th
states that upward of 1,000 pickaxes had been exported from Honolulu. The
excitement continued in 1849, when, according to Placer Times, June 2, 1849,
nine schooners and brigs, and a score of smaller craft, were fitting out for
Cal. The Friend, vii. 21, viii. 23, speaks of more than one party of sailors
absconding in small craft.
3 In the Willamette about that time, loading with flour, was a S. F. vessel,
the Honolulu, whose master knew of it, but kept it to himself until his cargo
was secured. In searching the files current of the Hawaiian journals, I find
among the departures for the north the following: June 8th, the American brig
Eveline, Goodwin master, for Oregon, too early for definite information; June
20th, Russian bark Prince Menshikoff, Lindenberg, for Sitka; July 5th, Ameri
can bark Mary, Knox master, for Kamchatka; and July 15th, H. B. M. brig
Pandora, destination unknown, and English brig Mary Dare, Scarborough
master, for the Columbia River. It was undoubtedly by this ship that the
news was brought, and the fact of her clearance for the Columbia River did
not prevent her first visiting Kisqually. Mr Burnett is probably mistaken
in saying that he heard of it in July; as that, according to his own statement,
would allow but a fortnight for the transmission of the news from the Islands
to the Willamette River not impossible, but highly improbable. See Hist.
Oregon, vol. i. chap, xxxiv., this series; Crawford s Nar., MS., 166; Victor s
River of the West, 483-5; Californian, Sept. 2, 1848.
4 Estimated white population of Oregon, midsummer, 1848, 10,000. I
think that at least two thirds of the population of Oregon capable of bearing
arms left for Cal. in the summer and fall of 1848. Burnett s Rec., MS., i. 325.
A letter from L. W. Boggs to his brother-in-law, Boon, in Oregon, carried
weight and determined many. By the end of the year, says the Oregon Spec
tator, almost the entire male and a part of the female population of Oregon
has gone gold-digging in California. Gov. Abernethy, writing to Col. Ma
son Sept. 18th, said that not less than 3,000 men had left the Willamette
Valley for Cal. Arch. Cal., Unbound Docs, MS., 141. Star and CaL, Dec. 9,
1848, assumes that about 2,000 arrived in 1848. One of the first parties to
set out the first, indeed with vehicles, and preceded only by smaller com-
THE NEWS IN MEXICO. 113
Mexico, particularly in her northern part, though
crushed by the late war, still shared the distemper.
"The mania that pervades the whole country, our
camp included/ writes an army officer, "is beyond
all description or credulity. The whole state of So-
nora is on the move, large parties are passing us in
gangs daily, and say they have not yet started."
Indeed, but for national indolence and intervening
deserts, the movement might have far surpassed the
4,000 which left before the spring of 1849. 6
panics with pack-animals consisted of 150 men, with 50 wagons and ox-teams,
a supply of provisions for six months, and a full assortment of tools and im
plements. This expedition was organized at Oregon City, early in Sept., by
Peter H. Burnett, afterward gov. of Cal. It followed the Applegate route
eastward toward Klamath Lake, thence along Lassen s trail from Pit River,
entering the Sac. Valley near the mouth of Feather River, and reaching the
mines in Nov. This was the general direction; though as usual on such occa
sions, the party differed in opinion as to the route to be followed, and divided
before the end of their journey. Burnett, Recollections, MS., i. 323-70, gives
a detailed account of the trip. Gen. Palmer, Wagon Trains, MS., 43, and
A. L. Lovejoy, Portland, MS., 27-8, who were also prominent members of
the expedition, give briefer narratives. The points of difference are, that
according to Burnett the expedition was organized in the beginning of Sept.
and struck south at Klamath Lake, while Palmer says that, starting in July,
the party reached Goose Lake before a southern course was taken. One
family accompanied the train. Tom. McKay acted as guide. Barnes* Or.
and Cal., MS., 11. Another large party left Oregon City in Sept. on board
the brig Henry, and reached S. F. the same month, consequently in advance
of the land expedition. Taylors Oregonians, MS., 1-2. Both of these early
companies were soon followed by others. In 1848 [the month is not given],
the mining engineer in the Russian Colony, Doroshin, was sent to Cal. with
a number of men to open a gold mine, if possible, in the placer regions. In
three months he obtained 12 Ibs, but did not continue the work, as he feared
that his men would run away. Oolovnin, Voyage, in Materialln, pt ii. Doug
las was on board the Mary Dare, the vessel which brought the information
from the Island, but gave it little attention until he saw the people of the
north rapidly sinking southward, when he began to fear for his men. Some
of them did leave, but the Hudson s Bay Company was a difficult association
to get away from. Finlayson, Hist. V. I., MS., 30, 44, tells the oft-repeated
story of deserted vessels^ and other abandonment of duty, which forced him
to draw for seamen and laborers more largely on the natives. Anderson,
Northwest Coast, MS., 27, 37, first saw an account of the discovery in a pri
vate letter to Mr Douglas, who had just returned from a trip to the Sandwich
Islands.
b Coutts* Diary, MS., 113. And the captain goes on to say, in a strain ob
viously exaggerated: Naked and shirt-tailed Indians and Mexicans, or Cal
if ornians, go and return in 15 or 20 days with over a pound of pure gold each
per day, and say they had bad luck and left. Velasco, Son., 289-91, writes,
Sin temor de equivocacion, 5,000 or 6,000 persons left Sonora between Oct.
1848 and March 1849. Yet he reduces this to 4,000, whereof one third re
mained in Cal. In Sonorense, Mar. 2, 23, 28, 30, Apr. 18, May 11, the exodus
for Jan. to Feb. 1849 is placed at 1,000, and 700 were expected to pass
through from other states. During the spring of 1850, 5,893 left, taking
14,000 animals. Id., Apr. 26, 1850. Up to Nov. 1849 over 4,000 left. Pinart^
HIST. CAL., VOL. VI. 8
114 BROADER EFFECTS OF THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
The news wafted across the continent upon the
tongues of devout Mormons, and by the Fourgeaud
messenger, was quickly followed by confirmatory ver
sions in letters, and by travellers and government
couriers. 6 The first official notice of the discovery
was sent by Larkin on June 1st, and received at
Washington in the middle of September. 7 At the
same time further despatches, dated a month later,
were brought in by Lieutenant Beale via Mexico. 8
Some of these appeared in the New York Herald
and other journals, together with other less author
itative statements; but the first to create general
attention was an article in the Baltimore Sun of Sep
tember 20th; after which all the editors vied with
each other in distributing the news, exaggerated and
garnished according to their respective fancies and
love of the marvellous. 9 Such cumulative accounts,
Coll., MS., iv. 174, no. 1035; U. S. Oov. Docs, 31st cong. 2d sess., H. Ex.
Doc. i., pt ii. 77. Diary of two parties, in Soc. Mex. Geog., BoL, xi. 126-34;
Hayes Diary, MS., 1-7, 82-100. Gov. Gandara sought in vain to check the
exodus by warning the people that Mexicans were maletreated in Cal. , etc.
SonoreTfl.se, Feb. 2, 21, Oct. 26, 1849. A letter from San Jose", Lower Cal.,
tells of closed houses and families consisting only of women and children.
The first caravan left in Oct. Many went by sea.
6 There was a Mr Gray from Virginia at Sutter s Fort, the 16th of April,
1848, who had purchased for himself and associates a silver mine in the San
Jose Valley. Sutter presented to him specimens of the gold, with which he
started eastward across the mountains. So Sntter enters in his diary.
Rogers begins a letter to Larkin Sept. 14th, Since I wrote you by the gov
ernment messenger, and in duplicate by the Isthmus which shows how
letters were then sent. Larkin s Docs, MS., vi. 177. No mention is herein
made of the receipt of the intelligence of the gold discovery. Sherman,
Mem., i. 47, gives no date when he says of Kit Carson, who had carried
occasional mails, He remained at Los Angeles some months, and was then
sent back to the U. S. with despatches.
7 Larkin s Docs, MS., vi. 185. This letter of Larkin, Childs, through
whom his correspondence passed, answered the 27th of Sept., sending his
reply by Mr Parrott, by way of Vera Cruz and Mazatlan.
8 He had left Monterey about July 1st for La Paz in the flag-ship Ohio,
carrying letters from Larkin of June 28th and July 1st to Buchanan and
Com. Jones, the latter sending his on to the sec. of the navy with a note of
July 28th. All these letters were printed by government, and accompanied
the president s message of Dec. 5th. I have referred elsewhere to the over
land express which was despatched by way of Salt Lake in April 1848, chiefly
for carrying a newspaper edition on the resources of California. G. M.
Evans erroneous account of this mail in the Oregon Bulletin has been widely
copied. Instance the Mendocino Democrat, Feb. 1, 1872, and the Lake
County Bee, March 8, 1873. Crosby s Events in Cal, MS., 2-3.
The N. Y. Journal of Commerce some time after published a communi
cation dated Monterey 29th of August, characteristic of the reports which
AT WASHINGTON CITY. 115
reechoed throughout the country, could not fail in
their effect; and when in the midst of the growing
excitement, in November or December, one more
special messenger arrived, in the person of Lieuten
ant Loeser, with official confirmation from Governor
Mason, embodied in the president s message of De
cember 5th to congress, and with tangible evidence in
the shape of a box filled with gold-dust, placed on
exhibition at the war office, delirium seized upon the
community. 10
now began to circulate. At present, the writer remarks, speaking of gold-
finding in California, the people are running over the country and picking it
out of the earth here and there, just as 1,000 hogs, let loose in a forest, would
root up ground-nuts. Some get eight or ten ounces a day, and the least active
one or two. They make the most who employ the wild Indians to hunt it for
them. There is one man who has sixty Indians in his employ; his profits are
a dollar a minute. The wild Indians know nothing of its value, and wonder
what the pale-faces want to do with it; they will give an ounce of it for the
same weight of coined silver, or a thimbleful of glass beads, or a glass of
grog. And white men themselves often give an ounce of it, which is worth
at our mint $18 or more, for a bottle of brandy, a bottle of soda powders, or
a plug of tobacco. As to the quantity which the diggers get, take a few
facts as evidence. I know seven men who worked seven weeks and two days,
Sundays excepted, on Feather River; they employed on an average fifty
Indians, and got out in these seven weeks and two days 275 pounds of pure
C 1 1. I know the men, and have seen the gold; so stick a pin there. I
w ten other men who worked ten days in company, employed no Indians,
and averaged in these ten days $1,500 each; so stick another pin there. I
know another man who got out of a basin in a rock, not larger than a wash
bowl, 2 pounds of gold in fifteen minutes; so stick another pin there! No
one of these statements would I believe, did I not know the men personally,
and know them to be plain, matter-of-fact men men who open a vein of gold
just as coolly as you would a potato-hill. Your letter and those of others,
writes Childs from Washington, Sept. 27th, to Larkin, have been running
through the papers all over the country, creating wonder and amazement in
every mind. Larkin s Docs, MS., vi. 185.
L. Loeser, lieutenant third artillery, was chosen to carry the report of
Mason s own observations, conveyed in a letter dated Aug. 17th, together
with specimens of gold-dust purchased at $10 an ounce by the quartermaster
under sanction of the acting governor, with money from the civil fund.
Sherman, Mem., i. 58, says an oyster-can full; Mason, Reveres Tour, 242,
a tea-caddy containing 230 oz., 15 dwts, 9 gr. of gold. Small chest called
a caddy, containing about $3,000 worth of gold in lumps and scales, says the
Washington Union, after inspection. Niks Reg., Ixxiv. 336. To Payta, Peru,
the messenger proceeded in the ship Lambayecana, chartered for the purpose
from its master and owner, Henry D. Cooke, since governor of the district of
Columbia and sailing from Monterey the 30th of Aug. At Payta, Loeser took
the English steamer to Panama, crossed the Isthmus in Oct., proceeded to
Kingston, Jamaica, and thence by sailing vessel to New Orleans, where he tele
graphed his arrival to the war department. On the 24th of November, about
which time he reached N. 0., the Commercial Times of that city semi-offi-
cially confirmed the rumors, claiming to have done so on the authority of
Loeser. S. H. Willey, Personal Memoranda, MS., 20-1, a passenger by the
falcon, thinks it was on Friday, Dec. 14th, that he first heard the news, and
116 BROADER EFFECTS OF THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
The report of Colonel Mason, as indorsed by the
president, was published, either at length or in sub
stance, in the principal newspapers throughout the
world. 11 From this time the interest in California
and her gold became all-absorbing, creating a rest
lessness which finally poured a human tide into San
Francisco Bay, and sent hundreds of caravans over
the plains and mountains.
The political condition gave impulse to the move
ment, for men s minds were unsettled everywhere: in
that Loeser was there at the time. I saw Lieut Loeser, he says, and the
gold nuggets in his hand. This is the time the Falcon was at N. 0. And
yet the president s message accompanied by Mason s report is dated Dec. 5th.
Obviously Willey is mistaken in supposing Loeser to have arrived at N. O.
after the Falcon s arrival; and to reconcile his statement at all, we must hold
the messenger at N. 0. exhibiting his gold nuggets on the streets for three
weeks after his arrival, and for ten days after the information brought by him
is sent by the president to congress. The report of Mason accompanying the
president s message is given in U. S. Gov. Docs, 30th cong. 2d sess., H. Ex.
Doc. 1, no. 37, 56-64. The president says: It was known that mines of the
precious metals existed to a considerable extent in Cal. at the time of its
acquisition. Recent discoveries render it probable that these mines are more
extensive and valuable than was anticipated. The accounts of the abundance
of gold in that territory are of such an extraordinary character as would
scarcely command belief were they not corroborated by the authentic reports
of officers in the public service, who have visited the mineral district, and
derived the facts which they detail from personal observation. Sherman,
Mr m. , i. 58, consequently errs in assuming that the report did not arrive in
time for the message.
11 We readily admit, says the Washington Union the day after Loeser s
arrival, that the account so nearly approached the miraculous that we were
relieved by the evidence of our own senses on the subject. The specimens
have all the appearance of the native gold we had seen from the mines of
North Carolina and Virginia; and we are informed that the secretary will
send the small chest of gold to the mint, to be melted into coin and bars, and
most of it to be subsequently fashioned into medals commemorative of the
heroism and valor of our officers. Several of the other specimens he will re
tain for the present in the war office as found in Cal. , in the form of lumps,
scales, and sand; the last named being of different hues, from bright yellow
to black, without much appearance of gold. However sceptical any man may
have been, we defy him to doubt that if the quantity of such specimens as
these be as great as has been represented, the value of the gold in Cal. must
be greater than has been hitherto discovered in the old or new continent;
and great as may be the emigration to this new El Dorado, the frugal and
industrious will be amply repaid for their enterprise and toil. On the 8th
of Dec., David Garter, from 8. F., took to the Phil, mint the first deposit of
gold, on which Director Patterson reported that it was worth some cents
over $18 an ounce. Assays of specimens sent to private persons gave similar
results. Sherwood s Cal.; Pioneer Arch., 161-7; Brooks His. Mcx. War, 535.
Garter s deposit in the Phil, mint was made the 8th of Dec., and that of the
sec. of war on the 9th. The former consisted of 1,804.59 ounces, and the latter
of 228 ounces. It averaged .894 fine. Letter of Patterson to Walker, Dec.
11, 1848.
INFORMATION WANTED. 117
Europe by wars and revolutions, which disturbed all the
regions from the Sicilies in the south to Ireland and
Denmark in the north ; in the United States, by the late
war with Mexico, and the consequent acquisition of im
mense vacant and inviting territories. This especially
had given zest to the spirit of adventure so long fos
tered in the States by the constant westward advance
of settlements; and the news from the Pacific served
really to intensify the feeling and give it a definite and
common direction. The country was moreover in a
highly prosperous condition, with an abundance of
money, which had attracted a large immigration, and
disbanded armies from Mexico had cast adrift a host
of men without fixed aim, to whom a far less potent
incentive than the present would have been all-suffi
cient. And so from Maine to Texas the noise of
preparation for travel was heard in every town. The
name of California was in every mouth; it was the
current theme for conversation and song, for plays
and sermons. Every scrap of information concerning
the country was eagerly devoured. Old works that
touched upon it, or even upon the regions adjoining,
were dragged from dusty hiding-places, and eager
purchase made of guide-books from the busy pen of
cabinet travellers. 12 Old, staid, conservative men and
12 Among the publications of the hour were: California, and the, Way to
Get there; with the Official Documents Relating to the Gold Region. By J.
Ely Sherwood, New York, 1848. This for the outside title. The second title
says California, her Wealth and Resources; with Many Interesting Facts
respecting the Climate and People. Following a letter dated Sutter s Fort,
Aug. 11, 1848, giving the expei iences of a digger, are a few pages smattering
of Mexican life. Then come Larkin s letters to Buchanan, and Mason s
report, everywhere printed. All that portion of the president s message
iext given; after which we have a Description
which relates to California is next given;
of the Gold Region, in which there is no description whatever, a letter of
Walter Colton, extracts from the N. Y. Journal of Commerce and Sun, fur
ther correspondence and description, and the memorial of Aspinwall, Stephens,
and Chauncey to congress on a proposed Pacific railway. On the last page of
the cover are printed from the N. Y. Herald Practical Suggestions to Persons
about to Cross the Isthmus of Panama. The whole comprises an 8vo pam
phlet of 40 pages, exclusive of the cover. The following year the work assumes
a 12mo form of 98 pages in a paper cover, and is called The Pock t-Gidde to
California; A Sea and Land Route- Book, Containing a Futi Description of the
EL Dorado, its Agricultural Resources, Commercial Advantages, and Mineral
Wealth; including a Chapter on Gold Formations; with the Congr?x*ional Map,
and the Various Routes and Distances to the Gold Regions. To Which is Added
113 BROADER EFFECTS OF THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
women caught the infection, despite press and pulpit
warnings. After a parting knell of exhortation for
calm and contentment, even ministers and editors
shelved their books and papers to join foremost in
the throng. Hitherto small though sure profits
dwindled into insignificance under the new aspect, and
the trader closed his ledger to depart ; and so the toil
ing farmer, whose mortgage loomed above the grow
ing family, the briefless lawyer, the starving student,
the quack, the idler, the harlot, the gambler, the hen
pecked husband, the disgraced; with many earnest,
enterprising, honest men and devoted women. These
and others turned their faces westward, resolved to
stake their all upon a cast; their swift thoughts, like
the arrow of Acestes, taking fire as they flew. Stories
exaggerated by inflamed imaginations broke the calm
of a million hearts, and tore families asunder, leaving
Practical Advice to Voyagers. New York, J. E. Sherwood, publisher and
proprietor; California, Berford & Co., and C. W. Holden, San Francisco, 1849.
This is a work of more pretensions than the first edition. The first 19 pages
are geographical, in the compilation of which Bryant and others are freely
drawn from. Letters from Folsom to Quartermaster Jesup, printed originally
in the Washington Globe, are added. Thirty-one pages of advertisements were
secured, which are at once characteristic and interesting, The Union India
Rubber Company, beside portable boats and wagou-floats, offers tents, blank
ets, and all kinds of clothing. Californians are urged to insure their lives and
have their daguerreotypes taken before starting. Then there are Californian
houses, sheet-iron cottages of the most substantial character, at three days
notice, built in sections; oil-cloth roofs at thirty cents per square yard;
bags, matches, boots, drugs, guns, beside outfits comprising every conceiv
able thing to wear, iness hampers, and provisions. Haven & Livingston
advertise their express, Thomas Kensett & Co., and Wells, Miller, & Provost,
their preserved fresh provisions; E. N. Kent, tests for gold; half a dozen
their gold washers, and fifty others fifty other things. By advertising U. S.
passports, Alfred "Wheeler intimates that they are necessary. A. Zuru-
atuza, through his agents, John Bell at Vera Cruz and A. Patrullo, New York,
gives notice of the pleasan test and shortest route to California through Mex
ico. With neither author s name nor date, but probably in Dec. 1848, was
issued at Boston, California Gold Regions, With a Fidl Account of its Mineral
Resources; How to Get there and What to Take; the Expense, the Time, and the
Various Routes, etc. Anything at hand, printed letters, newspaper articles,
and compilations from old books, were thrown in to make up the 48 pages of
this publication. Yet another book appeared in Dec. 1848, The Gold Regions
of California, etc., edited by G. G. Foster, 80 pages, 8vo, with a map; the
fullest and most valuable eastern publication on Cal. of that year. Beside
the official reports so often referred to, there is a letter from A. Ten Eyck,
dated S. F., Sept. 1st, and one from C. Allyn dated Monterey, Sept. loth.
Thereare also extracts from Cal. and eastern newspapers, and from Greenhow,
Darby, Wilkes, Cutts, Mofras, Emory, and Farnham.
STIMULATION OF INDUSTRIES. 119
sorrowing mothers, pining wives, neglected children,
with poverty and sorrow to swell their anguish; the
departed meanwhile bent on the struggle with fortune,
faithful or faithless; a few to be successful, but a far
greater number to sink disappointed into nameless
graves.
And still the gossips and the prophets raved, and
newspapers talked loudly and learnedly of California
and her gold-fields, assisting to sustain the excite
ment. 13 It is no exaggeration to say that, in the
great seaport towns at least, the course of ordinary
business was almost thrown out of its channels.
"Bakers keep their ovens hot," breaks forth Greeley,
"night and day, turning out immense quantities of
ship-bread without supplying the demand; the pro
vision stores of all kinds are besieged by orders.
Manufacturers of rubber goods, rifles, pistols, bowie-
knives, etc., can scarcely supply the demand." All
sorts of labor-saving machines were invented to facil
itate the separation of the gold from gravel and soil.
Patented machines, cranks, pumps, overshot wheel
attachments, engines, dredges for river-beds, supposed
to be full of gold, and even diving-bells, were made
and sold. Everything needful in the land of gold, or
/ O O *
what sellers could make the buyers believe would be
needed, sold freely at high prices. Everything in the
shape of hull and masts was overhauled and made
ready for sea. Steamships, clippers, schooners, and
brigs sprang from the stocks as if by the magician s
wand, and the wharves were alive with busy workers.
The streets were thronged with hurrying, bustling pur
chasers, most of them conspicuous in travelling attire
of significant aspect, rough loose coats and blanket
robes meeting high hunting-boots, and shaded by
huge felt hats of sombre color. A large proportion
13 It is coming nay, at hand, cried Horace Greeley, in the N. Y. Tribune;
there is no doubt of it. We are on the brink of the Age of Gold! We look
for an addition, within the next four years, equal to at least one thousand
millions of dollars to the general aggregate of gold iu circulation and use
throughout the world. This is almost inevitable.
120 BROADER EFFECTS OF THE GOLD DISCOVER
bore the stamp of countrymen or villagers, who had
formed parties of from ten to over a hundred members,
the better to face the perils magnified by distance, arid
to assist one another in the common object. The im
mediate purpose, however, was to combine for the
purchase of machinery and outfit, and for reduced
passage rates. Indeed, the greater part of the emi
grants were in associations, limited in number by
district clanship, or by shares ranging as high as
$1,000 each, which in such a case implied the purchase
of the vessel, laden with wooden houses in sections,
with mills and other machinery, and with goods for
trade. 1 * In some instances the outfit was provided by
a few men; perhaps a family stinted itself to send one
of its members, often a scapegrace resolved upon a
new life; or money was contributed by more cautious
stayers-at-home for proxies, on condition of heavy re
payment, or labor, or shares in profits; 15 but as a rule,
obligations broke under the strain of varied attractions
on the scene, and debtors were lost in the throng of
the mines. 16 The associations were too unwieldy and
14 Among the many instances of such associations is the one entitled Ken-
nebec Trading and Mining Co., which sailed in the Obed Mitchel from N.
Bedford on March 31, 1849, arrived at S. F. on Sept. 17th, laid out the town
of New York, placed the steamer Gov. Dana for river traffic, opened a saw
mill, etc. Boynton s MS., 1 et seq. The Mattapan and Cal. Trading and
Mining Co., of 42 members, left Boston in the Ann. Strout s recollections, in
S. F. Post, July 14, 1877; the Linda Mining and Dredging Assoc. started in
the bark Linda, with a steamboat and a dredger, the latter for scooping up
the metal. Other notable companies were those by the Edward Everett, of
152 members, which left Boston in Dec. 1848; Robert Browne, which left New-
York in Feb. 49, with 200 passengers; the Matthewson party, from New
York, in March; the Warren party of 30 members, from New York, in Feb.;
the Mary Jane party. One party of seven left Nantucket in Dec. 1 849, in
the Mary and Emma, of only 44 tons, and arrived safely after 149 days.
Others were known by the names of the town or county in which they organ
ized, as Utica, Albany, Buffalo. See details of outfit, passage, etc., in War
ren s Dust and Foam, 12 et seq.; Matthewsorfs Statement, MS., 1-3; Cerruti s
Ramblings, MS., 94, and later MS. references; also recollections printed in
different journals, as San Jos6 Pioneer, Dec. 8, 1877, etc.; Sac. Record- Union,
July 7, 1875, Nov. 26, 1878, etc.; Shasta Courier, March 25, 1865, March 16,
1867; Stockton Indep., Nov. 1, 1873; Alta Cal., passim; Placer Times, Apr.
28, 1849; Brown s Statement, MS., 1; Hunt s Merch. Mag., xxx. 55-64, xxxii.
354-5; Larkirfs Doc., vi. 185, 198, etc.
15 Crosby, Events Cal., MS., 26, was deputed by others to report on the
field.
16 Large sums were recklessly advanced to individuals as well as societies
by rich men, stricken by the fever, but declining to go in person. Probably
OVERLAND TRAVEL. 121
too hastily organized, with little knowledge of mem
bers and requirements, the best men being most eager
to escape the yoke.
The overland route was the first to suggest itself,
in accordance with American pioneer usage, but this
could not be attempted during winter. The sea was
always open, and presented, moreover, a presumably
swifter course, with less preparations for outfit. The
way round Cape Horn was well understood by the
coast-dwellers, who formed the pioneers in this move-
merit, familiar as they were with the trading vessels
and whalers following that circuit, along the path
opened by Magellan, and linked to the explorations of
Cortes and Cabrillo. There were also the short-cuts
across Panamd, Nicaragua, and Mexico, now becoming
familiar to the people of the United States through
the agitation for easy access to the newly acquired
possessions on the Pacific. For all these vessels
offered themselves; and in November 1848 the move
ment began with the departure of several vessels. In
December it had attained tho dimensions of a rush.
From New York, Boston, Salem, Norfolk, Philadel
phia, and Baltimore, between the 14th of December,
1848, and the 18th of January, 1849, departed 61
sailing vessels, averaging 50 passengers each, to say
nothing of those sent from Charleston, New Orleans,
and other ports. Sixty ships were announced to sail
from New York in the month of February 1849, 70
from Philadelphia and Boston, and 11 from New Bed
ford. The hegira continued throughout the } r ear, and
during the winter of 1849 and the spring of 1850
nine out of ten of such loans were lost, less through actual dishonesty than
through the extravagant habits among miners, who improvidently reckoned
on a future rich find for such demands. Few of the companies held together,
even till Cal. was reached; none that I have ever heard of accomplished any
thing, as an original body, in the mines or towns. If they did not quarrel on
the way and separate at any cost, as was generally the case, they found on
reaching Cal. that a company had no place there. Every miner was for him
self, and so it was with mechanics and laborers, who, if willing to work for
wages, received such dazzling offers as to upset all previous calculations and
indents. See Ashley s Journey, MS., 223, etc.
122 BROADER EFFECTS OF THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
250 vessels sailed for California from the eastern ports
of the United States alone, 45 of which arrived at San
Francisco in one day. 17
In order to supply this demand, shipping was di
verted from every other branch of service, greatly to
the disarrangement of trade, the whaling business
especially being neglected for the new catch. 18 Old
condemned hulks were once more drawn from their re
tirement, anything, in fact, that could float, 19 and fitted
with temporary decks to contain tiers of open berths,
with tables and luggage-stands in the centre. 20 The
provisions were equally bad, leading in many cases to
intense suffering and loss by scurvy, 21 thirst, and
starvation; but unscrupulous speculators cared for
nothing save to reap the ready harvest; and to secure
passengers they hesitated at no falsehood. Although
aware that the prospect of obtaining transportation
from Panamd and other Pacific ports was very doubt
ful, they gave freely the assurance of ample connec
tions, and induced thousands to proceed to these half-
17 Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, cxx. 362-5; Larkin s Docs, MS., vi. 195;
Polynesian, Apr. 14, 1849; Sttilman a Golden Fleece, 19-27. Two of the Nov.
departures arrived at S. F. in April 1849; in June came 11, in July 40, in
August 43, in Sept. 66, after which the number fell off, giving a total of 233
from American ports for nine months; 316 arrived from other ports, or 549 in
all. Placer Times, ii. no. 62; N. Y. Herald, Apr. 13, 1850; Barstow s Stat.,
MS., 1; Barnes* Or. and CaL, MS., 20; Dean s Stat., MS., 1; Moore s Pio.
Exp., MS., 1; Winans Stat., MS., 1-3; Neall s Stat., MS.; Wheatoris Stat.,
MS., 2-3; Doolittle s Stat., MS., 21; Boltonvs U. S., 88; Fay s Stat., MS., 1;
Picture Pion. Times, MS., 145-7. The journals above quoted, notably Alto,
Gal. and Record-Union; also West Coast Signal, Apr. 15, 1874; Santa Cruz
Times, Feb. 19, 1870; Humboldt Times, Mar. 7, 1874; Antioch Ledger, Dec.
24, 1870, together with allusions to voyage. The length of passage averaged
about four months. Later it was made more than once by the Flying Cloud
from New York in 89 days. See Alta Col., July 12, 1865; S. F. Directory,
1852, 10, etc.
18 By the withdrawal of 71 ships. Alta CaL, June 6, 1850.
19 Barnes, in his Or. and CaL, MS., mentions an old Mexican war trans
port steamer, which in the winter of 1849-50 used to ply between New Orleans
and Chagres, and which was so rotten and leaky that she wriggled and twisted
like a willow basket.
Borthwick s MS., 3-5. One vessel of only 44 tons left Nantucket;
another passed through the lakes, Hunt s Mag., xxi. 585; a third was an ex-
slaver., Bluxomz s MS., 1.
21 Ryan, Pers. Adven., ii. 273-5, relates that the Brooklyn set out with an
insufficient supply, and although offered $500, the captain refused to touch at
any of the South American ports for additions. At Rio de Janeiro several
received welcome from Dom Pedro. Alta CaL, Mar. 29, 1876.
THE PASSAGE BY WATER. 123
way stations, only to leave them there stranded. A
brief period of futile waiting sufficed to exhaust the
slender means of many, cutting off even retreat, and
hundreds were swept away by the deadly climate. 22
Expostulations met with sneers or maltreatment, for
redress was hopeless. The victims were ready enough
to enter the trap, and hastened away by the cheapest
route, regardless of money or other means to proceed
farther, trusting blindly, wildly, to chance.
The cost of passage served to restrict the propor
tion of the vagabond element; so that the majority of
the emigrants belonged to the respectable class, with
a sprinkle of educated and professional men, and mem
bers of influential families, although embracing many
characterless persons who fell before temptation, or
entered the pool of schemers and political vultures. 23
The distance and the prospective toil and danger
again held back the older and less robust, singling
out the young and hardy, so that in many respects the
flower of the population departed. The intention of
most being to return, few women were exposed to the
hardships of these early voyages. The coast-dwellers
predominated, influenced, as may be supposed, by the
water voyage, for the interior and western people
preferred to await the opening of the overland route,
for which they could so much better provide them
selves. 24
Although the Americans maintained the ascend
ancy in numbers, owing to readier access to the field
22 See protest in Panamd Star, Feb. 24, 1849.
23 White, Pion. Times, MS., 190-5, estimates the idle loungers at less than
ten per cent, and gentlemen and politicians at the same proportion. The
N. Y. Tribune, Jan. 26, 1849, assumes that the cost of outfit kept back the
rowdies. The Annals of S. F., 665, etc., is undoubtedly wrong in ascribing
low character, morals, and standing to a large" proportion, although it is natural
that men left without the elevating influence of a sufficiently large number of
women should have yielded at times to a somewhat reckless life. Willey, in
his Per. Mem., MS., 25, thus speaks of the New Orleans emigration of 1848:
It was only the class most loose of foot who could leave on so short a notice.
It was largely such as frequented the gambling-saloons under the St Charles,
and could leave one day as well as another. See also Crosby * Event*, MS.,
2-3; Van Allen, Stat., MS., 31; Larking Doc., MS., vi. 185, 198, 251.
24 New Yorkers predominated twice told probably. Ryckman s MS ., 20;
Nantucket alone lost about 400 men. Placer Times, Dec. 1, 1849.
124 BROADER EFFECTS OF THE GOLD DISCOVERY.
by different routes, and to which they were entitled
by right of possession, the stream of migration from
foreign countries was great, a current coming to
New York and adjoining ports to join the flow from
there. The governments of Europe became alarmed,
actuated as they were by jealousy of the growing
republic, with its prospective increase of wealth, to the
confounding of finance, perhaps to culminate in a
world s crisis. 25 Before the middle of January 1849 no
less than five different Californian trading and mining
companies were registered at London, with an aggre
gate capital of 1,275,000; and scarcely was there
a European port which had not at this time some
vessel fitting out for California. 26
Among Asiatic nations, the most severely affected
by this western malady were the Chinese. With so
much of the gambling element in their disposition, so
much of ambition, they turned over the tidings in
their minds with feverish impatience, whilst their
neighbors, the Japanese, heard of the gold discovery
with stolid indifference. 27 Yet farther east by way
of west, to that paradise of gamblers, Manila, went
25 Russia, France, and Holland seriously considered the monetary question,
and the latter went so far as to bring in force an obsolete law, which enabled
her to sell, at the highest price, all the gold in the bank of Amsterdam, so
that she might lay in a stock of silver.
26 Du Havre et de Bordeaux, de plusieurs ports espagnols, hollandais,
allemands, et de presque tous les principaux ports de la Grande-Bretagne, on
announce des departs pour San Francisco. Un batiment a vapeur doit meme
partir de Londres et doubler le cap Horn. Revue des Deux Monde*, Feb. 1,
1849; Polynesian, May 12, 1849. Says the London Times: Thereare at this
moment two great waves of population following toward the setting sun over
this globe. The one is that mighty tide of human beings which, this year, be
yond all former parallel, is flowing from Ireland, Great Britain, Germany, and
some other parts of Europe, in one compact and unbroken stream, to the United
States. The other, which may almost be described as urged on by the former, is
that which that furious impulse aurl sacra f amen is attracting from comfortable
homes to an almost desert shore. Several hundred Mormons left Swansea
in Feb. 1849 for Cal. Placer Times, Oct. 13, 1849. Concerning the French
migration, see 8. F. Picayune, Nov. 27, 1850; Cal. Courier, Nov. 28, Dec. 3,
1850. Many banished army officers came. Hungarian exiles in Iowa pro
posed to come in 1850. 8. D. Arch., 367; Polynesian, vii. 131.
27 An English steamer arrived from Canton direct as early as Oct. 1849.
On Feb. 1, 1849, there were 54 Chinamen in Cal., and by Jan. 1, 1850, the
number had swollen to 791, and was rapidly rising, till it passed 4,000 by the
end of 1850. Alia Cal., May 10, 1852; William* Stat., 12. In BrookJ App.
.y 115, the number for 1849-50 is reduced to 770 by their consul.
FROM FAR AWAY. 125
the news, and for a time even the government lotter
ies were forgotten. 28 And the gold offered by ship
masters to the merchants of the Asiatic coast raised
still higher the fever in the veins of both natives and
English. 29
Not less affected were the inhabitants of the Mar
quesas Islands. Those of the French colony who
were free made immediate departure, and were quickly
followed by the military, leaving the governor alone
to represent the government. On reaching Australia
the news was eagerly circulated and embellished by
ship-masters. The streets of the chief cities were
placarded, "Gold! Gold! in California!" and soon it
became difficult to secure berths on departing vessels. 33
And so in Peru and Chile, where the California reve
lation was unfolded as earty as September 1848 by
Colonel Mason s messenger, on his way to Washing
ton, bringing a large influx in advance of the dominant
United States emigration. 31 Such were the world
currents evoked by the ripple at Coloma.
Zamacois, Hist. Mex., x. 1141. Says Coleman, The Round Trip, 28,
who happened to be at Manila in the spring of 1848 when the Rhone arrived
from S. F., She brought the news of the gold discoveries, and fired the colony
with the same intense desire that inflamed the Spaniards of the 16th century.
29 Leese was about to sail for Manila in March, and from there take in a
cargo of rice for Canton. Sherman s Mem., i. 65.
30 Barry s Ups and Downs, 92-3, and Larkin s Docs, MS., vii. 80. Eight
vessels have left that hot-bed of roguery Sidney, Placer Times, June 2,
1849, and with them came a mass of delectable Sidney coves. The press
sought naturally to counteract the excitement and make the most of some
local gold finds. See Melbourne Herald, Feb. 6, 7, 10, 1849.
31 Vessels sent to Valparaiso for flour brought back large numbers to Cal.
Findla sStat., MS., 7; King s Kept, in U. S. Gov. Docs, 31st cong. 1st sess., H.
Ex. Doc. 59, 26. The arrival of the Lambayecana of Colombia with gold-dust
caused no small excitement in Payta, and the news of the discovery soon
spread; on the 15th of January, 1849, when the California arrived at Panama,
she had some 75 Peruvians on board. W illey s Per. Mem., MS., 60. It is
reported here that California is all gold, writes Atherton from Valparaiso,
Sept. 10th, to Larkin. Probably a little glitter has blinded them. The
gold-dust received per brig J. R. S. sold for 22 reales per castellano of 21 qui-
lates fine, this having exceeded the standard about 1 quilates, netted 23 reales
?er castellano, being nearly $17.50 per ounce. Larkin x Docs, MS., vi. 173.
n Aug. Larkin entered into partnership with Job F. Dye, who about the
middle of Sept. sailed M ith the schooner Mary down the Mexican coast, tak
ing with him placer gold.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE VOYAGE BY OCEAN
1848-1849.
MODERN ARGONAUTS PACIFIC MAIL STEAMSHIP COMPANY ESTABLISHMENT
OF THE MAIL LINE FROM NEW YORK VIA PANAMA TO OREGON SAIL
ING OF THE FIRST STEAMERS SAN FRANCISCO MADE THE TERMINUS
THE PANAMA TRANSIT THE FIRST RUSH OF GOLD-SEEKERSDISAP
POINTMENTS AT PANAMA SUFFERINGS ON THE VOYAGE ARRIVALS OF
NOTABLE MEN BY THE FIRST STEAMSHIP.
SINCE the voyage of the Argonauts there had been
no such search for a golden fleece as this which now
commanded the attention of the world. And as the
adventures of Jason s crew were the first of the kind
of which we have any record, so the present impetuous
move was destined to be the last. Our planet has
become reduced to a oneness, every part being daily
known to the inhabitants of every other part. There
is no longer a far-away earth s end where lies Colchis
close-girded by the all-infolding ocean. The course of
our latter-day gold-fleece seekers was much longer
than Jason s antipodal voyage; indeed, it was the
longest possible to be performed on this planet,
leading as it did through a wide range of lands
and climes, from snow-clad shores into tropic lati
tudes, and onward through antarctic dreariness into
spring and summer lands. In the adventures of
the new Argonauts the Symplegades reappeared in
the gloomy clefts of Magellan Strait; many a Tiphys
relaxes the helm, and many dragons teeth are sown.
Even the ills and dangers that beset Ulysses travels,
in sensual circean appetites, lotus-eating indulgence,
(126J
THE ARGONAUTS. 127
Calypso grottos and sirens, may be added to the list
without tilling it.
"The wise man knows nothing worth worshipping
except wealth/ said the Cyclops to Ulysses, while
preparing to eat him, and it appears that as many
hold the same faith now as in Homeric times. At
night our Argonauts dream of gold; the morning sun
rises golden-hued to saffron all nature. Gold floats in
their bacon breakfast and bean dinner. which is the
kind of fare their gods generally provide for them;
and throughout the bedraggled remnant of their years
they go about like men demented, walking the earth
as if bitten by gold-bugs and their blood thereby in
fected by the poison; fingering, kicking, and biting
everything that by any possibility may prove to be
gold. They are no less victims of their infatuation
than was Hylas, or Ethan Brand, who sacrificed his
humanity to seek the unpardonable sin. Each has
his castle in Spain, and the way to it lies through the
Golden Gate, into the Valley of California.
The migration was greatly facilitated by the estab
lishment of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company
just before the gold discovery, encouraged by the
anticipation of new interests on the Pacific coast ter
ritory. 1 Congress fully appreciated the importance
*One J. M. Shively, postmaster at Astoria, Oregon, while on a visit to
Washington in 1845, is said to have been the first to call the attention of the
U. S. govt to the advisability of establishing a line of mail-steamers between
Panamd and Astoria. His suggestion does not seem to have had much
weight, however. Later in the same year the threatening attitude of Great
Britain in the north-west caused President Polk to lay before congress a plan
for rapidly increasing the population of Oregon by emigration via the Isthmus,
using sailing vessels. J. M. "Woodward, a shipping merchant of New York,
assisted in preparing details for the plan. His investigations led him to
believe that a line of mail-steamers might profitably be established between
Panamfi and Oregon, and a number of merchants and capitalists were readily
induced to join in forming a private company. The most complete history of
the Pac. Mail S. S. Co. during the first five years of its existence is contained
in the following government document: Mails, Reports of the Secretary of the
Navy and the Postma*ter-<jene ral, Communicating, in Compliance with a Ref
lation of the Senate, Information in Relation to the Contract* for the Trans
portation of the Mull* by Steamships between New York and California, March
23, 1852, 32d cong. 1st sess., Sen. Ex. Doc. 50. An excellent chapter on
the formation of the company is also to be found in First Steamship Pioneers,
17-33; see also Larkin s Doc., MS., vi. 173.
128 THE VOYAGE BY OCEAN.
of rapid communication with that section, and by
virtue of an act passed on the 3d of March, 1847, the
secretary of the navy advertised for bids to carry the
United States mails by one line of steamers between
New York and Chagres, and by another line between
Panama and Astoria* The contract for the Atlantic
side called for five steamships of 1,500 tons burden
each, all strongly constructed and easily convertible
into war steamers, for which purpose the government
might at any time purchase them by appraisement.
Their route was to be "from New York to New Or
leans twice a month and back, touching at Charles
ton, if practicable, Savannah, and Habana; and from
Habana to Chagres arid back twice a month." For
the Pacific line only three vessels were required, on
similar terms, and these of a smaller size, two of not
less than 1,000, and the other of 600, tons burden.
These were to carry the mail " from Panamd to As
toria, or to such other port as the secretary of the
navy may select, in the territory of Oregon, once a
month each way, so as to connect with the mail from
Habana to Chagres across the Isthmus."
The contract for the Atlantic side was awarded on
the 20th of April, 1847, to Albert G. Sloo, who on the
17th of August transferred it to George Law, M. O.
Roberts, and B. R Mcllvaine of New York. The
annual compensation allowed by the government was
$290,000; the first two ships were to be completed
by the first of October, 1848. The contract for the
Pacific side was given to a speculator named Arnold
Harris, and by him assigned to William H. Aspin-
wall, the annual subsidy for ten years being $199, 000. 2
2 Woodward bid $300,000, with side-wheel steamers, and one of his asso
ciates proposed to do the work for half that sum with propellers. The last
offer was accepted, but the bidder withdrew, and Harris received the award,
after arranging to assign it to Woodward, it is claimed. He looked round
for a better bargain, however, and on Nov. 19, 1847, the contract was trans
ferred to Aspinwall, despite the protests of Woodward, who was beaten
in a long and expensive series of litigations. First Steamship Pioneers, 26.
The same authority states that Aspinwall was induced to take the contract
by Armstrong, a relative of Harris, and U. S. consul at Liverpool,
PACIFIC MAIL STEAMSHIP COMPANY. 129
Owing to the greater prominence meanwhile acquired
by California, the terminus for this line was placed at
San Francisco, whence Oregon mails were to be trans
mitted by sailing vessels. 3
Through Aspiri wall s exertions, the Pacific Mail
Steamship Company was incorporated on the 12th of
April, 1848, with a capital stock of $500,000. 4 The
three side-wheel steamers called for by the contract
were built with despatch, but at the same time with
care and of the best materials, as was shown by their
long service.
On October 6, 1848, the first of these vessels, the
California, sailed from New York, and was followed
in the two succeeding months by the Oregon and the
Panama? When the California left New York the
discovery of gold was known in the States only by un
confirmed rumors, which had attracted little attention,
so that she carried no passengers for California. 6 On
3 To the mouth of the Kalumet river, in lieu of Astoria, with the reserved
right of the navy department to require the steamers to go to Astoria, the
straits of Fuca, or any other point to be selected on the coast of Oregon. In
consideration of which the steamers are to touch, free of charge, at the three
points occupied by the U. S. squadron, or at such ports on the west coast,
south of Oregon, as may be required by the navy dept. Modification of
June 10, 1848. In 1850 steam connection was required with Oregon. U. S\
Gov. Doc.y ubi sup., p. 5-6, 36; see also Hist. Oregon, i., this series.
* Gardiner Howland, Heni-y Chauncey, and William H. Aspinwall were
the incorporators, and the last mentioned was elected the first president. In
1850 the capital stock was raised to |2, 000,000, in 1853 to $4,000,000, in 1865
to $10,000,000, in 1866 to $20,000,000, and in 1872 it was reduced to $10,-
000,000.
5 Their measurements were 1,050, i,099, and 1,087 tons respectively. The
Panama should have been second, but was delayed. The Atlantic company
proved less prompt. For several years they provided only three accepted
steamers, Georgia, Ohio, and Illinois, and the inferior and temporary Falcon,
besides other aid; yet full subsidy was allowed. The captains were to be
U. S. naval officers, not below the grade of lieut, each assisted by four passed
midshipmen. U. S. Gov. Doc., ubi sup.
6 And only four or five for way-ports. Rio de Janeiro was reached Nov.
2d, and the straits of Magellan were safely threaded between Dec. 7th and
12th. The California was the third steamship to pass through them, the pre
vious ones being, in 1840, the Peru and the Chili, each of 700 tons, built
by an English company for trade between the west coast of South America
and England. Under the command of William Wheelwright they made the
passage of the straits in thirty hours sailing time. According to the journal
kept by A. B. Stout, the California * sailing time in the straits was 41^ hours,
and the time lost in anchoring during fogs and high winds 108 hours. First
Steamship Pioneers, 111-12. This journal is, I believe, the only account ex
tant of the California s voyage as far as Panama. A stoppage of 50 hours
HIST. CAL., VOL. VI. 9
130 THE VOYAGE BY OCEAN.
reaching Callao, December 29th, the gold fever was
encountered, and great was the rush for berths, al
though but fifty could be provided with state-rooms,
owing to the understanding at New York that the
steamer should take no passengers before reaching
Panama". 7 It was well for the Isthmus of Panama,
which fairly swarmed with gold-seekers, some 1,500
in number, all clamorous for, and many of them en
titled to, a passage on the California?
This mass of humanity had been emptied from the
fleet of sailing and steam vessels despatched during the
nine preceding weeks for the mouth of the Chagres
River, which was then the north-side harbor for the
Isthmus. Hence the people proceeded up the river
to Cruces in bongos, or dug-outs, poled by naked ne
groes, as lazy and vicious as they were stalwart. 9
Owing to the heavy rains which added to the discom
fort and danger, the eagerness to proceed was great,
and the means of conveyance proved wholly inadequate
to the sudden and enormous influx, the natives being,
moreover, alarmed at first by the invasion. The in-
was made at Valparaiso, and on the illness of the commander, Cleaveland
Forbes, John Marshall, then commanding a ship en route for China, was in
duced to act as first officer in lieu of Duryee, who was appointed to the com
mand of Marshall s ship. Id., 29-30, 118. A few days later Forbes resigned.
First Steamship Pioneers, Edited by a Committee of the Association, is the
title of a quarto of 393 pages, printed in San Francisco for the 25th anni
versary of the association in 1874. From the profuse puffery with which the
volume opens, the reader is led to suspect that the printing, picture, and wine
bills of the society were not large that year. Following this is a chapter
entitled Steam Navigation in the Pacific, conspicuous only for the absence
of information or ideas. Chapter II. on the P. M. S. S. Co. is better, and the
occurrences of the voyage by the passengers on the first steamship to Cal., of
which the main part of the book is composed, no less than the biographical
notices toward the end, are interesting and valuable.
7 At Payta, accordingly, where equal excitement prevailed, no more pas
sengers appear to have been taken.
8 Six sailing vessels and two steamers are mentioned among recent arrivals
with passengers from the U. S. See Panama Star, Feb. 24, 1849; Pioneer
Arch., 5, 21-4; Robinson s Stat., MS., 23-4.
9 The boats were usually from 15 to 25 feet long, dug from a single mahog
any log, provided with palm-leaf awning, and poled by 4 or 6 men at the
average rate of a mile an hour. Often the only shred of clothing worn by the
captain was a straw hat. Warren s Dust and Foam, 153-6; Henxhaw 1 * Events,
MS., 1; Gregory s Guide, 1-9. A small steamer, Orns, had been placed on
the river, but could proceed only a short distance, and the expense of transit,
estimated at $10 or $15, rose to $50 and more. Protests in Panama Star,
Feb. 24, 1849; Dunbar s Romance, 55-89.
THE ISTHMUS TRANSIT.
131
experience and imprudent indulgences of the new
comers gave full scope to the malarial germs in the
swamps around. Cholera broke out in a malignant
form, following the hurrying crowds up the river, and
striking down victims by the score. Such was the
death-rate at Cruces, the head of navigation, that the
second current of emigrants stopped at Gorgona in
ISTHMUS ROUTE.
affright, thence to hasten away from the smitten river
course. 10 Again they were checked by the scarcity
of pack-animals, by which the overland transit was
"References to the suffering victims, and causes, in Roach s Stat., MS.,
1; First Steamship Pioneers, 84-5; Fremont s Amer. Travel, 66-8; Sutton s
Early Exper., MS., 1; Hawley s Stat., MS., 2-3; NealVs Stat., MS., 22-4;
Advent. Captain s Wife, 18.
132 THE VOYAGE BY OCEAN
accomplished. Numbers abandoned their luggage and
merchandise, or left them to the care of agents to
be irretrievably lost in the confusion, and hurried to
Panama^ on foot. From Cruces led an ancient paved
trail, now dilapidated and rendered dangerous along
many of the step-cut descents and hill-side shelves.
From Gorgona the passenger had to make his way as
best he could. 11
Panamd was a place of special attraction to these
wayfarers, as the oldest European city on the Ameri
can continent, 12 and for centuries the great entrepot
for Spanish trade with Pacific South America and the
Orient, a position which also drew upon it much misery
in the form of piratic onslaughts with sword and torch.
With the decline of Iberian supremacy it fell into
lethargy, to be roused to fresh activity by the new
current of transit. It lies conspicuous, before sea or
mountain approach, upon its tiny peninsula which juts
into the calm bay dotted with leafy isles. The houses
rise as a rule to the dignity of two stories of stone or
adobe, with long lines of balconies and sheltering ve
randas, dingy and sleepy of aspect, and topped here
and there by tile-roofed towers, guarding within spas
modic bells, marked without by time-encroaching
mosses and creepers. Along the shady streets lounge
a bizarre mixture of every conceivable race: Africans
shining in unconstrained simplicity of nature; bronzed
aborigines in tangled hair and gaudy shreds; women
of the people in red and yellow; women of the upper
class in dazzling white or sombre black; caballeros in
broad-rimmed Panarnd hats and white pantaloons, and
now and then the broad Spanish cloak beside the veil
ing mantilla; while foreigners of the blond type in
slouched hats and rough garb stalk every where, ogling
and peering.
11 Later rose frequent bamboo stations and villages, with I unks and ham
mocks, and vile liquors. An earlier account of the route is given in MoUien it
Travel*, 409-13. Little, Stat., MS., 1-4 had brought supplies for two years.
12 The oldest standing city, if we count from the time of its foundation on
an adjoining site.
AT PANAMA. 133
The number and strength of the emigrants, armed
and resolute, placed the town practically in their hands;
but good order prevailed, the few unruly spirits roused
by the cup being generally controlled by their com
rades. 13 Compelled by lack of vessels to wait, they
settled down into communities, which quickly imparted
a bustling air to the place, as gay as deferred hope,
dawning misery, and lurking epidemics permitted;
with American hotels, flaring business signs, drinking-
saloons alive with discordant song and revelling, 14 and
with the characteristic newspaper, the Panama Star,
then founded and still surviving as the most impor
tant journal of Central America. 15
The suspense of the Argonauts was relieved on the
30th of January, 1849, by the arrival of the Califor
nia, 16 to be as quickly renewed, since with accommo
dation for little over 100 persons, the steamer could
not properly provide even for those to whom through-
tickets had been sold, much less for the crowd strug
gling to embark. After much trouble with the exas
perated and now frantic men, over 400 were received
73 The attempt of local authorities at arrest was generally frustrated by
armed though harmless bluster, as Hawley, Obscrv., MS., 2-3, relates.
Nearly half the population was foreign by February 1849, two thirds of this
being American. The number rose as high as 3,000 during the year.
14 As described in the Eldorado, i. 20-7, of Taylor, who was himself an
Argonaut; in Maxsett s humorous Experiences, MS., 1-10; Ryan s Judges and
Crim., 78-9; Little s Stat., MS.. 1-3; Roach s Facts, MS., 1. Washington s
birthday was celebrated with procession, volleys, and concert. Panama Star,
Feb. 24 , 1849.
15 It was started by J. B. Bidleman & Co. on Feb. 24, 1849, as a weekly, at
one real per copy; advertisements $2 per square, and contained notices of
arrivals, protest, local incidents, etc.; printers, Henarie & Bochman. The
later Herald was incorporated and added to the title. Additional details on
Panama occurrences in Revere 1 s Keel and Saddle, 151-4; Willey s Peru. Mem.,
MS., 58-62; Sherwood s Ccd., MS., 27; Connor s Early Col., MS., 1-2; Loic s
Observ., MS., 1. See also Jiist. Cent. Am., iii., this series.
16 She had been three weeks longer on the trip than was expected, owing
to fogs, etc. The first steamer of the Atlantic line, the provisional Falcon,
had left New York on Dec. 1st, before the real excitement began, with the
president s message of Dec. 5th, so that she carried comparatively few passen
gers from there, among them four clergymen and some army men. An account
of the voyage is given in First Steamer Pioneers, 43 et seq. See also Willey a
Pers. Mem., MS., 1-36; Williams Early Days, MS., 2-3, both written by pas
sengers. At New Orleans, however, Dec. 12th-18th, she encountered the gold
fever and was quickly crowded with over 200 persons, Gen. Persifer F. Smith,
the successor of Gov. Mason, embarking with his staff. Chagres was reached
on Dec. 26th. U. S. Gov. Doc., 32d cong. 1st sess., Sen. Doc. 50.
134 THE VOYAGE BY OCEAN.
on board to find room as best they could. Many a one,
glad to make his bed in a coil of rope, paid a higher fare
than the state-room holder; for steerage tickets rose to
very high prices, even, it is said, to $1,000 or more. 17
Even worse was the scene greeting the second
steamer, the Oregon, which arrived toward the middle
of March, 18 for by that time the crowd had doubled.
Again a struggle for tickets at any price and under
any condition. About 500 were received, all chafing
with anxiety lest they should arrive too late for the
gold scramble, and prepared to sleep in the rigging
rather than miss the passage. 19 And so with the
Panama, which followed. 20
^Little s Slat., MS., 1-4; Henshaw, Stat., MS., 1, says the agents fixed
steerage tickets at $1,000. A certain number were sold by lot, with much
trickery. They also attempted to exclude tickets sold at New York after a
certain date, but were awed into compliance. Loiu s Stat., MS. ; Deane s MS.,
1; Roach s Stat., MS., 2. Holders of tickets were offered heavy sums for
them. Moore s RecoL, MS., 2. For arrangements on board, see Vanderbilt,
Miscel. Stat., MS., 32-3. Authorities differ somewhat as to the number of
passengers. About 400, say the Panama Star, Feb. 24, 1849; Alta CaL, Feb.
29, 1872; Bulletin, Feb. 28, 1865; Oakland Transcript, March 1, 1873; the
Oakland Alameda County Gazette, March 8, 1873, says 440; Crosby, Stat.,
MS., 10-14, has about 450: while Stout, in his journal, says nearly 500. In
First Steamship Pioneers, 201-360, a brief biographical sketch is given to each
of the following passengers of the California on her first trip, many of whom
have subsequently been more or less identified with the interests of the state:
H. Whittell, born in Ireland in 1812; L. Brooke, Maryland, 1819; A. M. Van
Nostrand, N. Y., 1816; De WittC. Thompson, Mass., 1826; S. Haley, N. Y.,
1816; John Kelley, Scotland, 1818; S. Woodbridge, Conn., 1813; P. Ord,
Maryland, 1816; J. McDorgall; A. A. Porter, N. Y., 1824; B. F. Butterfield,
N. H., 1817; P. Carter, Scotland, 1808; M. Fallon, Ireland, 1815; W. G.
Davis, Va, 1804; C. M. Radcliff, Scotland, 1818; R, W. Heath, Md, 1823;
Wm Van Vorhees, Tenn., 1820; W. P. Waters, Wash., D. C., 1826; R. B. Ord,
Wash., 1827; S. H. Willey, N. H., 1821; S. F. Blasdell, N. Y., 1824; H. F.
Williams, Va, 1828; 0. C. Wheeler, N. Y., 1816; E. L. Morgan, Pa, 1824;
R. M. Price, N. Y., 1818.
18 A delay caused by the temporary disabling of the Panama, which should
have been the second steamer. The Oregon had left New York in the latter
part of Dec. and made a quick trip without halting in Magellan Straits, though
touching at Valparaiso, Callao, and Payta. R. H. Pearson commanded.
Sutton, Exper., MS., 1, criticises his ability; he nearly wrecked the vessel.
Little s Stat., MS., 3, agrees.
19 She stayed at Panama March 13th-17th. Among the passengers sur
viving in California in 1863 were John H. Redington, Dr McMillan, A. J.
McCabe, Mrs Petit and daughter, Thomas E. Lindenberger, John McComb, Ed
ward Connor, 8. H. Brodie, William Carey Jones, Smyth Clark, M. S. Martin,
John M. Birdsall, Stephen Franklin, Major Daniels, F. Vassault, G. K. Fitch,
William Cummings, Mme. Swift, Mr Tuttle, Judge Aldrich, James Tobin,
Fielding Brown, James Johnson, Dr Martin. Some of these had come by the
second steamer of the Atlantic mail line, the Isthmus, which arrived at
Chagres Jan. 16th.
20 Which arrived at PanamA in the early part of May, leaving on the 18th.
VESSELS IN DEMAND. 135
As one chance after another slipped away, there
were for those remaining an abundance of time and
food for reflection over the frauds perpetrated upon
them by villanous ship-owners and agents, to say
nothing of their own folly. The long delay sufficed
to melt the scanty means of a large number, prevent
ing thern from taking advantages of subsequent op
portunities; and so to many this isthmian bar to the
Indies proved a barrier as insurmountable as to the
early searchers for the strait. Fortunately for the mass
a few sailing vessels had casually arrived at Panamd,
and a few more were called from adjoining points;
but these were quickly bought by parties or filled
with miscellaneous passengers, 21 and still there was no
lessening of the crowd. In their hunger for gold, and
There had been a reprehensible sale of tickets in excess of what these steamers
could carry; 700 according to Connor, Stat., MS., 1. Lots were drawn for steer
age places by the holders of tickets on paying 100 extra. D. D. Porter, sub
sequently rear admiral, commanded, succeeded by Bailey. Low s Stat., MS., 2;
S. F. Bulletin, June 4, 1869; Altn Col., June 4, 1867; Burnett s Hecol., MS., iL
40-2; Deane s Stat., MS., 1-2; Barnes Or, and Col., MS., 26; Merrill s Stat. ,
MS., 1. Among the passengers of the Panama who subsequently attained
distinction in California and elsewhere, I find mention of Gwin and Weller,
both subsequently U. S. senators from Cal., and the latter also gov. of the
state; D. D. Porter, afterward admiral; generals Emory, Hooker, and Mc-
Kinstry to use their later titles; T. Butler King, Walter Colton, Jewett,
subsequently mayor of Marysville, and Roland, postmaster of Sacramento;
Hall McAllister, Lieut Derby, humorist under the nom de plume of Phosnix;
Treanor, Brinsmade, Kerr, Frey, John V. Plume, Harris, P. A. Morse, John
Brinsley, Lafayette Maynard, H. B. Livingstone, Alfred De Witt, S. C. Gray,
A. Collins, and H. Beach. There were five or six women, among them Mrs
Robert Allen, wife quart. -gen., Mrs Alfred De Witt, Mrs S. C. Gray of
Benicia, and Mrs Hobson from Valparaiso.
21 One small schooner of 70 tons was offered for sale in 28 shares at $300
a share; another worthless old hulk of 50 tons was offered for $6,000. False
representations had been made by agents and captains that there was a Brit
ish steam line from Panamd, and equally false assurances of numerous sailing
vessels; but the passengers by the Crescent City found only one brig at Panama,
and she was filled. Hawley, Stat., MS., 2-3. charges the captain of this
steamer with drunkenness and abuse; he had brought a stock of fancy goods,
which he managed to get forwarded by dividing among passengers who had
less luggage than the steamer rules allowed. Among vessels leaving after
the California, the brig Belfast of 190 tons took 76 passengers at $100 each
in the middle of Feb. Panamd Star, Feb. 24, 1849. The Niantic, of subse
quent lodging-house fame, came soon after from Payta, spent three weeks in
fitting out, and took about 250 persons at $150. McCcllnm a Cal. 1 7, 25-6. The
Alex, von Humboldt took more than 300 in May. Sac. Bee, Aug. 27, 1874.
The Phoenix carried 60, and took 115 days to reach S. F.; the Two Friend*,
with 164 persons, occupied over five months. Sac. Rec., Sept. 10, 1874. A pro
portion of gold-hunters had taken the route by Nicaragua; see record of
voyage in Hitchcock s Stat., MS., 1-7; Doolittle s Stat., MS., 1-21.
136 THE VOYAGE BY OCEAN.
anxiety to escape fevers and expenses on the Isth
mus, several parties thrust themselves with foolhardy
thoughtlessness into log canoes, to follow the coast to
the promised land, only to perish or be driven back
after a futile struggle with winds and currents. 22 Yet
they were not more unfortunate than several who had
trusted themselves to the rotten hulks that presented
themselves. 23
After a prosperous voyage of four weeks, prolonged
by calls at Acapulco and San Bias, San Diego and
Monterey, 24 the steamer California entered the bay of
San Francisco on February 28, 1849, a day forever
memorable in the annals of the state. It was a gala-
day at San Francisco. The town was alive with winter
ing miners. In the bay were ships at anchor, gay with
bunting, and on shore nature was radiant in sunshine
and bloom. The guns of the Pacific squadron opened
the welcome with a boom, which rolled over the
waters, breaking in successive verberations between
the circling hills. The blue line of jolly tars manning
the yards followed with cheers that found their echo
in the throng of spectators fringing the hills. From
the crowded deck of the steamer came loud response,
midst the flutter of handkerchiefs and bands of music.
Boats came out, their occupants boarding, and pouring
into strained ears the most glowing replies to the
all-absorbing questions of the new-comers concerning
the mines assurances which put to flight many of the
misgivings conjured up by leisure and reflection; yet
225 One party of 23 was passed far up the coast by a steamer, a month out,
and obtained supplies, but they soon abandoned the trip. Santa Cruz Times,
Feb. 26, 1870; Taylor s Eldorado, i. 29-30.
23 It is only necessary to instance the voyages of the San Blasena and the
Dolphin, the latter related in Still-man s Golden Fleece, 327-52, from the MS.
of J. W. Griffith and I. P. Crane; also in Quigley * Irish Race, 465-8; San
Joe Pioneer, Dec. 29, 1879, etc. Tired of the slow progress and the prospect
of starvation, a portion of the passengers landed on the barren coast of Lower
California, and made their way, under intense suffering, to their destination.
Gordon s party sailed from Nicaragua in a seven-ton sloop. Sufferings related
in Hitchcock s StL, MS., 1-7.
24 When near here the coal supply of the California was reported exhausted,
and spare spars had to be used; the proposed landing to cut logs was fortu
nately obviated by the discovery of a lot of coal under the forward deck.
THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON. 137
better far for thousands had they been able to trans
late the invisible, arched in flaming letters across the
Golden Gate, as at the portal of hell, LASCIATE OGNI
SPERANZA, voi CH ENTRATE all hope abandon, ye who
enter here. Well had it been were Minos there telling
them to look well how they entered and in whom they
trusted, 25 if, indeed, they did not immediately flee the
country for their lives.
Before the passengers had fairly left the steamer
she was deserted by all belonging to her, save an en
gineer, 26 and was consequently unable to start on the
return trip. Captain Pearson of the Oregon, which
arrived on April 1st, 27 observed a collusion between
the crew and passengers, and took precautions, 28 an
chored his vessel under the guns of a man-of-war, and
placed the most rebellious men under arrest. Never
theless some few slipped off in disguise, and others
by capturing the boat. He thereupon hastened away,
April 12th, with the scanty supply of coal left, barely
enough to carry him to San Bias, where there was a
deposit. 29 The Oregon accordingly carried back the
first mail, treasure, and passengers. When the Pan
ama entered San Francisco Bay on June 4th, 30 the
25 The anniversary of the arrival has been frequently commemorated with
mementos, as in the volume First Steamship Pioneers. Sherman tells of ex
citement created at Monterey, and how he there boarded the steamer for S. F.
Mem., i. 32, 61-5; AltaCaL, Feb. 29, 1872, June 2, 1874; Crosby, Stat., MS.,
10-11, places the ships then in the bay at Sauzalito; not so the S. F. Bulletin,
Feb. 28, 1865; Alamcda Co. Gaz., Mar. 8, 1873; Oakland Transcript, Mar. 1,
1873: G win s Mem., MS., 6-7; S. F. Directory, 1852-3, 10.
26 The third assistant, F. Foggin, who was subsequently rewarded with the
post of chief engineer. Capt. Forbes accordingly resumed charge, and asked
Com. Jones for men to protect the steamer. Crosby * Stat., MS., 12. Vallejo
Recorder, Mar. 14, 1868, has it that Capt. Marshall remained true.
27 U. S. Gov. Doc., 32d cong. 1st sess., Sen. Doc. 50; Manrow s Vig. Com.,
MS., 67; Willey s Pers. Mem., MS., 3; William* Stat,., MS., 7; Mary*vd(e
Appeal, April 3, 1864; Petaluma Aryus, April 4, 1873. All agree on April
1, 1849, but Hittell, Hist. S. F., 139, who says March 31. Concerning her
trip, see Capt. Pearson s speech at the anniversary, 1868, in Vallejo Recorder,
Mar. 14, 1868.
28 Especially after the desertion of the carpenter at Monterey, who swam
ashore at night at great risk.
29 He had 70 tons. The refractory sailors were kept in irons till they sub
mitted to accept an increase of pay from $12 to 112 a month. The coal-ship
Superior arrived at S. F. some weeks later.
A(i Alta Cal, June 4, 1862, and June 4, 1867; Alameda Co. Gazette, May
29, 1875; s. F. Bulletin, June 4, 1869; Low s Statement, MS., 2. The official
138
THE VOYAGE BY OCEAN.
California had obtained coal and a crew, and had
departed for Panama". From this time she and the
other steamers, with occasionally an extra vessel, made
their trips with tolerable regularity. 31 Three regular
steamers were added to the line by 1851; and on
March 3d of this year the postmaster-general author
ized a semi-monthly service.
statement of June 8th appears, therefore, wrong in this case. She was short
of coal, like the California, and had to burn some of her woodwork.
31 The following statement of mail service will show the order and dates of
the trips of the Panamd steamers during 1849 and part of 1850:
Vessel.
Left
Panama.
Reached
San Fran.
Vessel.
Left
San Fran.
Reached
Panama.
California . .
Oregon
Panama .
Oregon
California . .
Panama
Oregon ....
Jan. 31, 19
Mar. 13, 49
May 18, 49
May 23, 49
June 25, 49
July 29, 49
Aug. 28, 49
Feb. 28, 49
Apr. 1, 49
JuneS (4?) , 49
June 17, 49
July 16, 49
Aug. 19, 49
Sept. 18, 49
Oregon
California . .
Panama,
Oregon
California . .
Panama
Oregon
Apr. 12, 49
May 1, 49
June 19, 49
July 2, 49
Aug. 2, 49
Sept. 1, 4.9
Oct. 1, 49
May 4, 49
May 23, 49
July 12, 49
July 21, 49
Aug. 24, 49
Sept. 22, 49
Oct. 24, 49
California . .
Unicorn (a) .
Panama
Oregon
California . .
Panama
Unicorn (a)
Oregon
California . .
Tennessee (a)
Panama
Sept. 17, 49
Oct. 1, 49
Oct. 10, 49
Nov. 10, 49
Dec. 6, 49
Jan. 1, 50
Jan. 1 2, T>0
Feb. 5, 50
Mar. 2, 50
Mar. 24 50
Apr. 1, 50
Oct. 9, 49
Oct. 31, 49
Oct. 31, 49
Dec. 2, 49
Dec. 28, 49
Jan. 18, 50(6)
Feb. 8, 50(6)
Feb. 22, 50
Mar. 26, 50
Apr. 13, 60(6)
Apr. 22, 50
California . .
Panama
Unicorn ... .
Oregon
California . .
Panama,
Oregon
California . .
Tennessee . ..
Panama
Oregon
Nov. 2, 49
Nov. 15, 49
Dec. 1, 49
Jan. 1, 50
Jan. 15, 50
Feb. 1, 50
Mar. 1, 50
Apr. 1, 50
Apr. 21, 50
May 1, 50
June 1, 50
Nov. 22. 49
Dec. 4, 49
Dec. 28, 49
Jan. 23, 50
Feb. 4, 50
Feb. 23, 50
Mar. 20, 50
Apr. 23, 50
May 11, 50
May 21, 50
June 22, 50
Caroline (a) .
Oregon
Tennessee ( )
California . .
Panama (a). .
Apr. 16, 50
May 1, 50
May 30, 50
June 1, 50
June 15, 50
May 7, 50
(a) Extra trips. (6) Understood to be.
U. S. Gov. Doc., 32d cong. 1st sess., Sen. Ex. Doc. 50, p. 42-44. The three
original steamers plied here for a number of years, but were in time replaced
on that route by newer vessels. In the S. F. Bulletin, Feb. 28, 1865, we read:
The California is now lying at Acapulco, whither she was taken to run be
tween the Mexican ports. The Panama and Oreyon are plying between this
city and ports on the northern coast. Again, the Olympia Transcript, June
17, 1876, states that all three have disappeared from the passenger trade,
but are still in service. The Oregon is a barkentine engaged in the Puget
Sound lumber trade. The Panama is a storeship at Acapulco; and the Cali
fornia is a barkentine in the Australian trade. The three steamers added
were the Columbia and Tennessee in 1850, and the Golden Gate in 1851. Be
tween Mar.-Oct. 1850, 50 per cent was added to the mail compensation, and
75 per cent after this, or $348,250 per annum in all. U. S. Gov. Doc. , as above,
7 et seq. ; Pioneer Arch., 157-60; Alta Gal., June 7, 1876. The accommoda
tion of the Pacific line has ever been superior to that of the Atlantic. A
depot for repairs was early established at Benicia. Land was bought at that
place and at San Diego. The Northerner arrived Aug. 1850. In March 1851
a rival line had four steamers, which, with odd vessels, made fifteen steamers
on the route.
BY CAPE HORN.
139
The transit of the Isthmus was facilitated by the
opening in January 1855 of the Panarnd Railway, 32
which gave the route a decided advantage over others.
Continental crossings drew much of the traffic from
the voyage by way of Cape Horn, Tour or five months
in duration, and involving a quadruple transmigration
of terrestrial zones, capped by the dangerous rounding
of the storm-beaten cliffs of Tierra del Fuego, often
in half-rotten and badly fitted hulks. Indeed, the
NICARAGUA TRANSIT ROUTE.
circumnavigation of the southern mainland by Amer
ican gold-seekers was not undertaken to any extent
after the first years. As the resources of California
developed, sea travel below Panama began to stop,
32 Which reduced the expense and hardships of the long mule-and-boat
journey, while lessening the exposure to fevers. Concerning the contracts
and mistakes of the projectors, the five years of struggle with the under
taking, and its immense cost in life and money, I refer to the interoceauic
question in Hist. Cent. Am., iii., this series.
140 THE VOYAGE BY OCEAN.
and distribute itself over the different crossing-places
opened by explorers for interoceanic communication:
across Mexico by way of Tampico, Vera Cruz, and
Tehuantepec; across Central America via Honduras,
Nicaragua, Costa Rica, 33 and Panama. The last
named maintained the lead only for a brief period,
and Nicaragua, the chief rival of the Panamd route,
distanced all the rest. Many had taken this route in
1849 on the bare chance of finding a vessel on the
Pacific side. 34 They usually met with disappointment,
but they paved the way for later comers, and encour
aged American capitalists, headed by Cornelius Van-
derbilt, to form a transit company, with bimonthly
steamers between New York and California, for which
concessions were obtained from Nicaragua in 184951,
under guise of a canal contract. With cheaper fares
and the prospective gain of two days over the Panama
route, together with finer scenery and climate, the
line quickly became a favorite; but it was hampered
by inferior accommodation and less reliable manage
ment, and the disturbed condition of Nicaragua began
to injure it, especially in 1856, after which business
dissensions tended to undermine the company. 35
33 In 1854 Costa Rica granted a charter to a N. Y. co. for a transit route,
which gave the privilege of navigating the San Juan river. Weils Walker s
Exped., 238-9. It proved abortive.
34 Instance the severe experiences of Hitchcock. Stat., MS., 1-7; and
Doolittle. Stat., MS., 1-21. See also Belly, Nic., ii. 91.
85 The gold rush brightened the prospects of the American Atlantic and
Pacific Ship Canal Co. , which held a concession for a canal through Nicaragua.
A new body headed by Jos. L. White and C. Vanderbilt undertook to revive
it, and obtained from the state a renewal of tKe contract dated Sept. 22, 1849,
amended April 11, 1850, against a yearly payment of $10,000 till the canal
should be completed, when twenty per cent of the net profit, besides stock
shares, should follow; meanwhile paying ten per cent of the net profit on any
transit route. Several articles provided for protection, exemptions, etc. See
U. S. Gov. Doc., 31st cong. 1st sess., H. Ex. Doc. 75, x. 141-5; Id., 34th
cong. 1st sess., Sen. Doc. 68, xiii. 84-103; Nic., Contrato de Canal, 1849,
1-16; Id., Contratos Comp. Vapor., 1-2; Cent. Am. Pap., v. 53-5. Other
details in Hist. Cent. Am., iii., this series. The incorporation act at Leon is
dated March 9, 1850. Cent. Am. Misc. Docs, 45; Belly, Nic., ii. 70-3. The
Clayton-Bulwer treaty of April 19, 1850, between the U. S. and Eng., gave
additional guarantees to this company; but U. S. Minister Squier s guarantee
of the contract was not ratified by his government. Squier n Cent. Am., ii.
262 et seq. The aim of the projectors being really to secure the right of
transit, an Accessory Transit Company was formed, for which, on Aug. 14,
1851, a charter was obtained from the Granada faction, then iu power, which
NICARAGUA ROUTE. 141
The voyages of the first steamers have naturally
retained a great interest, as initiating steam commu-
confirmed the privileges of the canal concession, while lessening its obligations.
Nic. Convenio, 1-2; ticherfjer a Cent. Am., 245-6. Meanwhile a hasty sur
vey had been made by Col Childs. Squier s Nic., 657-60; (Jisborne, 8; followed
by an inflation of the stock of the company and the purchase of steamers for
bimonthly trips. Among these figured, on the Pacific side, the brother Jon
athan, Uncle tiam, Pacific, S. S. Lewis, Independence, and Cortes. S. F.
Directora, 1852, 24; Alia, CaL, June 9, 1859, etc. Grey Town on the east,
and S. Juan del Sur on the Pacific, became the terminal ports, the latter
replacing Realejo. On Jan. 1, 1851, the first connecting lake steamer,
Director, reached La Virgen. Squier, ii. 278; Reichardt, Nic., 165; Cent. Am.
Pap., iii. 206; and not long after the line opened. Reichardt, Nic., 173,
181, estimates the traffic to and fro two years later at 3,000 per month,
fare $250 and $180. From Grey Town a river steamer carried passengers
to Castillo Viejo rapids; here a half-mile portage to the lake steamer,
which landed them at La Virgen, whence a mule train crossed the 13 miles
to San Juan del Sur. Scenery and climate surpassed those of Panama. See
detailed account in my Inter Pocula. But the management was inferior, the
intermediate transportation insufficient and less reliable, owing to low water,
etc., and little attention was paid to the health or comfort of the passengers.
JJolinski, CaL, 246-79; Cent. Am. Pap., i. 3, iv. 2, v. 100, etc. Disasters
came, in the loss of two Pacific steamers, the bombardment of Grey Town,
etc. Id.; Perez, Mem. Nic., 55-6; Pan. Herald, April 1, 1854; Alta CaL,
March 27, 1854. With the advent of Garrison as manager business improved;
but Nicaragua became dissatisfied under the failure of the company to pay
the stipulated share of profit. The unprincipled steamship men complicated
their accounts only to cheat Nicaragua, relying on Yankee bluster and the
weakness of the Nicaraguan government to see them out in their rascality.
Then came Walker the filibuster. He was at first favored by the company,
but subsequently thought it necessary to press the government claim for
nearly half a million dollars. This being disputed, a decree of Feb. 18, 1856,
revoked the charter and ordered the seizure of all steamers and effects, partly
on the ground that the company favored the opposition party. Vanderbilt
came forth in protest and denial, claiming that the contract so far had been
carried out, and demanded protection from U. S. The property seized was
valued at nearly $1,000,000. Inventory and correspondence in U. S. Gov.
Doc., 34th cong. 1st sess., Sen. Doc. 68, xiii. 113 et seq.; Id., 35th cong. 2d
sess., H. Ex. Doc. 100, ix. doc. ii. Walker transferred the charter to another
company. Vanderbilt enlisted Costa Rican aid and recaptured his steamers.
Concerning attendant killing of Americans, etc., see Wells Walker s Exped.,
170-5; Nicarayuense, Feb. 23, July 26, 1856, etc.; Perez, Mem., 27-30; Nouv.
Annales Voy., cxlvii. 136-41; Sac. Union, Dec. 20, 1855, April 17, June 4,
JO, 1856; Alta CaL, March 22, Aug. 13, 1856, etc. Vanderbilt resumed busi
ness under the succeeding governments, but with frequent interruptions,
partly by political factions, with annulments of contracts, changes in man
agement, and even of companies. Vanderbilt was at one time charged with
allowing himself to be bought off by the Panama line for $40,000 per month
and pocketing the money. Id., Jan. 9, 1859. In 1860 an English company
obtained a concession, but the American company resumed its trips, and in
1865 its steerage rates were $50. In 1868 the Central American Transit Co.,
then operating, was reported to be bankrupt. The opening soon after of the
overland railroad to California rendered a transit line across Nicaragua use
less, since it depended solely on passengers. In 1870 contracts were made
with the Panamd and other lines to merely touch at Nicaraguan ports. Nic.
Informe Fomento, iii. 2-3, iv, 4; Gac. Nic., Jan. 11, Feb. 22, 1868; March 12,
1870; Kirchhof, Rei*e., i. 313-59; Rocha, Codi<jo Nic., ii. 133, 141-2, with
contract annulments in 1858-63; JVic. Decritos, 1859, ii. 78-9; Alta Col., Sept.
142 THE VOYAGE BY OCEAN.
nication, and as bringing some of tne most prominent
pioneers, for such is the title accorded to all arrivals
during 1849 as well as previous years. They also ran
the gauntlet of much danger, and no one of the Argo s
heroes was more proud of his perilous exploit than is
the modern Argonaut who reached the western Colchis
with the initial trip of the Panama, the Oregon, or,
better than all, the California. Annual celebrations,
wide-spread throughout the world, abundantly testify
to the truth of this statement. And it is right and
proper that it should be so. The only regret is, that
so few of the passengers by early sailing vessels should
have left similar records, and that as year after year
goes by the number of our Argonauts is thinned; soon
all will be with their pelagian prototypes.
16, 1857; Jan. 21, May 30, July 30, Aug. 16, Oct. 26, Nov. 8, 1858; May 26,
June 9, 10, 1859; 8. F. Bulletin, Feb. 12, May 25, June 2, 1859; March 29,
1860; Aug. 21, 1862; March 23, 1865; S. F. Gail, July 19, 1865; Pirn s Gate
Pac., 221-43; Boyle s Ride, 33-8.
CHAPTER IX.
THE JOURNEY OVERLAND.
1849.
ORGANIZATION or PARTIES BRITTLE CONTRACTS or THESE ASSOCIATIONS
MISSISSIPPI RIVKR RENDEZVOUS ON THE TRAIL OVERLAND ROUTINE
ALONG THE PLATTE THROUGH THE SOUTH PASS CHOLERA THE DIF
FERENT ROUTES ACROSS THE DESERT TRIALS OF THE PILGRIMS STAR
VATION, DISEASE, AND DEATH PASSAGE OF THE SIERRA NEVADA RELIEF
PARTIES FROM CALIFORNIA -ROUTE THROUGH MEXICO ESTIMATES OF
THE NUMBERS OF ARRIVALS BEWILDERMENT OF THE INCOMERS REGEN
ERATION AND A NEW LIFE.
A CURRENT equal in magnitude to the one by sea
poured with the opening spring overland, chiefly frora
the western United States. It followed the routes
traversed by trappers and explorers since the dawn of
the century, and lately made familiar by the reports
of Fremont, by the works of travellers like Bidwell,
Hastings, Bryant, Thornton, and by the records of
two great migrations, one in 1843 to Oregon, and the
other in 1846 to California, the latter followed by the
Mormon exodus to Utah. Organization into parties
became here more necessary than by sea, for moving
and guarding camps, and especially for defence against
Indians.
Contributions were consequently levied for the
purchase of wagons, animals, provisions, and even
trading goods, unless the member was a farmer in
possession of these things. The latter advantage
made this journey preferable to a large number, and
even the poor man could readily secure room in a
(H3)
144 THE JOURNEY OVERLAND
wagon for the small supplies alone indispensable, or
obtain free passage as driver and assistant. 1
The rendezvous at starting was on the Missouri
River, at St Joseph or Independence, long points of
departure for overland travel, either via the west
ern main route, which is now marked by the Union
and Central Pacific railroad line, or by the Santa Fe
trail. Here they gathered from all quarters eastward,
on foot and horseback, some with pack-animals or
mule-teams, but most of them in vehicles. These
were as various in their equipment, quality, and ap
pearance as were the vessels for the ocean trip, from
the ponderous prairie schooner of the Santa Fe
trader, to the common cart or the light painted wagon
of the down-east Yankee. 2 Many were bright with
streamers and flaring inscriptions, such as "Ho, for the
of the associations were bound by formal contracts, often by an
agreement to sustain the partnership in Cal. Instance Journey of the Cali
fornia Association, in Ashley s Doc. Hist. CaL, M.S., 271-377. The associa
tion was formed at Munroe, Mich., in Feb. 1849, and consisted of ten
members, intent on mining and trading. Two persons who remained at home
defrayed the expenses with an advance of $5,000 in return for half the pros
pective gains. The company failed in its plans and separated. Ashley settled
at Monterey as a lawyer, and represented the county in the state assembly in
1856-7. In 1859 lie was state treasurer, and subsequently moving to Nevada,
he twice represented that state in congress; he died at S. F. in 1873. Salinas
City Inde.i; July 24, 1873. Another association is recorded by Cassin, Stat.,
MS., 1, who left Cincinnati with 40 others; we each paid in $200 to the
company s fund. Further: Pittsburgh and Cal. Enterprise Co. of some 250
members, in Hayes 1 Scraps, Ariz., v. 29; MisceL Stat., MS., 17-8; Seneca Co.
of Cleveland. Van Dyke s Stat., MS., 1-2. Ithaca Co., in Cal. Pioneers, pt 30,
2-3. The overland express train of 230 men under Capt. French, of 1850,
suffered many mishaps and horrors. Alta CaL, Dec. 17, 1850, Mar. 5, 1872;
Pac. New*, Dec. 26, 1850; S. F. Picayune, Dec. 18, 1850. The Cumberland
Co. was a trading association of 50 men, subscribing $500 each. Most of the
emigrants, however, combined merely for defence and aid during the journey
in a train known by the name of the captain elected to direct it. Instance
the parties under Egans, Owens, Aired, Gully, Knapp, H. S. Brown, Latham,
Parson, Townsend or Rough and Ready, Lee, Sullenger, Taylor, Staples,
Word, Cooper, Barrow, Thorne-Beckwith, Stuart, etc. References in Ash
ley s Doc. J/ist. Cal., MS., 271-377, 395-6; Miscel. Stat., MS., 1 et seq.;
Morgan s Trip, MS., 3-14; Kirkpatrick s Journal, MS., 3 et seq.; Brown s
Stat ., MS , 1-11; S. F. Bulletin, Sept. 18, 1860; Pearson s RecoL, MS., 1-2;
Nevada and Gra*s Valley Directory, 1856, 43; Dameron s Antobioy., MS., 19;
Placer Times, Aug. 11, 1849, etc.; Grass Valley Rep., Mar. 8, 1872; Staples
Stat., MS., 1-7; Vallejo Indep., June 1-8, 1872; Hayes Diary, MS., 8-110;
Harrow s Twelve Nights, 165-268; U. S. Gov. >oc./31st cong. 2d sess.>, Sen.
Doc. 19, p. 15.
^The long geared prairie schooner differed from the square-bodied wagons
of the north-west, in its peculiar widening from the bottom upward. See
description in Hutchinys May., iv. 351.
THE PRAIRIE SCHOONER. 145
diggings!" and presented within, beneath the yet clean
white canvass cover, a cosey retreat for the family.
Heavy conveyances were provided with three yoke
of oxen, besides relays of animals for difficult passages;
a needful precaution; for California as well as the in
termediate country being regarded as a wilderness,
the prudent ones had brought ample supplies, some
indeed, in excess, to last for two years. Others car
ried all sorts of merchandise, in the illusive hope of
sales at large profits. Consequently such of the men
as had not riding animals were compelled to walk,
and during the first part of the journey even the women
and children could not always find room in the wagons. 3
Later, as one article after another was thrown away
to lighten the load, regard for the jaded beasts made
walking more complusory than ever.
It seemed a pity to drag so many women and their
charges from comfortable homes to face the dangers
and hardships of such a journey. As for the men,
they were as a rule hardy farmers or sturdy young
villagers, better fitted as a class for pioneers than the
crowd departing by sea; and appearances confirmed
the impression in the predominance of hunting and
rough backwoods garbs, of canvas jackets or colored
woollen shirts, with a large knife and pistols at the belt,
a rifle slung to the back, and a lasso at the saddle-
horn, the most bristling arsenal being displayed by
the mild-mannered and timid.* There was ample op
portunity to test their quality, even at the rendezvous,
for animals were to be broken, wagons repaired and
loaded, and drill acquired for the possible savage war
fare.
3 Men, women, and children, even women with infants at their breasts,
trudging along on foot. St Louis Union, May 25, 1849. We were nearly
all afoot, and there were no seats in the wagons. Hittell s speech before
the pioneers. Many preferred walking to jolting over the prairie.
* Indignant at the frequent allusions to Spanish-Californians as half -civil
ized Indians, Vallejo points to some of the Missourian backwoodsmen as more
resembling Indians in habits as well as uncouth appearance. Vallejo, Docs,
MS., xxx vi. 287. The western states were almost depopulated by the exodus,
says Borthwick; Three Years in Gal., 2-3.
HIST. CAL., VOL VI. 10
146 THE JOURNEY OVERLAND
The gathering began early in April, and by the end
of the month some 20,000, representing every town
and village in the States, were encamped on the fron
tier, making their final preparations, and waiting until
the grass on the plains should be high enough to feed
the animals. At the opening of May the grand pro
cession started, and from then till the beginning of
June company after company left the frontier, till the
trail from the starting-point to Fort Laramie pre
sented one long line of pack-trains and wagons. Along
some sections of the road the stream was unbroken
for miles, 5 and at night, far as the eye could reach,
camp-fires gleamed like the lights of a distant city.
"The rich meadows of the Nebraska or Platte," writes
Bayard Taylor, "were settled for the time, and a single
traveller could have journeyed for 1,000 miles, as cer
tain of his lodging and regular meals as if he were
riding through the old agricultural districts of the
middle states."
For a while there is little to check the happy antici
pations formed during the excitement, and sustained by
the well-filled larders and a new country; and so, with
many an interchange of chat and repartee, between
the bellowing and shouting of animals and men, and
the snapping of whips, the motley string of pedestrians
and horsemen advances by the side of the creaking
wagons. Occasionally a wayside spring or brook pro
longs the midday halt of the more sober-minded,
while others hasten on to fill the gap. Admonished
by declining day, the long line breaks into groups,
which gather about five o clock at the spots selected
to camp for the night. The wagons roll into a circle,
or on a river bank in semicircle, to form a bulwark
against a possible foe, and a corral for the animals
5 Thursday, June 8th. Met a man whose train was on ahead, who told
us that he had counted 459 teams within nine miles. When we started after
dinner there were 150 that appeared to be in one train. . .Friday, June 23d.
Passed the upper Platte ferry. The ferryman told me he had crossed 900
teams, and judged that there were about 1,500 on the road ahead of us. Yet
siill they come. KirkpatricVs Journal, MS., 14, 16.
A CAMP ON THE WAY.
147
now turned loose to graze and rest. Tents unfold,
fires blaze, and all is bustle; women cooking, and men
tending and tinkering. Then conies a lull; the meal
over, the untrammelled flames shoot aloft, pressing
farther back the flitting shadows, and finding reflec
tion in groups of contented faces, moving in sympathy
to the changing phases of some story, or to the strains
of song and music. 6 The flames subside; a hush falls
on the scene; the last figures steal away under tent
and cover, save two, the sentinels, who stalk around
to guard against surprise, and to watch the now pick
eted animals, till relieved at midnight. With the
first streaks of dawn a man is called from each wagon
FROM THE MISSOURI TO GREAT SALT LAKE.
to move the beasts to better feed. Not long after
four o clock all are astir, and busy breakfasting and
preparing to start. Tents are struck, and horses har
nessed, and at six the march is taken up again.
Not until the River Platte is reached, some ten or
fifteen days out, does perfect order and routine reign.
The monotonous following of this stream wears away
that novelty which to the uninitiated seems to demand
a change of programme for every day s proceedings,
and about this point each caravan falls into ways of
its own, and usually so continues to the end of the
journey, under the supervision of an elected captain
6 Specimen of emigrant song in Walton s Gold Regions, 28-32; Stillmaiis
Golden Fleece, 23-4.
148 THE JOURNEY OVERLAND.
and his staff. Harmony is often broken, however, at
one time on the score of route and routine, at another
in the enforcement of regulations; and even if the
latter be overcome by amendments and change of
officers, enough objections may remain to cause the
split of a party. Associates quarrel and separate ; the
hired man, finding himself master of the situation,
grows insolent and rides on, leaving his employer be
hind. The sameness of things often palls as days and
months pass away and no sign of human habitation
appears; then, again, the changes from prairies where
the high grass half covers the caravan to sterile plain,
from warm pleasant valleys to bleak and almost im
passable mountains, and thence down into miasmatic
swamps with miry stretches, and afterward sandy
sinks and forbidding alkali wastes and salt flats baked
and cracked by sun, and stifling with heat and dust;
through drenching rains and flooded lowlands, and
across the sweeping river currents and all with occa
sional chilling blasts, suffocating simoons, and constant
fear of savages.
This and more had the overland travellers to en
counter in greater or less degree during their jaunt
of 2,000 miles and more. Yet, after all, it was not
always hard and horrible. There was much that was
enjoyable, particularly to persons in health bright
skies, exhilarating air, and high anticipations. For
romance as well as danger the overland journey was
not behind the voyage by sea, notwithstanding the
several changes in the latter of climate, lands, and
peoples. Glimpses of landscapes and society were rare
from shipboard, and the unvarying limitless water
became dreary with monotony. Storms and other
dangers brought little inspiration or reliance to coun
teract oppressive fear. Man lay here a passive toy
for the elements. But each route had its attractions
and discomforts, particularly the latter.
The Indians in 1849 were not very troublesome.
The numbers of the pale-faces were so large that they
THE INDIANS AND CHOLERA. 149
did not know what to make of it. So they kept pru
dently in the background, rarely venturing an attack,
save upon some solitary hunter or isolated band, with
an occasional effort at stampeding stock. Some sought
intercourse with the white rnen, hoping by begging,
stealing, and offer of services to gain some advantage
from the transit, nevertheless keeping the suspicious
emigrants constantly on the alert.
The Indians opportunity was to come in due time,
however, after other troubles had run their course.
The first assumed the terrible form of cholera, which,
raging on the Atlantic seaboard, ascended the Missis
sippi, and overtook the emigrants about the time of
their departure, following them as far as the elevated
mountain region beyond Fort Laramie. At St Joseph
and Independence it caused great mortality among
those who were late in setting out; and for hundreds
of miles along the road its ravages were recorded by
newly made graves, sometimes marked by a rough
head-board, but more often designated only by the
desecration of wolves and coyotes. The emigrants
were not prepared to battle with this dreadful foe.
It is estimated that 5, 000 thus perished; and as many
of these were the heads of families on the march, the
affliction was severe. So great was the terror inspired
that the victims were often left to perish on the road
side by their panic-stricken companions. On the other
hand, there were many instances of heroic devotion, of
men remaining alone with a comrade while the rest of
the company rushed on to escape contagion, and nurs
ing him to his recovery, to be in turn stricken down
and nursed by him whose life had been saved. It
seemed as if the scourge had been sent upon them by
a divinity incensed at their thirst for gold, and some
of the more superstitious of the emigrants saw therein
the hand of Providence, and returned. To persons
thus disposed, that must have been a spectacle of
dreadful import witnessed by Cassin and his party.
They were a few days out from Independence; the
150 THE JOURNEY OVERLAND.
cholera was at its height, when one day they saw afar
off, and apparently walking in the clouds, a procession
of men bearing aloft a coffin. It was only a mirage,
the reflection of a funeral taking place a day s journey
distant, but to the beholders it was an omen of their
fate set up in the heavens as a warning.
Thus it was even in the route along the banks of
the Platte, where meadows and springs had tempted
the cattle, and antelopes and wild turkeys led on the
yet spirited hunter to herds of buffalo and stately
elk; for here was the game region. This river was
usually struck at Grand Island, and followed with
many a struggle through the marshy ground to the
south branch, fordable at certain points and seasons, at
others crossed by ferriage, on rafts or canoes lashed
together, 7 with frequent accidents. Hence the route
led along the north branch from Ash Hollow to Fort
Laramie, the western outpost of the United States, 8
and across the barren Black Hill country, or by the
river bend, up the Sweetwater tributary into the
south pass of the Rocky Mountains. The ascent is
almost imperceptible, and ere the emigrant is aware
of having crossed the central ridge of tho continent,
he finds himself at the head of the Pacific water sys
tem, at Green River, marked by a butte of singular
formation, like a ruined edifice with majestic dome and
pillars.
The next point was Fort Hall, 9 at the junction of
7 Calked wagon-beds and sheet-iron boats were brought into service.
Within our hearing to-day twelve men have found a watery grave, writes
Kirkpatrick, Journal, MS., 16, at Platte ferry, June 21, 1849; see also Cas-
sin s A Few Facts on Cat., MS., 2; Brown s Early Days in Cat., MS., 3-4.
8 For forts on this route, see Hist. B. C., this series; U. S. Gov. Doc.,
31st cong. 1st sess., H. Ex. Doc., v. pt i. 224. Many desertions took place
from the garrison. Coke s Ride, 156. The first company arrived here May
22d; cholera was disappearing, the Crows were watching to carry off cattle.
Placer Times, Oct. 13, 1849. One emigrant journal shows that it took fully
six weeks to traverse the 670 miles between Independence and this fort.
9 The fort was reached by two routes from the south pass, the more direct,
Subletted cut-off, crossed the head waters of the Sandy and down Bear River
to its junction with the Thomas branch. The other followed the Sandy to
Green River; crossed this and the ridge to Fort Bridger; thence across the
Muddy Fork and other Green River tributaries into Bear River Valley, and
DOWN THE HUMBOLDT. 151
the Oregon trail, whence the route led along Snake
River Valley to the north of Goose Creek Mountains,
and up this stream 10 to the head waters of the Hum-
boldt, also called Mary and Ogden River. This was
followed along its entire length to the lake or sink
into which it disappears. It was hereabout that the
emigrants were the most frequently driven to extrem
ity. Long since the strain and hardships of the
journey had claimed their victims. Many a man,
undaunted by the cholera and the heavy march
through the Platte country, abandoning one portion
after another of his effects, after a dozen unloadings
and reloadings and toilsome extrications and mount
ings within as many hours; undaunted, even, on
approaching the summit of the continent, lost his zeal
and courage on nearing the Sierra Nevada, and with
his gold fever abated, he turned back to nurse con
tentment in his lately abandoned home. 11 Many,
indeed, tired and discouraged, with animals thinned in
number and exhausted, halted at Great Salt Lake, ac
cepting the invitation of the Mormons to stay through
the winter and recuperate. 12 The saints undoubtedly
north to the Thomas branch. Hence the reunited trails reached Fort Hall
by way of Portneuf River.
10 Toward the end of 1849 or beginning of 1850 a trail was opened from Bear
River across the head waters of the Bannock, Fall, and Raft tributaries of Snake
River, meeting the other trail at the head of Goose Creek. Delano s Life on
Plains, 138. Another important branch of the route, so sadly recorded by the
Donuer company of 1846, and tit rather for lightly equipped parties with pack-
animals than for wagons, was the Hastings road. It started from Fort Bridger,
passed round the southern end of Great Salt Lake, crossed the desert, and
proceeded in a westerly direction till the east Humboldt Mountains were
struck at Franklin River; there it turned abruptly, passing round the
southern end of the range, and followed the south branch of the Humboldt
down to the main river. Bryant, What I Saw in Cat., i. 142-3, passed over it
successfully in 1846. The Mormons established ferries at Weber and Bear
rivers, charging $5 or $8 for each team. Slater s Mormonism, 6.
n Placer Times, Oct. 13, 1849, alludes to many returns, even from Lar-
amie. B. F. Dowell, Letters, MS., 3, bought a horse from one who turned
back after having travelled 700 miles; he had seen the elephant, and eaten
its ears.
12 Instance Morgan, Trip 1840, 14-17. The number wintering in 1850-1
was large, from 800 to 1,000, says Slater. Mormonixm, 5-12, 37; who adds
that the Mormons withheld or reduced wages and supplies, so that many suf
fered and were even unable to proceed on their journey. Charges to this
effect were published in Sac. Union, June 28, 1851; but they should be taken
with due allowance. Staples, lucid., MS., 2-3, accuses the Mormons of mani
festing their hatred for Missourians.
152 THE JOURNEY OVERLAND.
reaped a harvest in cheap labor, and by the ready
exchange of provisions to starving emigrants for
wagons, tools, clothing, arid other effects, greatly to
the delight of the leaders, who, at the first sight of
gold from California, had prophesied plenty, and the
sale of States goods at prices as low as in the east. 13
Others, eager as ever, and restive under the frequent
delays and slow progress of the ox trains, would hasten
onward in small parties, perhaps alone, perchance
tempted into the numerous pitfalls known as cut
offs, to be lost in the desert, overcome by heat and
thirst, or stricken down by furtively pursuing savages,
whose boldness increased as the emigrant force became
weak. 14
But how insignificant appear the sufferings of the
men in comparison with those of the women and chil
dren, driven after a long and toilsome journey into a
desert of alkali. And here the dumb brutes suffer as
never before. There are drifts of ashy earth in these
flats in which the cattle sink to their bellies, and go
moaning along their way midst a cloud of dust and
beneath a broiling sun, while just beyond are fantas
tic visions of shady groves and bubbling springs; for
this is the region of mirage, and not far off the desert
extends into the terrible Valley of Death, accursed
to all living things, its atmosphere destructive even
to the passing bird. Many are now weakened by
scurvy, fever, and exhaustion. There are no longer
surplus relays. The remnant of animals is all pressed
into service, horse and cow being sometimes yoked
together. The load is still further lightened to re-
13 Thus had spoken Heber C. Kimball, when the Mormon gold-finders
arrived from California, although he doubted his own words the next
moment. Yet it was the best prophetic hit of his life. Tullidye s Life of
Younfj, 203-8.
14 Seven emigrants were surprised in the Klamath region by 200 Indians,
and six cut down. Lord, Naturalist, 271, found bones and half-burned wagons
near Yreka ten years later. Instance also in U. 8. Gov. Doc., 31st cong. 2d
sess. , Sen. Doc. 19, iii. 12. More than one solitary traveller is spoken of.
See QuvjW* Ir ^ h Rac ^ 216 5 Sac - Bee > Oct - 3 18 "0- One wheeled his bag
gage in a barrow at the pace of 25 miles a day, passing many who travelled
with animals. Coke 1 * Ride, 166; Solano Co. Hist., 368-9.
OVER THE DESERT.
153
lieve the jaded teams. Even feeble women must
walk. The entire line is strewn with dead animals
arid abandoned effects. Vultures and coyotes hover
ominously along the trail. Gloomy nights are followed
by a dawn of fresh suffering. Now and then some
one succumbs, and in despair bids the rest fly and
:*$ I \
? e^ \ \ o
!"Jf. *mmr ia* Vl^eur
f M /rfc;^"*--- ^ -t- ^. (v
ACROSS THE DESERT.
leave him to his fate. Some of the trains come to a
stop, and the wagons are abandoned, while the ani
mals are ridden or driven forward. 15
15 The passage of this, desert was but a narrow stretch, from two to four
score miles, according to the direction taken, but was very severe, especially
to wanderers worn out and stricken with disease. Instances of suffering
154 THE JOURNEY OVERLAND.
The suffering in 1849 fell chiefly upon the later ar
rivals, when water was scarce and the little grass left
by the earlier caravans had dried up. The savages,
too, became troublesome. Several relief parties went
out from the mines. In 1850 the suffering was more
severe throughout, partly from the over-confidence
created by the news of well-stocked markets in Cali
fornia, which led to the wasteful sacrifice of stores on
the way by the overloaded caravans of 1849, and of
the scarcity of supplies at the Mormon way-station.
Hence many started with scanty supplies and poorer
animals. The overflow of the Humboldt drove the
trains to the barren uplands, lengthening the jour
ney and starving the beasts. So many oxen and
horses perished in the fatal sink that the effluvia
revived the cholera, arid sent it to ravage the enfeebled
crowds which escaped into Sacramento Valley. Be
hind them on the plains were still thousands, battling
not alone with this and other scourges, but with fam
ine and cold, for snow fell early and massed in heavy
drifts. Tales of distress were brought by each arrival,
told not in words only, but by the blanched and hag
gard features, until California was filled with pity,
and the government combined with the miners and
other self-sacrificing men in efforts for the relief of the
sufferers. Carried by parties in all directions across
the mountains and through the snow, 16 train after
train was saved; yet so many were the sufferers that
only a comparatively small number could be much
relieved. Emaciated men, carrying infants crying for
abound in the journals of the time. Alta CaL, Dec. 15, 1849, et seq.; Placer
Times of 1849; S. F. Herald, Pac. News, Sac. Union, etc., of following years.
Duncan s Southern Region, MS., 1-2. See following note.
16 During this year, 1849, the authorities appropriated $100,000 for relief,
and troops passed eastward with supplies, partly under Maj. Rucker. See
reports in U. S. Oov. Doc., 31st cong. 1st sess., Sen. Doc. 52, xiii. 94-154; Id.,
30th cong. 2d sess., Acts and Resol., 155; Smith s Kept, in Tyson s Geol., 84.
The public also subscribed liberally. Plcer Times, Sept. 15, 1849; Sherman s
Mem., i. 80. In 1850 the public made even greater efforts in all directions,
and Capt. Waldo headed one relief train. Upkam s Note*, 351-2; Gal. Jour.
Srn., 1851, 607-10; Sac. Transcript, Sept. 23, 1850, etc. Appeals for subscrip
tions and responses are given in all the journals of the time. See next note.
SUFFERING AND DEATH. 155
food, stopped to feed on the putrefying carcasses lining
the road, or to drink from alkaline pools, only to in
crease their misery, and finally end in suicide. 17 "The
suffering is unparalleled," cry several journals in Sep
tember 1850, in their appeal for relief ; nine tenths of
the emigrants were on foot, without food or money;
not half of their oxen, not one fourth of their horses,
survived to cross the mountains, and beyond the desert
were still 20,000 souls, the greater part of whom were
destitute. 18
After escaping from the desert, the emigrant had
still to encounter the difficult passage of the Sierra
Nevada, so dangerous after snow began to fall, as
instanced by the terrible fate of the Donner party in
1846. Of the several roads, the most direct was along
Truckee River to its source in the lake of that name,
1T On the Humboldt, says Delano, Life, 238-9, three men and two women
drowned themselves in one day.
18 The report of the Waldo relief party, in Sac. Transcript, Sept. 23, 1850,
stated that large supplies from Marysville had failed to pass beyond Bear
Valley, west of the Sierra, owing to the animals failing. At the lower
Truckee crossing beef had been deposited, and a number of stout animals
sent to carry sick emigrants across the desert. Several starving men were
encountered, and the dead bodies of others who had succumbed. Few were
found with provisions, save their exhausted teams; one fourth, having no
animals, lived on the putrefying carcasses, thus absorbing disease. Cholera
broke out Sept. 8th, in one small train, carrying off eight persons in three
hours, several more being expected to die. From the sink westward the
havoc was fearful. Indians added to the misery by stealing animals. Of
20,000 emigrants still back of the desert, fully 15,000 were destitute, and their
greatest suffering was to come; half of them could not reach the mountains
before winter; from 5,000 to 8,000 Ibs of beef were issued daily; flour was
furnished only to the sick. Those yet at the head of the Humboldt were to
be warned to turn back to Great Salt Lake. Similar accounts in earlier and
later numbers. Id., July 26, Aug. 16, Sept. 30, 1850, Feb. 1, 14, 1851, etc.
Owing to the number of applicants, relief rations had to be reduced. Id.,
Steamer eds. of Aug. 30th, Oct. 14th. Barstow, Stat., MS., 12-13, who went
out with provisions, declares that he could almost step from one abandoned
wagon and carcass to another. See further accounts in Mixed. Stat. ; Shearer s
Jourii d, MS., 1-3; Connor s Stat., MS., 4-5; DoweWs Letters, MS., 1-34;
Sherwood s Pocket Guide, 47-64; Picayune, Aug. 21, Sept. 3-4, 12, 1850; .V.
F. four., July 13, 24, Aug. 9, 17, 20, 26, 1850; S. F. Herald, July 13, 27-9,
Aug. 21-2, 1850; Deseret News, Oct. 5, 1850; Alta Cal, Dec. 17, 1850; Del
ano s Life on Plains, 234-42; Pac. News, Aug. 21-2, 24, 1850; Sac. Bee, Dec.
7, 1867; Beadle s Western Wilds, 38-40; Aljers Youug Adven., 185, etc.; Los
Angeles Rep., Feb. 28, Mar. 14, 1878; Brown * Early Day*, MS., 2-4, 7
Devoted men like Waldo, who so freely offered themselves and their means
for the relief of the sufferers, cannot be too highly praised and remembered
by Californians.
156 THE JOURNEf OVERLAND.
and thence down the Yuba to Feather and Sacramento
rivers. 19 The route so far described, by way of the
19 Through Henness pass. A trail branched by Dormer Lake along the
north branch of the American. The most northern route, Lassen s, turned
from the great bend of the Humboldt north-west to Goose Lake, there to swing
southward by the Oregon trail along Pit River and Honey Lake into the Sac
ramento Valley. Hostile Indians, and snow, and greater extent of desert
combined to give this the name of the Death Route, so that few followed it
after the early part of 1849. YrekaJour., Feb. 18, 1871. A branch from ib
struck across Upper Mud Lake toward Honey Lake. Below Truckee ran the
Carson River route, turning south of Lake Tahoe through Johnson Pass and
down the south fork of American River. A branch turned to the west fork
of Walker River through Sonora pass and Sonora to Stockton. The main
route from the east is well described in a little emigrant s guide-book pub
lished by J. E. Ware. After giving the intending emigrant instructions as
to his outfit, estimates of expense, directions for forming camp, etc., the
author follows the entire route from one camping-place or prominent point to
the next, describes the intervening road and river crossings, points out where
fuel and water can be obtained, and gives distances as well as he can. I:i
1849 Ware set out for Cal., was taken ill east of Laramie, and heartlessly
abandoned by his companions, and thus perished miserably. Delano says he
was formerly from Galena, but known in St Louis as a writer. Life on the
Plains, 163. Alonzo Delano was born at Aurora, N. Y. , July 2, 1806, and came
to Cal. by the Lassen route in 1849, and of his journey published a minute
account. After working in the placers for some time he went to S. F. and
opened a produce store. In the autumn of 1851 he engaged in quartz-mining
at Grass Valley, which was thenceforward his home. A year or two later he
became superintendent of the Nevada Company s mill and mine, and then
agent of Adams & Co. s express and banking office. In Feb. 1855 he opened
a banking-house of his own. In his position of agent for Adams & Co. at
Grass Valley, he received orders to pay out no money either on public or pri
vate deposits, which orders he did not obey; but calling the depositors to
gether, he read his instructions and said: Come, men, and get your deposits;
you shall have what is yours so long as there is a dollar in the safe. Five
days later, on Feb. 20th, Delano opened a banking-house of his own; and so
great was the confidence placed in his integrity that within 24 hours he re
ceived more money on deposit than he had ever held as agent for Adams &
Co. From that time on he led a successful and honored career as a banker
until the day of his death, which occurred at Grass Valley Sept. 8, 1874.
For further particulars, see Grass Valley Foothill Tidings, Nov. 21, 1874;
Grass Valley Union, Sept. 10, 1874; Truckee Republican, Sept. 10, 1874; Sta
Barbara Index, Sept. 24, 1874; Portland Bulletin, Oct. 7, 1874; S. F. Alt-i,
Sept. 11, 1874. But it was as an author, not as a banker, that Delano was
best known to the early Californians, and, by one of his books at least, to the
wider world. This work, a vol. of some 400 pages, is an account of his jour
ney overland to Cal., and embodies much information about early times in
Cal., especially in the mining regions and small towns. Its title is: Life on
the Plains and among the Diggings; being Scenes and Adventures of an Over
land Journey to California: with Particular Incidents of the Route, Mistakes
and Sufferings of the Emigrants, the Indian Tribes, the Present and the Future
of the Great Wext. Aulmrn, 1^4, and N. Y., 1861. The portion relatingto the
journey was written as a journal, in which the incidents of each day, the kind
of country passed through, and the probable distance accomplished were
noted. What does not relate to the immigration is more sketchy, but stiil
valuable and accurate. Although Delano s most ambitious book, it was not
his first. During the earlier years of residence in his adopted country he
contributed a number of short humorous sketches illustrative of Cal. life
to the various periodicals. These fugitive pieces were collected and pub-
SOUTHERN ROUTES. 157
Rocky Mountain South Pass and Humboldt River,
known as the northern, received by far the largest
proportion of travel; the next in importance, the
southern, led from Independence by the caravan trail
_ _ * **
to Santa Fe, thence to deviate in different directions:
by the old Spanish trail round the north banks of the
Colorado, crossing Rio Virgenes to Mojave River and
desert, and through Cajon Pass to Los Angeles; by
General Kearny s line of march through Arizona,
along the Gila; by that of Colonel Cooke down the Rio
Grande and westward across the Sonora table-land to
Yuma. Others passed through Texas, Coahuila, and
Chihuahua into Arizona, while riot a few went by sea
to Tampico and Vera Cruz, and thence across the con
tinent to Mazatlan or other Mexican seaport to seek a
steamer or sailing vessel, or even through Nicaragua,
which soon sprang into prominence as a rival point of
transit to the Isthmus. 20 Snow at least proving no
lished at Sacramento, in a volume of 112 pp., under the title of Penknife
Sketches; or Chips of the. Old Block; a series of original illustrated letters, writ
ten by one of California s pioneer miners, and dedicated to that class of her cit
izens by the author. Sac., 1853. A second edition, sixteenth thousand, was
published in 1854, price one dollar. Like the cuts designed by Charles Nahl,
which ornament this book, the humor of the author is of a rough and ready
nature, but it is genial and withal graphic. The Sketches are the overflowing
of a merry heart, which no hard times could depress, and through all their
burlesque it is evident that the writer had a discerning and appreciative eye
for the many strange phases which his new life presented. More famous
humorists have arisen in California since the time of Old Block, his chosen
nom de plume; but as the first of the tribe, so he was the most faithful in
depicting life in the flush times. His California Sketch- Book is similar in na
ture to the Penknife Sketches. Besides his purely humorous pieces, Delano
wrote a number of tales which appeared in the Hesperian and Ilutchinrjs 1
magazines, as well as some plays, which it is said were put upon the stage.
See the Grass Valley Foothill Tidings, Nov. 21, 1874. In 1868 he published
at S. F. The Central Pacific, or 49 and 69, by Old Block, a pamphlet of 24
pp., comparing the modes of traversing the continent at the two dates men
tioned.
20 The new Mexican routes have received full attention in the preceding
volumes of this series, Hist. CaL, in connection with Hispano-Mexican inter
course between New Mexico and CaL, with trapper roamings and the march
overland of U. S. troops in 1846-7. Taylor, Eldorado, 131, speaks of Yuma
attacks on Arizona passengers. See also records and references in the Alto,
CaL, June 25, 1850, and other journals and dates, as in a preceding note; also
Hayes 1 Life, MS., 69 et seq. ; Id., in Misc. Hist. Pup., doc. 27, p. 35-6, 45,
et seq. ; Hayes Emig. Notes, MS., 415, with list of his party; Id., Diary, MS.,
56; Soule s Stat., MS., 1 etseq.; Say ward s Slat., MS., 2-5; Perry s Travels,
14-69, and Woods Sixteen Months, 3 et seq., recording troubles and exactions
of Mexican trips via Mazatlan and San Bias. So in Overland, xv. 241-8, on
158 THE JOURNEY OVERLAND
material obstruction along the more southerly routes,
a fair proportion of emigrants from the United States
had availed themselves of the outlet for an earlier
start, 21 and some 8, 000, entered California from this
quarter, including many Hispano- Americans, the lat
ter pouring in, moreover, throughout the winter
months by way of Sonora and Chihuahua.
The number of gold-seekers who reached California
from all sources during the year 1849 can be esti
mated only approximately. The most generally ac
cepted statement, by a committee of the California
constitutional convention, places the population at
the close of 1849 at 106,000, which, as compared with
the census figure, six months later, of about 112,000,
exclusive of Indians, 22 appears excessive. But the
census was taken under circumstances not favorable
to accuracy, and the preceding estimate may be re
garded as equally near the truth, although some of
the details are questionable. 23
the San Bias route. The steamer California took on board at Acapulco, in
July 1849, a party of destitute Americans, assisted by the passengers. Santa
Cruz Times, Feb. 26, 1870. Rond6 met five unarmed Frenchmen hauling a
hand wagon through Chihuahua. Charton, Tour du Hfonde, iv. 160; Southern
Quart. Rev. , x v. 224 et seq. In Sherwood s Guide, 57-8, is mentioned a fantastic
balloon route by the patent aerial steam float of R. Porter, to carry passen
gers at $100, including board and a precautionary return ticket; the trip to
be made in four or five days!
21 The fear of Mexican hostility, the comparatively inferior knowledge of
this route, and its apparent roundabout turn made it less popular, at least
north of the southern states.
22 The total is 92,597 for all except three counties Santa Clara, S. F., and
Contra Costa, the returns for which were lost. U. S. Seventh Census, 966 et
seq. Comparison with the state census of 1852 permits an estimate for these
three of not over 19,500, whereof 16,500 were for S. F. town and county. The
Annals of S. F., 244, assumes 20,000 or even 25,000; others vary between
7,000 and 20,000 for S. F. city at the close of 1849, and as a large number of
miners and others were then wintering there, the population must have
fallen greatly by the time of taking the census. In July and Aug. 1849
the city had only 5,000 or 6,000. The influx by sea during the first six
months of 1850 is reported by the S. F. custom-house at 24,288, whereof
16,472 were Americans. U. S. Gov. Doc., 31st cong. 1st sess., H. Ex. Doc.
16, iv. 44-5. By deducting this figure and balancing departures with the
influx from Mexico the total at the end of 1849 would be nearly 90,000.
23 For instance, the population at the end of 1848 is placed by the com
mittee at 215,000, of whom 13,000 were Californians, 8,000 Americans, and
5,000 foreigners. I estimate from the archives the native California!) ele
ment at little over 7,500 at the same period; 8,000 Americans is an admis-
POPULATION. 159
I prefer, therefore, to place the number of white in
habitants at the close of 1849 at riot over 100,000,
accepting the estimated influx by sea of 39,000, of
which about 23,000 were Americans, and 42,000 over
land, of which 9,000 were from Mexico, 8,000 coming
through New Mexico, and 25,000 by way of the South
Pass and Humboldt River. Of this number a few
thousand, especially Mexicans, returned the same year,
leaving a population that approached 95, 000. r
24
sible figure, including the Oregon influx, but 5,000 foreigners is somewhat
excessive, as may be judged from my notes in preceding chapters on Mexican
and other immigration. Indians are evidently excluded in all estimates.
The other figures for the influx during 1849 appear near enough. They may
be consulted as original or quoted estimates, among other works, in Mayer s
Mex. Aztec, ii. 393; Siillman s Golden Fleece, 32; hitteWs Hist. S. F., 139-40.
"About half-way between the federal estimates and those of the convention.
The tendency of the latter was naturally to give the highest reasonable figures,
and the wonder is that it did not swell them with Indian totals. Such ex
citing episodes as the gold rush are moreover apt to produce exaggeration
everywhere. Thus a widely accepted calculation, as reproduced in Cal. Past
and Present, 146-7, roaches 200,000, based on Larkin s report of 46,000 ar
rived by July 1849, and on calculations from Laramie of 56,000 passing there.
A still larger number came by sea, say 100,000, all Americans, so that
nearly 200,000 arrived, and in 1850 there would be more than 500,000 new
arrivals from tho U. S. ! Even the Report, 15, of the govt agent, T. B. King,
assumes loosely the arrival in 1849 of 80,000 Americans and 20,000 foreigners.
U. S. Gov. Doc., 31st cong. 1st sess., H. Ex. Doc. 59, 7. And Hittell, Hint.
S. F., 13940, 155-6, so excessively cautious in some respects, not allowing
over 8,000 inhabitants to S. F. in Nov. 1849, assigns 30,000 in June 1850 to
three counties lacking in the census, of which about 25,000 must be meant for
S. F., and so reaches a total of 122,000, while accepting the 100,000 estimate
for 1849. Tho investigations of J. Coolidge of the Merchants Exchange in
dicated arrivals at S. F. from March 31 to Dec. 31, 1849, of 30,675, excluding
deserters; 12,237 coming from U. S. ports via Cape Horn, 6,000 via Panama,
2,600 via San Bias and Mazatlan, the rest from other quarters. Figures in
Niles* Reg., Ixxxv. 113, 127, 288, give 3,547 passengers for Chagres by April
1849; overland influx, adds Sac. Record, Mar. 28, 1874, probably exceeded
that by sea twofold. In a letter to the St Louis Rep. of June 10, 1849, from
Fort Kearny, it was said that 5,095 wagons had passed; about 1,000 more
left behind, and many turning back daily. There are 5,000 or 6,OuO wagons
on the way. Alta CaL, Aug. 2, 1849. See also Placer Timi s, May 26, Oct. 13,
1849, etc. Kirkpatrick, Journal, MS., 14-16, states, on the other hand, that
only 1,500 teams were supposed to be on the road between Platte ferry and
Cal. during the latter half of June. The Santa Fe and South Pass arrivals
embrace some Hispano- Americans and Oregonians. For further speculations
on numbers I refer to Williams Rec. Early Days, MS., 10; Barstow s Stat.,
MS., 13; Abbey s Trip, 5, 26, 56; S. F. Directory, 1852-3, 10-11, 15; Pioneer
Arch., 182-3; Larkin s Doc., MS., vi. 203; Taylor** Eldorado, ii. cap. iv.;
8imonin, Grand Quest, 290; Janxsens, Vida y Av., MS., 209-10; Annals S. F.
133, 244, 356, 484; Polynesian, vi. 74, 86-7; Sac. Directory, 1871, 36; Niks
Reg., Ixxv. 113, 127, 288, 320, 348, 383; Home Miss., xxii. 44; S. F. Pac.
News, Dec. 22, 27, 1849; Apr. 30; May 2, 8, 21, 24, 1850; Alta CaL, July 2,
Dec. 15, 1849; May 24, 1850; S. F. Hernld, Nov. 15, 1850; Jan. 21, 1854;
Boston Traveler, March 18,30; St Louis Anzeiger, Apr. 1850; S. F. Bulletin,
160 THE JOURNEY OVERLAND.
The advance parties of the Rocky Mountain migra
tion began to arrive in the Sacramento Valley toward
the end of July, after which a steady stream came
pouring in. They were bewildered and unsettled for
a while under the novelty of their surroundings, for
the rough flimsy camps and upturned, debris-strewn
river banks, as if convulsed by nature, accorded little
with the pictured paradise; but kind greeting and aid
came from all sides to light up their haggard faces,
and before the prospect of unfolding riches all past
toil and danger faded like a gloomy dream. Even
the cattle, broken in spirit, felt the reviving influence
of the goal attained. 25 To many the visions of wealth
which began anew to haunt their fancy proved only a
reflection of the lately mocking mirages of the desert,
till sober thought and strength came to reveal other
fields of labor, whence they might wrest more surely
though slowly the fortune withheld by fickle chance.
And here the overland immigrants as a mass had the
advantage, coming as they did from the small towns,
the villages, and the farms of the interior, or from the
young settlements on the western frontier. Accus
tomed to a rugged and simple life, they craved less for
excitement; arid honest, industrious, thrifty, and self-
reliant, they could readily fall back upon familiar toil
and find a potent ally in the soil. A large propor
tion, indeed, had come to cast their lot in a western
home. The emigrants by sea, on the other hand,
speaking broadly and with all due regard to exceptions,
were pioneers not so natural and befitting to an en-
Apr. 6, 1868. Arrivals in 1850 will be considered later in connection with
population.
"Among the first comers was Jas S. Thomas from Platte City. Burnett s
Rec., MS., ii. 127. The first party of packers reached Sac. about July 18th;
four wagons were there in Pleasant Valley, 100 miles above. Alta Cat., Ang.
2, 1849. The hungry and sick received every care, despite the absorbing
occupation of all and the high cost of food. Sutter aided hundreds. Used
to open-air camping, many could not endure sleeping in a house for a long
time. McCall, Great Ccd. Trail, 1-85, left St Joseph May 5th; reached Ft
Kearny May 29th; Ft Laramie June 18th; Green River July 10th; Hum-
boldt River Aug. 10th; Truckee River Aug. 29th; and coming down by
Johnson s Ranch, arrived at Sutter s Sept. 7th.
AUTHORITIES. 161
tirely new country. They embraced more of the
abnormal and ephemeral, and a great deal of the
criminal and vicious, in early California life. They
might build cities and organize society, but there
were those among them who made the cities hot
beds of vice and corruption, and converted the
social fabric into a body nondescript, at the sight
of which the rest of the world stood wrapped in
apprehension. 26
26 Additional authorities: U. S. Govt Docs, 30 Cong. 1 Sess., H. Ex. Doc.
1, p. 32; Id., 30 Cong. 2 Sess., U. S. Acts and Resol. 1-155; Id., 31 Cong.
1 Sess., H. Ex. Doc. 5, pt. i., 224, 429-33; H. Ex. Doc. 17, passim; H. Ex.
Doc. 52, xiii. 94-154; H. Ex. Doc. 59, 7, 26; Id., 31 Cong. 2 Sess., H. Ex.
Doc. 1, p. 77, 208; Sen. Doc. 19, iii. 12-15; Id., 32 Cong. 1 Sess., Sen. Doc.
50, passim; Sen. Doc. 124, pp. 1-222; Mess, and Docs, 1847-8, ii. 955-G;
WiUces Exp., v. 181; Velasco, Notic. Son., 289, 320-33; Simonin, Grand
Ouest, 290 et seq.; Shermans Mem., i. passim; Larkin s Docs, iii. 215; vi. 74,
111, 116, 128, 130, 132, 144, 173, 178, 180, 185, 198, 203, 219; vii. 24, 94;
Manrows Vig. Committee, MS., 1-67; Hayes 1 Life, MS., 69-70; Id., Diary,
passim; Id., Scraps Ariz., v. 29; Id., Scraps L. Aug., i. 205; Id., Miscel. Hist.
Papers, doc. 27; Id., Coll. Mining Cat, i. 1; Id., Coll. Mining, v. 3-12. 85;
Id., Gal. Notes, i. 101; iii. 153; v. 16, 20, 85; Williams Stit., MS., 1-3, 6-12;
Yreka Journal, Feb. 18, 1874; Janssens Vida y Avent., 209-10; Kunzel, O ,er-
califonden; Bigler s Diary of a Mormon, 56-79, 91; Bu/um s Six Montlis, 68-9,
111-22, 156; Burnett s Recoil., MS., passim; Carson s Early Recoil.; Gillespie s
Vig. Com., MS., 3-4; Hitchcock s Stat., MS., 1-7; Annals S. F., passim;
Beadle s West. WMs, 38^0; Blu.come s Vig. Com., MS., 1-2; Connors Early
CaL, MS., 1-5; Cerruti s Ramblings, 66-7, 94 et seq.; Mollien s Travels Col.,
409-13; Robinson s CaL Gold Region, passim; Stillman s Golden Fleece, 19-32,
327-52; Stuart s Trip to CaL, 2-3; Tyson s Geol. of CaL, 84; Bolton vs U. S.,
app 88-95; Kirkpatrick s Journal, MS., 3-16; Jenkins U. S. Ex. Exped.,
431-2; The Friend, Honolulu, vii. 21; viii. 28; Kanesville, la, Front Guard,
July 25, 1849; Petaluma Argus, Apr. 4, 1873; Pan. Star, Feb. 24, 1849;
Ryckman s St.it., MS., 11, 20; Estrella de Ocad., Nov. 16, 1860; Retes, Por-
tentosas Riq. Min.; Sac. Direct., 1871, 36; Abbey s Trip across Plains, 5, 26,
5o; Alger s Young Advent., 185-293; Brooks" Four Months, passim; Bracket s
U. S. Cdv., 125-7; S. F. Argonaut, passim; Revere s Tour of Duty, 254-6;
A/., Keel ami Saddle, 151-4; S. F. Whig and Advert., June 11, 1853; Treasury
ofTrav., 92^; Truckee Tribune, Jan. 8, 1870; Revue des deux Mondes, Feb. 1,
1849; Broivne s Min. Res., 14-15; Arch. Mont. Co., xiv. 18; Arch. Sta Cruz
Co., 107; Fay s Hist. Facts, MS.; Dwinelle s Add., 104-12; Doc. Hist. CaL, i.
505; Diggers Hand Book, 45-53; Henshaw s Stat., MS.; Helper s Land of Gold,
101; Bortku ick sStat.,MS.,2-5 , Browns Early DaijsofCaL, MS., 1-7; Boyn-
ton s Stat., MS., 1; Cod mans The Round Trip, 28; Tiffany s Pocket Exch. Guide,
16; Gilroy Advocate, Apr. 24, 1875; Folsom Telegraph, Sept. 17, 1871; Ferry,
CaL, 105-6, 306-28; Colusa Sun, March 8, 1873; Bryant s What I Saw in CaL,
i. 142-3; Ashley s Docs Hist. CaL, 223, 271-396; Antiock Ledger, Dec. 24,
1870; July 1, 1876; Tuthill s CaL, 234; Thornton s Oregon and CaL, 270; Gold
Hill Daily News, Apr. 16, 1872; Coke s Ride, 156, 166; FindkCs Stat., MS.,
passim; Dowell s Letters, MS., 1-34; Duncan s Soutfiern Oregon, MS., 1-2;
l^uigley s Irish Race; Grass Valley Repub., March 8, 1872; Cronise s Nat.
Wealth, 56-7; Roach s Stat., MS., 1-2; Del Mar s Hist. Precious Met., 258 et
seq.; Dameron s Autobiog., MS., 19; Taylor s Betw. Gates, 25-30, 61-7, 131;
Id., El Dorado, i. 26-9, 48; ii. 36, 222-3; Van Allen, in Mixel. Stat., 31; Van-
HIST. CAL., VOL. VI. 11
162 THE JOURNEY OVERLAND.
derbilt, in Miscel Stat., 1, 32-3; Wheaton s Stat., MS., 2-3; Charton, Tour du
Monde, iv. 1(50; Barnes Or. and Cal, MS., 19, 26; Weik, Cal ^v^e es ist, 29-
51; Du Hailly, in Rev. des deux Mondes, Feb. 15, 1849; Barrow s Twelve
Nights, 165-268; Vallejo Recorder, March 14, 1868; Oct. 12, 1869; Woods
Sixteen Mont/is, passim; Dunbar s Romance, 48, 55-89, 102-6; Ware s Emig.
Guide, 1-55; Alameda Co. Hist. Atlas, 14; Valle, Doc., 58; Cal. Past and
Present, 77, 146-7; Castroville Argus, June 12, 19, 1875; Robinson s Stat., MS.,
23-4; Willey s Pers. Mem., MS., 25, 58-75, 111-18; Rons Stat., MS., 1-12;
Ryan s Pers. Adv., ii. 273-5; /(/., Judges and Grim., 72-9; Pion. Mag., iv.
380; Oli/mpia Transcript, June 17, 1876; Dept. St. P. (Ang.), viii. 6, 16;
Dean s Stat., MS., 1-2; Kane, in Miscel. Stat., 7-11; Humboldt Times, March
7, 1874; Schlagentiveit, Cal., 216; Winans Stat., MS., 1-5, 23-4; Lake Co.
Bee, March 8, 18/3; Napa Reg., Aug. 1, 1874; McClellan s Golden State, 119-
46; Barry s Up and Down, 93-7; Schmiedell s Stat., MS., 6; Walton s Facts
from Gold Regions, 8, 19-32; Crosby s Events in Cal., MS., 13-26; Santa Cruz
Times, Feb. 19, 26, 1870; 8. F. Times, July 20, 1867; Shearer s Journal, MS.,
1-3, 11; Warren s Dust and Foam, 12-14, 133, 153-6; West Coast Signal, Apr.
15, 1874; Nev. Co. Hist., 41, 45; Merrill s Stat., MS., 1-3; Alameda Co. Gaz.,
March 8, 1873; March 14, 1874; Jan. 9, May 29, 1875; Barstow s Stat., MS.,
1-4, 14; St Louis Union, May 25, 1849; Cassin s A Few Facts, 1-5, 17-18;
Dool Mle s Stat., 1-22; Morgan s Trip across the Plains, 1-21; Carver s Travel*,
122; Cal. Pioneers, Docs, passim; Wilmington Enterprise, Jan. 21, 1875; Say-
board s Pers. Rem., MS., 2; San Jose Argus, Oct. 16, 1875; Stockton Indep.,
Nov. 1, 1873; Apr. 4, 1874; Jan. 30, Oct. 19, 1875; Low s Stat., MS., 1-5;
MassetCs Exper. of a 49er, 1-10; Sand. Islands News, ii. 134, 147, 158. 186;
Hawleti s Observ., MS., 1-3; Sta Cruz Sentinel, July, 15, 1875; Vandykes Stat.,
MS., 1-2, etc.; Soule s Stat., MS., 1-2; Vallejo D. Indep., June 1-8, 1872;
Staples Stat., MS.; Neall s Vig. Com., MS., 3, 22-4; Coleman s Vig. Com.,
MS., 175-83; Matthewson s Stat., MS., 1; Swan s Trip, 1-3, 13; Lord s B.
Col. Naturalist, 271; Cent. Amer. Miscel. Docs, 44; Delano s Life on the Plains,
passim; Home Miss., xxii. 44, 185-6; Soora Book, iv. 174, in Pinart, Coll.;
Sherwood s Pocket Guide to Gal, 27, 47-64; Sac. Union, Jan. 23, 26, Feb. 13,
Dec. 30, 1856, etc.; Solano Repub., Sept. 29, 1870; 8. F. Evg Post, July 14,
1877; Nev. D. Gaz., June 9, 1866; Jan. 20, 22, 1868; Leavitfs Scrap Book;
Little s Stat., MS., l^t; Cerruti s Rambl mgs, 46; Holinski, La Cal, 144; Vallejo
Chron., July 25, Oct. 10, 1874; San Jose Mercury, Apr. 28, 1876; Cronine s
Nat. Wealth, 57; Id., Stat., MS., 1; S niton s Early Exper., MS., 1; South.
Quart. Rev., xv. 224; Melbourne Mg Herald, Feb. 6, 7, 10, 1849; Stockton D.
Herald, May 18, 1871; Nevada City and Grass Valley D tr., 1856, 43; L. Ang.
Repub., Feb. 28, March 14, May 18, 1878; Cal, Adv. Capt. Wife, 18, 20,
41-2; Sac. Transcript, Oct. 15, 1850; Feb. 1, 1851; Overland Monthly, ix.
12-13; xii. 343; xv. 241-8; 8. F. Cal. Star, Oct. 1847 to June 1848, passim;
8. F. Evg Post, Aug. 8, 1883; Mayer s Mex. Azt., ii. 393; Slater s Mormon-
ism, 5-12, 87; Pfei/ers Sec. Journ., 290; Soc. Mex. Geog., xi. 127-34; San
Diego Union, July 22, 1874; S. F. Evening Picayune, Aug. 30, Sept. 4, 12,
Oct. 5, Nov. 27, Dec. 18, 1850; Scherzer s Narr., iii. 425-30; Oakland A lam.
Co. Gaz., May 29, 1875; Oakland Transcript, Aug. 7, 1872; March 1, 1873;
June 16, 1876; 8. F. Pat. News, Nov. 1849 to Dec. 1850, passim; S. F. Bulle
tin, Apr. 9, May 12, 31, July 29, Dec. 2, 1858; Jan. 31, Feb. 12, Apr. 29, 30,
May 25, June 2, 3, Aug. 15, Sept. 18, 30, Oct. 29, 1859; March 1, 29, 1860;
Aug. 21, 1862, etc.; Pion. Arch., passim; Pearsons Recoil., MS., 1-2; Preble s
Hist. Steam Navig., 321-4; S. F. Daily Herald, June 1850 to Feb. 1851, pas
sim; Solano Co. Hist., 65-6, 154, 3(38-9, 451; San Jose Pioneer, Jan. 27, Feb.
24, Aug. 4, Dec. 8, 29, 1877; Oct. 9, 1880; Pio Pico, Ti^es, MS., 141-6;
Hunt s Merch. Mag., xviii. 467-76; xx. 55-64; xxi. 585-6; xxxii. 354-5; Par
son s Life of Marshall, passim; Californian, 1847-8, passim; McCollum s Cal.
as I Saw It, 17, 25-6; Perry s Travels, 14-69; First Steamship Pioneers, pas
sim; Polynesian, v. and vi., passim; vii. 18, 62, 131; Shuck s Scrap Book, 83-4;
Moore s Pion. Exper., MS., 1; Id., Recoil, of Early Dans, MS., 2; Shasta
Courier, Nov. 18, 1865; March 16, 1867; Placer Times, Apr. 28, May 19, 26,
AUTHORITIES. 163
June 2, Aug. 11, Sept. 15, Oct. 13, Dec. 1, 1849; May 22, 1850; S. F. Direc
tory, 1852 (Parker), 10; Id., 1852-3, 10-14; Sac. Hee, Dec. 7, 1869; Nov. 21,
1871; March 28, Aug. 27, 1874; July 7, 1875; Nov. 26, 1878; S. F. Cal.
Courier, 1850-1, passim; S. F. Alta Cal., 1849-75, passim; hUtelftt Cal.,
124-5; Id., Mining, 17; Id., S. F., 125-56, etc.; Id., Hand Book, 12-18; El
Sonoreme, Feb. 21, March 21, 30, Apr. 18, 26, May 11, 1849; Vallcjo, Col
Doc. Hint. Cal, xii. 344; xxxv. 47, 148, 192; xxxvi. 287; Nile* Reg., Ixxiv.
257, 336-7; Ixxv. 69-70, 113, 127, 288, 320, 348, 383.
CHAPTER X.
SAN FRANCISCO.
1848-1850.
SITE AND SURROUNDINGS RIVALS EFFECT OF THE MINES SHIPPING IN
FLUX OF POPULATION PHYSICAL AND COMMERCIAL ASPECTS BUSINESS
FIRMS PUBLIC AND PRIVATE BUILDINGS NATIONAL LOCALITIES
HOTELS AND RESTAURANTS PRICES CURRENT PROPERTY VALUES
AUCTION SALES WHARVES AND STREETS EARLY ERRORS HISTORIC
FIRES ENGINES AND COMPANIES IMMIGRATION AND SPECULATION
POLITICS THE HOUNDS CITY GOVERNMENT.
MANY cities owe their origin to accident; some to
design. In the latter category may be placed most of
those that sprang up upon this western earth s end,
and notably San Francisco. When the Englishman
Richardson moved over from Sauzalito to Yerba
Buena Cove in the summer of 1835, and cleared a
place in the chaparral for his trading-tent; when the
American Jacob P. Leese came up from Los An
geles, and in connection with his friends of Monterey,
William Hinckley and Nathan Spear, erected a sub
stantial frame building and established a commercial
house there in the summer of 1836 it would appear
that these representatives of the two foremost nations
of the world, after mature deliberation, had set out to
lay the foundation of a west-coast metropolis. The
opening of the Hudson s Bay Company branch estab
lishment in 1841 added importance to the hamlet.
Although founded on the soil and under the colors of
Andhuac, it never was a Mexican settlement, for the
United States element ever predominated, until the
( 164 )
SITE SELECTED. 1C5
spirit of 7G took formal possession under symbol of the
American flag, wafted hither over subdued domains.
The inducements for selecting the site lay in its
proximity to the outlet of the leading harbor 1 upon
the coast, a harbor to which so many huge rivers and
rich valleys were tributary, and to which so many
land routes must necessarily converge. A position so
commanding led to the establishment here of a pre
sidio immediately after the occupation of the country,
under whose wings sprang up a flourishing mission
establishment. The harbor commended itself early to
passing vessels, and although finding Sauzalito on the
northern shore the best station for water and wood,
they were obliged to come under cognizance of the
military authorities at the fort, and to seek the more
substantial supplies at the mission, both establish
ments presenting, moreover, to trading vessels, in
their not inconsiderable population, and as the abutting
points for the settlements southward, an all-important
attraction. These primary advantages outweighed
greatly such drawbacks as poor landing-places, lack
of water sources and farming land in the vicinity, and
the growing inconvenience of communication with the
main settlements now rising in the interior. The op
portune strategy of Alcalde Bartlett in setting aside
the name of Yerba Buena, which threatened to over
shadow its prospects, and restoring that of Saint Fran
cis, proved of value in checking the aspirations of
Erancisca, later called Benicia. And our seraphic
father of Assisi remembered the honor, by directing to
its shore the vast fleet of vessels which in 1849 began
to empty here their myriads of passengers and cargoes
of merchandise. This turned the scale, and with such
start, and the possession of capital and fame, the town
distanced every rival, Benicia with all her superior
natural advantages falling far behind.
1 Opinions upon its merits have been expressed by many prominent ex
plorers. Gen. Smith strongly disparaged the site from a military and com
mercial point of view, while becoming enthusiastic over the advantages of
Benicia.
156 SAN FRANCISCO.
Nevertheless, doubters became numerous with every
periodic depression in business; 2 and when the gold
excitement carried off most of the population, 3 the
stanchest quailed, and the rival city at the straits, so
much nearer to the mines, seemed to exult in pro
spective triumph. But the golden storm proved
menacing only in aspect. During the autumn the
inhabitants came flocking back again, in numbers
daily increased by new arrivals, and rich in funds
wherewith to give vitality to the town. Building
operations were actively resumed, notwithstanding
the cost of labor, 4 and real estate, which lately could
not have found buyers at any price, now rose with a
bound to many times its former value. 5 The opening
of the first wharf for sea-going vessels, the Broadway, 6
may be regarded as the beginning of a revival, marked
also by the resurrection of the defunct press, 7 and the
establishment of a school, and of regular protestant
worship, 8 propitiatory measures well needed in face of
2 As early in 1848, when several firms discontinued their advertisements
in the Californian. Others thought it expedient, as we have seen, to seek a
prop for the prevailing land and other speculations, by bringing the resources
of the country and the importance of the town before the people of the east
ern states. This was done by the pen of Fourgeaud in the Cal. Star, Mar.
18, 1848, and following numbers.
3 The absorbing municipal election of Oct. 3d showed only 158 votes.
Annals S. F., 206. See chapter i. in this vol. on condition in Jan., and chap
ter iv. on exodus.
4 Tenfold higher than in the spring. Effects stood in proportion. Eggs
$12 a dozen; Hawaiian onions and potatoes $1.50 a Ib.j shovels $10 each, etc.
The arrival of supplies lowered prices till flour sold at from $12 to $15 a bar
rel in Dec. Star and Cat., Dec. 1848; Bu/ums Six Montlis, 23.
5 For spring prices, see preceding volume, v. 652-4. A strong influence
was felt by the arrival in Sept. of the brig Belfast from New York, whose
cargo served to lower the price of merchandise, but whose inauguration of
the Broadway wharf as a direct discharging point inspired hope among the
townsfolk. Real estate rose 50 per cent near the harbor; a lot vainly offered
for $5,000 one day, sold readily the next for $10,000. S. F. Directory, 1852,
9. By Nov. the prices had advanced tenfold upon those ruling in the spring,
and rents rose from $10 and $20 to $20 and $100 per month. To returning
lot-holders this proved another mine, but others complained of the rise as a
drawback to settlement. Gillespie, in Larkins Doc., MS., vi. 52, 66; EarlCs
Stat., MS., 10.
6 For earlier progress of wharves, see preceding vol., v. 655, 679>
7 The Californian had maintained a spasmodic existence for a time till
bought by the Cal. Star, which on Nov. 18th reappeared under the combined
title, Star and Californian, after five months suspension. In Jan. 1849 it ap
pears as the A Ua California^ weekly.
8 Rev. T. D. Hunt, invited from Honolulu, was chosen chaplain to the
INFLUX OF VESSELS. 167
the increased relapse into political obliquity and dis
sipation, to be expected from a population exuberant
with sudden affluence after long privation. 9
Yet this period was but a dull hibernation of expect
ant recuperation for renewed toil, 10 as compared with
the following seasons. The awakening came at the
close of February with the arrival of the first steam
ship, the California, bearing the new military chief,
General Persifer F. Smith, and the first instalment of
gold-seekers from the United States. Then vessel
followed vessel, at first singly, but erelong the hori
zon beyond the Golden Gate was white with approach
ing sails ; and soon the anchorage before Yerba Buena
Cove, hitherto a glassy expanse ruffled only by the
tide and breeze, and by some rare visitor, was thickly
studded with dark hulks, presenting a forest of masts,
and bearing the symbol and stamp of different countries,
the American predominating. By the middle of No
vember upward of six hundred vessels had entered
the harbor, and in the following year came still more. 11
The larger proportion were left to swing at anchor in
the bay, almost without guard at one time more
than 500 could be counted for the crews, possessed
no less than the passengers by the gold fever, rushed
away at once, carrying off the ship boats, and caring
little for the pay due them, and still less for the dilemma
of the consignees or captain. The helpless commander
frequently joined in the flight. 12 So high was the cost
of labor, and so glutted the market at times with cer
tain goods, that in some instances it did not pay to
citizens, with $2,500 a year. Services at schpol-house on Portsmouth square.
Annals 8. F., 207.
9 There were now general as well as local elections, particulars of which
are given elsewhere.
ltf As spring approached, attention centred on preparations, with impatient
waiting for opportunities to start for the mines. Hence the statement may
not be wrong that most of the people of the city at that time had a cadav
erous appearance, .... a drowsy listlessness seemed to characterize the masses
of the community. First Steamship Pioneers, 366.
11 As will be shown in the chapter on commerce.
12 Taylor instances a case where the sailors coolly rowed off under the fire
of the government vessels. El Dorado, i. 54. Merchants, had. to .take care.of
many abandoned vessels. Fay s Facta, MS., 1-2.
168 SAN TRANCISCO.
unload the cargo. Many vessels were left to rot, or
to be beached for conversion into stores and lodging-
houses. 13 The disappointments and hardships of the
mines brought many penitents back in the autumn, so
as to permit the engagement of crews.
Of 40,000 and more persons arriving in the bay,
the greater proportion had to stop at San Francisco to
arrange for proceeding inland, while a certain number
of traders, artisans, and others concluded to remain in
the city, whose population thus rose from 2,000 in Feb
ruary to 6,000 in August, after which the figure began
to swell under the return current of wintering or sati
ated miners, until it reached about 20,000. 14
To the inflowing gold-seekers the aspect of the
famed El Dorado city could not have been very in
spiring, with its straggling medley of low dingy adobes
of a by-gone day, and frail wooden shanties born in an
13 By cutting holes for doors and windows and adding a roof. Merrill,
Stat., MS., 2-4, instances the well-known Niantlc and Gen. Harrison. Lar-
kin, in Doc. Hist. CaL, vii. 288, locates the former at N. w. corner Sansome
and Clay, and the latter (owned by E. Mickle & Co.) at N. w. corner Bat
tery and Clay. He further places the Apollo storeship, at N. w. corner Sacra
mento and Battery, and the Georgean between Jackson and Washington, west
of Battery st. Many sunk at their moorings. As late as Jan. 1857 old
hulks still obstructed the harbor, while still others had been overtaken by the
bayward march of the city front, and formed basements or cellars to tene
ments built on their decks. Even now, remains of vessels are found under
the filled foundations of houses. Energetic proceedings of the harbor-master
finally cleared the channel. This work began already in 1850. Chas Hare
made a regular business of taking the vessels to pieces; and soon the observ
ant Chinese saw the profits to be made, and applied their patient energy
to the work. Among the sepulchred vessels I may mention the Cadmus,
which carried Lafayette to America in 1824; the Plover, which sailed the Arctic
in search of Franklin; the Regulus, Alceste, Thames, Neptune, Golconda, Mersey,
Caroline Augusta, Dianthe, Genetta deGoito, Candace, Copiapo, Talca, Bay State,
and others.
14 It is placed at 3,000 in March, 5,000 in July, and from 12,000 to 15,000 in
Oct., the latter by Taylor, Eldorado, 205, and a writer in Home Miss., xxiii.
208. Some even assume 30,000 at the end of 1849. In the spring the cur
rent set in for the mines, leaving a small population for the summer. The
first directory, of Sept. 1850, contained 2,500 names, and the votes cast in
Oct. reached 3,440. Sac. Transcript, Oct. 14, 1850. Hittell, S. F., 147-8, as
sumes not over 8,000 in Nov. 1849, on the strength of the vote then cast of
2,056, while allowing about 25,000 in another place for Dec. The Annals S. F. y
.219, .226, 244, insists upon at least 20,000, probably nearer 25,000. There are
other estimates in Mayne s B. Col. 157. The figures differ in Crosby s Events,
MS., 12; Williams Stat., MS., 3; Greens Life, MS., 19; Burnett s Recol . MS.,
ii. 36; Bartktt s Stat., MS., 3.
THE EMBRYO METROPOLIS.
169
The (-raded sha^mg indicates the rel-
A. ative density of occupation in the b<uines
na leading reidence ^ctlon
SAN FRANCISCO IN 1849.
170 SAN FRANCISCO.
afternoon, with a sprinkling of more respectable frame
houses, and a mass of canvas and rubber habitations.
The latter crept outward from the centre to form a
flapping camp-like suburb around the myriad of sand
hills withered by rainless summer, their dreariness
scantily relieved by patches of chaparral and sage
brush, diminutive oak and stunted laurel, upon which
the hovering mist-banks cast their shadow. 15
It was mainly a city of tents, rising in crescent in
cline upon the shores of the cove. Stretching from
Clark Point on the north-east, it skirted in a narrow
band the dominant Telegraph hill, and expanded along
the Clay-street slopes into a more compact settlement
of about a third of a mile, w r hich tapered away along
the California-street ridge. Topographic peculiarities
compelled the daily increasing canvas structures to
spread laterally, and a streak extended northward
along Stockton street; but the larger number passed
to the south-west shores of the cove, beyond the Mar
ket-street ridge, a region which, sheltered from the
blustering west winds and provided with good spring
water, was named Happy Valley. 16 Beyond an at-
15 Hardly any visitor fails to dilate upon the dreary bareness of the hills,
a corpse-like waste, as Pfeiffer, Lady s Second Jour., 288, has it. Helper s
Land of Gold, 83.
16 All this shore beyond California street, for several blocks inland, was
called Happy Valley; yet the term applied properly to the valley about First,
Second, Mission, and Natoma sts. The section along Howard st was known
as Pleasant Valley. Deans Stat., MS., 1; Currey s Incidents, MS., 4; Wilicy,
and pioneer letters in S. F. Bulletin, May 17, 1859; Jan. 23, Sept. 10, 18G7.
The unclaimed soil was also an attraction. The hill which at the present
Palace Hotel rose nearly threescore feet in height in a measure turned the
wind. Yet proportionately more people died in this valley, says Garniss,
Early Days, MS., 10, than in the higher parts of S. F. Currey estimates
the number of tents here during the winter 1849-50 at 1,000, and adds that
the dwellings along Stockton st, north from Clay, were of a superior order.
Ulri, sup. , 8. Details on the extent of the city are given also in Williams
Recol, MS., 6; Merrill, Stat., MS., 2, wherein is observed that it took half an
hour to reach Fourth st from the plaza, owing to the trail winding round
sand hills. Button s Early Exper., MS., 1; Barstow s Stat., MS., 2; Roach s
Stat., MS,, 2; Doolittle s Stat., MS., 2; Upham s Notes, 221; Tun-ill s Cal.
Notes, 22-7; Winans Stat., MS., 514; Fay s Facts, MS., 3; Findlas Stat., MS., 3,
9; Robinson s Cal. and Its Gold Reg., 10; Walton s Facts, 8; Richardson s Missis.,
448, with view of S. F. in 1847; Lloyd s Lights and Shades, 18-20; Saxons
Five. Years, 309-12; Hemhaw s Events, MS., 2; Ricliardson s Mining, MS., 10-11;
Frisbie s Remin., MS., 36-7; Sixteen Months, 46, 167; Cal. Gold Regions, 1C5,
214; Hutcfungs Mag., i. 83; Dilke s Greater Britain, 209, 228-32; Clemens
TELEGRAPH HILL. 171
tenuatecl string continued toward the government
reservation at Rincon Point, the south-east limit of
the cove. 17
Thus the city was truly a fit entrepot for the gold
region. Yet, with the distinctive features of different
nationalities, it had in the aggregate a stamp of its
own, and this California type is still recognizable
despite the equalizing effect of intercourse, especially
with the eastern states.
The first striking landmark to the immigrant was
Telegraph hill, with its windmill-like signal house and
pole, whose arms, by their varying position, indicated
the class of vessel approaching the Golden Gate. 18
And many a flutter of hope and expectation did they
evoke when announcing the mail steamer, laden with
letters and messengers, or some long-expected clipper-
ship with merchandise, or perchance bringing a near
and dear relative 1 Along its southern slopes dwell
ings began rapidly to climb, with squatters eyries
perched upon the rugged spurs, and tents nestling in
the ravines. Clark Point, at its foot, was for a time
a promising spot, favored by the natural landing ad
vantages, and the Broadway pier, the first ship wharf;
and its section of Sansorne street was marked by a
number of corrugated iron stores; but with the rapid
extension of the wharf system, Montgomery street
reaffirmed its position as the base line for business.
Most of the heavy import firms were situated along
its eastern side, including a number of auction-houses,
conspicuous for their open and thronged doors, and the
Roughing It, 410, 417, 444; tfouv. Annaks Voy>, 1849, 224; Voorhies Oration,
4-5; Pac. Neto*, Nov. 27, 1849; Dec. 27, 1850; New and Old, 69 et seq.; Mc-
Collums Call 33-6. Earlier details at the close of preceding volume.
17 A mile across from Clark Point. These two points presented the only
boat approach at low water. A private claim to Rincon Point reservation
was subsequently raised ou the ground that the spot had been preempted by
one White; but government rights were primary in cases involving military
defences. 8. F. Times, Apr. 7th.
18 This improved signal-station, in a two-atory house 25 ft by 18, was
erected in Sept. 1849. Reminiscences in S. F. Call, Dec. 8, 1870; Taylor s El
dorado, i. 117. After the telegraph connected the outer ocean station with
the city, tlie hill became mainly a resort for Visitors. The signal-house was
blown down in Dec. 1870.
172 SAN FRANCISCO.
hum of sellers and bidders. On the mud-flats Ji their
rear, exposed by the receding tide, lay barges unload
ing merchandise. Toward the end of 1849, piling and
filling pushed warehouses ever farther out into the
cove, but Montgomery street retained most of the
business offices, some occupying the crossing thor
oughfares. Clay street above Montgomery became
a dry-goods centre. Commercial street was opened,
and its water extension, Long Wharf, unfolded into a
pedler s avenue and Jews quarter, where Cheap Johns
with sonorous voices and broad wit attracted crowds
of idlers. The levee eastward was transformed into
Leidesdorff street, and contained the Pacific Mail
Steamship office. California street, which marked
the practical limit of settlement *in 1848, began to
attract some large importing firms; and thither was
transferred in the middle of 1850 the custom-house,
round which clustered the express offices and two
places of amusement. Nevertheless, the city by that
time did not extend beyond Bush street, save in the
line along the shore to Happy Valley, where manu
facturing enterprises found a congenial soil, fringed
on the west by family residences.
Kearny street was from the first assigned to retail
shops, extending from Pine to Broadway streets, and
centring round Portsmouth square, a bare spot, relieved
alone by the solitary liberty-pole, and the animals in
and around it. 19 The bordering sides of the plaza
were, however, mainly occupied by gambling-houses,
flooded with brilliant light and music, and with flaring
streamers which attracted idlers and men seeking re
laxation. Additional details, with a list of business
firms and notable houses and features, I append in a
note. 20 At the corner of Pacific street stood a four-
19 It long remained a cow-pen, enclosed by rough boards. Helper s Land
Of Gold, 74.
29 A record of the business and professional community of S. F. in 1849-
50 cannot be made exhaustive or rigidly accurate for several obvious reasons.
There was a constant influx and reflux of people from and to the interior,
especially in the spring and autumn. The irregularity in building and
numbering left much confusion; and the several sweeping conflagrations
AROUND CLARK POINT. 173
story building adorned with balconies, wherein the
City Hall had found a halting-place after much mi-
which caused the ruin, disappearance, and removal of many firms and stores,
added to the confusion. Instability characterized this early period here as
well as in the ever-shifting mining camps. I would have preferred to limit
the present record of the city to 1849 as the all-important period, but the
autumn and spring movements force me over into the middle of 1850. The
vagueness of some of my authorities leads me occasionally to overstep even
this line. These authorities are, foremost, the numerous manuscript dicta
tions and documents obtained from pioneers, so frequently quoted in this and
other chapters; the ayuntamiento minutes; advertisements and notices in the
AUa California, Pacific News, Journal of Commerce, California Courier, S. F.
Herald, Evening Picayune, and later newspapers; and Kimbairs Directory
ofS. F. for 1850, the first work of the kind here issued. It is a 16mo of 1C9
pages, with some 2,500 names, remarkable for its omissions, errors, and lack
of even alphabetical order, yet of great value. The Men and Memories cf
San Francisco in the Spring of 1850, by T. A. Barry and B. A. Patten, S. F.,
1873, 12mo, 296 pp., which has taken its chief cue from the above directory,
wanders often widely from the period indicated on the title-page, yet offers
many interesting data. I also refer to my record for the city in 1848, in the
preceding vol., v. 67G etseq. The favorite landing-place for passengers of
1849 was the rocks at Clark Point, so called after Wm S. Clark, who still
owns the warehouse here erected by him in 1847-8, at the N.E. corner of
Battery and Broadway. At the foot of Broadway extended also the first
wharf for vessels, a short structure, which by Oct. 1850 had been stretched
a distance of 250 feet, by 40 in width. The name Commercial applied to it
for a while soon yielded to Broadway. Here were the offices of the harbor
master, river and bar pilots, and Sacramento steamer, and for a time the
brig Treaty lay at the pier as a storage ship, controlled by Whitman & Sal
mon, merchants. On the same wharf were the offices of Flint (Jas P. and
Ed.), Peabody, & Co., Osgood & Eagleston, commission merchants; Geo. H.
Peck, produce merchant; F. Vassault & Co. (W. F. Roelofson), Col March,
Col Ben. Poor, Jos. P. Blair, agent of the Aspinwall steamship line, J.
Badkins, grocer, and the noted Steinberger s butcher-shop.
Near by, to the north, were three pile projections. First, Cunningham
wharf, between Vallejo and Green sts, in Oct. 1850, 375 ft long, 33 ft wide, wich
a right-angle extension of 3CO ft by 30, at a depth of 25 ft cost $75,000. Here
lay for a time the storage ship Resdutci, in care of the pilot agent Ncbon. For
building grant of wharf to Jos. Cunningham, see S. F. Minutes, 1849, 197-8.
At the foot of Green st and toward Union st were the extensions of B. R.
Buckelew & Co., general merchants, and the Law or Green-st-wharf build
ing in the autumn of 1850. Southward stretched the wharf extension of
Pacific st, a solid structure 60 ft wide, of which in Oct. 1850 525 ft were
completed, out of the proposed 800 ft, to cost $60, COO. On its north side,
beyond Battery st, lay the storage ship Arkansas. Near it was the butcher-
shop of Tim Burnham, and the office of Hy. Wetherbee, merchant. Near
the foot of Broadway st, appropriately so named from its extra width, were
the offices of Wm E. S tough tenburgh, auctioneer and com. mer. ; Hutton &
Miller (M. E.); Ellis (J. S., later sheriff S. F.) & Goin (T.); and L. T. Wil
son, shipping; Hutton (J. F.) & Timmerman, com. mer.; D. Babcock, drug
gist; D. Chandler, market. On Battery st, named after the Fort Montgom
ery battery of 1846 which stood at the water edge north of Vallejo st, rose
the Fremont hotel of John Sutch, near Vallejo, and the Bay hotel of Pet.
Guevil. On either side of the street, between Vallejo and Broadway, were
the offices of Ed. H. Castle, mer.; Gardiner, Howard, & Co., Hazen & Co.,
Jos. L. Howell, J. H. Morgan & Co. (A. E. Kitfield, John Lentell), L. R.
Mills, J. H. Morton & Co., corner of Vallejo, the last three grocers; Nat. Mil
ler is marked both as grocer and lumber dealer; Wm Suffern, saddler; south
of Broadway were Brooks & Friel, tin-plate workers.
On Broadway, between Battery and Sansome sts, were the offices of C. A.
174 SAN FRANCISCO.
grating, in conjunction with the jail ana court-rooms.
The opposite block, stretching toward Montgomery
Bertram!, shipping; at the Battery corner, Wm Clark, mer.; John Elliott,
com. mer.; Geo. F arris & Co. (S, C. Northrop and Edwin Thompson), gen.
store. Half a dozen additional Point hostelries were here represented by the
Illinois house of S. Anderson, at the Battery corner, Broadway house of Wm
M. Bruner, the rival Broadway hotel of L. Dederer, Lovejoy s hotel of J. H.
Brown, Lafayette hotel of L. Guiraud, and Albion house of Croxton & Ward,
the latter four between Sansome and Montgomery sts, in which section were
abo the offices of White, Graves, & Buckley, and Aug. A. Watson & Co ; II.
Marks & Bro., gen. store; Wm H. Towne, and Dederer & Valentine, gro
cers. West of Battery ran Sansome st, from Telegraph hill cliffs at Broadway
to the cove at Jackson st, well lined with business places, and conspicuous
for the number of corrugated iron buildings. At the west corner of Broad
way rose the 3} -story wooden edifice of J. W. Bingham, 0. Reynolds, and F. A.
& W. A. Bartlott, com. mer. In the same block was the office of De Witt (Alf.
& Harrison, (H. A.), one of the oldest firms, later Kittle & Co.; abo Case,
Heiser, & Co., and Mahoney, Ripley, & McCullough, on the N. w. Pacific-st
corner, who dealt partly in ammunition. At the Paciiic-st corner were abo
Wm H. Mosher & Co. (W. A. Bryant, W. F. Story, W. Adain), and E. S.
Stone & Co., com. mers, and Hawley s store. In the same section were the
offices of Muir (A.) & Greene (E.), brokers; Jos. W. Hartman and Jas Hogan,
mers, are assigned to Telegraph hill. The well-known C. J. Collins had a
hat-shop on this street, and Jose Suffren kept a grocery at the Broadway
corner.
The section of Sansome st, between Pacific and Jackson sts, was even more
closely occupied. At Gold st, a lane running westward along the cove, L. B.
Hanks had established himself as a lumber dealer. Buildings had risen on
piles beyond the lane, however, on the corners of Jackson st, occupied by
Corjhill (H. J.) & Arrington (W.), com. mer. ; Bullet & Patrick (on the opposit*e
side), Buzby & Bros, F. M. Warren & Co. (C. E. Chapin, S. W. Shelter), ship
and com. mer. ; Hotalling & Barnstead, Huerlin & Belcher, gen. dealers, and
Ed. H. Parker. Northward in the section were Ellis (M.), Crosby (C. W.), &
Co. (W. A. Beecher), Cross (Al.), Hobson (Jos.), & Co. (W. Hooper), Under
wood (Thos), McKnight (W. S.), & Co. (C. W. Creely), Dana Bros (W. A. &
H. T.), W. H. Davenport, Grayson & Guild, and J. B. Lippincott & Co., all
com. mers; E. S. Lovel, mer.; Chard, Johnson (D. M.), &Co., gen. importers,
at Gold st; Simmons, Lilly, & Co., clothing. J. W. & S. H. Dwinelle, coun
sellors, were in Cross & Hobson s building. On Pacific st, adjoining, was the
office of Wm Burlin, mer., the grocery stores of T. W. Legget and Man.
SufHoni, the confectionery store of J. H. & T. M. Gale, and three hotels,
Union, Marine, and du Commerce, kept by Geo. Brown, C. C. Stiles, and C.
Renault, the last two between Sansome st and Ohio st, the latter a lane run
ning parallel to the former, from Pacific to Broadway.
The business part of Montgomery st, named after the U. S. naval officer
commanding at S. F. in 1846, extended southward from the cliffs at Broad
way, and beyond it, on the slopes of Telegraph hill. There were several
dwelling-houses, among them Capt. P. B. Hewlitt s, who received boarders;
yet the hill was mostly abandoned to disreputable Sydney men, and westward
to the now assimilating Spanish Americans. In the section between Broad
way and Pacific sts, I find only the merchant F. Berton; Chipman, Brown, &
Co. were grocers; Jas Harrison kept a gen. store at the corner, and Dr S. R.
Gerry, the health officer of Dec. 1849, had an office here. In the next sec
tion, between Pacific and Jackson, Montgomery st assumed the general busi
ness stamp for which it was preeminent. Merchants, commission houses, and
auctioneers were the chief occupants, the last being most conspicuous. At
the Pacific corner were the merchants Harrison (Capt. C. H.), Bailey, &
Hooper, and A. Olphan; and at the Jackson end, J. C. & W. H. V. Cronise,
JACKSON-STREET LAGOON. 175
street and at the foot of Telegraph hill, was filled with
shabby dens and public houses of the lowest order,
mers and aucs (with them as clerk, Titus Cronise, the later author), Hervey
Sparks, banker and real estate dealer, and Dewey (Squire P. ) & Smith (F.
M.), re:il estate. Intermediate were J Behrens, Geo. Brown, Davis & Co. (J.
W. & N. R. Davis), J H Levein, McKenzie, Thompson, & Co., H. H. Nel
son, Thos Whaley, G. S. Wardle & Co., all com. mers; Simon Raphael, mer.;
J. A. Norton, ship and com, mer., an English Jew whose subsequent business
reverses affected his mind and converted him into one of the most noted char
acters of S. F, under the title of Emperor Norton of Mexico. Until his
death, in 1880, he could be seen daily in the business centres, dressed in a
shabby military uniform, and attending to financial and political measures for
his empire. Here were also the clothing stores of Raphael (J. G.), Falk, &
Co., J. Simons, Louis Simons, and Dan. Toy.
The Jackson-st corner bordered on the neck of the lagoon, which pene
trated in a pear form on either side of this street more than half-way up to
Kearny st. It was one of the first spots to Which the fillage system was
applied, and the bridge by which Montgomery st crossed its neck since 1844
had by 1849 been displaced by a solid levee. Jackson st began its march into
the cove, and in Oct. 2, 1850, the private company controlling the work were
fast advancing the piling beyond Battery to Front st, being 552 feet out,
where the depth was 13 ft. The estimated cost was $40,000. Its section
between Montgomery and Sansome was heavily occupied by firms: N. Larco
& Co. (Labrosa, Roding, Bendixson), Louis Cohen, Quevedo, Lafour, & Co.,
Reihlincr, Etlleysen, & Co., O. P. Sutton, mers; Bech, Elam, & Co. (W. G.
Eason, J. Galloway), J. C. Catton, Huttmann (F.), Eiller, & Co., Wm Ladd,
J. F. Stuart & Co. (J. Raynes), com. mers; Christal, Corman, & Co., Lord &
Washburn, wholesale and gen. mers; Beideman(J. C.)& Co. (S. Fleischhaker),
Ollendorff, Wolf, & Co. (C. Friedenberg), B. Pinner & Bro., Potsdamer &
Rosenbaum (J. & A.), Sam. Thompson, R. Wyman & Co. (T. S. Wyman),
clothing; Adam Grant, S. L. Jacobs, Titman Bros, C. Jansen & Co., dry
goods the last named victims of the outrage which led to the vigilance up-
r::ing of 1851 Hall & Martin, aucs; Roth & Potter, stoves and tinwork;
"White & McNulty, grocers; Paul Adams, fruit; Dickson & Hay, land-office;
C. C. Richmond & Co., druggists, in a store brought out by the Eudorus, Sept.
1049. Here were also two hotels, the Commercial and the Dalton house,
kept by J. Ford & Co. and Smith & Hasty, and the fonda Mejicana of E.
Pascual dispensed the fiery dishes dear to Mexican palates. Sansome st ex
tended from here on piles southward, and in the section between Jackson and
Washington sts, on the east side, was the office of W. T. Coleinan & Co., com.
mers, whose chief was prominently connected with the vigilance committee
of 1851, and the famed president of the 1856 body. Near by were Jas H.
Ray, Turner, Fish, & Co., Goodall (T. H.), Muzzy, & Co., Paul White & Co.
(J. Watson), also com. mers; John Cowell, mer. at the Jackson corner; Bel-
knap, White, & Co., provisions. Rogers, Richeson, Co. (M. Jordan) had a
coal-yard, and at Jones alley lay a lumber-yard belonging to Palmer, Cook,
&Co.
Continuing along Jackson st, from Sansome to Battery st, we find the
offices of Myrick, Crosett, & Co., gen. jobbers; Howe & Hunter, Jacoby,
Herman, & Co., Savoni, Archer, & Co., N. H. Sanborn, Murry & Sanger, Vose,
Wood, & Co., com. mers. Wm Crosett, com. mer.; C. E. Hunter & Co., F.
Coleman Sanford, gen. mers; F. M. Warren & Co., White (W. H.) & Williams
(J. T.), ship, and com. mers; the latter nearer Sansome st. Along the
water-front W. Meyer kept a coffee-house. The latter part of this section
was a wharf, and the narrow approach to the office of Dupuy, Foulkes, & Co.,
coin, mer., at the Battery corner, revealed the splashing water on either
si-le. Beyond them were the offices of E. L. Plumb, mer. ; Gassett & Sanborn
(T. S.), E. S. Woodford & Co. (J. B. Bridgeman), ship, and com. mersj O.
176 SAN FRANCISCO.
frequented by sinister-looking men and brazen-faced
females, who day or night were always ready either
Charlick, agent for Law s line of steamers; Gregory s (J. W.) express;
Schultz & Palmer, grocers. South of Jackson and west of Battery st lay
the storage vessel Georgean, though some identify her with the prison brig
Euphemia. On Montgomery st, between Jackson and Washington sts, were
at least four of the characteristic auction -houses, Moore (G. H.), Folger (F. B.),
& Hill (H.), Jas B. Huie, Scooffy & Kelsey, and W. H. Jones. At the
Jackson-st corner were Haight (E.) & Ames (0. T. ), com. mers, and Pratt
(J.) & Cole (Cornel) (later U. S. senator), attorneys; while at the Washing-
ton-st end rose the Merchants Exchange Reading Room of L. W. Sloat
son of the commodore S. Gower is also named as proprietor and at the N.
w. corner the offices of C. L. Ross. com. mer., who during the early part of
1849 acted as postmaster (in 1848 he had a lumber-yard). H. B. Sherman, and
P. A. Morse, counsellor. Among the occupants of the Exchange building
were Dickson (IX), De Wolf & Co., and J. S. Hager, counsellor, later U. S.
senator; and in the Exchange court were E. D. Heatley & Co., com. mers;
with S. Price, consul for Chile, as partner. In this section are mentioned
among the merchants, Rob. Hamilton, Worster & Gushing (G. A.), W. Hart,
Stowell, Williams (H.), & Co., H. Schroeder, Van der Meden, & Co., Bennett
& Hallock (J. Y.), L. L. Blood & Co. (J. H. Adams, G. B. Hunt), Worthing-
ton, Beale, & Bunting, Jos. Bidleman, Ed. Gilson, Guyol, Galbraith, & Co.,
Mazera N. Medina, com. mers. WykofF & Co. (G.), were wholesale dealers;
Jas Dows & Co., wholesale liquor men (T. G. Phelps, their clerk, was later
congressman and collector of S. F. ) ; S. & B. Harries, S. Fleischhacker, Pugh,
Jacob, & Co., clothing; Mclntosh (R.) & Co., provisions; John Rainey, gen.
dealer; Sabatie (A.) & Roussel, grocers; Conroy & O Conner, hardware; Brad
ley, photographer; H. F. Williams, carpenter and builder, on E. side. C. Web
ster kept the Star house. At the foot of Washington st, which touched the
cove a few feet below Montgomery st, were Franklin, Selim, & Co., gen. mers;
Hosmer & Bros, A. P. Kinnan, and Maynard & Co., grocers; Leonard & Tay,
produce mers, Chapin & Sawyer, com. mers, Camilo Martin, and J. F. Lohse,
mers. The private wharf prolongation of this street extended 275 feet by
Oct. 1850.
Between Washington and Clay, Montgomery st was marked by additions
in the banking line, notably Burgoyne & Co. (J. V. Plume), at the s.w. cor
ner of Washington st, Ludlow (S.), Beebe, & Co., and H. M. Naglee & Co.,
corner of Merchant st, and by a literary atmosphere imparted by the San
Francisco Herald, of Nugent & Co., the Journal of Commerce, of W. Bartlett
(mayor S. F. and gov. Cal.), associated with Robb, and The Watchman, a re
ligious monthly by A. Williams, at the same office. Marvin & Hitchcock s
book-store was in the Herald building, the Delmonico s hotel, by Delmonico
& Treadwell, at the Irving house, on the E. side, while the drug-store of
Harris & Parton was at the Wash.-st corner. At these corners were the
offices of Finley, Johnson (C. H.), & Co., (J. W. Austin), Grogan & Lent
(W. M. ), both com. mers, and Horace Hawes, counsellor (and first sheriff of
the county); at the corner of Merchant st, Barron & Co., com. mer., held out,
and on its s.w. corner a three-story brick building was begun in Oct. 1849,
on the site of Capt. Hinckley s adobe house. The Clay-st corners were occu
pied by Cordes, Steffens, & Co., Josiah Belden, com. mers; Bacon & Mahony,
and R. J. Stevens & Co. (G. T. H. Cole), both ship and com. mers. In the
same section were Earl, Mackintosh, & Co., Hayden & Mudge, Cost & Ver-
planck, the latter two in the Herald building, Vogan, Lyon, & Co., Manrow &
Co. (W. N. Meeks), all com. mers; Oct. Hoogs, J. C. Treadwell, mers; Ken-
dig, Wainright, & Co., auc. and com. mer. in a long one-story wooden house;
J. A. Kyte, ship and com. mer.; Corvin & Markley, clothing and shoes;
Marriott, real estate; F. G. & J. C. Ward, gen. dealers. In the same or ad
joining section, if we may trust the confused numbering of those days, may
THE HEART OF THE CITY. 177
for low revelry or black crime. The signs above the
drinking-houses bore names which, like Tarn O Shan-
be placed Beech & Forrey, Vandervoort & Co., Rob. Fash, L. Haskell, H.
Hughes, jr, E. T. Martin, Porter & Co., Sage & Smith (Stewart), all com.
mers; Annan, Lord, & Co., gen. jobbing; Reed & Carter, ship mers; Jos.
Chapman and Joel Holkins & Co., mers; Fitch (H. S.) & Co. (I. McK.
Lemon), auc. and com. mers; Frisbie & Co., mer. broker; A. B. Southworth,
metal dealer; Ed. S. Spear, broker; D. S. Morrill, Boston notions; Johnson
& McCarty, provisions; Crittenden (A. P.) & Randolph, and S. Heydenfelt,
attorneys; and the Pacific bath-house.
Turning down Clay st toward the water, we find in 1849 the beginning of
a wharf, just below Montgomery st, which by Oct. 1850 extended 900 ft by
4 J ft in width, and would before the end of that year be carried 900 ft farther,
at a total cost of $39,000. In its rear, at the N. w. Sansome-st corner had
been left stranded the old whaler Niantic, converted into a warehouse with
offices, by Godeffroy, Sillem, & Co. At the corresponding Battery corner lay
the storage ship Gen. Harrison. Along this wharf street were established Ira
A. Eaton, B. H. Randolph, Hochkofler & Tenequel, J. G. Pierce, F. Vassault,
mers; J. J. Chauviteau & Co., gen. bankers and com. mers; J. B. Corrigan,
Green (H.) & Morgan (N. D.), Ogden & Haynes, Z. Holt, E. Mickle & Co. (W.
H. Tillinghast, later banker), H. C. Beals, J. H. Chichester, Win H. Coit, Geo.
Sexsmith, Simmons, Hutchinson, & Co. (Simmons died Sept. 1850, see biog.
preceding vol. v.), com. mers; Woodworth (S. & F.) & Morris, ship and com.
mers (Selim E. Woodworth, the second vigilance president of 1851, leader of
the immigrant relief party of 1848, and later U. S. commodore); Moorehead,
Whitehead, & Waddington, Valparaiso flour mers; here was also the office
of the Sacramento steamers; T. Breeze (later Breeze & Loughran). Many of
the stores were of zinc. Buckley & Morse, shipsmiths, Schloss Bros, wholesale
dealers; Jas Patrick, Jas B. Weir, provisions; Dunbar (F.) & Gibbs, grocers,
on Sansome st. The southern half of the Wash. -Clay block on the corner
was owned by R. M. Sherman, for a time, in 1848-9, of the firm Sherman &
Ruckle, and he still owns the property.
Returning to Montgomery st toward Sacramento st, we find at the
S. w. Clay-st corner the first brick house of the city, erected by Mellus &
Howard in 1848. This appears to be the so-called fire-proof Wells building,
occupied partly by Wells (T. G.) & Co., bankers. At the Clay-st corners
were also Fay, Pierce, & Willis, O. C. Osborne, sr and jr, com. mers; M. F.
Klaucke, gen. mer. ; Delos Lake, counsellor, and Cooke & Lecount, stationers.
At the corner of Commercial st, James King of William, the assassinated
editor of 1856, had a banking-house; here were also N. Bargber & Co., mers;
Jas Murry, ship mer.; and on the S. E. corner stood the noted Tontine gam
bling-house, managed by W. Shear, and also by Austin & Button (Austin was
later tax collector of the city). A two-story -and-a-half house on the opposite
corner, with projecting eaves, once belonging to the Hudson s Bay Co., had
also a gambling-saloon much frequented by Mexicans. In this circle figured
the Eureka hotel of J. H. Davis & Co. At the Sacramento st end were J.
R. Rollinson, ship & com. mer.; H. E. Davison, gen. merchandise, and
Taaffe (W.), Murphy (D.), & McCahill (G.), dry goods, etc. Intermediate
were the offices of Moore (R.) & Andrews (Steb.), the long-established
Howard & Green (T. H., the former being before of the firm Mellus & How
ard), Capt. Aaron Sargent, Gildemeister & De Fremery (J.), all corn, mers;
Grayson & Guild also had their office here; A Hausman, Goldstein, & Co. cloth
ing; J. W. Osborn, chinaware; Rob. Sherwood, watchmaker, la.ter capitalist.
Crane & Rice, proprietors Cal. Courier.
Commercial street received a great impulse from the projection in May 1849
of the Central or Long wharf, by a company which embraced such prominent
citizens as Howard, W. H. Davis, S. Brannan, Ward, Price, Folsom, Shilla-
ber, Cross, Hobson & Co., De Witt & Harrison, Finley, Johnson, & Co., etc.,
. CAL., Vo ,. . 12
178 SAN FRANCISCO.
ter, Magpie, and Boar s Head, smacked of English
sea-port resorts, and within them Australian slang
who subscribed $120,000 at once. By Dec., 800 ft were finished at a cost of
$110,000. In June 1850 the great fire destroyed a portion, but work was re
sumed and by Oct. it was 2,000 ft out, so that the mail steamers could ap
proach; repairs and extension cost $71,000. This drew trade rapidly from
other quarters and led to wharf extension in. different directions. Capt. Gil-
lespie was wharfinger. Leidesdorff, so named after the U. S. vice-consul,
whose warehouse stood at its junction with California st, was originally a
beach levee. The office of the Pacific Mail Steamship Co., at the s. E. comer
of Com. and Leidesdorff sts, was at first a two-story house, 20 ft square.
After the fire of June 1850 it was moved to the Sacramento corner of
Leidesdorff. Here was also the Kremlin restaurant and saloon of Nash, Pat
ten, & Thayer, with lodgings above. On the N. E. corner stood Hall & Ryck-
man s (the latter 3d president of the vigilance committee of 1851) New World
building. At the head of the wharf was a brick building bearing the conspic
uous sign of Dan. Gibb, com. mer. ; his neighbors were R. B. Wilkins, Jas H.
Goodman, Theo. Norris, Huffman & Brien, com. mers; Endicott, Greene, &
Oakes, mers; Smith & Block, grocers and com. mers; Wm Thompson, jr,
com. and ship broker, occupied the Commercial building. Ellis & Goin, of
Clark Point, had an office here for a time. Along the wharf were G. B.
Bradford, Huffman & Brien, Qttinger & Brown, Gosse & Espie, Hamilton &
Luyster, Hewes & Cutter, com. mers; Quimby, Harmon, & Co., shoes; Bonva-
lot, Roux, & Co., variety store; Ferguson, Reynolds, & Co., Smith & Gavin,
grocers; Hoff & Ambrose, at the Battery corner; the Prices Current office.
Before the Commercial-st wharf and its rivals attracted traffic, Sacramento
st stood prominent as a reception place for merchandise. It had now to join
in the race toward deep water; to which end Henry Howison prolonged the
southern side of the street till it reached, in Oct. 1850, a length of 1,100 ft,
with a width of 40 and a depth of 14 ft at high water. Stevenson & Parker
extended the street proper to Davis st, a distance of 800 feet, by Oct. 1 850,
and erected near the end a commodious building. At the end of Howison s pier
were the storage brigs Piedmont and Casilda, belonging to Mohler, Caduc, & Co.
Caduc, later ice-dealer, assisted in building the pier. The Thomas Bennett,
brought out by a Baltimore firm, and controlled by Trowbridge, Morrison, &
Co., lay at the Sansome-st corner for storage. None of these appear to have
remained, according to the map of 1851, but the Apcllo, at the N. w. Battery-
st corner, controlled by Beach & Lockhart, did become a fixture. On the s. w.
corner of Leidesdorff st stood prominent the office of Dall (Jos. & John)
& Austin, till the fire of June 1850 drove them to the Sansome-st corner. On
the other side, above Leidesdorff st, rose the three-story wooden building of
J. L. Riddle & Co., auctioneers, wherein acquaintances could always receive
shelter. Near them were Levering & Gay, S. F. Wisner, Boarclman, Bacon,
& Co., Butler & Bartlett, Hawley (F. P. & D. N.), Sterling & Co. (G. W.
Wheeler), com. mers; Totten & Eddy, gen. jobbers; R. F. Perkins, mer.;
R. D. Hart & Co., dry goods; Tower, Wood, & Co., gen. store; D. C. Mc-
Glynn, paints; Kennebec house, kept by T. M. Rollins. Along the wharf
itself were Locke & Morrison, com. mers, and Beck & Palmer, ship and com.
mers, at the head; followed by Robinson, Bissell, & Co. (M. Gilmore), Blux-
ome & Co. (J D. C., Isaac, jr, and Joseph, Isaac being the famous vigilance
secretary in 1851 and 1856), Caughey & Bromley, Everett & Co. (Theo. Shil-
laber), Gardner Furniss, Jas C. Hasson, Hunter & Bro., Dungan, Moore, &
Prendergast, Orrego Bros, Rob. Wells & Co., Hussey, Bond, & Hale, com.
mers; Jos, S. Spinney, shipping; Plummer & Brewster, wholesale mers; B.
Triest, store; W. C. Hoff, grocer, at end of pier. On Battery st were Collins
(D.), Cushman, & Co., mers.
The section of Montgomery st between Sacramento and California had, in
1849, been transformed from an outskirt to a thickly settled business quarter,
CALIFORNIA STREET. 179
floated freely upon the infected atmosphere. It was
in fact the headquarters of the British convict class,
and its prospects were significantly foreshadowed in the location of the cus
tom-house in the four-story brick building erected in 1849 by W. H. Davis,
at the N. w. corner of California st. Access was by outside double stairways,
leading from balcony to balcony on the front side. It appears to have been
occupied by Collector Jas Collier in June 1850. In May 1851 it was burned.
View in S. F. Annals, 282. At the Calif ornia-st corner were also A. Swain,
com. mer., and Runkel, Kaufman, & Co., dry goods. Northward in the sec
tion were situated the offices of J. B. Cannon & Co. (S. J. Gowan), W. G.
Kettelle, aucs and com. mers; Hinrickson, Reinecke, & Co. (C. F. Cipnani,
S. V. Meyers), Edwin Herrick, S. Moss, jr, Hy. Reed & Co., Winston & Sim
mons (S. C.), S. A. & J. G. Thayer, Wm H. Davis, com. mers, the last long
established; M. L. Cavert, J. A. Clark, P. F. Hazard, John H. Titcomb, Titts
& Tilden, P. D. Woodruff, mers; S. Brannan, real estate broker; John S.
Eagan, paints, two doors above the custom-house; S. Neagebauer, stationery;
John Curry, counsellor (later chief justice). A notable feature of the section
was the presence of several express agents, Adams & Co., soon to become a
banking-house, Haven (J. P.) & Co., Hawley & Co., Todd & Co. Here was
also the office of the Cal. Courier, and Rowe s Olympic Circus formed a strong
attraction to this quarter. It had been opened Oct. 29, 1849, with Ethiopian
serenaders, as the first public dramatic spectacle of the city.
Between California and Clay sts I find a number of firms, whose offices
are numbered from 243 to 2G9, as Aspinwall (J. & Ph.) & Bro., A. B. Cheshire,
Jas Clark, Van Drumme & Clement, Mace & Cole, B. H. Howell, J. S. Mason,
E. R. Myers, Turnbull & Walton, Cook, Wilmerding, & Tracy, Winter &
Latimer, com. mers; Wm Meyer & Co. (Kunhardt, H. R.,), importers, Capt.
Thos Smith, Fred. Thibault, F. C. Bennett, Gus. Beck, O. P. Sutton, mers;
John Aldersley & Co., ship brokers; Hedley & Cozzens, wholesale grocers;
Middleton (S P.) & Hood (J. M.), Payne (T.) & Sherwood (W. J.), aucs; Hy.
Meiggs, of North Beach and Peruvian fame, lumber dealer; Austin (H.) &
Prag, tinware; F D. Blythe, hardware.
California st was in 1850 acquiring recognition as of business importance,
and Starkey, Janion, & Co., who had ^ng been established near the s. w.
corner of Sansome, in an enclosed two-story house, gave strength to it by
then erecting a fine brick warehouse. So did Cooke (J. J. & G. L.), Baker
(R. S.), & Co., and others speedily followed the example, assisting, moreover,
to advance the water frontage, which by Oct. 1850 extended 400 ft into the
cove, with a breadth of 32 ft. There was a small landing-pier at Leidesdorff s
warehouse, at the Leidesdorff-st corner. Here was the store of S. H. Wil
liams & Co. (Wm Baker, jr, - and J. B. Post), in a one-story frame house, bor
dering on the later Bank of California site. On the opposite south side, Dr
John Townsend, the large lot-owner and former alcalde, had his office and
residence West of him were the stores of Glen & Co. (T. Glen, Ed. Stetson),
De Boom, Vigneaux, & Griser, Backus & Harrison, com. mers, and farther along
in the section, Jas Ball, Mack & Co., A. McQuadale, Probst (F.), Smith (St.
A.), & Co , J. B. Wynn, Zehricke & Co., Alsop & Co., Helmann Bros & Co.,
Hastier, Baine, & Co., also com. mers; T. W. Dufau, importer; Glad win (W.
H.) & Whitmore (H M., a large lot-owner in S. F.), jobbing. At the corner
of Sansome st were Ebbets & Co. (D.W. C. Brown), Mumford, Mason (B. A.),
& Co , Wm J, Whitney, com. mers; and on the site of the present Merchants
Exchange stood Mrs Petit s boarding-house (subsequently on California st,
N side, below Stockton). An agency for outer bar pilots was at Burnside &
Nelson s.
At the s. w, corner of California and Montgomery sts stood Leidesdorff s
cottage, occupied by W. M D. Howard, and also at the corner were the offices
of Jas Anderson & Co , brokers, J. H. Eccleston, mer.; V. Simons, clothing;
and T. J. Paulterer, auc. At the Pine-st corner Lazard Freres had a dry-
180 SAN FRANCISCO.
whose settlement, known as Sydney Town, extended
hence north-eastward round the hill. It \vas the ral-
goods store, and intermediate on Montgomery st were Crocker, Baker, & Co.,
water-works; Fry (C.) & Cessin (F.), Evans & Robinson, Kuhtmann & Co.,
com. mers. The first house on Summer st was a 1. \-story cottage, 20 by 40
ft, erected by Williams for Edm. Scott. Near by were the coal-yard of A T.
Ladd, and two hotels, the Montgomery and Cape Cod houses, the latter
under the management of Crocker, Evans, & Taylor.
In the next section of Montgomery st, between Pine and Bush sts, stood
Liitgen s hotel, facing the later Russ House. A strong two-story frame
building with peaked roof and projecting second story, it presented a quaint
old-fashioned landmark for about a quarter of a century, and formed one of
the best-known German resorts. On the s. E. corner of Pine st figured a
corrugated iron house imported by Berenhart, Jacoby, & Co., and on the
s. w. corner a. one-and-a-half -story cottage, occupied by the German grocery of
Geo. Soho. Adjoining it rose a three-story pitched-roof wooden hotel, the
American, kept by a German, and opposite, on the site of the later Platt s
hall, Dr Enscoe had a wooden house. At the N. w. corner of Bush st 0.
Kloppenburg (later city treasurer), kept a grocery. This west side of the
block was owned by J. C. C. & A. G. Russ, the jewellers, who had a house
011 Bush st, and who later erected the well-known Russ house. The cloth
ing-store of Peyser Bros was here, also the syrup factory of Beaudry & Co.,
and the confectionery store of H. W. Lovegrove. At the Bush-st corner was
the office of Haas & Struver, com. mers, and beyond, toward Sutter st, that
of Pierre Felt, wine mer. This region was as yet an outskirt; sidewalks ex
tended but slowly beyond California st after the summer of 1850, and the
pedestrian found it hard work to go through the sand drifts to the many
tents scattered around.
Sansome st, as bordering the bay, had rather the advantage of Montgom
ery st, for here business houses stretched along in considerable numbers from
California to Bush st. Neighbors of Starkey, Janion, & Co. , on the California
corner, were Wilson (J. D. ) & Jarvis, wholesale grocers; and at the junction
of Pine st were the offices of Macondray (F. W.) & Co. (R. S. Watson), in a
two-story house; M. Rudsdale, E. S. Stone & Co. (F. T. Durand), com. mers.
One of the corners was held by the Merrimac house of Williams & Johnson,
northward rose the New England house of W. B. Wilton, and toward Bush the
New Bedford house of John Britnell. Near it was the office of Town & Van
Winkle, and the lemonade factory of Al. Wilkie. On the east side, between
California and Pine sts, the India stores of Gillespie (C. V.) & Co. extended
over the cove. In the same section, mostly on the west side, were located
Dewey (S. S.) & Heiser, C. M. Seaver, E. Woodruff & Co., mers; G. W.
Burnham, lumber dealer; Davis (W. H.) & Caldwell s (J., jr) lemonade
factory; E. S. Holden & Co. (J. H. Redington). druggists; S W. Jones &
Co., coal and wood yard.
On Pine st were several offices, of T. F. Gould, Chas Warner, mers, above
Sansome; Schule, Christiansen, & Hellen, importers; W. H. Culver, ship
mer. ; Robinson, Arnold, & Sewall, J. C. W^oods & Co., com. mers. This street
adjoined the wharf begun by the city corporation at the end of Market st, in
the autumn of 1850, and limited for the time to 600 ft. This opened another
prospect for development in this quarter.
Beyond Pine st huge sand ridges formed so far a barrier to traffic; yet in
between them, and upon the slopes, were sprinkled cottages, shanties, and
tents, with occasionally a deck house or galley taken from some vessel, occu
pied by a motley class. A path skirted the ridge along the cove, at the
junction of Bush and Battery sts, and entered by First st into Happy Valley,
which centred between First and Second, Mission and Natoma sts, and into
Pleasant Valley, which occupied the Howard-st end. This region, sheltered
by the ridges to the rear, which, on the site of the present Palace hotel, rose
WEST AND SOUTH SIDES. 181
lying-point for pillaging raids, and to it was lured
many an unwary stranger, to be dazed with a sand-bag
nearly three score feet in height, had attracted a large number of inhabitants,
especially dwellers in frail tents, but with a fair proportion of neat cottages,
as well as shops and lodging-houses, among these the Isthmus. The advan
tages of this quarter for factories were growing in appreciation, especially
for enterprises connected with the repair of vessels, and soon J. & P. Dono-
hue were to found here their iron-works. On Fremont st, between Howard
and Folsom sts, was the office of H. Taylor & Co., com. and storage; and on
the corner of Mission and First sts, that of Phil. McGovern. On Second,
near Mission st, rose the Empire brewery of W Ball, the first of its kind.
The richer residents of this region had withdrawn just beyond this line, and
on Mission, between Second and Third sts, dwellings had been erected by
Howard, Mellus (whose name was first applied to Natoma st), and Brannan,
whose names were preserved in adjoining streets. These, as well as a few
more near by, owned by Folsom, were cottages imported by the Onward.
Among the occupants were the wives of Van Winkle, Cary, and Wakeman,
attached to the office of Capt. Folsom, the quartermaster. On Market st
Father Maginnis 1 church was soon to mark an epoch, and south-eastward an
attenuated string of habitations reached as far as Rincon Point, where Dr
J. H. Gihon had, in Nov 1849, erected a rubber tent, on the later U. S.
marine hospital site.
Thus far I have enumerated the notable occupants of the heavy business
section along Montgomery st and water-front east of it, and will now follow
the parallel streets running north to south, Kearny, Dupont, Stockton, and
Powell, after which come the latitudinal cross-streets from the Presidio and
North Beach region toward the Mission.
At the foot of Telegraph hill on Kearny st, from Broadway to Jackson
st, began the west and northward spreading Mexican quarter, and the only
building here of general interest was the Adams house, kept by John Adams.
At the S.E, Pacific-st corner stood the four-story balcony building lately pur
chased for a city hall, with jail, court-rooms, etc. In one of the latter Rev.
A. Williams held services for the First Presbyterian church. On the opposite
corner were the Tattersall livery-stable, and the firms of Climax, Roy, &
Breimen, and Dunne, McDonald, & Co., com. mers and real estate. Along
toward Jackson st were the offices of Markwald, Caspary, & Co., mers; of
Dow(J. G.) & Co. (J. O. Eldridge), auc. and com. mers; S McD Thompson,
gen. store; Mebius, Duisenberry, & Co., fancy goods; the Pacific News daily
was issued here by Winchester & Allen. Mrs E. Gordon kept the Mansion
house. In the section between Jackson and Washington sts business ap
proached more and more the retail element for which Kearny has ever been
noted. At the Jackson-st corners two druggists faced each other, S. Adam *
and E. P. Sanford; Reynolds & Co. were grocers, and G. & W. Snook, tin
and stove dealers. There were, however, a jobbing-house, Cooper & Co , and
three aiictioneers, Shankland & Gibson, Allen Pearce, and Sampson & Co
H. H. Haight, counsellor and later governor, had his office at the Jackson-st
corner; the Mariposa house was kept by B. Vallefon; and the well-known
English ale-house, the Boomerang, by Langley & Griffiths, was widely pat
ronized by literary men and actors.
These last two features formed the main element of the next section, the
plaza of Portsmouth square, strongly reenforced by gambling-halls. The most
noted of these establishments, the El Dorado, controlled in 1850 by Cham
bers & Co., stood at the s. E. corner of Washington st Successive fires
changed it from a canvas structure to a frame building, and finally P. Sherre-
beck, who owned the lot, erected upon it the Our House refectory. Adjoin
ing it on the south was the famous Parker house, hostelry and gambling-place,
managed in 1850 by Thos Maguire & Co. , who here soon promoted the erec
tion of the Jenny Lind theatre upon the site, which again yielded to the city
182 SAN FRANCISCO.
blow, and robbed, perhaps to be hurled from some
Tarpeian projection into the bay. West of this quar-
hall, as described elsewhere. Its former neighbor, Denison s Exchange, for
liquors and cards, had been absorbed by other enterprises, and southward
along the row in 1850 figured the Empire house of Dodge & Bucklin, and the
Crescent City house of Winley & Lear, the firm of Thurston & Reed, and the
dry-goods establishment of B. F. Davega & Co. Opposite, on the s. w. cor
ner of Clay, stood that YerbaBuena landmark, the story -and-a-half tiled adobe
City hotel, devoted, with out-buildings, to travellers, gamblers, and offices, the
latter including for a time those of the alcaldes. Higher on Clay st rose the
well-known Ward or Bryant house, and intermediate the offices of F. Argenti
& Co. (T. Allen), bankers; Peter Dean, Berford & Co. s express, and Baldwin &
Co., jewellers. Another jewelry firm, Loring & Hogg, occupied Ward s court.
Along the west side of the plaza stood the public school-house, which had
been converted into concert hall and police-station, and the adobe custom
house bordering on Washington st, which had been used for municipal offices
for a time. Down along Washington st the A Ita California publishing office of
E. Gilbert & Co. faced the plaza, and eastward to the corner were the bank
ing-house of Palmer, Cook, & Co. and the offices of Glaysen Co. (W. Tinte-
man), and Stevenson (J. D.) & Parker (W. C.), land agents. Theirs was an
adobe building in 1850, replacing the Colonnade hotel of 1848, and soon to
yield to other occupants, notably the Bella Union. Wright & Co. s Miners
bank, which stood at this corner a while, may be said to have revived in the
Veranda on the N. E. corner. On the plaza was also Laffan s building, chiefly
with lawyers offices, as Wilson, Benham, & Rice, Nath. Holland, Ogden
Hoffman, jr, Norton, Satterlee, & Norton. Along Kearny st, toward Sac
ramento st, were the offices of Thurston & Reed, P. D. Van Blarcom, com.
mers; Ansalin, Merandol, & Co., importers, on the Sacramento corner; C.
Lux, stock dealer; Newfield, Walter, & Co., Treadwell & Co., S. Howard,
clothing, etc. ; the Commercial-st corners were occupied by Van Houten &
Co. s meat market; here the Tammany Hall of the Hounds, and Rowe s cir
cus had stood a while, facing the adobe dwelling of Vioget, the surveyor, in
which, or adjoining, Madam Rosalie kept a restaurant. Opposite were the
noted New York bakery of Swan & Thompson, and San Jose hotel of T. N.
Starr (or J. G-. Shepard & Co.).
In the next section toward California st were established Adelsdorfer &
Schwarz, McDonald (W. F. & S. G.) & Co. (J. K. Bailey, A. T. Cool, J. M.
Teller), Kroning, Plump, & Runge, com. mers, the latter at the California
corner; A. H. Sibley & Co. ; at the Sacramento corner were also B. Courtois
dry-goods store; Mrs C. Bouch, crockery; Merchants hotel. Between Cali
fornia and Pine sts appears to have been another New York bakery, by R.
W. Acker, and near the present California market was the Kearny-st market
by Blattner & Smith. Here were also three groceries of Atter & Carter, Lam-
mer & Waterman, and Potter and Lawton; Geo. A. Worn, Ed. Porter, Eug.
Bottcher, and C. F. Dunoker are marked as com. mers, the latter two at
the California corner, and Porter south of Pine st. Beyond Pine were Chip-
man, Brown, & Co. , grocers, Hy. Rapp, storage, Brown s (Phil. ) hotel, and the
Masonic hall, followed by scattered dwellings along the new plank road to
the mission. Dupont st partook of the Kearny-st elements of business,
though little contaminated by gambling. The northern part was assigned to
residences, among them the dwellings of W. S. Clark, the broker, and Rev.
A. Williams, between Vallejo and Pacific sts. At the latter corner Morgan
& Batters kept a grocery, and beyond rose the Globe hotel of Mrs B. V.
Koch, the dry-goods shop of Cohen, Kaufmann, & Co., and the office of C.
Koch, mer. At the Jackson-st corners of Dupont st stood the Albion house
of B. Keesing, and Harm s (H.) hotel; and here, at the N. E. corner, a three-
story building was contracted for in Sept. 1849 by the California guard, the
first military company of the city, for $21,000. At the Washington-st cor-
TOWARD THE PRESIDIO. 183
ter, up Yallejo and Broadway streets, with the Catho
lic church and bull-ring, and northward along the hill,
ner was another hotel, the Excellent house of Jas Dyson, also the dry-goods
shop of Hess & Bros, the office of Maume & Dee, and the residence of
G. Beck. Intermediate were Mich. Casaforth, mer., and Johnson & Co.,
druggists.
In the section south of Washington st stood on the east side the houses of
Gillespie and Noe; at the north-west corner of Clay the casa grande of
Richardson, on the site of his tent, the first habitation in Yerba Buena, and
which stood till 1852. On the opposite west corner, the site of the first house
in Yerba Buena, Leese s, rose the St Francis hotel, a three-story edifice formed
of. several superimposed imported cottages managed by W. H. Parker.
On the opposite corner Moffat & Co., assayers and bankers, and Sill &
Conner s stationery and book shop, the first regular stationery store in the
city, it is claimed. Northward, Mullot & Co., com. mers. and Jos. Smith s
provision shop.
On the Sacramento-st corner Nath. Gray had an undertakers shop;
and at the California end Jas Dows, of vigilance fame, had a liquor store.
Beyond him C. L. Taylor exhibited the sign of a lumber and com. mer.
Stockton st was essentially for residences, with many neat houses from
Clay st northward. At Green st stood a two-story dwelling from Boston,
occupied by F. Ward, and removed only in 1865; opposite was the lumber
yard of A. W. Renshaw, and a little northward Hy. Pierce s Eagle bakery;
at the Vallejo corner P. F. Sander wasser kept a grocery; southward rose the
American hotel, which was for a time the city hall, the residences of Gilder-
meister and De Fremery, and south of Broadway, Merrill s house. At the
N. E. Pacific corner was the Shades tavern of 1848, and southward the gro
cery of Eddy (J. C.) & Co. At the W T ashington-st corners were the houses of
W. D. M. Howard, and Palmer, of Beck & Palmer; and at the Sacramento
end, those of Jas Bowles, Jonat Cade, and Crumme, mers. Powell st, of the
same stamp as the preceding, was graced by the presence of three churches:
Trinity, Rev. F. S. Mines; Methodist Episcopal, Rev. W. Taylor; and Grace
Chapel, Rev. S. L. Ver Mehr. The latter two resided on Jackson st near
Powell. Rev. 0. C. Wheeler lived at the corner of Union. Three other
temples existed on adjoining cross-streets. At the N. w. Washington corner
a two-story brick building was about to be erected, which with subsequent
changes in grades received two additional stories. At the N. E. corner of
Broadway 0. Mowry had an adobe cottage; at the corners of Green st lived
C. Hoback and Chas Joseph.
At the corner of Filbert st was the adobe dwelling of Ira Briones, by which
the main path to the presidio turned westward to cross the Russian hill,
past market gardens and dairies, with scattered cottages, sheds, and butch
ers shambles. On the ridge stood the house of L. Haskell, overlooking the
hollow intervening toward Black Point, beyond which lay Washerwoman s
lagoon, a name confirmed to it by the laundry here established by A. T.
Easton, patronized by the Pacific mail line. The presidio was then not the
trim expanse of buildings now to be seen, but stood represented by some
dingy -looking idobes, supplemented by barn-like barracks, and a few neater
cottages for the officers, while beyond, at the present Fort Point, crumbling
walls fronted the scanty earth- works with their rusty, blustering guns.
North Bench was becoming known as a lumber depository. Geo. H.
Ensign figured as dealer in this commodity, and near him, on Mason by
Francisco st, Harry Meiggs, of dawning aldermanic fame, had availed him
self of the brook fed by two springs to erect a saw-mill. Close by stood
Capt. Welsh s hide-house, by the road leading to the incipient wharf which
foreshadowed a speedy and more imposing structure.
On Union st, near Mason, Wm Sharron, broker and commission merchant,
had his residence. On Green st the number of resident business men in-
184 SAN FRANCISCO.
the Hispano- Americans were grouping round what was
then termed Little Chile; while less concentrated, the
creased. A. Hugues and Rob. McClenachan lived near Stockton and Tay
lor, respectively, and Levi Stowell, of Williams & Co., near the former.
Between Stockton and Powell Capt. Tibbey, as he declares in his Stat., MS.,
19, had erected a section-made house from Hawaii for his wife. A similar
house from Boston, near Stockton st, was in 1850 occupied by F. Ward. It
stood till 1865. On Vallejo were to be found G. Bilton, Rob. Graham, Edm.
Hodson, and Thos Smith, merchants, between Stockton and Powell. In the
block below rose the Roman Catholic church, and by its side extended the
bull-fighting arena, so dear to the Mexicans as a compensatory aftermath to
the solemn restraint of the worship. All around and along the slopes of Tele
graph hill extended the dwellings of this nationality, and among them, on
Broadway between Stockton and Dupont, the more imposing quarter of Jos.
Sanchez, broker. The block below, between Dupont and Montgomery, has
been alluded to as containing an undesirable collection of low drinking-dens,
fringed by the abodes of Sydney convicts and other scum.
On Pacific st began the business district proper once more, sprinkled with
several inns, such as Crescent house of S. Harding, Mclntire house, Planter s
hotel of J. Stigall, and Waverly house of B. F. Bucknell, the latter a four-
story frame building, on the less reputable north side, charging $5 a day. In
this block, between Montgomery and Kearny, were the offices of Boschultz
& Miller, and Brown & Phillips, merchants; Salmon & Ellis, ship and com.
mer.; Wilson & Co., grocers, Jackson & Shirley, crockery and grocery.
Above, between Kearny and Dupont, resided J. B. Weller, subsequently gov
ernor, of the firm of Weller, Jones, & Kinder; near by W. H. West kept a
grocery, and A. A. Austin a bakery. Higher up toward Stockton were Fox,
O Connor, and Gumming, and F. Kauffman & Co., dry-goods dealers. Ad
joining stood a groggery which had since 1846 dispensed refreshments to way
farers to the presidio. Above, between Mason and Powell, rose Bunker Hill
house, graced for a time by the later bankers Flood and O Brien. On Jack
son st, between Mason and Powell, were several prominent residents, includ
ing C. H. Cook, com. mer., and at the Stockton corner lived W. H. Davis.
At the corner of Virginia st, a lane stretching below Powell st, between Broad
way and Washington, stood the First Congregational church, Rev. T. D. Hunt.
Here was also the office of Blanchard & Carpenter. Below Stockton were Mayer,
Bro., & Co., grocers; C. Prechet& Co., druggists; H. M. Snyder, stoves. Below
Dupont, Capt. W. Chard, Carter, Fuller, & Co., Hy. Mackie, Ben. Reynolds,
Jas Stevenson, com. mers; Chas Durbee, mer.; Johnson & Caufield, clothing;
J. Leclere, gen. store; J. Benelon, French store. The Ohio house is placed here,
and the Philadelphia house where began the fire of Sept. 1850, and below Kearny
the California house of J. Cotter & Co. Here flourished the Evening Picayune,
Gihon & Co., and two French establishments, Dupasquier & Co., and F. Schultz
French-goods shop; S. Martin, importer; W. & C. Pickett, Schesser & Vaii-
bergen, mers; J. & M. Phelan, wholesale liquor dealers; Joel Noah, clothing.
On Washington st, at the corner of Mason, stood H. Husband s bath
house; below was the grocery of W. E. Rowland; and between Stockton and
Dupont sts C. S. Bates kept a druggist shop. Above this, the First Baptist
church, Rev. 0. C. Wheeler. At the corner of Washington lane, which ran
below Dupont to Jackson st, Bauer s drug-store was first opened. Below
Kearny st ran another cross-lane to Jackson, Maiden lane, on which C. Nut
ting had established a smithy and iron-works, while adjoining him, on the
corner, were the Washington baths of Mygatt & Bryant. Opposite this lane,
to Merchant st, ran Dunbar alley, so named after Dunbar s California bank,
at its mouth. At the parallel passage, De Boom avenue, A. Miiller had
opened a hotel, and near by a brick building was going up for theatrical pur
poses. On the north side C. L. Ross had in 1848-9 kept his New York store.
In the same section, between Kearny and Montgomery sts, were the offices
TOWARD THE MISSION. 185
cognate French sought their proximity along Jackson
street, with two hotels offering significant welcome at
of Bodenheim & Sharff, Dundar & Gibbs, Reynolds & Letter, Marriesse &
Burthey, Medina, Hartog, & Co., J. S. Moore & Co. (F. Michael), Morris, Levi,
& Co., F. Gibbs, Gallarid, Hart, & Co., Arnold & Winter, coin, mers; P.
Schloss & Co., mers; L. & J. Blum, L. A. Hart & Co., Steinberger & Kauf
man, A. Kiser, Rosenzweig & Lask, M. Levi & Co., Potedamer & Rosenbaum,
clothing; W. D. Forman & Co., grocers; Hastings & Co. (S. & T. W.), variety
store; Smiley (Jas), Korn, & Co., hardware; Rob. Turnbull, broker.
At the head of Clay st stood the City hospital of Dr P. Smith, destroyed
Oct. 31, 1850. Near by, above Stockton st, was the paper warehouse of G.
A. Brooks and the house of Jas Crook, mer. Below Stockton st ran the
parallel Pike st, at the corner of which stood the post-office, at a rental of
$7,200 a year. Since its first location on the N. w. corner of Washington
and Montgomery sts it had been moved to the N. E. corner of Washington
and Stockton, then to the above location, and in 1851 to a zinc-covered build
ing on the N. E. corner of Dupont and Clay sts. So much for the instability
which stamped the city and county generally in these early days. At the
other corner rose the Bush house of Hy. Bush, a few steps above the fashion
able St Francis hotel, and opposite Woodruff s jewelry shop. On Pike st,
tha latter well-known R. B. Woodward kept a coffee shop. Near by, on
Clay st, resided Allen Pierce and A. A. Selover. Between Dupont st and
the plaza was the book-store of Wilson Spaulding, and the hardware shop
of Aug. Morrison. Clay st below Kearny was mainly a dry-goods row, to
judge from the number of the dealers, as Lacombe & Co., importers; W. E.
Keyes, Hy. Kraft & Co., Moore, Tickenor, & Co., Josiah Morris, on Clay st
row, J. B. Simpson, Ulmer & Co., Oscar Uny, dealers; besides Geo. Bergo,
Lewis Lewis, Isaac Myers, who advertised both dry goods and clothing, there
were also the special clothing-stores of Heller, Lehman, & Co. ( W. Cohen), Jos.
Goldstein, Langfield, & Co. (S. & J. Haningsberger), Kelsey, Smith, & Risley.
The street boasted moreover of two bankers, Page (F. W.), Bacon, & Co.
(D. Chambers, Hy. Haight) and B. Davidson, agent for Rothschild; C. Platt,
mer. ; Cohn Kauflinan & Co. (A. Ticroff ), W. M. Jacobs, Sinton & Bagley,
Hawks, Parker, & Co., Larned & Sweet, Pioche & Bayerque, com. mers, and
several connected with dry goods; P. Rutledge & Co., tinsmiths; Bennett &
Kirby, hardware; Tillman & Dunn, manuf. jewellers; Hayes & Bailey (or
Lyndall), jewellers; M. Lewis, importer of watches; Stedman & White,
watchmakers; Sanchez Bros (B. & S.), real estate brokers; Marriott (F.) &
Anderson, monetary agents, in Cross & Hobson s building, on the N. side,
half-way to Montgomery st; opposite had long stood Vioget s or Portsmouth
house. Dr A. J. Bowie, and Dr Wm Rabe, druggist; Chipman & \Voodman s
Clay-st reading-rooms; C. Elleard s oyster-rooms, N. side; Adelphi theatre, s.
side.
On the short parallel Commercial st, not yet fully opened, figured the
Commercial-street house, P. S. Gordon; the Atheneum Exhibition of Dr
Colyer; J. W. Tucker, jeweller; G. W. Dart, drinking-saloon, and about to
open baths on Montgomery st.
Sacramento st was already becoming known as Little China, from the es
tablishment of some Mongol merchants upon its north line, on either side of
Dupont st, but this had not as yet involved a loss of caste, for several promi
nent people occupied the section between Dupont and Kearny st. Folsom
lived in a house built by Leidesdorff on the N. side; Halleck, Peachy, & Bil
lings, counsellors, Piingsthorn, Hey man, & Co., com. mers, Gibson Tibbits,
had their offices here; Convert & Digrol kept a fancy-goods shop; Selby (T.)
& Post (Phil.), metal dealers. In the section below Kearny st: Fitzgerald,
Bausch, Brewster, & Co., Simonsfield, Bach, Co., W. M. Coughlin, Cramer,
Raubach, & Co., gen. importers; Spech Baugher, G. H. Beach, J. B. & A.
J. George, D. S. Hewlett & Co. (B. Richardson), Tower, Wood, Co., D. J.
186 SAN FRANCISCO.
Clark Point. Little China was already forming on
Sacramento street, and the widely scattered Germans
had a favorite resort at the end of Montgomery street.
Mavrenner (of Wallis &Co., Stockton), Lambert & Co. (F. F. Low, later gov.),
com. iners; F. Ro^enbaum, dry goods & jobbing; Cooper & Co. (J. & I.),
Simon Heiter, S. Rosenthal, H. Unger, Adelsdorfer & Neustadter, dry goods;
J. M. Caughlin, Simmons, Lilly, & Co., Swift & Bro. (S. & J.), gen. dealers;
Jos. E. de la Montana, stoves, etc. ; Kelly & Henderson, J. Sharp, Tyler &
Story, grocers; D. J. Oliver Co., D. C. McGlynn, paints; Geo. Vowels,
furniture; Byron house, by Bailey & Smith, and the Raphael and Marye res
taurants. The third wooden house on the street was imported by Bluxome,
the famous vigilance secretary, and in this, probably a double cottage, J. R.
Garniss had his office. On California st, below Stockton, were the fashion
able boarding-houses of Mrs Petit and Leland, both on the N. side, the Mur
ray house of Jas Hair, and among residences, those of Whitmore, bought of
Rodman Price and Gen. Cazneau, a three-story frame building, of sections
rescued from a wreck. It stood on the s. w. corner of Dupont st. On the
north side, near Kearny st, in a two-story house, lived the rich and erratic
Dr Jones, dressing like a grandee, and hoarding gold, it was said. In the
section below Kearny st was the U. S. quartermaster s office, Capt. Folsom;
Salas, Bascunen, Fehrman, & Co., Ed. Vischer, Hort Bros, White Bros, 0. B.
Jennings, mers and importers; Louis Bruch, Esche, Wapler, & Co., Ruth,
Tissot (S. C.), & Co., com. mers, the latter two at the corner of Spring st; J.
S. Hershaw, gen. grocer; P. Naylor, iron, tin, etc., in the brick building
erected on the later Cal. market site, for Fitzgerald, Bausch, & Brewster;
Nelson & Baker, blacksmiths, on Webb st. In this lane Capt. Hewlitt, of
tha New York volunteers, built a boarding-house, on the w. side, and here
was the residence of the Fuller family, which owned half the block. Jas
Ward had a cottage nearer Montgomery st, which became a boarding-house,
perhaps the Duxbury hous e of Alb. Marshall. The Elephant house of A. G-.
Oakes, and the Dramatic museum of Robinson & Everard, were not far from
the Circus site.
Southward we come once more to the odd scattered habitations, shanties,
and tents, which intervened between the bare sand hills and chaparral-fringed
hollow. On Pine st, above Montgomery st, I find the office of E. Brown,
mer., and Richelieu s hotel with its French restaurant. Along Kearny st
to Third, and up Mission st led the path to Mission Dolores, much frequented,
especially on Sundays, and by equestrians, for the sand made walking too
tiresome. This route was now about to be improved by the construction
of a plank road, under grant of Nov. 1850, for seven years, to C. L. Wilson
and his partners, with a stock of $150,000. It was finished by the following
spring for $96,000, and paid eight per cent monthly interest to the share
holders. The toll charged was 25 cents for a mounted man, 75 c. for vehicles,
$1 for wagons with four animals; driven stock, 5 or 10 cts. The toll-gate
was moved successively from Post st, Third st, Mission and Fourth, and be
yond. In some places, as at Seventh st, the swamps were such as to make
piling useless and require corduroy formation, yet this settled in time five
feet. The city was too heavily in debt to undertake the construction; and
while the mayor vetoed the grant to a private firm, the legislature confirmed
it. By selling half the interest Wilson got funds to complete the road.
Subsequently the company opened Folsom st to ward off competition, and
still divided three per cent a month. For details concerning the plank road,
see Pac. News, Picayune, Nov. 4, 20, 1850, et seq.; Hittelts S. F., 151-3;
Annals S. F., 297-8; Bart-y and Pattens Men and Mem., 108-9.
Mission st presented the best exit south-westward, for Market st re
mained obstructed long after 1856 by several ridges, one hill at the corner of
Dupont st alone measuring 89 ft in height. The hill at Second st, fiercely
contested by squatters in the early fifties against Woodworth, the vigilance
MARKET STREET. 187
Dupont street bore a more sedate appearance, with
its mixture of shops and residences, its armory at
Jackson street for the first city guard, and its land
marks in Richardson s casa grande on the site of his
tent, the first habitation in Yerba Buena, and in
Leese s house, the first proper building of the pueblo,
both at the Clay-street corners below the post-office.
Stockton street, stretching from Sacramento to Green
streets, presented the neatest cluster of dwellings,
and Powell street was the abode of churches; for of
the six temples in operation in the middle of 1850,
three graced its sides, and two stood upon cross-streets
within half a block. Mason street, above it, was
really the western limit of the city, as Green street
was the northern. Beyond Mason street ran the trail
to the presidio, past scattered cottages, cabins, and
sheds, midst dairies and gardens, with a branch path
president, had by that time vanished into the bay. Nevertheless, there were
a few early occupants on the upper Market st. At the Stockton and Ellis
junction J. Sullivan had a cottage, Merrill one on the later Jesuit college site,
and 011 Mason st near Eddy, Hy. Gerke of viticultural fame rejoiced in an at
tractive two-story peaked-roof residence; near by lived a French gardener.
This was the centre of Saint Ann Valley, through which led a less-used trail
to the mission, by way of Bush and Stockton sts, passing Judge Burritt s
house and Dr Gates at the s.w. corner of Geary and Stockton sts, facing the
high sand hill which covered the present Union square. At the s. w. end of
this square rose a three-story laundry. The site of the present city hall, at
the junction of McAllister st, the authorities in Feb. 1850 set aside for the
Yerba Buena cemetery, Ver Mehrs Checkered Life, 344, which had first existed
at the bay terminus of Vallejo st, and subsequently for a brief time on the
north-west slope toward North Beach, near Washington square. Beiiton, in
Hayes 1 Cal. Notes, v. 60. The new site was the dreariest of them all, relieved
by a solitary manzanita with blood-red stalk midst the stunted shrubbery.
From the cemetery a path led past C. V. Gillespie s house to Mission st,
at Sixth st, where began a bridge for crossing the marsh extending to Eighth
st. To the left, at the s. w. corner of Harrison and Sixth, or Simmons st,
Russ, the jeweller, had a country residence which was soon opened as a pleas
ure garden, especially for Germans. John Center, the later capitalist, was a
gardener in the vicinity. At the mouth of Mission creek lived Rosset.
Beyond the bridge Stepnen C. Massett, Jeemes Pipes, had for a time a
cottage. Then came the Grizzly road-side inn, near Potter st, with its chained
bear. Further back stood the Half-way house of Tom Hayes, with inviting
shrubbery. Near the present Woodward s Gardens a brook was crossed,
after which the road was clear to the mission, where a number of dwellings
clustered round the low adobe church, venerable in its dilapidation Valencia,
Noe, Guerrero, Haro, Bernal, whose names are preserved in streets and hills
around, and C. Brown, Denniston, Nuttman, and Jack Powers, were among the
residents. The centre of attraction was the Mansion house where Bob Rid
ley and C. V. Stuart dispensed milk punches to crowds of cavaliers, to whom
the frequent Mexican attire gave a picturesque coloring.
188 SAN FRANCISCO.
to the Marine Hospital on Filbert street, and another
to the North Beach anchorage, where speculators
were planning a wharf for attracting settlement in
this direction.
The accommodations offered to arrivals in 1849 were
most precarious in character. Any shed was con
sidered fit for a lodging-house, by placing a line of
bunks along the sides, and leaving the occupant fre
quently to provide his own bed-clothes. 21 Such crude
arrangements prevailed to some extent also at the
hotels, of which there were several. The first enti
tled to the name was the City Hotel, a story-and-a-half
adobe building, erected in 1846 on the plaza, 22 followed
in 1848 by the noted Parker House, 23 the phoenix of
many fires, and in 1849 by a large number of others, 24
21 Such a shed, with crates along the walls, adjoined the City hotel.
Crosty s Events, MS., 13. Bartlett, Stat., MS., 9, mentions three tiers of
bunks in one room. Many were glad to remain on board the vessel which
brought them.
22 On s. w. corner of Clay and Kearny sts. The half-story consisted of
gable garrets beneath the tile roof. It had a railed porch, and square, deep-
silled windows. Parker had reopened it in July 1848. Larlciris Doc., vi. 144.
Bayard Taylor obtained a garret there in 1849. Eldorado, 55. See also
Merrill s Stat., MS., 3. The lease of $16,000 a year granted in 1848 left a
large profit by subdivisions and subrenting. A Ua Cal., Sept. 21, 1851, and
other current journals.
23 On the east side of the plaza, near Washington st, where the old city
hall now stands. It was a two-story-and-a-half frame building with a front
age of 60 feet, begun in the autumn of 1848, and still in the builder s hands in
April 1849, when lumber cost $600 per 1,000 feet. Little s Stat., MS., 3;
Grimshaw s Nar., MS., 14. It rented for $9,000, and subsequently for $15,000
per month, half of the sum paid by gamblers who occupied the second floor.
Subleases brought $50,000 profit. Four days after its sale, on Dec. 20, 1849,
it was burned. By May 4, 1850, it had beeii rebuilt at a cost of $40,000, only
to* be destroyed the day of its completion. The lower floor was again in
operation by May 27th. The rebuilding, including the Jenny Lind theatre,
cost $100,000. It was once more reduced to ashes on the fire anniversary in
the following year. Within a week lumber was on the ground for rebuild
ing. Alta Cal., May 13, 1851; Henshaws Stat., MS., 1-2; Buffums Six Months,
121-2; Woods Sixteen Mo., 46. The cost of the first building was placed at
$30,000. Alta Cal., May 27, 1850.
24 Broadway and Fremont hotels near Clark Point landing; St Francis,
s.w. corner Clay and Dupont, a four-story building formed from several
cottages; no gambling; managed in 1850 by Parker; ravaged by a solitary
fire on Oct. 22, 1850; Ohio house on Jackson between Kearny and Dupont;
German house on Dupont near Washington; Muller s, in Townsend avenue,
on Washington; American hotel, with daily business of $300; U. S. hotel of
Mrs King, claiming to accommodate 200 lodgers; Howard hotel; Merchants
hotel of Dearborn and Sherman; Colonnade house of Win Conway on
Kearny; Ward house on the Clay-st side of the plaza; Brown s hotel;
Portsmouth house of E. P. Jones; G. Denecke s house oa the corner of
HISTORIC HOTELS. 189
many of which were lodging-houses, with restaurants
attached. The latter presented a variety even greater
than the other in methods and nationalities of owners,
cooks, and waiters, or rather stewards, for where the
servant was as good as the master the former term
was deemed disrespectful. From the cheap and neat
Chinese houses, marked by triangular yellow flags,
wherein a substantial meal could be had for a dollar,
the choice extended to the epicurean Delrnonico,
where five times the amount would obtain only a
meagre dinner. Intermediate ranged several German,
French, and Italian establishments, with their differ
ent specialties by the side of plain Yankee kitchens,
English lunch-houses, and the representative fonda
of the Hispano element, many in tents and some in
omnibuses, which proving unavailable for traffic were
converted to other uses. 25 Little mattered the na-
Pacific and Sansome; Sutter hotel and restaurant by Ambrose and Ken
dall; Barnum house of Mitchell, Carmon, and Spooner, opened on Sept. 15,
1850, on Commercial between Montgomery and Keariiy; Ontario house;
Stockton hotel of Starr and Brown, on Long Wharf; Healey house, opened
in Dec. 1849, claimed to be then the most substantial house in the city;
Graham house, imported bodily from Baltimore; Congress hall used for ac
commodation. The first really substantial hotel was the Union, of brick,
four and a half stories, opened in the autumn of 1850 by Selover & Co., a firm
composed of Alderman Selover, Middleton, and E. V. Joice. It was built
by J. W. Priestly, after the plan of H. N. White, the brick-work embracing
500,000 bricks, contracted for completion within 26 days. The chandeliers,
gilt frames, etc., fitted by J. B. M. Crooks and J. S. Caldwell. It extended
between Clay and Washington for 160 feet, with a frontage of 29 feet on the
east side of Kearny. It contained 100 rooms. The cost, including furni
ture, was 250,000. Burned in May 1851, and subsequently it became a less
fashionable resort. The construction of the more successful Oriental was
begun in Nov. 1850, at the corner of Bush and Battery. Jones , at the cor
ner of Sansome and California, first opened as a hotel by Capt. Folsom, but
unsuccessfully, was soon converted into the Tehama house, much frequented
by military men. For these and other hotels, I refer to Alta Gal, May 27,
1850; Oct. 23, 1853; Mar. 8, 1867; Pac. News, Nov. 6, 8, Dec. 6, 22, 25, 27,
1849; Jan. 1, 3, 5, Apr. 26, 27, Oct. 22, Nov. 9, 1850; Cal Courier, Sept. 12,
14, 1850; 8. F. Picayune, Aug. 17, 30, Sept. 12, 16, 1850; S. F. Annals, 647
et seq.; Bauer s Stat., MS., 2; Kimbatts Dir. y 1850.
25 The Bay hotel (Pet. Guevil) and the Illinois house (S. Anderson), on
Battery st; the Bruner house, Lovejoy s hotel (J. H. Brown), Lafayette hotel
(L. Guiraud) and the Albion house (Croxton & Ward), on Broadway st; on
Pacific st were the Marine hotel (C. C. Stiles), Hotel du Commerce (C. Ren
ault), Crescent house (Sam. Harding), Planters hotel (J. Stigall), Mclntire
house and the Waverly house (B. F. Bucknell); on Jackson st were the Com
mercial hotel (J. Ford & Co.), Dalton house (Smith & Hasty), E. Pascual s
Fonda Mejicana, the Philadelphia house and J. Cotter & Co. s California
house. On Commercial st T. M. Rollins kept the Keunebec house, and P. S.
190 SAN FRANCISCO.
ture of the accommodation to miners fresh from rough
camps, or to immigrants long imprisoned within foul
hulks, most of them half-starved on poorer provis
ions. To them almost any restaurant or shelter
seemed for a while at least a haven of comfort. Nor
were all well provided with funds, and like the prudent
ones who had come with the determination to toil and
save, they preferred to leave such luxuries as eggs
at seventy-five cents to a dollar each, quail and duck
at from two to five dollars, salads one and a half to
two dollars, and be content with the small slice of
plain boiled beef, indifferent bread, and worse coffee
served at the dollar places, 26 and with one of the
Gordon the house bearing the name of the street. On Montgomery st stood
the Star house (C. Webster), Irving house, Eureka hotel ( J. H. Davis & Co. ),
Montgomery house, Cape Cod house (Crocker, Evans, & Taylor). Sansome
st contained the Merrimac house (Williams & Johnson), New England house
(W. B. Wilton), and the New Bedford house (Jno. Britnell), three names
likely to attract the attention of newly arrived wanderers from the far East.
On Kearny st were the Adams (Jno. Adams), mansion (Mrs E. Gordon),
Mariposa (B. Vallafon), Crescent City (Winley & Lear), and San Jose houses,
and the Graham hotel, which latter became the city hall in 1851. On Dupont
st I find the Globe hotel (Mrs B. V. Koch), and the Albion (B. Keesing)
Harm s (H.) and Excellent houses. On Clay st H. Bush kept the house
which took his name. On Sacramento st was Bailey & Smith s Byron house,
and California st contained the Murray ( Jas Hair), Duxbury (A. Marshall),
and Elephant (A. G. Oakes) houses. Richelieu hotel was on Pine st, and
over in the Happy and Pleasant Valley region the Isthmus hotel proffered
hospitality. At or near the mission were wayside resorts, such as the Grizzly,
near Potter st, and the Mansion house of Bob. Ridley and C. V. Stuart. On
Sacramento st were Raphael s restaurant and that of Marye. On Kearny
st bet. Clay and Sacramento were Mme Rosalie s restaurant, and Swan and
Thompson s New York bakery. Wm Meyer kept a coffee-house on Jackson
st at the water-front, and Nash, Patten, and Thayer s Kremlin restaurant and
saloon stood on Commercial st. Besides four Chinese restaurants, on Pacific,
Jackson, and Washington st near the water-front, charging $1 for a dinner,
Cassins Slat., MS., 14, there were American restaurants at the same price, as
Smyth Clark s. Barlett s Stat. , MS., 8. One on Broadway was in full blast
while its ruins were still smoking after the first great fire. Garniss Early
Days, MS., 19. There were the U. S. and California houses on the plaza,
besides a French restaurant, whose counterpart existed also on Dupont st, not
far from a large German establishment on Pacific st. Then there were the
classical Gothic hall and Alhambra, Tortini s of Italian savor, the Empire,
Elleard s on Clay st, by Tom Harper, Clayton s near by, and a number of
others, some advertised in Alia Cal., May 27, 1850, etc., and Pac. News. Wood
ward of the later noted What Cheer house kept a coffee shop near the post-
office on Pike toward Sacramento st. S. F. Bull., Jan. 23, 1867. Many of the
hotels mentioned above combined restaurants and lunching-places in con
nection with drinking-saloons and other establishments.
26 This was the meal at City hotel, says Crosby, Events, MS., 14. Some
times sea-biscuits and dumplings would be added. Some of the boarders
kept a private bottle of pickles, or bought a potato for 25 cents. The bill of
fare at Ward s or Delmonico s read: Oxtail or St Julien soup, 75c. to $1;
WILD SPECULATION. 191
dozen or fifty bunks in a lodging-room at from six to
twenty dollars a week; for a room even at the ordinary
hotel cost from $25 to $100 a week, while at Ward s
it rose to $250. 27 Offices and stores were leased for
sums ranging as high as six thousand dollars a month,
and a building like the Parker House, on the plaza,
brought in subrenting large profits upon the $15,000
monthly lease.
It was the period of fancy prices, and houses and
lots shared in the rule. When the gold-seekers who
rushed away from San Francisco in 1848 returned in
the autumn and found that their abandoned lots had,
under the reviving faith in the city, earned for many
of them more than they obtained from the Sierra with
its boasted treasures, then speculation took a fresh
start. When, with the ensuing year, immigrants
poured in; when ships crowded the harbor; when
tents and sheds multiplied by the thousand, and houses
salmon or fish in small variety, $1.50; entrees, of stews, sausage, meats, etc.,
$1 to $1.50; roast meats ranged from beef, the cheapest, at $1, to veui-
sion at $1.50; vegetables, limited in range and supply, were 50c. ; pies, pud
dings, and fruit, 75c.; omelettes, $2. The wine list was less exorbitant,
owing to large importations, for although ale, porter, and cider were
quoted at $2, claret, sherry, and Madeira stood at $2, $3, and $4 respect
ively, while champagne and old port could be had in pint bottles at $2.50
and $1.75; whiskey and brandy were very low, likewise raisins, cigars,
etc. For prices, see Sc/tenck s Vi</., MS., 20; Pac. News, Dec. 4, 1849; Jan.
12, 1850; Taylor s Eldorado, i. 116; S. J. Pioneer, Aug. 1G, 1879; Taylors
Spec. Press, 500-3. Toward winter the price for board rose from $20 to $35
a week. A moderate charge for board and lodging was $150 a month. Food
was abundant and cheap enough at the sources of supply; the cost lay princi
pally in getting it to market. The great ranchos supplied unlimited quanti
ties of good beef; bays, rivers, and woods were alive with game; the finest
of fish, wild fowl, bear-meat, elk, antelope, and venison could be had for the
taking; but vegetables, fruit, and flour were then not so plentiful, and had to
be brought from a greater distance.
27 Schenck, Vig., MS., 20, paid $21 a week for a bunk on the enclosed porch
of an adobe house on Dupont st. For room rents, see Gamins Slut., MS., 11;
Olney s V uj,, MS., 3; Slier mans Mem., i. 67; Larkins Doc., vi. 41, etc. The
ground-rent for a house ranged from $100 to $500 a month. Buff urns Six
Months, 121. A cellar 12 ft square could be had for a law-office at $250 a
month. For an office on Washington above Montgomery st $1,000 was asked.
Browns Slat., MS., 11. For desk-room of five feet at the end of a counter,
$100 a month. Buttons Stat., MS., 3. For their Miners Bank on the N. w.
corner Kearny and Washington sts, Wright Co. paid $6,000 monthly. A
stor. 20 feet in front rented for $3,500 a month. Yet the U. S. hotel rental
was said to be only $3,000. In the tent structure adjoining, the Eldorado, sin
gle rooms for gambling brought $180 a day; mere tables in hotels for gam
bling $30 a day.
192 SAN FRANCISCO.
shot up like mushrooms speculation became wild.
Lots, which a year before could not be sold at any
price, because the town had been left without either
sellers or buyers, now found ready purchasers at from
ten to a thousand times their cost. 28
More than one instance is recorded of property sell
ing at $40,000 or more, which two years before cost
fifteen or sixteen dollars, and of the sudden enrichment
of individual owners and speculators. Well known is
the story of Hicks, the old sailor. The gold excite
ment recalled to his memory the unwilling purchase in
Yerba Buena of a lot, which on coming back in 1849
he found worth a fortune. His son sold half of it
some years later for nearly a quarter of a million. 29
Vice-consul Leidesdorif died in 1848, leaving property
then regarded as inadequate to pay his liabilities
of over $40,000. A year later its value had so ad
vanced so as to give to the heirs an amount larger
than the debt, while agents managed to make fortunes
by administering on the estate. 30
28 For prices in 1846-8, see my preceding volume, v., and note 4 of this
chapter. With preparation for departure to the mines, in the spring of 1849,
a lull set in, Larkins Doc., vii. 92; Hartley s Observ., MS., 5; but immediately
after Began the great influx of ships, and prices advanced once more, till
toward the end of the year, when gold-laden diggers came back, they reached
unprecedented figures. A lot on the plaza, which in 1847 had cost $16.50,
sold in beginning of 1849 for $6,000, and at the end of the year for $45,000.
Henskaw s Events, MS., 7. Buffum, Six Mo., 121-2, instances this or a similar
sale as ranging from $15 to $40,000. Johnson, Gal. and Or., 101, gives the
oft-told story of a lot selling for $18,000, which two years before was bar
tered for a barrel of whiskey. A central lot which B. Semple is said to have
given away to show his confidence in Benicia s prospects, now commanded a
little fortune, Williams, Rec., MS., 6-7, quotes central lots long before the
close of 1849 at from $10,000 to $15,000, those on the plaza at $15,000 and
$20,000; yet the most substantial business was done east of Kearny st, ob
serves Currey, Stilt., MS., 8. A 50-vara lot on the corner of Montgomery
and Market sts sold for $500. Findlas Stat., MS., 8. The government paid
$1,000 a foot for 120 feet on the plaza. 8. F. Herald, June 25, 1850. At the
end of this year the demand fell off. Larkins Doc., vii. 231, yet the rise con
tinued till the climax for the time was reached in 1853, says Williams, the
Ixiilder. Ul>i sup. At the close of this year the authorities sold water lots of
only 25 feet by 59, part under water, at from $8,000 to $16,000, four small
blocks alone producing $1,200,000, and tending to restore the impaired credit
of the city. Annals S. F., 182. In Cal. Digger s Hand-book, 36, are some
curious figures for lots from the presidio to San Pablo. For reliable points,
see Alta Cal, Dec. 15, 1849, etc.; and Pac. News; also Rednitz, Reise, 106;
Lambertie, Voy., 203-9.
29 Details in 8. F Real Estate Circular, Sac. Bee, June 12, 1874; Hayes
Scraps, Cal Notes, v. 16, etc.
3s The state laid claim to it, but yielded after long litigation. Leidesdorff
WILLIAM A. LEIDESDORFF. 193
The demand was confined chiefly to Kearny street
round the plaza, and eastward to the cove, including
water lots. Outside land shared only moderately in
the rise, fifty-vara lots, the usual size, near the corner
of Montgomery and Market streets, selling for $500.
Property toward North Beach was regarded with
greater favor. 81 Periodic auction sales gave a stimu
lus to operations, 82 and lotteries were added to sustain
it, chiefly by men who had managed to secure large
blocks on speculation. 33 Dealings were not without
risk, for several clouds overhung the titles, water lots
being involved in the tide-land question, soon satisfac
torily settled by act of legislature, and nearly all the
rest in the claim to pueblo lands, which led to long
and harassing litigation, with contradictory judg
ments, disputed surveys, and congressional debates;
was buried at Mission Dolores with imposing ceremonies befitting his promi
nence and social virtues. Warm of heart, clear of head, social, hospitable,,
liberal to a fault, his hand ever open to the poor and unfortunate, active and
enterprising in business, and with a character of high integrity, his name
stands as among the purest and best of that sparkling little community to
which his death proved a serious loss. It is necessary for the living to take
charge of the effects of the dead, but it smells strongly of the cormorant, the
avidity with which men seek to administer an estate for the profit to be de
rived from it. We have many notable examples of this kind in the history
of California, in which men of prominence have participated, sometimes in the
name of friendship, but usually actuated thereto by avarice. The body of
William A. Leidesdorff was scarcely cold before Joseph L. Folsom obtained
from Gov. Mason an order to take charge of the estate in connection with
Charles Myres. The indecent haste of Folsom was checked by the appoint
ment as administrator of W. D. M. Howard by John Townsend, 1st alcalde
of San Francisco. And when Folsom died there were others just as eager as
he had been to finger dead men s wealth.
31 Beyond Montgomery and Market, 100-vara lots were offered for $500,
and with some purchasers the scrub oak firewood on them was the main in
ducement.
32 See advertisements in Alta CaL, Dec. 15, 1849, and other dates; and
Pac. News, Jan. 5, 1850, etc. Large weekly sales took place. The last of
600 lots yielded $225,000, says S. F. Herald, Aug. 10, 1850; S. F. Picayune,
Dec. 4, 1850; Olney s Viij., MS., 2. Among the auctioneers whose sale cata
logues are before me figure Gr. E. Tyler in 1849, and Cannon & Co. and Ken?-
dig, Wain wright, & Co. in 1850. In the 1849 catalogues 50-vara lots pre
vail as far S. w. as Turk and Taylor sts, and 100-vara sizes south of Market
st, while in 1850 lots of 20 feet frontage are the most common even in the
latter region. For raffling of lots, see CaL Courier, Oct. 5, 1850; Pac. News,
Oct. 19, 1850.
33 A large portion of the city land was held by a few and squatters would
scuttle old hulks upon desirable water lots to secure possession, as. did alcalde
Leavenworth. Merrill s Stat., MS., 2-4.
HIST. CAL., VOL. VI. 13
194 SAN FRANCISCO.
in addition to which rose several spectres in the form
of private land grants. 34
By the middle of 1849 the greater part of the lots
laid out by O Farrell 35 had been disposed of, and W.
M. Eddy was accordingly instructed to extend the
survey to Larkin and Eighth streets, 30 within which
limits sales were continued. Encouraged by the de
mand, John Townsend and C. de Boom hastened to
lay out a suburban town on the Potrero Nuevo penin
sula, two miles south, beyond Mission Bay, which
with its sloping ground, good water, arid secure anchor
age held forth many attractions to purchasers; but
the distance and difficulty of access long proved a bar
to settlement. 37
The eagerness to invest in lots was for some time
not founded on any wide-spread confidence in the coun
try and the future of the city. Few then thought of
making California their home, or, indeed, of remaining
longer than to gather gold enough for a stake in
life. Viewed by the average eye, the abnormities of
1849 displayed no meaning. Absorbed in the one
great pursuit, which confined them to comparatively
arid gold belts and to marshy or sand-blown town
sites, they missed the real beauties of the country,
failed to observe its best resources, and became im
pressed rather by the worst features connected with
their roamings and hardships. The climate was bear
able, summer s consuming heat being chased away
by winter s devouring waters. The soil would not
furnish food for the people, it was said. The mines
34 By Larkin, Santillan, Sherrebeck, Limantour, and others, which, how
ever, did not appear at this early date, when the tide-water question excited
the only real fear. Land titles are fully considered in a special chapter. By
order of the governor, Feb. 19, 1850, the sale of municipal lands was fordii-
deiitill the legislature should decide. S. F., Minutes Leyisl. Assembly, 14, 229.
* See preceding vol. v.
36 See A. Wheelers Report of 1850, and his Land Titles in S. F. of 1852,
for observations on survey and lists of sales and grants made up to 1850; also
Pac. New*, Nov. 27, 1849; A Ita, etc.
37 It was surveyed by A. R. Flint. Hunter Bros were the agents in S. F.
Or. Sketches, MS., 2; Buffums Six Months, 156.
FLIMSY CONSTRUCTION. 195
would not yield treasures forever; then what should
pay for the clothing and provisions shipped hither
from distant ports, which had to furnish almost every
thing needful for sustaining life, even bread? Surely
not the hides, horns, and tallow secured from the
rapidly disappearing herds.
There was, consequently, little inducement to pre
pare anything but the flimsiest accommodation for
the inflowing population and increasing trade, Then
there was an excitement and hurry everywhere preva
lent, and the cost of material and labor was excessive.
Every day saw a marked change in the city s expansion;
and as winter approached and rain set in, the central
part underwent a rapid transformation, under the effort
to replace canvas frames with somewhat firmer wooden
walls. It is assumed that at least a thousand sheds
and houses were erected in the latter half of 1849, 3 *
at a cost that would have provided accommodation
for a fivefold larger community on the Atlantic coast.
Stretching its youthful limbs in the gusty air, San
Francisco grew apace, covering the drift sand which
was soon to be tied down by civilization, carving the
slopes into home sites for climbing habitations till they
reached the crests, levelling the hills by blasting out
ballast for returning vessels, or material for filling in
behind the rapidly advancing piling in the cove.
The topography of the city, with sharply rising
38 Buff urn s Six Months, 121. Taylor estimates the habitations in Aug.,
including tents, at 500, with a population of 6,000, and that the town increases
daily by from fifteen to thirty houses; its skirts rapidly approaching the sum
mits of the hills. Eldorado, i. 59, 203. His houses must be understood as
embracing at least canvas structures. The streets were encroaching on
Happy Valley, and the harbor was lined with boats, tents, and warehouses
to Rincon Point. As many as 40 buildings have risen within 48 hours,
* Framed houses were often put up and enclosed in 24 hours. McCotturis Cal.,
60. Muslin was used instead of plaster. Adven. of Capt. Wife, 27-8. A
most valuable account of the building of the city in 1849 and subsequent
years is given in the Statement, MS., 4 et seq., of H. F. Williams, who opened
a carpenter-shop in 1849 on the east side of Montgomery st, between Jackson
and Washington, and figured long as builder and contractor. He paid $12 a
day in Nov. to any one who could handle a saw and hammer. Buildings now
costing $2,500 were then contracted for at $21,000. Details are also given in
Buttons Early Exper., MS.; Bauer s Stat., MS., 5; Larkiris Doc., vi. 51, etc.;
Sandoich Is. News, ii. 193, etc.; 8. F. Picayune, Sept. 11, 1850; Cal Courier,
5-ec U, 1850; S. F. Herald, June 20, 1850, etc.
19G SAN FRANCISCO
hills so close upon the established centre of popula
tion, interposed a barrier against business structures,
while the shallow waters of the bay invited to the
projection of wharves, which again led to the erection
of buildings alongside and between them. In levelling
for interior streets the bay offered the best dumping-
place, and the test once satisfactorily made, sand
ridges scores of feet in height came tumbling down
into the cove under the combined onslaught of steam -
excavators, railroads, and pile-drivers. In 1849 Mont
gomery street skirted the water; a little more than a
year later it ran through the heart of the town. 8D
The only real encroachment upon the water domain
in 1848 was in the construction of two short wharves,
at Clay and Broadway streets. 40 In May 1849
Alcalde Leavenworth projected Central or Long
Wharf, along Commercial street, which before the
end of the year extended 800 feet, and became noted
as the noisy resort of pedlers and Cheap John shops.
Steamers and sea-going vessels began to unload at it,
and buildings sprang up rapidly along the new avenue.
Its successful progress started a number of rival enter
prises upon every street along the front, from Market
and California streets tq Broadway and beyond. 41
39 Within another year one half of the city will stand on soil wrested from
the sea, exclaim the S. F. Courier and Sac. Transcript, Oct. 14, 1850. Thus
were overcome difficulties not unlike those encountered in placing St Peters
burg upon her delta, Amsterdam upon her marshes, and Venice upon her
island cluster. During the winter 1850-1 over 1,000 people dwelt upon the
water in buildings resting on piles, and in hulks of vessels.
40 This wet-nursing began in 1847 by city appropriation, assisted by W. S.
Clark. See my preceding vol., v. 655-6, 679. Many pioneers think that
because a favorite landing-place was upon some rocks, at Pacific and Sansoma
sts, there were no wharves. The lagoon at Jackson st, which had been partly
filled, offered an inlet for boats. There were also other landings. Crosby s
Stat., MS., 12; Schenetts Vig., MS., 14; Miscel Stats.^lS., 21; and note 5 of
this chapter.
41 Central wharf, owned by a joint-stock company, of which the most
prominent members were Mellus & Howard, Cross, Hobson, & Co., Jas C.
Ward, J. L. Folsom, De Witt& Harrison, SamBrannan, Theo. Shillaber, etc.,
began at Leidesdorff st, and was originally 800 ft long. Being seriously dam
aged by the fire of June 1850, it was repaired, and by Oct. extended to a
length of 2,000 ft, affording depth of water sufficient to allow the Pacific Mail
steamers to lie alongside. The cost was over $180,000. Details in Sckenck s
Vij., MS., 14; Fays Facts, MS., 2; S. F. Bull., Jan. 23, 1867. C. V. Gilles-
?ie wasprest. Alta, Dec. 12, 1849. Before the beginning of the winter of
850-1, Market-st wh. corporation property, already looming as a wholesale
WHARVES AND STREETS. 197
They added nearly two miles to the roadway of the
city, at an outlay of more than a million dollars, which,
however, yielded a large return to the projectors,
mostly private firms. A few belonged to the munici
pality, which soon absorbed the rest,, as the progress
of filling in and building up alongside and between
converted them into public streets, and caused the for
mation of a new network of wharves.
In the rush of speculation and extension, in which
the energy and success of a few led the rest, the
several sections of the city were left comparatively
neglected, partly because so many thought it useless
to waste improvements during a probably brief stay.
Streets, for instance, remained unpaved, without side
walks and even ungraded. The pueblo government
had before the gold excitement done a little work
upon portions of a few central thoroughfares, yet
Montgomery street was still in a crude condition and
higher on one side than on the other. 42 During the
dry summer this mattered little, for dust and sand
would in any case come whirling in clouds from the
surrounding hills, but in winter the aspect changed.
The season 1849-50 proved unusually watery. 43 Build-
centre, Cal. Courier, Aug. 7, 1850, extended 600 ft into the cove; Calif ornia-
st wh., substantially built, was 400 ft long by 32 ft wide; Howison s pier,
connected by a railway with Sacramento st, was 1,100 ft long, with a width
of 40 ft, and a depth of water of 14 ft at high tide. Barry aad Patten, Men
and Mem., 17, confound this with Sacramento-st wh., owned by Stevenson &
Parker, 800 ft long, extending from Sansome st to Davis. Clay-st wh. was
being rapidly carried out over 1,000 ft, with a width of 40 ft, and started
from a mole or staging at Sherman & Ruckle s store, says Grimshaw, Narr.,
MS., 14; Washington-st wh. was 275 ft long; Jackson-st wh., 552 ft, ended
at Front st in 13 ft of water. The well-built Pacific-st wh. extended over
500 ft (probably to be completed to 800 ft) by 60 ft in width; Broadway wh.,
250 ft long by 40 ft, was the landing-place of the Sacramento steamers. Bantes
Or. and Cal., MS., 19; Henshaw s Stat., MS., 2. Cunningham s wh., between
Vallejo and Green sts, was 375 ft by 33 ft, with a right-angle extension of
330 ft by 30 ft, at a depth of 25 ft. The Green-st or Law s wh. was under
construction, and at North Beach a 1,700-ft wharf from foot of Taylor st
was projected. See, further, Annals 8. F., 291-3; Dams GUmpses, MS., 265-
78; Bauer s Stat., MS., 2; Earl s Stat., MS., 1-10; Lawsons Autolnog., MS.,
16-17; Bartletf* Stat., MS., 2; Pac. News, May 2, Aug. 27, 1850; 8. F. Pica
yune, Aug. 19, Nov. 11, 1850; S. F. Herald, Oct. 22, 1850. Howison s wh.,
valued at $200,000, was offered at lottery, tickets $100. Cal. Courier, Sept.
26, 1850.
4 * For work done in 1847-8, see my preceding vol., v. 654-5.
43 The rains began on Nov. 13th and terminated in March, falling during
198 SAN FRANCISCO.
ings were flooded, and traffic converted the streets into
swamps, their virgin surface trodden into ruts and
rivers of mud. In places they were impassable, and
so deep that rnan and beast sank almost out of sight.
Many animals were left to their fate to suffocate in
the mire, and even human bodies were found ingulfed
in Montgomery street. 44
Driven by necessity, owners and shop-keepers sought
to remedy the evil for the municipal fund was scanty
by forming sidewalks and crossings with whatever
material that could be obtained, but in a manner which
frequently served to wall the liquid rnud into lakes.
The common brush filling proved unstable traps in
which to entangle the feet of horses. The cost of ma
terial and labor did not encourage more perfect meas
ures. It so happened that with the inflow of shipments
many cargoes contained goods in excess of the demand,
such as tobacco, iron, sheet-lead, cement, beans, salt
beef, and the cost of storage being greater than their
actual or prospective value, they could be turned to
no better use than for fillage. Thus entire lines of
sidewalks were constructed of expensive merchandise
in bales and boxes, which frequently decayed, to the
injury of health. 45 The absence of lamps rendered
71 days, or half the time. S. F. Direct., 1852, 12. Lower lying buildings
were flooded. Suttons Stat., MS., 7.
44 Schmiedell, Stat., MS., 5-6, mentions one man who was suffocated in
the mud. Another witness refers to three such cases, due probably to intoxi
cation. See also HittelVs S. F., 154; S. F. Bull, Jan. 23, 1867. I have
seen mules stumble in the street and drown in the liquid mud, writes Gen.
Sherman, Mem., i. 67. At the corner of Clay and Kearny sts stood posted
the warning: This street is impassable, not even jackassable! Uplvams
Notes, 268. At some crossings soundings varied from two to five feet.
Shaw s Golden Dreams, 47.
45 A sidewalk was made from Montgomery st to the mail steamer office of
boxes of 1st class Virginia tobacco, containing 100 Ibs. each, that would be
worth 75 cts a pound. Cole s Vig., MS., 3. Tons of wire sieves, iron, rolls of
sheet lead, cement, and barrels of beef were sunk in the mud. Tobacco was
found to be the cheapest material for small building foundations. NealVs Vig.,
MS., 16; Fay s Facts, MS., 3. Foundations subsequently were sometimes
worth more than the house. Some Chile beans sunk for a crossing on Broadway
would have made a fortune for the owner a few weeks later. Garniss Early
Days, MS., 14; Lambertie, Voy., MS., 202-3. There were a few planked
sidewalks. Sutton s Stat., MS., 7; Cal Past and Present, 149-50; Bartlett s
Stat., MS., 7; Sc/tenck s Vig., MS., 16.
GRADING AND SEWERS. 199
progress dangerous at night, 46 and the narrowness of
the path led to many a precipitation into the mud,
whence the irate victims would arise ready to fight the
first thing he met. Long boots and water-proof suits
were then common.
The experiences of the winter led in 1850 to more
substantial improvements. The municipal government
adopted a system of grades, under which energetic
work was done; so much so that before the following
winter, which was excessively dry, the central parts of
the town might be regarded as practically graded and
planked, a portion being provided with sewers. 47 With
the rapid construction of saw-mills on the coast, sup
plemented by the large importation of lumber from
Oregon, this article became so abundant and cheap as
to restrict to small proportions the use of stone ma
terial for streets.
In the adoption of grades the local government had
been hasty ; for three years later a new system had to
be adopted, partly to conform to the gradual exten
sion of the city into the bay. This involved the
46 Pac. News, of May 9, 1850, complains that Kearny st is left to darkness.
Lights were not introduced till the spring of 1851. S. F. Directory, 1852, 18.
47 Montgomery, Kearny, and Dupont sts, from Broadway to Sacramento,
and even to California st, were so far to receive sewers. The grading and
planking extended in 1852 from the junction of Battery and Market sts diag
onally to Sacramento and Dupont sts, and from Dupont and Broadway to the
bay, covering nearly all the intermediate district, except the land portion of
Broadway and Pacific. See Barker s plan in S. F. Directory of 1852. The
S. F. Annals, 29G, leaves a wrong impression of progress by the beginning of
Nov. 1850, by stating that these improvements were now being executed
within the section embraced between the diagonal line running from Market
and Battery to Stockton and Clay sts on the south, and the line stretching
from Dupont and Broadway straight to the bay, besides odd sections on the
north-west to Taylor st, and northward about Ohio, Water, and Francisco sts.
i^ee S. F. Herald, June 28, July 31, Oct. 29, 1S50; A Ita Gal, Dec. 21, 1850,
and other numbers. La Motte, Stat., MS., 1-2, did some grading. Larkins
Doc., vii. 219; Cal Courier, Sept. 3, 14, 21, 27, Dec. 2, 5, 1850; /S , F Picayune,
Aug. 19, Sept. 6, 9, Oct. 10, 23, 1850. There was a bridge over the lagoon
at Jackson and Kearny sts, observes Pac. News, Dec. 20, 1849, June 5, 1820,
whose editor boasts that no city in the union presents a greater extent of
planked streets. Over 40,000 feet, or above 7^ miles of streets have been
graded; 19,800 feet have been planked; and more planking contracted for
The city paid one third of the expense, levying for the remainder on the
property facing the streets concerned. The 4rst sidewalk, of stringers and
barrel-staves, was laid on the south side of Clay st between Montgomery and
Kearny, says Williams, Stat., MS., 4-5. King of William laid the first
brick sidewalk. Cal Courier, July 23, 1850.
200 SAN FRANCISCO.
lifting of entire blocks of heavy brick houses in the
business centre, and elsewhere to elaborate cutting and
filling with substructure and inconvenient approaches.
The expense of the work was absolutely appalling; the
more so as much of it had been needless, and the re
sult on the whole miserably inadequate and disfigur
ing. 48
In San Francisco was much bad planning. 49 Yioget s
pencillings were without much regard for configura
tion, or for the pathways outlined by nature and early
trafficking toward the presidio and mission. O Far-
rell s later extension was no better. 50 Both rejected
the old-fashioned adaptation to locality, with terraced
slopes suited to the site. Terraces and winding as
cents would have rendered available and fashionable
many of the slopes which for lack of such approaches
were abandoned to rookeries or left tenantless. More
over, while selecting and holding obstinately to the
bare rigidity of right angles they distorted the plan
from the beginning. The two proposed main streets,
instead of being made greater avenues for traffic and
dominant factors in the extension of the city by stretch
ing them between Telegraph and Russian hills to the
48 The new grade, prepared by M. Hoadley and W. P. Humphreys, was
adopted on Aug. 26, 1850, and although afterward modified, involved heavy
cost by raising former levels as much as five feet, especially on business streets
where brick buildings had been erected. Here in lower lying parts changes
were imperative. Nearly 1,000 brick buildings have been raised, some of large
extent. On hill sites greater latitude was allowed. The requirement of the
plan for vertical cuts of 200 feet into Telegraph hill at the intersection of
Montgomery and Kearny with Greenwich and Filbert, and of corresponding
depths elsewhere, could not be entertained, for the cost would have been in
some cases 50 times more than the value of the lots. Elsewhere cuttings of
over 50 feet were frequently adopted, although not always enforced. The
demand for ballast and filling material tended to obviate the main difficulty
the expense as in the case of Telegraph hill. With aid of the steam-exca
vator, or paddy, as this supplanter of Irish labor has been dubbed, which
could swing round with a hogshead of sand at every scoop, a truck car could
be filled in a few minutes from most of the hills. It has been estimated that
an average of nine feet of cutting and filling has been done upon 3,000 acres
of the San Francisco site, implying the transfer of nearly 22,000,000 cubic
yards of sand.
49 The plea that a large city was not thought of in 1839 is valid only to a
certain extent.
50 The conformation to the change made was largely undertaken during
the winter 1849-50. Williams Stat., MS., 3. For surveys and defects, see my
preceding vol. v.
STRAINED EFFORTS. 201
then promising expanse of North Beach, and so form
ing a rectangle to the southern main, Market street,
they were circumscribed, and allowed to terminate
aimlessly in the impassable Telegraph hill. This pri
mary error, whose remedy was too late attempted in the
costly opening of Montgomery avenue, had a marked
effect on the city in distributing its business and so
cial centres, in encroaching upon the rights and com
forts of property owners, and in the lavish squandering
of millions. Then, again, the streets were made too
narrow, resulting in the decadence of many otherwise
advantageous quarters, while some were altered
only at an immense outlay for widening. Add to this
such abnormities as alternating huge ditches and em
bankments with lines of houses left perched at vary
ing altitudes upon the brow of cliffs, sustained by
unsightly props, and accessible only by dizzy stair
ways. True, the extension into the bay in a measure
required the levelling of hills, and so reduced the ab
surdity; on the other hand, this advance into the
waters rendered worse a defective drainage system,
so much so that, notwithstanding the change of levels,
the health and convenience of the city would be seri
ously endangered but for the ruling west winds. This
remedy, however, is nearly as bad as the disease, in
the way of comfort at least. 1
51
The errors and mishaps connected with San Fran
cisco are greatly due to haste and overdoing. One
half of the activity would have accomplished twice the
result. Fortunes were spent in building hastily and
inefficiently; seas were scoured for bargains when
there were better ones at home; the Sierra was
51 Several writers have commented on different features of the plan, which
Player Frowd, Six Mont/is, 23, terms a monument of the folly . . to improve
natural scenery. Hubner, Jtamble, 145-7, and Upton, in Overland Mo., ii.
131, join with others in condemning the disregard for natural features. In
the Annals S. F., 160-1, was placed a protest against the monotony of the
square, and the lack of public parks and gardens. The inequality of streets
was the more striking when it is seen that the central streets, from east to west,
were only 60 feet wide, while those south of Market, a comparative suburb,
were over 80 feet, with variations in other quarters.
202 SAN FRANCISCO.
beaten for gold which flowed of its own accord to the
door of the steady trader ; a pittance set aside for land
would have made rich the defeated wrestler with for
tune. Anything, however, but to quietly wait; wealth
must be obtained, and now, and that by rushing
hither and thither in search of it, by scheming, strug
gling, and if needs be dying for it.
One bitter fruit of the improvident haste of the
city-builders was early forthcoming in a series of dis
astrous conflagrations, which stamped San Francisco
as one of the most combustible of cities, the houses
being as inflammable as the temper of the inhabi
tants. 52
52 The first of the series took place early on Christmas eve, 1849, after one
of those nights of revelry characterizing the flush days. It started in Deni-
son s Exchange, in the midst of the gambling district, on the east side of the
plaza, next to the Parker house, the flames being observed about 6 A. M., Dec.
24th. Premonitory warnings had been given in the burning of the Shades
hotel in Jan. 1849, and the ship Philadelphia in June, as she was about to
sail. S. F. Directory, 1852, 10. Although the weather was calm, the flames
spread to the rear and sides among the tinder walls that filled the block, till
the greater part of it presented a mass of flame. So scorching was the heat
that houses on the opposite side of the street, and even beyond, threatened to
ignite. Fortunately the idea occurred to cover them with blankets, which
were kept freely saturated. One merchant paid one dollar a bucket for water
to this end; others bespattered their walls with mud. Conspicuous among
the fire fighters was David Broderick, a New York fireman now rising to
political prominence. Buckets and blankets might have availed little, how
ever, but for the prompt order to pull down and blow up a line of houses, and
so cut off food for the flames. The greater part of the block between Wash
ington and Clay streets and Kearny and Montgomery streets was destroyed,
involving the loss of a million and a quarter of dollars. Stanley s Speech, 1854.
Nearly 50 houses fell, all save a fringe on Clay and Montgomery sts, then
perhaps the most important block in town. Bayard Taylor, who witnessed
the fire, gives a detailed account in Eldorado, ii. 71-4. Upham, Notes, 26G,
and Neall, Vig., MS., 14-15, add some incidents; and Pac. News, Dec. 25-29,
1849, Jan. 1, 1850, supplies among the journals some graphic versions. The
Eldorado, Parker house, Denison s Exchange, U. S. coffee house, were among
the noted resorts swept away. Polynesian, vi. 142; Hunt s Mag., xxxi. 114.
While the fire was still smouldering, its victims could be seen busily planning
for new buildings. Within a few days many of the destroyed resorts had
been replaced with structures better than their predecessors. Toward the
end of Jan. 1850, not a vestige remained of the fire. Cornwall contracted to
raise the Exchange within 15 days, or forfeit $500 for every day in excess of
the term. He succeeded. Williams" Pec., MS., 13.
The second great fire broke out on May 4, 1850, close to the former
starting point, and swept away within seven hours the three blocks between
Montgomery and Dupont sts, bounded by Jackson and Clay sts and the north
and east sides of Portsmouth square, consuming 300 houses and other prop
erty, to the value of over four millions. Stanley, Speech, 1854, says $4,250,000;
others have $3,000,000 to $4,000,000; Pac. News, May 4, 15, 1850, $5,000,000.
One life was lost. Larkins Doc., vii. 208. Dubois bank and Burgoyne & Co. s
GREAT CONFLAGRATIONS. 203
Such a succession of disasters might well have
crushed any community, and croakers were not want-
house alone escaped in the Clay-st block; and northward only a row fringing
Jackson above Montgomery st. S. F. Directory, 1852, 15. The flames were
stayed, especially on Dupont st, by the voluntary tearing down of many build
ings. S. F. Annals, 274, with diagram. Details in Pac. News, May 4-9, 1850;
Atta Cal, May 27, June 6, 1850. The conduct of certain criminals confirmed
the belief in incendiarism, arid a reward of 5,000 led to several arrests, but
nothing could be proved. The fire started at 4 A. M., on May 4th, in the U.
S. Exchange, a rickety gambling-place. In S. F. Herald, June 15, 1850, it is
stated that 200 houses were burned, with a loss of three millions. As on
the previous occasion, thousands of curious spectators gathered to the sound
of the fire bells to add their clamor to the uproar. Appeals to the crowd for
aid met with no hearty response, unless attended by money, a3 Taylor, Eldo
rado, 75, observed in Dec. 1849. A number were engaged at $3 an hour; $60
was paid for a cartload of water. Shaw s Golden Dreams, 179. A crowd of
men who claimed to have assisted at the fire raised almost a riot on being re
fused compensation by the city council. This august body was profoundly
moved, and ordinances were passed obliging all, under penalty, to render ai.l
on such occasions when called upon. Precautionary measures were also
adopted, and impulse was given to the development of the fire department
started after the first calamity such as digging wells, forming reservoirs,
ordering every householder to keep six buckets of water prepared for emer
gencies, and the like. Annals S. F., 276. It is claimed that in ten days more
than half the burned district was rebuilt.
While the rebuilding of the burned district was still in progress, on June
14th, the alarm sounded once more near the old point of ignition, from the
Sacramento house on the east side of Kearny st, between Clay and Sacra
mento. Cause, a defective stove-pipe, S. F. Directory, 1852, 16; in the
kitchen, adds another, which the Annals S. F., 277, ascribes to a baker s
chimney in the rear of the Merchants hotel. The fire started just before
8 A. M. Within a few hours the district between Clay and California sts,
from Kearny st to the water-front, lay almost entirely in ashes, causing a
loss of over three million dollars. Stanley, as above, has $3,500,000; the
Annals nearly $5,000,000; the Directory $3,000,000, embracing 300 houses.
Jas King of William s bank was torn down; many ships were in danger. Cal.
Courier, July 16, 1850, etc. This fire led to the erection of more substantial
buildings of brick, and some stone.
The fourth great conflagration, on September 17, 1850, started on Jack
son street, and ravaged the greater part of the blocks between Dupont and
Montgomery sts embraced by Washington and Pacific sts. The section was
about equal to the preceding, but covered mostly by one-story wooden
houses, so that the loss did not exceed half a million dollars the Annals says
between one quarter and one half million; yet Stanley has one million; 150
houses, and nearly half a million, according to S. F. Directory, 1852, 17
Details in S. F. Picayune, S. F. Herald, and Cal. Courier, of Sept 18, 1850,
etc. In estimating values it must be considered that after 1849 material,
labor, and method became cheaper and more effective year by year, so that
the cost of replacing differed greatly from the original outlay. A scanty
water supply and the lack of a directing head hampered the praiseworthy
efforts of the fire companies. The fire began at 4 A. M. in the Philadelphia
house, on the north side of Jackson st, between Dupont and Kearny, near
Washington market. On October 31st a blaze on Clay-st hill consumed the
City hospital, owned by Dr Peter Smith, and an adjoining building, where
the fire began; loss, a quarter of a million; supposed incendiarism. It was
marked by severe injury to several of the hospital inmates, before they could
be rescued. Cal. Courier, Oct. 31, 1850. Less extensive but twice as costly
was the blaze of Dec. 14th, on Sacramento street, which consumed several
204
SAN FRANCISCO.
BURNT DISTRICT OF MAY 1851.
The jagged line below Montgomery st indicates the extent of filled ground
beyond the natural shore line. The larger portions even of the central blocks were
covered by wooden buildings. The following list, referred to the plan by num
bers, embraces nearly all the notable exceptions, occupied by a larr^e proportion of
the leading business firms. The fire consumed also most of the streets beyond the
water line, which, being really wharves on piling, burned readily.
1. City Hotel, brick building 30. Bereuhardt, Jacoby, & Co., Hellman
& Bros, wooden b.
31. Pioche Bayerque, brick and iron,
several iron b. in rear.
32. Bonded warehouse, iron.
33 Starkey, Janion, & Co., b k and iron.
34. I. Naylor, Cooke Bros, brick.
35. Helman & Bro., brick.
36. Starr & Minturn, and others, 2 iron
and 2 brick b.
37 Hastier, Baines, & Co., brick.
iv>. UIUUVACIIU. wiiiv,^, i/ii^j. 38. Jones Hotel, wooden.
11. Johnson & Calfield, wooden b., ad- 39, P M. Steam Navig. Co., brick.
4.
5.
6.
7
8.
9.
10.
,
Fitzgerald, Bausch, Brewster, brick
b.
Capt. Folspm, iron building, adjoin
ing brick b. burned.
Custom-house, brick b.
Rising & Casili, brick and iron.
Cramer, Rambach, & Co., brick,
R. Wells & Co. banker brick
Treadwell & Co . brick.
J. Hahn & Co. brick.
Standard office, brick
Co.-
joining brick b burned
Moffatt s Laboratory brick.
Quartermaster s office, brick.
Gildermeister De Fremery, &
brick
U S. Assayer s office. Dodge s Ex
press, F Argenti banker, brick
B Davidson, banker brick.
Wells & Co , bankers, brick.
California Exchange, brick.
Union Hotel brick
El Dorado gambling-place, brick.
Tallaut & Wilde bankers, Page, Ba
con, & Co bankers, brick.
Gregory s Express, brick.
Delmonico s, brick, and three adjoin
ing brick b burned
Burgoyne & Co. bankers, brick.
The Verandah resort, brick.
Ev Picayune, journal, brick.
40. W Gibb brick.
41. Godeffroy, Sillem, & Co., brick.
42 Bonded warehouse, iron.
43. Herald office, brick.
44. Courier office, brick.
45 Niantic, store ship.
46 Baldwin s Bank, iron.
47 J B. Bidleman, brick.
48. Cronise & Bertelot, iron.
4J Larco & Co., brick, iron adjoining.
50 Huerlin & Belcher, brick.
51. Balance office, brick.
52. Dewitt & Harrison, brick.
53 Macondray & Co., brick, iron, and
wood.
54. Appraiser s office, iron.
55 Dunker and others, iron.
56 Apollo, store ship.
57 Gen. Harrison, store ship.
58. Georgean, store ship
59 Cross & Co. iron.
60 Bonded stores, iron.
Besides the above, a score and more of brick and iron buildings were destroyed.
ACTIVE REBUILDING. 205
ing to predict the doom of the city. Street preachers
proclaimed the visitation to be a divine vengeance upon
iron buildings with valuable merchandise. It was below Montgomery st;
losa about one million This shook the faith in corrugated iron walls. De
tails in Pac. Neivs, and S. F. Picayune , of Dec. 15-16, 1850
Then followed an interval of fortunate exemption, and then with accumu
lated fury on the anniversary of the preceding largest conflagration, the cul
minating disaster burst upon the city Started undoubtedly uy incendiaries,
the tire broke out late on May 3, 1851, on the south side of the plaza, in the
Upholstery and paint establishment of Baker and Messerve, just above Bry
ant s hotel, at HP M., say most accounts; but Schenck, Vij., MS., 45, has
9:20; yet it is called the fire of May 4th, partly because most of the destruc
tion was then consummated. One of the gang headed by Jack Edwards, was
the cause of it, says Schenck. Aided by a strong north-west breeze, it leaped
across Kearny Bt upon the oft-ravaged blocks, the flames chasing one another,
first south-eastward, then, with the shifting wind, turning north and east.
The spaces under the planking of the streets and sidewalks acted as funnels,
which, sucking in the flames, carried them to sections seemingly secure, there
to startle the unsuspecting occupants with a sudden outbreak all along the
surface, Rising aloft, the whirling volumes seized upon either side, shrivel
ling the frame houses, and crumbling with their intense heat the stout walh
of supposed fire-proof structures, crushing all within and without. The iron
shutters, ere falling to melt in the furnace, expanded within the heat, cutting
off escape, and roasting alive some of the inmates. Six men who had occu
pied the building of Taaffe and McCahill, at the corner of Sacramento and
Montgomery, were lost; 12 others, fire fighters in Naglee s building, nar
rowly escaped; 3 were crushed by one falling wall; and now many more were
killed and injured no one can say. The fire companies worked well, but
their tiny streams of Water were transformed into powerless vapor. More
effectual than water was the pulling down and blowing up of buildings; but
this proved effectual only in certain directions. Voluntary destruction went
hand in hand with the inner devastation; the boom of explosion mingling
with the cracking of timber, the crash of tumbling walls, and the dull de
tonation from falling roofs. A momentary darkening, then a gush of scintil
lating sparks, followed by fiery columns, which still rose, while the canopy
of smoke sent their reflection for a hundred miles around, even to Monterey.
It is related that the brilliant illumination in the moonless night attracted
flocks of brant from the marshes, which, soaring to and fro above the flames,
glistened like specks of burnished gold. Helpers LandofGolcl, 144. Finally,
after ten hours the flames abated, weakened by lack of ready materials,
and checked on one side by the waters of the bay, where the wharves, broken
into big gaps, interposed a shielding chasm for the shipping. Of the great
city nothing remained save sparsely settled outskirts. All the business dis
trict between Pine and Pacific sts, from Kearny to Battery, on the water,
presented a mass of ruins wherein only a few isofated houses still reared their
blistered walls, besides small sections at each of its four corners. Westward
and north-eastward additional inroads had been made, extending the devas
tation altogether over 22 blocks, not counting sections formed by alleys, and
of these the greater number Were utterly ravaged, as shown in the annexed
plan. The number of destroyed houses has been variously estimated at from
over 1,000 to nearly 2,000, involving a loss of nearly twelve million dollars,
a sum larger than that for all the preceding great fires combined. Only 17
of the attacked buildings were saved, while more than twice that number of
so-called fire-proof edifices succumbed. Schenck, Vig., MS., 44-8, who had
some painful experiences during the fire, places their number at 68, including
the only two insured buildings, one, No. 41 on plan, a single story, with 22-
inch brick walls, earth -covered, and having heavy iron shutters. The long
application, for insurance on this building was granted at Harlem, unknown to
206 SAN FRANCISCO
the godless revellers and gamblers of this second
Sodom; and rival towns declared a situation so ex
posed to constant winds could never be secure or
desirable But it is not easy to uproot a metropolis
once started; and Californians were not the men to
despair Many of them had been several times stricken,
losing their every dollar ; but each time they rallied
and renewed the fight. Reading a lesson in the
blow, they resolved to take greater precautions, and
while frail shelter 53 had temporarily to be erected,
owing to the pressure of business and the demand for
labor and material, it was soon replaced by substantial
walls which should offer a check to future fires. If
so many buildings supposed to be fire-proof had fallen,
it was greatly owing to their being surrounded by
combustible houses. This was remedied by the grad-
tha owners, about the time of its destruction. The policy for the other house,
No. 14 of plan, came at the same time. Insurance companies had not yet
opened here. The Jenny Lind theatre fell. The principal houses as reported
in A Ita CnL, the only unburned newspaper, were J. B. Bidleman, $200,000; E.
Mickle & Co., $200,000; Dall, Austin, & Co., $150,000; Simoiisfield, Bach, &
Co., $150,000; Starkey Brothers, $150,000; De Boom, Vigneaux, & Co., $147,-
000; Oppenheimer, Hirsch, & Co., $130,000; Kelsey, Smith, & Risley, $125,-
000; Moore, Tichenor, & Co., $120,000; Treadwell & Co., $85,000; Thomas
Maguire, $80,000; Adelsdorfer & Neustadter, $80,000; Fredenburg & Moses,
$75,000; John Cowell, $70,000; J. L. Folsom, $65,000; W. D. M. Howard,
$30,000; Baron Terlow, $60,000; Beck & Palmer, $55,000; J. & C. Grant,
$55,000; Cross, Hobson, & Co., $55,000; Haight & Wadsworth, $55,000; W.
0. Bokee, $50,000; Lazard Freres, $50,000; Annan, Lord, & Co., $50,000;
Herzog & Rhine, $50,000; Nichols, Pierce, & Co., $50,000; S. Martin & Co.,
$50,000. In Annals S. F., 331, it is estimated that from 1,500 to 2,000
houses were ruined, extending over 18 entire squares, with portions of five
or six more, or three fourths of a mile from north to south, and one third of
a mile east to west; damage moderately estimated at $10,000,000 to $12,000,-
000. S. F. Directory, 1852, 18-19, assumes the loss at from $7,000,000 to $12,-
000,000; Stanley, Speech, 1854, gives the latter figure. Dewitt and Harri
son saved their building, g of plan, by pouring out 83,000 gallons of vinegar.
Schenck s Vig., MS., 48. Rescued effects were largely sent on board ships
for storage; -shelter in the outskirts was costly. Garniss, Early Days, MS.,
19, paid $150 for the use of a tent for 10 days, and more was offered. Rob
ber gangs carried off large quantities of goods, a portion to Goat Island,
whence they were recovered, but effects to the value of $150,000 or $200,000
are supposed to have been carried away on a bark which had lain off the
island. A govt vessel made a fruitless pursuit. In LarTdns Doc., vii. 287-8,
are other details. The store-ships Niantic, Gen. Harrison, and Apollo were
wholly or partly destroyed. The offices of the Public, Balance, Picayune,
Standard, and Courier were burned.
^Larkin, Doc., vii. 287, writes on May 15th that 250 small houses were
then rising, 75 already with tenants. Sansome st was much improved by
filling.
FIRE DEPARTMENT. 207
nal exclusion of unsafe structures from within desig
nated fire-limits, by the improvement of the fire
department, and other precautions, all of which com
bined to preserve the city from similar wide-spread
disasters. One more did come, to form the sixth
and last in the great fire series; but this occur
ring in the following month, June 1851, was due
partly to the flimsiness of the temporary buildings,
and partly to the lack of time to establish preventive
measures and weed out incendiary hordes. The rav
aged district extended between Clay and Broadway
streets, nearly to Sansome and Powell streets, cover
ing ten entire blocks, and parts of six more, with about
450 houses, including the city hall, and involving a
loss of two and a half million dollars. 54 Thus purified
by misfortune, and by the weeding out of rookeries
and much filth, the city rose more beautiful than ever
from its ashes. 55 Hereafter it was admirably guarded
by a fire department which from a feeble beginning in
1850 became one of the most efficient organizations
of the kind in the world. 56
* Stanley s Speech, 1854. Annals S. F., 344, says $3,000,000; S. F. Direc
tory, 1852, 19, over $2,000,000. The fire started in a dwelling on the north
side of Pacific street, below Powell, at about 11 A. M., on June 22d. The
Jenny Lind theatre fell again, together with the city hospital, the old adobe
City hotel, the Alta office, which had hitherto escaped, the presbyterian
church, etc. The city hall, formerly the Graham house, was a four-story
wooden building, on the N. w. corner of Kearny and Pacific sts; the chief
records were saved. Dunbar s bank escaped though surrounded by fire.
Say ward s Rem., MS., 30. Manager T. Maguire was burned out for the sixth
time. Sjven lives were lost, three by fire, the rest by the mob and police,
as robbers and incendiaries, yet one was an honest man assisting his friends
to save property. The fire companies were thwarted by lack of water, and
by the opposition of owners to the pulling down of their buildings. Alta Cal.,
Sept. 21, 1851, wails over the destruction of old landmarks. The progress
of fire-proof buildings is shown in S. F. Directory of 1852, 16, which states
that nearly all the west side of Montgomery street, between Sacramento and
Washington, was lined by them. Their value was satisfactorily tested in
Nov. 1852, when they restricted a dangerous fire on Merchant and Clay streets
to 30 wooden buildings worth $100,000. For further details concerning the
great fires of S. F., I refer to S. J. Pioneer, Feb. 16, 1878; FarwelVsMS., 4; An
nals S. F., passim; S. F. Bull., Nov. 27, 1856; Cal. Courier, July 16, Sept. 18,
1850; Williams Pion. Past., 44-8; Tiffany s Pocket Ex. Guide, 124-6; S. F. Call,
May 14, 1871; 8. F. Alta, July 1, 1850; S. F. Pac. Neivs, May 4, Dec. 16,
1850; Polynesian, vii. 6, 30.
5;> As commemorated by the phoenix on its seal.
55 Before the fire of Dec. 24, 1849, there ha.l been no serious occasion to
drive the absorbed money -gatherera of the city to organized method for protec-
208 SAN FRANCISCO.
The mining excitement, with the consequent exodus
of people, served to abate but partially the factious
tiou against fire, and only three merchants had thought of introducing fire-
engines, which were, indeed, of little value in an emergency. Starkey, Janion,
& Co. owned one of them, the Oahu, which had been nearly worn out by long
S3rvice in Honolulu; another was a small machine belonging to Wm Free,
intended for a mining pump. The havoc made by the first great fire roused
the people to the necessity for action, a:id assisted by experienced firemeu
like D. C. Broderick, F. D. Kohler, G. H. Hossefros, G. W. Green, W. Me-
Kibben, Ben. Ray, C. W. Cornell, J. A. McGlynn, Col Wason, Douglas,
Short, and others, E, Otis organized the Independent Axe Company, tl:e
municipal authorities granting &800 for the purchase of hooks, axes, and other
implements. S. F. Minutes LerjisL, 1849, 101, 106, 112, 116, 127-36; Alta Cat.,
and Pac. News, Jan. 15, 17, 1850, etc. A hook and ladder company ia aba
mentioned, also Mazeppa Fire Co., as well as payments and other acts by the
fire committee. In January Kohler was appointed chief engineer by tlu
council, at a salary of $3,000, with instructions to form a fire department, to
which end he obtained the three engines in the city, and selected for each a
company, Empire, Protection, and Eureka. No fire occurring for some time,
the movement declined somewhat under absorbing business pursuits, so much
so that the next disaster found scanty preparations to meet it. hose being
especially deficient. After this the appeal to the public received greater at
tention, and in June 1850 the fire department was formally organized,
with the Empire Engine Company No. 1, dating formally from June 4th, with
D. C. Broderick as foreman, G. W. Green, assistant, W. McKibben, secretary,
and including F. D. Kohler, C. W. Cornell, J. A. McGlynn, D. Scannell, C.
T. Borneo, J. Donohue, C. P. Duane, L. P. Bowman, A. G. Russ. It selected
Onward for a motto, and formed in 1857 a target company of 125 muskets.
Company 2 was the Protection, succeeded by the Lady Washington, and
subsequently, in 1852, by the Manhattan. According to the Alta Cal. it waa
first organized informally by Ben. Ray in 1849. Both of these were composed
chiefly of New York men, and represented the New York element in politi
cal and other contests. Company 3 was the Howard, formed June 14th by
Boston men under guidance of F. E. R. Whitney, foreman, first chief of the
later paid department. It was named in honor of W. H. M. Howard, who
presented to it a Hunneman engine, just brought by his order, and which for
a long time remained unsurpassed. Among the members were J. G. Eagan,
T. K. Battelle, G. L. Cook. This was originally the Eureka, with Frees
toy engine, which lost the claim to No. 1 by a few hours of delay in organiz
ing. The fire of June 22d gave fresh impulse to organization, and on Sept.
7th the California, company 4, was formed, at first with an engine loaned by
Cook Bros & Co., soon replaced by a mate to the Howard. The members,
chiefly residents of Happy Valley, embraced M. G. Leonard, G. U. Shaw,
W. N. Thompson, G. T. Oakes, G. Endicott, C. Hyatt, R. S. Lamott, and G. M.
Garwood, foreman. Company 5 was the Knickerbocker, formed Oct. 17th,
with a small wheezy engine nicknamed Two-and-a-half and Yankee Doodle.
Foreman J. H. Cutter, with J. Wilson, C. E. Buckingham, R. R. Harris.
Earlier than these two were the Monumental 6, 7, 8, which organized in
June as independent companies, joining the department Only in Sept., and so
receiving a later number. It was composed of Baltimore men, with a mix
ture of Philadelphians, who sported three small engines, Mechanical, Union,
and Franklin. Among the members were G. H. Hossefros, long foreman and
subsequently chief, W. Divier, J. S. Weathred, J. Capprise, R. B. Hampton,
W. H. Silverthorn, J. H. Ruddock, R. H. Bennett, W. L. Bromley, and W.
Lippincott. Soon after resigning No. 8 the companies consolidated into No.
6, in 1854, with an improved engine, followed in 1861 by the first steam fire-
engine in the city. No. 7 was filled by the Volunteer, and No. 8 by the Pa
cific. Earlier than these two, in 1822, were the Vigilant and Crescent, chiefly
POLITICAL DISCORD. 209
spirit roused by personal feelings and business ri
valry, and strengthened by an irritating subordina
tion to military power. But it fully revived with
the return of population from the mines, and in
December 1848 a new council was chosen. 57 The
result was far from pleasing to the old body, which,
rallying its partisans, declared the election nullified by
illegal votes, and held another in January. 58 To this
of New Orleans men; Columbian and Pennsylvanian, of Philadelphians, in
cluding the later Mayor Alvord. In 1854-55 followed the Young American
and Tiger, Nos. 13, 14, the former at the mission, the latter on Second st.
In early days, when hose and water were scanty, the chief work fell on
the hook and ladder companies, of which the department in June 1850 counted
three, the St Francis, composed of E. V. Joice, S. H. Ward, C. P. Duane,
W. A Woodruff, G. B. Gibbs, B. G. Davis, J. C. Palmer, foreman, and others;
the Howard, succeeded by Lafayette, which consisted of Frenchmen, with a
Parisian system and a uniform granted by Napoleon; the Sansome, sustained
chiefly by rich business men. A. De Witt, F. Mahoney, C. L. Case, E. A.
Ebbets, J. L. Van Bokkelen, G. A. Hudson, W. Adrain, H. A. Harrison,
W. H. Hoffman, W. Greene, F. A Bartlett, R. L. Van Brunt, were among the
members. Green, Ebbets, and Van Bokkelen were the first foremen. Some
years later hose companies were added, making up the 20 companies called
for by the legislative regulation of 1851. The department charter is dated
July 1, 1850. Kohler, elected chief in Sept. 1850, was succeeded in the fol
lowing year by Whitney, of the Baltimore faction. He resigning, Hossef ros of
the Philadelphians held the position till 1853, when Duane entered. In May
1852 a board of firewardens was formed. The records of the department
were lost in the fire of May 1851. A benevolent fund was then begun, which
by 1855 amounted to $32,000 and grew to $100,000. For details, see Alia Cal,
June 14, July 1, etc., 1850; Nov. 16, 1866; and scattered numbers of interme
diate years; also Pac. Mews, Oct. 18, 1850, etc.; Cal. Courier, Sept. 25, 1850;
and S, F. Herald, June 17, 1850, etc ; S F. Bulletin, Dec. 3, 1866; S. F.
Chronicle, Nov. 11, 1877; S J. Pioneer. May 25, 1878; S. F. Call, Apr. 14,
1878; Annals S. F , 614-25; and S F Directories, that of 1852, enumerates 14
companies, whereof 2 are for hook and ladder; No 4 was situated as far east
as Battery, No. 9 on Stockton, near Broadway, the rest more central. The
formation of companies, each as much as possible composed of men hailing
from the same eastern town, led to clannishness and rivalry, which in a meas
ure was stimulating and useful, but also detrimental in leading to extrava
gance, political strife, and even bloody affrays. They shared in military
exploits, and in August 1850 one company started for Sacramento to sup
press the land squatters. They vied with one another in elaborately fitting
and decorating their fire stations. The Sansome company s station furniture
akme cost $5,000, and had a library. While they merged finally at the close
of 1869 into a paid department, their noble devotion in emergencies must ever
be commended, leaving as they did business, pleasure, sleep, and comfort to
voluntarily face toil and danger for the common good.
57 By a vote of 347 on Dec. 27th. Members, John Townsend, president,
S C. Harris, W. D. M. Howard, G C. Hubbard, R. A. Parker, T. J Roach,
I. Sirrine, numbering now seven, as resolved. Star and Cal., Dec. 16, 1848,
etc. For earlier members, see preceding vol. v.; Califorman, Oct. 7, 14, 1848,
etc.; Frignet, Cal., 122.
58 On the 15th. Harris and Sirrine were reelected, the latter becoming
president. The other members were L Everhart, S. A Wright, D. Starks,
ju Montgomery, and C. E. Wetmore. The election for delegates during the
HIST. CAL., VOL. VI. 14
210 SAN FRANCISCO
new corporation it transferred its authority, regard
less of protests, and of the December council, which
sought to assert itself. The opportunity was eagerly
seized by disappointed aspirants to air their elo
quence upon public rights and the danger of anarchy,
and to assist in conjuring up a more exalted municipal
power for the district in the form of a legislative as
sembly of fifteen members, together with three jus
tices of the peace. 59 Their election, on February 21st,
preceding week tended to lower public interest in the event, and a much
smaller vote was polled than before. The AUa CaL, Jan. 25, 1849, accord
ingly considers it void.
59 The justices were Myron Norton, T. R. Per Lee, both officers of Steven
son s regt, and W. M. Stewart; the members, T. A. Wright, A. J. Ellis, H.
A. Harrison, G. C. Hubbard, G. Hyde, I. Montgomery, VV. M. Smith, A. J.
Grayson, J. Creighton, R. A. Parker, T. J. Roach, W. F. Swasey, T. H.
Green, F. J. Lippett, and G. F. Lemon. U. S. Gov. Doc., Cong. 31, Sess. 1,
H. Ex. Doc., 17, 730, with text of resolutions at the decisive meeting on Feb.
12th, reported also in AUa CaL, Feb. 15, 1849. The plan of the organization
was presented by G. Hyde, formerly alcalde, who in his Stat., MS., 10-12,
points out that only a few of the members obtained less than 400 out of the
602 votes cast. Placer Times, May 12, 1849, etc. According to McGowan, A.
A. Green of the Stevenson regt gave a start to the meetings which created
the legislative assembly. S. F. Post, Nov. 23, 1878. Ryan, Pers. Adv., ii.
250-2, calls this faction the democratic, Leavenworth heading the aristocratic
land-grabbers. The assembly met on March 5th at the public institute,
Dwnelle s Col. Hist., 106, doc. iv., although business began only on Mar.
12th; Lippett was appointed speaker; J. Code, sergeant-at-arms; E. Gilbert,
printer; F. Ward, treasurer, later J. S. Owens; J. Hyde, district attorney;
I. H. Ackerman, clerk, succeeded by A. A. Green and A. Roane. For rules,
acts, and committee appointments, see S. F. Minutes Legist., 5-4:6. Owing
to the frequent absence of members and lack of quorum, their number was
increased by ten, elected on May llth, whereof W. A. and E. G. Buffum,
A. A. Green, Theo. Smith, C. R. V. Lee, S. McGerry, and J. M. Huxley,
took their seat on the 14th, Burke and P. H. Burnett subsequently. The
proportion of Stevenson s soldiers in the body was large. For biographies,
see preceding vols. An early measure was to forbid the sale of lots or other
city property, which served to rally a host to the support of Alcalde Leaven-
worth, including the displaced council members. Loud charges had been
made against the alcalde for lavish grants of land, and in such a manner as
to permit its accumulation by monopolists for speculation, also for maladminis
tration. Hyde s Statm., MS., 13; AUa CaL, Mar. 29, 1849. This attitude
led the assembly on March 22d to decree the abolition of the alcaldeship and
the offices depending upon it, Norton, as the first justice of the peace, being
appointed to fill the vacancy under the title of police magistrate, J. C. Pullis
being shortly after elected sheriff to assist him. The appeal of the assembly
to Gen. Smith for support proved futile. He sustained the alcalde. Greater
impression was made upon Gen. Riley, who at this time entered as military
governor. Less prudent and firm, he lent his ear first to one side and sus
pended Leavenworth on May 6th, then the old council of 1848 assisted in
obtaining his reinstatement on June 1st; and notwithstanding repeated
resignations he retained the alcaldeship. Correspondence in U. S. Gov. Doc.,
as above, 733-6, 758-60, 771; Placer Times, June 2, 1844. He was ineffi
cient, says Hawley, Stat., MS., 9. Even Commodore Jones writes, June 29th,
that he was very obnoxious to the people. Unbound Doc., 55, 66, 228, 319-20.
TWO GOVERNMENTS. 211
brought to the front a very respectable body of men,
full of reform projects, but regarding the innovation
as unauthorized by still prevailing laws, the governor
would not accord them any active interference with the
alcalde, who stood arrayed himself with their oppo
nents, the land monopolists. And so the city continued
to be afflicted with practically two governments, which
maintained a sharp cross-fire of contradictory enact
ments and charges until June, when the governor s
proclamation for a constitutional convention, and for
the election of provisional local officers throughout
the country, caused the assembly to abandon the field
to the alcalde. They retired with honor; for viewed
by the light of subsequent corruption, even their defi
ciencies are bright with the lustre of earnest efforts.
One result of the political discord was to give
opportunity for lawlessness. The riffraff of the dis
banded regiment of New York Volunteers had lately
formed an association for cooperation in benevolence
and crime, under the not inappropriate title of the
Hounds, with headquarters in a tent bearing the no
less dubious appellation of Tammany Hall, after the
Backed by Burnett the assembly protested vigorously, and in a proclamation
to the city set forth the illegality of military interference. Burnett s Recoil,,
MS., ii. 61-87; AUa Cal., June 14, 1849. Acting accordingly, they sent the
sheriff to forcibly seize the records in the alcalde s possession. Ryan, Pers.
Adv., ii. 252-4, gives a graphic account of the pistol flourishing on the occa
sion. Buffums Six Mont/is, 117-19. Appalled at such insolence, Riley de
nounced the legislature as a usurping body, and called wildly upon all good
citizens to aid in restoring the records. U. S. Gov. Doc., ubi sup., 773-4.
Simultaneously, June 3d, appeared the proclamation for a convention, and
for local elections throughout the country, an order so far delayed in the vain
hope that congress would provide a civil government. This election pre
tending the speedy extinction of the assembly, the members, with hopes cen
tred in the next balloting, resolved to yield; yet not until after a deferential
appeal to the public, which responded on July 9th by a vote of confidence so
meagre as to be chilling. The smallness of the vote, 167 for their continu
ance, 7 against, was due to the departure of supporters for the mines, says
Green, Stat., MS., 24; AUaCal, July 12, 17, 1849. VVilley, Pers. Mem., 127-
8, assumes that Riley terrified them. Their minutes cease on June 4th, the
date of Riley s proclamation against them. Green naturally extols the honesty
of his associates; he claims to have refused a land bribe from Leavenworth
for himself and his monopoly friends on introducing the bill for abolishing the
alcaldeship. Findla, Stat., MS., 9-10, also speaks of them as respectable
men. Prices Sketch, MS., 111.
212 SAN FRANCISCO.
noted eastern hot-bed of that name. 60 It is but natural
that this graceless set of idlers should, through lack of
manly incentive, drift into political agitation, and that
the original military aim of their late regiment should
degenerate into race antipathy and rioting. Drunk
enness and brawl, displayed in noisy processions with
drum and fife and streaming banners, led to swagger
ing insolence and intimidation, which found a seemingly
safe vent against the Hispano- Americans. Once the
robber instinct was aroused by the more disreputable,
it was not long before a glittering vista opened a wider
sphere.
The unsavory name of Hounds was changed to
Regulators; and under pretence of watching over
public security and rights, the vagabonds intruded
themselves in every direction, especially upon the
exposed and defenceless; and they boldly demanded
contributions of the merchants in support of their
self-assumed mission. Strength of numbers and arms
and significant threats increased, until terrorism stalked
undisguised. Finally, on July 15, 1849, under inspirit
ing stimulants, they ventured to make an attack in
force upon the Chileno quarter, at the foot of Tele
graph hill, with the avowed object of driving out the
hated foreigners, and despoiling them. Not knowing
what next might follow, the alarmed citzens united for
action. Four companies formed, with a huge special
police detachment, and the town was scoured in pur
suit of the now scattering band. A score were arrested,
and by the prompt application of fine and imprisonment
the rest were awed into submission. 61
The election of August 1, 1849, restored the ayun-
tamiento and prefect system, while giving the city the
increased number of twelve councilmen, 62 under the
60 Of New York. The tent stood on Kearny st, where Commercial st now
abuts
61 The history of the band and outbreak is fully related in my Popular
Tribunals, i. 76 et seq.
2 T. H. Green, H. A. Harrison, A. J. Ellis, S. C. Harris, T. B. Winston,
J. Townsend, R. M. Price, W. H. Davis, B. Simmons, S. Brannan, W. M.
THE HOUNDS. 213
presidency of John W. Geary, the lately arrived post
master of the city, 03 who responded to the unanimous
confidence bestowed upon him by displaying great zeal
for the welfare of the city. Horace Hawes, the pre
fect, was an able lawyer, but with a somewhat fiery
temperament that soon brought about a conflict with
his colleagues. 64 Acting upon the suggestions of their
leader, 65 the council issued a revenue ordinance, de-
Stewart, G. B. Post, in the order of popularity as indicated by votes obtained.
Four had belonged to the assembly, and two to the council which it super-
ceded. Frank Turk, second alcalde, acted for a long time as secretary to the
new council; the subprefects for the districts were F. Guerrerro and J. R. Cur
tis. Alcalde Geary obtained the entire vote of 1,516, while Prefect Hawea
polled only 913. The three highest votes for councilmen were carried by late
assembly members. There were nearly a dozen tickets in the field.
63 Geary was born in Westmoreland Co., Pa. After his father s death, he
taught school, supporting his mother, and paying off his father s indebted
ness. He next went to Pittsburg and entered into mercantile pursuits,
which proved uncongenial. Meanwhile he studied assiduously, displaying a
marked taste for mathematics, and became a civil engineer and railroad super
intendent. When the war with Mexico broke out, he joined the 2d Pa. Vols. ,
rose to the rank of col, way wounded at Chapultepec, and appointed com
mander of the citadel after the city fell. He was appointed postmaster of
S. F. on Jau. 22, 1849, with a certain control over postal matters on the
Pacific coast. With his family he reached S. F. on the Oregon on Apr. 1st.
His administration was one of marked efficiency. Learning that Prest.
Taylor had appointed a successor, Geary turned the office over to Col Bryan.
At this time he sent his family back to Pa. , and became a member of the
auction and commission house of Geary, Van Voorhees, and Sutton.
64 Biography in Hist. Cal., iii., this series.
65 Geary in his inaugural address pointed out the lack of public buildings,
and funds and measures for security, and recommended a tax, not alone on
real estate and auction sales, but on licenses for traders, in proportion to
the goods vended, for conveyances by land and water, and for gambling;
the latter as an inevitable evil being thus placed under salutary control. An
inventory should be made of public documents and mutilations noted. Records
were subsequently sought at Monterey. Hawes dwelt upon the necessity
for measures conducive to prospective greatness of the city without making
any special suggestions. S. F. Minutes, 1849, 221-4; Annals S. F., 230-1.
He took the oath on Aug. 1 1th. The council met, from Aug. 6th, on an average
twice a week. Their proceedings, with committee distributions, etc., are re
corded in S. F. Minutes, 1849, 47 et seq. The attendance fell off to such a
degree that the quorum had to be reduced to four by the close of the year.
Rules for their guidance in general were sent in by the governor. U. S. Gov.
Doc.., Cong. 31, Sess. 1, H. Ex. Doc., 17, 775-6. Among appointed officials
were J. Code, sergeant-at-arms, W. M. Eddy, surveyor, P. C. Lander, col
lector, A. C. Peachy, attorney, S. C. Simmons, controller, Ben. Burgoyne,
treasurer, succeeded in Dec. by G. Meredith; P. C. Lander, tax collector,
J. R. Palmer, physician, subsequently Stivers and Thorp, S. R. Gerry became
health officer in Dec., J. E. Townes, sheriff, in Dec. appointed coroner. N. R.
Davis, street commissioner, subsequently J. J. Arentrue, in Dec. , J. Gallagher,
inspector of liquors. Turk, second alcalde and acting secretary, took a seat
in the council and was in Dec. replaced as secretary by H. L. Dodge. F. D.
Kohler has been mentioned as chief fire-engineer. Under the prefecture
were appointed P. A. Brinsmade, subprefect, in Dec., vice Curtis, F. P.
214 SAN FRANCISCO.
pending chiefly on the sale of real estate and mer
chandise, and on licenses for trading, 66 the latter of a
hasty and disproportionate nature. Not deeming this
sufficient to cover their teeming plans, notably for city
hall, hospital, and public wharves, they prepared for
a large sale of water lots, which were coming into
eager demand. The first available money was applied
to the purchase of a prison brig 67 and shackles for
chain-gangs; the police force was placed on a regular
and more efficient footing; 68 fire-engines were ordered ;
and strenuous efforts made to improve the streets, so
as to prevent a repetition of the previous winter s mis
haps, 69 yet the following season proved comparatively
Tracy, justice of the peace at the mission, W. B. Almond, judge of first in
stance with civil jurisdiction only, Hall McAllister, attorney, pay $2,000,
both from Oct. 1st, F. Billings, commissioner of deeds, A. H. Flint, surveyor;
also a host of notaries public. See Id., 756-840, passim; Unbound Doc., 224,
323-9. etc.; Brown s Stat., MS., 16; Merrill s Stat., MS., 5-6; Arch. Mont.,
xiv. 18; Gal. Miscel., ix. pt. i. 77; Alta Cal, Pac. News, Dec. 13, 1849, etc.;
Gillette s Vig., MS., 6; Hyde s Stat., MS., 12; Miscel., MS., 3.
66 On Aug. 27th. The prefect presumed to veto this ordinance, on the ground
of the disproportionate nature of the imposts which pressed excessively upon
labor and on men with limited means, a dealer with a capital of $150,000,
for instance, paying $400 only, while a small trader with $1,000 was required
to pay $300. He also considered the revenue called for in excess of require
ment, and demanded details for expenditure, which should be proportioned
to the measures most needed, especially protection. The ordinance was also
contrary to law in defining new misdemeanors and extending the jurisdiction
of the alcalde. S. F. Minutes, 1849, 224-7. The ardor of this champion of the
oppressed was somewhat damped by the reminder that the veto power be
longed to the governor, to whom he might report any objections against the
council. The governor offered $10,000 toward the formation of a jail and
court-house.
G1 Euphemia, anchored near the corner of Jackson and Battery sts. A
calaboose existed, but so poor and insufficient as to induce the former assem
bly to rent a room for a jail. S. F. Minutes, 1849, 10, 40, 142. The brig was
soon overcrowded. Alta Cal., Aug. 4, 1850; Cal. Courier, July 16, 1850. A
regular allowance was made for the chain-gang overseer, whose task promoted
much public work. A regular jail was erected on Broadway in 1851. Id. y
Sept. 30, 1851.
68 Under the direction of Malachi Fallon, as captain, chosen Aug. 13th,
assisted by Major Beck and by a force which from 30 men increased to 50 by
Feb. 1850, and by the following year to 75. The pay had also risen from $6
to $8 a day, with $2 extra for the 5 captains. It was then proposed to reduce
the force to 46 men and 4 captains at $150 and $200 a month, fb. Gold and
silver badges were ordered for the first chief and his men; a station was as
signed to each of the 4 wards. See S. F. Minutes, 1849, 52-3, 79, 90-1, 102,
131, 167; 8. F. Herald, July 12, 1850; Schenck s Vig., MS., 22. Fallon was
chosen city marshal by the democrats in 1850. S. F, Times, Jan. 12, 1867.
Fallon had served in the New York force. Fifty-eight names on his force in
S. F. Directory, 1850, 123^.
69 A street commissioner received $500 a month, and a superintendent of
public repairs $600. Teams were bought by the city for clearing streets.
EARLY ELECTIONS. 215
dry Several sums were assigned for starting wharves
on Market, California, and Pacific streets, which in
course of two years absorbed over $300, OOO. 70 The
proposed hospital dwindled to a contract with Peter
Smith, which proved a costly bargain for the city, 71 and
to allowances to the state marine hospital and subse
quently to a brig for housing insane people.
So far the plans of the city-builders had not brought
forth any public work of a striking character, save in
street improvements; but this shortcoming redounds
to their credit, for at the close of the year they left a
surplus in the treasury. 72 Far different was the record
of the following councils. By the election of January
8, 1850, Alcalde Geary and half of his colleagues were
confirmed in position by more than double the preced
ing vote. The rest were new men, 73 who assisted, not
alone in laying the foundation for a fast-growing debt,
but in reducing the resources of the city by hurried
Although citizens paid two thirds of the cost of grading and planking from
their own pockets, as the grand jury points out, S. F. Herald, Sept. 30,
1851, yet large sums were continually appropriated by the authorities to this
end, $100,000, on Jan. 1850, alone. S. F. Minutes, 1849-50, 124; William*
Stat., MS., 13. The comptroller shows an expenditure for streets and land
ings, exclusive of wharves, from Aug. 1849 to Feb. 1851, of $471,282. Ati,i
Cal., Apr. 27, 1851.
70 Ib. $400,000 was appropriated for these wharves, Jan. 7, 18, 1850, al
though evidently not all paid over. Id., 112-14, 123-4.
7 1 The plans proposed in the council included a building with a city hall.
The Waverly house was subsequently bought for $20.000, but destroyed by
fire. In Jan. 1850 the hospital bill amounted to $6,600, in April Smith de
manded $13,000. This hospital was burned in Sept. 1850. Up to May 1851,
over $200,026 had been expended for hospital purposes. A ltd Cal., Apr. 27,
1851. To the state marine hospital, provided for in 1850 and opened in Dec.,
Pac. News, Dec. 27, 1850, Cal Statutes, 1850, 164, 343, was assigned $30,000,
while its expenses were $70,000, for 97 city and 17 state patients. In 1851 a
contract was concluded for the care of the city at $2,500 a month. An in
sufficient allowance was then made to the brig at North Beach for the recep
tion of the insane. In 1850 pauper burials were arranged for at $35 each.
&. F. Minutes, 1849-50, 68, 79-82, 98, 129-30, 138, 200; S. F. Herald, Sept.
30, 1851. Smith s claims will be treated of later.
72 Of $40,000, and 110 bad blot upon their public character.
73 Geary received the largest vote, being 3,425. Turk figures again as second
alcalde. Green, Brannan, Ellis, Stewart, Davis, were the reelected council-
men. J. S. Graham, F. Tilford, M. Crooks, A. M. Van Nostrand, H. C.
Murray, F. C. Gray, and J. Hagan completed the number. They met Jan.
1 Ith and formed into committees. Dodge was retained as clerk. A. A.
Selover was chosen city auctioneer. S. F. Minutes, 1850, 115 et seq. ; Pac.
News, Feb. 1850, etc. Despite the rain the election was exciting, though
orderly. Upliams Notes, 268-71.
216 SAN FRANCISCO.
sales of lots, wherein they were charged with secret
participation to their own advantage. 74 The tirade
begun against them by Prefect Hawes was cut short
by the election on May 1st of new city officials, under
the charter framed in February. By this the Span
ish form of government was replaced by the Ameri
can one of a common council with two boards of
aldermen, each of eight members, under a mayor. 75
The county was also organized by an election on
74 After a sale of water Iot3 in Jan. 1850 yielding $635,000, another sale
was announced for March. Prefect Hawes, who had been putting some very
nettling questions to the ayuntamiento concerning disbursements and men
voting for them, sounded the alarm and induced the governor to issue a pro
hibit. This the councilmen resolved to disregard, whereupon Hawes charged
them with intended spoliation, and pointed out that some were suspiciously
preparing to leave the country. The prohibit was affirmed with the threat to
file a bill in chancery against the ayuntamiento, which now yielded in so far
as to postpone the sale until April. *The enemy have fled, cries Attor
ney-general Ke wen; they have exposed the character of the beast that pa
raded so ostentatiously in the lion s skin. Correspondence in #. F. Minutes,
1850, 230-7. But they were merely gaining time to persuade the governor to
repeal the prohibit by exhibiting their accounts and estimates, and showing
the need of money for city improvements. This achieved, they retaliated
upon the obnoxious prefect, by charging him with appropriation of funds,
notably $2,500 for alleged services rendered against the Hounds, and with per
mitting Justice Colton to sell district and city lands chiefly for Hawes own
advantage. The result was a boomerang in the shape of an order suspending
the prefect. Emphatic denials being of no avail, his wrath now concentrated
against the governor in a series of charges before the legislature, for violating
the laws and suspiciously conniving with the corrupt council. In this he was
supported by the subprefect, Brinsmade, appointed to replace him. Pac.
Ne^vs, Jan. 1, 1850, et seq.
75 As passed by the legislature on Apr. 15, 1850, the charter in 4 arts, and
45 IT, assigns as boundaries to the city of San Francisco, on the south, a line
parallel to Clay st two miles from Portsmouth square; on the west, a line par
allel to Kearny st one and a half miles from the square; on the north and east,
the county limits. The government is vested in a mayor, recorder, and a com
mon council of a board composed of aldermen and a board of assistant aldermen,
each board to consist of one member from each of the eight wards, to be desig
nated by the council. There shall also be elected a treasurer, comptroller, street
commissioner, collector of taxes, marshal, city attorney, and by each ward two
assessors. Voters and candidates must show a residence in the city and wards
concerned of 30 days preceding the general city election, which is to be held on
the fourth Monday of April in each year. For duties, bonds, etc., see Col.
Statutes, 1850, 223-9; and compare with the briefer draft by the framers, in
8. F. Minutes, 1850, 144-9. In Oct. 1848 the city council had assigned for
city limits a line along Guadalupe creek to the ocean. Califot-nian, Oct. 14,
1848; and see my Hist. Cal., v., this series. Regulations for the council in S.
F. Manual, p. ix.-xvi. This charter did not last long. The boundary of the
county, as defined in Cal. Laws, 1850, 829, ran along San Francisquito creek
westward into the ocean, three miles out, and in the bay to within three
miles of high-water mark in Contra Costa county, including the entire penin
sula, and Alcatraz and Yerba Buena or Goat islands, as well as the Fara-
llones. See also Cal. Jour. Sen., 1850, 1307; Id., House, 1344.
NEW CITY GOVERNMENT 217
April 1st of sheriff, county clerk, and nine other offi
cials, at San Francisco, so that the city became the
seat of two governments. 76 The contest for the shriev
alty was one of the most exciting on record, with
lavish generosity on one side, and enthusiastic display of
bands and banners on the other; but the fame of John
C. Hays as a Texan ranger, and his opportune exhibi
tions of dash and horsemanship, captured the popu
lace. 77
The new city government headed once more by
Geary as mayor, 78 with almost entirely new associates,
met on May 9th, inaugurating at the same time the
new city hall, lately the Graham house, a four-sfcory
wooden edifice lined on two sides by continuous bal
conies. 79 The leading trait of these men was quickly
76 The chosen ones were John C. Hays, sheriff, R. N. Morrison, county
judge, J. A. McGlynn, recorder, W. M. Eddy, surveyor, J. \V. Endicott,
treas., D. M. Chauncey, assessor, E. Gallagher, coroner, T. J. Smith, co. att y,
C. Benham, dist att y, J. E. Addison, co. clerk, E. H. Tharp, clerk of the
sup. ct.
77 He was selected by the people as an independent candidate. His career
is given in Hist. North Mex. Statesand Texas, ii., this series. His opponents
were J. Townes, a whig who was appointed to the post in 1849, and J. J.
Bryant, democratic nominee, and a man of wealth, owner of Bryant s hotel.
The latter was the only real rival. Pioneer Arch., 29-31.
78 His associates were F. Tilf ord, recorder, T. H. Holt, att y, C. G. Scott,
treas., B. L. Berry, comptroller, W. M. Irwin, collector, D. McCarthy, street
com., M. Fallon, marshal. The aldermen were Wm Green, president, C.
Minturn, F. W. Macondray, D. Gillespie, A. A. Selover, W. M. Burgoyne,
C. W. Stuart, M. L. Mott; assistant aldermen, A. Bartol, president, C. T.
Botts, W. Sharron, J. Maynard, J. P. Van Ness, L. T. Wilson, A. Morris,
W. Corbett. Aldermen Burgoyne and Macondray not taking their seat were re
placed by M. G. Leonard and J. Middleton, and assistant aldermen Botts and
Maynard, by G. W. Green and J. Grant. For assessors, clerks, court officials,
police, pilots, men under J. Hagen, harbor-master, etc., see S. F. Directory,
1850, 122-9; S. F. Annah, 272-3; Alta Cat. and Pac. News, Apr. 26-May 21,
1850, with comments. On ward division, Id., Dec. 14, 1850; S. F. Herald,
June 6, 1850, etc.; S. F. Municipal Repts, 1859, 177-9; 8. F. Picayune, Oct.
5, 8, Nov. 2, 1850; Cal Courier, Aug. 12, 1850. T. Green claims to have ab
stained from contesting the mayoralty out of sympathy for Geary.
79 It stood on the north-west corner of Kearny and Pacific sts, fronting 100
fset on Kearny st, with a depth of 64 feet. The commodious yard contained
two wells and several outhouses. The roof was metallic. This was offered
by Graham, member of the council in April 1850, to his associates and bought
by them on Apr. 1st, for $150,000, less $50,000 in exchange for the lately pur
chased town hall on Stockton st. Tired of drifting between the narrow con
fines of the public institute and the old adobe custom-house on the west side of
the plaza, the preceding council had bought the American hotel on Stockton st,
near Broadway, evidently to promote the lot speculations of certain members.
Thither the council removed on the 18th of March, but the order for other
officials to follow the example was vigorously objected to, on the ground that
218 SAN FRANCISCO.
manifested in their greed for spoils, to which end a
heavier schedule of taxes was projected, with a corre
spondingly increased number of drainage holes, more
or less cunningly concealed. Not content with the
reward that must imperceptibly flow into their pockets
from this effort, they hastened to anticipate a portion
by voting a salary of $6,000 to each alderman of the
two boards, after assigning a propitiatory $10,000 to
the mayor and some of his chief aids. Geary refused
to participate in the scheme; and encouraged by his
attitude, the public loudly protested against such
brazen spoliation of an already burdened city. The
council thereupon dropped its demands 80 to $4,000
which would have given them, had not the measure
been vetoed, about a hundred dollars for each of the
evenings devoted by the average member to the com
mon weal. They sought solace, however, for their
lacerated feelings, by voting themselves gold medals
of sufficient size to impress an ungrateful public with
the arduous services thereby commemorated. 81
With such and other glaring diversions of public
funds it can readily be conceived what the secret pil-
the hall was too remote from business centres. Nor did the offer to rent offices
therein find favor. And so the present purchase was made; a bargain it was
loudly claimed, for the two upper stories, with 36 rooms, besides others on the
second floor, could be rented for perhaps $62,400, while the saving in rents
by the scattered public offices, stations, and courts would amount to $70,000.
To build a hall according to the adopted plan would cost $300,000, and require
perhaps a year s delay, neither of which the city could afford. Report in
S. F. Minutes, 1850, 191^1. Descriptions in 8. F. Herald, Feb. 19, 1851; Pac.
News, May 17, 1850, etc. The report maybe taken with due allowance, how
ever, for changes and repairs increased the cost of the building. Unlxmnd Doc. ,
58. On July 4, 1850, the plaza was adorned with a faultless new liberty pole,
120 feet long, presented by Portland city. 8. F. Herald, July 4, 1850. The
old pole was burned with the custom-house, corner of Montgomery and Cali
fornia sts, in May 1851. 8. F. Annals, 282.
80 Several public meetings were held, and a first committee of 25 being
ignored, another of 500 was chosen to impress the aldermen. S. F. Herald,
June 12, 1856, etc. ; Pac. News, May 3, 1850, etc. Just then came a large fire
to divert attention, and subsequent demonstrations uroved less imposing.
The mayor vetoed the $4,000, on the ground that it would also injure the
credit of the city. A Ita CaL, May 27, 1850, etc. The charter of 1851 allowed
81 Even here a prying curiosity, coupled with impertinent sarcasm, so far
disturbed the composure of the aldermen that they cast the medals into the
melting-pot, as the nearest pit of oblivion, although too late. The S. F. An
nals, 306, understands that the scheme was mainly due to a sub-committee.
Cal Courier, Dec. 14, 21, 1850.
WILD AND WICKED EXPENDITURES. 219
fering and rifling must have been, when it is shown
that the expenditure for the nineteen months following
August 1, 1849, amounted to more than two million
dollars, of which more than one fourth was during the
last three months. 82 This absorbed not only a liberal
tax levy, and the larger and choicer proportion of public
lands, 83 but compelled the issue of scrip at an interest
of thirty-six per cent. 84 Issued one after the other,
without prospect of speedy payment, this paper depre
ciated sixty per cent and more, till contractors and pur
veyors were obliged in self-protection to charge twice
and thrice the amounts due them. Unscrupulous
officials and speculators, moreover, seized the oppor
tunity to make fortunes by purchasing the scrip at
low rates, and paying it into the treasury at par in
lieu of the coin obtained for taxes. Thus a debt of
more than a million rolled up within the year ending
February 1851, and grew so rapidly, while city prop
erty and credit so declined, that the legislature had to
come to the rescue with restrictive enactments. 85
82 Among the items figured $41,905 for printing; surveying absorbed
another big sum; the city hall purchase, with repairs, etc., absorbed about
$200,000.
83 The sale of Jan. 3, 1850, of water lots yielded $635,130, and in April
followed another big sale.
8 * Three per cent monthly, which was by no means exorbitant at the
time.
85 As will be seen later. The first deficit of $24,000 appeared in the Jan.-
Feb. 1850 account. On Aug. 31st the debt was $282,306. S. F. Picayune,
Sept. 5, 1850; S. F. Directory, 1852, 14. On March 1, 1851, it had risen to
$1,099.557.56. S. F. AUa Cal, Apr. 27, 1851. Soon after the debt was
funded for $1,300,000. The expenditures from Aug. 1, 1849, to Jan. 28,
1851, amounted to $2,012,740.10; on the streets, wharves, and landings, there
were expended $826,395.56; on hospitals, cemeteries, and board of health,
$231,358.86; on police and prisons, $208,956.87; on fire dept, $108,337.85; on
courts, $236,892.12; and the balance of over $400,000 on salaries, rents, print
ing, etc. During the quarter ending Feb. 28, 1851, the receipts and expen
ditures were: Received from licenses, $25,744.55; from hospital fund, $301;
from courts, $2,734.50; wharf dues, 333.95; sale of beach and water lots,
$5,230.65; and from street assessments, $103,355.40. On the other hand,
the fire and water department caused an expenditure of $7,945. 10; the streets,
including surveys, $223,482.28; the prison, courts, and police, $20,464.19;
hospital, including cholera expenses, $41,036.11; wharves, $39,350.59; and
the salaries, legal expenses, printing, and other contingent items, nearly
$80,000. S. F. AUa, Apr. 27, 1851. The grand jury of Sept. 1851 com
mented in scathing terms upon the * shameful squandering by parties whom
they were unable to designate. By that time nearly all the city property had
been disposed of, valued at three or four million, yet this, added to revenue
and loans, had failed to leave the city any commensurate benefit. Sacra-
220 SAN FRANCISCO.
mento, without landed resources, had received proportionately larger bene
fits, by incurring a debt of less than half a million. Benicia s scrip was
nearly at par. The main exhibit by S. F. was in grading and planking, two
thirds of which cost had been contributed by the property owners. Similar
was the showing for the county, which had expended $455,807 for the year
ending June 1851, while the receipts were only $69,305. Most of the sums
allowed were pointed out as suspicious. See report in S. F. Herald, Sept.
30, 1851; Aug. 5, 22, 30, 1850; Aug. 29, 1851; Cal Courier, Id., and Oct.
26, Dec. 6, 1850; Cal. Polit. Scraps, 123; Richardsons Mining Exp., MS., 30;
A Ita Cal., Apr. 27, 1851, etc.; S. F. Picayune, Aug. 3-5, Sept. 5, 1850. The
assessed value of property for 1851 was $17,000,000, and the estimated rev
enue $550,000, $400,000 being from licenses. This was declared amply suffi
cient for expenses, now reduced by $410,000, of which $290,000 was for sala
ries of municipal officers and police. Reprehensible as the mismanagement
was, these aldermen were not worse than many of their accusers, nor half so
bad as some later councilmen, who ranked us permanent citizens and esteemed
members of the community; for the former were comparative strangers,
afflicted by the prevailing mania for speedy enrichment, and with no inten
tion of remaining in California. Geary s demeanor is not wholly spotless.
His unassuming manners and ability, and his veto on many obnoxious meas
ures, gave an eclat to his official career, which served greatly to gloss over
several questionable features, such as amassing some $200,000 in less than
three years, not derived from trade; illegally buying city lots; countenanc
ing the purchase of the useless city hall on Stockton st; and other doubtful
transactions connected with the disposal of city property and money. He
returned to Pa in Feb. 1852, served with distinction in the civil war, and
became gov. of his native state. His portrait is given in Ann. S. F., 725.
CHAPTER XL
SOCIETY.
1849-1850.
INGATHERING OF NATIONALITIES PECULIARITIES OF DRESS AND MANNERS
PHYSICAL AND MORAL FEATURES LEVELLING OF RANK AND POSITION
IN THE MINES CHOLERA HARDSHIPS AND SELF-DENIALS A COMMUNITY
OF MEN ADULATION OF WOMAN ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE OF STEAMERS
SANITARY CONDITION OF SAN FRANCISCO RATS AND OTHER VERMIN
THE DRINKING HABIT AMUSEMENTS GAMBLING LOTTERIES AND
RAFFLES BULL AND BEAR FIGHTING THE DRAMA SUNDAY IN THE
MINES SUMMARY.
SOCIETY during the flush times of California pre
sents several remarkable features besides the Baby
lonian confusion of tongues, and the medley of races
and nationalities. It was a gathering without parallel
in history, for modern means of communication alone
made it possible. The inflowing argonauts of 1849
found San Francisco not only a tented city, like
the rest of the interior towns and camps, but a com
munity of men. The census of 1850 places the female
population, by that time fast increasing, at less than
eight per cent of the total inhabitants of the country,
while in mining counties the proportion fell below two
per cent. 1
1 Calaveras shows only 267 women in a total of 16,884; Yuba, 221 in a
total of 9,673; Mariposa, 108 in 4,379, yet here only 80 were white women;
Sacramento, 615 in 9,087. In the southern counties, chiefly occupied by
Mexicans, the proportion approaches the normal, Los Angeles having 1,519
women in a total of 3,530. U. S. Census, 1850, 969 et seq. The proportion in
1849 may be judged from the overland migration figures, which still in 1850
allows a percentage of only two for women, with a slightly larger fraction for
children. Sac. Transcript, Sept. 30, 1850; S. F. Picayune, Sept. 6, 1850.
Many writers on this period fall into the usual spirit of exaggeration by re
ducing the females even more. Burnett, Kec., MS., ii. 35-7, for instance,
(221)
222 SOCIETY.
It was, moreover, a community of young men.
There was scarcely a gray head to be seen. 2 From
these conditions of race, sex, and age, exposed to
strange environment, result phases of life and char
acter which stamp the golden era of California as
peculiar.
Of nationalities the flow from Europe alone equalled
in variety that of the mediaeval crusades, with notable
prominence to the leading types, the self-complacent
Briton, the methodic and reflective German, and the
versatile Gaul. The other continents contributed to
swell the list. Africa was represented, besides the
orthodox negro, by swarthy Moors and straight-fea
tured Abyssinians. Asia and Australasia provided
their quota in pig-tailed, blue-garbed Mongols, with
their squat, bow-legged cousins of Nipon, lithe and
diminutive Malays, dark-skinned Hindoos enwrapped
in oriental dreaminess, the well-formed Maoris and
Kanakas, the stately turbaned Ottomans, and the ubi
quitous Hebrews, ever to be found in the wake of
movements offering trade profits. 3 The American
element preponderated, however, the men of the
United States, side by side with the urbane and pic
turesque Hispano- Americans, and the half-naked
aborigines. The Yankee fancied himself over all,
with his political and commercial supremacy, being
full of great projects and happy devices for surmount
ing obstacles, even to the achieving of the seemingly
impossible; 4 and fitted no less by indomitable energy,
assumes only 15 per mille for San Francisco, which naturally had a larger
proportion of women than the mining camps.
^Calaveras exhibits in its total of 16,884 only 69 persons over 60 years;
Yuba only 21 in its total of 9,673. Ib.
3 Helper, Land of Gold, 53-4, states that the * general dislike to their race
induced many to trade under assumed names. See also McDaniels 1 Early
Days, MS., 4.
4 Their selfishness, tempered by sagacious self-control, is generally of that
broad class which best promotes the general weal. They readily combine for
great undertakings, with due subordination, yet without fettering individual
ity, as manifested in the political movements for which they have been fitted
from childhood by participation in local and general affairs. Lambertie
extols the audacious enterprise qui confond un Francais, and the courageous
energy which yields to no reverses. Voy., 209-10. Auger, Voy., 105-6, also
admires the power to organize. See Culi/oniM Inter Pocula, this series.
NATIONAL DIVERSITIES. 223
shrewdness, and adaptability than by political and
numerical rights to assume the mastery, 5 and so lift
into a progressive state a virgin field which under
English domination might have sunk into a stagnant
conservative colony, or remained under Mexican sway
an outpost ever smouldering with revolution.
As compared with this foremost of Teutonic peo
ples, the French, as the Latin representatives, appeared
to less advantage in the arts needful for building up a
commonwealth. Depth of resource, practical sense,
and force of character could not be replaced by effer
vescing brilliancy and unsustained dash. They show
here rather in subordinate efforts conducive to creature
comforts, 6 while Spanish- Americans were conspicuous
from their well-known lack of sustained energy. 7
The clannish tendencies of the Latin peoples, due
partly to the overbearing conduct of the Anglo-Sax
ons, proved not alone an obstacle to the adoption of
superior methods and habits, but fostered prejudices
on both sides. This feeling developed into open hos
tility 8 on the part of a thoughtless and less respect
able portion of the northern element, whose jealousy
was roused by the success achieved by the quicker
eye and experience of the Spanish-American miners.
The Chinese did not become numerous enough until
1851 to awaken the enmity which in their case was
based on still wider grounds. 9
6 Among the less desirable elements were the ungainly, illiterate crowds
from the border states, such as Indiana Hoosiers and Missourians, or Pike
County people, and the pretentious, fire-eating chivalry from the south.
While less obnoxious at first, the last named proved more persistently objec
tionable, for the angularities of the others soon wore off in the contact with
their varied neighbors, partly with the educated youths from New England.
Low s Stat., MS., 7; FindlasStat., MS., 9; Fay s Facts, MS., 19.
6 In catering for others, or making the most of their own moderate means.
Les plus pauvres, exclaims Saint Amant, Cal., 487, on comparing their back
ward condition with that of the adaptive Americans.
7 They were slow to take lessons from their inventive neighbors. A warn
ing letter against the Chilians came from South American. Unbound Doc.,
327-8. Revere, Keel and Saddle, 160-1, commends their quickness for pros
pecting, and their patiencs as diggers. Bosthwick s Gal, 311; Barry and Pat
tens Men and Mem., 287 et seq.; Fishers Cals., 42-9; AUa Cal.. June 29, 1851.
8 As will be seen later.
All of which is fully considered in another volume of this work.
224 SOCIETY.
Certain distinctiveness of dress and manner assisted
the physical type in marking nationalties; but idiosyn
crasies were less conspicuous here than in conventional
circles, owing to the prevalence of the miner s garb-
checked or woollen shirts, with a predominance of
red and blue, open at the bosom, which could boast of
shaggy robustness, or loosely secured by a kerchief; pan
taloons half tucked into high and wrinkled boots, and
belted at the waist, where bristled an arsenal of knife
and pistols. Beard and hair, emancipated from thral
dom, revelled in long and bushy tufts, which rather har
monized with the slouched and dingy hat. Later, a
species of foppery broke out in the flourishing towns; on
Sundays particularly gay colors predominated. The
gamblers, taking the lead, affected the Mexican style
of dress: white shirt with diamond studs, or breast
pin of native gold, chain of native golden speci
mens, broad-brimmed hat with sometimes a feather or
squirrel s tail under the band, top-boots, and a rich
scarlet sash or silk handkerchief thrown over the
shoulder or wound round the waist. San Francisco
took early a step further. Traders and clerks drew
forth their creased suits of civilization, till the shoot
ing-jacket of the Briton, the universal black of the
Yankee, the tapering cut of the Parisian, the stove
pipe hat and stand-up collar of the professional, ap
peared upon the street to rival or eclipse the prosti
tute and cognate fraternity which at first monopolized
elegance in drapery. 10
Miners, however, made a resolute stand against any
approach to dandyism, as they termed the concomi
tants of shaven face and white shirt, as antagonistic
to their own foppery of rags and undress which at
tended deified labor. Clean, white, soft hands were
an abomination, for such were the gambler s and the
preacher s, not to speak of worshipful femininity. But
horny were the honest miner s hands, whose one only
18 Fay s Facts, MS., 10. Placer Times, Oct. 27, 1849, and contemporaries,
warn their readers against such imitation of foppery.
WHIRL OF EXCITEMENT. 225
soft touch was the revolver s trigger. A store-keeper
in the mines was a necessary evil, a cross between a
cattle-thief and a constable; if a fair trader, free to
give credit, and popular, he was quite respectable, more
so than the saloon-keeper or the loafer, but let him
not aspire to the dignity of digger. 11
Nor was the conceit illusive; for the finest speci
mens of manhood unfolded in these rugged forms, some
stanch and broad-shouldered, some gaunt and wiry;
their bronzed, hairy features weather bleached and
furrowed, their deep rolling voices laden with oaths,
though each ejaculation was tempered by the frankness
and humor of the twinkling eye. All this dissolution of
old conventionalities and adoption of new forms, which
was really the creation of an original type, was merely
a part of the overflowing sarcasm and fun started by
the dissolution of prejudice and the liberation of
thought.
A marked trait of the Californians was exuberance
in work and play, in enterprise or pastime an exuber
ance full of vigor. To reach this country was in itself
a task which implied energy, self-reliance, self-denial,
and similar qualities; but moderation was not a virtue
consonant with the new environment. The climate
was stimulating. Man breathed quicker and moved
faster; the very windmills whirled here with a velocity
that would make a Hollander s head swim. And so
like boys escaped from school, from supervision, the
adventurer yielded to the impulse, and allowed the
spirit within him to run riot. The excitement, more
over, brought out the latent strength hitherto confined
by lack of opportunity and conventional rules. Chances
presented themselves in different directions to vaulting
ambition. Thrown upon his own resources midst
11 The supposed well-filled pockets of the miner and his ever-present
loaded revolver made him an object of respect. Their most allowable ap
proach to gay display was in the Mexican muleteer or caballero attire, not
omitting the gay sash and jingling spurs. Kips Sketches, 18-19; S. F. Dir.,
1852, 12-13; Overland, Sept. 1871, 221 Bosthwick s CaL, 56.
HIST. CAL., VOL. VL 15
226 SOCIETY.
strange surroundings, with quickened observation and
thought, the enterprising new-comer cast aside tradi
tional caution, and launched into the current of specu
lation; for everything seemed to promise success
whatever course might be pursued, so abnormal were
the times and place which set at naught all calcula
tions formulated by wisdom and precedent Amid
the general free and magnificent disorder, recklessness
had its votaries, which led to a wide-spread emphasis
in language, 12 and to a full indulgence in exciting
pastimes. All this, however, was but the bubble and
spray of the river hurrying onward to a grander and
calmer future.
This frenzied haste, no less than the absence of
families, denoted that the mania was for enrichment,
with hopes rather of a speedy return to the old home
than of building a new one. San Francisco and other
towns remained under this idea, as well as temporary
camps and dep6ts for the gold-fields, whither went not
only diggers, but in their wake a vast following of
traders, purveyors, gamblers, and other ravenous non-
producers to absorb substance.
The struggle for wealth, however, untarnished by
sordidness, stood redeemed by a whole-souled liberal
ity, even though the origin of this ideal Californian
trait, like many another virtue, may be traced to less
noble sources; here partly to the desire to cover up
the main stimulant greed; partly to the prodigality
bred by easy acquisition; 13 partly to the absence of
restraining family cares. Even traders scorned to
haggle. A half-dollar was the smallest coin that
could be tendered for any service, arid many hesitated
to offer a quarter for the smallest article. Every
thing proceeded on a grand scale ; even boot-blacking
assumed big proportions, with neatly fitted recesses,
12 For specimens, I refer to Cremony s Apache, 345.
13 It was manifested in social intercourse, also in charity, which in these
early days found worthy objects among the suffering immigrants, as related
under the Overland Journey. Garniss, Early Days, MS., 19, instances the
liberality to stricken individuals^ for which the wide-spread opulence gave
less occasion.
A LEVEL SEA OF HUMANITY. 227
cushioned chairs, and a supply of entertaining journals.
Wages rose to a dollar an hour for laborers, and to
twelve and twenty dollars a day for artisans. 14 With
them was raised the dignity of labor, sanctified by the
application of all classes, by the independence of min
ing life, and by the worshipful results gold.
A natural consequence was the levelling of rank, a
democratic equalization hitherto unapproached, and
shattering the conservative notions more or less preva
lent. The primary range of classes was not so varied
as in the older countries; for the rich and powerful
would not come to toil, and the very poor could not
well gain the distant land; but where riches lay so
near the reach of all, their accumulation conferred less
advantage. Aptitude was the esteemed and distin
guishing trait. The aspiring man could break away
from drudgery at home, and here find many an open
field with independence The laborer might gain the
footing of employer ; the clerk the position of principal ;
while former doctors, lawyers, and army officers could
be seen toiling for wages, even as waiters and shoe
blacks. Thus were grades reversed, fitness to grasp
opportunity giving the ascendency. 15
The levelling process left indelible traces; yet from
the first the mental reservation and consequent effort
were made to rise above any enforced subjection. The
idea of abasement was sometimes softened by the
disguise of name, which served also for fugitives from
misfortune or disgrace, while it flattered imitators of
humble origin. This habit received wide acknowl
edgment and application, especially in the mines,
14 As "vill be considered under Industries.
15 Even clergymen left an unappreciated calling to dig for gold. Wilky, in
Home Missionm-y, xxii. 92. Little, Stat., MS., 11, instances in his service as
porters, muleteers, etc., two doctors, two planters claiming to own estates,
and a gentleman, whatever that may be. See also Cassin, Stat. , MS. , 5-6,
who identified in a bootblack a well-known French journalist of prominent
family. Count Raousset de Boulbon, of filibuster fame, who prided himself
on royal blood, admits working as a wharf laborer. Master and slave from
the southern states could be seen working and living together. But such
instances are well known. No sensible man objected to manual labor, al
though he hesitated at the menial grades.
228 SOCIETY
where nicknames became the rule, with a preference
for abbreviated baptismal names, particularized by an
epithet descriptive of the person, character, national
ity; as Sandy Pete, Long-legged Jack, Dutchy. The
cause here may be sought chiefly in the blunt unre
strained good-fellowship of the camp, which banished
all formality and superfluous courtesy. 16
The requirements of mining life favored partnership ;
and while few of the associations formed for the jour
ney oat kept together, new unions were made for
mutual aid in danger, sickness, and labor. Sacred like
the marriage bonds, as illustrated by the softening of
partner into the familiar pard, were the ties which oft
united men vastly different in physique and tempera
ment, the weak and strong, the lively and sedate, thus
yoking themselves together. It presented the affinity
of opposites, with the heroic possibilities of a Damon
or Patroclus. 17 Those already connected with benevo
lent societies sought out one another to revive them
for the practice of charity, led by the Odd Fellows,
who united as early as 1847. 18
With manhood thus exalted rose the sense of duty
and honor. Where legal redress was limited, owing
to the absence of well-established government, reliance
had to be placed mainly on individual faith. In 1848
and 1849 locks and watchmen were little thought of,
In the towns valuable goods lay freely exposed, or
sheltered only by frail canvas structures; and in the
camps tents stood unguarded throughout the day, with
probably a tin pan full of gold-dust in open view upon
the shelf. 19 The prevalent security was due less to
16 Yet it required great intimacy to question even a comrade concerning
his real name and former life.
17 This applies of course rather to unions of two. Rules for larger asso
ciations are reproduced in Skinns Mining Camps, 113; FarweWa Vig., MS., 5.
18 An account of these and other orders will be given later.
19 The frail nature of the early business houses in S. F. and elsewhere has
been described. Wheaton instances a crockery shop on the border of the
Sydney convict settlement, where a notice invited purchasers to select their
goods and leave the money in a plate, the proprietor being engaged elsewhere.
Stot., MS., 3-4. Coleman relates that a gold watch was picked up near his
COMING OF THE CRIMINALS. 229
the absence of bad men for reckless adventurers had
long been pouring in, as instanced by the character
and conduct of many of the disbanded New York
volunteers than to the readiness with which gold and
wages could be gained, and to the armed and deter
mined attitude of the people. Soon came a change,
however, with the greater influx of obnoxious ele
ments; and the leaden reality of hard work dissipated
the former visions of broad-cast gold. Fugitives from
trouble and dishonor had been lured to California,
graceless scions of respectable families, and never-do-
wells, men of wavering virtue and frail piety, withering
before temptation and sham-haters, turned to swell the
army of knaves. 20 Bolder ruffians took the initiative
and banded to raid systematically, especially on con
voys from the mines. So depraved became their
recklessness that sweeping conflagrations were planned
for the plunder to be obtained, 21 while assassination
followed as a matter of course. But murder was lit
tle thought of as compared with the heinous crime of
theft. Disregard for life was fostered by an excitable
temperament, the frequency of drunken brawls, the
universal habit of carrying weapons, and the nomadic
and isolated position of individuals, remote from
camp and left suspended on a tree for a fortnight, undisturbed till the owner
returned to claim it. Viy., MS., 2. Most pioneers unite in extolling the
security prevalent in those days. Property was safer in California than in
the older states. Delano s Life, 359. Gov. Mason wrote nearly to the sa me
effect in Oct. 1848. U. S. Gov. Doc., Cong. 31, Sess. 1, H. Ex. Doc. 17, p. 677;
Burnett s Rec., MS., ii. 142-3; Brooks Four Mo., 67. In previous chapters
has been shown the extent of crime in 1848, as instanced in the Calif ornian, Feb.
2, 1848; Cat. S ar, Feb. 26; Star and Cal., Dec. 9, 1848, etc. See further, for
both years, Winans Stat., MS., 14-16; Olney s Viy., MS., 1; Neall s Stat.,
MS., 3-5; Buttons Stat., MS., 10; Sac. Transcript, Apr. 26, 1850, etc.; Fay s
Facts, MS., 2; Gillespie s Vig., MS., 5; Friend, vii. 74; Littles Stat., MS., 16;
Findlas Stat., MS., 6; McCollum s Cal., 62; Staples Stat., MS., 14; Cal. Past
and Pres., 162-3.
20 Say ward, Pion. Rem., MS., 32-3, states that after the Missourians began
to come, insecurity increased. In 1850 things had reached such a pass that
mail agents were afraid to carry gold, lest they should be murdered. Woods
Sixteen Mo., 141; Crosbys Stat., MS., 41-2. Helper, Land of Gold, 36-8,
paints the criminal aspect in dark colors; Cox s An. Trinity Co., 62-3. Bar-
stow, Stat., MS., 10, points to the Irish as the rowdy element. Chamber Iain s
Stat., MS., 1; Say ward s Rem., MS., 33.
21 Brooks, Four Mo., 142-3, 168-9, 187-8, 201, refers to several bands, as
do Burnett and others. For criminal records, I refer to my Popular Tribunals,
and for cognate data to a later chapter on the administration of justice
230 SOCIETY.
friends who might inquire into their disappearance.
An armed man was supposed to take care of himself. 22
The lack of judicial authorities tended further to pro
mote the personal avenging of wrongs by duel, 23
which took place frequently by public announcement.
In the northern and central mining districts the
preponderance of sedate yet resolute Americans with
a ready recourse to lynching inspired a wholesome
awe ; but along the San Joaquin tributaries, abounding
with less sober-minded Sonorans and Hispano- Ameri
cans, this restraint diminished, 24 the more so as race
animosity was becoming rampant. Swift and radical
penalties alone were necessary in the interior, on
account of lack of prisons; and even San Francisco
found these measures indispensable in 1851, despite
her accessories of police and chain-gangs. 25 The ever-
moving and fluctuating current of life proved a shield
to evil-doers, and fostered the roaming instinct which
had driven so many westward, and was breeding per
nicious habits of vagrancy and loafing. 26 Every camp
had its bully, who openly boasted of prowess against
Indians, as well as of his white targets, and flaunted
an intimidating braggardism. Likewise every town
possessed its sharpers, on the watch for gold-laden
and confiding miners.
22 Helper, Land of Gold, 29, 158, estimates in 1854 that since the opening
of the mines Cal. had invested upwards of six millions of dollars in bowie-
knives and pistols. The same fertile inquirer finds for this period 4,200
murders and 1,400 suicides, besides 10,000 more of miserable deaths. For
early years no reliable records exist in this direction, but those for the more
settled year of 1855 show 538 deaths by violence, whereof two thirds were
white persons, the rest Indians and Chinese. Further data in a later chapter.
23 Revolvers were the most ready instruments. A common practice for
principals was to place themselves back to back, march five paces, turn and
are till the pistol chambers were emptied or the men disabled. Shooting on
sight was in vogue, involving no little danger to passers-by. I mistook you
for another," was more than once the excuse to some innocent victim. Olney s
Vig., MS.. 3; HittelVs Res., 377; Atta Cal, July 3, 1851, and other numbers.
See also Du Hailly, in Revue deux Mondes, Feb. 1859, 612; Truman s Field oj
Honor, and my Inter Pocula and Pop. Tribunals.
"Placer Times, July 20, 1849.
2b Steps were taken in 1850 to prevent the entry of convicts, Cal. Statutes,
1850, 202, yet many succeeded in landing. Alia Gal, May 10, July 15-16,
1851.
26 As complained of already in 1850. Pac. News, Jan. 5, 1850.
DISCOMFORT AND DISEASE. 231
Much of the growing crime took root during the
wet winter of 1849-50, which brought starvation
and sickness to the inaccessible camps. Ill health
was wide-spread, and more lamentable owing to the
isolation of sufferers, devoid of friends and means, and
remote from doctors and medicine. The seed of dis
ease was frequently laid during the voyage out, in the
unwholesome food and atmosphere of crowded vessels.
Then came new climates and surroundings, unusual
and exhausting labor, standing in water or on moist
ground under a broiling sun, the insufficient shelter of
tents or sheds, beds made upon the damp soil, poor
and scanty provisions, excitement and dissipation.
All this could not fail to affect most of the inexperi
enced new-comers, especially with fever, bowel com
plaint, and rheumatism; while scurvy, cutaneous,
syphilitic, and pulmonary diseases, claimed their vic
tims. 27 In October 1850 came the cholera; and al
though disappearing with the year, it is supposed to
have carried off fifteen per cent of the population at
Sacramento, and about half that proportion westward, 28
besides frightening away a large number. The strain
of excitement, with attendant disappointments and
windfalls, predisposed to insanity, while lowering the
27 The report from the state marine hospital at S. F. shows the proportion
of 262 diarrhoea cases, 204 dy sentry, 113 acute rheumatism, 93 intermittent
fever, 47 chronic rheumatism, 46 scurvy, 40 gonorrhea, 37 typhus, 29 pythisis,
28 bronchitis, 26 pneumonia, among 1,200 patients. Cal. Jour. Sen., 1851,
921-3. Diarrhoea killed 10 out of a party of 19 on Trinity River. Pac. News,
May 9, 1 850. Dysentery was equally common, with ulcerated bowels. Daws
Viy., MS., 2; Unbound Doc., MS., 20; Barstow s Stat., MS., 2-3, 12; Larkins
Doc., vi. 172, 175. Destitution and death by starvation is mentioned in Pac.
News, Dec. 13, 1849; Oarniss Early Days, MS., 11. A remedy for scurvy
was to bury the patient in earth, all but the head. Whole camps were some
times buried at once, except a few who remained out to keep off the grizzlys
and coyotes. Sawtelles Pioneers, MS., 5; Morse s Stat., MS.
28 At San Jose ten per cent, at S. F. five. Burnett s Rec. t MS., ii. 241. It
caused a rush of passengers by the Panama steamer. Some died on board,
but within a week the pest disappeared. Crary s Vi>j., MS., 1. It raged in
Ophir, etc. Pac. News, Nov. 1, 1850; Cal. Courier, Oct. 24, Dec. 21, 1850;
S. F. Picayune, Oct. 23, 25, Nov. 4, 6, Dec. 5, 1850. Judge Hoffman suc
cumbed. A cholera hospital was opened at S. F., on Broadway. S. F. Direc
tory, 1852, 17; Ver Mehrs Life, 367; Sac. Transcript, Oct. 14, 1850, says it
broke out at S. F.; Polynesian, vii. 98, 110, 114, 118, 138; Shuck s Revres. Men,
936. It reappeared in 1852.
232 SOCIETY.
and mental tone. 29 The lack of remedial
facilities in the mining camps directed a stream of in
valids to the towns, especially to San Francisco, despite
its unfavorable winds and moisture. There were also
constantly left stranded new-comers, reduced by Pan
ama fevers and the hardships attending badly fitted
vessels, made desperate by destitution and suffering,
from which only too many sought escape by suicide. 30
Little ceremony attended the burial of these unfortu
nates in the cities, but in the mines a procession of
miners usually attended to consign a comrade, often
shroudless and uncoffined, to a shallow grave. 31 The
high cost of treatment by doctors and at private hos
pitals, with over-crowding and neglect in the public
wards, tended to keep the death-rate high during the
first two years of the mining era. 32
Obviously in a community of men the few women
present were very conspicuous. There were whole
groups of camps which could be searched in vain for
the presence of a single woman, and where one was
found she proved too often only the fallen image, the
center of gyrating revelry and discord. 33 In San
29 In 1850 twelve persons were cast upon the care of S. F., with an increase
to three times that number by 1852, and legislative steps were taken to pro
vide for the afflicted, at first in a brig anchored at North Beach. Cal Jour.
Ho., 1850, 1341; Cal Polit. Code, 297-306; Fernandez, Cal, 189; Mines and
Miners, 795-6; S. F. Herald, Sept. 30, 1851.
3y By the close of 1854 the suicides were estimated at 1,400. Helper s Land
of Gold, 29. Some went to the Hawaiian Islands.
31 At S. F. pauper burials were contracted for in 1850 at the reduced rate
of $35, formerly $50 to $100. S. F. Minutes, 1849-50, 68, 79-82, etc. ; Garmss 1
Early Days, MS., 10; Wheatons Stat., MS., 2. Mr Gray came from New
York in 1850, as a professional undertaker. Pac. News, May 1, 1850; S. F. A Ita,
June 11, 1853; Feb. 26, 1863; Polynesian, vi. 110; Hatchings Mag., iii. 133,
252. The interments at S. F. prior to 1850 are estimated at 970 . For the
year ending July 1851, when cholera raged, they rose to 1,475, then fell to
1,005, rising again to 1,575, with a proportionate decline after July 1853.
Annals S. F., 593-6.
32 Hospitals are spoken of under Sac. and S. F. annals. A board of health
was organized in 1850; also a medical society, June 22d. Pac. News, May 18,
Dec. 14, 1850; Cal. Courier, Oct. 23-4, 1850. The fee-bill of the latter ranged
from an ounce, $16, the lowest price, upward; visits were rated at $32; ad
vice and operations were specified as high as $1,000. Miscel Stat., MS., 3-4;
Armstrong s Exper., MS , 9.
33 The place of women at dances would be taken by men. In 1850 more
women began to come in, although composed largely of loose elements. Num-
ABSENCE OF WOMEN. 233
Francisco and other large towns, families began to
settle, yet for a long time the disreputable ele
ment outshone the virtuous by loudness in dress
and manner, especially in public resorts. In the
scarcity men assumed the heroic, and women became
worshipful. The few present wore an Aphrodite
girdle, which shed a glamour over imperfections, till
they found themse]ves divinities, centres of chivalric
adorers. In the mining region men would travel from
afar for a glance at a newly arrived female, or handle
in mock or real ecstasy some fragment of female ap
parel. 34 Even in the cities passers-by would turn to
salute a female stranger, 35 while the appearance of a
little girl would be heralded like that of an angel,
many a rugged fellow bending with tears of recollec-
bers from the east, observes Barstow, Stat., MS., 4. The preponderance in
this class lay, however, with Hispano- Americans, not excepting Californians,
says Cerruti, Ramblings, MS., 50. Hundreds were brought from Mazatlan
and San Bias on trust, and transferred to bidders with whom the girls shared
their earnings. Fernandez, CaL, 190-1. The Peruvians were sought for danc
ing-saloons. Australia sent many. Polynesian, vii. 34. French women were
brought out to preside at gambling-tables. Nine hundred of the French demi
monde are expected, announces the Pac. News, Oct. 23, 1850, to reside on
Stockton and Filbert sts. The number dwindled to 50. Sac. Transcript, Nov.
29, 1850. Indian women were freely offered at the camps, and the number
was increased by kidnapped females from the Marquesas Islands. See outcry
on this point in Alia CaL, Dec. 21, 24, 1850. One noted prostitute claimed
to have earned $50,000. Oarniss Early Days, MS., 7. For first published
case of adultery in 1849 at S. F., see Richardsons Exper., MS., 27; also
Miscel. Stat., MS., 2; Hayes 1 Scraps, CaL Notes, v. 60, etc. The Home Mis
sionary, xxii- 163-7, xxvii. 159, intimates that half the women in S. F. were
of the loose element. Boltonvs. U. S., 99-101; Velasco, Son., 325. The CaL
Courier, Oct. 21-2, Nov. 16, 1850, inveighs against the demi-monde, while
the Alta CaL, Dec. 19, 1850, commends the improved morals. So does S. F.
Picayune, Sept. 27, 1850, although it admits that even the higher classes were
dissolute. Armstrong, Exper., MS., 12, speaks of the personation of women
and the sale of a wife. In Oct. 1849 there were not over 50 U. S. women in
S. F., says McCollum, CaL, 61.
34 A story is told of the excitement over the discovery of a bonnet, attended
by a dance around it, hoisted upon a May -pole. Some add a stuffed figure
to the bonnet, and put a cradle by its side. Winans Stat., MS., 17; Letts
CaL lllusl., 89-90. An acquaintance of Burnett, Rec., MS., ii. 38-9, related
that he travelled 40 miles to behold a woman. Steamboat agents would cry
out, Ladies on board ! to draw custom. Gamblers and proprietors of public
resorts used to board vessels to offer flattering engagements; but even then
women were soon married. Concerning claims to being female pioneers in
different counties, see SanJos6 Pioneer, July 7, 1877, etc.; S. F. Bulletin,
May 5, Aug. 11, 1876, etc.; Record-Union, May 4, 1876, etc.
30 The attention often made modest women uncomfortable, while others
encouraged it by extravagant conduct. Loose characters flaunted costly attire
in elegant equipages, or appeared walking or riding in male attire. Farn-
hanis CaL, 22-3; Barry and Patten, Men and Mem., 138-9.
234 SOCIETY.
tion to give her a kiss and press a golden ounce into
her hand. The effects of these tender sentiments re
mained rooted in the hearts of Californians long after
the romance age, 36 the only mellow trait with many a
one, the only thing sacred being some base imitation
of the divine image.
As modest virtue regained the ascendency with the
increase of families, indecency retreated, to be sought
in the shadow by the men of all classes who, during
the earlier absence of social restraint, hesitated not to
walk the street beside a prostitute, or yield to the al
lurement of debased female company midst surround
ings far more comfortable and elegant than their own
solitary chambers. 37 With the subordination to some
extent of the grand passion, gambling and other dissi
pations received a check, and higher pastimes and the
home circle rose in favor. As any semblance of a
woman could be almost sure of speedy marriage, in
tending settlers hastened to bring out female friends
and relatives; benevolent persons sought to relieve the
surplus market at home, 38 and successful men recalled
some acquaintance in their native village with whom
36 It was for a long time difficult to find a jury which would convict a
woman.
37 Balls were frequently attended at these places by public men of promi
nence, where decorum prevailed, and champagne at high prices was made to
pay the cost of supper.
38 Mrs Farnham issued a circular in N. Y., Feb. 1849, offering to take out
a number of respectable women, not over 25 years of age, each to contribute
$250 for expenses. Mrs F. fell sick, and the enterprise was left in abeyance.
Farnham s Col., 25-7. Subsequently she did bring out a number, adds Clark,
Stat., MS., 1-2; Revue Deux Mondes, Feb. 15, 1859, 948-9. A similar futile
Parisian enterprise had in view a share of the marriage portion. Pac. News,
Nov. 11,1850. Advertisements for wives were not uncommon. InSawtcllc s
Pioneers, MS., 10, is related the repeated contests for and frequent marriage
of a Mexican widow. Placer Times, Dec. 15, 1849, boasts of a wedding at
tended by 20 ladies, and the display of dress-coats and kid gloves. A mer
cenary fellow of Shasta advertised admission to his wedding at $5 a ticket,
which brought a snug sum with which to start the household. Hutchings Mag.,
ii. 567; Cal. Steamer, 25th Anniv., 50-1; Pac. News, Nov. 4, 11, 1850. Adver
tisement for 200 Chilian brides, in Polynesian, v. 202. It is said that Burnett
owed his election for governor greatly to being married and having two
daughters; his opponent was a bachelor. Hall s Hist., 204; Woods $ixteen Mo. ,
75; Pioneer Mag., ii. 80; Hesperian, ii. 10, 494; Shinns Mining Camps, 137;
Fremont s Am-. Travel, 100-3, 112. A writer in Overland, xiv. 327, denies
the rarity of and stir caused by women, but on insufficient grounds. Merrill s
Stat., MS., 10; Souk s Stat., MS., 4.
THE OLD HOME. 235
to open correspondence with a view to matrimony.
As a class, the women of this period were inferior in
education and manners to the men; for the hardships
of the voyage and border life held back the more re
fined; but as comforts increased the better class of
women came in, 39 and the standard of female respecta
bility was elevated.
Distance did not seem to weaken the bond with the
old home, 40 to judge especially by the general excite
ment created by the arrival of a mail steamer. What
a straining of eyes toward the signal-station on Tele-
hill, as the time of her coming drew nigh!
liat a rush toward the landing ! What a struggle
to secure the month-old newspaper, which sold readily
for a dollar I For letters patience had to be curbed,
owing to the scanty provisions at the post-office for
sorting the bulky mail Such was the anxiety, how
ever, that numbers took their position in the long line
before the delivery window during the preceding day or
night, fortified with stools and creature comforts. There
were boys and men who made a business of taking a
place in the post-office line to sell it to later comers,
who would find the file probably extending round
more than one block. There was ample time for re
flection while thus waiting before the post-office win
dow, not to mention the agony of suspense, heightened
by the occasional demonstration of joy or sorrow on
the part of others on reading their letters. 41
The departure of a steamer presented scenes hardly
less stirring, the mercantile class being especially
earnest in efforts to collect outstanding debts for re
mittance. At the wharf stood preeminent sturdy
39 And diminished the number of California widows left in almost every
town of the eastern states; many of them pining and struggling against pov
erty for years in the vain hope of meeting again their husbands.
40 As proved, indeed, by later incidents, the war of 1861-5, the railway
connection, etc.
41 lhe scene at the post-office is a favorite topic with writers on this
period. Instance McCoUums Gal, 62-3; Casern s Stat., MS., 16-17; Kelly s
Excurs., ii. 252-5, with humorous strokes; Borthwick s Cal., 83-5; Gal. Scraps,
126-7; AUa Cal, Aug. 28, 1854, etc.
236 SOCIETY.
miners girdled with well-filled belts, their complacent
faces turned eastward. Old Californians they boasted
themselves, though counting, perhaps, less than a half-
year sojourn ; many strutting in their coarse and soiled
camp attire, glorying in their rags like Antisthenes,
through the holes of whose clothes Socrates saw such
rank pride peering. Conspicuous by contrast were
many haggard and dejected faces, stamped by broken
constitutions, soured by disappointment. Others no
less unhappy, without even the means to follow them,
were left behind, stranded; with hope fled, and having
relinquished the struggle to sink perhaps into the out
cast s grave.
Housekeeping in these days, even in the cities, was
attended by many discomforts. The difficulty of ob
taining female servants, which prevailed even in later
years, gave rise to the phenomenon of male house-ser
vants, first in Irish, French, or Italian, and later in Chi
nese form. Fleas, rats, and other vermin abounded; 42
laundry expenses often exceeded the price of new
underwear; 43 water and other conveniences were lack
ing, 44 and dwelling accommodations most deficient, the
flimsy cloth partitions in hotels forbidding privacy. 45
For the unmarried men any hovel answered the
purpose, fitted as they were for privation by the hard
ships of a sea voyage or a transcontinental journey.
42 The city swarmed with rats of enormous size. Poison being freely
scattered to exterminate them, they were driven by pain to the wells, which
thus became unfit for use. Torres, Perip., 109. Barry and Patten, Men and
Mem., 91-2, allude to the species of rats brought by vessels from different
countries, notably the white, pink-eyed rice rat from Batavia. Wilmington
Enterprise, Jan. 21, 1875.
43 So that soiled shirts were frequently thrown away. Mrs Tibbey, in
Miscel Stat., MS., 20. The largest laundry nourished at Washerwoman s
lagoon, at the western foot of Russian hill. Much linen was sent to Canton
and -the Hawaiian Islands to be washed.
44 Ver Mehr credits Gillespie with the first carriage in S. F. Mrs Fremont
claims it for herself. Am. Travel, 118. Posterity may let them both have it,
and lose nothing. "Water was at one time brought from Sauzalito in boats
and distributed by carts; some wells were then dug, the carts continuing the
service.
4!) These disturbing causes tended to the breaking up of homes, as instanced
by desertion and divorce petitions in 1849-50. Pac. News, Dec. 22, 1849; Jan.
15, 1850; PlacervilleDemoc., Apr. 24, 1875, etc.
DRINKING AND GAMBLING. 237
The bunk-lined room of the ordinary lodging-house, 46
the wooden shed, or canvas tent, could hardly have
been more uncomfortable than the foul-smelling and
musty ship hold. Thus the high price prevalent for
board and lodging, as well as the discomforts attend
ing housekeeping and home life, tended to heighten
the allurements of vice-breeding resorts.
Californians have acquired an unenviable reputation
by reason of their bar-room drinking propensities. At
first this was attributed to the lack of homes and
higher recreations: but the increase of drinking-
O 7 O
saloons and wide-spread indulgence point for explana
tion to other causes, such as temperament, excitement,
strain, and some have said climate. 47 The tendency
is cognate with the exuberance of the people, with
their lavishness and characteristic tendency toward
excess, which has also fostered the habit of not drink
ing alone. Solitary tippling is universally stamped
as mean; and rather than incur such a stigma the
bar-keeper must be invited. Yet the excess is mani
fested less in actual inebriety than in frequent indul
gence at all hours of the day and night, which with
the vile adulterations often used, succeeds effectu
ally in killing, or undermining the constitution and
morals of thousands. In early days the subtle attrac
tion was increased by contrast between a dismal lodg
ing and the bright interior of the saloon, with its
glittering chandeliers, costly mirrors wreathed with
inspiring banners, striking and lascivious paintings,
inviting array of decanters, perhaps music and sirens,
some luring with song and dance, some by a more
direct appeal. 48 Until far into 1850, when San Fran
cisco introduced street lamps, the reflection from these
illuminated hot-beds of vice was about all the light
46 As described elsewhere in connection with dwellings and hotels.
47 The climatic excuse was general as early as 1849. Moore s Pio. Exper. t
MS., 7.
48 In Sacramento a number of saloon-keepers combined to save the expense
of music, but failed. Sac. Transcript, Oct. 14, 1850.
238 SOCIETY
the city had, the canvas houses glowing with special
effect upon the muddy streets, or throwing their weird
light far out into the waters of the bay. In the
saloons of the mining towns comfortable chairs and
the central stove presented the only relief to a dingy
interior, with its card-table, cheap pictures, well-
stocked bar, and ever-thirsty hangers-on. The pro
prietor, however, was often a host in himself, as local
dignitary, umpire, and news repository; the hail fellow
and confidant of everybody, who cared for the wounded
and fallen after the knife or pistol skirmish ; himself,
perhaps, safe behind his sand-bag fortification. The
casualties were particularly heavy after an occasional
dearth of whiskey, from interrupted traffic during the
winter. 49 Notwithstanding the forbidding aspect of
the field, temperance advocates were present as early
as 1849, vainly endeavoring to curb the passion by
words. 50
Public gambling flourished as a legally authorized
vice at all saloons, yet its prevalence led in the cities
to the establishment of special gambling-houses.
Mining, being itself a chance occupation, gave here an
additional impulse to the pastime, which some culti
vated as a mental stimulant, others as an anaesthetic.
With easy acquisition losses were less poignant. In
San Francisco the plaza was the centre of these re
sorts, with the El Dorado saloon as the dividing point
between the low places to the north and the select
clubs southward. 51 Gay flags and streamers and de
coy lamps strike the eye from a distance; within a
blaze of light reveals a moving silhouette of figures.
49 It can readily be understood that such general devotion to the cause
must have brought forth many innovations and inventions in the range of
drinks. For instances, I refer to Overland, July 1875, 80-1; May 1874, 477;
Aug. 1868, 146; Helper s Land of Gold, 66. Also, Saxons Five Years, 26;
Cat. Pilgrim, 54, 136; Maynes B. Col, 163; Cremonys Apache, 348.
60 A meeting at S. F. is recorded in A Ua Cal, Jan. 25, 1849. At Sacra
mento a society was formed in 1850. Sac. Illust., 13; Sac. Direct., 1871, 76;
Pac. News, May 16, 21, Dec. 24, 1850.
51 lhe leading resorts of 1849-50 embraced the Rendezvous, Bella Union,
Verandah, Parker house (one floor in it), Aguila de Oro, Empire, the latter
opened in May 1850, being 140 feet long, and finely frescoed.
ORTHODOX GAMES. 239
The abode of fortune seeks naturally to eclipse all
other saloons in splendor; and indeed, the mirrors are
larger, the paintings more costly, and the canvased
walls adorned with brighter figures. At one end is
the indispensable drinking-bar, at the other a gallery
for the orchestra, from which loud if not harmonious
music floats upon the murky atmosphere laden with
fumes of smoke and foul breaths. 52 These and other
attractions are employed to excite the senses, and
break down all barriers before the strongest tempta
tion, the piles of silver and gold in coin and dust, and
glittering lumps which border the leather-covered
gaming-tables, sometimes a dozen in number. From
different directions is heard the cry, "Make your bets,
gentlemen!" midst the hum and the chink of coin.
"The game is made," and a hush of strained expect
ancy attends the rolling ball or the turning cards;
then a resumption of the murmur and the jingling, as
the stakes are counted out or raked in by the croupier.
Gamblers and spectators form several lines in depth
round the tables; broadcloth, pea-jacket, and woollen
shirt side by side, merchant and laborer, dandy and
shoeblack, and even the whilom pastor or deacon of
the church. Some moving from group to group are
bent merely on watching faces and fickle fortune, till,
seized by desire, they yield to the excitement and
join in the infatuation. Once initiated, the slow game
of calculation in money matters which has hitherto
sufficed for pastime, falls before the stirring pulsation
imparted by quickly alternating loss and gain. The
IT / A v O
chief games were faro, preferred by Americans and
Britons; monte, beloved of the Latin race; 53 roulette,
52 At the Aguila de Oro Ethiopian serenaders added to the attraction. An
other boasted a Mexican quintette of guitars. The later Chinese resorts had
symbols, etc. According to Torres, Penp., 99, a brother of Gen. Ben. Butler
kept one of these places; expenses $500 a night, leaving large profits. The
El Dorado kept a female violinist. Taylor s El Dorado, i. 118.
63 For this game were used Spanish cards, 48 in a pack, the ten being lack
ing. There were frequently two dealers at opposite ends of the table, each
with a bank pile of $5,000 or $10,000. Ihe mere matching of two cards,
sometimes four, the game being decided by the first similar card drawn
from the pack, would seem to afford facilities for trickery, while certain con
ditions ruled ia favor of the banker.
240 SOCIETY
rouge-et-noir, rondo, vingt-et-un, paire-ou-non, trente-
et-quarante, and chuck-a-luck with dice. 54 The stakes
ranged usually between fifty cents and five dollars,
but rose frequently to $500 and $1,000, while amounts
as high as $45,000 are spoken of as being risked upon
the turn of a card. 55 The most reckless patrons were
richly laden miners, who instead of pursuing their
intended journey homeward, surrendered here their
hard-earned wealth, and returned sadder, if not wiser,
to fresh toils and hardships. The most impassive as
well as constant gamblers were the Mexicans, who,
otherwise so readily excited, could lose their all with
out betraying an emotion; while sober-faced Ameri
cans, who, though they might crack a grim joke over
their misfortune, ill concealed their disappointment
over losses. In the one case there was a fatalistic
submission to the inevitable ; in the other the player
would not yield his entire personality to the fickle
goddess. Although in the mining camps were many
honest gamblers, yet play there was oftentimes riot
ous and attended by swindling, and a consequent
appeal to weapons ; in the towns the system of licens
ing what was then deemed an unavoidable evil tended
to preserve decorum. 56 An air of respectability was
further imparted by the appearance of the professional
54 At the street corners were thimble-rig and other delusive guess games.
The rent for a table was heavy, as may be judged from the fact that the
greater part of the income from the Parker house, at one time $15,000 a
month, came from the one gambling floor. Half of the gamblers used to pay
$1,000 per month for a table, says McCollum. Cal., 61.
55 A bag of dust, $16,000 in value, was one evening covered by a faro dealer
without a murmur. Annals S. F,, 249 The editor of Placer Times, Mar. 9,
1850, claims to have known of bets of $32,000 and $45,000 at monte. On one
occasion the money in bank on monte tables exceeded $200,000, and more
than that was at stake in other games. Home Missionary, xxvii. 160. Woods
relates that a lawyer once swept three tables in succession. A young man
just arrived, and en route to the mines, borrowed $10 and approached a faro-
table. By the following morning he had won $7,000, with which he returned
by next steamer, determined never to play again. Davidson, the banker,
said that some professed gamblers used to remit home an average of $17,000
a month. Sixteen Mo., 75. Among other instances of gains was one of $100,-
000 by a man who started with $5,000. After losing half of his winnings he
stopped, bought a steamer ticket, and went home. Placer Times, Mar. 9, 1850.
The record of losses, however, is a thousand to one greater, hundreds of cases
being cited where the miner en route for home staked his all and lost.
66 At S. F. the permit cost $50 per month, with $25 extra for each Sunday.
MERCANTILE THIMBLE-RIG. 241
gamblers, who greatly affected dress, although with a
predilection for display. With the growth of home
influence the pastime began to fall into disrepute, and
in September 1850 San Francisco took the first step
toward its suppression by forbidding the practice on
Sundays. 57 An insidious and long-countenanced ad
junct to the vice flourished in the form of lotteries, which
were carried on with frequent drawings, especially at
holiday seasons, as a regular business, as well as a
casual means for getting rid of worthless or unprofit
able goods. Jewelry formed the main attraction,
but articles of all classes were embraced, even land,
wharves, and pretentious buildings. 58
67 Cat. Courier, Sept. 14, 1850 Some of the hotels assisted by excluding
its public practice, as the Union. S. F. Picayune, Nov. 26, 1850. Yet it was
not till 1855 that absolute restrictive measures were taken. So far gambling
debts were recoverable. Alta CaL, Apr. 17, 1855; Sac. Transcript, Feb. 14,
1851. In Jan. 1848 an order to permit games of chance was vetoed in S. F.
Calif ornian, Jan. 12, 1848; penalty $10 to $50, but a repeal came quickly.
Sac. Union, May 21, 1856; Pac. News, Feb. 14, 1851, refers to the arrest of
gamblers.
58 E. P. Jones held a real estate lottery in the autumn of 1850, with 4,000
tickets at $100. The 500 lots offered as prizes embraced valuable central city
land. In Oct. 1850 H. Howison sought to pay his debts and avoid a sacrifice
of property by offering his wharf with 9 stores and 10 offices, renting for
$5,000 a month, besides two water lots with a store-ship, for $200,000, in
2,000 shares at $100. The prominent St Francis hotel was offered the same
month. Pac. News, Oct. 19, Nov. 8, 13, 1850. A regular lottery firm was
Tucker & Reeves. By advertisement in Cal. Courier, etc., of Dec. 17, 1850,
$20,000 worth of jewelry was offered. Their usual first prize was a gold ingot
of from $6,000 to $8,000 in value. In 1853 Reeves offered stuff valued at
$30,000 at $1 tickets. In Sacramento the Pacific theatre and 99 other pieces
of real estate were offered in 1850. These real estate and other raffles, as
they were sometimes termed, encroached seriously on legitimate business
The California Lottery and Hayes & Bailey figure in the 1850 list of lottery
firms. See journals of Dec., any early year. Further references to gambling
in Carson s Early Days, 29; Kelly s Excursion, ii. 245-7; Winans Stat., MS.,
5-6; Hittell s S. F., 235-7; Upham s Notes, 235-6; Helper s Land of Gold,
71-3; Lambertie, Voy., 204-6; Coke s Ride, 355-7; Frignet, CaZ.,94, 117; Lett s
CaL, 48-50; CaL Past and Present, 163; Neall s Vig., MS., 25-8; Garniss*
Early Days, MS., 15-16; Bartlett s Stat., MS., 3, 14; Armstrong s Exper.,
MS., 8; Delano s Life, 289-90; Willey s Thirty Years, 39; McDaniels Early
Days, 49-50; Farnham s CaL, 271-4; Roach s Stat., MS., 9; Button s Stat., MS.,
10; Cerruti s Ramblings, MS., 25-7; Hutchings Mag., i. 215; iii. 374; SchmiedelCs
Stat., MS., 4; Cassins Stat., MS., 10-12; Merrill s Stat., MS., 9-10; Van
Dyke s Stat., MS., 3; Miscel. Stat., MS., 13-14; Home Miss., xxiii. 209;
Conway s Early Days, MS., 1-2; CaL Ilust., 44, 99, 130; CaL Pilgrim, 243;
Overland, Nov. 1871; Feb. 1872; Shaw s Golden Dreams, 42; S. F. Herald,
Apr. 7, 18.52; S. F. Bulletin, Sept. 15, 25, Dec. 4, 1856. The Mexicans called
gamblers gremio de Virjan. Torres, Perip., 100. According to Sac. Direc
tory, 1853-4, 6-7, two clergymen could be seen at the hells, one as dealer.
HIST. CAL., VOL. VI. 16
242 SOCIETY.
The taste for other pastimes rose little above the
preceding, as might be expected from a community of
men bent on adventure. The bull-fighting of pre-con-
quest times found such favor, that, not content with the
two arenas already existing at the mission, San Fran
cisco constructed two more within her own limits. 59
Here it flourished under official sanction throughout
the fifties, 60 but invested with few of the attractions
which have tended to maintain its popularity elsewhere,
such as knightly matadores, pugnacious bulls, and a
fashionable attendance. American women never took
kindly to the butchery, California excelled in one
feature, however, the spectacle of a fight between bull
and bear, if the usually tame contest could be digni
fied by that term. 61 In cock-fighting the new-comers
had little to learn from the Mexicans, although with
these the diversion stood under high patronage; but
they could offer novelties in the form of regattas, and
the less commendable prize-fighting, 62 and in horse and
foot racing they soon carried off the honors. 63
The great resort on Sundays and holidays was the
mission, with its creek, gardens, and arenas, and its
adjoining hills and marshes which offered for hunters an
attractive field. The ride out was in itself an enjoy-
59 One on Vallejo st, at the western foot of Telegraph hill; another amphi
theatre was erected near Washington square. S. F Herald, Aug. 10, 1850;
8. F. Directory, 1850, 126.
60 8. F. Bulletin of Aug. 18, 1859, describes a fight. For scenes and inci
dents, I refer to my California Pastoral.
61 Bruin usually took a defensive attitude, with his attention riveted on
the bull s nose. In fights between bears and dogs, the latter generally fell
back shaken and squeezed. Pac. News, May 17-18, 1850; Sac. Transcript,
Oct. 14, 1850; Barry and Patten s Men and Mem., 251. Even Marysville and
other northern towns indulged in the sport. Kelly s Excurs., ii. 248-9.
62 Several notable encounters took place before the great contests of Mor-
rissey in 1852. Pac. News, Oct. 17, 1850; Gal Courier, Jan. 1, 4, Oct. 18, 28,
1850; Dec. 13, 1849.
63 Although not decisively until 1852, when Australian horses were intro
duced, as related by A. A. Green of aldermanic fame, who claims the credit
of constructing in 1850 the first regular track in S. F., between 20th and 24th
streets, at the so-called Pavilion, the later Red house. In the interior, camps
and towns pitted horses against one another. Foot-races by professionals
were usually against time; amateurs often ran in the usual way. Califorman,
Mar. 4, 15, 1848; Alta Cal, Mar. 25, Sept. 15, 1851. In Halts Hist., 232,
is mentioned a race at S. Jose for $10,000, a man running against a Sonoma
horse.
THEATRICALS. 243
ment, notwithstanding the intervening and ofttimes
wind-whipped sand hills, and on festive occasions the
place was crowded. The lack of ready communication
with the opposite shores of the bay confined the people
to the peninsula for a time, only to render the more
demonstrative the revelry called for by feast days and
other joyous occasions, with volleys, crackers, illumina
tions, and fanciful parades, with caricatures and squibs
upon officials, followed by banquets and balls, the
latter stimulated by the chilly evenings and frequent
potations. 64
The first public dramatic performances are claimed
for the United States garrison at Sonoma in September
1 847, and for an amateur company, chiefly Spanish Cal-
ifornians, at San Francisco. 65 About the same time
some of the New York volunteers gave minstrel en
tertainments at Santa Barbara and Monterey. 66 The
gold excitement diverted attention from the drama in
1848, 67 but by the following year professionals from
abroad had arrived to supply the reviving demand,
and on June 22, 1849, Stephen C. Massett opened a
series of entertainments with a concert at the plaza
school-house, including songs, recitations, and mimicry,
with piano accompaniment. 68 On October 29th, Howe s
64 A masquerade ball of Feb. 22, 1845, is described in the Catifornzan.
Admission to some of the balls of 1849-50 was $25, and more. Placer Times,
Apr. 22, 1850. The pioneers held a formal new-year s celebration in 1851.
July 4th always received its fiery ovation, partly by the use of half -buried
quicksilver flasks. St Patrick s day and May day were early introduced by
the Irish and Germans. The thanksgiving day of 1849 was fixed for Nov. 29th
without official proclamation, observes Williams, Stat,, MS,, 12-13. New
England dinners found favor, and pilgrims 1 landing day touched a correspond
ing chord. St Andrews and other societies added their special days. Roach s
Stat. t MS., 3; Pac. Neios, May 3, Nov. 6, 30, 1850; Jan. 11, Apr, 1, 1851; S. F.
Picayune, Oct. 30, 1850, etc.; Col. Courier, Sept. 14, Nov. 27, Dec, 2, 1850;
Jan. 3, Feb. 1, 1851; A Ita Col., passim.
65 Which gave the Morayma, relating to the wars of Granada. See Cali-
fornian, Oct, 6, 1847; May 10, Nov. 4, 1848; and my preceding vol., v. 667.
The same journal alludes to the Eagle Olympic club association for plays and
subscriptions for a theatre Polynesian, v. 111.
^Details in S. Jose Pioneer, May 4, 1878. A writer in Solano Press, Dec.
11, 1867, declares that they first performed at S. F. in March 1847, the first
night s receipts being $63.
67 The Virginia minstrels played with success during the winter, Star and
CaL, Dec. 9, 1848, and other amateur efforts may be traced
68 Admission $3, which yielded over $500. The crowded audience contained
244 SOCIETY,
Olympic circus appeared at San Francisco, 69 with
prices at two and three dollars.
The first professional dramatic performance took
place at Sacramento on October 18, 1849, in the Eagle
theatre, 70 a frail structure which was soon eclipsed
by the Tehama. At San Francisco the season began
at Washington hall, early in 185Q. 71 Five weeks
later the first theatre building, the National, was
opened, 72 followed among others by Robinson and
Everard s Dramatic Museum, 73 Dr Collyer s Athe
naeum, with prurient model artist exhibitions, 74 and
only four women. Programme reproduced in Annals S. P., 656; Upham s
Notes, 271-2. The piano is here claimed as the only one in the country, but
a writer in S. Jost Pwn., Dec. 1, 1877, shows by letters that four pianos
were at S. F, early in 1847, besides the common guitars and harps. Territ.
Pioneers, First An., 75.
69 On Kearny st south of Clay st. Boxes cost $10. The performances
began at 7 P. M , and embraced the usual circus features, as given in Alta
Col. of following day. This the first play bill is reproduced in Id., Oct. 29,
1864. The circiis closed Jan. 17, 1850, to reopen as an amphitheatre on Feb.
4th, with drama, farce, and ring performance. The Annals S. F., 236, calls
it a tent holding 1,200 or 1,500 people, and places the prices at $3, $5, and
$55. Previous to this, on Oct. 22d, says McCabe, in Territ. Pioneers, ubisup.,
the Philadelphia minstrela commenced a season at Bella Union hall, tickets
$2, and in Dec. 1849 the Pacific minstrels prepared to play at Washington
hall, but were prevented by fire.
A frame 30 feet by 95 covered with canvas, metal-roofed, on Front st,
between I and J st, which cost $75,000. Admission $2 and $3. The company
embraced J. B. Atwater, C. B. Price, H. F. Daley, J. H. McCabe, H. Ray
and wife, T. Fairchild, J. Harris, Lt A. W. Wright, whose salaries ranged
from $60 per night for Atwater, to $60 per week for Daley. Mrs Ray, with
husband, commanded $275 per week, including expenses. McCabe, in Ternt.
Pioneers, First An., 72-5. The total nightly expense was $600. Bayard
Taylor, Eldorado, ii 31-2, is rather severe on the performance. The season
and theatre closed Jan. 4, 1850. The Bandit Chief is mentioned as the
opening piece. The Tehama theatre opened soon after under management
of Mrs Kirby, later Mrs Stark. Soc. Illust., 12-13; S. Jose Pioneer, Dec. 13,
1877. The Pacific theatre is nearly completed, observes Placer Times, Apr.
13, 1850.
71 Jan. 16th, near N. w. corner of Kearny and Washington, by the Eagle
theatre company of Sacramento, whence also this name for the hall, later
Foley s. Pac. News, Jan. 17, 1850. Allen and Boland figure on the pro
gramme, which presented The Wife, and the farce Sentinel; McCabe has
Charles II. as an after-piece. Tickets $3.
72 On the site of the latter Maguire s, Washington st. It was built of
brick; opened by a French company, and burned May 4th. It was replaced
by the Italian theatre, opened Sept. 12, 1850, at the corner of Jackson and
Kearny sts, by a similar company. The short-lived Phoenix theatre was in
augurated March 23d. The following day the Phoenix exchange, on the
plaza, presented model artists.
13 On the north side of California st, west of Kearny st, with partly
amateur talent. Everard, known for his Yankee r6les, often assumed female
garb. CassinsStat., MS., 16.
7i Ou Commercial st; tickets $1.
MUSIC AND RECREATION. 245
the famed Jenny Lind theatre, opened in October
1850, on the plaza. 75 The resorts which had so far
escaped were swept away by the conflagrations of
May and June 1851, yet new edifices rose agrin with
little delay. The flush times of a gold country brought
many sterling actors, such as Stark, Atwater, Kirby,
Bingham, Thorne Sr, who also made their bow at
interior towns, 76 but inferior talent preponderated in
the race for patronage, 77 the blood and thunder variety
gaining favor, especially in the mining region, where
the mere appearence of a woman, sufficed in early days
to insure success. 8 The general effect of the drama
was nevertheless good, partly from the moral lessons
conveyed, but mainly as a diversion from gambling
and drinking resorts. 79 By 1851 there was scarcely a
town of 1,OOC inhabitants without its hall for enter
tainments. Mere instrumental proficiency was not so
widely appreciated, 80 but female vocalists with sym
pathetic voices and stirring home melodies never failed
to evoke applause which not unfrequently came at
tended by a shower of oresents, 81
t5 Which eventually after many transformations "became what is now
known as the old city hall, and which, indeed, is the third Jenny Lind struc
ture, the first having been burned on May 4, 1850, together with several
ther resorts, and the second in June following. Mde Korsinsky from Na
ples opened, the first on Oct. 28th, assisted by singers, magicians, etc. Adelphi
and Foley s ainpliitheatre were inaugurated in Nov. and Dec., respectively,
t*ie former on Clay st, the other on the plaza. The next important edifice
was the American theatre on Sansome st, north of Sacramento st, which
belongs to 1851, Vallejo hall was used for parties.
76 Bingham inaugurated a season at Stockton, in the Stockton house, as
sisted by Snow of Mormon fame. ZrCloskey, in S. Jose Pioneer, Dec. 13, 1877;
Placer Times, Apr. 13, 1850. He abo opened the regulr.r season at Monterey.
Monterey Herald, Feb. 13, 1875. Robinson did so at Nevada in June. Grass
VaL Direct., 1856, 20-^30.
77 In Dec. 1850 the museum reduced prices one half, although this had
only a partial effect elsewhere.
18 As Taylor, Eldorado, ii. 31-2, found even at Sacramento. A Swiss
girl here collected $4,000 within six months. Organ grinders started their
nuisance at S. F. in Apr. 1850. Pac, Neics, Apr. 30, 1850. A pioneer in the
Oakland Transcript, Feb. 27, 1872, gives some leading names in the profession.
Marry and Patten, Men and Mem., 213.
J9 By ordinance of Sept 14, 1850, the city authorities sought to close even
theatres on Sundays, but the attempt was not successful. Sherman, Mem.,
i. 23, refers to passion plays in connection wi^h churches.
M To judge by the reception in 1C~0 of the pianist Herz, though highly
praised by the Placer Times, Apr. 22, 1850, etc. Other concerts took place in
Jan. and ApriL
1 Gold pieces of $10, $20, and $50 in value came raining down, says Gar-
246 SOCIETY.
Sunday became identified with enjoyment rather
than solemn devotion. The voyage out had sufficed
to break down puritanical habits. In the camps,
after a week s arduous pursuit of gold, the day was
welcomed for rest, yet not for repose. Mending
clothes, washing, baking, and letter-writing occupied
one part of it ; then came marketing with attendant
conviviality, the harvest for traders, saloon-keepers, and
their ilk. This routine, more or less prevalent also in
the towns, left little leisure for the duties of religion,
which for that matter were generally postponed for
the return home. In the interior the necessary leaders
were lacking, and the fear of ridicule from a rollicking-
crowd restrained non-professional devotees. Among
the multitudes of the cities, however, the clergyman
was present, and could always count upon a number
of sedate folk who in church attendance found refresh
ing comfort. The influence of this class, embracing as
it did employers and family men, aided by the mag
netism of woman, succeeded by the middle of 1850 in
establishing seven places of worship, and in extending
Sabbath observance, in connection with which educa
tion, literature, and art received a beneficent impulse. 82
The admission of California into the union tended
to stamp improvements with the strengthening tone of
permanency. With unfolding resources and growing
niss, Early Days, MS., 15, 81-9, although smaller pieces were more common.
When Kate Hayes gave concerts in the winter of 1851, the first tickets
at Sac. and S. F. sold for $1,200 and $1,125, respectively. Alia Cal. Feb. 9,
1853. It was proposed to subscribe $500,000 for bringing hither Jenny
Lind. Pac. News, Jan. 23, 1851. Lecturers fared well. J. S. Hittell ap
peared as a phrenologist in Dec. 1850. Cat. Courier, Dec. 2, 1850. Additional
references to amusements in Id., March 31, 1851. McCabe, Territ. Pioneers,
First An., 75-8, adds some valuable details on early amusements. Pac. News,
Oct. 1849-50, passim; Cal. Scraps, Amuse., 5, 253, etc.; Winans Stat., MS.,
13; BorthwlcVs Cal., 77, 289, 334, 357; Earll g Sfat., MS., 6; S. F. Post, Feb.
10, 1S76; Sfa Cruz Sentinel, Feb. 20, 1875; Shaw s Golden Dreams, 203; Lloyd s
Lijhte and Shades, 146-54. Torres, Perip , 145, comments on the means to
supply the scarcity of actresses. Annals S. F., 655, etc.; 8. F. Chronicle, Sept.
9, 1378.
82 All of which will be considered in later chapters. In Nov. 1849 dray
men, among others, resolved to abstain from Sunday work when possible.
-Pac. News, Nov. 10, 1849. It took some years before the smaller towns
cov.ld be made to adopt similar resolutions. See Calavera Chronicle, Feb.
1855.
PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT. 247
population came greater traffic, increased and varied
supplies, * and new industries, comforts, and conven
iences of every grade.
The progression made by California during the first
two years of the golden era is remarkable, not only for
its individuality, but for its rapidity, and as being
taken by a community of energetic and intelligent men,
aided by the appliances of their age. The main con
siderations for the present are the suddenness, magni
tude, and mixed composition of the gathering, the
predominating and marked influence of Americans
from the first, and the peculiar features evolved there
from, and in connection with the adventurous trip, the
mania for enrichment, the general opulence, sex limita
tion, camp life, and climate. Note especially the reck
less self-reliance which braved hardship and dangers by
sea and land, in solitude and amidst the mongrel crowd,
and marked its advance by upturned valleys and ra
vines; by the deviated course of rivers, the living evi
dence of settlements and towns that sprang up in a
day, or the mute eloquence of their ruins; by the
transformed wilderness and the busy avenues of traffic ;
by thronged roads and steam-furrowed rivers. Note
the lusty exuberance which trod down obstacles and
lightly treated reverses ; lightened work with the spirit
of play, and carried play into extravagance, and all
the while tempering avarice with a whole-souled lib
erality Note the elevation of labor and equalization
of ranks, which, rejecting empty pretensions and exalt
ing honor and other principles, elevated into promi
nence the best natural types of manhood, physical and
mental, for the strain of life in the mines demanded a
strong frame and constitution, and in other fields the
prizes fell to the shrewd and energetic This wild
game and gambol could not pass without deplorable
excesses, but even these had a manly stamp. Vice
was more prominent than general, however. Deceived
by the all-absorbing loudness of its aspect and outcry,
writers are led to exaggerate the extent. On the
248 SOCIETY.
other hand, the sudden abundance of means exploded
economic habits in general, and the prevalence of high
prices and speculative ideas, together with the absence
of restraining family ties, did not tend to promote
prudence.
In this short, spirited race between representatives
of all nationalities and classes, save the very poor and
the rich, all started under certain primitive conditions,
unfettered by traditional and conventional forms, yet
assisted by the training and resources derived from
their respective cultures. Some aimed short-sightedly
only for the nearest golden stake, and this gained, a
few retired contented; most of them, however, con
tinued in pursuit of ever-flitting visions. Others, with
more forethought and enterprise, enlisted wider agen
cies, organization, machinery, and for a greater goal ;
and seizing other opportunities by the way, they mul
tiplied the chances of success in different directions.
While accustomed to subdue the wilderness, Yankee
character and institutions have here demonstrated
their versatility and adaptiveness under somewhat
different conditions, and in close contest with those
of other nationalities, by taking the decisive lead in
evolving from magnificent disorder the framework for
a great commonwealth, the progress of which structure
is presented in the succeeding chapters. 82
82 For fuller and additional authorities bearing on early California society,
I refer to Burnett s Recoil, of Past, MS., i.-ii., passim; Bartlett s Statement,
MS., 2-3, 7-9; Barry and Pattens Men and Mem., 46, 61-92, 144-8, 223, 251,
351; Carson s Early Recoil, 21, 25-6, 29; Janssen s Vida y Av., 198; Arm
strong s 49 Experiences, MS., 8, 12; Larkin s Doc., vi. 41, 43, 51-2, 66, 144,
172, 175, 195, 198; vii. 92, 140, 206, 219, 231, 287, 338; Clarke s Statement,
MS., 1-2; Hyde s Hist. Facts on Cat., MS., 9-13; Dow s Vig. Com., MS., 2, 5;
Davis Glimpses, MS., 265-78: Farnham s Cal, 22-7, 271^; Fay s Historical
Facts, MS., 1-3, 10; Fernandez, Cal, 184, 189-92; Annals of S. F., passim;
Du Hailly, in Rev. des deux Mondes, Feb. 15, 1859, 932; Bauer s Statement,
MS., 2-3, 5; Alger s Young Miner, passim; Bouton s Cal. Indians, MS.; Arch.
Monterey Co., xiv. 18; Beadle s Western Wilds, 38; Averill s Life in Cal, pas
sim; Bancroft s Hand-book; A View of Cal., 167; Ariz. Arch., iii. 297; Antioch
Ledger, July 1, 1876; Barstow s Statement, MS., 1-4, 7-12; Cal, The Digger s
Hand-book, 7, 36-41, 49-54, 65-71; Buffum s Six Montlis, 83-4, 117-18, 121,
124; Dutch Flat Enquirer, Nov. 26, 1864; Farwell s Vig. Com., MS., 5; John
son s Cal and Ogn, 96-209, 236, 244; Kelly s Excursion, ii. 244-9; Schmiedell s
Statement, MS., 4-6, 145-6; Frisbie s Reminisc., MS., 36-7; Garniss Early
Days of S. F., MS,,., 8-23, 29-32; Frinlc s Vig. Cow., MS., 25; Bluxome s Vig.
Com., MS., 1, 5; Gefstacker, Kreutz und Quer; Kip s Cal Slcetclies, 18-19;
Lambertie, Voy. Pittoresque, 202-9; Lett s Cat. Illust., 48-55, 70-129; Alameda
AUTHORITIES. 249
Reporter, May 31, 1879; Kanesv., Iowa, Front Guard, May 16, 1849; Feb. - ,
1850; Polynesian, iv. 102, 183, 207; v.-vii., passim; Merrills Statement, MS.,
2-6, 9-10; Lavxoris Autobiog., MS., 11-17; Currey s Incidents, M.S., 4, 8; Fre
mont s Year Amer. Travel, 66-8, 98-103, 112-13, 148; Brook* Four Months,
83, 201-2; Doolittle s Statement, MS., 21-2; Drinkwater, in M iscel. Statement*,
1-2; Gillespies Vig. Com., MS., 1-6; Carson City Trib., Sept. 23, 1879; Chico
Enterprise, Aug. 8, 1879; Bryant s What I Saw in Col., 427; Schenck s Vig.
Com., MS., 14, 16, 20, 22, 44-8; Earll s Statement, MS., 6, 8-10; Cox s Annals
of Trinity Co., 62-3; Conway s Early Days in California, MS., 1-2; Brewers
jReminisc., MS., 35-7; Helpers Land of Gold, 36-9, 47, 63-75, 82-4, 144, 158,
167-9, 237-53; Delano s Life, 249-54, 289-90, 365; Grimshaw s Narrative, MS.,
14; Borthwick s Three Years in Cal, 46-67, 77, 83-5, 127, 151-4, 165-6, 289,
334, 357-74; Hancock s Thirteen Years, MS., 119-20; Hall s Hist., 232; Green s
Life and Adv., MS., 17, 19; Guide to Cal., 80-132, 157; Kirkpatrick s Journal,
14-16; Gold Hill News, Nov. 29, 1867; Geary, in Miscel. Statements, 5; Haw-
leys Observations, MS., 5, 9-10; Boltvn vs U. S., App. to Brief, 99-101; Bing-
ham, in Solano Co. Hist., 333; Damerons Autobiog., 22-3; Hunt s Merch. Mag.,
xx. 458; xxi. 136; xxii. 696; xxxi. 114, 386; Los Aug. Star, May 14, 1870;
King sReptonCal.,1, 215; Hittell, in Dietz Our Boys, 166-8, 174-7, 179; Brown s
Statement, MS., 14; Deans Statement, MS., 1-2; MarinCo. Hist., 121; Masons
Kept; Masxett s Exper. of a 49er, 10; Bennett, in Sawtelle s Pioneers, 5; Ward s
Letter of Aug. 1, 1849, in New York Courier and Enquirer; Nevada Journal,
Dec. 19, 1856; Nevada Gaz., May 2, 1864; Sonora Union Dem., Sept. 29, 1877;
Morse, in Direct. Sac., 1853-4, 5-10; Berkeley Advocate, Dec. 25, 1879; Cray s
Vig. Com., MS., 1; Costa R., Ail. and Pac. R. R., 7-16; Hi tbner s Ramble
around the World, 146; New West, 342; Evans A la California, 226, 236, 272,
359, etc. ; Dilke s Greater Britain, 209, 228-32; Red Bluff Sentinel, June 14,
1873; New and Old, 35, 37, 69; McCollums Cal as I Saw It, 33-6, 60-3; Danas
Two Years, 432; Nidever s Life and Adv., MS., 139; Low s Observations, MS.,
4-7; Hutchings Illust. Cal. Mag., i. 33, 78, 83, 215, 300, 416, 464; ii. 401; iii.
60, 129, 210, 254; v. 297, 334-7; HoUnski, La Cal., 108-10, 136; Benton, in
Hayes Scraps, Cal. Notes, v. 60; Biglers Diary, MS., 77-9; S. 1. Friend, vi.
16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 72, 80, 85, 88, 96; .vii. 8, 15, 69, 74; viii. 28, 95,
etc.; S. I. News, ii., passim; Morse s Pion. Exp., MS., 7; Colton s Deck and
Port, 352, 386, 401; Pioche Journal, June 4, 1875; Pierce s Rough Sketch,
MS., 105-8, 111; Coles Vig. Com., MS., 3; Mex., Revol. Sta Anna, 154; Pan.
Star, Feb. 24, 1849; Commerce and Navig. Repts, 1850-67; Overland Monthly,
xiv. 320, 327-8; xv. 241-8, etc.; Nouv. Annales, 1849, 3, 224; Parson s Life
of Marshall, 96, 99-103, 157; Connor s Early Cal., MS., 2; Coast Review, Oct.
1877, 377; Oakland Transcript, March 1, 1873; May 5, 1875; March 25, July
14, 1877; Monterey Herald, Feb. 13, 1875; Le National, Oct. 4, 1869; Russian
River Flag, Jan. 9, 1873; Morse s Statement, MS.; Henshaw s Hist. Events, MS.,
1-2, 7-8; Hesperian, ii. 10, 492, 494; Rednitz, Reise, 106; Olneys Vig. Com.,
MS., 1-3; Ventura Free Press, Sept. 29, 1877; Mining and Scientific Press,
Aug. 3, 1878; Lyon Co., Nev., Times, March 24, 1877; San Diego Arch., 331;
San Diego Herald, Dec. 5, 1874; Frignet, La Cal., 83, 94, 117, 121-2, 135;
Foster s Gold Regions, passim; Cerruti s Rambhngs, 25-7, 50, 67; Clemens
Roughing It, 410, 417, 444; Home Missionary, xxii. 92-3, 163-7, 186; xxiii.
208-9; xxvii. 159-60; London Quart. Rev., Jan. 1881, 45-6; Pion. Mag., i.
174; ii. 80; iii. 80-1, 147; iv. 314; Player- Frowd s Six Months in Cal, 22-3;
Placerville Republ, July 19, 1877; Coke s Rid*, 354-7; Pion. Arch., 29-31; S.
F. Occident, March 5, 1874; S. F. News Letter, Jan. 17, 1874; S. F. Excltange,
Jan. 13, 1876; Elite Directory, 1879, 11-19; S. F. Golden Era, March 8, 1874;
Jan. 26, 1878; S. F. Chronicle, July 6, 1878; June 4, 1879; Oct. 3, 31, 1880;
S. F. Call, Jan. 6, 28, March 1, Aug. 23, 1865; Sept. 1, 1866; Aug. 1, 1867,
etc.; San Jose Pioneer, Aug. 4, Dec. 1, 14, 1877; Feb. 16, May 4, July 27,
1878; Aug. 16, 1879; Hist. San Jose, 209-16; San Joaquin Co. Hist., 21, 23,
34-5; S. F. Times, Jan. 12, 1867; S. F. Town Talk, Apr. 10, 1857; S. F. Post,
Apr. 3, 1875; Feb. 10, 1876; July 27, Nov. 1, 23, 1878; Chamberlain s State
ment, MS., 1; Cousin s Statement, MS., 5-7, 10-18; Hist. Doc. Cal, 1-508;
Olympia Standard, July 22, 1876; Sargent, in Nevada Grass Val. Direct.,
1856, 29-31; Sta Cruz Sentinel, Feb. 20, 1875; Sta Cruz Times, March 12,
250 SOCIETY
1870; ROM Narrative, MS., 12, 15-18; Roach s Hist. Facts, MS., 3; Modesto
Herald, Feb. 14, 1878; Ricltardson s Mining Exper., MS., 10-11, 27-30; Mel
bourne Morn. Herald, March 29, 1849; Hist, of Los Ang., 73-4; Lloyd s Lights
and Shades, 18-21, 513-16; Robinsons Cal. and its Gold Regions, 10, 105, 214;
Capron s Hist. Cal., 125-6, 129, 146, 165, 220, 233; Roach s Statement, MS.,
2-3, 9; Campbell s Circular Notes, i. 98-129; Revue des Deux Mondes, Feb. 1,
1849, 475; Miscellany, ix., pt. i. 77; McDaniels Early Days, MS., 6, 49-50;
Sac. Union, Dec. 16, 1854; Sept. 1, 1855; March 13-15, Apr. 4, May 21, June
26, Sept. 16, Dec. 25, 26, 31, 1856; Sept. 14, 1858; Sept. 4, 1865, etc.; Sac.
Bee, June 12, 1874; Sac. Wkly Bee, Aug. 16, 1879; Shasta Courier, March 25,
1865; Shaw s Golden Dreams, 37-42, 47, 179-83; Catholic World, 795, 807;
Cal, Pop. and Col. Scraps, 126-7; Sayward s Pioneer Remin., MS., 4, 29-33;
Ryan s Pers. Adv., ii. 170-220, 250-7, 265-6; Id., Judges and Grim., 80-2;
Cal. Pilgrim, 54, 136; S. F. Bulletin, Jan. 2, March 29, Apr. 1, July 7, 8,
Aug. 5, Sept. 15, 20, 25, Nov. 27, Dec. 4, 1856; Sept. 27, 1862; Feb. 28, Oct.
28, 1865; Apr. 30, 1866; Jan. 23, 25, 1867, etc.; Cal, Pion. Celebrations
Scraps, 8-10; Id., Polit. Scraps, 123; Cal Archives, Unbound Doc., 20, 55, 56,
58, 59, 64-7, 224-6, 228, 319-20, 322-3, 328-9; Cal, Advent, of a Captain s
Wife, 18, 20, 27-8, 41-2; Cal Past and Present, 107-9, 149-50, 159-60, 163;
Sacramento Illust., 8, 12-13; The World Over, 92-110; The Mines, Miners, etc.,
790-1; Thomas, in Sac. Direct., 1871, 52-3, 76, 1034; McCabe s Our Coun
try, 1054-6; Mayne s Br. Columbia, 157, 163; The World Here and There,
14-27; Matthewsons Statement, MS., 2-3; Sutton s Early Exper., MS., passim;
Stockton Indep., Aug. 31, 1878; July 28, 1879; Soules Statement, MS., 2, 4;
ElSonorense, May 2, 1849, p. 4; La Armonia Social (Guadalajara), March 2,
1849; Miller s Songs of the Sierras, 69, 70, 280; Solano Press, Dec. 11, 1867;
Solano Co. Hist., 164; Wilmington Enterprise, Jan. 21, 1875; Tuthill s Hist.
Cal, passim; Vanderbilt, in Miscel Statements, 32, 35; Shuck s Repres. Men of
S. F., 936-7; Shinn s Mining Camps, 137; Virginia, Nev., Chron., May 21,
1877; Sac. Record, March 6, 1875; Tinkham s Hist. Stockton, 166-75; Sher
wood s Pocket Guide, 64-5; London Times, July 25, 1850; Little s Statement,
MS., 3, 11, 16; Upham s Notes, 221-2, 225-6, 265-72; Mrs Tibbey, in Miscel
Statements, 19-20; Tiffany s Pocket Exch. Guide, 16, 124-6; Tyler s Mormon
Battalion, 242-334; Taylor s Oregonians, MS., 1-2; Id., Spec. Press, 11$, 50,
57i 500-3; Id., Eldorado, i.-ii., passim; Id., Cal. Life Illust., 164-7, 190-4;
Crosby s Events in Cal, MS., 10-17, 22-3, 25, 38-9, 46; Torres, Perip., 62, 99-
100, 109, 112, 145; La Motte s Statement, MS., 1; Ryckman s Vig. Com., MS.;
Van Dyke s Statement, MS., 3; Voorhies Oration, 1853, 4-5; Vinton s Quarter
master s Rept U. S. A., 1850, 245-S; Cal In and Out, 254, 344, 360; Ver
Mehr s Checkered Life, 344, 367-8; Todd, in Miscel. Statement, 21; Watkin s
Vig. Com., MS., 1, 24; Vallejo Wkly Chron., July 26, 1873; Velasco, Son.,
325; Soc. Mex. Geog., Bolet., xi. 129; Vallejo, Col Doc., xxxv. 47, 148, 192;
Willey s Thirty Years, MS., 37, 39; Id., Personal Memoranda, MS., 127-8;
Wheaton s Statement, MS., 2-4; U. S. Govt Doc., 31st Cong., 1st Sess., H. Ex.
17, pp. 693, 845, 968-9; Yuba Co. History, 147; Wilmington Enterprise, Jan. 21,
1875; Williams Stateme.nt, MS., 3-14; Id., Rec. of Early Days, MS., 1-13; Id.,
Pion. Pastorate, 44-8; Carson State Register, Oct. 19, 1871; Upton, in Overland
Mthly, ii. 135-7; Winans Statement, MS., 3-6, 14-18; Turrill s Cal Note*,
22-7; Shirley, in Miscel Statements, 13-16; Woods Pion. Work, 17-18; Id.,
Sixteen Months, 46, 62, 68, 72, 74-6, 87, 148, 167; Cal, Statutes, 1850 et seq.;
Id., Journal House, 1850, p. 1344; Id., Journ. Sen., 1850, pp. 481, 1299, 1307,
1340, and index; 1851, pp. 921-4, 999, 1516-34, 1583, 1658-76; S. F. Alta
Cal, Jan. 25, June 5, 14, Aug. 2, Dec. 15, 1849; Jan. 14, 16, May 27, June
25, July 1, Dec. 19, 21, 24, 1850; 1851-2, passim, etc.; S. F. Daily Herald,
1850, passim; Feb. 19, Sept. 30, 1851; Apr. 7, 1852; Neall s Vig. Com., MS.,
3-5, 14-16, 23-8; S. F. Minutes Assembly, 1849, passim; Id., Mumcs Rept,
1859-60, pp. 167-8; 1861-2, pp. 259-60; 1866-7, p. 520; Id., Manuel, pp. ix.-
xvi.; Sac. Transcript, Apr. 26, May 29, June 29, Sept. 18, 30, Oct. 14, Nov.
14, 29, 1850; Jan. 14, May 15, 1851; Hittell s Hist. S. F., passim; S. F. Paci
fic News, Nov. -Dec. 1849, passim; 1850, passim; Jan. 1, 10, 21, 23, Feb. 7,
14, Apr. 11, 1851; Parker s S. F. Direct., 1852-3, 7-18; Kimball sS. F. Direct.,
1850, 124-30; Sac., Placer Times, May 5, 12, 19, 26, June 2, 30, 1849, passim.
CHAPTER XII.
POLITICAL HISTORY.
1846-1849.
THE SLAVERY QUESTION BEFORE CONGRESS INACTION AND DELAY MILITARY
RULE IN CALIFORNIA MEXICAN FORMS OF CIVIL AND JUDICIAL GOVERN
MENT MAINTAINED FEDERAL OFFICIALS IN CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR
MASON PRANKS OF T. BUTLER KING GOVERNOR RILEY LEGISLATIVE
ASSEMBLY CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION AT MONTEREY SOME BIOGRA
PHIES PERSONNEL OF THE CONVENTION MONEY MATTERS ADOPTION
OF THE CONSTITUTION ELECTION.
IN the anthem of human progress there is here and
there a chorus of events which rolls its magnificent
volume around the world, making all that went before
or that follows seem but the drowsy murmur of the
night. In this crash of chorus we regard not the in
struments nor the players, but are lifted from the
plane by the blended power of its thousand-stringed
eloquence, and under the spell of its mighty harmonies
become capable of those great emotions which lead
to heroic deeds. The political history of California
opens as such a chorus, whose mingling strains, dis
tinctive heard for more than a decade, come from a
few heavy -brained white men and four millions of negro
slaves.
Calhoun, the great yet sinister Carolinian, knew,
when he opposed the conquest of California, that the
south, and he more than all, had brought about the
event; 1 and while pretending not to desire more ter-
1 Benton, in the congressional debates of 1847, in which Calhoun opposed
the acquisition of more territory, and into which he introduced his firebrand
resolutions see Cong. Globe, 1846-7, p. 455 made a clear case against Cal
houn, showing unequivocally that either he had three times changed his
(251)
252 POLITICAL HISTORY.
ritory, the slave power was covertly grasping at the
Spanish-speaking countries beyond the Rio Grande,
policy, or that he was the Machaivelli of American politics. Benton s history
of the causes of the war was as follows: The cession of Texas is the begin
ning point in the chain of causes which have led to this war; for unless the
country had been ceded away there could have been no quarrel with any
power in getting it back. For a long time the negotiator of that treaty of
cession [Mr J. Q. Adams] bore all the blame of the loss of Texas, and his
motives for giving it away were set down to hostility to the south and west,
and a desire to clip the wings of the slave-holding states. At last the truth
of history has vindicated itself, and has shown who was the true author of
that mischief to the south and west. Mr Adams has made a public declara
tion, which no one controverts, that that cession was made in conformity to
the decision of Mr Monroe s cabinet, a majority of which was slave-holding,
and among them the present senator from South Carolina [Mr Calhoun], and,
now the only survivor of that majority. He does not contradict the state
ment of Mr Adams; he therefore stands admitted the co-author of the mis
chief to the south and west which the cession of Texas involved, and to
escape from which it became necessary, in the opinion of the senator from
South Carolina, to get back Texas at the expense of a war with Mexico. This
conduct of the senator in giving away Texas when we had her, and then
making war to get her back, is an enigma which he has never yet conde
scended to explain, and which until explained leaves him in a state of self-
contradiction, which, whether it impairs his own confidence in himself or
not, must have the effect of destroying the confidence of others in him, and
wholly disqualifies him for the office of champion of the slave-holding states.
It was the heaviest blow they had ever received, and put an end, in conjunc
tion with the Missouri compromise and the permanent location of the In
dians west of the Mississippi, to their future growth or extension as slave
states beyond the Mississippi. The [Missouri] compromise, which was then
in full progress, and established at the next session of congress, cut off the
slave states from all territory north and west of Missouri, and south of SGg
of north latitude; the treaty of 1819 ceded nearly all south of that degree,
comprehending not only Texas, but a large part of the valley of the Missis
sippi on the Red River and the Arkansas, to a foreign power, and brought a
noii-slave-holding empire to the confines of Louisiana and Arkansas; the per
manent appropriation of the rest of the territory for the abode of civilized In
dians swept the little slave-holding territory west of Arkansas, and lying
between the compromise line and the cession line, and left the slave states
without one inch of ground for their future growth. Even the then territory
of Arkansas was encroached upon. A breadth of 40 miles wide and 300 long
was cut off from her and given to the Cherokees; and there was not as much
territory left west of the Mississippi as a dove could have rested the sole of her
foot upon. It was not merely a curtailment but a total extinction of slave-
holding territory; and done at a time when the Missouri controversy was
raging, and every effort made by northern abolitionists to scop the growth of
the slave states. [The northern states, in 1824, gave nearly as large a vote
for Calhoun for vice-president as they did for Adams for president.] The
senator from South Carolina, in his support of the cession of Texas, and ced
ing a part of the valley of the Mississippi, was then the most efficient ally
of the restrictionists at that time, and deprives him of the right of setting up
as the champion of the slave states now. I denounced the sacrifice of Texas
then, believing Mr Adams to have been the author of it; I denounce it now,
knowing the senator from South Carolina to be its author; and for this, his
flagrant recreancy to the slave interest in their hour of utmost peril, I hold
him disqualified for the office of champion of the 14 slave states, and shall
certainly require him to keep out of Missouri and to confine himself to his
own bailiwick when he comes to discuss his string of resolutions. I come
SLAVE TERRITORY. 253
as it had at the lands beyond the Sabine, the whole
to become a breeding-ground for millions more of
now to the direct proofs of the authorship of the war, and begin with the
year 1836, and with the month of May of that year, and with the 27th day
of that month, and with the first rumors of the victory of San Jacinto. The
congress of the United States was then in session; the senator from South
Carolina was then a member of this body; and without even waiting for the
official confirmation of the great event, he proposed at once the immediate
recognition of the independence of Texas, and her immediate admission to
the union. He put the two propositions together recognition and admission.
. . . Mr Calhoun was of opinion that it would add more strength to the cause
of Texas to wait a few days until they received official confirmation of the
victory and capture of Santa Ana, in order to obtain a more unanimous vote
in favor of the recognition of Texas He had made up his mind, not only
to recognize the independence of Texas, but for her admission into this union;
and if the Texans managed their affairs prudently, they would soon be called
upon to decide that question. There were powerful reasons why Texas should
be a part of the union. The southern states, owning a slave population, were
deeply interested in preventing that country from having the power to annoy
them; and the navigating and manufacturing interests of the north and east
were equally interested in making it a part of this union. He thought they
would soon be called on to decide these questions; and when they did act on
it, he was for acting on both together for recognizing the independence of
Texas and for admitting her into the union .... He hoped there would be no
unnecessary delay, for in such cases delays were dangerous; but that they
would act with unanimity and act promptly. Here, then, is the proof that
ten years ago, and without a word of explanation with Mexico or any request
from Texas without the least notice to the American people, or time for
deliberating among ourselves, or any regard to existing commerce he was
for plunging us into instant war with Mexico. I say, instant war; for Mex
ico and Texas were then in open war; and to incorporate Texas was to incor
porate the war at the same time I well remember the senator s look and
attitude on that occasion the fixedness of his look and the magisteriality of
his attitude. It was such as he often favors us with, especially when he is in
a crisis, and brings forward something which ought to be instantly and unani
mously rejected, as when he brought in his string of abstractions on Thurs
day last. So it was in 1836 prompt and unanimous action, and a look to
put down opposition. But the senate were not looked down in 1836. They
promptly and unanimously refused the senator s motion The congress of
1836 would not admit Texas. The senator from South Carolina became
patient; the Texas question went to sleep, and for seven good years it made
no disturbance. It then woke up, and with a suddenness and violence pro
portioned to its long repose. Mr Tyler was then president; the senator from
South Carolina was potent under his administration, and soon became his
secretary of state. All the springs of intrigue and diplomacy were imme
diately set in motion to resuscitate the Texas question, and to reinvest it with
all the dangers and alarms which it had worn in 1836 ... all these imme
diately developed themselves, and intriguing agents traversed earth and sea,
from Washington to Texas, and from London to Mexico. I will now give a
part of a letter, which Benton puts in evidence, from the Texan minister,
van Zandt, to Upsher, the American sec. of state, in Jan. 1844, and the
reply of Calhoun, his successor, in April. In view, then, of these things,
said the Texan minister, I desire to submit, through you, to his excellency,
the president of the U. S., this inquiry: Should the president of Texas
accede to the proposition of annexation, would the president of the U. S.,
after the signing of the treaty and before it shall be ratified and receive the
final action of the other branches of both governments, in case Texas should
desire it, or with her consent, order such number of the military and naval
254 POLITICAL HISTORY.
human chattels. To the original slave territory had
been added, by consent of congress, the Floridas, which
cost $45,000,000 in a war, and $5,000,000 decency
money to bind the bargain; Louisiana, which cost
$15,000,000, or as much of it as made three states;
Texas, which cost $28,000,000 in the form of the
Mexican war, and before we were done with it, be
tween $18,000,000 and $19,000,000 in decency money.
That the government was able to reimburse itself
through the conquest of California does not affect the
justice of the charge against the southern politicians,
who were always ready with their cry of northern
aggression, 2 and the unconstitutional ity of northern
acts, while gathering to themselves all the acquired ter-
forces of the U. S. to such necessary points or places upon the territory or
borders of Texas or the gulf of Mexico as shall be sufficient to protect her
against foreign aggression ? This communication, as well as the reply which
you may make, will be considered by me entirely confidential, and not to be em
braced in my regular official correspondence to my government, but enclosed
direct to the president of. Texas for his information. To this letter Upsher
made no reply, and six weeks afterward he died. His temporary successor,
Attorney-general Nelson, did reply indirectly, but to say that the U. S. could
not employ its army and navy against a foreign power with which they were
at peace. Calhoun, however, when he became sec. of state, wrote: I am
directed by the president to say that the secretary of the navy has been in
structed to order a strong naval force to concentrate in the gulf of Mexico
to meet any emergency; and that similar orders have been issued by the sec
retary of war, to move the disposable military forces on our southern fron
tier for the same purpose. Cong. Globe, 1846-7, 494-501. I have not room
for further quotations, but this is enough to show the southern authenticity
of the Mexican war, which the democratic administration of Polk brought
to a crisis in 1845-6, but which was ready prepared to his hand at the moment
of his inauguration, by the scheming of the most bitter opponent of conquest
after the restriction of slavery began again to be agitated.
2 No more convincing reference could be made to prove the conciliatory
spirit of the free states than the constitution itself, nor to show that they re
garded slavery as local and temporary. Section 9 of article 1 declares : The
migration or importation of such persons as any of the states now existing
shall think proper to admit shall not be prohibited by the congress previous
to the year 1808, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not
exceeding ten dollars for each person. The slave states were fewer in num
ber and more thinly settled than the free states; therefore the latter, to equalize
the power of the two sections, and secure the federation of all the states, made
important concessions; and while saying that no capitation or direct tax shall
be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumeration hereinbefore di
rected to be taken, and that representation should be determined by numbers,
says further, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of
free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and ex
cluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other persons, meaning three
fifths of the slaves in the slave states, which were not subject to taxation,
though held as property, and though not acknowledged to be men, were
represented in congress. See sec. 1, article 1, of the constitution.
CONQUEST OF CALIFORNIA. 255
ritory, enjoying privileges of exemption from just tax
ation, and having excessive representation in congress
and a preponderance of the political patronage The
north, in 1846, had more than twice the free voting
population of the south, while the south had more
states than the north, 3 consequently more votes in the
United States senate, with the privilege of a prop
erty representation in the lower house. Such was
the aggressiveness of the north toward the south, of
which for a dozen years we heard so much in con
gress. 4
It was said in seeming earnest that the south had
not desired the acquisition of Mexican territory. This
was but a feint on the part of the southern leaders.
The whigs of the north and south, in the senate, op
posed the war policy, while the democrats favored it.
Nor was it different in the house of representatives.
Yet when it came to be voted upon, the matter had
gone past the nation s power to retract, and the last
$3,000,000 was placed in the president s hands by a
nearly equal vote in the senate, and a large majority
in the house. Having done the final act, the people
could exult in their new possessions, and elect a whig
to the presidency for having been the conquering hero
in the decisive Mexican battles.
The conquest of California had been a trifling mat-
3 At the period when these discussions were being carried on, Feb. 1847,
the northern or free states were Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massa
chusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Michigan, 14. The southern or slave
states were Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina,
Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee,
Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas, 15. In August Wisconsin was admitted,
which restored the balance in the senate. The struggle which followed over
the admission of California was a battle for political supremacy as well as for
slave territory. That this cause underlying this strife has been removed, the
nation should be profoundly grateful.
4 Schenkof Ohio, speaking to the house of representatives, said: This
much we do know in the free states, if we know nothing else, that a man at
the south with his hundred slaves counts 61 in the weight of influence and
power upon this floor, while the man at the north with his 100 farms counts
but 1. Sir, we want no more of that; and with the help of God and our own
fir.ii purpose we will have no more of it. Cony. Globe, vol. 18, 1847-8, 1023.
256 POLITICAL HISTORY.
ter, mere guerrilla practice between a few hundred
American settlers of the border class and a slightly
larger force of Californians. At the proper juncture
the former were given aid and comfort by the United
States military 5 and naval forces, and the conquest
had cost little bloodshed. It is true, there was a re
volt, which was cut short by the treaty of Cahuenga
in January 1847 There was the irony of fate in
what followed the conquest, first planned by southern
politicians, and accomplished in defiance of their sub
sequent opposition ; namely, the contemporaneous dis
covery of gold, and the influx of a large population,
chiefly from the northern states. As to the real Cali
fornians, those of them who had not been masters had
once been slaves, and they now would have only free
dom.
The idea of conquest in the American mind has
never been associated with tyranny. 6 On the con
trary, such is the national trust in its own superiority
and beneficence, that either as a government or as
individuals we have believed ourselves bestowing a
precious booft upon whomsoever we could confer in a
brotherly spirit our institutions. And down to the
present time the other nations of the earth have not
been able to prove us far in the wrong in indulging
this patriotic self-esteem. But there are circum
stances which obstruct all transitions of this nature,
and temptations which being yielded to by individuals
impart an odor of iniquity to governments which they
have not justly merited. It was so when soldiers
& Prof. Josiah Royce, of Harvard college, by philosophic reasoning as well
as by collateral evidence, arrives at similar conclusions. Study of American
Character.
6 Luis G. Cuevas, sec. of interior and foreign relations of Mexico, in his
report to congress of 5th Jan., 1849, speaking of the treaty of Guadalupe Hi
dalgo, says that the future of the Californians was an object of deep solicitude
to the govt and congress, and to the plenipotentiaries of Mexico, and the
relative stipulations of the treaty, and the measures subsequently taken to
diminish their misfortune, make evident how deep is the feeling caused by
the separation from the national union of Mexicans, those so worthy of pro
tection, and of marked consideration. Mex. Mem. Relac., 1849, p. 14. So
far as the Californians were concerned, they were ripe for separation, as the
secretary must have known.
MILITARY RULE. 257
of the Castilian race, under the seeming authority of
the Spanish rulers at Madrid, robbed and massacred
the native races of this continent, notwithstanding the
mandate not to commit these crimes against human
ity. It is so to-day, when the cry is daily going up
against our Indian policy, which thoughtfully exam
ined in the light of history is in some respects an
enlightened and Christian policy; for instead of reduc
ing the savages to slavery or taxing them to support
the government of the invader, it simply kills them,
the few survivors being supported and educated at
public expense. It is a wise policy, a humane policy,
but in the hands of vile politicians and their creatures,
it results in acts that satisfy Satan most of all. Still,
if certain Americans, being possessed of the souls of
sharks rather than of men, contrived by the aid of
laws maleadministered to swallow up the patrimony
of many a Juan and Ignacio of this dolce far niente
land, it cannot be said that the United States was an
intelligent party to the scandal.
When Commodore Sloat, at Monterey, in July
1846, proclaimed California free from Mexican rule,
and a territory of the United States, he exercised no
tyrannous authority, simply informing the people that
until the United States should erect a government
they would be under the authority and protection of
military laws. 7 He assured them that their rights of
conscience, of property, and of suffrage should be re
spected; that the clergy should remain in possession of
the churches ; and that while the manufactures of the
United States would be admitted free of duty, about
one fourth of the former rates would be charged on
foreign merchandise. Should any not wish to live
under the new government as citizens of it, they would
be afforded every facility for selling their property
and retiring from the country. Should they prefer to
remain, in order that the peace of the country and
Hist. San Jose, 148-50
HIST. CAL., VOL. VI. 17
258 POLITICAL HISTORY.
the course of justice should not be disturbed, the pre
fects of districts and alcaldes 8 of municipalities were
to retain their offices, and continue the exercise of the
functions pertaining to them in the same manner as
formerly. Provisions furnished the United States
officers and troops should be fairly purchased, and the
holders of real estate should have their titles confirmed
to them. Such were the promises and intentions of
the government, reiterated from time to time by the
military governors.
In the disquiet incident to a sudden change of gov
ernment, it happened that Americans not infrequently
were appointed to the office of alcalde, to fill vacancies
occurring through these disruptive conditions. Wal
ter Colton, the American alcalde at Monterey, exer
cising the unlimited authority conferred upon him by
the office, impanelled the first jury ever summoned in
Monterey, September 4, 1846, composed one third
*Bidwell, 1841 to 1848, MS., 231. The district of Sonoma was bounded
by S. F. Bay, the ocean, the Oregon line, and the Sac. River; the Sac. dis
trict, the territory east of the Sacramento, and north and east of the San Joa-
quin; and so on. There was an alcalde wherever there was a settlement.
Crosby s Statement, MS., 16. It was not necessary that an alcalde should
know much about written law or precedents. In both civil and criminal
suits brought before him his decisions were final, the penalties being severe
and invariably applied. Burnett, Recoil., MS., ii. 143. The punishment of
stealing, the most common crime, was for Mexicans a fine, and for Indians
whipping. The Calif ornians had no penitentiary system, nor work -houses.
Colton, who was appointed by Stockton alcalde of Monterey, July 28, 1846,
introduced compulsory labor for criminals, and before the end of a month had
8 Indians, 3 Calif ornians, and one i, glishman making adobes, all sentenced
for stealing horses or cattle. Each nuvt make 53 adobes per day; for all over
that number they were paid a cent a piece, the total of their weekly earnings
being paid every Saturday night. A captain was put over them, chosen from
their own number, and no other guard was required. Three Years in Cal., 41-
2. Colton was chaplain on board the ship Congress when appointed. He held
the position only until Sept. 15th, when he returned to his duties on board
the ship. He really discharged the duties of prefect, for, he says: It devolved
upon me duties similar to those of a mayor of one of our cities, without any
of those judicial aids which he enjoys. It involves every breach of the peace,
every case of crime, every business obligation, and every disputed land-title
within 300 miles. From every other alcalde s court in this jurisdiction there
is an appeal to this, and none from this to any higher tribunal. Such an ab
solute disposal of questions affecting property and personal liberty never
ought to be confided to one man. There is not a judge on any bench in Eng
land or the United States whose power is so absolute as that of the alcalde of
Monterey. Colton held under a military commission, succeeding the purser
of the Congress, R. M. Price, and the surgeon, Edward Gilchrist. After the
15th of Sept. the office was restored to its civil status, the incumbent being
elected by the people.
ALCALDE JUSTICE. 259
each of native Californians, Mexicans, and Americans.
The case being an important one, involving property
on one side and character on the other, and the dis
putants being some of the principal citizens of the
county, it excited unusual interest, to which being
added the novel excitement of the new mode of trial,
there was created a profound impression. By means
of interpreters, and with the help of experienced
lawyers, the case was carefully examined, and a ver
dict rendered by the jury of mixed nationalities, which
was accepted as justice by both sides, though neither
party completely triumphed. One recovered his prop
erty which had been taken by mistake, and the other
his character which had been slandered by design. 9
With this verdict the inhabitants expressed satisfac
tion, because they could see in the method pursued no
opportunity for bribery They had yet to learn that
even juries could be purchased.
Stockton, who succeeded Sloat, acted toward the
Californian population in the same conciliatory spirit.
The strife in 1847 was not between them and the mili
tary authorities, but between the military chiefs, who
each aspired to be the first to establish a civil govern
ment in the conquered country, as I have shown in a
previous volume. 10 Kearny claimed that he had been
instructed by the secretary of war to march from
Mexico to California, and to "take possession "of all the
sea-coast and other towns, and establish civil govern
ment therein. When he arrived, possession had al
ready been taken, and a certain form of government,
half civil and half military, had been put in operation.
Stockton had determined upon Fremont as military
commander and governor, who was to report to him
as commander-in-chief. Kearny would have made
Fremont governor had he joined him against Stockton.
On January 19, 1847, Fremont assumed the civil gov
ernment, with William H. Russell secretary of state,
Cotton s Three Years in Cal., 47.
19 Hist. Cal., v. 444-51, this series.
260 POLITICAL HISTORY.
under commissions from Stockton. A legislative
council was appointed, consisting of Juan Bandini,
Juan B. Alvarado, David Spence, Eliab Grimes, San
tiago Arguello, M. G. Vallejo, and T. O. Larkin,
summoned to convene at Los Angeles, March 1st; but
no meeting was ever held. Finally, the authorities
at Washington ordered Fremont to return to the capi
tal as soon as his military services could be dispensed
with. There was a new naval commander in January,
Shubrick, who sided with Kearny. Together they
issued a circular, in which Kearny assumed executive
powers, fixing the capital at Monterey. The country
was to be held simply as a conquest, and as nearly as
possible under the old laws, until such time as the
United States should provide a territorial government.
In June, Kearny set out for Washington with Fre
mont. In July, Stockton also took his departure. The
person left in command of the land forces, and to act
as governor, was R. B. Mason, colonel 1st dragoons,
who, perceiving the rock upon which his predecessors
had split, confined his ambition to compliance with
instructions, and who ruled as acceptably as was pos
sible under the anomalous condition of affairs in the
country.
In October, Governor Mason visited San Francisco,
where he found a newly elected town council. On
taking leave, after a flattering reception, he addressed
a communication to the council, 11 reminding them that
their jurisdiction was limited to the territory embraced
by the town limits, which the alcalde 12 was directed to
11 The council consisted of William Glover, William D. M. Howard, Wil
liam A. Leidesdorff, E. P. Jones, Robert A. Parker, and William S. Clark.
Howard, Jones, and Clark were chosen a committee to draught a code of muni
cipal laws. Under these regulations George Hyde was first alcalde, and was
not popular. The second alcalde, for there were two, was T. M. Leavenworth.
Leidesdorff was nominated town treasurer, and William Pettet secretary of
the council. At the same meeting the council imposed a fine of $500, and 3
months imprisonment on any one who enticed a sailor to desert, or who har
bored deserting seamen. Certain odious conditions in the titles to town lots
were removed.
12 Washington A. Bartlett, a lieutenant attached to a U. S. vessel, was
the first American alcalde of S. F., appointed in Jan. 1847, and responsible
for the restoration of name from Yerba Buena to the more sonorous, well-
CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION. 261
determine without unnecessary delay ; that their duties
were prospective, not retrospective; warning them
against abrogating contracts made by previous author
ities, further than to exercise the right of appeal in
the case of injurious regulations, and advising the
council to keep the municipality free from debt. Three
petitions being presented to him for the removal of the
then alcalde, he ordered an investigation of the charges,
which resulted in the resignation of that officer and
the appointment of another in his place. Having
settled these affairs, Mason returned to Monterey;
and from the proceedings here hinted at may be in
ferred how rapidly, even at this date, the country was
becoming Americanized, the best evidence of which
was the freedom with which the existing institutions
were assailed by the press, represented by two weekly
newspapers, both published at San Francisco.
As early as February 13, 1847, the California Star
urged the calling of a convention to form a constitu
tion for the territory, justifying the demand by rail
ing at the existing order of things. The author of
these tirades was Doctor Semple, of whom I shall
have more to say hereafter, and whom Colton calls
his "tall partner." "We have alcaldes," he said, "all
over the country, assuming the power of legislatures,
issuing and promulgating their bandos, laws, and orders,
and oppressing the people." He declared that the
"most nefarious scheming, trickery, and speculating
have been practised by some." He spoke propheti
cally of what was still in the future rather than of
known, and saintly appellation which it now bears. It had at this time 300
inhabitants, 50 adobe houses, and a weekly newspaper, the California Star,
owned by Sam Brannan and edited by E. P. Jones. In May the Californian,
started at Monterey Aug. 15, 1846, was removed to S. F. During Bartlett s
administration Jasper O Farrell surveyed and planned the city. Some dis
satisfaction existed with the grants made by his successor, Hyde, who was
appointed Feb. 22, 1847. He was succeeded by Edwin Bryant, author of
What I Saw in California, who returned to the states with Kearny and Fre
mont. Hyde was again appointed, and was succeeded, as I have said, by J.
Townsend, T. M. Leavenworth, and J. W. Geary, the last alcalde and first
mayor of S. F.
262 POLITICAL HISTORY.
anything of which complaint had been made at that
time. Before the end of the year, however, causes
of dissatisfaction had multiplied with the population, 13
and the "inefficient mongrel military rule" was becom
ing odious. Some of the alcaldes refused to take cogni
zance of cases involving over $100; but the governor
failing to provide higher tribunals, they were forced
to adjudicate in any amount or leave such cases with
out remedy; and the authority they exercised, which
combined the executive, legislative, and judicial func
tions in their persons, constantly became more poten
tial, and also more liable to abuse. But there was no
help for the condition of public affairs until the United
States and Mexico should agree upon some treaty
terms by which military rule could be suspended and
a civil government erected.
The year 1848 opened with the discovery that the
territory acquired by the merest show of arms, and
for which the conquering power was offering to pay a
friendship-token of nearly twenty millions, was a gold-
field, which promised to reimburse the purchaser. It
had hardly become known in California, and was un
known in Mexico and the United States, when on
the 2d of February, 1848, the treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo was signed; 14 nor was it fully substantiated
at the seat of government when, on the 19th of June,
the treaty was proclaimed by the president. The
news did not reach California until August, when it
was here proclaimed on the 7th of that month.
Mason seems to have been at his wit s end long
before this. He was undoubtedly favorable to the
project of a civil government, and he was aware that
the administration secretly held the same views. Polk
understood the American people they had given him
a precedent in Oregon. When Mason had reason to
think that any day he might receive despatches from
Washington appointing a governor, and furnishing a
13 California Star, Jan. 22, 1848.
14 Hist. Hex., v. 542, this series.
AFFAIRS AT SAN FRANCISCO. 263
code of laws for the temporary government of the
country, he drew back from the responsibility. But
the rush and roar of the tide being turned upon the
country by the gold discovery staggered him. In
June he visited the mines to judge for himself of the
necessity for political action. 15 When he issued his
proclamation of the treaty two months later, he an
nounced that he had instructions from Washington
" to take proper measures for the permanent occupa
tion of the newly acquired territory;" 16 and in conso
nance with this declaration he formally promulgated
a code, printed in English and Spanish. 17 With this
the American population were not satisfied, insisting
on a complete territorial organization, such as he had
no authority to establish. 18
San Francisco was, unlike Monterey, Los Angeles,
and San Jose, to all intents an American town, whose
inhabitants demanded security for their persons and
property, and titles to their real estate. But this was
by no means the sole or most urgent cause of anxiety
to the governor. 19 Early in the spring there had ar-
^Larlcin, Doc., vi. 135.
16 Californian, S. F., Sept. 2, 1848, iv., p. 1.
17 Id., Aug. 14, 1848, iii. 2.
18 Hyde, Statement, MS., 11.
19 The Americans, Mason knew, could take care of themselves. They had
already organized the San Francisco guards. A meeting was held Sept. 2d
in the public building on Portsmouth square. It was called to order t>y P.
A. Roach; J. C. Ward was appointed chairman, and R. M. Morrison secty.
Officers elected: Edward Gilbert, captain; James C. Ward, 1st lieut; James
C. Leighton, 2d lieut; William Grove, 3d lieut; W. D. M. Howard, 1st sergt.,
A. J. Ellis, 2d sergt; George W. Whittock, 3d sergt; James Lee, 4th sergt;
corporals, Francis Murray, A. Durkin, Daniel Leahy, Ira Blanchard; surgeon,
W. C. Parker; quartermaster, E. H. Harrison; paymaster, R. M. Sherman.
Civil officers of the corps selected were, prest, T. R. P. Lee; 1st vice-prest,
James Creightonj 2d vice-prest, R. M. Morrison; treasurer, A. A. Brins-
made; secty, H. L. Sheldon. A committee was appointed to address thi
fovernor, asking for a loan of arms. Californian, S. F., Sept. 9, 1848, iii., p.
. On the 24th of Sept., 1849, bids were received by the Guards for tho
erection of a building on the corner of Jackson and Dupont sts, 40x55 ft, 3
stories high. The contract was given to John Sime at $21,000. Such a
building would be worth in 1878 about $2,500. Williams Statement, MS., 10^
11. A branch organization was formed at Sac. in 1850, called the Sacramento
guards, having 64 members. The officers were David McDowell, capt. ;
Henry Hale, 1st lieut; W. H. Crowell, 2d lieut; James Queen, 3d lieut;
sergts, 1st, H. G. Langley; 2d, B. B. Gore; 3d, C. C. Flagg; 4th, W. H. Tal-
mage; corporals, L. I. Wilder, G. L. Hewitt, T. H. Borden, W. E. Moody;
clerk, W. R. McCracken. Sac. Transcript, Aug. 30, 1850; Bluxvme, MS.,
6, 20.
264 POLITICAL HISTORY.
rived a number of vessels with troops, despatched to
California in the autumn of 1849, while the Mexican
war was in progress. 20 Such were the temptations
offered by the gold mines that the seamen deserted,
leaving their vessels without men to navigate them.
The newly arrived soldiers did the same, 21 and it was
found necessary to grant furloughs to the men, to give
them an opportunity to try their fortunes in gold-get
ting. 22
On the arrival of Commodore T. Ap Catesby Jones,
in October, he felt compelled to offer immunity from
punishment to such deserters from the navy as were
guilty of no other offence than desertion. This clem
ency was based upon the information, real or pre
tended, that many of them were in distress, 23 and
deterred from returning to duty only by their fears ;
but the majority of seamen were by no means eager
to forsake the mines for the forecastle, or the chances
of a fortune for a few dollars a month and rations. In
August, Mason wrote to the quartermaster-general of
the army that, in consequence of the quantity of gold
obtained in the country, cash meaning silver coin
was in great demand, and that drafts could not be
negotiated except at a ruinous discount. At the same
time, disbursements were heavy, in consequence of
the small garrisons, and the necessity of hiring laborers
and guards for the quartermaster storehouses, at
tremendous wages;" namely, from $50 to $100
monthly. 24
20 There was the Anita, purchased by the govt for the quartermaster s
dept, and placed under past midshipman Selim E. Woodworth, who it will
be remembered arrived overland with the Oregon immigration the previous
year. She is mentioned in the California Star, Feb. 26, 1848. She was armed
with two guns, to be used as a man-of-war on the upper California coast, and
manned with seamen from the sloop-of-war Warren at Monterey. The ships
Jsabella and Sweden arrived in Feb. with recruits for N. Y. vols., who were
employed in garrisoning the Cal. military posts. The Huntress arrived later
with recruits, who nearly all deserted. H. Ex. Doc., 31, i., no. 17, pp. 648-9.
21 The history of the arrival in Cal. of Comp. F, 3d artillery, Jan. 1847,
the N. Y. volunteers in March 1847 and Feb. 1848, and a battalion of dra
goons from Mexico in Aug. 1848, is given in my Hist. Cal., v., ch. xix.
22 Lancy, Cruise of the Dale, 222; Grimshaw, Narr., MS., 12-13.
23 Calif ornian, S. F., Dec. 23, 1848.
24 H. Ex. Doc., 17, p. 641. See order of A. A. Adjut. W. T. Sherman
ATTITUDE OF THE ARMY. 265
It was indeed a difficult position to occupy, that of
chief in a country where the forts were without sol
diers, ordnance without troops enough to guard it,
towns without able-bodied men left in them; a colonial
territory without laws or legislators, or communication
with the home government, or even with the navy,
for many months. "The army officers," writes one of
them, "could have seized the large amount of funds in
their hands, levied heavily on the country, and been
living comfortably in New York for the last year, and
not a soul at Washington be the wiser or worse for it.
Indeed, such is the ease with which power can go un
checked and crime unpunished in this region, that it
will be hard for the officers to resist temptation ; for a
salary here is certain poverty and debt, unless one
makes up by big hauls." That temptations were not
yielded to under these circumstances 25 redounds to the
honorable repute of disbursing officers and collectors
of the special war tax known afterward as the civil
fund.
This was a duty levied on imports by the United
States authorities in California during the military
occupation of and previous to the extension of custom
house laws over the country, 26 and amounted in 1849
to $600,000. The custodian of this fund in 1848 at
San Francisco was Assistant Quartermaster Captain
J. L. Folsom, who was under no bonds, and account-
relative to purchasing or receiving arms, clothing, etc., from deserters, in
California Star, June 14, 1848.
25 Reference to the Cal. Star and CaUfornian of Dec. 9 and 16, 1848, reveals
the fact that Gov. Mason and his adjutant, Sherman, were driven by inade
quate salaries to attempt some unofficial operations to eke out a living.
Charles E. Pickett, who, whether he was on the banks of the Willamette, the
shores of S. F. Bay, or among the peaks of the Sierra, was always critic-in-chief
of the community afflicted with his presence, was the author of charges
against these officers, and against Capt. Folsom, which had their foundation
in these efforts. Sherman tells us in his Memoirs, 64-5, that Mason never
speculated, although urged to do so; but did take a share in the store which
Warner, Bestor, and I opened at Coloma, paid his share of the capital, $500,
and received his share of the profits, $1,500. I think he also took a share in
a venture to China with Lark in and others; but on leaving Cal. was glad to
sell out without profit or loss. Com. Jones was convicted in 1851 of specu
lating in gold-dust with govt funds, and sentenced to suspension from the
navy for 5 years, with loss of pay for half that time.
Gwin, Memoirs, MS., 40, 111; Crosby, Events in Cal, MS., 43.
266 POLITICAL HISTORY.
able to no one except his commanding officer. He
was, in fact, collecting duties from American importers
as if he were the servant of a foreign power, whereas
he was, in that capacity, the servant of no power at
all, there being no government existing in California
after the 30th of May, 1848. The fund, however,
proved a very convenient treasury to fall back upon
during the no-government period, as we shall see here
after. 27
Notwithstanding the treaty, the opinion was preva
lent that congress would fail to establish a territorial
government, it being well understood that the question
of slavery would obstruct the passage of a territorial
bill , but the difficulties already referred to, with the
necessity for mining laws and an alarming increase in
crime, furnished sufficient ground on which the agi
tators might reasonably demand an organization, or at
least a governor and council, which they insisted that
Mason, as commander of the United States forces, had
the power to appoint. But Mason knew that while
the president would willingly enough have conferred
on him this power, had he himself possessed it, with
out the consent of congress, no such authority existed
anywhere out of congress ; and what the president could
not do, he could not undertake. The agitators were
thus compelled to wait to hear what action had been
taken by congress before proceeding to take affairs in
their own hands.
The subject received a fresh impetus by the arrival
in November of Commodore Jones, with whom Mason
had a conference. It was agreed between them that
27 There was no system of direct taxation existing in California before it
become a state of the union. The only revenue Mexico derived from it was
that produced by a high tariff on imports. The military contributions, as
the U S govt was pleased to denominate this revenue, diverted to itself,
have been the subject of much discussion. Dr Robert Semple, in an article in
the Calif ornian of Oct 21, 1848, states that there was no show of right to col
lect this tariff after the war had ceased, but that the ports, coasts, bays, and
rivers of Upper California were as free as the island of Juan Fernandez, in
point of fact, until the revenue laws of the U. S. were extended over them.
But the collection went on, and the American shipping-masters and mer
chants paid it
TIRESOME WAITING. 267
should congress prove to have adjourned without pro
viding a government for California, the people should
be assisted to organize a temporary constitution for
themselves, 28 and Mason was understood as promising
to turn over to the provisional government the civil
service fund, above alluded to, 29 for its expenses.
Time passed, and the last vessel on which any com
munications from Washington could be hoped for had
arrived, while the agitators openly declared that the
government evidently intended that they, its military
officers, should have taken the responsibility of making
matters easy for the people in the establishment of a
civil organization, the inference being, that they were
exercising unjustifiable power in impeding it. An
agent was, however, actually on his way at that mo
ment, who was commissioned to observe and report
upon the character and disposition of the inhabitants,
with a view to determining whether it were wise or
not to encourage political movements in California, in
the event of the struggle in congress over slavery be
ing prolonged. The letter of instructions furnished to
this agent 30 by Secretary Buchanan contained, indeed,
no such admission. On the contrary, after expressing
the regrets of the president that California had not
received a territorial government, the secretary " ur
gently advised the people of California to live peace
ably and quietly under the existing government,"
consoling themselves with the reflection that it would
endure but for a few months, or until the next session
of congress. But to live peaceably and quietly under
the government de facto, half Mexican and half mili-
28 Calif onian, S F., Oct. 21, 1848; TutMl, Hist. Cal, 247.
^Unbound Doc., MS., 140-1; Star and Califorman, Nov. 18, 1848.
so William V. Voorhies was the agent employed by the postmaster-general
to make arrangements for the establishing of post-offices, and for the trans
mission, receipt, and conveyance of letters in Oregon and California. To him
was intrusted the secretary s open message to the people of Cal., and such
instructions as concerned more private matters. Buchanan s letter recog
nizing the govt left at the termination of the war as still existing and valid,
when not in contradiction to the constitution of the U. S., is found in Amer.
Quart. Rey., iv. 510-13; and in Ex. Doc., i., accompanying the president s
message at the 2d sess. of the 30th cong.
268 POLITICAL HISTORY.
tary, was what they had decided they were unable
to do. Before the message arrived they had begun to
act upon their own convictions, and were not likely to
be turned back. 31 Meantime, to the population already
31 Proofs of this were not lacking. Mrs Hetty C. Brown of S. F., having
been deserted by her husband, applied to the governor for a divorce in Dec.
1847. He decided that neither he nor any alcalde had the authority to grant
a divorce; but gave it as his opinion that there being no law in Cal. on the
subject of divorce, and she being left without any support, she might view
her husband as dead, so far as she was concerned. Unbound Doc., MS., 137.
Continual complaints were made of the alcaldes. Pickett wrote to Gen.
Kearny, in March 1849, that John H. Nash, alcalde at Sonoma, was ignorant,
conceited, and dogmatical, and governed by whims; he was also under the
influence of a pettifogger named Green. The unrestricted powers assumed
by these magistrates were laying the foundations for much litigation in the
future when their decisions would be appealed from. J. S. Ruckel wrote to
the gov. Dec. 28th on the affairs of the pueblo of San Jose" that matters which
were originally bad are growing worse and worse large, portions of the popu
lation lazy and addicted to gambling have no visible means of livelihood, and
of course must support themselves by stealing cattle or horses .... Wanted,
an alcalde who is not afraid to do his duty, and who knows what his duty is.
On the other hand, there were complaints that Monterey was frequently visited
by American desperadoes, who committed assaults on the native population,
and defied the authorities. They were at last put down; some were shot on
the spot, and some were afterwards disposed of by lynch law. Roach, Facts,
on California, MS., 5. Charles White, alcalde of San Jose, wrote to Gov.
Mason in March 1848, that he had received information of 60 men organizing,
and daily receiving recruits, who had constant comnrinication with volun
teers in the service, who had in view to soon attack the prison at Monterey
and release the prisoners. They also have formed the plan of establishing
an independent government in California. They are well armed; the good
people of the country standing in fear of exposing these people, lest they
might be killed in revenge. Unbound Doc., MS., 169. Immigrants had taken
possession of the missions of San Jose and Santa Clara, injured the buildings,
and destroyed the vineyards and orchards, having no respect to any part of
them except the churches. At the same time wild Indians were making or
ganized and successful raids on the stock belonging to Americans and immi
grants, and were aided by the mission Indians. W. G. Dana writing from
San Luis Obispo in June 1847, complained that society was reduced to the
most horrid state. The whole place has for a long time past been a complete
sink of drunkenness and debauchery. Murders were also reported by the
alcalde. Affairs were a little less deplorable at the more southern missions,
where lawless persons, both native and foreign, committed depredations on
mission property everywhere. In July 1848 a meeting was held at S. F. to
consider the question of currency, and a committee consisting of W. D. M.
Howard, C. V. Gillespie, and James C. Ward presented to Gov. Mason the
following resolutions: 1st. That the gov r be petitioned to appoint one or
more assayers to test the quality of the gold taken from the placers on the
Sacramento. 2d. That the gov r he asked to extend the time allowed for
the redemption of the gold-dust, deposited as collateral security for payment
of duties, to 6 months, so as to allow time for the importation of coined money
into the country for that purpose. 3d. That the gov r be requested to ap
point a competent person to superintend the conversion of gold into ingots of
convenient weights, the same to be stamped with the name of the person fur
nishing the gold to be cast; the weight, and if possible, its fineness, in refer
ence to standard; the said officer to keep a record of all the gold cast, the
expense of casting to be defrayed by the person furnishing the raw material.
DETERMINED ACTION. 209
in the country were added a company of miners from
the "state of Deseret," and several companies from the
province of Oregon. These were all men who had
supported independent governments; some of them
had assisted in forming one, and regarded themselves
as experienced in state-craft. There was also consid
erable overland immigration in the autumn.
The murder in the mining district of Mr Pomeroyand
a companion in November, for the gold-dust they car
ried, furnished the occasion seized upon by the Star and
Calif omian of renewing the agitation for a civil govern
ment. Meetings were held December 11, 1 8 4 8 , at San
Jose; December 21st, at San Francisco; and at Sacra
mento on the 6th and 8th of January, 1849. 32 The San
Last resolution not carried. 4th. Appointment of a committee to petition
congress to establish a mint in this town the petition to be circulated in the
Sacramento Valley and elsewhere for signatures. The said committee to
consist of C. V. Gillespie, James C. Ward, W. D. M. Howard, and Capt.
Joseph L. Folsom, U. S. A. M., 136-7.
32 The meeting was held at the alcalde s office in San Jose, Charles White
in the chair; James Stokes, Maj. Thomas Campbell, Julius Martin, vice-prests;
P. B. Cornwall, William L. Beeles, sees; Capt. K. H. Dimmick, Ord, Ben
jamin Cory, Myron Norton, and J. D. Hoppe were appointed a committee to
frame resolutions. The meeting was addressed by O. C. Pratt of 111. A con
vention was appointed for the 2d Monday in Jan., and Dimmick, Cory, and
Hoppe elected delegates. Star and Californian, Dec. 23, 1848. Reports of
these meetings are contained in the A ltd California, then published by Edward
Gilbert, Edward Kemble, and George C. Hubbard, and supporting the provis
ional govt movement. Of the Sac. meetings Peter H. Burnett, who had been
judge and legislator in Oregon, and helped to form the Oregon laws, was
president. The vice-prests were Frank Bates and M. D. Winship; and the
sacs Jeremiah Sherwood and George McKinstry. A committee consisting
of Samuel Brannan, John S. Fowler, John Sinclair, P. B. Reading, and Bar
ton Lee was appointed to frame a set of resolutions which should express the
sense of the meeting. These resolutions recited that congress had not ex
tended the laws of the U. S. over the country, as recommended by the prest,
but had left it without protection; that the frequency of robberies and mur
ders had deeply impressed the people with the necessity of having some reg
ular form of government, with laws and officers to enforce them; that the
discovery of gold would attract immigration from all parts of the world, and
add to the existing danger and confusion; therefore, that trusting to the govt
and people of the U. S. for sanction, it was resolved that it was not only
proper but necessary that the inhabitants of Cal. should form a provisional
govt and administer the same; and that while lamenting the inactivity of
congress in their behalf, they still desired to manifest their confidence in and
loyalty to the U. S. r ihe proceedings of the San Jose and S. F. meetings
were concurred in, and the people were recommended to hold meetings and
elect delegates to represent them in a convention to be held March Cth at
San Jose for the purpose of draughting a form of govt to be submitted to the
people for their sanction. A meeting was appointed to take place on the 15th
to elect 5 delegates from that district to the convention at San Jose. A com
mittee was chosen by the prest to correspond with the other districts; namely,
270 POLITICAL HISTORY
Jose meeting recommended that the convention assem
ble at that place on the second Monday of January;
the San Francisco meeting, that the convention should
assemble on the 5th day of March; but on the 24th
of January the corresponding committee of San Fran
cisco notified a postponement of the convention to the
6th of May. 33 The reasons given for the change of
date were the inclemency of the weather, making it
difficult to communicate with the southern districts;
and recent intelligence from the United States, from
which it appeared probable that congress would organ
ize a territorial government before the adjournment of
the session ending March 4th. A month being al
lowed for the receipt of information, 34 there could be no
further objection to the proposed convention should
congress again disappoint them. All these circum
stances together operated to defeat the movement for
a convention. The Sacramento delegates, Charles E.
Pickett and John Sinclair, protested against a change
of time, but the majority prevailed, and the conven-
Frank Bates, P. B. Reading, and John S. Fowler. Frank Bates, Barton Lee,
and Albert Priest were appointed judges of the election of delegates. A res
olution was offered by Sam Brannan that the delegates be instructed to
oppose slavery in every shape and form in the territory of California, which
was adopted. Burnett, RecoLL, 295-8. The meeting at S. F. was presided
over by John Townsend; William S. Clark and J. C. Ward were chosen vice-
prests, and William M. Smith and S. S. Howison sees. The committee on
resolutions consisted of Edward Gilbert, George Hyde, B. R. Buckelew,
Henry A. Schoolcraft, Myron Norton, Henry M. Naglee, and James Creigh-
ton. They reported on the 23d, and their resolutions were adopted. Gilbert,
Ward, Hyde, Toler, and Davis were appointed judges of election. Buckelew
moved that duties collected at all ports in Cal., after the ratification of the
treaty of peace in Aug., rightfully belonged to Cal.; and furthermore, that as
the U. S. congress had not provided a government for the people of the ter
ritory, such duties as have been collected since the disbandment of the ex
traordinary military force justly belongs to the people of this territory, and
should be claimed for our benefit by the govt we may succeed in creating.
Adopted after some debate; Gilbert, Ward, and Hyde were appointed corre
sponding committee. Star and Californian, Dec. 23, 1848.
83 Alta Calif brnia, Jan. 24, 1849; S. F. Minutes Proceedinys Legis. Assem.,
etc., 296 (no. 1, in 8. F. Hist. Inc., etc.). Meetings were held at Santa Cruz and
Monterey to elect delegates to the convention in May. Santa Cruz delegates
were William Blackburn, J. L. Majors, Eli Moore, John Dobindiss, J. G. S.
Dunleavy, Henry Speal, and Juan Gonzales. Arch. Sta Cruz, 102. Walter
Colton draughted the resolutions for the Monterey meeting. Colton, Three.
Years, 393; An. S. F., 136; Mendocino Co. Hist., 269-319.
34 The ocean mail steamers were announced to commence their regular
trips between Panama and California and Oregon early in the spring.
SELF-GOVERNMENT. 271
tion was finally postponed to the first Monday of
August, 35 when, should congress not then have created
a territorial government for California, there should
be no further delay in organizing a provisional gov
ernment. In the mean time event crowded on the
heels of event, changing the purposes of the people as
their condition changed.
With the expiration of 1848 expired also the term
of the town council of San Francisco which Mason
had authorized in August of the previous year. By
a municipal law, an election for their successors was
held on the 27th of December, when seven new coun-
cilmen were chosen. The former council 36 declared the
election fraudulent and void, and ordered a new one.
A majority of the population opposed this unwarrant
able assumption of power, and refused to attend, but
an election was held and another council chosen.
Until the 15th of January, when the old council voted
itself out of existence, three town governments were
in operation at the same time, and the two remaining
ones for some weeks longer. Wearied and exasper
ated by the confusion in their affairs, the people of
San Francisco district called a meeting on the 12th
of February, at which it was resolved to elect a legis
lative assembly of fifteen members, who should be
empowered to make such necessary laws "as did not
conflict with the constitution of the United States,
nor the common law thereof." 37 This legislative body
35 This postponement was made in a communication addressed to the AUa
Cal of March 22d, signed by the following delegates: W. M. Steuart,
Myron Norton, Francis J. Lippitt, from S. F.; Charles T. Bolts, Monterey;
J. D. Stevenson, Los Angeles; R. Semple, Benicia; John B. Frisbie and M.
G. Vallejo, Sonoma; S. Brannan, J. A. Sutter, Samuel J. Hensley, and P. B.
Reading, from Sac.
36 Refer to note 11, this chapter, for names.
37 M. Norton presided at the meeting of the 12th, and T. W. Perkins acted
as sec y. The preamble to the ordinances established by the meeting recited
that the people of S. F., perceiving the necessity of having some better de
fined and more permanent civil regulations for our general security than the
vague, unlimited, and irresponsible authority that now exists, do, in general
convention assembled, hereby establish and ordain. Then follow the regu
lations. AUa Cat., Feb. 15, 1849.
272 POLITICAL HISTORY.
also appointed an election of three justices of the peace,
abolished the office of alcalde, his books and papers
being ordered to be resigned to one of the justices;
and abolished both the town councils, the members
being commanded to send their resignations to a com
mittee appointed to receive them. 38 The election of
the legislative assembly and justices was ordered for
the 21st of the month, and took place; but as there
was no actual power in the legislature to enforce its
acts, the new government threatened to prove as pow
erless for good as its predecessor. The alcalde Leav-
enworth refused to relinquish the town records 39 to
the chief magistrate, Norton, as directed ; and such was
the pressure of private business that it was found
difficult to procure a quorum at the meetings of the
legislature. To correct the latter defect in the govern
ment, the members were added to the assembly in
May, and the offices of register, sheriff, and treasurer
created.
On the 26th of February, five days after the first
election of assemblymen, there arrived at San Fran
cisco the mail steamer California, having on board
General Persifer F. Smith, who as commander of the
military division of California superseded Colonel
Mason. Smith blundered, as military men are prone
to do in managing civil affairs. He wrote to the
secretary of war from Panamji that he was "partly
inclined to think it would be right for me to prohibit
foreigners from taking the gold, unless they intend to
become citizens." Next he wrote to the consuls on
South American coast "that the laws of the United
States forbade trespassing on the public lands," and
that on arriving in California he should enforce this
law against persons not citizens. To the secretary he
again wrote: "I shall consider every one not a citizen
of the United States, who enters on public land and
digs for gold, as a trespasser, and shall enforce that
38 The eommitteemen were Alfred J. Ellis, Wm F. Swasey, B. K. Bucke-
lew, and George Hyde. Burnett, fiecoll., 310.
3 *Fmdla t Statement, MS., 10.
LEADING QUESTIONS. 273
view of the matter if possible, depending upon the
distinction made in favor of American citizens to en-
fage the assistance of the latter in carrying out what
propose. All are undoubtedly trespassers ; but as
congress has hitherto made distinctions in favor of
early settlers by granting preemptions, the difficulties
of present circumstances in California may justify for
bearance with regard to citizens, to whom some favor
may be hereafter granted."
This doctrine of trespass furnished the Hounds, an
organized band of Australian criminals and deserting
English sailors, with their only apology for robbing
every Mexican 01 Californian they met, upon the
ground that they were foreigners, at least not citizens;
and passports had actually to be furnished to these
people in the land where they were born. 40 The
Hounds did not long remain, but had their conge from
the authorities civil and military.
To General Smith the legislature of San Francisco
district addressed a letter inviting his sympathy and
support, to which he returned a noncommittal reply,
without attempting to interfere with the operations of
the experimental government. There was no exigency
requiring him to intermeddle while awaiting the action
of congress, drawing to a close, and the incoming of a
new national administration whose policy was yet un
known. The community in general supporting the
assembly, the sheriff, furnished by Judge Xorton with
a writ of replevin, and assisted by a number of volun
teer deputies, finally compelled Alcalde Leavenworth
to surrender the records, which were deposited in the
court-house, where justice was hereafter to be admin
istered. This did not occur, however, before the in
action of congress had become known, and California
had received another governor.
I think the American inhabitants of California
exhibited great and undeserved animosity toward
"Ex. Doc., 311, no. 17, p. 703-6, 708-10, 869, 870; Amer< Quart. Reg., ii.
296.
HIST. CAT,., VOL. VI. 18
274 POLITICAL HISTORY.
Colonel Mason in his position as governor. They
failed to remember that it required as much patience
in him to govern them, as it did in them to be governed
by him. Into his ear for nearly two years had been
poured an incessant stream of complaints from both
the natives and themselves Quite often enough they
had been in the wrong If they did not steal horses
and cattle like the Indians, or rob and assassinate like
the Mexicans, they had other ways of being selfish
and unchristian not to say criminal which made
bad blood in those ruder people. He did the best he
could between them all. Had his soldiers not ab
sconded to the gold mines, even then he would have
required ten times their number to keep up a police
system throughout the country. Only law can reach
to every part of a territory, but to do that it must be
organized; and here was just where Mason s delin
quencies were most flagrant. He was not an execu
tive officer according to law, but a military governor,
which as they reasoned was an offence in time of peace.
That he was only obeying instructions, and that he
had leaned to their side while executing his trust, did
not serve to soften the asperity of their judgment, and
no friendly regrets were expressed when his successor
relieved him of his thankless office. 41 He left Califor
nia on the 1st of May, and died of cholera at St Louis
the same summer, at the age of sixty years. 42
41 The orders of Gen. Smith were dated Nov. 15, 1848, and ran as follows:
* By direction of the prest, you are hereby assigned, under and by virtue of
your rank of brev. brig. -gen. of the army of the U. S., to the command of
the third geographical or Pacific division, and will proceed by way of New
Orleans, thence to Chagres, and across the isthmus of Panama to Cal., and
assume the command of the said division. You will establish your head
quarters either in Cal. or Or., and change them from time to time, as the
exigencies of the public service may require. Besides the general duties of
clafanding the territories of Cal. and Or., and of preserving peace arid protect
ing the inhabitants from Indian depredations, you will carry out the orders
and instructions contained in the letter from the department to Col R. B.
I.Iason, a copy of which you are herewith furnished, and such other orders
au:l instructions as you may receive from your govt. H. Ex. Doc., 31, 1, no.
17, p. 2G4-5.
42 Sherman in his Memoirs, 64, says: He possessed a strong native intel
lect, and far more knowledge of the principles of civil government and law
than he got credit for; and he was the very embodiment of the principle of
fidelity to the interests of the gen. govt.
GOVERNOR RILEY. 275
On the 12th of April the transport ship Iowa landed
at Monterey brevet Brigadier-general Bennett Riley, 43
lieutenant-colonel 2d infantry, with his brigade. 44
Riley had instructions from the secretary of war to
assume the administration of civil affairs in California,
not as a military governor, but as the executive of the
existing civil government. According to contempo
rary accounts, he was a "grim old fellow," and a "fine
free swearer." 45 According to his own statement he
was not much acquainted with civil affairs, but knew
how to obey orders. He also knew how to make
others obey orders except in California. Here his
soldiers soon deserted, 46 leaving him without the
means of enforcing the laws. In this dilemma his
good sense came to his aid, and on the 3d of June,
having sent the steamer Edith to Mazatlan for the
necessary intelligence, and learning that nothing had
been done by congress toward the establishment of a
territorial government, he issued a proclamation show
ing that he had lost no time in improving his knowl
edge of civil affairs. He endeavored to remove the
prejudice against a military government by putting
it out of sight; and proposed a scheme of civil gov
ernment, which he assured them should be temporary,
but which while it existed must be recognized. The
laws of California, not inconsistent with the laws,
constitution, and treaties of the United States, he
declared to be in force until changed by competent
authority, which did not exist in a provisional legisla-
"Larldn, Doc., MS., vi. 203; Aug. Arch., MS., iii. 245, 246,272; H. Ex.
Doc., 31, 1, no. 17, p. 873; Willey, Personal Memoranda, MS., 119; Hyde,
Statement, MS., 12; Capran, Cal, 44; Tinkham, Hist. Stockton, 120; Hist.
Los Angeles, 46; Sol. Co. Hist., 438; Sherman, Mem., i. 10.
4i The brigade, 650 strong, was officered as follows: Lieut Hay den, com
manding officer of Co. H; Turner, surgeon; adjutant, Jones, com d g Cos. C
and G; Lieut A. Sully, regimental quartermaster and commissary, com d g
Co. K; Lieut Murray, Co. J; Lieut Schareman, Co. A; Lieut Jarvis, Co. B; 2d
Lieut Hendershot, Co. F; 2d Lieut Johnson, Co. E; 2d Lieut Sweeny, Co. D.
N. Y. Herald, Sept 19, 1848, in Niles Reg., Ixxiv. 193.
** Foster s Angeles in 1847, MS., 17-18. He had a defect in his speech, and
was 55 or 56 years old. Val., Doc., MS., 35, 116; S. D. Arch., MS., ii. 349;
Neal, Vig. Com., MS., 23.
46 Crosby, Statement, MS., 30-2; Burnett, Recoil, 333-4.
276 POLITICAL HISTORY.
ture. The situation of California was not identical
with that of Oregon, which was without laws until a
provisional government was formed; but was nearly
identical with that of Louisiana, whose laws were
recognized as valid until constitutionally repealed.
He proposed to put in vigorous operation the existing
laws as designed by the central government, but to
give an American character to the administration by
making the officers of the law elective instead of ap
pointive; and at the same time proposed a convention
of delegates from every part of the territory to form
a state constitution or territorial organization, to be
ratified by the people and submitted to congress for
approval. A complete set of Mexican officials was
named in the proclamation, with the salaries of each
and the duration of their term of office.
The first election was ordered for August 1st, when
also delegates to the convention were to be elected.
The officers chosen would serve until January 1, 1850
The convention would meet September 1st. A regu
lar annual election would be held in November, to
choose members of the territorial assembly, and to fill
the offices temporarily supplied by the election of
August 1st. The territory was divided into ten dis
tricts for the election of thirty-seven delegates, ap
portioned as follows: San Diego two, Los Angeles
four, Santa Barbara two, San Luis Obispo two, Mon
terey five, San Jose five, San Francisco five, Sonoma
four, Sacramento four, and San Joaquin four. 47
Such was the result of Riley s civil studies. 48 The
people could not see, however, what constitutional
power the president had to govern a territory by ap
pointing a military executive in time of peace, or any
at all before the Mexican laws had been repealed;
much less what right the secretary of war had to in-
* 7 Debates ConstU. CaL, 3-5; Cr&nise, Nat. Wealth, 58-9; Hittell, S. F. t
140-1; LarTdn, Doc., MS., vii. 137; Val, Doc., MS., 35, 124; San Luis Ob.
Arch., MS., sec. i.; Savage, Doc., MS., ii. 85; Any. Arch., MS., iii. 249-66;
Placer Times, June 23, 1849.
i8 Gen. Riley publicly acknowledged the efficient aid rendered him by
Capt. H. W. Halleck, his sect, of state.
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY. 277
struct General Hiley to act as civil governor. And
perhaps their reasoning was as good as the general s,
when he declared they had no right to legislate for
themselves without the sanction of congress. This
question had been argued at some length in the A Ita
California about the time of Riley s arrival by Peter
H. Burnett, who had come down from Oregon with
the gold-hunters from the north in 1848, and whose
experience with the provisional government of the
American community on the Columbia made him a
sort of umpire.
On the day following the above proclamation the
Governor issued another, addressed to the people of
an Francisco, which reached them on the 9th, in
which he declared that "the body of men styling
themselves the legislative assembly of San Francisco
has usurped powers which are vested only in the con
gress of the United States." Both were printed in
Spanish as well as English, for circulation among the
inhabitants, and produced no small excitement, taken
in connection with the arrival of the mail steamer on
the 4th with the news of the failure of congress to
provide a government, aggravated by the extension of
the revenue laws over California and the appointment
of a collector. 49 Taxation without representation was
not to be borne; and straightway a public meeting
had been held, and an address prepared by a committee
of the legislative assembly, of which Burnett was chair
man, protesting against the injustice. Among other
things, it declared that "the legislative assembly of
the district of San Francisco have believed it to be
their duty to earnestly recommend to their fellow-
49 James Collier was appointed collector of customs and special depositary
of moneys at S. F., in March 1849 He came overland, and did not arrive
until late in the autumn. No moneys were ever deposited with him. The
act mentioned established ports of delivery at San Diego and Monterey, and
a port of entry at S. F. Mies Reg,, Ixxv. 193; Cal. Statute*, 1850, app. 38;
U. 8. Acts and Res,, 70-5, 107-8, 30th Cong., 2J Sess.; Hunt s Merck, Mag,,
xxiii. 663-5. King succeeded Collier in May 1851, at S. F., and did act as a
depositary, the sums collected being deposited with himself. U. S. Sen. Doc. ,
99, vol. x., 32d Cong., 1st Sess. Major Snyder was appointed collector in 1853,
and remained in office until 1862. Sivasey s Remarks on Snyder, MS., 15-16.
278 POLITICAL HISTORY.
citizens the propriety of electing twelve delegates from
each district to attend a general convention to be held
at the pueblo de San Jose on the third Monday of
August next, for the purpose of organizing a govern
ment for the whole territory of California. We would
recommend that the delegates be intrusted with large
discretion to deliberate upon the best measures to be
taken; and to form, if they upon mature consideration
should deem it advisable, a state constitution, to be
submitted to the people for their ratification or rejec
tion by a direct vote at the polls. . . . From the best
information both parties in congress are anxious that
this should be done; and there can exist no doubt of
the fact that the present perplexing state of the ques
tion at Washington would insure the admission of
California at once. We have the question to settle
for ourselves; and the sooner we do it, the better."
It so happened that this address, which had been sub
mitted to and adopted by the assembly previous to the
promulgation of Biley s proclamation, was published
in the Alta June 14th, five days after, making it ap
pear, but for the explanation given by the editor, like
a carefully designed defiance of the authority of the
governor.
Three days after the proclamation addressed to the
people of San Francisco was received, a mass meeting
in favor of a convention for forming a state constitu
tion was held in Portsmouth square, presided over by
William M. Steuart. 50 Resolutions were passed de
claring the right of the people of the territory, the
last congress having failed them, to organize for their
own protection, and to elect delegates to a convention
to form a state government, "that the great and grow
ing interests of California may be represented in the
The vice-prests were William D. M. Howard, E. H. Harrison, C. V. Gilles-
pie, Robert A. Parker, Myron Norton, Francis J Lippett, J. H. Merrill,
George Hyde, William Hooper, Hiram Grimes, John A. Patterson, C. H.
Johnson, William H. Davis, Alfred Ellis, Edward Gilbert, and John Towns-
end. The secretaries were E. Gould Buffum, J. R. Per Lee, and W. C.
Parker,
MEETINGS AND MEASURES. 279
next congress of the United States." A committee
was appointed to correspond with the other districts,
and fix an early day for the election of delegates and
for the convention, as also to determine the number
of delegates, the committee consisting of P. H. Bur
nett, W. D. M. Howard, M. Norton, E. G. Buffum,
and E. Gilbert. A motion to amend a resolution,
by adopting the days appointed by the governor, was
rejected. The meeting was addressed by Burnett,
Thomas Butler King, congressman from Georgia and
confidential agent of the government, William M.
Gwin, a former congressman from Mississippi, and
others. King had been sent out to work up the state
movement, 51 which he was doing in conjunction with
the governor; and Gwin had come out on the same
steamer to become a senator from California. He
addressed the people of Sacramento, July 4th, and
on the following day a mass meeting at Fowler s
hotel, and resolutions passed to cooperate with San
Francisco and the other districts in forming a civil
government. 52 At a meeting held July 4th at Mor
mon Island, W. C. Bigelow in the chair, 53 and James
Queen secretary, resolutions were adopted declaring
that in consequence of the failure of congress to pro
vide a government, the separation of this country
from the mother country has been loudly talked of;
but pledging themselves "to discountenance every
effort at separation, or any movement that may tend
to counteract the action of the general government
in regard to California." Also that believing slavery
to be injurious, they would do everything in their
bl Bufum, Six Months, 118; H Ex. Doc., 31, 1, no. 17, p. 9-11.
^Gwin, Memoirs, MS., 5. M. M. McCarver, the old brass gun of the
Oregon legislature, presided at this meeting. George McKinstry was sec.
C. E. Pickett, Chapman, and Carpenter constituted a committee to draught res
olutions. A com. of J2 was appointed to organize the district into precincts,
and apportion the representatives, and to nominate candidates. Correspond
ing com. appointed. Committee of 12 was composed of P. B. Cornwall, Car
penter, Blackburn, J. R. Robb, Mark Stewart, John Fowler, C. E. Pickett,
Sam. Brannan, John McDougal, Samuel Housley, M. T. McClellan, and Col
Winn.
33 Placer Times, July 9, 1849,
280 POLITICAL HISTORY,
power to prevent its extension to this country. Taking
alarm at some of these proceedings, Riley gave utter
ance to his views in the Alta, declaring that instruc
tions received since his proclamations fully confirmed
the policy there set forth, and that it was distinctly
said that "the plan of establishing an independent
government in California cannot be sanctioned, no
matter from what source it may come." The phrase
independent government drew forth a reply from
Burnett disclaiming any design on the part of the
agitators of a civil organization to erect a government
not dependent on the United States, and repelling
as a libel the insinuation contained in the governor s
communication that the people of San Francisco had
ever contemplated becoming "the sport and play of
the great powers of the world," which they would be
should they attempt a separate existence. The Alia
also denied the charge in a subsequent issue; and the
committee of which Burnett was chairman having
published a notice making the day of election and
convention conformable to the governor s appoint
ments, while asserting their perfect right to do other
wise, there was a lull in the political breeze for the
intervening period. 54
In the mean time San Francisco had received a post
master, John W. Geary, 55 who in spite of the preju-
Cal, July 12 and 19, 1849; Capron, 43-4; U. S. H. Misc. Doc., 44,
i., p. 5-9, 31st cong., 1st sess. At a mass meeting in Sac., that district was
declared entitled to 10 delegates. Placer Times (Sac.), July 14, 1849.
55 Unbound Docs., MS., 58. John W. Geary was born in Westmoreland
co., Pa, in 1820. He had been col of a reg. from his state in the Mexican
war, and fought at the battles of La Hoya, Chapultepec, Garita de Belen, and
city of Mexico. His duties as alcalde were those of mayor, sheriff, probate
and police judge, recorder, coroner, and notary public. After the appoint
ment of W. B. Almond, a man of fair legal attainments from Missouri, who
was at his request made judge of first instance, with civil jurisdiction, his
duties were less complex. Geary was reelected in 1850, with only 12 votes
against him in 4,000. He was a splendid-looking man, cordial and affable.
He returned to Pa in 1852, and was appointed governor of Kansas. He served
in the civil war as col of the 28th regt Pa vols. His death occurred at Har-
risburg, Feb. 8, 1873. An. ofS. F., 718-34; Sac. Record, Feb. 10, 1873; Oak
land Gazette, Feb. 15, 1873; Nevada Transcript, Feb. 11, 1873; Oakland
Transcript, Feb. 9, 1873; Folsom Telegraph, Apr. 4, 1868; Alpine Silver Moun
tain Chronicle, Feb. 15, 1873; Albany Register, Feb. 14, 1873; Hittell, S. F.,
139; AUa California, Jan. 9, 1866, and Feb. 9, 1873; Upham, Rem. of Pioneer
GEARY AND KING 281
dice at once manifested against imported officials,
achieved a popularity which obtained for him the
office of first alcalde, or judge of the first instance,
at the election, and which kept him in office after a
change of government had been effected. 58
In July, T. Butler King, in his character of confi
dential agent of the government, paid a visit to the
mining districts. He travelled in state, accompanied
by General Smith and staff, Commodore Jones and
staff, Dr Tyson, geologist, and a cavalry detachment
under Lieutenant Stoneman, who afterward became a
general. 67 He made an extended tour, and a report in
Journalism, in Advertisers Guide, 105, Dec. 1876; S. F. vs U. S., 1854, docs.
22, 23; S. F. Call, Nov. 9, 1884; Pierces Rough Sketch, MS., 188-9; Auburn
Placer Argus, Feb. 15, 1873; S. F. Elevator, Feb. 15, 1873.
66 1 find the following officers under military govt in 1 848-9, mentioned
in Viilwuwl Docs., MS., 319-40- James W. Weeks, K. H. Dimmick, alcaldes,
San Jose; Estevan Addison, alcalde, Sta Barbara; Isaac Callahan, alcalde,
Los Angeles, 1848. In 1849, William Myers, alcalde; and Albert G. Toomes
and David Plemmons, judges in the upper north California district; John T.
Richardson, alcalde, San Jose; Stephen Cooper, Benicia; Dennis Gahagan,
alcalde, San Diego; J. L. Majors, subprefect at Santa Cruz; Miguel Avila, al
calde, San Luis Obispo; R. M. May, alcalde, San Jose; A. M. White, alcalde,
Mercedes River; G. D. Dickerson, prefect of the district of San Joaquin;
Charles P. Wilkins, prefect of Sonoma; W. B. Almond, alcalde, S. F. (asso
ciate of Geary), Horace Hawes, prefect of S. F. district; Paciricus Ord, judge
of supreme tribunal; Lewis Dent, ditto; John E. Townes, high-sheriff of S. F.
district; Edward H. Harrison, collector at S. F. ; Rodman M. Price, purser
and navy agent, and chairman of town council committee; Philip A. Roach,
in his Facts on Cal., MS., 7-8, mentions being elected to the offices of 1st
alcalde and recorder of Monterey, in Oct. 1849. From other docs. Ignacio
Ezquer, 1st alcalde, Monterey; Jacinto Rodriguez, 2d alcalde, Monterey; Jose
Maria Covarrubias and Augustin Janssen, jueces de paz; Antoiiio Maria Pico,
prefect of northern Cal. district; N. B. Smith and Wellner, subprefects.
57 Crosby gives quite a particular account of this official progress through
the country. King, he says, nearly lost his life by it, through his inability
to adapt himself to the customs of border life. He would rise in the morn
ing after the sun was well up, and after making an elaborate toilet, having
his boots blacked, and dressing as if going to the senate-chamber, would then
take breakfast, and by the time he was ready to start, it would be 8 or 9
o clock, the sun would be hot, and the marches made in the worst part of the
day Gen. Smith said to him: "Not only you, but all the rest of the party,
are rendering yourselves liable to fever and sickness .... We ought to go in
the early morning, and lie by in the middle of the day. " But King would
not agree to this. I felt premonitions of a fever coming on, and took my
leave of the party, and made my way to Sutter s Fort, ami was laid up three
or four weeks with a fever. The party went down to the South Fork, and
then over to the Mokelumne, to the southern mines. King brought up at
S. F., and came near losing his life with a fever. Events in Cal., M.S., 29-30;
Letter of Lieut Cadwalder Rim/gold, in H. Ex. Doc., 31, 1, no. 17, pp. 954-5;
Placer Times, July 14 and Aug. 1, 1849.
282 POLITICAL HISTORY
which he gave a very flattering account of the mines,
and reiterated what the reader already knows concern
ing the people their anxiety for a government which
they could recognize, and its causes; namely, igno
rance of Mexican laws, and their oppressive nature
when understood; the absence of any legal system of
taxation to provide the means of supporting a govern
ment; the imposition of import duties by the United
States, without representation; and the uncertainty
of titles, with other things of less importance.
After reporting the action of the people in their
efforts to correct some of these evils, and that they
had resolved upon the immediate formation of a state
government, he further remarked that " they consid
ered they had a right to decide, so far as they were
concerned, the question of slavery, and believed that
in their decision they would be sanctioned by all par
ties." King declared that he had no secret instruc
tions, verbal or written, on the subject of slavery;
" nor was it ever hinted or intimated to me that I
was expected to attempt to influence their action in
the slightest degree on that subject." " In the elec
tion of delegates," he said, "no questions were asked
about a candidate s politics; the object was to find
competent men." But of the thirty-seven delegates,
sixteen were from the slave-holding states, ten from
the free states, and eleven were native citizens of
California, all but one of whom came from districts
south of the Missouri compromise line of 36 30 .
The convention therefore would have a presumptive
majority of twenty-seven leaning toward the south. 58
This was not the actual proportion after the election,
forty-eight members being chosen, the additional dele
gates being from the mining districts and San Fran
cisco, where the population was greatest. Twenty-two
were then from the northern states, fifteen from the
slave states, seven native Californians, and four for
eign born.
58 King s rept, in H. Ex, Doc., 31, 1, no. 59, pp. 1-6; Green s Life, and
Adv., 21.
POPULAR IDEAS. 283
King was one of those anomalous individuals a
northern man with a southerner s views. Born and
reared in Pennsylvania, he went early in life to
Georgia, and marrying a woman of that state, be
came infected with the state-rights doctrine, and in
1838 was elected to congress as its representative.
As a whig he supported Harrison and Tyler in 1840,
and Taylor and Fillmore in 1848, and advocated lead
ing whig measures. But the virus of slavery with
which he was inoculated developed itself later in
secession, which made an end of all his greatness.
While laboring to bring California into the union, he
had in view the division of the territory by congress,
and that all south of 36 30 should be devoted to
slavery. This was to be the price of the admission
of California, or any part of it. Under this belief he
was willing to be and was useful to the people of
California in their efforts to obtain a civil govern
ment. The administration paid him well for his ser
vices, and rewarded him with the office of collector of
customs. If the people would willingly have had no
more of him they had their reasons. 59
59 King made an ass of himself, generally. Crane relates with much gusto
the following as illustrative of King s character. When the custom-house
was burned in the great fire of 1861, King had occasion to remove the treas
ure from a vault in the ruins to the corner of Washington and Kearny streets,
and assembled his force of employes to act as guard. They came together,
armed with cutlasses, pistols, etc., and a cart being loaded, formed a line,
himself at the head, leading off with a sword in one hand and a pistol in the
other. In this manner several cart-loads were escorted to the place of deposit.
When the last train was en route, some wags induced the waiters of a public
eating-house to charge upon it with knives, when some of the guard ran
away, King, however, holding his ground. Past, Present, and Future, MS.,
12. Some one had a caricature of the proceedings lithographed, and entitled
* Ye King and ye Commones, or ye Manners and Customes of California a
new farce lately enacted in May 28, 1851. 8. F. Alia, May 29, 30, 1851.
Gwin attacked Taylor s administration for the expense of King s mission, say
ing he had at his disposal the army, navy, and treasury. There was much
truth in the declaration. His pay was $8 per diem; he was drawing pay as a
member of congress, although he subsequently resigned, and the officers of
the army and navy were enjoined to in all matters aid and assist him in
carrying out the views of the government, and be guided by his advice and
council in the conduct of all proper measures within the scope of those [his]
instructions. But the government had a right to employ all its means for an
object. H. Ex. Doc., 31, 1, no. 17, p. 146; Cong. Globe, 1851-2; App , 534-6.
King went with the southern states when they seceded, and was sent as a
commissioner to Europe. He died at his home in Georgia May 10, 1864.
S. F. Call, June 20, 1864.
284 POLITICAL HISTORY
Affairs moved on with occasional disturbances to
the public peace, which were suppressed in San Fran
cisco by a popular court, and in the outlying districts
by military authority. 60 The election of August 1st
for delegates to the constitutional convention, and
municipal officers, 61 passed without disturbance, and
preparations began to be made for the convention
itself, which was to be held at Monterey. But now
it was found that such was the pressing nature of
private business, such the expense and inconvenience
of a journey to the capital from the northern and
southern districts, that some doubt began to be enter
tained of the presence of the delegates. King, who
had the principal management of affairs, overcame this
difficulty by directing Commodore Jones to send the
United States steamer Edith to San Diego, Los An
geles, and Santa Barbara, to bring the southern dele
gates to Monterey; 62 while the northern delegates
chartered the brig Fremont to carry them from San
Francisco. The Edith was wrecked on the passage,
and the Fremont narrowly escaped the same fate. All
arrived safely at their destination, however, and were
ready to organize on the 3d of September
Never in the history of the world did a similar con
vention come together. They were there to form a
state out of unorganized territory; out of territory
only lately wrested from a subjugated people, who
were elected to assist in framing a constitution in con
formity with the political views of the conquerors.
These native delegates were averse to the change
about to be made. They feared that because they were
large land-owners they would have the burden of
^Riley, Order No. 22, to commander of posts, to investigate outrages.
Savage, Coll., MS., iii. 36; U. S. Sen. Doc., 52, xiii. p. 12-41; 31st Cong., 1st
Sess.; H. Ex. Doc., 5, p. i. pp. 156, 161, 165-78, 31st Cong., 1st Sess.
61 Peter H. Burnett was elected chief justice, Jose M. Covarrubias, Pacifi-
cus Ord, and Louis Dent were chosen associate judges. Alcaldes were elected
in the several districts.
62 The Edith was commanded by Lieut McCormick, who knew little of the
coast, and being bewildered in a fog, lost the steamer. Letter of Commodore
Jones, inH. Ex. Doc., 31, 1, no. 17, pp. 951-2; Cong. Globe, 1851-2, 535, 578;
Napa Register, April 20, 1872.
PERSONNEL OF THE CONVENTION. 285
supporting the new government laid upon their shoul
ders, and naturally feared other innovations painful
to their feelings because opposed to their habits of
thought. These very apprehensions forced them to be
come the representatives of their class, in order to avert
as much as possible the evils they foreboded. Such
men as Vallejo, Carrillo, and De la Guerra could not
be ignored, though they spoke only through an inter
preter. Carrillo was from one of the southern districts,
a pure Castilian, of decided character, and prejudiced
against the invaders. De la Guerra was perhaps the
most accomplished and best educated of the Spanish
delegation, and had no love for the Americans, although
he accepted his place among them, and sat afterward
in the state senate. Vallejo had not forgotten the
Bear Flag filibusters who had subjected him to the
ignominy of arrest ; and each had his reason for being
somewhat a drawback on the proceedings. 63
Of foreign-born delegates there were few. Captain
Sutter was noticeable, owing to his long residence in
the country, and his reputation for hospitality; but
otherwise he carried little weight. Louis Dent, dele
gate from Santa Barbara, an Englishman, voted with
De la Guerra. Among the Americans were a num
ber who were, or afterward became, more or less
famous ; H. W. Halleck, then secretary of state under
Governor Riley ; Thomas O. Larkin, 64 first and last
63 Crosby, to whom I am indebted for many hints regarding character,
says that when the state seal was under discussion, the Spanish members
exhibited considerable feeling upon the bear being used as the emblem of
California. Vallejo objected to it; he thought it should at least be under the
control of a vaquero, with a lasso round its neck! Events in CaL, MS., 34.
Caleb Lyon of Lyonsdale enjoyed the reputation of designing the state seal,
although it was not justly his due. Major R. S. Garnet designed it, but
being of a retiring disposition, gave his drawing to Lyon, who added some
stars around the rim, and obtained the prize of $1,000, but forgot to purchase
with it a printing-press, which was one of the conditions. Ross Browne, in
Overland Monthly, xv. 346; First Ann I Territ. Pioneers, 56-7; S. F. CaL
Courier, July 1850; Sac. Union, March 17, 1858. The great seal represents
the bay of San Francisco, with the goddess Minerva in the foreground, the
Sierra in the background, mining in the middle distance, the grizzly bear at
the feet of Minerva, and the word Eureka at the top, under a belt of stars.
Around the whole, The Great Seal of the State of California, S. F. Ann,
App., 805.
64 Thomas Oliver Larkin was born in Mass, in 1803, and migrated to Cali-
286 POLITICAL HISTORY
United States consul to California; Edward Gilbert,
who established the Alia California, was sent to con
gress, and killed in a duel, McDougal became gov
ernor, and Gwin United States senator; J Ross
Browne, reporter of the convention, and a popular
writer, was afterward employed as a secret and open
agent of the government, to look into politics and into
mines, 65 Jacob R Snyder, a Philadelphian, whom
Commodore Stockton found in the country, and to
whom he intrusted the organization of an artillery
corps, and made quartermaster to Fremont s battalion.
Under Mason s administration he was surveyor for
the middle department of California, and one of the
founders of Sacramento. Stephen G. Foster, Elisha
O. Crosby, K. H. Dimmick, Lansford W. Hastings,
were all enterprising northern men ; besides others less
well known. Rodman M. Price was subsequently
member of congress from, and governor of, the state
of New Jersey; and Pacificus Ord district attorney
for the United States in California.
The convention was not lacking in talent. It was
not chosen with regard to party proclivities, but was
understood to be mider the management, imaginary if
not real, of southern men. It was a curious mixture.
On one hand a refined, and in his own esteem at least
an already distinguished, representative of the after
ward arrogant chivalry who sought to rule California,
fornia in 1832. He was deeply concerned in all the measures which severed
Cal. from Mexico, loaning his funds and credit to meet the exigencies of the
war. He was made consul and navy agent by the U. S. govt. He gave each
of the officers of the Southampton a lot in Benicia. Larkin, Doc,, vii. 72; Colton,
Three Years, 28-30. He was at one time supposed to be the richest man in
America. S. I. Friend, vii. 85.
65 John Ross Browne was an Irishman, born in 1822 at Dublin, where his
father edited the Cornet, a political paper, and who immigrated to the U. S.
in 1833. The lad, whose new home was in Louisville, Ky., exhibited a pas
sion for travel, which he gratified. He had talent, and became reporter to a
Cincinnati paper, studied medicine, reported for the U. S. senate, and held
several situations under govt, at last being given a place as lieut in the
revenue service, and sent to Cal., where he found the service had been reduced
and himself discharged. He then became reporter for the convention. Sub
sequently he was secret treasury agent, and emyloyed to report upon mines.
His last appointment was as minister to China. His death occurred in Dec.
1875.
MEMBERS OF THE CONVENTION. 287
was William M Gwin. On the other the loose-jointed,
honest, but blatant and unkempt McCarver, whom
we have known in Oregon. Another kind of south
erner was Benjamin F. Moore, who had migrated
from Florida through Texas, carried a huge bowie-
knife, and was usually half drunk. 68 Joel P. Walker
we have seen coming overland in 1840 and 1841 with
his family and household gods, first to Oregon and
then to California, a pioneer of pioneers; Charles T.
Betts of Virginia, who was a man of ability, and an
earnest southerner; James M. Jones, a young man, a
fine linguist, and good lawyer, who was United States
district judge for the southern district of California
after the admission of California, and who died in 1851
of consumption, at San "Jose, 67 an extreme southerner
in his views, fully believing in and insisting on the
divine right of slave-holders to the labor of the African
race; the genial and scholarly 0. M. Wozencraft,
William E. Shannon, an Irishman by birth, and a
lawyer, who introduced that section in the bill of rights
which made California a free state borrowed, it is
true, but as illustrious and imperishable as it is Ameri
can. 68
On the 1st of the month the members present met
in Colton hall to adjourn to the 3d. Some debate
was had on the apportionment as it had been made,
the election as it stood, and the justice of increasing
the delegation from several districts, which was finally
admitted, when forty-eight instead of thirty-seven
members were received. 09 Of these, fourteen were
66 Foster, A ngeles in 1847, MS. , 17 ; Crosby, Events in Cal. , MS. , 47. In 1 852
Moore received the whig nomination for congress but was defeated. As a
criminal lawyer he was somewhat noted. He several times represented
Tuolumne co. in the legislature. He died Jan. 2, 1866, at Stockton. Pajaro
Times, Jan. 13, 1866; Havilah Courier, Jan. 12, 1867.
67 Burnett, Recoil, MS., ii. 255-67; Gwin, Mem., MS., 14.
^McClellan, Repub. in Amer., 115-16. Shannon came to the U. S. in
1830 at the age of 7 years, his father settling in Steuben co., N. Y. He studied
law, but joined the N. Y. reg. for Cal. in 1846. He was elected to the state
senate in 1850, and died of cholera Nov. 13th of that year. Sac. Transcript,
Nov. 14, 1850; Shuck s Repres. Men, 853-4; San Jose Pioneer, March, 30, 1878.
69 The rule under which the additional delegates were admitted was that
288 POLITICAL HISTORY.
lawyers, twelve farmers, seven merchants. The re
mainder were engineers, bankers, physicians, and print-
every one having received over 100 votes in his district should be a member.
The list of regular delegates stood as follows:
Names. Nativity. Residence. Age.
John A. Sutter Switzerland 47
H. W. Halleck New York . . . .Monterey . .32
William M. Gwin Tennessee San Francisco .... 44
William M. Steuart Maryland San Francisc* 49
Joseph Hoborn Maryland San Francisco ... .39
Thomas L. Vermeule New Jersey 35
O. M. Wozencraft . . .Ohio San Joaquin 34
B. F. Moore Florida San Joaquin 29
William E. Shannon ...*.. .New York Sacramento 27
Winfield S. Sherwood New York Sacramento 32
Elam Brown New York San Jose 52
Joseph Aram . . .New York San 1 Jose 39
J. D. Hoppe Maryland San Jose 35
John McDougal Ohio . . .Sutter 32
Elisha 0. Crosby New York Vernon 34
H. K. Dimmick .New York San Jose 34
Julian Hanks Connecticut.. . . San Jose 39
M. M. McCarver Kentucky. . . .Sacramento 42
Francis J. Lippitt Rhode Island San Francisco 37
Rodman M. Price Massachusetts . Monterey 47
Thomas O. Larkin New York San Francisco 36
Louis Dent o . .Missouri Monterey 26
Henry Hill Virginia Monterey 33
Charles T. Betts. Virginia. Monterey. 40
Myron Norton .Vermont San Francisco. . . .27
James M. Jones Kentucky San Joaquin 25
Pedro Sainsevain Bordeaux San Jose 26
Jose M. Covarrubias France Santa Barbara. . ..41
Antonio M. Pico . . California San Jos6 40
Jacinto Rodriguez California Monterey 36
Stephen G. Foster Maine Los Angeles 28
Henry A. Tefft New York San Luis Obispo . 26
J. M. H. Hollingsworth. 1 . .Maryland San Joaquin 25
Abel Stearns c . . .Massachusetts .Los Angeles 51
Hugh Pveid Scotland San Gabriel 38
Benjamin S. Lippincott. . . .New York San Joaquin 34
Joel P. Walker Virginia Sonoma 52
Jacob R. Snyder Pennslyvania . . Sacramento 34
Lansford W. Hastings Ohio Sacramento 30
Pablo de la Guerra California Santa Barbara 30
M. G. Vallejo .California. e . . .Sonoma 42
Jose Antonio Carrillo. . - . . California Los Angeles 53
Manuel Dominguez California. . . , . Los Angeles 46
Robert Semple Kentucky Benicia 42
Pacificus Ord Maryland Monterey. ... 33
Edward Gilbert. .... . .New York San Francisco 27
A. J. Ellis New York San Francisco 33
Miguel de Pedrorena Spain San Diego . .41
S. F. Bulletin, May 25, 1878; Mendoano Co. Hist., 292-7; Browne, Constvb.
Debates, An. S. F., 136-7; San Joaquin Co. Hist., 22-3; Alameda Co. Hist.
Atlas, 13; Yuba Co. Hist., 37-8; James Queen and W. Lacy were elected
additional delegates to represent Sac. Sutter Co. Hist., 26; Ezquer, Mem.,
31-2; S. F. Post, June 26, 1886.
NORTH AND SOUTH. 289
ers. 70 These professions did not prevent their being
miners any more than it disqualified them from legis
lation, and nothing but crime bars the American from
that privilege. All were in the prime of life, all very
much in earnest, and patriotic according to their light,
albeit their light was colored more or less by local
prejudices. To be a patriot, a man must be prejudiced ;
but the respect we accord to his patriotism depends
upon the breadth or quality of his bias.
As I have remarked, the northern spirit was pre
pared to array itself, if necessary, against any assump
tion on the part of the chivalry in the convention,
whose pretensions to the divine right to rule displayed
itself, not only upon slave soil, but was carried into
the national senate chamber, and had already flaunted
itself rather indiscreetly in California. While the
choice of a president was under discussion, Snyder
took occasion to state in a facetious and yet pointed
manner that Mr Gwin had come down prepared to be
president, and had also a constitution in his pocket
which the delegates would be expected to adopt, sec
tion by section. 71 Both Snyder s remarks and G win s
denial were received with laughter, but the hint was
not lost. Snyder proposed Doctor Semple for presi
dent of the convention, and the pioneer printer of
Monterey, a giant in height if not in intellect, was
duly elected. 72 He was a large-hearted and measur
ably astute man, with tact enough to preside well,
and as much wisdom in debate as his fellows. 3
The chosen reporter of the convention, J. Ross
Browne, had a commission to establish post-offices,
and established one at San Jose before the conven
tion, and none anywhere afterward. William G*
7 Overland Monthly, ix. 14-16; Simonin, Grand Quest., 320-3.
71 Crosby, Events in Cal., MS., 38-40. This was true; but it was the consti
tution of Iowa.
72 Gwin explains that it was the distrust of the native-born members that
defeated him. They attributed to him the most dangerous Designs upon
their property, in the formation of a state government. Memoirs, MS., 11.
73 Royce, California, 62; Colton, Three Years, 32j Sherman, $f em., i. 78j
Capi-on, 47-8.
HIST CAL., VOL. VI. 19
290 POLITICAL HISTORY.
Marcy was selected secretary ; Caleb Lyon, of Lyons-
dale, first assistant, and J. G. Field, second assistant
secretaries. William Hartnell was employed to inter
pret for the Spanish members. Chaplains were at
hand, Padre Ramirez and S. H. Willey alternating
with the refugee superior of the Lower California mis
sions, Ignacio Arrellanes. 74
Thus equipped the delegates proceeded harmoniously
with their work. They did not pretend to originate
a constitution ; they carefully compared those of the
several states with whose workings they were familiar,
and borrowed from each what was best and most ap
plicable, or could be most easily made to conform to
the requirements of California, all of which, by amend
ments frequently suggested, became modelled into a
new and nearly faultless instrument.
To the surprise of northern men, no objection was
made by the southerners to that section in the bill of
rights which declared that neither slavery nor invol
untary servitude, 75 except in punishment of crime,
should ever be tolerated in the state. It was not in
the bill as reported by the committee 76 having it in
74 Browne, L. Cal., 51; Willey s Thirty Years, 32.
75 The temper of the majority was understood. As early as 1848 the qiies-
tion was discussed in Cal. in relation to its future. The editor of the Call-
fornian, in May of that year, declares that he echoes the sentiment of the
people of California in saying that slavery is neither needed nor desired here,
signing himself G. C. H., in the same journal of Nov. 4, 1848, writes: If
white labor is too high for agriculture, laborers on contract may be brought
from China, or elsewhere, who if well treated will work faithfully for low
wages. Buckelew, in the issue of March 15, 1848, said: We have not heard
one of our acquaintance in this country advocate the measure, and we are
almost certain that 97-100 of the present population are opposed to it. We
left the slave states, remarked the editor again, * because we did not like to
bring up a family in a miserable, can t-help-one s-self condition, and dearly
as he loved the union he should prefer Cal. independent to seeing her a slave
state. The N. Y. Express of Sept. 10, 1848, thought the immigration would
settle the question. It did not change the sentiment, except to add rather
more friends of slavery to the population, but still with a majority against it.
On the 8th of Jan., 1849, a mass meeting in Sac. passed resolutions opposing
slavery. This was the first public expression of the kind.
76 G win was chairman of the committee on constitution. Norton, Hill,
Foster, De la Guerra, Rodriguez, Tefft, Covarrubias, Dent, Halleck, Dim-
mick, Hoppe, Vallejo, Walker, Snyder, Sherwood, Lippiucott, and Moore
constituted the committee. Browne, Comtit. Debates, 29.
THE BAD BLACK MAN. 291
charge, but when offered by Shannon was unanimously
adopted. Gwin had set out on the road to the United
States senate, 77 and could not afford to raise any
troublesome questions ; and most of the southern men
among the delegates having office in view were sim
ilarly situated. Some of them hoped to regain all
that they lost when they came to the subject of
boundary. Let northern California be a free state;
out of the remainder of the territory acquired from
Mexico half a dozen slave states might be made.
But the African, a veritable Banquo s ghost, would
not down, even when as fairly treated as I have
shown ; and McCarver insisted on the adoption of a
section preventing free negroes from coming to or
residing in the state. It was adroitly laid to rest by
Green, who persuaded McCarver that his proposed
section properly belonged in the legislative chapter of
the constitution, where, however, it never appeared.
The boundary was more difficult to deal with, intro
ducing the question of slavery in an unexpected phase.
The report of the committee on boundary included in
the proposed state all the territory between the line
established by the treaty of 1848 between Mexico and
the United States, on the south, and the parallel of
42 on the north, and west of the 116th meridian of
longitude. McDougal, chairman of the committee,
differed from it, and proposed the 105th meridian as
the eastern boundary, taking in all territory acquired
from Mexico by the recent treaty, and a portion of
the former Louisiana territory besides. Semple was
in favor of the Sierra Nevada as the eastern boundary,
but proposed leaving it open for congress to decide.
Gwin took a little less, naming for the eastern line the
boundary between California and New Mexico, as laid
77 Gwin says in his Memoirs, MS. , 5, that on the day of Prest Taylor s
funeral he met Stephen A. Douglas in front of the Willard s Hotel, and in
formed him that on the morrow he should be en route for California, which
by the failure of congress to give it a territorial government, would be forced
to make itself a state, to urge that policy and to become a candidate for
U. S. senator; and that within a year he would present his credentials. He
was enabled to keep his word.
292 POLITICAL HISTORY.
down on Preuss map of Oregon and California from
the survey of Fremont and others. Halleck suggested
giving the legislature power to accede to any proposi
tion of congress which did not throw the eastern line
west of the Sierra; to which Gwin agreed. "If we
include territory enough for several states," said the
latter," it is competent for the people and the state of
California to divide it hereafter." He thought the
fact that a great portion of the territory was unex
plored, and that the Mormons had already applied for
a territorial government, should not prevent them from
including the whole area named. Then arose McCar-
ver, and declared it the duty of the house to fix a
permanent boundary, both that they might know
definitely what they were to have, and to prevent the
agitation of the slavery question in the event of a fu
ture division of "territory enough for several states."
Shannon proposed nearly the line which was finally
adopted for California, which he said included " every
prominent and valuable point in the territory; every
point which is of any real value to the state ;" and in
sisted upon fixing the boundary in the constitution.
" I believe, if we do not, it will occasion in the congress
of the United States a tremendous struggle/ said he ;
and gave good reasons for so believing. " The slave-
holding states of the south will undoubtedly strive
their utmost to exclude as much of that territory as
they can, and contract the limits of the new free state
within the smallest possible bounds. They will nat
urally desire to leave open as large a tract of country
as they can for the introduction of slavery hereafter.
The northern states will oppose it [the constitution],
because that question is left open" and so the admis
sion of California would be long delayed, whereas the
thing they all most desired was that there should be
no delay. Hastings also took this view. " The south
will readily see that the object [of Gwin s boundary]
is to force the settlement of the question [slavery ].
The south will never agree to it. It raises the ques-
BOUNDARY QUESTION. 293
tion in all its bitterness and in its worse form, before
congress."
These remarks aroused Betts, who plunged into the
controversy : "I understand now, from one of the gen
tlemen that constitute the new firm of Gwin and Hal-
leek the gentleman from Monterey who avows at
last the reason for extending this eastern boundary be
yond the natural limits of California, that it will settle
in the United States the question of slavery over a
district beyond our reasonable and proper limits, which
we do not want, but which we take in for the purpose
of arresting further dispute on the subject of slavery
in that territory. It has been well asked if the gen
tleman can suppose that southern men can be asleep
when such a proposition is sounded in their ears. Sir,
the avowal of this doctrine on the floor of this house
necessarily and of itself excites feelings that I had
hoped might be permitted to slumber in my breast
while I was a resident of California. But it is not to
be. This harrowing and distracting question of the
rights of the south and the aggressions of the north
this agitating question of slavery is to be intro
duced here. . . . Why not indirectly settle it by extend
ing your limits to the Mississippi? Why not include
the island of Cuba, a future acquisition of territory
that we may one day or other obtain, and forever settle
this question by our action here ? " And then he gave
his reasons for fixing a boundary, and not a too exten
sive one, urging the greater political power of small
states.
McDougal seems to have been enlightened by the
discussion, and to have made up his mind to present
his views; this being his first attempt to deliver any
kind of argument in a deliberative body. He was now
opposed to taking in the country east of the Sierra,
which he had first advocated. "The people may
change their notions about slavery after they get hold
of the territory; they may assemble in convention and
adopt slavery. It leaves this hole open. You at
294 POLITICAL HISTORY.
once acquire the sole control over this confederacy for
time immemorial. We do not wish to give you this
power, because other subjects, as important as that of
slavery, may arise in this government, and you would
have power alone to control them. And another very
good reason, which they might urge with a great deal
of plausibility: Suppose this state should have this
immense population, this immense representation
suppose, like South Carolina, she should undertake to
act independently, and recede from the confederacy
she could do it, having the physical and all other
powers to do it. If, therefore, we adopt this line, I
am very sure it will be sent back to us. We will have
to call another convention and adopt other lines to suit
the views of congress. In the mean time we have no
law. We are in the same chaotic condition that we
are now in. And that is the very thing, Mr Chair
man, if the secret was known, which I apprehend they
want to do. They want a constitution presented to
congress so objectionable that it will be thrown back
for another convention. Gentlemen have risen on
this floor and stated that they had received letters
from the south, and that they knew of many others
who want to bring their slaves here and work them
for a short period in the mines, and then emancipate
them. If this constitution is thrown back upon us
for reconsideration, it leaves them the opportunity of
bringing their slaves here. It is what they desire to
do, to create some strongly objectionable feature in
the constitution in order that they may bring their
slaves here and work them three months. They will
even then get more than they can get for them in the
states. I look upon that as the result if we send our
constitution to congress with a boundary so objection
able as this. We will have herds of slaves thrown
upon us people totally incapable of self-government;
and they are so far from the mother country that we
can never get rid of them; and we will have an evil
NATIVE CALIFORNIAN MEMBERS. 295
imposed upon us that will be a curse to California as
long as she exists."
What McDougal s speech lacked in grammar and
rhetoric it supplied in facts, and was therefore of
value. After some further remarks on both sides,
Semple related a conversation he had held with
Thomas Butler King, who had said: " For God s
sake, leave us no territory to legislate upon in con
gress;" whereupon Betts repudiated the idea of King
&i an exponent of the wishes of congress. Norton
spoke in favor of Gwin s boundary ; Sutter of that re
ported by the committee, except that he suggested
the southern line to be the confluence of the Gila
River with the Colorado, in order to facilitate the
trade of the people of San Diego with Sonora and
New Mexico.
The debates waxed warm, and Shannon took occa
sion to say that King did not utter the sentiments of
the entire congress. " The secret of it is this," said he,
" that the cabinet of the United States have found
themselves in difficulty about the Wilmot proviso, and
Mr Thomas Butler King it may be others is sent
here, in the first place, for the purpose of influencing
the people of California to form a state government,
and in the next place to include the entire territory.
Sir, it is a political quarrel at home into which they
wish to drag the new state of California. For my
part I wish to keep as far away from such rocks and
breakers as possible. Let the president and his
cabinet shoulder their own difficulties. I have no
desire to see California dragged into any political
quarrel. Are these the high authorities to which we
should so reverentially bow? I think not. I believe
they speak but their own sentiments, or his own senti
ments, or the sentiments of the cabinet. Besides, sir,
I always wish to watch a political agent; I would
always be careful of men of that description."
When Carrillo had spoken, through an interpreter,
in favor of comprehending in the state of California
296 POLITICAL HISTORY.
all the country assigned by the Spanish government
to the province of Upper California, in 1768, and rec
ognized as such by Mexico, upon the ground that they
had no right to leave any part of the people without
government, Betts raised a new point, which was that
the convention had been called by proclamation of
General Riley to represent the ten districts there
named, and all lying west of the Sierra. How, then,
could they represent any more? Some of them had
received a hundred votes; he but ninety-six; how
could they assume to legislate for 30,000 Mormons at
Salt Lake?
The subject occupied several days in debate, and
was laid aside to be brought up two weeks later, when
it came near wrecking the constitution altogether;
but after a scene of wild confusion, and the rejection
of several amendments, a compromise offered by Jones
was adopted fixing the eastern boundary on the 120th
meridian from the Oregon line to the 39th parallel,
running thence to the Colorado River in a straight
line south-easterly, to the intersection of the 35th par
allel; and thence down the middle of the channel to
the boundary established between the United States
and Mexico by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. A
proviso was attached that should congress refuse to
admit the state with that boundary, then it should
include all the territory as far east as the boundary
line of New Mexico, as drawn by Preuss from the
surveys of Fremont and others. In this form it was
passed by a vote of thirty-two to seven.
No other subject engendered much controversy, and
there was a good deal of " slavish copying " of the con
stitutions of New York and Iowa, which indeed was
the highest wisdom. Every white male citizen of the
United States, and every white male citizen of Mex
ico who had chosen to become a citizen of the United
States under the treaty of peace of 1848, of the age
of twenty-four years, and who had resided six months
STATE DEBT AND TAXATION. 297
in the state preceding the election, and thirty days in
the district in which he claimed his vote, was eligible.
A proviso permitted the legislature by a two-thirds
vote to admit to suffrage Indians or the descendants
of Indians, in special cases as that body might deem
proper, a concession to the native Californians. 78
The questions of corporations and state debt, and of
taxation, received much attention from the convention,
which restricted the legislature in its power to create
corporations by special act, or to charter banks, leav
ing it to form general laws under which associations
might be formed for the deposit of gold and silver
only, but without the power to issue paper of any
kind. The legislature was also restricted from creat
ing a state debt exceeding the amount of $300,000,
unless in the case of war; but it might pass a law
authorizing a greater expenditure for some special
object, by providing ways and means exclusive of a
loan for the payment of interest and principal. Lot
teries were also prohibited as dangerous to the welfare
of the people.
It was impossible to avoid saying in the constitu
tion that taxation should be equal ; but the delegates
from that portion of the state covered by Spanish
grants refused to listen to any proposition subjecting
their real estate to taxation, while the bulk of the
population, who had no real estate nor anything that
could be taxed, enjoyed the benefits of a government
for which they, the Mexican population, paid. To
obviate this difficulty the assessors and boards of
supervisors were to be elected by the voters in the
county or town in which the property was situated,
and consequently influenced by them. This provis
ion was a defect of which the constitution-makers
were conscious, but for which at that time there
seemed no remedy. Some guaranty against oppress
ive taxation was required, and none better offered,
78 Suiter, Autobiog., 198-9; Broume, Consttt. Debates, 179-80; Owin, Memoir,
MS., 16.
298 POLITICAL HISTORY.
although it was plain that as the provision stood, it
could be made to protect the great and oppress the
small land-holders.
The legislature was forbidden to grant divorces, and
was required to pass a homestead law. All property,
real and personal, of married women, owned at the
date of marriage or afterward acquired by gift, devise,
or inheritance, was made separate property, and the
legislature was enjoined to pass laws for its registra
tion; and other laws clearly defining the rights of
wives in relation to property and other matters.
With regard to education, the legislature was re
quired to provide for a system of common schools, by
which a school should be kept up in each district
three months in the year; and any district neglecting
to sustain such a school should be deprived of its pro
portion of the public fund during such neglect. The
support of common schools was expected to be derived
from the sale of lands with which the state was in the
future to be supplied by congress. The position of
California was quite unlike that of other members of
the United States when demanding admission, having
Eassed through no territorial period, and having no
ind laws. Considerable time would elapse before it
could be known how land matters stood, how much
belonged to the former inhabitants, the nature of
their titles, and other questions likely to arise. But
the framers of the constitution could only proceed
upon the ground that congress would not be less
bountiful to California in the matter of school land
than it had been to Oregon and Minnesota. 79 Has-
79 1 have been at some trouble to find who first suggested our present lib
eral school land law. It seems that in 1846 James H. Piper, acting commis
sioner of the gen. land office, made a report to Robt J. Walker, sec. of the
treasury, on the expediency of making further provision for the support of
common schools in land, saying that it was attracting much attention, and
was certainly worthy of the most favorable consideration. Those states are
sparsely settled by an active, industrious, and enterprising people; who, how
ever, may not have sufficient means, independent of their support, to endow
or maintain public schools. In aid to this important matter, congress, at the
commencement of our land system, and when the reins of government were
held by the sages of the revolution, set apart one section out of every town
ship of 36 sq. miles. At that early day, this provision doubtless appeared
GOVERNMENT AND JUDICIARY. 299
tings made an effort to have the obligatory school term
extended to six months; but Gwin and Dimmick op
posed the amendment, and it was lost. The legisla
ture was required to take measures for the protection,
improvement, and disposition of such lands as congress
should grant for the use of a university, and to secure
the funds arising therefrom ; and should " encourage
by all suitable means the promotion of intellectual,
scientific, moral, and agricultural improvement."
As to the government of the state, its executive de
partment consisted of a governor, lieutenant-governor,
secretary of state, comptroller, treasurer, attorney-
general, and surveyor-general; the governor and lieu
tenant-governor to be elected by the people ; the
secretary to be appointed by the governor, with the
other officers chosen by consent of the senate, and
the joint vote of the two houses of the legislature.
The judiciary department was elective, 80 and consisted
of a supreme court, district courts, county courts, and
justices of the peace.
Among the miscellaneous provisions was one dis
franchising any one who should fight a duel with deadly
weapons, or assist in any manner at a duel. 81 The
munificent, but experience has proved it to be inadequate. He recommended
further grants. H. Ex. Doc., 9, vol. ii., 29th cong., 2d sess. Walker sent the
report to John W. Davis, speaker of the house. In the report of sec. Walker
for Dec. 1847, he refers to the subject again; and recommends the grant of a
school section in the centre of every quarter of a township, which would
bring the school-house within a point not exceeding a mile and a half from
the most remote inhabitant of such qr township. This applied first to Ore
gon, which was then under consideration as to land donations. H. Ex. Doc.,
6, p. 10 of Rept of Sec Treas., 29th cong., 1st sess. Addressed to Hon. Robt
C. Winthop, speaker of the house. In 1848, Walker again recommends the
grant of 4 sections in every township for school purposes, in each of the new
states, mentioning however, Or., Cal., and New Mexico. H. Ex Doc., 7,
vol. ii., 30th cong., 2d sess. The committee to which it was referred finally
decided upon two sections to every township. Gwin quoted from Walker s
report. Browne, Constit. Debates, 207
80 Du Hailly, in Revue des Devx Mondes, Feb 1 1859, 608-9, remarks
upon the judiciary being subject to the caprices and instabilities of elections
at short inter\ 7 als. There were seven in the convention opposed to it- among
whom was Crosby. Events in Cal., MS., 44.
81 During the discussions in the early part of the session, Jones and Tefft
had a wordy encounter which nearly resulted in a bloody one, but the w r ould-
be duellists were brought to a mutual apology by the interposition of Gwin,
whose knowledge of parliamentary usages was, though often paraded, really
of much use to the convention, as this incident illustrates
300 POLITICAL HISTORY.
question of a capital was avoided by requiring the
legislature to meet at San Jose until removed by law,
the consent of two thirds of all the members of both
branches of the legislature being necessary to its
removal.
When the committee on finance was instructed to
report on the compensation of members of the con
vention, Gwin summed up the condition of the revenue
of the country briefly to the effect that the new state
was in want of everything public buildings, court
houses, jails, roads, bridges, and all internal improve
ments prices were excessively high, there was not a
dollar of public money, nor could any be raised but by
levying taxes which the population was in no condition
to bear. Ranches were abandoned and the laborers
gone to the mines. There were consequently no
crops, and property that yielded $100,000 income
three years before was then yielding nothing. In the
mines the people could not be taxed, having no prop
erty but the gold they dug out of the earth, and needing
that to make improvements. The proposition was made
to lay before congress in a memorial, to accompany
the constitution, the condition of the people, and call
ing for support to a state government, either by donat
ing a part of the public domain, or appropriating from
the moneys collected in California from the customs
and sale of the public lands an amount sufficient for
the object. This Gwin thought would not be objected
to by congress, which in the case of fourteen other
states had paid the expenses of a territorial govern
ment for many years. The memorial which was
finally presented to congress with the constitution did
not make the demand proposed, and only very slightly
alluded to the fund created by customs collected in
California while in its transition state. 82 The schedule
82 1 have already several times alluded to this fund, but without giving its
entire history, which is this: In Oct. 1849, a Military Contribution tariff was
promulgated by the president, and established in the ports of Cal. The cus
tom-houses, which until then had remained in the hands of citizens, who
accounted to the military governor, or commodore of the Pacific squadron,
were now filled with army or navy officers, down to the period when, peace
CONVENTION WORK COMPLETED. 301
attached to the main instrument continued the exist
ing laws in force until altered or repealed by the legis-
being proclaimed, collectors were appointed by Mason, in his position of gov.
of Cal. , customs being collected 0:1 all foreign goods as directed in the tariff
of 184G the commodore of the Pacific squadron continuing the direction of
all matters relating to port regulations. A double necessity, says Riley,
impelled the gov. to this course; the country was in pressing need of these
foreign goods, and congress had established no port of entry on this coast; the
want of a more complete organization of the existing civil govt was daily in
creasing; and as congress had made no provision for supporting a territorial
govt in this country, it was absolutely necessary to create a fund for that
purpose from duties collected on these foreign goods. It is true, there was no
law of congress authorizing the collection of those duties, but at the same time
the laws forbade the landing of the goods until the duties were paid. Congress
had declined to legislate on the subject, and both the president and secretary
of the treasury acknowledged the want of power of the treasury department
to collect revenue in Cal. The gov. of Cal., therefore, assumed the respon
sibility of collecting this revenue for the support of the govt of this coun
try. Letter of Riley to Col J. Hooker, com g dept, asst adj. -gen. Pacific
division, in H. Ex. Doc., 31, i. no. 17, p. 814-29. The writer goes on to say
that in the interim between the signing of the treaty of peace and the exten
sion of the revenue laws over this country, it is a fair presumption that the
temporary regulations established by the executive authority continued in
force, so far as they conflicted with no treaties, or laws of the U. S. , or con
stitutional provisions; at any rate, that Mason had communicated his pro
ceedings to Washington, and met with no rebuke, from which he inferred
they were approved; in fact, that congress had entirely ignored the whole
case. The reason of this is obvious: as congress had failed to organize a
territorial govt here, all were aware the existing govt must continue in force,
and that it must have some means of support. Such was the extraordinary
origin and history of the civil fund, which began as a military contribution,
and after peace was continued solely by the will of a military officer, without
the instructions or even the notice of congress, but which congress permitted
to be applied as the military governors saw fit until the state govt was estab
lished, and then diverted into the U. S. treasury. In Aug. 1849, an attempt
was made to remove this money from the control of Riley, and to place it at
the disposition of the military commander who had had no responsibility in
its collection, and who of right can exercise no authority over it. It was the
correspondence on this subject which brought out the above statements.
Among other facts elicited was this, that when money was wanted by the
military department (formerly), on application a loan or temporary transfer
was made from the civil fund. Halleck also, in May 1849, complained that
it was difficult to keep the civil funds separate from the military appropria
tions. The reason was, that the army and navy officers found their pay so
inadequate to their expenses as to force them to make calls upon the civil
fund. That grim old fellow, Riley, refused to give up the money already
collected under his administration, and in his charge, to Gen. Smith, who had
certainly no right to demand it. On the 3d of Aug. the gov. appointed Maj.
Robert Allen treasurer of Cal , who in direct violation of his instructions trans
ferred $35,124.79 to the quartermaster s department, and $500 to Maj. Fitz
gerald, asst qr master. In Aug. the amounts due the civil fund from the
military dept was $10,000, transferred to Maj. Hardie for raising troops in
Or ; $70,000 to Naval Purser Forest, for the expenses of bringing immigrants
from Lower Cal.; $3,500 to Maj. Rich, and $200 to Lieut Warren; $10,804.50
transferred by Lieut Davidson to the qr master and commissary depts, and
$896.70 delivered to Capt. Ingall by the collector at San Pedro. Previous to
this, in 1848, Gen. Kearny appointed two sub-Indian agents, and paid them
from the civil fund, and there had been loaned $3,210 to officers of the navy.
302 POLITICAL HISTORY.
lature, and transferred all causes which might be
pending to the courts created by the constitution on
the admission of the state. It provided for its ratifi
cation by the people, at an election to be held Novem
ber 13th, and for the election at the same time of a
governor, lieutenant-governor, a legislature, and two
members of congress. Should the constitution be
adopted, the legislature should assemble at the seat of
government on the 15th of December, and proceed to
install the officers elect, to choose two senators to the
congress of the United States, and to negotiate for
money to pay the expenses of the state government.
By close application to business, day and night, 83
the constitution was brought to completion, and signed
on the 13th of October, thirty-one guns being fired
from the fort in honor of the occasion ; the last one for
the constitution of the new state of California. 84 It
was an instrument of which its makers might justly
be proud ; its faults being rather those of circumstance
None of this money had been accounted for in Aug. 1849, nor do I find any
evidetice that it ever was returned to the civil fund. In Sept. Riley author
ized the loan of $30,000 for the use of the pay dept of the army, from the fund
collected at Benicia. In Oct. $15,000 was loaned Maj. McKinstry, for the
use of the qr master s dept; and for Lieut Derby s use $3,000. One other
source of revenue, besides customs, was the money received from the rent of
the missions unauthorized, like the first all of which is to be found in the
document quoted above. See also Alia Cal., Dec. 15, 1849, and Frost s Hist.
Cat., 485-6. King, on his arrival, had to have a finger in the pie. He in
structed the collectors not to exact duties, but to receive deposits at the door
of the treasury, subject to the action of congress. On the 20th of June there
was half a million in the hands of the quartermaster, a part of which belonged
to the revenue, congress having extended the revenue laws to Cal. Riley had
always been of the opinion that the civil fund belonged in justice to the peo
ple of Cal., from whom it had been collected without a shadow of law, and
made several recommendations on the subject, some of which were that it
should be applied to school purposes and to public improvements. Neither
object ever received a dollar of it; but the money was ordered into the U. S.
treasury, after the expenses of the convention were paid out of it, which the
general took care should be liberal.
83 Among the relics of the convention preserved is a candlestick which
served to help illuminate its evening sessions.
8i Crosby mentions that Sutter had a great love for the noise of artillery,
and was much excited by the discharge of the cannon, exclaiming over and
over, This is the proudest day I ever saw ! Cal. Events, MS., 37. The gen
tle Swiss was mellow. See, further, Sac. Union, Sept. 1859; *Cal. Past and
Present, 181; 8. F. Alta, June 17, 1878; Roach, Statement, MS., 4; 8. F. Post,
June 29, 1878; Taylors Eldorado, i. 146-56; Frignet, 125 et seq.; Jenkins
U. S. Ex. Ex., 440; Sac. Reporter, Jan. 7, 1869; Willey s Per. Mem., MS.,
128-34.
PAY AND PLAY 303
than of judgment. The heterogeneous personnel of
the convention proved a safeguard rather than a draw
back; New York being forced to consult Mississippi,
Maryland to confer with Vermont, Rhode Island with
Kentucky, and all with California. Strangers to each
other when they met, in contending for the faith that
was in them they had become brothers, and felt like
congratulating each other on their mutual achiev-
raent. 85
Governor Riley had made no secret of his intention
to pay the expenses of the convention from the civil
fund, and on being visited by the delegates, en masse,
received them with his usual grim humor, and allowed
their not too modest demand of sixteen dollars per day,
and sixteen dollars for every twenty miles of travel in
coming and returning. The reporter of the proceed
ings received $10,000, he contracting to furnish one
thousand printed and bound copies in English, and one
quarter as many in Spanish, for that money. The
nearest newspaper office being in San Francisco, and
there lacking but one month to the time of election, a
courier was despatched post-haste to the Alia office to
procure the printing of copies 86 for immediate circula
tion for election purposes, together with a proclamation
by Governor Riley submitting the constitution and
an address to the people, prepared by Steuart, and
signed by the delegates. Then they all drew a breath
of relief, and voted to have a ball, in which men of
half a dozen nationalities, and almost as many shades
of complexion, trod the giddy mazes of the dance with
86 Lieut Hamilton made the handsomely engrossed copy of the constitu
tion, which was forwarded to congress, for $500. For the text of the funda
mental laws of Cal, see Cal. Statutes, 1850, 24-6; U. S. Sen. Doc. 28, viii. ; 31st
cong., 1st sess.; U. S. H. Misc. Doc., 44, i. 18-34; 31st cong., Istsess.; (7. S.
II. Ex. Doc. 39, vii. 17; 31st cong., 1st sess.; Browne, Consttt. Debates App., iii.-
xiii. ; HartneWs Convention, Original, MS., pts. 1-16; Am. Quart. Reg., iii. 575-
88; S. I. Friend, vii. 90; Simonin, Grand Quest., 324-36; Capron, 48-50; Poly
nesian, vi. 110. The autographs of the signers are to be found in the museum
of the Pioneer Society, S. F. In 1875 only 15 out of the 48 were living, and
the orator of the anniversary celebration for that year (Ross Browne) died a
few weeks later.
80 Footers Angeles in 1847, MS., 17-18; H. Ex. Doc. 31, i. no. 17, p.
845-6; Gregory, Guide, 11-46; Val, Doc., 35, 153-7.
304 POLITICAL HISTORY.
California senoras in striking costumes, whose dark
splendors were relieved here and there by a woman of
a blonde type and less picturesque attire.
In a few days the constitution was carried to every
mining camp and rancho in the land. 87 Candidates
took the field for office under it, should it be sanctioned
by the people, and made their speeches as in any
ordinary campaign. The democracy, whose delight it
always was to organize/ held their first party gather
ing in Portsmouth square, San Francisco, October
25th, Alcalde Geary acting as chairman. 88 The or
ganization, however, being suspected to be a piece of
political legerdemain to put in nomination for congress
a member of a clique, some of the solid, old-fashioned
democrats in attendance offered a resolution to invite
the towns in the interior to participate in the nomina
tions, which resolution being adopted, a convention
was the result, and Edward Gilbert was nominated
for that position. Other democrats gave as a reason
for introducing party politics at this period in the his
tory of the state, that T. Butler King, having resigned
his place in the lower house of congress, was aiming
at the senate, expecting to be elected by a no-party
majority, and they wished to defeat these aspirations.* 9
Large assemblages were held in Sacramento of the
no-party politicians, the object of which was to select
and present candidates for election to both houses of
the legislature, and also to obtain the United States
senator ship for some man of that district. 90 The can-
87 Rather at a loss to some of the most active of the prefects and sub-
prefects whose duty it was to disseminate the political news. Crosby says he
spent about $1,400 for which he was never reimbursed. Events in Cat., MS.,
56; Fernandez, Doc., 4; Ang. Arch., iii. 277-8; Taylor, Eldorado, i. 159-bU
88 O. P. Sutton, McMillan, ,Thos J. Agnew, John McVickar, W. H. Jones,
E. V. Joyce, and Annis Merrill acted as vice-presidents; J. Ross Browne,
Joseph T. Downey, Daniel Cronin, and John H. McGlynn as secretaries.
Oakland Transcript, March 5, 1873; Solano Valkjo Democrat, Feb. 11, 1871;
Upham, Notes, 2(i, 25.
89 Geary, Van Voorhies, and Sutton were opposed to King. Siitton, State
ment, MS., 9. St Chupostom, in Placer Times, Nov. 17, 1849, condemns
the formation of parties, and says King ought to have sense enough nou to
set the ball rolling. Polynesian, vi. 98.
w A mass meeting for these purposes in Sac. was held on the 29th of Oct.
ASPIRANTS FOR OFFICE. 305
didates in the field for the executive office were Peter
H. Burnett, William M. Steuart, John W. Geary,
John A. Sutter, and Winfield S. Sherwood. Burnett
was superior judge at the time, having been appointed
by Governor Riley to that position on the 13th of
August. He was in Monterey during the session of
the constitutional convention, and being satisfied that
it would go before the people and be adopted, an
nounced himself a candidate in September, and re
turned to San Jose before the close of the proceedings
to commence a canvass. Sherwood 91 proposed that
Burnett and himself should submit their claims to a
committee of mutual friends, who should decide which
should withdraw; but this Burnett declined. The
election showed that he knew his strength, the vote
standing: Burnett, 6,716; Sherwood, 3,188; Sutter,
2,201; Geary, 1,475; Steuart, 619. The office of
lieutenant-governor was sought by John McDougal
and A. M. Winn, the former being elected.
The 13th of November, the day appointed for the
election, was one of storm, and the vote in consequence
was light. The population of California at this period
was estimated at 107,000; the number of Americans
in the country 76,000; of foreigners 18,000; of natives
13,000. The whole vote polled was 12,064 for and
811 against the constitution ; or the vote of about one
sixth of the American inhabitants. It was a satis-
in front of the City hotel; S. C. Hastings, prest; Albert Priest, vice-prest;
W. R. Grimshaw, sec.; W. M. Steuart, John McDougal, E. Gilbert, J. R.
Snyder, W. S. Sherwood, P. A. Morse, G. B. Tingley, Edward J. C. Kewen.
The meeting adjourned to the 30th, when it put in nomination for state sena
tors John Bidwell, E. O. Crosby, Henry E. Robinson, and Thos J. Green;
and for the assembly Thos J. White, John F. Williams, R. Gale, E. W. Mc-
Kinstry, P. B. Cornwall, George B. Tingley, John Bigler, J. P. Long, and
John T. Hughes. The meeting divided and another nominating committee
reported another ticket, which was adopted. For state senators, Bidwell,
Robinson, Crosby, and Harding Bigelow. For assemblymen, Cardwell,
Cornwall, Fowler, Ford, Walthal, W. B. Dickinson, James Green, T. M.
Ames, and A. K. Berry. Placer Times, Nov. 3 and Dec. 1, 1849.
91 Sherwood was a native of Washington co., N. Y. He had served in the
N. Y. legislature, and although awkward in appearance was possessed of
good acquirements and ready wit. He was still a young man. In 1852 he
was a democratic presidential elector. S. F. Altn, July 24, 1852; Havilah,
Courier, Jan. 12, 1867; Tinkham, Hist. Stockton, 124.
HIST. CAL., VOL. VI. 20
306 POLITICAL HISTORY.
factory majority of those who took enough interest in
the future of the country to go to the polls. Edward
Gilbert and George W. Wright were elected repre
sentatives in congress. State senators and represent
atives were also elected.
The schedule to the constitution provided that if
the instrument should be ratified, the legislature
should meet on the 15th of December, elect a presi
dent pro tempore, proceed to complete the organization
of that body, and to install all the officers of state as
soon as practicable. Three days previous to the
meeting of the legislature, Governor Riley had issued
a proclamation declaring the constitution submitted
to the people in November to be "ordained and estab
lished as the constitution of the state of California."
On the 20th Burnett was installed governor, General
Riley having by proclamation laid down that office on
the same day, 92 together with that of his secretary of
state, Halleck. The civil appointments made under
him expired gradually, as the state government came
into action in all its branches. 93
The services of General Riley to California were of
the highest value, combining, as he did, in his admin
istration the firmness of a military dictatorship, with
a statesmanlike tact in leading the people to the
results aimed at by them, and in a manner to correct
any leaning toward independence, but uniting them
firmly with the general government by showing them
their dependence upon it. He continued to reside at
Monterey until July 1850, when he returned to the
**Supp. Pacific News, Dec. 27, 1849; Wilmington Journal, May 27, 1865.
Petef iialstead, the erratic and talented son of a distinguished father, was
a candidate for congressman on the whig side of politics. He was from New
Jersey, and died in New York subsequently, being assassinated in a house of
ill-fame. Gwin, Mem., MS., 129.
93 The severa 1 proclamations are given entire in Burnett, Recoil., 359-60;
Pico, Doc., i. 228; San Luis Ob., Arch., sec. 19; Hall, Hist. San Jose, 218;
Hittell, S. F., 145-6. A thanksgiving proclamation was issued by Gov. Riley,
setting apart the 29th day of Nov. to be kept in making a general and public
acknowledgment of gratitude to the Supreme Ruler of the universe for his
kind and fostering care during the year that was past. //. Ex. Doc. 31, i.
no. 17, p. 867; Pico, Doc., i. 198; Aug. Arch., iii. 281; San Jose Pioneer, June
23, IS77.
PRESENTATION AND BANQUET. 307
states, bearing with him tangible proofs of the esteem
in which he was held by the citizens of that town, in
the form of a massive gold medal, and a heavy chain
composed of nuggets of gold in their native shapes. 9 *
Thus ended with a banquet and a presentation one of
the most important periods through which the Cali
fornia country was to pass.
94 These gifts were presented on the occasion of a farewell banquet given
to General Riley at the Pacific house at Monterey, where 200 covers were
laid, and the ceremonies were in an imposing style. Gen. T. H. Bowen pre
sided. The city of Monterey voted him a medal of gold weighing one pound,
which was presented to him by Maj. P. A. Roach. It cost $600. On one
side it bore the arms of the city; on the other, this legend: Ihe man who
came to do his duty, and who accomplished his purpose. Id., April 20, 1878.
Canta Cruz Sentinel, July 23, 1870; Quigley, frisk Race, 343. Some citizens of
S. F. had previously presented him with a gold snuff-box. Pacific JStio*, <an.
1, 1850.
CHAPTER XIII.
POLITICAL HISTORY.
1849-1850.
THE FIRST LEGISLATURE QUESTION OF STATE CAPITAL MEETING or THE
LEGISLATURE AT SAN JOSE ORGANIZATION AND ACTS PERSONNEL OF
THE BODY STATE OFFICERS FURTHER STATE CAPITAL SCHEMES CALI
FORNIA IN CONGRESS IMPENDING ISSUES SLAVERY OR No SLAVERY
ADMISSION INTO THE UNION CALIFORNIA REJOICES.
THE first legislature of the state of California con-
O
sisted of sixteen senators and thirty-six assemblymen.
The rainy season which had set in on the 28th of Oc
tober, 1849, was at its height by the middle of Decem
ber, and did not close until the 22d of March, during
which period thirty-six inches of water fell upon the
thirsty earth. 1 The roads were rendered nearly im
passable, and the means of travel, otherwise than on
horseback, being limited, it was with difficulty that
the members made their way to San Jose from their
different districts, no quorum being present on the
first and second days.
The people of San Jose had sent as commissioners
Charles White and James F. Reed to Monterey, dur
ing the session of the constitutional convention, to
endeavor to secure the location of the capital at their
town. They were compelled to pledge themselves to
provide a suitable building for the meetings of the first
legislature, upon the chance that the capital might be
fixed there. The legislative building furnished was
1 Dr Logan, at Sac., kept a rain-gauge, from which the fall for the season
was taken.
(308)
THE FIRST LEGISLATURE. 309
an unfinished box, sixty feet long and forty feet wide,
two stories in height, having a piazza in front. The
upper story, devoted to the use of the assembly, was
simply one large room, approached by a flight of stairs
from the senate-chamber, a hall forty by twenty feet
on the ground-floor; the remainder of the space being
occupied by the rooms of the secretary of state, and
various committees. 2 For the first few weeks, owing
to the incompleteness of their hall, the senators held
their meetings in the house of Isaac Branham, on the
south-west corner of the plaza.
The crudity of the arrangements occasioned much
dissatisfaction, and on the 19th a bill to immediately
remove the capital to Monterey passed its first read
ing, but was laid over, and the business of the session
allowed to proceed. 3 The senate was organized on the
2 This house was destroyed by fire April 29, 1853. S. F. Argonaut, Dec. 1,
1877.
3 There being no county organizations, the members of the legislature were
elected by districts. San Diego district sent to the senate E. Kirby Chamber
lain; San Joaquin, D. F. Douglas, B. S. Lippincott, T. L. Vermeule, Nelson
Taylor, and W. D. Fair; San Jose, W. R. Bassham; Sonoma, M. G. Vallejo;
Monterey, Selim E. Wood worth; Santa Barbara, Pablo de la Guerra; Los
Angeles, A. W. Hope; Sac., E. O. Crosby, John Bid well, H. E. Robinson, and
Thomas Jefferson Green; S. F., N. Bennett, G. B. Post, D. C. Broderick.
Post resigned, and E. Hydenfeldt was elected to fill his place. Broderick
was not elected until Jan. 1850. Six of the senators were from New York
state; namely, John Bidwell, born 1819, immigrated to Pa, Ohio, Mo., and
thence in 1841 to California; E. O. Crosby, aged 34, came to Cal. in 1848; D.
C. Broderick, born in D. C., but brought up in New York, came to Cal. in
1849; B. S. Lippincott, aged 34, born in New York, came out with N. Y.
Vol. from New Jersey; Thomas L. Vermeule, born in New York in 1814,
came to Cal. in Nov. 1849; he resigned his seat; S. E. Woodworth, born in
New York in 1815, began life as a sailor in 1832, entered the navy in 1838,
came to Cal. overland through Or. in 1846, resigned his commission in Oct.
1849, and was elected senator for two years in Nov. He was a son of the
author of the Old Oaken Bucket. Connecticut furnished 2 senators: E. K.
Chamberlain, born 1805, removed to New York in 1815, to Pa in 1829, to
Cincinnati subsequently, where he studied medicine, served during the Mexi
can war as army surgeon, and accompanied the Boundary Line Commission
to Cal. in 1849; C. Robinson, born in Conn., removed at an early age to La,
studied law, but engaged in mercantile pursuits, and came to Cal. on the first
mail steamer in Feb. 1849. Cal. furnished 2 senators: Pablo de la Guerra,
born at Santa Barbara in 1829. He entered the public service at the age of
19, being appointed administrator-gen., which position he held until 1846.
M. G. Vallejo was born at Monterey in 1807. In 1824 he commenced his
military career, as a cadet, and served as lieut, lieut-col, and commander of
northern Cal. He founded the town of Sonoma. E. Heydenfeldt was born
in S. C. in 1821, removed to Alabama in 1841, to La in 1844, and to Cal. in
1849. D. F. Douglas was born in Tenn. in 1821, removed to Ark. in 1836.
Three years afterward he fought a duel with Dr William Howell, killing his
310 POLITICAL HISTORY
17th, E. Kirby Chamberlain being elected president
pro tern. On the same day the assembly elected
Thomas J. White speaker. 4 On the 20th the governor
and lieutenant-governor were sworn in by Kimble H.
Dirnmick, judge of the court of first instance of San
Jose. Immediately thereafter the legislature in con
vention proceeded to the election of United States
antagonist. He was imprisoned over a year, and when liberated returned to
Tenn., but afterward removed to Miss, and engaged in Choctaw speculation,
moved with these Indians as their commissary, but finally lost money, and
went to N. 0., where he was clerk to a firm; from N. O. he went to Texas
in the winter of 1845-6, and in Mex. war joined Hay s regiment. From
Mex. he came to Cal. in 1848. W. D. Fair was born in Va, and came to
Cal. via Rio Grande and Gila route in 1846 from Miss., as president of the
Mississippi Rangers.
4 The assemblymen came from the several districts as follows: San Diego,
O. S. Witherby; Los Angeles, M. Martin, A. P. Crittenden; Santa Barbara,
J. Scott, J. M. Covarrubias; San Luis Obispo, H. A. Tefft; Monterey, T. R.
Per Lee, J. S. Gray; San Jose 1 , Joseph Aram, Benjamin Cory, Elam Brown;
S. F., W. Van Voorhies, Edmund Randolph, J. H. Watson, Alexander Pat
terson, Alfred Wheeler, L. Stowell, and Clarke; Sonoma, J. E. Brackett, J.
S. Bradford; Sac., P. B. Cornwall, H. C. Card well, John T. Hughes, E. W.
McKinstry, J. Bigler, George B. Tingley, Madison Walthall, Thomas J.
White, John F. Williams; San Joaquin, B. F. Moore, R. W. Heath, D. P.
Baldwin, Charles M. Creaner, J. S. K. Ogier, James C. Moorehead, J. F.
Stephens, Van Beascheten, Crane, and Stewart, 4 of these being substitutes
for members who resigned during the session. Those who resigned were
Martin, Van Voorhies, Cornwall, and speaker White. Joseph Aram was a na
tive of N. Y., who came to Cal. in 1846. Elam Brown, born in N. Y. in 1797,
removed to Mo., and from there to Cal. in 1846. E. B. Bateman immigrated
from Mo. in 1847, to Stockton, Cal. D. P. Baldwin, born in Ala, came to
Cal. in May 1849, and resided at Sonora, in what is now Tuolumne co. A.
P. Crittenden, born in Lexington, Ky, married in Va, settled in Texas in
1839, left his family in Tex. and came to Los Angeles, Cal., in 1849. B.
Cory, born in Ohio in 1825, came to Cal. in 1847, and resided at San Jose.
Jose M. Covarrubias, born in France, came to Cal. in 1834, and resided at
Sta Barbara. James A. Gray, born in Phil., came to Cal. in 1846, in N. Y.
regt. John F. Hughes, born in Louisville, Ky, came to Cal. in 1849. Thomas
J. Henly, born in Ind., came to Cal. in 1849, through the South Pass; resided
at Sac. Joseph C. Moorehead, born in Ky, came to Cal. in 1846. Elisha
W. McKinstry, born in Detroit, Mich., came to Cal. in 1849; resided at Sut-
ter. J. S. K. Ogier, born in S. C., removed to N. 0., and thence to Cal. in
1848. Edmund Randolph, born in Va, migrated via N. 0. to S. F. in 1849.
Geo. B. Tingley, born in 1815, in Ohio, came to Cal. in 1849. John Cave, born
in Ky. Alfred Wheeler, born in N. Y. city, in 1820, came to Cal. in 1849;
resided at S. F. Marin Co. Hist., 210-12; Colusa Sun, in Southern Calif or-
nian, May 22, 1873; Anthropographic Chart, 1867; Cal. State Register, 1857.
The secretary of the senate was J. F. Howe; asst sec., W. B. Olds; enrolling
clerk, A. W. Lockett; engrossing clerk, B. Dexter resigned April 10, 1850
succeeded by F. T. Eldridge; sergt-at-arms, T. J. Austin; door-keeper, E.
Russell. The clerk of the assembly was E. H. Thorp, who, being elected
clerk of the supreme court Feb. 21st, was succeeded by John Nugent; asst
clerk, F. H. Sandford; enrolling clerk, A. D. Ohr, appointed asst clerk, and
Sandford enrolling clerk in Jan. Engrossing clerk, C. Mitchell; transcribing
clerk elected in Jan., G. 0. McMullin; sergt-at-arms, S. W. Houston; door
keeper, J. H. Warrington. Hayes* Scraps, Cal. Notes, iii. 198.
ELECTION OF SENATORS. 311
senators, this being the object of the so early meeting
of that body, the candidates being upon the ground,
plying their trade of blandishments, including an inex
haustible supply of free liquor. 5
Of candidates there were several, Thomas Butler
King, John C. Fremont, William M. Gwin, Thomas
J. Henley, John W. Geary, Robert Semple, and H.
W. Halleck. On the first count Fremont received
twenty-nine out of forty-six votes, and was declared
elected. On the second count Gwin received twenty-
two out of forty-seven votes, increased to twenty- four
at the third count, and he was declared elected. Hal
leck ran next best ; then Henley. King received ten
votes on the first count, the number declining to two,
and at last to one. 6 Charges were preferred against
him, and he was not wanted because he w r as thought
* O
not to be so much interested in California as in his
own personal aggrandizement. Fremont enjoyed the
popularity which came from his connection with the
conquest, and his subsequent trial in Washington, in
which he had the sympathies of the people. Gwin
5 It has always been alleged that the American-Californians of an early
period drank freely, and this body has been styled the legislature of a thou
sand drinks. However this may have been, it was the best legislature Cali
fornia ever had. For what they drank, the members returned thanks. All
were honest there was nothing to steal. Their pay was no inducement, as
they could make thrice as much elsewhere. Furthermore, this was before
Calif ornians began to sell themselves as political prostitutes. In Curriys In
cidents, 7, I find it stated that the first legislature was chiefly made up of the
* chivalry, who were aggressive, and so on, but the evidence is the other
way. I should say that chiefly they were hard-working men. The candidates
for the U. S. senatorship kept ranches, as they were termed, or open houses,
where all might enter, drink freely, and wish their entertainer s election. But
the legislature of a thousand drinks received its designation, not on account
of this prodigal custom, but through the facetiousnass of Green of Sac. , who,
for lobbying purposes, kept a supply of liquors near the state-house, and
whenever the legislature adjourned, he cried to the members, Come let us
take a thousand drinks. Crosby says : There were a few roistering men in
the legislature, more in the assembly, the senate being a small body, and
composed of very circumspect gentlemen. Early Events, 61-2; Fernandez,
Cal.. MS., 165; Watsonville Pdjaro Times, April 29, 1865; Owen, Sta Clara
Valley, 10; Hayes* Scraps, Cal. Notes, v. 30; Sac. Record Union, March 27, 1875;
Hall, San Jose Hist., 220; Peckfiam, Biog., in San Jost Pioneer, July 28,
1877, 30.
6 Jour. Cal. Leg., 1850, 23-26; Petaluma Argus, Sept. 12, 1873; Polynesian,
vi. 150; Amer. Quart. Reg., iv. 515; Sup. S. F. Pac. News, Dec. 27, 1849;
TuthM, Cal., 76-7; Cal. Jour. Sen., 1850, 38-9; ld. t 1851, 19-21.
312 POLITICAL HISTORY.
was no less selfish in his aspirations than King; but
there was this difference : he was an abler man, cooler
and more 1 crafty. Furthermore, while King cared
only for himself and for the present, Gwin s selfishness
was less proximate and prominent. He had a distinct
object in view, which concerned the future of the coun
try. His sympathy with the fire-eaters of the south
was well understood, and more than anything else
elected him ; for in the then existing struggle between
the north and south in congress, the northern men in
the legislature saw that to elect two senators with
anti-slavery sentiments would prevent the admission
of the state. Conceding that honesty was his best
policy, his fitness for the position was admitted, while
his personal interests, it was believed, would lead him
to labor for the good of California.
On the 21st Governor Burnett delivered his inaugu
ral message to the legislature. "The first question
you have to determine," said he, "is whether you will
proceed at once with the general business of legisla
tion, or await the action of congress upon the question
of our admission into the union." Upon this he
made an argument which was conclusive of their right
to proceed; made some comments on the science of
law; cautioned them concerning the "grave and deli
cate subject of revenue," informing them that the ex
penses of the state government for the first year would
probably exceed half a million dollars; recommended
a direct tax, to be received in California gold at six
teen dollars per ounce; advised the exclusion of free
negroes from the state; and made suggestions touch
ing the judiciary. It is a verbose document, charac
terized by no special ability. The exclusion of free
negroes was always a hobby of Burnett s. When he
revised the Oregon fundamental laws in 1844, he
introduced the same measure against negroes, which
was finally incorporated in the constitution of that
state, where it remains to this day, a dead letter.
The negro had never so great an enemy as his former
GOVERNOR BURNETT. 313
master, with whom there was no compromise , it was
master or nothing. Burnett had been brought up in
a slave state, and although he had resigned the privi
leges of master, he could not brook the presence of
the enslaved race in the character of freedmen. Then,
too, if to exclude black slaves was a popular measure,
to exclude black freemen must be more popular, and
popularity was by no means to be ignored. There
was a good deal of apprehension among men of Bur
nett s class, who were alarmed at the rumor that many
southern men designed bringing their slaves to work
in the mines, taking the risk of their becoming free.
In point of fact, a good many persons of the African
race were brought to California in 1849 and 1850,
who being thus made free, asserted their rights and
remained free, often acquiring comfortable fortunes
and becoming useful citizens. As soon as it became
established by experience that slavery could not exist
in California, even for a short time, the importation
of negroes ceased, and there was no need of a law for
their exclusion, and the preservation of society from
the evils apprehended from their presence. But the
effort to maintain the right of the master to the slave 7
7 An advertisement appeared in the Jackson Mississippian, of April 1, 1850,
headed, California, the Southern Slave Colony, inviting citizens of the slave-
holding states wishing to go to Cal. to send their names, number of slaves,
period of contemplated departure, etc., to the Southern Slave Colony, Jack
son, Miss. It was stated that the design of the friends of the enterprise was
to settle in the richest mining and agricultural portions of Cal., and to se
cure the uninterrupted enjoyment of slave property. The colony was to
comprise about 5,000 white persons, and 10,000 slaves. The manner of effect
ing the organization was to be privately imparted. Placer Times, May 1, 1850.
Under the influence of the governor s message, and their apprehensions, the
assembly passed a bill excluding free negroes, which was indefinitely post
poned in the senate. Jour. Cal. Leg., 1850, 1232-3, 347. On the 23d of May
a colored man named Lawrence was married to a colored woman, Margaret,
hired out to service by a white man named William Marr, who claimed her
as his slave. Early on the following morning Marr forced the woman, by
threats, and showing a pistol, to leave her husband and go with him. He
afterward offered to resign her on payment of $1,000. Placer Times, May 27,
1850. A white man named Best brought a colored woman, Mary, to Nevada,
Cal., in 1850, from Mo. He was a cruel master, but she remained with him
until he returned in 1854, when she borrowed money to purchase her freedom.
Soon after she married Harry Dorsey, a colored man, and live I happily with
him until her death in 1864. -Nevada Gazette, Sept. 3, 1884. Charles, a
colored man, came to Cal. as the slave of Lindal Hayes. He escaped, and
was brought before Judge Thomas on a writ of habeas corpus, and discharged,
314 POLITICAL HISTORY.
was not relinquished for a number of years, as will be
seen hereafter.
On the 22d and succeeding days contributions were
made to a state library of the Natural History of the
State of New York, and reports upon the common
schools and agriculture of that state, Dana s Mineral
ogy, Fremont s Geographical Memoir and Map, the Mier
Expedition, and a copy of the Bible. If any of the
members found time to look between the covers of
these improving books, it does not appear in the jour
nals.
An election of state officers resulted in making
Richard Roman, treasurer; John S. Houston, comp
troller; Edward J. C. Kewen, attorney-general; 8 and
Charles A. Whiting, surveyor-general. S. C. Has
tings was elected chief justice of the supreme court,
and Henry A. Lyons and Nathaniel Bennett associ
ate judges. There was not so much as a quire of
writing paper, an inkstand, or a pen belonging to the
state, nor any funds with which to purchase them.
No contract had been made for printing, and each sena-
the judge maintaining that under the laws of Mexico, which prevailed at the
time of his arrival, he was free. The constitution of Cal. forbade slavery
also; and the man having been freed by the Mexican law could not be, in
any case, seized as a slave. On the 24th of May Charles was brought up for
breach of the peace, charged with assault on Hayes, and resistance to the
sheriff. It turned out that the sheriff had no warrant, and that Charles hav
ing been declared a freeman was justified in defending himself from assault
by Hayes, and the unauthorized officers who assisted him. Counsellor
Zabriskie argued the law; also J. W. Winans; Justice Sackett discharged the
prisoner. Placer Times, May 27, 1850; 8. F. Pac. News, May 29, 1850; Fays
Statement, 18-21. In Aug. 1850, one Galloway, from Mo., arrived in Cal.
with his slave Frank, whom he took to the mines, whence he escaped in the
spring of 1851, going to S. F. Galloway found him in March, and locked
him up in the Whitehall building on Long wharf. A writ of habeas corpus
was issued in Frank s behalf by Judge Morrison, the negro stating that he
believed Galloway meant to take him on board a vessel to convey him to the
states. Byrne and McGay, and Halliday and Saunders, were employed in
the interest of the slave, and Frank Pixley for the master, who alleged that
he was simply travelling with his attendant, and meant to leave the state
soon. But the judge held that Galloway could not restrain Frank of his lib
erty, as he was not a fugitive slave, but if brought at all to the state by Gal
loway, was so brought without his consent. He was allowed to go free. A Ua
Cal, April 2, 1851; S. F. Courier, March 31, 1851. There were many slaves
in the mines in 1 85 1 , and many appeals in court for the reclamation of slaves.
Borthwick, 164-5; Hayes Scraps, Angeles, MS., i. 28.
8 Kewen resigned in 1850, and James A. McDougall was elected to fill the
vacancy.
THE POOR LAW-MAKERS 315
tor had ordered a copy of the governor s message for
liis individual use In this strait a joint resolution
that the secretary of state, comptroller, judges of the
supreme court, and all other state officers should have
power to procure the necessary blank books, station
ery, and furniture for their offices, was offered and
lost. The weather, their accommodations, and their
poverty together were almost more than men who
had sacrificed their own interests to perform a public
duty were able to bear; but they sturdily refused to
adjourn, taking only three days at the Christinas holi
days in which to recreate, and wait for printing pro
posals.
To lighten their hearts the inhabitants of San Jose
gave them a ball on the 27th of December, in the
assembly-chamber, 9 and hither came the beauty and
chivalry of California, at least as much of it as could
get there through a drenching rain, on a Liliputian
steamboat, from Benicia, and by whatever means they
had from other directions. About the 1st of January
they settled down to the work before them.
Green, the irrepressible senator to whom everything
was a huge joke, who had been elected in a frolic, and
thought legislation a comedy, had very inappropriately
been placed at the head of the finance committee, and
brought in a bill for a temporary loan at ten per cent
per annum, when the lowest bank rate was five per
cent per month. While the legislature was struggling
with the problem of how to get money for current
expenses, Michael Reese, long a prominent money
bags of San Francisco, made a suggestion that they
pass a bill authorizing the issue of treasury notes,
payable in six or twelve months, with interest at the
lowest current rate, and in small denominations, which
hotel-keepers would accept for board, promising to
take some of them himself for money he did not say
9 Annals S. F., 237; Cal State Register, 1857, 189; S. F. Pac. News, April
27, 1850; Hayes 1 Scraps, An<jeles, i. 15; Oakland Transcript, in West Coast Sig
nal, May 27, 1874; S. F. Argonaut, Dec. 1, 1877.
316 POLITICAL HISTORY.
at the rate of fifty cents on the dollar. An act author
izing a loan of $200, 000, to pay the immediate demands
on the treasury until a permanent fund could be raised,
passed, and was approved January 5th, proposals to
be received until the 25th, the loan to be for a term
of not less than six, nor more than twelve years. An
other act was passed in February creating a tempo
rary state loan, authorizing the treasurer to issue the
bonds of the state in sums of $100 and upwards to
$1,000, payable in six months, and not exceeding in
the aggregate $300,000, with interest at three per
cent per month. The bonds were to remain at par
value, be received for taxes, and redeemed as soon as
there was sufficient money in the treasury. 10
Laws, enacted for the collection of revenue, taxed
all real and personal estate, excepting only that de
voted to public uses and United States property,
exempting the amount of the holder s indebtedness,
and exempting the personal property of widows and
orphan children to the amount of $1,000 each. Money
was construed to be personal property, and incorporated
companies were liable to be taxed on their capital.
The amount levied for the year 1850 was fifty cents
on every $100 worth of taxable property, and a poll
tax of $5 on every male inhabitant over twenty-one
and under fifty years of age. It was a peculiarity of
California at that period that there were few men
here fifty years old, excepting the elders of the native
Californians. The argonauts were all in their prime.
Courts of second ana third instance were abolished,
and courts of first instance retained until the district
courts should be organized. Nine judicial districts
were created, the first comprising the counties of San
Diego and Los Angeles; the second Santa Barbara
and San Luis Obispo; the third Monterey, Santa
Cruz, Santa Clara, and Contra Costa; the fourth San
Francisco; the fifth Calaveras, San Joaquin, Tuol-
l *Cal. Statutes, 1850, 53-4, 458; Crosby, Events in Gal, MS., 63; S. F. Alto,
Jan 14, 1850
COUNTIES AND THEIE BOUNDARIES. 317
umne, and Mariposa; the sixth Sacramento and El
Dorado; the seventh Marin, Sonoma, Napa, Solano,
and Mendocino; the eighth Yolo, Sutter, and Yuba;
the ninth Butte, Colusa, Trinity, and Shasta. The
judges were to be elected by the people, and commit
sioned by the governor. Besides the supreme court
elected by the legislature, which should hold its ses
sions at the seat of government after holding first one
special term at San Francisco, there was created the
municipal court of superior judges for the city of San
Francisco, consisting of a chief justice and two assor
ciate justices. Justices of the peace attended to minor
causes. Crosby was chairman of the judiciary com
mittee, and made an able report on the adoption of
the common law, as against the civil law, as the rule
governing the decisions of the courts in the absence of
statutory law. 11
De la Guerra was chairman of the committee on
counties and their boundaries, for the senate, and
Cornwall for the assembly. The state was divided
into twenty-seven counties, and a commission ap
pointed to report the derivation and definition of their
several names, of which Vallejo was the chief, and
made an interesting report. 19 No objection seems to
have been offered by the inhabitants to the boundaries,
unless in the case of Monterey district, which in Au
gust 1849 had petitioned the local legislature against a
proposed division. However, the state legislature re
ceived two petitions from Santa Cruz, and from 141
Americans, headed by A. A. Hecox, and another
from nineteen native Californians, headed by Juan
Perez, asking for a separate county, which was set off
in accordance with a report of a joint delegation from
Monterey and San Jose. 13
11 Crosby says there was quite an element of civil law in the legislature,
which naturally might be, as the foreign element was chiefly descended from
the Latin races. Being a New Yorker, he favored the English common law.
His report was scanned by Bennett, and being sent to members of the bar in
that state, he received as a testimonial a handsome seal engraved with his
crest. Rockwell, Span, and Mex. Law, 506.
l *Jour. Cal Leg., 1850, 523-7.
13 Santa Cruz Sentinel, Aug. 1, 1868; Jour. Cal Leg., 92.
318 POLITICAL HISTORY.
The county seats were established at the principal
towns, except in the cases of Marin and Mendocino,
attached to Sonoma for judicial purposes; and Colusa
and Trinity attached to Shasta until organized, some
of the northern counties being left to choose their own
seats of justice. 14 The expenses of county govern
ments were to be defrayed out of licenses collected in
them, upon every kind of trade and business except
mining by citizens of California. 15 County elections
were to be held on the first Monda} 7 of April 1852,
and on the same day of every second year thereafter;
but the annual state election for members of the as
sembly, and other officers required to be chosen by
the qualified electors of the state or of districts, was
fixed for the first Monday in October.
The militia law declared subject to enrolment for
military duty all free white men between the ages of
eighteen and forty-five, excepting such as had served
a full term in the army or navy, or were members of
volunteer companies within the state. The militia
and independent companies were organized into four
divisions and eight brigades ; the governor to be com
mand er-in-chief, who might appoint two aides-de-camp,
with the rank of colonels of cavalry; but the legisla
ture should elect the major and brigadier-generals, one
adjutant and one quartermaster general, with the rank
of brigadier-general, all to be commissioned by the
14 To be more explicit, and preserve some early names: In San Diego, Los
Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, Santa Cruz, S. F., Sac.,
Napa, and Sonoma, the county seats bad the same name as the county. Of.
Santa Clara, San Jose was made the county seat; Contra Costa, Martinez;
Solano, Benicia; Yolo, Fremont; El Dorado could choose between Coloma
and Placerville, and took the latter; Sutter, Oro; Yuba, Marys ville; Butte
had to choose between Butte and Chico, and took the latter; Colusa was at
tached to Butte co. ; Shasta, Reading; Trinity was attached to Shasta; Cala-
veras was first given Pleasant Valley for a county seat, but it was changed a
few weeks later to Double Springs; San Joaquin, Stockton; Tuolumne, Stew
art, formerly known as Sonoran Camp; Mariposa, Aqua Fria. An act was
passed providing for the removal and permanent location of the seats of jus
tice, as required by the people.
15 A law was enacted taxing foreign miners $20 per month as part of the
revenue of the state, until the gov. should be officially informed of the pas
sage of a law by the U. S. congress assuming the control of the mines of the
state. Gal. Statutes, 1850, 221-2.
MILITARY MATTERS. 319
governor. All persons liable to enrolment, and not
members of any company, were required to pay two
dollars annually into the county treasury. The money
thus collected was called the military fund, which was
increased by the exemption tax of minors required of
their parents or guardians, and applied solely to the
payment of the expenses of that department of the
government, including salaries of officers. 16 The four
major-generals of division elected were Thomas J.
Green, John E. Brackett, David F. Douglas, and
Joshua H. Bean, in the order here given. The gen
erals of brigade were J. H. Eastland and William M.
Winn, 1st division; Robert Semple and Major Mc
Donald, 2d division; John E. Andison and D. P.
Baldwin, 3d division; Thomas H. Bowen and J. M.
Covarrubias, 4th division. T. R. Per Lee was chosen
adjutant and Joseph G. Moorehead quartermaster-
general. Only these last two officers drew any salary.
In the following October, the Indians being trouble
some in El Dorado county, the governor called on the
sheriff of that county. William Rogers, to raise troops
to operate against them, and the legislature of 1851
passed laws providing for the payment of Rogers as
major, and of the troops employed in two expeditions
against the Indians, but took no notice of generals,
who remained in office merely for the distinction of
their rank. Nor was the law amended for many
years; but in 1872 the organized, uniformed troops
of the state were the subject of legislation which
converted them into the present National Guard, con
sisting of thirty-two infantr}^ six cavalry, and two
16 Cal Statutes, 1850, 190-6. This law was several times revised, and in
1872 took its present form. Cal. Codes, 154-84. Only two officers were
salaried; the adjutant-general receiving $1,000 per annum, and the quarter
master-general $2,000. Gen. Winn brought in a claim in 1800 for services
rendered, which were not, however, recognized by the legislature, as no law
could then be found authorizing the payment of any officer above the rank of
major. Cal. Jour. Assem., 1860, 253-4. The clerk of the honse military com.
was Davis Divine, a lawyer from Oneida co., N. Y., who camo to Cal. in 1849,
and settled in San Jose. He was also clerk of the judiciary com. of the senate.
He was for many years justice of the peace and judge of the court of sessions;
and projected the first R. R. co. to build a road to S. F. from San Jose.
Owens, Santa Clara Valley, 37.
320 POLITICAL HISTORY
artillery companies, whose pay when in service is the
same as that of United States officers and soldiers.
All claims are submitted to a board of military audi
tors, consisting of the commander-in-chief, adjutant-
general, and attorney-general; and its warrants are
paid by the state treasurer. The sum of $300 is annu
ally allowed to each company of over sixty members,
a proportionate amount to smaller companies, and $100
to each detachment of engineers, for expenses. Three
officers are salaried : the armorer, adjutant-general, and
assistant adjutant-general
An act was passed, which was allowed by tne
schedule to the constitution, to the first legislature,
authorizing a loan in New York on the faith and
credit of the state, for the expenses of the state, not to
exceed $1,000,000, at ten per cent per annum, and re
deemable in twenty years, or if desired by the state
at any time after ten years. This unfortunate will
ingness to plunge into debt was a part of the mental
condition of Californians at this period, and was in
marked contrast with the prudent economy of the
early Oregonians. Both were the result of circum
stances. In Oregon there was no money; in Califor
nia there promised to be no limit to it. The amount
required to pay the salaries of state officers was $107,-
500, which did not include the state printing, always
considerable, nor the pay of legislators at sixteen dol
lars per diem, and equally extravagant mileage. Yet
it was difficult to retain a quorum, such were the in
ducements to members to look after their mining or
other interests, and the sergeant-at-arms found his
office no sinecure. At one period the senate, in order
to go on with its business, was reduced to the neces
sity of deciding that eight constituted a quorum in
stead of nine, and one ever-busy senator was arrested
for being absent long enough to pay a sick member a
morning visit. Several resignations and new elections
took place, and one assemblyman never claimed his
SLAVERY RESOLUTIONS. 321
seat. Nevertheless, the code of 1850 is a very-
creditable performance, liberal in its tone, and re
markably well adjusted to the new conditions in which
the legislators found themselves.
The resolutions passed on the subject of slavery
were sounding brass and tinkling cymbal ten years
later, 17 but were sound democratic doctrine, though
somewhat unsound democratic grammar, in 1850.
The democratic party in America was fast becoming the
pro-slavery party. In congress this party insisted on
the right of a state to determine the question of slav
ery for itself, but when such state elected to be free,
endeavored to keep it out of the union. California,
with a strong southern element, was controlled by
northern sentiment; and the interests of all men as
individuals demanding the admission of the state,
there was by universal consent at this time an effort
to ignore the necessity for the tremendous struggle
going on at the national capital. At a later period
some of these same men were drawn into the conflict.
One great error committed by the first legislature
was in not making a permanent location of the capital.
Instead of so doing, the question was left open to
election between the towns aspiring to the honor, 18
and the seat of government was hawked about for
years in a manner disgraceful to the state. Monterey,
San Jose, Sacramento, and Valleju all desired and
17 * That any attempts by congress to interfere with the institution of slavery
in any of the territories of the U. S. would create just grounds of alarm in
many of the states of the union; and that such interference is unnecessary,
inexpedient, and in violation of good faith; since, when any such territory
applies for admission into -the union as a state, the people thereof alone have
the right, and should be left free and unrestrained, to decide such question
for themselves. Broderick, who had been elected to fill the place of Bennett,
resigned in January, moved the insertion of the following: That opposition
to the admission of a state into the union with a constitution prohibiting
slavery, on account of such prohibition, is a policy wholly unjustifiable and
unstatesman-like, and in violation of that spirit of concession and compromise
by which alone the federal constitution was adopted, and by which alone it
can be perpetuated, which addition was adopted. Jour. CaL Leg., 1850,
372-3.
18 Cal Statutes, 1850, 412; 8. F. Pac. News, Oct. 5, 7, 1850.
HIST. CAL., VOL. VI. 21
322 POLITICAL HISTORY.
made bids 19 for the seat of government. Sacramento
offered public buildings, and actually secured $1,000,-
000 in subscriptions toward this object. The offer
of Vallejo being considered superior 20 in many respects,
the people voted to accept his proposition. But when
the second legislature met, they found the new town
remote and dull, hotel accommodations limited, and
amusement lacking; whereupon, after a few days, they
adjourned to San Jose, which was still the legal cap
ital, no act having been passed changing its location,
for which reason and others, the executive had re
mained at San Jose, this town being his residence.
On the 4th of February a bill was passed making
Vallejo the permanent seat of government. At this
place the third legislature was convened, but before
the end of the month removed to Sacramento, "to
procure such accommodations as were absolutely and
indispensably necessary for a proper discharge of their
legislative duties," the archives and the state officers
joining in these perambulations by land and water, the
latter under protest, and the former at great risk of
destruction. On the 1st of June, 1852, the archives
were carried back to Vallejo, and the state officers
ordered to transport themselves thither. The legis
lature of 1853 was induced to move to Benicia, where
it was solicited to accept for the state a present of a
legislative hall, and other property, and on the 4th of
February and 18th of May of that year passed acts
making Benicia the "permanent seat of government."
19 San Jose subscribed a tract of land a mile square, all eligibly situated,
with a perfect title; water and building stone on the land; the consideration
being that the state should lay it off in lots, to be sold to the best advantage
(except such portions as should be reserved for state buildings), ^ of the pro
ceeds to go to the subscribers and to the erection of the public buildings.
Val., Doc., xiii. 72; Sta Clara Co. Hist. Atlas, 10-11; Tuthill, Hist. Cal, 391-
2; Gal. Jour. Sen., 1850, 498-504, 1302, 1307, 1310; Richardson, Hist. Vallejo
City, in Cal. Pioneers, no. 3, p. 12.
20 See chapter on birth of towns, this vol.; Cal. Statutes, 1851, 430; Marin
Co. Hist., 212-14; Val, Doc., MS., 35, 221; Id., MS., xiii. 72, 179, 211, 218,
228; Cal Statutes, 1853, 309; Vallejo Chronicle, July 6, 1867; Id., Jan. 25,
1868; 8. F. Evening Picayune, July 16, 1851; Oakland Transcript, May 13,
1874; Eureka West Coast Signal, May 27, 1874; Sacramento Transcript, Feb.
1, 1851; Polynesian, vi. 150; Assem. Jour., 1852, 500-2, 701-2, 99; Solano
Suisun Press, July 17, 1867; Cal Sen. Jour. App. y 503.
STATE CAPITAL ON WHEELS. 323
Vallejo being thus abandoned, the friends of San
Josd who were numerous in San Francisco, and com
prised some of the principal men in the state, and the
state officers, began to plot for the return of the cap
ital to that pueblo; while the Sacramentans renewed
their efforts to secure this anything but permanent
blessing. The fifth legislature met at Benicia the
second day of January, 1854, and on the 25th of Feb
ruary again permanently located the seat of govern
ment at Sacramento. But by this time the executive
and judicial branches of the government had become
so bewildered that the latter refused to obey the
plain letter of an act requiring the supreme court to
hold its sessions " at the capital of the state," and sat
instead at San Francisco, whither it had been ordered
in 1850 to betake itself, and two of the judges de
clared Sacramento not the legal capital. District
Judge Hester also threatened those state officers who
had complied with the law and repaired to Sacramen
to with an attachment unless they came to San Jose,
thus placing themselves above the legislative power
through which they held their office. To test the
question, suits were brought before Hester, of the
third judicial district, and the mandamus case was
argued by Parker H. French and Hall, attorneys for
the complainants, Thomas L. Vermeule, and others;
P. L. Edwards, he who in 1834 accompanied Jason
Lee to Oregon, and the acting attorney-general,
Stewart, appearing for the defence. Ground was
taken against the right of individuals to sue the state.
The relators, however, were allowed to amend their
complaint to read, "The people of the state," as plain
tiffs. They relied chiefly upon the position that San
Jos was the constitutional capital, which the defence
denied, denying also that the state officers were re
quired by the constitution or laws to reside or keep
their offices at the seat of government, and denying
that they constituted any inferior tribunal, corpora-
324 POLITICAL HISTORY.
tion, board, or person against whom a writ of man
damus might issue according to statute.
Judge Hester s decision was as peculiar as the other
features of the case. He placed himself on the defens
ive, and in the light of a partisan, by declaring that
the legislature had in March passed an act requiring
the supreme court, then in session at San Francisco,
to hold its sessions "at the capital of the state;" and
that the supreme court, "in determining as to the loca
tion of their sessions, as required by the act, decided
that San Jose was the capital, and had since in pur
suance held their sessions there." The reasoning by
which the court had come to this conclusion was by
assuming that the constitution established the capital
at San Jose ; that the second legislature removed it to
Vallejo; that by reason of the failure of Vallejo to
fulfil his bond, upon which the removal was condi
tioned, the act became void, and the seat of govern
ment reverted to San Jose, from which it had never
been removed by a constitutional vote of two thirds
of both houses of the legislature. On the other
hand, Chief Justice Murray differed from his asso
ciates, Heydenfeldt and Wells, and from Judge
Hester. He held that the legislature had acted in a
constitutional manner in fixing the seat of government
by the act of 1851; and had an equal right to remove
to any other place by a majority vote, the two-thirds
vote being applicable only to the act of first removal
from San Jose, and therefore that Sacramento was
the legal capital of the state.
To settle these vexed questions a special term of
the supreme court was ordered to be held at Benicia,
in January 1855, at which time the legislature would
be in session. A crisis had evidently arrived when a
final decision must be made, and the legislature must
vindicate itself. In the mean time the case of the
people against the state officers had been appealed to
the supreme court, and submitted on stipulation that
a decision rendered out of term should stand as if
STATE OF DESERET. 325
given at the regular session. The opinion rendered
in December reversed the judgment of the court
below, and the highest judicial authority in the state
made its obeisance to the itinerant law-making power. 21
From that time to this, with the exception of the
winter of 1862, when the great flood forced everybody
out of Sacramento who could go, the seat of legisla
tion and government has remained at Sacramento.
That money was used freely to corrupt members of
the legislature while the seat of government was for
sale, no one has ever pretended to doubt. 22 If the
practice which has prevailed down to the present time,
of buying and selling votes, could be said to have
originated in the race for the capital, it is to be
regretted that the constitution and first legislature
left the subject open to this species of patriotism.
In February 1850, the governor laid before the
assembly an address from the citizens of the "State
of Deseret," presented by John Wilson and Arnasa
Lyman, delegates, asking that a new convention be
held, to allow the people of California to vote upon the
proposition of uniting Deseret and California tempo
rarily in one state. The reason given for this request
was that when the men of Deseret formed the consti
tution of their state, they neglected to exclude slavery,
which now they perceived, in order to relieve congress
of the existing conflict, they should have done. The
true reason appeared to be, however, the desire to se
cure the privileges of state governrnei^t without a
sufficient population, and peradventure to prevent
California being first admitted, with the boundary as
, Statement, MS., 4; Santa Clara News, Nov. 7, 1867; Placer Times,
Jan. 15, 1852; Gal Statutes, 1853, 217; Cal Jour. Sen., 1854, 574, 603, 601;
Cal Code, 1854, 45; Alta Cal, May 27, 1854; Sac. Union, Nov. 13, 1854.
22 A writer in the 8. F. Post, April 14, 1877, says that he was told by a
shrewd and wily politician that to secure the passage of the bill removing the
capital to Sac., he paid $10,000 in gold to the reigning king of the lobby, with
which to purchase the votes of ten senators, and that the money was paid
over for that purpose, and secured the measure. Though many of our patriots
who go to Sacramento to make laws can be bought for $200 or $300, as high
as $50,000 has been paid for a single vote.
326 POLITICAL HISTORY.
chosen by her, which cut them off from a sea-port
accessible during the winter season; their constitution
taking in San Diego and a "very small portion of the
coast."" 23 The governor, in his message accompanying
the address, and both branches of the legislature, de
clined to consider the proposal.
With regard to the public domain and mineral lands,
two reports were presented by the committee on these
subjects. The majority report presented the follow
ing views: that the mineral wealth of California had
cost the United States too much to justify its unre
stricted diffusion among foreigners; that permitting
persons from South America to work their peons in
the mines was giving them an advantage over citizens
of the United States, who were prohibited from bring
ing their slaves to California for the same purpose;
that the presence of so large a foreign population as
was crowding into the mines was dangerous to the
peace of the country, tending toward collisions, some
of which had already occurred; that the morals of the
young men flocking here from the states were jeopar
dized by enforced contact with the convict class which
the mines were drawing from Australia; in short, that
the mines of California should be reserved for her own
citizens, and that congress be asked to pass laws ex
cluding all except citizens, and those who honestly
designed to become such, and empowering the legisla
ture to make such regulations as should be deemed
necessary. This report urged on the government the
policy of not selling, but of leasing, mineral land, in small
tracts, and only to American citizens or naturalized
foreigners. This, it was thought, would secure the
settlement of the mining regions with a moral and
industrious class. The minority report opposed both
23 The Mormon legislators assumed that the Sierra Nevada was the proper
boundary between west and east California. By extending a line south from
the main chain, where it breaks off above the 35th parallel, the sea is reached,
owing to the south-east trend of the coast, about San Pedro Bay. For the
documents in this case, see Jour. Gal Leg., 1850, 756-70; Tuthill, Cal., 287-8;
Hall, Hist. San Jose, 223-4.
PUBLIC DOMAIN. 327
selling and leasing, either system being sure to result
in the control by monopolists of vast districts, to the
exclusion of the great mass of the people, the holders
combining to reduce labor to the lowest point, and de
grading the laborer. But congress was to be urged
to allow the mines to remain free, "a common inheri
tance for the American people."
The legislature finally passed joint resolutions on
the subject of lands and other matters, instructing the
California delegates to ask for the early extension of
preemption laws over California; the survey of tracts
fronting on streams of water; for grants of land for
educational and other purposes; for the passage of a
law prohibiting foreigners from working in the mines ;
for the establishment of custom-houses at Sacramento,
Stockton, Benicia, Monterey, and San Diego; for a
branch mint at each of the towns of Stockton and
Sacramento; for the money collected in California
from impost duties before the extension of the revenue
laws of the United States over the country, and until
the adoption of the state constitution; and to prevent
any action by congress which should either strengthen
or impair the title to land in the state of California,
but to have all questions concerning titles left to the
judicial tribunals of the country. The only law passed
touching the subject of lands belonging to the United
States gave the occupant title by possession, against
intrusion, provided the amount of land claimed did not
exceed 160 acres, that it was marked out by boundaries
easily traced, or had improvements thereon to the
value of $100; but a neglect to occupy or cultivate
for a period of three months should be considered an
abandonment of the claim. Any person claiming
under this act was entitled to defend his rights accord
ing to its provisions in courts of law.
Another act concerned cases of forcible entry and
detainer, and like the first was intended to prevent
land troubles, which, as has already been shown, com-
328 POLITICAL HISTORY
menced with the conquest of the country, 24 and par
ticularly in Sacramento, the validity of the Sutter
title to lands in and contiguous to that city being in
dispute. But these laws had exactly the opposite
effect to that intended, since they gave vitality to the
squatter organization, which became contumelious in
consequence, the discontent leading up to serious riot
ing, in which several officers of the law and citizens
were killed.
The squatter party was composed chiefly of men
from the Missouri border, who had no knowledge of
Spanish grants, and who regarded the whole country
as belonging to the United States and subject to pre
emption the same class of men who rooted out the
Hudson s Bay Company from Oregon, schooled in
the idea that all soil under the American flag is free
to all Americans until patented to individuals by the
government. Finding that the Sacramento town com
pany was making money freely out of sales of land
to which, in their estimation, no title had yet been
obtained, they sat down on vacant lots within and
without the surveyed limits, and without reference to
the fact that other men had purchased those same
parcels of land at high prices from the Spanish grantee
and his associates, proceeded to enclose and build upon
the same. To the laws passed by the legislature they
paid no heed, except to condemn them as hostile to
themselves, refusing to yield obedience to a govern
ment not yet sanctioned by congress. This subject
has been treated of in a general way in my chapter on
Mexican land titles; but the incidents attending the
24 As early as 1847 and 1848 the Gal. Star published articles advocating a
territorial legislature in order that laws might be enacted for the settlement
of land titles. The author of these articles was probably L. W. Hastings, to
whom I have often had occasion to refer. Later, when he was a member of
the constitutional convention, he was held in check by the necessity of making
such regulations as congress would pronounce valid and just under the treaty.
But Hastings only represented the western idea of land matters. To the
people belonged all the unoccupied U. S. territory. Cal. was, after the con
quest and treaty, U. S. territory; therefore Cal. belonged to the people.
Better informed men held similar views, founded vipon the right and duty of
the people to frustrate monopolies a higher law doctrine.
SQUATTER RIOT. 329
squatter outbreak .at Sacramento offering a striking
commentary upon the critical condition of the country
while waiting for congress to admit the state, I append
an account condensed in the form of a note. 23
25 Sacramento was surveyed in the autumn of 1848, for Sutter by Warner,
when Burnett became agent and attorney for Sutter, to sell lota and col
lect money. The sales were rapid, at good prices, and naturally excited re
mark among the ultra-American element in the mines. Sutter, who had been
in embarrassed circumstances, was quickly relieved, and under the excite
ment of success sold land to which his title was doubtful, and as it afterward
proved worthless that is, on his Micheltorena grant, which was made to
cover, as the squatters declared, the whole Sacramento Valley. An exami
nation of the Sutter grants showed, as many believed, that the Alvarado grant
did not reach to the city of Sacramento by a distance of 4 miles, as has else
where been stated. Those who had no respect for Spanish and Mexican
grants believing that to be valid they must first be confirmed by congress,
and that congress would never allow such vast tracts to pass to single individ
uals; and those who believed that the Alvarado grant did not cover the city
of Sac. began in 1847 to organize themselves into a Settlers Association,
Placer Times, June 3, 1850, and to squat upon land both in the town and out
side of it. About the middle of October, Z. M. Chapman, erroneously called
George Chapman in Morses Directoi-y of Sac., 1853-4, 17, went upon a piece
of unoccupied land out of city limits claimed by Priest, Lee, & Co., and cut
timber, to erect a cabin and for other purposes. In Chapman s account in
the S. F. Bulletin, of June 15, 1865, which seems an honest statement, he
says that if a man pitched a tent within the limits of the city he was com
pelled to pay to Priest, Lee, & Co. a bonus of from $5 to $12 per day. This
tax fell heavily on the weary gold-seeker who had just come across the plains
and desired to have a starting-point from which to set out in the spring. It
was probably designed to compel such persons to purchase lots. But lots
were held at from Sfc-500 to $6,000 and &8,000; and Chapman, who was a new
comer, thought he had as good a right to any unoccupied lands adjacent to
the city as any citizen of the U. S. , squatted accordingly, as I have said, claim
ing 160 acres. Twelve days after he began building; and when his house was
ready for the roof, he was visited by Pierre B. Cornwall and another of the
town owners, who required him to desist from cutting timber, and on his de
claring his intention to preempt the land, warned him off at the peril of his
life. Chapman replied that they were all within jurisdiction of civil author
ity, and as his life was threatened, they must immediately report at the al
calde s office, or submit to arrest, on which they agreed to dispossess him
legally if they could. On the following day a writ of ejectment was served
on Chapman, who was ordered to stand trial a few days afterward. When
the suit came on many persons were in attendance. Chapman called for
proofs of Sutter s title, and none satisfactory were produced. Three times
the case was adjourned, but finally a jury decided in favor of Sutter s claim,
a decision which the settlers organization ignored, calling the trial a sham.
It was then that squatting on town lots began, nearly every unoccupied lot
being taken. Chapman still refused to quit his claim. Placer Times, Dec. 1,
and 15, 1849. According to his statement, he was offered peaceable possession
of 20 acres to relinquish his pretensions to the remainder of the 160 acres,
which offer he refused, when he was waited on by the sheriff with a writ of
ejectment. Still Chapman refused to vacate the premises, and received an
other visit from the sheriff, with a posse of 50 men, who, the friends of
Chapman being absent, pulled his house down, after removing his portable
property. This was Saturday evening. On Monday a meeting was called
for Tuesday, which was largely attended, and resolutions passed by the
squatters that no more houses should be torn down. While the resolutions
330 POLITICAL HISTORY
The land questions were indeed of the greatest im
portance, while congress had failed to take any meas-
were being passed, the Sutter party set fire to and burned a cabin which
had been erected on Monday by the squatters on Chapman s claim. Another
cabin soon arose on the same site, and the squatters held another meeting, at
which it was resolved to retaliate upon Sacramento if any more squatter
buildings were destroyed. The rainy season commencing soon afterward,
and a flood causing both parties to abandon temporarily the city site, no
further action was taken before the following spring. As for Chapman, he
returned to the states, having lost his health from exposure to the inclemency
of that season, and never returned to renew his claim. Not so his associates,
who in the spring of 1850 redoubled their efforts to prove Sutter s claim illegal.
At their head in 1850 was Charles Robinson, afterward governor of Kansas,
who was an immigrant from Fitchburg, Mass., a college graduate, a physi
cian, and a man of honest convictions, who was fighting for squatterism be
cause he believed in it. J. Royce, in Overland Monthly, Sept. 1885.
In May there was a great accession to the squatter force. The organiza
tion kept a recorder s office, paid a surveyor and register, and issued certificates
of title as follows:
We know our rights, and knowing dare defend them.
OFFICE OF THE SACRAMENTO CITY, SETTLERS ASSOCIATION.
SACRAMENTO CITY, 1850.
Received of fifteen dollars for surveying and recording lot No
situated on the .... side of street, between and street;
measuring forty feet front by one hundred and sixty feet in depth, according
to the general plan of the city of Sacramento, in conformity with the rules of
the association.
$15. [Signed]
Surveyor and Register of the Sacramento Settlers Association.
The public domain is alike free to all.
Men who had purchased lots of Priest, Lee, & Co. had their lumber
brought for building purposes removed, or were forbidden to leave it on the
ground. Even a sum of money offered by the owner failed to induce the
squatter to vacate the lot. A petition was forwarded to congress asking in
effect for a distribution of the public lands among actual settlers. Cases
brought into the courts, and determined against the squatters produced 110
change in their proceedings. Two suits were decided adversely to them in Jus
tice Sackett s court, argued by McCane on their side, and Murray Morrison on
the opposite side. Nothing, however, moved them from their position; and
least of all the charge of cowardice, which was hurled at them by the press.
Complaint being made that the squatters had not a fair hearing in the news
papers, they were invited to come out openly, and make known their real
views. Merely abstract ideas do not meet the present occasion. And all
who properly consider their own interests and the peace and welfare of the
city must take immediate and summary action. Placer Times, June 3 and 5,
1850. The excitement increased; squatters fences were pulled down, and
meetings continued to be held. The squatters endeavored to evade going to
court, hoping to hold out until the state should be admitted, when they ex
pected that U. S. laws would come to their relief. Yet they did sometimes
get into the courts.
On the 10th of August an adverse decision was rendered in the case of
John F. Madden, who had squatted on a lot belonging to John P. Rogers
and others, of the Sutter party, in the county court, by Judge Edward J.
Willis. The attorneys for Madden talked of appealto the supreme court, on
the ground that the plaintiff Rogers had shown no title. Judge Willis re
marked that he knew of no law authorizing such an appeal. The rumor
spread abroad that Willis had said no appeal could or should be had. No
appeal! Shall Judge Willis be dictator? Outrage! Such were the ejacula-
LAND TITLES. 331
ures providing for their adjustment. The titles to the
land on which the three chief cities were built were
tions. A meeting was called for that evening, and resolutions of resistance
to oppression passed. On the 12th, being Monday, Robinson published a mani
festo refusing to recognize the state legislature and other state officials as
anything but private citizens, and threatening a resort to arms if molested
by the sheriff. This amounted to rebellion and revolution, and in fact re
tarded the execution of the judge s order to dispossess the squatters on the
land in question. About 200 men were assembled on the disputed territory.
Robinson had about 50 names enrolled of men he could depend upon to fight,
and managed, by adroitly mingling them with the other 150, to make his army
appear larger than it really was. Mayor Bigelow appeared on horseback
and made an address, advising the crowd to disperse, to which Robinson
replied respectfully but firmly that his men were upon their own ground,
and had no hostile intentions unless assailed. An interview was finally ar
ranged between Robinson and the mayor at his office, when the latter said
that he would use his personal influence to prevent the destruction of the
property of the settlers, and also informed Robinson of the postponement of
the executions issued by the court. The squatters then dispersed for the
day. Some steps had been taken to organize militia companies, but from the
unready condition in which the crisis found the municipal government, it is
apparent that Mayor Bigelow did not realize the danger of the situation. On
the 13th James McClatchy and Michael Moran were arrested and brought
before Justice Fake, charged with being party to a plan to resist the enforce
ment of Judge Willis writ of ejectment. The evidence being strong, in de
fault of $2,000 bail they were lodged in the prison brig, anchored in the river.
The county attorney, McCune, was also under arrest, to be tried on the 14th,
and a warrant was out for Robinson, but he was not taken. Sac. Transcript,
Aug. 14, 1850. On the morning of the 14th the sheriff, Joseph McKinney,
seized a house on 2d street, in pursuance of his duty. A party of 30 squat
ters, under the leadership of James Maloney, retook the house. Maloney, on
horseback armed with a sword and pistols, next marched down L street to
the levee, in the direction of the prison ship, followed by a crowd of citizens,
who thought their intention was to release the prisoners. By this time the
excitement ran high, although there was no apprehension of bloodshed. The
affair seemed rather a spectacle than a coming tragedy, and the spectators
hooted, laughed, and shouted. But the mayor, who could no longer blind
himself to the necessity of asserting his authority and the power of law, rode
up and down the streets, and made his proclamation to the people to sustain
both. Many then ran for arms. The squatters on reaching I street halted
and began to remove some lumber from a lot; but Maloney checked them,
alleging that the lumber belonged to one of his friends. He then led them
up I street, still followed by a laughing and jeering crowd. At the corner of
I and Second street, seeing the mayor approaching, the citizens waited to
hear what he might have to say to them, but the squatters marched on, turn
ing into Third street, and continuing to J street. In the mean time the
mayor had ordered the citizens to arrest the armed squatters, and with three
cheers they followed his lead. The two parties approached each other on
J street, the squatters drawing up in time across Fourth street, facing J.
The mayor and sheriff rode up, and ordered them to lay down their arms
and yield themselves to arrest. While they were yet advancing, Maloney
gave the order to fire, and said distinctly, Shoot the mayor. His order was
oidy too well obeyed, seve. 1 guns being pointed, though some were elevated
to be out of range. The hrmg was returned by those citizens who had se
cured arms; a general melee ensued, and the squatters fled from the field,
which was now a field of blood. The mayor received no less than 4 wounds,
in the cheek, the thigh, the hand, and through the body in the region of the
liver. He recovered in a maimed condition, after a long illness, and a $2,238
332 POLITICAL HISTORY.
almost hopelessly confused. As a consequence, the
state was left without property or revenue, without
bill for five weeks attendance and care at Dr Stillman s house in S. F. , only
to die of cholera, Nov. 27th following, in the same city. Harding Bigelow was
born in Mass., of the well-known family of Bigelow, removed to N. Y. in
early childhood, where he grew to manhood, and subsequently moved to
the north-west territory. In the explosion of the steamboats Moselle and
Wilmington he sustained severe losses and narrowly escaped with his life.
During the Black Hawk war in 111. he had also some hair-breadth escapes.
He went to the West Indies, New Granada, Peru, Chili, and Central America,
arriving in Cal. by the first steamer, and entered at once into the affairs of
the country, being much interested in building up Sac., whose first mayor he
was. It was greatly by his personal exertions that the town was saved dur
ing the flood of 1849-50. Sac. Transcript, April 26, 1850. His course with the
squatters was marked with charity and moderation even to a fault. S. F.
Pacific News, Nov. 29, 1850. He was interred with military honors at Sac
ramento. Culvers Sac. Ci y Directory, 74, 79; Shuck, Repres. Men, 936; Placer
Times, April 6, 1850; Winans Statement, MS., 21.
Besides the mayor, the city assessor, J. M. Woodland, was wounded mor
tally, surviving but a few moments. Jesse Morgan was killed outright. On
the squatter side, Maloney was killed, being shot by B. F. Washington, city
recorder; Robinson was severely wounded, and another man killed, name not
mentioned in any of the reports of the battle. J. H. Harper, of Mo., was
severely wounded; Hale, of the firm of Crowell & Hale, was slightly
wounded; and a little daughter of Rogers, of the firm of Burnett & Rogers,
was slightly injured; total, 4 killed and 5 wounded. The bolt had fallen,
and nothing more was to be seen than the ruins. Lieut-gov. McDougal now
appeared upon the scene, his face very pale, and ordered all the men with
arms to assemble at Fowler s hotel, after which he immediately left for S. F.
by steamer. But not many went to the rendezvous, where a few men had
mounted an old iron, ship s gun, on a wooden truck, which was loaded with
scrap iron. That night about 60 volunteers were enrolled, under Capt. J.
Sherwood, and remained at headquarters, near the corner of Front and L
streets. A guard was set, of regular and special police, and men were chal
lenged on the streets as if the city were under martial law. Robinson was
carried to the prison ship on a bed. One Colfield, a squatter, was arrested
and accused or killing Woodland. County Attorney McCune was brought
into court, but his case postponed for the next day. Recorder Washington
was placed by the city council at the head of the police, with authority to
increase the force to 600; and the prest of the council, Demas Strong, as
sumed the duties of mayor. Sac. Transcript, Aug. 15, 1850. On the follow
ing day, after the burial of Woodland, Sheriff McKinney and a posse of
about 20 men proceeded to Brighton, near Sutter s Fort, to attempt the arrest
of a party of the squatters at a place which was kept by one Allen. The
house was carefully approached after dark, the force being divided into three
detachments, under Gen. Winn, a Mr Robinson, and the sheriff, who were to
approach so as to surround the house. McKinney entered first, and went to
the bar with his squad to call for drinks, in doing which he caught sight of
8 or 10 armed men, whom he commanded to lay down their arms. They
replied by a volley from their guns and pistols, and were answered by shots
from the sheriff s party. All was confusion. McKinney had run out of the
house after the attack, and stood near the door, when Allen deliberately shot
him, and he fell, expiring in a few moments. Briarly then fired, wounding
the assassin, who however sent another shot among the sheriff s party, grazing
Crowell s arm, who returned the shot. The further immediate results of the
battle were the killing of two squatters, M. Kelly and George W. Henshaw,
the wounding of Capt Radford severely, and the injury of Capt. Hammersly
by being thrown from his horse in the melee. Reinforcements being sent for
REVENUE SYSTEM. 333
the means of paying the liabilities already contracted,
of defraying current expenses, or of completing her
arrived during the night 10 men under Lundy and 12 under Tracy, who
placed themselves under Gen. Winn. Four prisoners were taken, John
Hughes, James R. Coffman, William B. Cornogg, and a man whose name is
not given in any of the accounts of the squatter war. The arrival of the
second party frightened to death Allen s wife, who was lying ill in the house.
Allen escaped sorely wounded, and was traced next day to the river, where
it was supposed he was drowned. Sac. Transcript Extra, Aug. 16, 1850. But
he survived, suffering much, until, reaching a mining camp, he received assist
ance. Moore s Pioneer Express, MS., 8-10. Great grief and indignation were
felt over the death of Sheriff McKinney, who was generally esteemed. He
had been but a short time married, and his wife was distraught with grief.
P. F. Ewer, coroner, assumed the duties of sheriff and paid a visit to
Brighton, arresting a man named Hall, who was found in hiding near Allen s
house. Threats of lynching were made against the prisoners, but better
counsels prevailed, and it was determined to abide by the laws. The steamer
Senator had returned from S. F. on the night of the loth with the lieut-gov.
and two companies of volunteers, namely, the California Guard, Capt. W.
D. M. Howard, and Protection Engine Co., of the fire department, Capt.
Shay, under arms, and together numbering 150 men. Connor, Early Cal,,
MS., 6; S. F. Picayune, Aug. 16, 1850. There was no longer any need of
their services, the squatter leaders being dead and wounded, and the citizens
having resolved to leave their wrongs to be adjudicated by the courts.
At this juncture the newspapers entered into a discussion of the merits of
the cause on both sides. The Settlers and Miners Trilmne, of Oct. 30, 1850, in
answering the S. F. Picayune of the 17th, says that it is wrong to condemn
squatterism as the foundation of a party; for Sutterism in Upper California
has too long despoiled her of her inheritance, and self-defence requires her
interference. Immigrants expected to find public land, and found it; but
* Sutterism has squatted all over it, and pretends to claim it under a Mexican
grant which does not exist. The legislature was charged with making laws
expressly to protect S utter, with or without a title to that part of the state.
This charge was in reference to an act passed April 22, 1850, which forbade
any forcible entry, the .penalty being a fine and restitution, if the justics
should so order. No proof of title was required. Cal. Statutes, 1850, 425. In
Cal., and in the Cal. sense, said the Tribune, legislators and judges were anti-
squatter their decisions invariably anti-squatter; while if the squatters dif
fered from them, and dared to appeal to the supreme court, they were said
to have forfeited all support from the state govt, and even its protection. The
unrecognized courts of Cal. were not the places where land titles should be
determined. Squatterism was made a party issue because the natural and
constitutional rights of the people were sought to be wrested from them by
men of the stamp of the Picayune writers. When anti-squatterism ceases to
prey, ftien the squatter party will cease to exist. Such were the utterances
of the settlers after the Sac. affair, as well as before. But the Picayune had,
soon after the riot, urged a calm and considerate review of the affair, and
pleaded many things in extenuation of the course pursued by the squatters, ad
vising the greatest moderation, mingled with firmness, which the adminis
tration of justice requires. This, in point of fact, was the course into which
the administration of law resolved itself. There was a good deal to be said
on the side of the squatters, seriously as they had blundered. Robinson and
the other prisoners, who were indicted by the grand jury for murder, were
admitted to bail in Nov. A change of venue was obtained, and the cloud of
indictments melted away like the last cloud-flake of our rainy season, as says
Prof. Josiah Royce, who has ably presented the subject of the Sac. squatter
riot in the Overland Monthly for Sept. 1885, as an example how Mexican
grants were dealt with by American settlers iu Cal. YetT think he would
334 POLITICAL HISTORY.
organization and putting in operation her system of
local government. Her securities, dismally depre-
have found better illustrations elsewhere; for, as he himself shows, there was
good ground in the belief of the squatters that the Alvarado grant did not
extend to Sac., and in the fact that the Michel torena grant was actually in
valid for the feeling of the squatters that Sutter was playing into the hands
of a set of soulless speculators, who used the pretence of a grant for securing
paper titles to the best portions of Cal. Accounts of the squatter troubles of
1850 are contained in the newspapers of the day, particularly in the Sac.
Transcript. See also the S. F. Cal. Courier, S. F. Pac. News, S. F. A Ita, 8.
F. Picayune, and S. F. Herald, extending over a long period. There is an
account of the riot in Sac. Illustrated, 13-18; Upliam, Notes, 333-51; in Cul
ver s Sac. Directory, 78-9; in Thomas Directory Sac., 1871, 66-75; in Hist. Sac.
Co., 50-6; and references in TutldWs Cal, 336-7; Sac. Bee, Nov. 1, 1871;
Bauer s Statement, MS., 9? and Winans Statement, MS., 20-1. The theory
has been advanced that to the riot of 1850 was due the great depression in
business, and the numerous failures which followed. I think the conclusion
erroneous. The population suddenly declined, but certainly not because peo
ple were frightened away by an incident of this kind. It was the uncertainty
of land titles in the vicinity which the squatter movement exposed. Had the
squatters prevailed, the population would have remained, and the loss to a
few individual lot-owners would have been far less than the whole community
sustained by their defeat. S. F. Bulletin, Nov. 2, 1877. I do not wish to be
understood as saying that the squatters were right. As the evidence after
ward proved, they were in the wrong. But it would have been better for
Sac. could they have maintained their position; for how could a city hope to
prosper surrounded by a country to which no one could for a long time obtain
a clear title? The courts finally decided that all the sales made by Burnett
as Sutter s agent were valid. Could the founders of Sac. have foreseen the
contention to arise out of the location of their city, the trouble might have
been avoided.
Squatters also gave trouble in S. F. in Jan. 1851, 8. F. Alta, Feb. 3, 1851,
which continued for more than a year. Nathaniel Page commenced the erec
tion of a building on a lot belonging to the Leidesdorff estate, and sold to
Captain Folsom. A collision occurred, in which Folsom shot at Page, whose
watch arrested the ball, and saved his life. Page s lumber was thrown into
the bay. In April 1853 Sheriff W. W. Twist and posse of Santa Barbara
were about to take possession of a cannon to use in ejecting a squatter named
John Powers from the rancho Arroyo Burro, belonging to Hill and Den. A
Californian, Alejo Servis, stabbed the sheriff, who turned and shot him dead.
Firing then became general between the sheriff s party and the squatter
party, and J. A. Vidall, a squatter, was killed. Hill and Den were placed
in possession. S. F. Alta, May 7 and June 8, 1853. During this year there
appeared to be something like an organized revival of squatterism. All about
S. F., at the presidio and the mission, lots were settled upon without title.
One of the public squares was treated as public domain. The Odd Fellows
cemetery was seized, which two years before had been conveyed by deed to the
society by Sam Brannan. On the 20th of July a squatter named McCarty,
who had taken possession of a vacant lot on the corner of Second and Mission
streets, belonging to Robert Price, resisted, and shot the sheriff who was at
tempting to eject him; McCarty was also shot, both seriously; but Price was
placed in possession.
It was believed that an organization of wealthy men were at the bottom
of the squatterism of 1853, who furnished means for carrying on the seizures
of lots with a view to obtaining the lion s share. Attempts were made to
squat on the Peralta claim in Alameda the same year. In June 1854 a pitched
battle was fought between a party of squatters on Folsom s property on First
street, S. F., and a party of 15 placed to defend it. George D. Smith was
SAN FRANCISCO DEFRAUDED. 335
ciated, afforded slight compensation to those who were
forced to receive them for services rendered. The
effect on the cities and particularly on San Francisco
was deplorable. Heir to lands worth millions of dol
lars, she was practically bankrupt. Sales of lots were
arrested by the doubt thrown upon her title ; or if any
one took them, it was experimentally, at prices much
below their value. A commissioner appointed to in
quire into the extent and value of city property was,
after a lengthy examination, unable to determine
if there were any lands rightly belonging to the city,
unless by preemption, which right congress had not
yet extended to them. Had congress accorded the
cities a relinquishment of the interests of the United
States in the lands within their municipal juris
dictions, it would greatly have simplified matters for
them, and infinitely enhanced their resources. An
other point of interest with the people was whether or
not speculators should be permitted to buy up the public
lands to which no shadow of a Mexican grant attached ;
and this, it was insisted, was legitimate ground for a
killed in this fight, and several persons wounded. After this affair the prop
erty holders in S. F. organized, and 48 policemen were added to the force.
Houses were fortified and besieged. In one house on Green street a woman
holding a child in her arms was shot and killed. The occasion of this outbreak
was that the title of the city of S. F. was undergoing examination by commis
sioners; all kinds of rumors were afloat, and opportunities supposed to be
afforded of securing lots. For several years more these troubles were recur
ring. The Sac. Union of June 29, 1855, suggested as a remedy to fee no
lawyers an excellent suggestion. Felice Argenti, sent by Brown Bros,
bankers of Colon, to Cal. as their agent, in 1849 amassed a fortune of several
millions, but his suits with S. F. for certain lands cost him the larger share
of his wealth. Torres, Perip., 101-2. In 1856 was the famous case of the
Green claim, when the vigilants arrested the holder of important documents
concerning the city s title to the mission lands, on a trumped-up charge, in
order to get possession of those documents, which Green himself had ob
tained by trickery from Tiburcio Vasquez, and which he sold to his captors
for $12,500, though he brought suit afterward for $50,000 damages, of which
he obtained $150. Greens (A. A.) Life and Adv., MS. , 1-86. This manuscript
of Green s, of about 90 pp., is a most interesting contribution to the literature
of land titles, containing the history in detail of the Santillan claim. S. F.
Alia, June 7 and 21, 1878. In 1858 a party of squatters in Sonoma county
attacked and drove from his land one of the owners of the Peiias rancho, com
pelling him to sign a release of his property to them. They almost captured
the town of Healdsburg in an attempt to take Dr Fitch, another owner; and
attacked the government surveyor Mandeville, destroying his papers. But
such acts as these were performed by a few ruffians taking advantage of the
squatter sentiment. S. F. Bulletin, Apr. 13, 1858.
33 POLITICAL HISTORY.
party in politics ground which California senators
found themselves unable to ignore. 29
The legislature adjourned April 22d. Congress
had again disappointed the people. 27 In January,
the California delegation had taken its departure for
Washington to urge the claims of the state to be im
mediately admitted. It was high time. In 1849 the
citizens of San Francisco had banished the worst of
its criminals. In 1850 a straw authority attempted
to hold lawlessness in check, but it had attained such
strength that years were afterward required to get it
under control. In spite of these drawbacks a great
deal had been accomplished. It was no small achieve
ment for the American portion of the population in so
short a time to have so regulated mining, the chief in
dustry of the country, that a heterogeneous multitude
from the four corners of the earth could work together
in peace; and to so administer justice in the occupa
tion of the mines that individuals and companies were
willing to be governed by laws formed in mining
camps. The general perfection of the rules adopted
was such that neither congress nor the state legislature
ever attempted to improve upon their essential fea
tures. Thus good and evil grew side by side, while
men longingly waited to catch the first whisper of the
words "admitted to the union."
The question of the admission of California had
become the chief topic in congress ; and whenever the
word California was pronounced close after came
the word slavery. 7 All through 1849 the subject of
providing a government for California was discussed,
and at every point it was met by objections originat
ing in a fear of disturbing the balance of power in
26 Settlers and Miners Tribune, Oct. 30, 1850; Sac. Transcript, Nov. 29,
1850.
27 Speaker Bigler in his valedictory address alluded to that most embar
rassing question of domestic policy, which to his regret had kept Cal. out of
the union. S. A Pac. News, Apr. 27, 1850; S. F. Herald, Oct. 22, 1850.
ADMISSION AS A STATE. 337
the senate to the prejudice of slavery. The growth
of the nation had reached that critical point when its
affairs could no longer be safely referred to a sectional
interpretation of the constitution; or the constitution
being faulty, when the nation could no longer strictly
abide by it; or when, conceding it to be a perfect in
strument, one portion of the people refused to abide
by it at the will of the other portion. The conces
sions made to the slave states when the union was
formed, on account of their weakness in population,
and when the growth of slavery by importation and
natural increase was not clearly foreseen, had placed
the sceptre of political power in the hands of the
south, where for thirty-eight years out of fifty it had
remained. The profits derived from cotton-planting
with slave labor had enabled the men of the south to
abjure labor for themselves, to employ their leisure in
congenial pursuits at home, in foreign education and
travel, and in politics. Their senators in congress
were men who assumed an air of nobility on account
of their exemption from the cares of trade, whose
habits on their plantations gave them a dictatorial
manner, even in the society of their peers, that their
generous culture could not always sufficiently soften ;
and it was yearly more openly asserted that the ruling
class in the United States was the planter class.
Cotton was king; but a cotton manufacturer and a
cotton-cloth seller were contemptible in the eyes of
this pampered, self-constituted aristocracy.
There was a middle class in the south, which aped
all that was offensive in the manners of the cultivated
class, and were loud in their praises of chivalry, and
their scorn of northern mudsills. Even the poor
white trash, which constituted a class despised even
by the slaves, regarded the institution as something
sacred, and a l southern gentleman as a being far
above anything in the free states. So strong are the
teachings of custom and prejudice !
Such a condition of society was not contemplated by
HIST. CAL., VOL. VI. 22
338 POLITICAL HISTORY,
the framers of the constitution. It was opposed to
the nature of the republican government, and soon or
late must introduce discord. In 1846 that discord
was already strongly apparent ; and the southern press
did not conceal the fact that the south regarded itself
as destined to have the mastery on the American
continent. In congress, certainly, these boasts were
sparingly alluded to; but they had their influence.
Congressmen and senators talked about the rights of
the two sections under the constitution. The acquisi
tion of New Mexico and California, which the south
had plotted and fought for, 28 had brought with it new
issues and a determined struggle. It was a battle
between intellectual giants for a cherished idea.
Regarded from a sentimental stand-point, the sudden
collapse of great expectations appeals to our sympathy,
although the means resorted to in support of them
may not command our confidence. The gaunt Caro
linian, he of the burning eyes, pointing his fateful
finger toward his adversary, and giving utterance to
his fire-brand resolutions, is a striking spectacle. The
polished and fiery Butler, pouring forth his reproaches
against the faithless north, holds his audiences en
chained. Berrien of Georgia, logical and impressive,
commands breathless attention while he, too, arraigns
the north for injustice. Foote of Mississippi, correct
and impressive, never hasty, sometimes half insolent,
but always attractive, sets forth the wrongs of the
south. Toombs of Georgia, armed at every point
with accusations against the north, and demands for
restitution of rights that he declares have been wrested
from the south, impresses us with his eloquence, and
28 The Charleston Patriot said, referring to the Mexican war: We trust
that our southern representatives will remember that this is a southern war.
And thus the Charleston Courier: Every battle fought in Mexico, and every
dollar spent there, but insures the acquisition of territory which must widen
the field of southern enterprise in the future. And the final result will be to
readjust the whole balance of power in the confederacy so as to give us con
trol over the operations of the government in all time to come. If the south
be but true to themselves, the day of our depression and suffering is gone for
ever. Cong. Globe, 1846-7, 364; Id., 1849-50, 256. Others called it a south-
em war fought by southern men.
NATIONAL ISSUES. 339
rouses us with the lash of his denunciation. These
and more were the men the south sent to represent
her in the national legislature; and against them was
opposed the genius of Webster, Clay, Seward, Doug
las, Benton, and the cumulative talent of the nation.
To the fire of the south, the great Massachusetts sen
ator opposed a collected front. " Times have changed,"
he said, "since the constitution was formed."
The south complained that she had always been
making concessions, and instanced the ordinance of
1787, when it was agreed by Virginia that the north
west territory surrendered by her should be free ter
ritory; to which the north replied that God and nature
had made that free territory, and slavery could not
exist there, had there been no ordinance against it. 29
The Missouri compromise of 1820 was called another
concession by the south ; but the north contended that
it was not an unfair division of the Louisiana purchase,
and that the admission of Missouri as a slave state
was allowed to balance the admission of Maine as a
free state at the same time, and that one was as much
a concession as the other.
The Wilmot proviso, the south alleged, was aggress
ive. It made the condition of furnishing money to
buy Mexican territory this : that no part of the terri
tory so purchased should be open to slavery. The
north replied that the Mexican government had abol
ished slavery in all its territory, and the United States
would not reestablish it. The south declared that
wherever the constitution of the United States went,
slavery went with it. And on this ground, untenable
as it appears to me, 30 the ship of state seemed likely
29 For a history of the ordinance of 1787, see Cong. Globe, 1849-50, App.,
pt i. 599.
30 Section 9 of article I. of the constitution says: The migration or im
portation of such persons as any of the states now existing shall think proper
to admit, shall not be prohibited by congress prior to the year 1808, but a
tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding $10 for each
person. That is, congress would not interfere with slavery in the then slave
states for that period of time. Section 2 of article IV. declares that no
person held to service of labor in one state, under the laws thereof, escaping
into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be dis-
340 POLITICAL HISTORY
to be stranded. The Wilmot proviso was not adopted,
and the money was paid. In so much the south tri
umphed. But it was a barren victory ; because the
moment that a government was demanded for the new
O
territory, the conflict began concerning- the nature of
it, and the principles of the Wilmot proviso were re
vived, to be fought over for a period of nearly two
years, during which time California had passed through
the events already recorded in this and previous chap
ters.
The news that California had formed for herself a
free state government was ill received by southern
men, who called it a northern measure, and felt them
selves wronged. It was, they said, a whig manoeuvre,
and due to the administration of Taylor, although in
fact Riley, 31 on whom the opprobrium was heaped,
was intrusted with the management of California
affairs by the previous administration; while King,
the owner of several hundred slaves, was the agent of
the whig administration in forwarding the state move
ment. It was true that King called himself a whig,
but it was true also that Taylor was a native of
Louisiana. Nothing was said of slavery in King s
instructions ; he was merely to assist California to a
government, provided it could be done without danger
to the authority of the United States.
charged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the
party to whom such service or labor may be due. A simple construction of
this article does not make it the duty of a free state to pass laws in the inter
est of slavery, or to compel its public officers to arrest and return a slave.
If a horse should be found in possession of a citizen of a free state which be
longed in a slave state, it would have to be delivered up. So would a slave,
and no more; but the south s most grievous complaint against the north was
that it was not a good slave-catcher; and that a few northern persons were
organized to make matters still worse for the barbarism there. Concerning
territorial and other property, the constitution said: The congress shall have
power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the
territory or other property belonging to the United States; and nothing in
this constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the
United States, or of any particular state. But the south denied the power
of congress to keep slavery out of the territories; and on that ground the bat
tle was fought.
31 Cong. Globe, 1849-50, A pp., pt i. pp. 102-4. The prest denied author
izing any govt in Cal., except to suggest to the people to form a constitution
to be presented to congress. See message of Jan. 21, 1850, in Cong. Globe,
1849-50, 195; Amer. Quar. Reg., iii. 603-4; Frost, Hist. Gal, 427-30; //. Ex.
Doc., 31, i. no. 5, 161.
CALIFORNIA AT WASHINGTON. 341
It was an affront to the pride of the south that the
outside world did not look with approval upon her pet
institution, and it was a wound to the moral sensibility
of the north that the whole nation shared in the re
proach. The rebuke received from both northern and
southern men, and foreigners, in the exclusion of
slavery from California, was extremely irritating to
the former. To admit California at all under the cir
cumstances would be an humiliation. But the great
point was the admission of two senators from a free
state to destroy the balance of power. Once gone,
it might never be restored. 32 On the other hand, the
north felt the perilous position it would be in should
the south in its recently revealed .temper ever again
have control of the national councils.
Early in 1850 Mr Clay attempted a compromise by
resolutions: that California, with suitable limits, be
admitted; that the Wilmot proviso should not be
insisted on for the territories; that the boundary line
of Texas should be established so as to exclude any
portion of New Mexico; that the United States
should pay that part of the debt of Texas contracted
before its annexation, amounting to $10,000,000, on
condition that Texas should solemnly renounce any
claim to any part of New Mexico ; that slavery should
not be abolished in the District of Columbia without
the consent of the state of Maryland, of the people of
the district, and just compensation to the owners
of slave property; that the export and import of
slaves from and into the district, as merchandise,
should be abolished; that provision should be made by
law for the restitution of fugitive slaves in any state
or territory of the union ; and that the trade in slaves
32 Calhoun said that to save the union the north had only to do justice by
conceding to the south an equal right in the acquired territory, and to do her
duty by causing the stipulations relative to fugitive slaves to be faith fully
fulfilled; to cease the agitation of the slave question, and to provide for the
insertion of a provision in the constitution, by an amendment, which will
restore to the south in substance the power she possessed of protecting herself
before the equilibrium between the sections was destroyed by the action of
this government. Cong. Globe, 1849-50, App., pt i. 370-1.
342 POLITICAL HISTORY.
between slave-holding states should be regulated by
the laws of those states. The debates upon these
resolutions continued for many months; 33 and by the
last of July they had been so altered and amended
that nothing remained of their original features.
Most of their several provisions were, however, in
corporated in bills which were passed, and which con
stituted in effect a compromise.
In the midst of this conflict the California delega
tion arrived and added to the excitement, their
presence being regarded by some of both sections, but
especially by the south, as unwarranted, even imper
tinent. Calhoun, who was dying, sent for Senator
Gwin, with whom he held a conference, " solemn and
impressive." They differed upon the policy to be
pursued by congress in the admission of California,
Calhoun insisting that it would destroy the equilibrium
in the senate, which was the only safeguard of the
south against the numerical superiority of the north,
and prophesying civil war. He held that in the event
of the north conquering the south, "this government,
although republican in name, would be the most des
potic of any in the civilized world." So much bitter
ness poisoned this great and generous mind! 34
33 Davis of Miss, repudiated the idea of concession from the north.
Where is the concession to the south? Is. it in the admission, as a state, of
California, from which we have been excluded by congressional agitation? Is
it in the announcement that slavery does not and is not to exist in the remain
ing territories of New Mexico and California? Is it in denying the title of
Texas to one half of her territory? He held that gold washing and mining
was particularly adapted to slave labor, as was agriculture that depended on
irrigation. Cong. Globe, 1849-50, App., pt i. 149-57.
34 Mr Calhoun, says Gwin, never appeared in the senate but once after
this interview. It was on the occasion of the delivery of Mr Webster s great
speech of the 7th of March, 1850. The senate-chamber as well as the galleries
were crowded, and it was known only to a few that Mr Calhoun was in his
seat; and when Mr Webster, in alluding to him, regretted the cause of his
vacant seat in the senate, Mr Calhoun rose up in the presence of that immense
audience, as a man rising from the grave, for he looked like a corpse, and
said, in a hollow, deep-toned voice, "I am here ! " which electrified the whole
audience. Mr Webster turned to him and said: "Thank God that the sena
tor is able again to resume his seat in the senate, and I pray to God he may
long continue to adorn this chamber by his presence, and aid it by his coun
sels." The same as reported in the Cong. Globe, App., i. 271, is less dramatic.
Owins Memoir*, MS., 32-5; Crane s Past, Present, etc., 10; Cong. Speeches, no.
3, 4, 8, 9, 19, 20; Placer Times, Apr. 22, May 8, 1850; Niks Rey., Ixx. index
p. viii. ; S. F. Bulletin, Sept. 9, 1802, and 1864; Bentona Thirty Years, ii. 769-
GWIN S PERFORMANCES. 343
Gwin, finding himself on the unpopular side with
his party, "retired to New York in order not to be
considered a partisan," but was recalled by Mr Clay,
who imparted to him his design of offering his com
promise resolutions, combining all the questions on the
subject of slavery then agitating the country, in order
to overcome the united opposition of the south to the
admission of California. 35 Again Gwin retired to New
York, and again was he recalled, this time by the
president, who desired that the California delegation
should make a joint communication to congress upon
the necessity of admitting California, aside from other
considerations, and disconnected with the compromise
measures. This request was complied with early in
March, 36 and a concise history of California, since the
treaty of 1848, laid before both houses. The effect of
the memorial was apparently to bring General Riley
into unpleasant prominence, and the president under
the displeasure of the south. 37
Thus the struggle was maintained until August 13th,
when the bill for the admission of California passed
the senate by a vote of 34 to 18; the vote standing,
whigs 19, democrats 32, free-soilers two. 38 On the 14th
73; Polynesian, vii. 34; Speech of J. M. Read, in Philadelphia, March 13,
1850; Letter of Gilbert, in 8. F. Alto, June 25, 1850; N. Am. fieview, Ixx.
221-51; Am. Quart. Ee<j., iv. 16-54, 58-64; U. S. H. Jour., 1676, 1683, 1793,
1800; 31st cong., 1st sess.; Santa Cruz S. W. Times, 6 to 9, 1871; Life of
Stockton, App., 69-79; Sherman, Mem., i. 81-3; Gwin, Memoirs, MS., 32.
80 It is stated in Gwins Memoirs that political differences had divided Clay
and Ben ton for years, though they were connected by marriage. The ques
tion of the admission of Cal. brought them together in cordial relations;
but Clay s compromise resolutions again sundered them more widely than
before, in which estrangement they ended their lives. Few men are too great
to quarrel, few minds too magnanimous not to stoop to beastly bickerings.
36 This memorial is printed along with Ross Browne s Constit. Debates, App. ,
xiv.-xxiii. ; see also Placer Times, Apr. 26, 1850; U. S. Misc. Doc., 44, i. 1-
18, 34-5, 31st cong., 1st sess.
37 Gwin dwells upon the obstinacy of Prest Taylor, and remarks that he
has always believed that had Taylor lived a civil war would have resulted at
that time. Taylor, he says, was strongly opposed to Clay s compromise
measures. Thurston of Oregon was the only man in congress from the Pa
cific coast, and he defended Riley s action, saying that the govt in Cal. would
have been formed without his proclamation. Cong. Globe, 1849-50, App., i.
345-9.
38 It was in the last days of this memorable conflict that Seward said he
should have voted for the admission of Cal., even if she had come as a slave
state, under the circumstances of her justifiable and necessary establish-
344 POLITICAL HISTORY.
Hunter of Virginia presented a protest against the
admission, and asked that it might be spread upon the
journals of the senate; but this was refused upon
parliamentary grounds. This protest is a significant
part of the history of the California bill. It declares
that the act of admission gave the sanction of law, and
thus imparted validity to the unauthorized action of a
portion of the inhabitants of California, by which an
odious discrimination was made against the property
of the slave-holding states, which were thus deprived
of that position of equality which the constitution so
manifestly designed. It defeated the rights of the
slave-holding states to a common and equal enjoyment
of the territory of the union. To vote for such a bill
was to agree to a principle which would forever exclude
the slave states from all enjoyment of the common
territory of the union, and thereby rob them of their
rights of equality. Every effort to obtain a fair divis
ion of California between the slave and free states
had failed. And lastly, the bill was contrary to prece
dent, obvious policy, and the spirit and intention of
the constitution of the United States, and therefore
dangerous to liberty and equality. 39
Such was the fateful character imputed to the instru
ment draughted at Monterey by men of all sections,
who intended primarily to escape the strife and pas
sion of the slavery question by excluding slavery from
the state; and who secondly had some fastidious ob
jections to working in the mines side by side with the
niggers of chivalry masters. The truth will have
to be acknowledged that the admission of California
as a free state led to the war of the rebellion. The
spirit of the south protested angrily against it; the
more so that it was a land of gold and sunshine. They
ment of a constitution, and the inevitable dismemberment of the empire
consequent upon her rejection.
39 This protest was signed by Mason and Hunter of Va; Butler and Barn-
well of S. C.; Soule of La; Turney of Term.; Jeff. Davis of Miss.; 1). R.
Atchison of Mo.; Morton and Yulee of Fla. McCluakey, Pol. Text Book, 005-6;
Benton, Thirty Years, ii. 769-71; Cong. Globe, 1849-50, 1578; S. F. Bulletin,
Sept. 9, 1862.
CALIFORNIA BILL PASSED. 345
read in it the doom of slavery and loss of power.
For their disappointment every generous heart must
feel a sympathetic pang. We experience the same
pain when we see the surgeon maiming a brother to
save his life protesting and consenting in the same
thought.
On the 7th of September the house of representa
tives passed the California bill by a vote of 150 to 56.
All the votes against it were of southern men. The
act was approved September 9th, 40 and the California
delegation presented themselves on the llth. Objec
tions were made by southern senators to their being
sworn in, Davis of Mississippi leading the opposition,
supported by Butler of South Carolina, Mason of
Virginia, and Berrien of Georgia. It was the last
kick at their dead lion, and ineffectual. Congress had
been in session for nine months, and now made haste
to despatch neglected business. Gwin, who had drawn
the long term, busied himself during the time before
adjournment in draughting bills ; no less than eighteen 41
40 U. S. Pub. Laws, 452-3, 31st cong., 1st sess. ;Capron, 51; Acts and ResoVns,
31st cong., 1st sess., 51-2; Amer. Quart. Reg., ii. 295-C.
41 Some of these bills were before congress for a long time. They are num-
bsred in Gwins Memoirs as follows: I. A bill to provide for the appointment
of a recorder of land titles in Cal. II. To provide for the appointment of sur. -
gen. in Cal., and for the survey of the public lands. III. To provide for the
erection of land-offices in Cal. IV. To provide for the ascertainment of
private land titles, and for the adjudication and settlement of the same. V.
To grant donations of land to settlers in Cal., before the cession of that coun
try to the U. S. , and to allow preemption rights to subsequent and all future
settlers. VI. To regulate the working of the placers and gold mines, and to
preserve order by granting temporary permits to actual operators to work
the same in limited quantities. VII. For extending the laws and judicial
ystem of the U. S. to Cal. VIII. To refund to the state of Cal. the amount
of moneys collected for duties on imported goods at S. F. and the other
quan
nships
struct
ips of Ian
the deaf and dumb, and for the blind and insane. XIII. To relinquish to
ports, before the custom-house laws of the U. S. were extended to Cal.
IX. To grant to the state of Cal. certain quanti
ss of education. X. To grant 6 townships
grant 4 sections of land to aid in constructing
of govt. XII. To grant two townships of land for establishing an asylum for
JLY. To grant to the state of Cal. certain quantities of public land for the pur
poses of education. X. To grant 6 townships of land for a university. XI.
To grant 4 sections of land to aid in constructing public buildings at the seat
the city of S. F. all the grounds reserved for military or other purposes in
said city which are no longer wanted for such purposes. XIV. To grant to
the state of Cal. 12 salt springs, with a section of land around each. XV.
To grant to the city of Monterey the old government house in that city, and
the ground upon which it stands. XVI. To provide for opening a road across
the Sierra Nevada, on the line of the Rio de los Americanos and Carson
River, and the pass at their heads, as the commencement of opening a common
travelling road between the present western settlements of the U. S. and the
346 POLITICAL HISTORY.
were presented by Fremont, who thought three weeks
of senatorial life hardly long enough to win a reelec
tion, and was, by consent of his colleague, put forward
on the subject of Mexican and Spanish land grants,
and came to blows with Foote of Mississippi on that
issue.
The condition of California during the period occu
pied by congressional discussion, politically, was one
of indifference. Some effort there was by would-be
party leaders to divide the population into whigs and
democrats ; and so far as the districts containing prin
cipal towns were concerned, they were partially suc
cessful, San Francisco being governed by democrats
and independents, and Sacramento by whigs. 42 The
second general election under the state constitution
took place on the 7th of October, when senators and
assemblymen, with a number of state officers, were
elected. 43 Although little interest was manifested by
the mining population in the results of election, the
canvass showed the great numerical superiority of the
northern counties, which were able to exercise a pow
erful influence in determining the future political
action of the state, 44 and to carry their measures in
the legislature. The miners were, in truth, much
more interested in legislation concerning mining, both
state of Cal. XVII. To grant the state of Cal. 1,600,000 acres of land for
purposes of internal improvement, in addition to the 500,000 acres granted
for such purposes to each new state by a general law. XVIII. To preserve
peace among the Indian tribes in Cal. by providing for the extinction of their
territorial claims in the gold-mining districts, and a resolution establishing
numerous post-routes in Cal.
^Ashley, Doc., 533-79; Peckham, JSiog., in San Jose Pioneer, July 28, 1877;
S. F. Picayune, Sept. 4, 1850; Placer Times, March 30, 1850; Sac. Transcript,
Aug. 30, Sept. 30, Oct. 14, and Nov. 29, 1850; 8. F. Alta, May 20 and Dec.
17, 18G8.
43 E. J. C. Kewen having resigned, James A. McDougall was chosen to fill
the vacancy in the office of attorney-general. John G-. Marvin was made
supt of public instruction. E. H. Sharp was chosen clerk of the sup. ct.
Dist attys were elected in the 9 districts.
44 Moore, Pion. Exper., MS,, 10; Burnett, Recoil., MS., ii. 266-7. The votes
polled in Sac. co. were 3,000; El Dorado, 2,900; Yuba, 4,163; Sutter, 1,389;
Yolo, 107; Butte, 900; Colusa, 20; Shasta, 150; aggregating 12,629. The
whole vote of the San Joaquin country was not more than 6,850, and of S. F.
3,450. Sac. Transcript, Nov. 29, 1850
RECEPTION OF THE NEWS. 347
state and national, than in party questions, and more
likely to make this a party issue at that time than
slavery or anti-slavery, much as they had done to
bring on the agitation. There were men in the mines
whose journey to California, whose digging and delv
ing, whose gambling and whiskey-drinking, whose pros
pecting, Indian-shooting, and clubbing of foreigners,
were all as lenses that enabled them to see how much
of self and how little of public weal occupied the pon
derous brains of the eight-dollars- a-day law-makers at
Washington !
The defeat of the compromise bill, and consequent
probability that no definite action would be taken by
congress for the admission of California for some time
to come, was engendering angry feelings in the wait
ing state, where rebellious utterances were beginning
to be heard. Judge Thomas, of the district court of
Sacramento, openly reproached the government for
neglect, and Bear-Flag sentiments were voiced in the
streets. Some there were who, in the event of dis
couraging news by the next two or three steamers,
were in favor of a separation from the United States,
if separation it could be called where there was no
union, and setting up an independent government.
Anarchy and confusion would have resulted from such
a movement. The public journals generally discoun
tenanced the expression of bitter feeling, but admitted
that California would not submit to be dismembered,
and acknowledged the critical nature of the situation. 45
But the heavily burdened people were to be spared
the last straw. Intelligence of the admission of Cali
fornia reached San Francisco on the morning of Octo
ber 18th, when the mail steamer Oregon entered the
harbor flying all her bunting, 46 and signalling the good
45 Id., Apr. 26 and Aug. 30, 1850; Placer Times, May 8, 1850; S. F. Pica
yune, Sept. 14, 1850; Crosby, Early Events, MS., 52-3.
46 A nag had been made in New York and forwarded by the Cherokee.to be
given to Capt. Patterson of the Oregon on this side, and another was made on
board the Oregon, on which was inscribed, * California is a state. The pioneer
348 POLITICAL HISTORY
news. The revulsion of feeling was instant and
extreme. Business was suspended ; courts were ad
journed; and the whole population, frenzied with
delight, congregated on Portsmouth square to con
gratulate each other. Newspapers containing the
intelligence from Washington sold for five dollars each.
The shipping in the harbor was gayly dressed in flags;
guns boomed from the height; bonfires blazed at
night; processions were formed; bands played; and
the people in every way expressed their joy. Mount
ing his box behind six fiery mustangs lashed to high
est speed, the driver of Crandall s stage cried the glad
tidings all the w r ay to San Jose, " California is admit
ted!" while a ringing cheer was returned by the peo
ple as the mail flew by. On the 29th there was a
formal celebration of the event, when a new star was
added to the flag which floated from the mast in the
centre of the plaza, and every species of amusement
and parade was made to attest the satisfaction of the
citizens of the first American state on the Pacific
coast. 47 As it is good to be young once in our lives,
society is now in possession of these flags, presented by capts Phelps and Cox.
S. F. Bulletin, Feb. 5, 1869; Gal Courier, Oct. 19, 1850; S. F. Alta, Feb. 5,
1869; San Jos6 Pioneer, Sept. 15, 1877.
47 The public procession was, considering the youth of the city, quite a re
markable parade. It was divided into 7 parts, in charge of 4 marshals each,
wearing crimson scarfs with gold trimmings. The several societies and asso
ciations had their marshals in variously colored scarfs, all mounted on capari
soned horses. After the grand marshal were 4 buglers, then 3 marshals,
followed by mounted native Californians bearing a banner with 31 stars on a
blue satin ground, with the inscription in gold letters, California. E Pluribus
Unum. Next came the California pioneers with a banner on which was
represented a New Englander in the act of stepping ashore and facing a
native Californian with lasso and serape. In the centre, the state seal and
the inscription, Far West, Eureka, 1846. California Pioneers, organized
August 1850. Then came the army officers and soldiers, the navy officers
and marines, the veterans of the Mexican war, and the consuls and repre
sentatives of foreign governments. Behind these was a company of Chinese
in rich native costumes under their own marshal, carrying a blue silk banner
inscribed, The China Boys. In the triumphal car which followed were 30
boys in black trousers and white shirts, representing the 30 states, and each
supporting the national breast-plate with the name of his state inscribed
thereon. In the centre of the group was a young girl robed in white, with
gold and silver gauze floating about her, and supporting a breast-plate upon
which was inscribed, California, The Union, it must and shall be preserved.
After these came the municipal officers and fire department, followed by a
company of watermen with a boat on wheels; and finally the several secret
and benevolent societies. At the plaza the ceremonies consisted of prayer,
ADMISSION DAY. 349
so it is pleasant to remember occasions when our local
world seemed revolving in an intoxicating atmosphere
of self-praise and mutual admiration. For the encour
agement of these agreeable sentiments, admission day
continues to be celebrated in California, and is by
statute a legal holiday.
The Spanish-sired young state, like a Sabine maiden,
had been wrested from her kindred, and forcibly wed
ded with a greater people. She had protested 48 in
vain, and consented with reluctance; yet she had con-
music, an oration by Judge Bennett, and an original ode by Mrs Wills of
Louisiana. See S. F. Picayune, Oct. 19, 30, and 31, 1850; 8. F. Pac. News,
Oct. 21, 28, 29, and 30, 1850; 8. F. Herald, Oct. 19, 25, 28, and 31, 1850; S.
F. Courier, Oct. 31, 1850; 8. F. Bulletin, Sept. 8, 1875; Sonoma Democrat,
Sept. 14, 1878; Napa Register, Sept. 21, 1878; S. F. Post, Sept. 9, 1878; Peta-
lurna Ar<jus, Oct. 5, 1877; 8. F. Call, Sept. 9 and 10, 1870; Sac. Union, Sept.
13, 1871; Pac. Rural Press, Sept. 20, 1879; Oakland Transcript, Sept. 9, 1877;
Visa fa Delta, Sept. 11, 1875. Jacks, of S. F., manufactured a medal
which was designed to commemorate the admission of the state, and to com
pliment her friend, the statesman of Ky. It was 2^ inches in diameter,
weighing over 2 ounces. On the upper edge was engraved, California, ad
mitted Sept. 9, 1850; on the lower edge, City of San Francisco, October 29,
1850. Within the circle was inscribed, Presented to Henry Clay by Jacks
and brothers. On the reverse was a raised rim like a wreath, composed of
small gold specimens from Bear, Yuba, and Feather rivers, and from the Los
Angeles Mining Co. s veins. Inside the wreath were 30 small stars, with a
large star in the centre, on which stood a piece of white gold quartz of the
size and shape of an acorn. S. F. Cal. Courier, Jan. 25, 1851; Sac. Transcript,
Feb. 1, 1851.
* 8 In Feb. 1850, the people of Los Angeles, alarmed at the action of the
legislature in taxing land, held a mass meeting to propose some method of
escape from the impending evil. They wished not to have to pay the enor
mous expense of a state govt; and complained that the legislature favored
the more thickly populated north, disregarding the interests of the thinly
populated south. This was unavoidable, as the public domain could not be
taxed, and the lands covered by Spanish grants only could. The Los An
geles people said they feared ruin; and proposed to petition congress to
form a territory to be called Central California, embracing the country from
San Luis Obispo to San Diego. An address to congress was finally adopted,
declaring that they had not had time to become acquainted with American
institutions when they joined in forming a state constitution. They believed
a territorial govt the most suitable. Ruinous taxes would have to be levied
to support the state. They could not believe congress would admit Cal. as a
state. It was too large, and the interest too diverse. They would have a
separation and a territorial govt. It was signed by Manuel Requena, prest,
Enrique Dal ton and Agustin Olvera, sees. Vol., Doc., MS., xiii. 39; Hayes 1
Scraps, Angeles, i. 5, 12, 29-30; 8ta Barbara Arch., MS., viii. 229-30, 233;
Costa Coll., 25-36. On the 9th of May, 1850, Foote produced in the U. S.
senate a letter addressed to him by Agostin Harazthy, of San Diego, enclos
ing the address of the Los Angeles meeting. The Santa Barbara and San
Luis Obispo people were opposed to the memorial. Foote moved to have the
documents printed, but objections being made, they were not received. Cong.
Globe, 1849-50, 967.
350 POLITICAL HISTORY.
sented, and now joined in the rejoicings. 49 Henceforth
her destiny was one with the superior race. At the
union the world looked on amazed. 50 The house she
entered was divided against itself on her account. But
under all these embarrassments she conducted herself
with dignity, doing her best to preserve the honor and
unity of the nation, and contributing of her treasures
as required of her with a liberal hand. Thrice blessed
California ! Blessed in giving rather than in receiv
ing ; for of all the many mighty states of this American
confederation, she has given more and received pro
portionately less than any one of them.
49 An address a los Calif ornias, urging them to celebrate, was printed in
Spanish, and circulated among the native population.
60 The London Times, commenting on the admission celebration at S. F. ,
said: Forgetting for a moment the decorative features of this exhibition, let
the reader consider the extraordinary character of the facts it symbolized.
Here was a community of some hundreds of thousands of souls collected from
all quarters of the known world Polynesians and Peruvians, Englishmen
and Mexicans, Germans and New Englanders, Spaniards and Chinese all
organized under old Saxon institutions, and actually marching under the
command of a mayor and alderman. Nor was this all, for the extemporized
state had demanded and obtained its admission into the most powerful feder
ation in the world, and was recognized as a part of the American union. A
third of the time which has been consumed in erecting our house of parlia
ment has here sufficed to create a state with a territory as large as Great
Britain, a population difficult to number, and destinies which none can fore-
CHAPTER XIV.
UNFOLDING OF MINERAL WEALTH.
1848-1856.
EXTENT OF GOLD REGION IN 1848-9 AMERICAN RIVER THE CENTRE EL
DORADO COUNTY SOUTH FORK AND SOUTHWARD MIDDLE BRANCH
PLACER, NEVADA, YUBA, SIERRA, PLUMAS, BUTTE, AND SHASTA COUNTIES
TRINITY AND KLAMATH GOLD BLUFF EXCITEMENT, 1850-1 DEL
NORTE, HUMBOLDT, AND SlSKIYOU IN THE SOUTH AMADOR, CALA-
VERAS, AND TuOLUMNE TABLE MOUNTAIN MARIPOSA, KERN, SAN BER
NARDINO Los ANGELES AND SAN DIEGO ALONG THE OCEAN.
DURING the year 1848 the gold region of California
was explored and worked from Coloma to the Tuol-
umne in the south, and to Feather River in the north,
with a slight inroad upon the country beyond and
westward to the Trinity. It might have been ex
pected that observations would have extended farther
in the south, since this was in a measure the pathway
from Sonora and southern California; but hostile
Indians, and the distribution of gold in patches and
less regular streaks in dry ground, tended to discour
age the casual prospector. In the north, on the other
hand, every bar could be counted upon to contain suf
ficient color for remuneration or guidance, with greater
indication of finding in this quarter the supposed
mother beds. The inflowing hordes of 1849 1 and sub
sequent years followed the paths so far opened, and
passed onward to the poorer districts beyond the
1 There must have been 10,000 or 12,000 people waiting in August for pas
sage from S. F. to the mines, for small vessels were scarce. Connor s Stat.,
MS., 2; Crosby s Events in Col., MS., 14. It was a repetition of the scenes en
route given in the chapters for 1848.
(351)
352 UNFOLDING OF MINERAL WEALTH
Meroed, and into the more attractive north-west, be
yond the borders of Oregon and into Nevada.
The attention of new-comers continued throughout
these early years to be directed toward the American
River, as the chief centre and distributing point for
mining movements. It was famed moreover for Mar
shall s discovery, and for a well -sustained production,
not merely from placers along the crowded river-beds
and intermediate uplands, but from the auriferous
rock belt some thirty miles in breadth, which opened
prospects for even greater operations. Coloma, the
starting-point for the world-wide excitement, reaped
benefit in becoming for a time a flourishing county
seat, 2 the head in 1848 of numerous mining camps,
especially along the line to Mormon Island, 3 which
multiplied further in the following years, with Michi-
fan flat and Salmon Falls as the most prominent. 4
mproved methods, and such enterprises as fluming
the river, in the summer of 1849, increased the yield
and sustained the mining interest for years. 5 On
the divide southward a still greater development
took place, along Webber Creek, 6 notably at the old
2 Coloma claimed the first ditch, in this region, the El Dorado, six miles
long, for bringing water to her placer field. Here was placed the first ferry
on the South Fork, and the first bridge in the county, to attest the popu
larity of the spot. Later, fruit-raising arrested total decline.
3 Dutch Bar, Kanaka, Red, Stony, Ledge, Missouri, Michigan, and other
bars. Negro Hill, opposite Mormon Island, so named after subsequent negro
miners of 1849, had in 1853 over 1,003 inhabitants. Unioiitown, first called
Marshall, was the centre for the miners on Granite and Shingle creeks, with
Poague s bridge and the second saw-mill in the county.
4 The former composed of Red Hill, Coyote Diggings, and Rich Gulch; the
latter, beginning with Higgins Point, was laid out as a town in 1850, and
attained at one time a population of 3,000, sustained by tributary camps like
Pinchemtight, Jayhawk, Green Springs, and McDowell Hill. In the sum
mer of 1849 the Mormon Island Mining Assoc. undertook to turn the course
of the South Fork, for the purpose of mining in its bed. Farther down an
other company was prepared for a similar task. Shares sold at $5,000. Alta
Cal, Aug. 2, 1849; Placer Times, Apr. 28, June 19, Sept. 22, 1847; Brooks, Four
Mo., 51, was there in June. In 1850 a green hand took out $19,000 in three
days, and three pounds of dust one afternoon. Sac. Transcript, Aug. 30, 1850.
In Oct. 1850 there were 1,500 miners at Mormon Island making more money
than ever. Id., Oct. 14, 1850; Jan. 14, 1851; Pac. News, May 27, etc., 1850;
Crosbys Events, MS., 16-17.
5 The mines were never yielding better, writes one to the S. F. Bulletin,
Dec. 13, 1855, of the Coloma region.
6 See previous chapter on mines of 1848. lowaville and Dogtown, later
Newtown, were among the camps of 1849. Sac. Transcript, Apr. 26, 1850, etc.
AMERICAN RIVER. 353
dry diggings, which after 1848 acquired the name
of Hangtown, subsequently Placerville, the county
seat. 7 Below sprang up Diamond Springs and Mud
Springs, each in a rich district, 8 and along the north
ern line of the Cosumnes rose a series of less im
portant bars, surpassed in wealth by several diggings
on the divides between the forks. 9 The adjoining Sac
ramento county came in for a minor share in the gold
sand of both the American and Cosumnes, which was
collected at a number of camps; 10 and along the upper
border ran a quartz belt half a dozen miles in width,
which was slowly opening. Eastward El Dorado
miners had penetrated as early as 1850 into Carson
Valley. 11
North of the American South Fork, Kelsey and
Pilot Hill formed the rival centres of two important
groups of mines, 12 and above them Greenwood and
7 In 1854 it polled the third largest vote in the state. The diggings con
tinued rich all around for years, and were several times rewashed. CaL
Courier, Oct. 18, 1850; Pac. News, id.; Sac. Transcript, Apr. 26, Oct. 14,
1850, etc.
8 The latter renamed El Dorado. Diamond Springs competed in 1854 for
the county seat. Cold Springs, above Placerville, attained at one time to
2,000 inhab. Shingle sustained itself.
9 As Grizzly Flat and Indian Diggings of 1850, the latter, near Mendon,
having for a time, in 1855, a population of 1,500. Among the bars were Big,
Bucks, Pittsburgh, and Nashville. Quartz excitements were rife in this re
gion at the close of 1S50. Pac. News, Oct. 18, 1850; Sac. Transcript, Nov. 29,
1850; Placerville Repub., June 27, 1876, gives a history of Grizzly Flat, and
contributes in other numbers to different local reminiscences.
10 Below the well-known Mormon Island lay Negro Bar with 700 people in
1851; Alabama Bar, Big Gulch, later Ashland; Prairie City, the centre for
several interior diggings, with a tributary popul. in 1854 of 1,000, quartz-mills
near by in 1855; Texas Hill; the rich Beam Bar of 1849. The branches and
extensions of several ditches reached this region in 1851-5, as did others along
the Cosumnes, including Knightsomer s ditch, possessing since 1851 the old
est water right on this river. In 1855 there were 4 ditches in the county, 29
miles in length, which by 1860 increased to 11 ditches of 135 miles. Along
the lower Cosumnes lay Michigan and Cook bars of 1849, the former with
over 1,000 inhab. at one time. Katesville and Sebastopol rose later. For
other details, see Hist. Sacramento Co., 214-29, and references of later notes.
11 Pac. News, Aug. 21, Oct. 10, 1850; CaL Courier, July 15, 1850. See
Hist. Nevada, this series.
12 The former at one time having extensive business tributaries in Louis
ville, Columbia, Irish Creek, American Flat, Fleatown, Elizaville, Yankee,
Chicken, Stag, Barley, and Union flats. Spanish Flat was named after
Spanish diggers of 1849, when Mosquito Valley also claimed prominence with
two camps. At Pilot Hill, later Centreville, discovered late in 1849, 32
miners wintered; yield 8 to $60 daily per man; many small nuggets. /<..,
Apr. 26, 1859; S. F. Picayune, Dec. 2l", 1850; Connors Stat., MS., 2.
HIST. CAL., VOL. VL 23
354 UNFOLDING OF MINERAL WEALTH.
Georgetown, both dating from 1848, 13 as did Spanish
Dry Diggings. 14 On the Middle Fork the develop
ments made in 1848 15 led to a series of camps along its
entire length, from Beal Bar to the headwaters. 16 It
was esteemed the richest river for a regular yield in
California, with more bars than any other, several of
which were said to have produced from one to three
millions each, and to have sustained themselves to
some extent until recent times. 17 Meanwhile hydrau-
13 The latter competing in 1854 for the county seat; a pretty spot; it con
tinued to thrive though ravaged more than once by fire. Greenwood, first
called Long Valley, then Green Valley, and Lewisville, also aspired to the
county seat. Near by were Hoggs diggings, Oregon canon, Hudson gulch,
and Georgia slide or iiat.
14 Called in 1849 Dutchtown, where quartz was found. Near by was
Jones Hill. Little, Stat., MS., 8, says that from one to four ounces a day
could readily be made here.
15 Notably at Michigan Bluff, which experienced its real rush in 1850,
and developed best under hydraulic operations after 1852. Rector Bar,
Sailor s Claim, and Horseshoe Bar were long active.
10 Including Massachusetts Flat, Condemned Bar, Long, Doton, Horseshoe,
Whiskey where the pioneer wire bridge opened in 1854, Rattlesnake which
in 1853 took the lead, Lacey, Milkpunch, Deadman s, Granite, Manhattan,
and other bars, up to the junction of South Fork. Then the bars of Oregon,
Louisiana, New York, Murderer s, Wildcat, Willow, Hoosier, Green Moun
tain, Maine, Poverty, Spanish, Ford, at Otter Creek, Volcano, Sandy, Grey
Eagle, Yankee Slide, Eureka, Boston, Horseshoe, Junction, Alabama all
on the south side of the middle fork. Along the north bank lay Vermont,
Buckner, opposite Murderer s, Rocky Point, Mammoth, Texas, Quail, Brown,
Kennebec, Buckeye, American, Sardine, Dutch, African, Drunkard s, Pleas
ant, and yet farther Greenhorn, Fisher, Menken Cut, Mud Canon, Niggers
Bluff, Missouri Canon, and Grizzly Canon. In the summer of 1850 fully 1,500
men from Oregon were at work up the stream. Murderer s Bar, so named
from the murder by Indians of five men in Ross party, Ross, Narr. % MS.,
13-19, was remarkable for a very rich crevice, but so deep and dangerous to
work that it has not yet been thoroughly exploited. In 1853 one of the
largest and best river bars in the county was constructed here, although
fluming had been done in 1849. It was a lively place during the entire
decade. Placer Times, Apr. 23, May 19, June 2, July 20, Oct. 13, 27, Nov.
24, Dec. 15, 22, 1849; March 9, May 3, 8, 24, 1850; Sac. Transcript, Apr.
23, May 29, Aug. 30, Sept. 30, Nov. 29, 1850; Jan. 14, Feb. 1, 14, May
15, 1851; Woodward s Stat., MS., 5; Fowlers Diet., MS., 14 et seq.; 8. F.
Picayune, Sept. 11, 1850; Cal Courier, July 18, Aug. 5, 1850, with allusion
to hill tunnel; Pac. News, Jan. 10, Oct. 25, 1850. A rise in the river Aug.-
Sept. 1850 caused great loss and delay. Placer Times and Trans., 1851-2,
passim; Barstow sStat., MS., 6-7, 14; Moore sExper., MS., 6-7; AUa Cal, Aug.
2, 1849, etc.
17 Mud Canon and American Bar are credited with $3,000,000 each; Horse
shoe Bend, Volcano Bar, Greenhorn Slide, and Yankee Slide, with sums
ranging down to $1,000,000, and a number of others with several hundred
thousand each. In El Dorado Co. Hist., 76, 85, the yield of the county is
placed at $100,000,000. Sac. Union, Nov, 9, 18, 1854; Jan. 13, Feb. ,19, 26,
Mar. 23, Apr. 6, 12, 23, June 10, 20, 26, Oct. 23, 1855; Dec. 22, 1856; AltaCal,
July 30, Dec. 5, 1852; Nov. 25, 1855; Apr. 29, Oct. 14, Nov. 29, 1856; 8. F.
Bulletin, Dec. 3, 21, 1855; Mar. 3, Apr. 29, 1856, with allusions also to ditches.
BEAR RIVER. 355
lie and quartz mining stepped in to supply the defi
ciency, assisted by numerous ditch enterprises, which
by the end of 1855 covered in El Dorado more than
GOO miles, at a cost of $1,000,000. 18
The narrow divide between the Middle and North
forks was exceedingly rich, as shown by the number
of important camps which sprang up, notably Yankee
Jim s, Todd Valley, Wisconsin Hill, and Iowa Hill; 19
and of this wealth the North Fork had an ample
share, distributed along numerous bars, 20 with many
fine nuggets. 21 One of the most famous diggings
here was opened in 1848 round Auburn, 22 which throve
so well as to secure in due time the county seat. On
the adjoining Bear River, Dutch Flat became the
18 In Cal. Jour. Ass., 1856, 26, are given 20 ditches of 610 miles, valued
at $935,000. A later version increases the mileage to 800 and the value to
$1,400,000, pertaining to 16 leading canals, the main trunk of which measured
475 miles. Of quartz-mills, to be treated in vol. vii., there were then 7
crushing 56 tons daily. The history of the chief canals is given in El Dorado
Co. Hist., 104 et seq. Near Placerville was a ridge of quartz. Sac. Union, Mar.
13, 1855; 8. F. Bulletin, Jan. 19, 1856; instance rock yielding $225 per ton.
19 The first two dating from 1849. Near Yankee Jim s, long a leading
town of Placer county, rose Georgia Hill, which proved one of the richest
surface diggings. Here abutted also Shirt-tail, Brushy, and Devil s canons.
Bird s store, El Dorado, and Antoine canons above Michigan Bluffs, worked
since 1850, when Bath, of many other names, came into prominence, to be
eclipsed soon after by the contemporary Forest Hill. Not far off lay Bogus
Thunder, Damascus or Strong Diggings, Dead wood, which belied its name only
between 1852-5, Humbug Canon, Euchre Bar, the rich Grizzly Flat. Iowa Hill
yielded $100,000 weekly in 1856 from its hydraulic mines, and continued to
prosper. Its yield for thirty years was placed at $20,000,000.
2j Such as Kelly, Barnes discovered by Barnes, Or. ami Cal., MS., 14-18,
early in 1849 Smith, Spanish, and Oregon Gulch, the last spoken of by
Thompson. Stat., MS., 21-6; Crosby, Stat., MS., 19-20; Moore, Exper., MS.,
7-8; Placer Times, May 26, July 25, Dec. 15, 1849; S. F. Picayune, Sept. 11,
1850; Alta Cal., Aug. 2, 1849; Directory Placer Co., 1861, 13, etc. Among
other bars were Calf, Rich, Jones, Mineral, Pickering, and the noted Mormon
Bar.
21 In 1849 two nuggets of 40 ounces and 25 pounds respectively were re
ported. Placer Times, June 23, 1849. Two weighing 25 Ibs. and 16 Ibs. Sac.
Transcript, Apr. 26, 1850.
22 By Claude Charnay and party near Ophir. It was first called North
Fork Dry Diggings, and in 1849 Auburn. Ophir, first called Spanish Corral,
was in 1852 the largest place in Placer county, quartz veins and fruit-growing
tending to avert any serious decline, and to keep it above its former rival,
Frytown, which died after contributing to raise Auburn to the summit. The
story is told that some of the richest ground was found beneath House s
hotel, and so enabling him to devote his leisure moments to digging under
cover, and earning about $100 a day. A $4,000 nugget was reported. Ala-
meda Co. Gaz., Apr. 19, 1873; June 19, 1875; Sac. Transcript, May 29, 1850;
Armstrong s Exper., MS., 13-14.
356 UNFOLDING OF MINERAL WEALTH.
leading place. 23 The several streams running in close
proximity were a welcome source for the many ditch
enterprises required for hydraulic and tunnel mining,
which here predominated, gravel beds of 100 feet in
depth being abundant from Todd Valley north- west
ward. 24
Nevada stands forward preeminently a mining
county, with placers as rich as any along the
branches of the Yuba, followed by extensive gravel
deposits through the central and eastern parts, where
runs the famous Blue Lead, and finally by wide quartz
belts. The lodes did not prove very heavy, and the
veins averaged only two feet in width, but the ore
was of a high grade, very tractable, and mostly asso
ciated with sulphurets. 25 The first recognized discov
ery of auriferous ore was made in June 1850 at Grass
Valley, which, by opening the first mill, became the
initial point in California for a new era in mining.
An excitement soon set in, and machinery was intro
duced by different parties ; but owing to inexperience
and imperfect methods, the cost of reduction ranged
so high as to absorb rich yields, and spread general
discouragement. A few rich mines alone managed to
sustain themselves, and their improvements, by which
23 Mining was done in June 1848 at Steep Hollow. In 1849 a number of
bars were opened, and Alder Grove or Upper Corral, near Coif ax, and Illinois -
town attracted a large influx. Placer Times, May 17, 1850, dilates upon the
yield of Gold Run.
24 In 1855 there were 29 canals 480 miles long in Placer county, valued at
$649,000, yet costing much more. CaL Ass. Jour., 1856, 26. The tunnels at
Michigan Flat were estimated to be 28 miles in length, costing $1,330,000.
There were in 1856 only four quartz-mills in the county. The total produc
tion for 1S56 was placed at $5,000,000. County surveyor s report. S. F. Bul
letin, Dec. 10, 1856; Aug. 3, 1857. The largest canal belonged to the Auburn
and Bear River W. Co., with main line of 50 miles and 150 miles of branches.
A short railroad was built in 1853 from Auburn to Virginia Hill, but a ditch
soon replaced it. Placer Co. Hist, 271, 224. For early mining operations in
this county, see, further, Placer Times, May 12, June 30, 1849; Jan. 26, 1850;
Nov. 15, 1851; 8. F. Picayune, Sept. 11, 27, 1850; Sac. Transcript, Apr. 26,
June 29, Aug. 30, Oct. 15, 1850; June 1, 15, 1851; CaL Courier, July 15,
Sept. 27, 1850; Pac. News, May 17, Dec. 22, 1850; Fays Slat., MS., 11-13.
Concerning later progress and excitements, see Sac. Union, 1854-6; AUa Cal. y
1852-6, passim.
25 The auriferous belt turns here and runs more directly north and south.
In the south-western part of the county the limestone belt is conspicuous
YUBA RIVER. 357
the cost of extracting and reducing was lowered,
gradually regained confidence, so that by 1856 three
quarters of a million of dollars had been invested in
this branch, employing 500 men, with the prospect of
rapid increase. Nevada City was the chief participant
with Grass Valley in the threefold development of
placer, gravel, and quartz resources, which secured for
her the dignity of county seat. Few places were so
favored, and the most of these had but a temporary
success as camps, a few r alone surviving till late days,
chiefly as agricultural centres. They sprang up along
the south and middle Yuba, the upper part of Bear
River, and in the ravines and flats of the intervening
divides, some yielding large sums, Rus-h Creek being
credited with three millions, Poorrnan s Creek with
one million, and Grass Valley four millions within six
years from her placers, her total production for four
teen years being about twenty-four millions. The
broad gravel belts of the central and northern parts of
the county helped, not alone in swelling the an
nual total, but in promoting the construction of a
vast water system, which in 1856 embraced 100 ditches
and canals, 800 miles in length, one of 16 miles costing
$350,000, while others, in favorable ground, had in
volved an expense as low as $200. These belts thus
developed likewise gave to Nevada the credit of per
fecting and introducing such mining appliances as the
O O O L J.
torn, sluice, and hydraulic methods. 26
26 The miners who wintered on the Yuba in 1848-9 made several new de
velopments which were amplified by the fast inflowing gold-seekers. Rough
and Ready sprang up rapidly as a mining centre, casting in 1850 nearly 1,000
votes; but after this decade it declined. Near by were Randolph, Butte,
Rich, and Texas flats, and Squirrel Creek. In 1851 the Kentucky Ridge
quartz ledge was opened. In the following decade a brief excitement in cop
per mines gave rise to several settlements, of which Spenceville alone proved
a feeble survival. Eastward, past Newtown, or Sailor Flat, and along Wolf
Creek, miners drifted into the renowned Grass Valley, where D. Stump and
two other Oregonians had found gold in 1848. Boston Ravine became the
starting-point for the several placers here, which, within six years, yielded
nearly $4,000,000, and led to the discovery of gold quartz at Gold Hill, in June
1350. Little attention was paid to it till October, when one McKnight opened
a rich vein two feet wide, and created a furore for all claims in every direc
tion. Round Grass Valley were located, within a few months, a number of
other hills, as Massachusetts, the second in order of discovery, Ophir, Osborn,
358 UNFOLDING OF MINERAL WEALTH.
Mining in Yuba county has been restricted to the
north-eastern part, and to bar and gravel claims; for
Lafayette, and Eureka, which latter failed to pay for several years, till a rich
ledge was struck; the Allison, one of the richest in the world, opened in 1853
by following a placer vein; but owing to the disrepute then cast upon quartz
mining from the ill success of inexperienced men, the ledge was long ne
glected. A few mines did well, however, and the occasional finds of rich
quartz chunks by diggers, as at Coyote, Sac. Transcript, Sept. 30, 1850,
tended to revive coniidence. Similar were the experience and condition of
Nevada City, which had an earlier start, and was in March 1850 organized
as a town, and subsequently as a city, with the dignity of county seat. All
around rose flourishing camps, especially along Deer and Brush creeks, the
latter yielding within a few years some $3,003,000. There were the hills of
Selby, Phelps, Oregon, Coyote, Lost, Wet, and American, the latter famous
as the scene of Matteson s first hydraulic venture; the flats known as Gold,
Thomas, and Selby; the rich Gold Run where claims sold in April 1850 at
from $5,000 to $18,000; Gold Tunnel sold in March 1851 for $130,000 Alta
Cal, March 28, 1851; Sac. Transcript, Apr. 26, 1850; S. F. Picayune, Sept.
14, 1850 Beckville, and Coyoteville, so named from its peculiar coyote min
ing. Its lead is said to have yielded $8,000,000. In Oct. 1850 the quartz
excitement led also here to the opening of several promising ledges. Three
men bought quartz claims for a trifle, and by employing men to break the
rock with hammers, and picking out the gold, they netted $20,000 in ten
days. One piece of 251bs. yielded $200. Sac. Transcript, Feb. 20, 1851. There
were then three companies at Nevada operating quartz machinery; one six-
horse machine crushed ten tons daily. At Grass Valley the pound of rock
produced from 10 to 30 cents. Id., Feb. 1, 14, 28, March 14, 1851; Placer
Times, Oct. 26, 1851, contains a list of quartz-mills; Simonin, Vir Souter., 419.
According to the Nevada Democ., the capital invested in quartz mines and
machinery in the county in 1858 exceeded three qiiarters of a million, giving
employment to 500 men. The cost of crushing was about $12 per ton. The
Grass Vol. Intellirjencer reduced this to $10 per ton for many mills, or nearly
double when custom mills were used, raising and hauling included. S. F.
Bulletin, Nov. 29, 1856. Of the Grass Valley mills five were reducing ore
yielding not less than $60 per ton, some exceeding $100 per ton, and Allison
reaching $300. Alta Cal, Dec. 5, 1856, et seq. East of Nevada City lay a
broad belt of gravel which extended from the Middle Yuba to Bear River
and beyond, expanding in Little York township into several eastern branches.
Placer mining had here spread from Scott Ravine though Union Bar and
Nigger Ravine were the initial mining points to Little York, which, in
1852, rose to a stanch town n the strength of the gravel discoveries; so did
Red Dog, which after 1806 moved almost entirely to You Bet, dating from
1857. It also absorbed Walloupa without gaining any permanent strength.
In the adjoining Washington township, Alpha and Omega marked two min
ing centres, dating one year subsequent to Indiana Camp, or Washington, of
1849, on the south Yuba, which in 1850-1 had 3,000 miners in the vicinity.
Along the South Yuba, in this region, were the bars, Canal, Long, Keno,
Jimmy Brown, Boulder, later Rocky, Grissell, and Brass Wire; the flats,
Whiskey, Brandy, Jackass, Lizard, and Virgin. JefTerson, or Greenwood, was
a lively place; likewise Gold Hill. Poorman s Creek is supposed to have
yielded a million. Crosby s Stat., MS., 21-2. On the divide toward the Mid
dle Yuba, Eureka South was opened in. 1850 to become a bustling town for
half a dozen years; in 18G6 quartz discovery revived it in a certain measure.
Lower were Orleans, Woolsey, arid Moore flats, which rose in close rivalry
in 1851, the first leading a while, but declining with the second, and leaving
Moore s alone a thriving town. Like them, North Bloomfield, Lake City
Columbia Hill, or North Columbia, and Relief, or Grizzly Hill, owed their
existence from 1851-3 to the gravel belts, of which a branch entered Bridge-
THE GRAVEL BELTS. 359
quartz, while freely scattered, has proved unprofitable
in almost every instance. Among river bars the rich
est were found on the main Yuba, near the end of the
auriferous line, as at Long, Rose, and notably Parks,
the first of long duration and the last productive of
several rapidly acquired fortunes. These deposits
were drawn by the river from the ancient blue lead a
short distance above. The gravel belts here, although
of comparatively small extent, have been very remu
nerative, particularly at Sicard Flat, between Timbuc-
too and Mooney Flat, and between Camptonville and
Oak Valley, their wealth causing the construction by
1855 of a score of ditches about 360 miles in length. 27
port township to sustain Cherokee, of 1850, North San Juan, which became
a strong town, Birchville, Sweetland, and French Corral, the latter dating
s nee 1849. Westward lay the well-known Condemned, Frenchmen, and
Rice bars, and along the South Yuba, Bridgeport and Jones. Nevada ranks
foremost in mining enterprise, for inventing and applying machinery, and in
conducting water for working it. In 1850 four ditches were undertaken,
b ginning in March, it is claimed, with a channel about 1^ miles long from
Mosquito Creek to Coyote Hill. In May water was brought from Little
Deer Creek to Phelps Hill, at the rate of $4 per day per ton. Moore began
in August the ditch from Deer Creek to Rough and Ready, which was com
pleted in 1851 by A. L. & B. 0. Williams, for 15 miles. In Dec. a canal from
Rock Creek to Coyote Hill, 9 miles, was finished, at a cost of 10,000. Sac.
Transcript, May 15, 1851, calls the Rock Creek Canal the first of the kind,
followed by two from Deer Creek. Grass Vol. Directory, 185G, 10-12, claims
the first in Aug., for Moore; in 1851 was begun the 15-mile canal from Deer
Creek to GoLl Flat; the Newton ditch of 5 miles, and the Triunion to
Sucker Flat, 15 miles. By the close of 1855 there were 44 ditches, 682 miles
long, says Cal. Ass. Jour., 1856, p. 26. The assessor s report for 1856 has
over 100 ditches, with a total length of 800 miles. The South Yuba canal
of 16 miles cost $350,000, owing to its durability of construction and difficult
route, including a tunnel of 3,200 feet. S. F. Bulletin, Nov. 29, 1856. The
next in cost was the Middle Yuba of 26 miles, $100,000; the Miner s from
the same source, 20 miles, $80,000; the Poorman s, 20 miles, and Grizzly,
45 miles, cost $40,000 each, and several ranged above $20,000; Simpson of
11 miles, from Shady Creek, is rated at only $2,000; and the Wisconsin,
from Steep Hollow, 4 miles, at $800, owing to aid from self-sluicing, no
doubt. Nevada Co. Hist., 171-2. The charge in 1851 ranged from. 16 for
the first use to $1 for the muddy residue of the last claim. In 1855 a stormy
convention met to obtain a reduction to 25 cents per inch of water. Nev.
Jour., Nov. 23, 30, 1855; Jan. 18, 1856. Further details of Nevada mining
in Marysville Directory, 1858, 26, 94, etc.; Yuba Co. Hist., 136, etc.; Gross
Val. Directory, 1865, 69-88; Neo. Democ., Nov. 29, 1854; Grass Val Telcj.,
Dec. 12, 1854, etc.; Id., Union, Nov. 15, 1867, etc.; Sac. Transcript, 1850-1,
passim; Placer Times, 1849-50, passim; Pac. News, Oct. 2, Nov. 13, 1850;
Cal. Courier, July 13, Sept. 27, 1850; Alta Cal., Aug. 2, 1847; Feb. 5, 1850;
Jan. 30, 1853, and 1849-56, passim; S. F. Bulletin, 1855-6, passim; Sac.
Union, Id.
27 The Yuba revealed gold as far down as Marysville, in Aug. 1851, but
here mining was forbidden. The first bar above of any note was Swiss, dat-
360 UNFOLDING OF MINERAL WEALTH.
The same famous Blue Lead stretches with a great
profusion of gravel deposits into Sierra, Butte, and
Plumas counties, marked by a long line of tunnels
and camps. The auriferous slate is generally covered
by beds of volcanic origin which form the crest of
the Sierra, but rivers have furrowed deep channels
through them, especially along the western rims,
leaving numerous rich bars and flats to delight the
early surface diggers. Rich was indeed a common
appellation for bars in this region, as well it might be,
with prospects of several hundred dollars to the pan
ing since 1850, which like several others was soon buried beneath the debris
from the upper mines. Above lay the bars known as Sand, Long, very rich
and lasting, Ousley, Kennebec, Saw-mill, Cordua, all of 1849; Spect, of 1848,
named after the first gold discoverer on the Yuba, who also opened the richer
and enduring Rose Bar. Below this lay Parks, also of 1848, perhaps the
most valuable on the river, which polled 600 votes in 1852, and threatened to
rival Marysville. Here 5 men took out 525 Ibs. of gol;l within a few days,
and returned home. Sac. Transcript, Sept. 30, 1850. Above lay Sicard Bar
of 1849, which in 1850 led up to Sicard Flat, a rich and lasting hydraulic
point, whose gravel belt extends in the hills toward Long Bar to Chimney
Hill, and southward to Gatesville or Sucker Flat and Sand Hill, of 1850.
The adjoining limbuctoo, Mooney s Flat, and Smartsville rose to prominence
in 1855-6. Continuing along the river we find Barton Bar, Malay Camp,
Lander, Union, Industry, National, Stoney, Poverty, Kanaka, English, Wins-
low, the latter named after a captain who introduced Cninese laborers, Negro,
Missouri, and Horseshoe bars, Lousey Level, or Rice Crossing, Frenchman,
and Condemned bars, Cliiigman s Point. At the mouth of Middle Yuba were
many miners, and above lay Freeman Bar. Along the North Yuba were Bui-
lard, Ferry, and Foster bars, of 1849, the latter having in 1850 about 1,000
people; at Bullard $50,000 was spent to turn a worthless river-bed. Above
were the minor Long No. 2, Oregon, Pittsburg, Rock Island, Elbow, and
Missouri No. 2 bars. In 1852 several bars appeared higher up toward the
Slate Range Bar of 1849. Within the angle of the river bend extended the
Camptonville district, which became prominent after 1850, and gave rise to
a number of rich camps along the gravel belt from Oak Valley, to Campton
ville, along Young, Galena, and Railroad hills, the latter so named from the
first use of iron rails in tunnel operations. The north-east district embraced
Strawberry Valley and Eagleville. In upper Foster district were Oregon
Hill, or Greenville, and Indiana Rancho, the latter with 500 miners in 1851-2.
Westward, in New York district, Natchez became after 1850 the centre of
several rich ravines, which extended at intervals through Ohio Flat to Mt
Hope, and afforded later a little quartz mining. Lower, along Dry Creek,
rose Frenchtown and Brown s Valley, the latter remarkable for the most ex
tensive though not very profitable quartz mining in the county. To the
gravel deposits are due nearly all the ditch enterprises, which, begun in 1850,
numbered eight years later 24, with a length of 218 miles, of which 60 miles
belonged to the Triunion, from Deer to Sucker Flat district, 32 miles to the
Excelsior to the same point, from Middle Yuba and Deer Creek. A number
of ditches, 16 miles and less in length, supplied the Camptonville belt, and
Brown Valley had also its conduits, one of 10 miles from Dry Creek. For
authorities, see preceding note, and Hist. Yuba Co., passim; Marysville Direc
tory, 1858, 22 et seq. ; Cal Ass. Jour., 1856, p. 26, has 18 ditches of 360
miles, value $560,000.
QUARTZ MINING. 361
of dirt, and with nuggets ranging from the Monu
mental of Sierra City, 141 pounds in weight, to several
of 20 and 50 pounds. On the north Yuba, Downieville
became the centre of a wide circle of camps. South
of it tunnelling early developed at Forest City, and
in the opposite directions Slate and Canon creeks
loomed into prominence, with many dry diggings.
For the year 1851-2 the assessor estimated the yield
of Sierra county at $3,000,000, a figure well sustained
by the expansion of drift and hydraulic mining, aided
by about 300 miles of ditching prior to 1856, and by
the growth of quartz crushing, for which half a dozen
mills were erected. This branch was here led by the
Sierra Butte mine, which ranked with the best of
Nevada. In Butte and Plumas deep and extensive
operations were more restricted, partly from the ob
stacles to the hydraulic method in Butte, owing to the
level surface which offered an insufficient fall, and in
Plumas owing largely to the difficulty and cost of
conveying water. By 1856 the latter possessed only
65 miles of ditches. Quartz mining had in both re
ceived a discouraging check from early reckless exper
iments, but was gradually resumed to counteract the
decline in shallow placers. Along the lower Feather
River, Bidwell Bar, Long Bar, Forbestown, all soon
eclipsed by Oroville, contributed largely to the pro
duction of Butte, which was noted for the surpassing
fineness of its gold. 28 In Plumas the bars unfolded
in such profusion and wealth as to satisfy even the
expectations of the stragglers, who in 1850 had been
lured by the Gold Lake fiction to this region. The
North Fork boasted several places which had yielded
fortunes in rapid succession, and Nelson Creek was
literally speckled with nuggets and dust. 29
28 Ranging as high as $20.40 per ounce.
29 Along the north Yuba, Cut Eye, Foster, and Goodyear bars had been
opened in 1849, the last polling in 1852 a vote of nearly 600. Intermediate
rose in 1850 St Joe, Nigger Slide, Ranty Doddler, Hoodoo, Cut Throat
or Woodville, and Slaughter bars. On Goodyear Creek, Eureka flourished in
1856, and subsequently prominent near by lay Excelsior Diggings. The lead
ing place was Downieville, first prospected by Goodyear or Anderson, but
362 UNFOLDING OF MINERAL WEALTH.
Northward placer mining, especially of the surface
character, remained preeminent, hydraulic and quartz
opened in the autumn of 1849 by Downie and others, and proving very rich,
a population of 5,000 had gathered by April 1850. A year later over 1,10J
votes were polled. Near by lay Snake, Cox, Steamboat, Big Rich, and Little
Rich bars, Durgan Flat or Washingtonville, Jersey Flat or Murraysville,
Zumwalt, O Donnell, Charcoal, and Kanaka flats, and Sierra City, which
became prominent in 1858. The divide southward was marked by the exten
sive tunnel operations at Forest City, first known as Brownsville and Eliza-
ville, and at Smith Flat and Alleghany, the latter unfolding rich quartz veins
in due time. On the north side of North Yuba ran Canon Creek, with Poker
and Craig s flats, and Slate Creek, with a number of tributary diggings, as
Port Wine, Sears, which in 1856 had a vote of 308, Howland Flat, which long
prospered, Pine Grove, Gibsonville, Whiskey Diggings or Newark, Hepsidam
Chandlerville, Spanish Flat, and Minnesota. Several were dry diggings,
which yielded their share of nuggets, and of these Sierra county boasted
many, including the Monumental, elsewhere mentioned, from Sierra City,
weighing 148 Ihs. 4 oz. The second largest of California was a chunk of 51
Ibs. from French Ravine in 1853, and one from above Dowaieville in 1851
which netted about 8,000. Fluming added greatly to the gold production,
which the assessor for the year 1851-2 estimated at .$3,000,000. Cal. Jour.
Sen. , 1 853, app. 3, pp. 55-6. Instances of rich finds in Sac. Transcript, Aug.
30, Nov. 29, 1850, Feb. 14, 1851, which speaks of strata yielding as high as
$5 JO to the pan, and a score of pounds of gold in a day. VowdCs Mining, MS.,
23-4. Drift and hydraulic mining acquired their real development only in
later years, together with quartz. Nevertheless, several good ledges were
worked in early days, notably Sierra Buttes, opened in 1850, which ranked
second only to the Nevada lodes, and is supposed to have produced no less
than $7,000,000 in 30 years. Gold Bluff, near Downieville, promised well.
By 1858 seven mills had been erected in the county, valued at $56, 000 and
crushing 12,500 tons of ore. The length of mining ditches was then 183
miles, carrying 22,000 inches of water, the earliest, between 1850-3, being
Haven s flume, which supplied Downieville, the Goodyear Bar ditch from
Rock Creek, and Sears Union, 1 1 miles from Slate Creek. Feather River,
which for a time claimed to be the richest of the streams, was opened by Bid-
well, who as a land-owner upon it prospected in 1848 and found gold near Ham
ilton, for a time county seat, and at Bidwell Bar, the leading place in Butte
county till 1856; in 1853 it had a tributary population of 2,000. The main
Feather River, round Thompson Flat, Adams Bar, and Long Bar, were also
mined in 1848, the last turning out very rich, and counting at one time 4,0^
diggers. Thompson Flat, or Rich Gulch, attained by 1854 at least 500 inhab
itants. All these were eclipsed by Oroville, called Ophir from 1849 to 1855,
which in the following year claimed a population of fully 4,000, and attained
the dignity of county seat. The adjoining Lynchburg became in 1855 a pow
erful rival, but collapsed. Above lay the rich Oregon City and Cherokee
Flat, the latter sustained by heavy hydraulic operations. Mountain View,
Dogtown, or Magalia, was in 1855-6 a prominent mining place. Eastward,
above Honcut Creek, Evansville, Wyandotte, Honcut, Dickyburg, and Forbes-
town rose in 1850, the latter becoming in 1853 second only to Bidwell Bar,
with a population of 1,000, In 1855 Clipper Mills and Bangor unfolded, the
latter with large gravel deposits. Along the south fork of Feather River
were Stringtown, dating since 1849, and subsequently Enterprise, the latter
revived in later years by quartz mining. On the north fork were Potter Bar,
opened in 1848, and Yankee Hill in 1850. Coricow township embraced a
number of extinct camps, as Rich, Chuh, and Spring gulches, Berry Creek,
Huff and Bartees bars. Among nuggets Butte county obtained from Dog-
town a chunk of 54 Ibs, and elsewhere a large number worth over $1,000.
With the increase of fluming and hydraulic operations, 1855 and subsequent
IN THE NORTH. : ,.;<
finding fewer devotees, partly from the capricious
nature of the deposits, and partly, as in Trinity, from
years saw a steady maintenance in the yield. Even in 1873 this amounted to
over a million for four months. Quart/ lodes were discovered in 18.30, and
proved KO promising that two years later the county joined ttie excitement,
and expended much time and money in fruitless experiments, as with the
Stitter Quartz Co. of Forbestown, whose mill cost $200,000. The result was
that most of the 13 companies existing in 1854 retired, a few alone, lilte the
49 and 50, Trojan, and Banner, proving remunerative. The excitement
assisted in promoting the construction of ditches, which served to develop
other branches. The first three, of 1852, supplied Long liar, Thompson Fl.it,
and the Oroville-Wyandotte region, the last, from Forbestown, being 30
miles long. In 1855-6 Oroville obtained a special ditch.
The clioice part of Feather River deposits fell within the limits of Plumos
county, which was practically opened only in 1850 by stragglers fro;a the
Gold l^ake rush. BLJ!OW the Middle Fork, Onion and Little Grass valleys
served as wintering ground, whence were explored Sawpit Flat, Richmond
Hill, Rabbit Creek, and other diggings. The adjoining Nelson Creek proved
exceedingly rich, nuggets lying strewn on the ground, and rockers yiel.ling
500 a day. Alia Cat., July 14, 1851. A host of bar, flat, ami creek cair.ps
sprang up, as Graveyard, Henpeck, Poormari s, etc. On the Middle Fork,
Kureka quartz lodge was discovered iu 1851, and gave rise to the ephemeral
City of 76. Near by grew up Jamiesou. City. Among noted bars were Rich,
well deserving the name, Butte, Sailor, Poplar, Nigger, and Bingharn; here
were also Poverty and Columbia flats. Toward the North Fork lay Llizabcih-
town, or Betsyburg, which became the largest camp in the county, and
rivalled the adjoining Quincy for the county seat, but declined after 18"5.
On the river itself a number of bars were opened, as Junction, Twelve-mile,
So.la, Indian, French, Smith, etc., and not least Rich Bar, so named from a
prospect of 1*2,900 from two pans of dirt. Several spots paid equally well.
Four men took out $50,000 within a short time, and three others 36,000 in
four days. In due time gravel beds and quartz attracted the main effort of
miners; by 1856 only 65 miles of ditches had been constructed. Cat. Jour.
AM., 1856, p. 26; 45 miles at a cost of $ .170, (XX), says the assessor s report of
1857. Thomas, Mining Iternin., MS., 3 et seq., Tyler, Buluxli s B>r, MS., 4
et seq., Armstrong, 4& Ejyer., MS., 13, etc., give interesting personal ex
periences in this region. Sac. Tramcript, Aug. 14, 1850, and 1851, passi .1;
Plarer Time*, Jan. 5, March 23, 1850et seq.; Pac. New*, Jan. 10, May 15,
23, Aug. 21-3, Nov. 6, 1850, refer to big finds, of 7 Ibs at a ti ne, 50 cents to
the pan, etc., of consequent fresh rush to Feather River early in 1851. Then
came notices of men tailing out nuggets, and over 2,000 a day. In Aug.
1850, 1,000 men were said to be working on the North Fork of Feather River,
where claims of 15 feet square sold from 100 to 300, and on Nelson Creek at
$250 a foot. It was supposed that Feather River would for 1850 yield more
than the rest of the gold-fields. Rich quartz specimens were shown from the
Yuba-Feather region in May 1850. For developments till 1856, see notices in
Alta CaL, 1849-56, passim; S. F. Herald, 1851-6, passim; S~ic. Union, 1854-
6, passim; Sierra Citizen, Nov. 11, Dec. 9, 1854; Mount. Mexsenjer, Dec. 2,
18.34, etc.; Meadow Lake W. Sun, Nov. 24, 18o6; Quinsy Union, Dec. 9, 1 J, 23,
30, 1805, etc.; S. F. Sun, June 8, 1853, refers to Onion Valley yielding the
hansomest gold, though worked for the third time; Pioneer M<uj., iv. 345,
etc.; Miner s Adivcate,?\QV. 25, 1854, etc.; 8. F. Bulleti.i, 1855-6, passim;
Mar. 23, July 3, 7, etc., 1857; May 26, 1860. At Rich Bur a man took out
apparently $15,000 in two days. Aniuitrony aExper.y MS., 13. Bates obtained
$2,500 from one panful and sold the lead for $5,000. At Downieville the aver-
age yield is reputed at 2 H>s a day per man. CaL Courier, Aug. 9, 14, 23, 33-1,
S:*pt. 2, 1850. At Foster and Goodyear bars, average 00 a day; near Nel
son Creek 300 to 400 a day per man: a streak at South Bar yielded 5,000 a
364 UNFOLDING OF MINERAL WEALTH
unfavorable environment, and the difficulties and cost
of access. Tehama has been practically excluded from
metallic distribution, situated as it is almost wholly in
the valley, so that only a few mining camps of minor
note fell at one time within its limits. In Shasta the
industry reasserts itself and shares in the eastern part
in the silver lodes which form a leading feature of
trans-mountain Lassen, to be developed in later years.
The main fields of Shasta lie between Clear Creek and
Soda Springs, tributary properly to the hitherto bar
ren Coast Range, which, however, is here commingled
with the westward turning Sierra Nevada, forming
throughout the north-west an intricate network of
spurs and narrow ravines, relieved by a few small val
leys and flats. Reading, of Trinity River fame, gave
his name to the district which sprang up in 1849 round
Clear Creek and lifted Shasta City to prosperity. The
main headwaters of the Sacramento and McLeod
fork rose to prominence in the following year, the
former proving enduring and sharing with the lower
diggings in subsequent revivals which gave such ac
tivity in 1855 to ditch enterprises and operations on a
large scale.
The fields north and westward had been made
known by passing Oregoniaris, and particularly by
Reading, who in 1848 penetrated to the Trinity, and
was so encouraged as to return the following season.
He was followed by a large train, a section of which
started by sea from San Francisco to seek an entrance
from the coast, and there plant supply stations.
Among the results were the settlement of Humboldt
Bay and Crescent City, and the vapid Gold Bluff ex
citement, during the winter 1850-1, with the expec
tation to reap an easy harvest from the auriferous
shore sand already washed by the sea waves. 30 Mean-
day in quarter and half pound lumps; two men got 56 Ibs in one day; Mont
gomery and McCabe s claim yielded &1,000 a day for weeks; SmiLh Bar yielded
$1,000 per hour. Pac. News, July 17, Aug. 21-3, Oct. 2, 22, Dec. 11, 1802.
Two Germans made 35 Ibs in one day at Rich Bar. S. F. Picayune, Aug. 21-5,
31, Oct. 3, Nov. 23, 1850.
3J The Gold Bluffs proper, below Klamath River, were discovered in May
THE SHASTA REGION 365
while prospectors poured from the Trinity to other
branches of the Klamath, finding rich bars on the
Salmon, and meeting on Shasta River with gold-
hunters from Oregon. The discovery of Scott Bar
and similar glittering spots chained them to this re
gion, and brought quickly large reinforcements from
the south. Bars and gulches were opened throughout
Scott Valley, on Thompson Creek and other tribu
taries, as well as upon the main Klamath. The open
ing of Cottonwood Creek and the hitherto misunder
stood Yreka flat, Greenhorn and Humbug creeks,
whose coarse grains and nuggets yielded fortunes in
rapid succession, assisted in pointing out the true
extent and nature of these strata, and in promoting
the extensive operations marked by such ditch con
structions as the Shasta canal of 1856 running for 80
O
miles.
The bars and tributaries of the lower Klamath,
especially Salmon River, added to the wealth of
Klamath and Del Norte counties, the latter possess
ing, moreover, remunerative diggings close to the
coast, round Crescent City and upon Smith River.
Humboldt s share was practically limited to the scanty
production of the ocean gold bluffs, for the interior
Trinity county tapped the main sources on the head
waters of the Trinity, with numerous bars, and with
branch streams like Stewart, the site of Ridgeville,
1850, and to them was directed, under highly colored accounts by interested
parties, the senseless rush of Dec. 1C50, and subsequent months. The aurif
erous sand was estimated to yield from 10 cents to $10 a lb., and the patch
corresponding to one member of the formed company was valued at !j/13,000,-
003, assuming it to be one tenth as rich as supposed. For reports on the
fiold and the rush, see Van Dyke s Stat., MS., 4 etseq.; Sac. Transcript, Jan.-
Fcb. 1851, and other journals. With the return of one unsuccessful party
early in Feb. 1851, the journals began to discredit the reports, observing sa
gaciously that the eagerness of stockholders to sell shares looked suspicious.
Over 2,000 miners were lured from El Dorado and Calaveras alone, it was said.
Yet the Placer Times, Nov. 15, 1851, still speaks of successful operations by
the chief company, although most trials had proved the gold specks to be too
fine for remunerative separation from the heavy black sand in which they lay.
The deposits extended nearly from Crescent City to Humboldt Bay. By
watching for the richer patches left by the retreating tule, a considerable
amount of sand could be secured, and with the ai d of sluicing at some adjoin
ing creek, as the readiest process, a sufficient prop
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