CHAPTER VIII
DESCRIPTION OF SOME OF THE CITIES AND TOWNS OF CALIFORNIA, BEFORE AND AFTER THE DISCOVERY OF THE GOLD MINES
At the time of the discovery of the existence of gold in the region of the Sacramento, San Francisco was a very inconsiderable town. As soon as the news of the discovery was spread among its inhabitants, it became almost deserted. Indeed, at one time, there was only seven male inhabitants left in the town. The site of the present city of San Francisco was not then occupied by more than fifty houses in all. These were occupied by a few foreign merchants and some native Californians. The houses were rudely constructed, the principal materials being adobés, or unburnt bricks. They were generally one story high, and most of them were erected near the beach; while at the rear of the "town," was a sandy plain terminated by a range of hills. But as soon as the news of the gold discovery reached the United States, and other countries, companies for mining purposes were immediately formed, and emigrants soon crowded every route to the "Land of Promise." Then San Francisco began to be the great receptacle of the emigrants and the merchandise of various kinds necessary for their maintenance. The following is a very complete picture of the city after the spreading of the gold news, and the flood of emigration had commenced.
"Numberless vessels, mostly from the United States, filled the bay, in front of San Francisco, many of them being deserted by their crews, and unable to procure others to take their places. On landing, I had to clamber up a steep hill, on the top of which, and opposite to where I stood, was a large wooden house, two stories high, and scarcely half finished. In the rear of this, rose another and a steeper hill, whose slopes were covered with a multiplicity of tents. To my right, ran a sort of steep, or precipice, defended by sundry pieces of cannon, which commanded the entrance to the harbor. I next came to the 'Point,' and, crossing it, found myself within the town.
"The first objects that attracted my notice were several canvas houses, measuring from ten to forty feet square, some being grog-shops, others eating establishments, and the larger set apart as warehouses, or places of storage. The proprietors of the latter were making enormous sums by the accommodation their tents afforded to the hundreds of travellers who were arriving every day from different parts, and who, being extremely embarrassed as to what they should do with their luggage, were heartily glad to find any safe place to store it in, and content to pay for the convenience.
"The spectacle which the beach presented from a convenient opening, whence I could comprise the whole at a glance, was singularly interesting and curious. A crowd of individuals, in motley garb, and of every variety of race, might be seen pressing eagerly upward towards the town, jostling and pushing one another, in their anxiety to be first, yet looking eagerly about them, as if to familiarize themselves at once with the country of their adoption. Here were dandies from the United States and from France, picking their steps mincingly, as they strove to keep pace with the sturdy fellows who carried their luggage; their beaver hats, fashionable frock-coats, irreproachable and well-strapped pantaloons, exciting the derisive remarks of the spectators, the majority of them 'old Californians,' whose rough labor at the 'diggins' had taught them to estimate such niaiseries at their proper value. By their side stalked the stately and dignified Spaniard, covered with his broad-brimmed, low-crowned sombrero, and gracefully enveloped in his ample serapa, set off by a bright scarlet sash. He turns neither to the right nor to the left, nor heeds the crowd about him, but keeps on the even tenor of his way – though even he has occasionally to jump for it – presenting, in his demeanor and costume, a striking contrast to the more bustling activity of the Yankees, who are elbowing every one, in their anxiety to go a-head. A lot of shopboys, too – mere lads, as spruce and neatly attired as though they had just stepped out of some fashionable emporium, mingle with the rest, and, as they enter the town, strike up the popular parody —
'Oh, California. That's the land for me!
I'm bound for the Sacramento, with
The wash-bowl on my knee.'
And presently, their brother-adventurers, excited by hopes of the wildest kind, join vociferously in chorus, in the exuberance of their joy.
"A group of Englishmen, muscular in form, and honest in feature, are chaffering with the keen-witted Yankee porters for the carriage of their luggage. There is an air of dogged resolution about them, that plainly indicates they will not submit to what they evidently consider an imposition. Such a sum for so slender a service! Well, then, they can carry their baggage themselves: so they will; and, quickly shouldering it, some depart in the track of the rest, whilst two or three remain behind, to watch what is left, until their friends return. They are manifestly well known to one another, and seem to be almost intimate; the voyage has made them friends.
"Here come a number of Chilians and Peruvians, and a goodly number of natives from the Sandwich Islands. A couple of Irishmen, too! I know them by their vivacity, and by the odd trick they have of getting into every body's way; to say nothing of their broad, merry faces. Their property is in common, it seems; for they have only one small pack between them.
"Here come ten or a dozen plainly but comfortably dressed mechanics; hard-working men they seem, and just the sort of persons to make their way in a country where the artisan occupies his proper position, and where honest toil – and dishonest, too, sometimes – is almost certain to reap a harvest. Far differently will you fare, and far preferable, too, will be your lot, in regions where privation is the rule, to that of many amongst your numerous fellow-travellers, unaccustomed as they are to laborious occupations – with frames uninured to fatigue, and constitutions unhabituated to scanty fare, to exposure to heat and cold, and wet and sudden changes! Whilst you are succeeding in your object, they will grow wearied, disappointed, and home-sick, and long to be back again on the theatre of their former struggles.
"The human stream ceases not to flow from the vessels in the harbor; no sooner is one boat-load disposed of than another arrives, and so on, until the town is gorged with new-comers, who, after a few days' sojourn, to recruit their strength, after the fatigues of a long and irksome voyage, depart, and are seen no more for months; many, perhaps, never to return. Very few of this vast multitude deserve the epithet of poor. To get here at all requires money; and to maintain one's self after getting here, the emigrant must have some little means.
"The majority of the emigrants are men occupying a respectable station in society; some are even distinguished in their calling; but the eager desire of making a fortune in a hurry has induced them to throw up good employments and comfortable homes; to leave friends, relatives, connexions, wife, children, and familiar associations, to embark their strength, intelligence, and activity, in this venture. All is bustle where they have landed: boats going to and fro; rafts slowly discharging their cumbrous loads; porters anxiously and interestedly civil; all excited; all bent on gain; ships innumerable in the bay; mountains around; a clear, blue sky above; and the bright waters dancing in the sun, until they touch the horizon in the distance, blending their brightness with his golden track.
"I walked on until I came up to a group of men, who, like myself, were looking on the busy scene before us with no small degree of interest. I recognized amongst them two of the volunteers, with whom I forthwith claimed acquaintance. The whole party had come from the mines, as was easily to be seen from their appearance, which was something the worse for wear, their countenances being weather-beaten and bronzed by exposure; whilst their attire, consisting of buckskin coats, leather leggings, and broad-brimmed hats, denoted the sort of labor in which they had been recently engaged. I learned from them, in the course of a subsequent conversation, that they had all of them been successful at the 'diggings.' One of the number had made, or 'picked,' two thousand dollars, and the rest, from that to nine thousand dollars each, within the space of a few months. With this, however, they were far from satisfied, most of them being determined to realize a large fortune before they quitted the country; for not one of them seemed to have the remotest intention of settling.
"The party had come down from the mines to make purchases, and to enjoy a little recreation. They were admirable specimens of their class – hardy in appearance and rough in demeanor; but shrewd, withal, and toil-enduring. For the moment, their conversation turned upon the prospects of the newly-landed emigrants – for I should have stated that there were one or two arrivals in the harbor – and they were unsparing of their remarks upon such of the new comers as by their dress, or any physical peculiarity, offered a fair target for their witticisms, which were not less pointed than coarse.
"The discovery of the gold mines, has done at once for San Francisco what it was reasonable to anticipate time only could have effected; and its progress in importance has far outstripped the most sanguine expectations which could be based upon any hypothesis hazarded on the strength of its admirable position and facilities for trade. Nevertheless, its growth seems unnatural; and, looking at it as I saw it then, it left on my mind the impression of instability, so marvellous was it to gaze upon a city of tents, wood, and canvas, starting up thus suddenly, forming but a halting-place to the thousands who visited it; having for citizens a large majority of gamblers and speculators; and presenting of civilization but the rudest outline, and some of its worst vices. It was impossible, indeed, for an observer to contemplate San Francisco, at this particular period of its history, and not to feel that every thing about it savored of transition. A storm or a fire must have destroyed the whole in a few hours; for every house, shed, or tent, had manifestly been constructed merely to serve the end of the actual occupier; they were all adapted for trading, but not a convenience or a comfort appertained to them, to indicate a desire or an intention of settlement. Every day brought new-comers, and added to the number of ephemeral structures which crowded the hill-sides. Mechanics of every description of calling were at work, earnestly, busily, and cheerfully; and, whichever way I turned, there was bustle and activity; yet, withal, I felt that such a state of things was unsound, because resting on what was essentially speculative, and I doubted not but a great change must come before the city could be regarded as substantially advancing. Comprised at a glance, it presented no other appearance save that of a confused crowd of tenements, of every variety of construction; some high, some low, perched upon the steep hills, or buried in the deep valleys – but still tents and canvas every where and any where, their numbers defying calculation, their structure and position all analysis. There existed neither wells nor ponds within a very considerable distance; and what struck me as most singular, being aware that the Spaniards had a mission here, there was no sign of a church. I subsequently ascertained that the site of the Mission of Dolores, about five miles distant, had been preferred by the Spaniards, and that divine service was performed there still.
"As I proceeded along the road leading into the principal street of the city, I was uncomfortably reminded that it would soon become necessary for me to select a place where I could procure refreshment; and in connexion with this necessity, arose another consideration no less important, namely, where I should lodge? There was no other mode of solving the difficulty, save by an exploration of the localities; accordingly, I kept these objects in view, whilst I also gratified my curiosity by continuing my perambulations.
"In this same road, but nearer to the entrance of the main street than I should say was, under any circumstances, altogether pleasant, stood the correl of the Washington Market, being a spacious area of ground, inclosed with stakes, over which were stretched raw hides. Owing to the large number of cattle slaughtered here for the use of the inhabitants, the odor from this place was insufferable, and I quickened my pace until my olfactory organs became sensible of a purer atmosphere.
"I turned into the principal street, and soon came up to the market itself, which is a wooden house, about thirty feet square, kept by an American. To my right, as I advanced, were some stores and hotels, and a confectioner's shop of remarkably neat and clean appearance: these were all one story, wooden buildings. One of the hotels was appropriately designated as 'The Colonnade.' It was kept by a volunteer named Huxley, and differed from every similar establishment in the town, inasmuch as the proprietor allowed neither gambling nor drunkenness on his premises. To this the 'Gotham Saloon,' a little further on, offered a perfect contrast, for here there were several monté rooms and a large bowling-alley, where persons who had a taste for the latter amusement might indulge in their favorite pastime for a dollar a game. This saloon was likewise kept by two volunteers, as was also the confectioner's by a fourth; so that three of the most noted houses in the town were rented by men, who, a few months before, scarcely possessed any thing save their enterprise and their industry, but who were now on the high road to opulence. The more credit was due to them, and others of their brethren whom fortune had similarly favored, because, at first, they had deep-rooted prejudices to encounter, which prudence and perseverance only could have enabled them to overcome.
"I came next to the Square, or 'Plaza,' on one side of which, and fronting it, stood the 'Miner's Bank,' established by a Mr. Wright, a keen speculator, who had secured possession of a large extent of landed property, which he was turning to the very best account. On the left of the Plaza, I noticed a spacious-looking wooden building, two stories high, called the 'Parker House;' but the handsome piazza in front caused me to hesitate on the threshold; for I apprehended – and not without reason – that, even in California, appearances must be paid for; as, therefore, my purse was not overstocked, I prudently sought a more modest establishment.
"I passed another hotel, similar to this one, but not quite so large, and came presently to a low wooden house, of most unattractive and unprepossessing exterior, which was dignified by the name of the 'Café Français.' As this seemed likely to suit my present convenience, and to promise a scale of prices on a par with its external appearance, I entered boldly, and seated myself at the dining-table. I noticed, as I went in, that, notwithstanding the poverty without, there was abundance within; the counter being literally overcharged with French pastry, a variety of ingenious culinary preparations, and some foreign liquors.
"After I had finished my repast, consisting of a beef-steak, two eggs, and a couple of cups of coffee, I prepared to depart. I specify the items of which my repast was made up, because of the price I paid for them – namely, two dollars and a half. I was informed, on hazarding an observation respecting the amount, that the charges were excessively moderate, any thing in the shape of a dinner being usually charged one dollar and fifty cents; half a dollar each for the eggs, which were extras, was only a reasonable price for such luxuries, as they frequently sold for double. I considered the information thus obtained to be cheap, of its kind, and went away with a mental reservation not to eat any more eggs in California, unless they were of another description than the golden ones.
"As I repassed the 'Parker House,' the hotel, par excellence, of San Francisco, I went in, knowing that, like all similar establishments, there were the usual amusements going on within.
"This is not only the largest, but the handsomest building in San Francisco; and, having been constructed at enormous expense, and entirely on speculation, a concurrence of fortunate circumstances alone, such as had followed upon the discovery of the gold mines, could have insured its prosperity. It was now one of the most frequented, fashionable, and firmly established hotels in the country; and, in so far as it presented a model to the builders and settlers in the town, was a signal illustration of the shrewdness and enterprise of the Yankee character, and a standing credit to the projectors and proprietors.
"It is built entirely of wood, and contains two very spacious principal rooms; the one a dining-room, the other set apart for billiards. Besides these, there are three saloons of lesser dimensions, especially devoted to gambling, and two well supplied bars – one below, to the right of the entry, the other in the billiard-room. The portion of the hotel that is not set apart for the usual offices and conveniences is divided off into innumerable chambers, which are occupied by the superior classes of emigrants – lawyers, doctors, money-brokers, cum multis aliis.
"The saloon contains two very handsome billiard-tables, which are constantly occupied by players, chiefly Americans, some of them of first-rate excellence. The charge was a dollar per game of a hundred, and they were no sooner vacated by one party than another came in.
"The establishment contained nine gambling-tables, which were crowded day and night, by the citizens and the miners; many of the latter staking very large sums upon the turn of a card. The stakes, however, varied from twenty-five cents to five thousand dollars; and the excitement of some of the losers was frequently fearful to contemplate. Some who gained largely prudently withdrew; and I was informed that, a few days previously to my arrival, a new-comer from the States, who was bound for the mines, having come into the saloon, and tried his fortune at the monte tables, luckily made twenty thousand dollars, with which he returned home, by the steamer, two days afterwards.
"The 'Golden Eagle,' (l'Aguila d'Oro) is another gambling establishment, situated in one of the streets leading into the Plaza. It is a canvas house, about fifty feet square, fitted up with the requisites for play, and let out by the proprietor at the rate of fifteen hundred dollars a month. Every available spot around the tables was crowded to inconvenience by persons who were engaged deeply in the game, the majority standing up and watching the chances with countenances betokening the greatest excitement.
"I now proceeded to the City Hotel, a large but somewhat antiquated building, constructed of adobé, after the Spanish fashion, but hybridized by American improvements. The interior was even more insufferable than the El Dorado, in respect of the boisterousness of its frequenters. In the first room that I entered were five gambling-tables, doing a 'smashing business' – a term employed, somewhat in contradiction to its import, to denote prosperity. The majority of the players were Americans and other foreigners, intermixed with a goodly number of Spaniards of the lowest order. There was the same excitement, the same recklessness, and the same trickery here, as at the other gambling saloons, only infinitely more noise and smoke, and swearing and inebriety.
"Here I met with another of the volunteers, who proposing a walk, we went out together, and proceeded to the Plaza. I found a good many old acquaintances set up in business at this spot; one, who had been a captain, had recently turned money-broker, and now kept an office for the exchange of coin and gold-dust, having entered into partnership with a highly respectable and agreeable individual, of active business habits, who promised to prove a great acquisition to the concern.
"We soon reached a low, long, adobé building, situated at the upper side of the square, and which my companion told me was the Custom House. To the right of the Plaza stood the Saint Charles's Hotel, a wooden edifice covered in with canvas, and the Peytona House, an establishment of a similar description, in both of which we did not fail to find the usual games carried on.
"The streets leading down to the water-side contain comparatively few hotels or eating-houses, they being chiefly wood and canvas trading-stores. I observed amongst them several newly opened auction and commission-rooms, where goods were being put up, recommended and knocked down in true Yankee style. An immense number of wooden frame-houses in course of erection met our view in every direction; and upon remarking that many of them appeared to have been purposely left incomplete, I ascertained that this arose from the extreme difficulty of procuring lumber, which, on account of its scarcity, occasionally fetched an incredibly high price. A good deal of it is brought from Oregon, and some from South America. Many of the larger houses, but far inferior, notwithstanding, to such of the same kind as could easily be procured in New York at a rental of from 300 to 400 dollars a-year, cost here at least 10,000 dollars to build them, the lots on which they were erected being valued at sums varying from 30,000 to 50,000 dollars, according to the locality. Many spots of ground, just large enough for a small trading-house or a tent to stand upon, let at from 1200 to 2000 dollars.
"Amongst the various emigrants who daily flocked into the city – for each day brought its fresh arrivals – were numerous Chinese, and a very considerable number of Frenchmen, from the Sandwich Islands and from South America. The former had been consigned, with houses and merchandise, to certain Americans in San Francisco, to whom they were bound by contract, as laborers, to work at a scale of wages very far below the average paid to mechanics and others generally. The houses they brought with them from China, and which they set up where they were wanted, were infinitely superior and more substantial than those erected by the Yankees, being built chiefly of logs of wood, or scantling, from six to eight inches in thickness, placed one on the top of the other, to form the front, rear, and sides; whilst the roofs were constructed on an equally simple and ingenious plan, and were remarkable for durability.
"These Chinese had all the air of men likely to prove good citizens, being quiet, inoffensive, and particularly industrious. I once went into an eating-house, kept by one of these people, and was astonished at the neat arrangement and cleanliness of the place, the excellence of the table, and moderate charges. It was styled the 'Canton Restaurant;' and so thoroughly Chinese was it in its appointments, and in the manner of service, that one might have easily fancied one's self in the heart of the Celestial Empire. The barkeeper – though he spoke excellent English – was a Chinese, as were also the attendants. Every article that was sold, even of the most trifling kind, was set down, in Chinese characters, as it was disposed of; it being the duty of one of the waiters to attend to this department. This he did very cleverly and quickly, having a sheet of paper for the purpose, on which the article and the price were noted down in Chinese characters, by means of a long, thin brush, moistened in a solution of Indian or Chinese ink. As I had always been given to understand that these people were of dirty habits, I feel it only right to state that I was delighted with the cleanliness of this place, and am gratified to be able to bear testimony to the injustice of such a sweeping assertion.
"As for the French, they seemed entirely out of their element in this Yankee town; and this circumstance is not to be wondered at, when the climate and the habits of the people are taken into consideration, and also the strange deficiencies they must have observed in the ordinary intercourse of life between the citizens, so different from the polished address, common even amongst the peasantry in their rudest villages; to say nothing of the difficulty of carrying on business amongst a people whose language they did not understand. But their universal goal was the mines; and to the mines they went, with very few exceptions.
"Speaking of them reminds me of a 'Café Restaurant,' in San Francisco, kept by a very civil Frenchman, and situated on the way to the Point. I mention it, because I one day made here the most uncomfortable repast it had ever been my lot to sit down to. Yet this was not owing to any lack of attention on the part of the proprietor, to any inferiority in the quality of his provisions, or to any deficiency of culinary skill in their preparation; but simply to the prevalence of the pest to which I have already alluded as invading my own tent, namely, the dust. The house was built chiefly of wood, and had a canvas roof, but this was insufficient to keep out the impalpable particles with which the air was charged, and which settled upon and insinuated themselves into every article in the place. There was dust on the counter, on the shelves, on the seats, on the decanters, and in them; on the tables, in the salt, on my beef-steak, and in my coffee. There was dust on the polite landlord's cheeks, and in his amiable wife's eyes, which she was wiping with the corner of a dusty apron. I hurried my meal, and was paying my score, when I caught sight of my own face in a dusty-looking and dust-covered glass near the bar, and saw that I too had become covered with it, my entire person being literally encrusted with a coat of powder, from which I experienced considerable difficulty in cleansing myself.
"Notwithstanding all I had seen of San Francisco, there yet existed here a world apart, that I should never have dreamed of, but for my being one day called upon to act upon a jury appointed to sit in inquest over a person who had died there. This place was called the 'Happy Valley.'
"Previously to our repairing thither, we attended at the court-house, to take the usual oath. Proceeding then through the lower part of the town, we reached the beach, along which, by the water-side, we walked for a distance of three miles – up to our ancles in mud and sand – until we came to a spot where there were innumerable tents pitched, of all sizes, forms, and descriptions, forming an irregular line stretching along the shore for about two miles.
"The ground was, of course, low, damp, and muddy; and the most unmistakeable evidences of discomfort, misery, and sickness, met our view on every side, for the locality was one of the unwholesomest in the vicinity of the town. Yet here, to avoid the payment of enormous ground-rents, and at the same time to combine the advantage of cheap living, were encamped the major portion of the most recently arrived emigrants, and, amongst the rest, those of the ship Brooklyn, on one of the passengers of which the inquest was about to be held.
"This, then, was the 'Happy Valley;' a term no doubt applied to it in derision, taking into consideration the squalor, the discomfort, the filth, the misery, and the distress that were rife there.
"I am satisfied that much of the crime and lawlessness that is prevalent in California – particularly in towns like San Francisco, where the ruder sex are congregated exclusively and in large multitudes – is attributable to the want of the humanizing presence of women. In San Francisco there were about ten thousand males, and scarcely a hundred females; for, although in many parts of California the latter outnumber the former, the national prejudice against color was too strong for legitimate amalgamation to take place."
Such was San Francisco soon after the discovery of the riches of the Sacramento region. From an insignificant settlement, sometimes the resort of whaling-vessels, and of a few traders, it was quickly transferred into a city, with an extensive and constantly increasing commerce. In its streets and squares, erected where, just before, was a desert plain, people of almost every nation were seen busily engaged in traffic, or preparing for departure to the gold region. It seemed the work of the enchanter.
Although, like San Francisco, Monterey was almost deserted by its inhabitants upon the receipt of information of the gold discovery, it soon began to give signs of improvement. The bay, upon the shore of which the town is located, is more exposed to the swell of the sea, and to the north-west storms, than the Bay of San Francisco, and therefore the harbor is inferior. Yet Monterey received a considerable share of the tide of emigration. Those who stopped there were generally persons who intended to make a permanent settlement, and engage in mercantile pursuits; and, therefore, though the increase of the town was not so rapid as that of San Francisco, it carried with it more denotements of stability.
The town is situated on a short bend near the entrance of the bay, upon its southern side. The point of land which partly protects its harbor from the sea is called Point Pinos. A very neat and pretty appearance is presented by the houses of the native Californians, which are generally constructed of adobés and white-plastered. Those of the Americans are easily distinguished by their being built of logs and planks, and presenting a more substantial, but rougher appearance. The town is surrounded by hills, covered with lofty pine trees. Upon a height which overlooks the town and harbor, a fort was built by the Americans during the war with Mexico, and a military force continued there till after the treaty of peace.