McNeil's Travels in 1849, to, Through and From the Gold Regions, in
California, by Samuel McNeil, a shoemaker [of Lancaster, Ohio]
Published: Columbus, Scott & Bascom, Printers, 1850
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Mc'NEILS TRAVELS
THIS is emphatically a reading age, and consequently we are surrounded by
an enlightened people, whose prominent desire is the increase of knowledge
in every form, and, as curiosity is the companion of genius, it may be
considered also the Genius Age, in which books are devoured as fast as
they can be issued, although steam power presses are trebling the amount
of literature formerly produced by the common mode. Consequently the
powers of the author are in unusual demand, and it is no wonder that they
are not as frequently forced to starve or beg their bread, as in the days
of Goldsmith, Ben Johnson, Chatterton and Homer. A glorious age, indeed,
in which the public is as able to pay for literary productions as to read
them--an improving public, whose language is--
"Write! write! write!
Though the eye-balls ache with pain,
Write! write! write!
For the world will read amain:
Who recks for scribbler's woes,
Though his limbs be bruised and sore,
For into his ears wherever he goes
His readers are thundering 'More!'"
I am sure the critics will have mercy on my production when I inform "the
public" that I am a shoemaker, not ashamed of the occupation by which I
have earned my bread for twenty years, remembering the language of the
English poet:--
"Honor and shame from no condition rise:
Act we'l your part, there all the honor lies!"
Therefore, I am not as well skilled in writing as a Cooper or a Washington
Irving; but, somewhat altering the words of one of the apostles, I can say
to the public--oratorical and philosophical language and thoughts I have
not, but what I have I freely give unto you. In shoemaker style, I will
bestow my awl of literature, feeling that at the last they will find I
have done my best to amuse and instruct them, while the critics will not
strap me for doing my duty!
Being a shoemaker, and ambitious to rise somewhat over the bench, it is no
wonder that the discovery of gold in California excited my fancy and
hopes; believing that the celebrated Golden Age had arrived at last, and
counting the cost and measuring the difficulties, I joined a respectable
company going to the promised land. The company consisted of Boyle Ewing,
a son of the Hon. Thomas Ewing, Secretary of the Interior; James Myers, a
capable and honest constable; Rankin, State Attorney; Jesse B. Hart, a
shrewd lawyer;
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Benjamin Fennifrock, a farmer; Samuel Stambaugh, a merchant; Joseph
Stambaugh, a druggist; Edward Strode, a potter, from Perry county; John
McLaughlin, from the same county; Denman, nephew of the Hon. Thomas Ewing;
William F. Legg, from Columbus, and Leverett, from the same.
February 7, 1849, we started by coach, from Lancaster, Ohio, passing
through Columbus, to Cincinnati, remaining a week at the latter place,
where we obtained the necessary outfit, consisting of two years'
provisions and the appropriate weapons of defence. The articles were sea
biscuit, side pork, packed in kegs; six tents, knives, forks, and plates;
each man a good rifle, a pair of revolvers, a bowie knife, two blankets,
and crucibles, supposing that we would be obliged to melt the ore, not
knowing that nature had already melted it to our hands.
February 15, started in steamer "South America," commanded by Capt. Logan,
for New Orleans, 1600 miles, costing each $10 in the cabin. I cannot omit
saying that we found Capt. Logan a perfect gentleman, fit for a higher
station, and his boat one of the best in the western waters. The trip was
made in six days. To amuse the reader, I will notice some things we saw
during the passage. While passing around the Falls at Louisville,
Kentucky, we saw Porter, the Kentucky Giant, who is keeping tavern at the
locks. He is more than eight feet in height, and he looked down upon us
little mortals with the feelings of a Goliath when he gazed on David of
old. If he is not a temperance man he cannot flourish in his
establishment, for his huge corporocity would speedily oblivionize whole
oceans of porter, ale, and brandy. As usual, we found a crowd of gamblers
on the steamer, who, like the Devil, are going to and fro on the earth
seeking whom they may devour. They reminded me of an expression I have
often heard the Methodist Preachers use: "Where the carcass is there will
the eagles be gathered together." Considering them turkey buzzards, which
is a grade lower than eagles, we avoided them with some difficulty, as
they tried hard to get us into their clutches, judging correctly that we
had plenty of the silver rocks and gold paving stones at the commencement
of our journey. We observed one of them fleece a lieutenant in the army
out of $50; the latter rising calmly from the table observing that he had
paid a big sum for a little amusement, when he ought to have had sense
enough to know that he had been cheated, and courage enough to have
chastised the gambling robber. Those gamblers have certainly forgotten how
their comrades were hung at Vicksburg, or they now would not be increasing
their numbers, and acting as boldly as their predecessors did. At Paducah,
in Kentucky, a gentleman came on board to see the adventurers who were
going to California, and observed, with a very long face--much longer than
a flour barrel--that we had experienced our last of comfort and
civilization, as our difficulties and privations were commencing, and that
we had better return and be satisfied with the little which Providence had
placed in our hands, which would be a great treasure if enjoyed with a
contented mind. I admired him for his philanthropic feeling, but
considered his
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philosophy unsound, for I believed that that same Providence was
influencing us to seek the gold regions. The Lord says that the gold and
silver are His, and he does not wish them to remain hidden and unemployed
in the earth. While philosophers and religionists are constantly crying
for gold to extend their respective schemes, it is certainly no sin to dig
it out of the earth to spread it. The more gold there is circulating in
the world, the more will it fall into the hands of philosophers and
christians for the spread of christianity and philosophy. Although much of
it will be expended in scenes of dissipation, we have the faith to believe
that it will ultimately fall into the right hands. Some preachers have
asserted from the pulpit, (one in Lancaster particularly, whose name I do
not wish to mention,) that the straightest way to California is the
nearest road to hell; but, as fanaticism never can be right, I must
believe that the discovery of California gold will be a general blessing
to the earth, aiding in extending religion, philosophy, and commerce--not
only benefitting the public generally, but shining gladness into many a
private circle. I shall blame Uncle Sam a great deal more than I blame the
preachers, if he is too hasty in selling the California gold lands in lots
to speculators--to rich speculators, who are too wealthy already, that
they may place it beyond the reach of our poorer classes, who, as true
republicans, should have the full advantage of a republican government. I
move that Uncle Sam keep those lands out of the market for several years,
that the bone and sinew of our country may have opportunities to increase
their little store. They have not the talent and genius to fill high
offices, and thereby fill their pockets, but, as their genius lies in
their hands let them employ it in digging for gold. Our government should
bless all its constituents, both rich and poor. The rich for many years
have had chances for filling their pockets--let the poor now have a
chance. That any gloom may not rest in our hearts after hearing the gloomy
advice of the gloomy Paducah gentleman, I will here appropriately
introduce a song composed for the occasion, by R. E. H. LEVERING, who, as
a writer of prose and poetry, is known in some parts:--
CALIFORNIA GOLD SONG.
AIR:--" Auld Lang Syne."
Should Lancaster and friends we love
Be never brought to mind?
No! no! although our bodies rove
Our hearts remain behind!
CHORUS.
For auld lang syne, my friends,
For auld lang syne.
We'll sing a song of kindness yet
For the days of auld lang syne!
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We will remember, too, the while,
The partners of our blood,
Whose ev'ry look, whose ev'ry smile,
Shall come with joy imbrued!
CHORUS.--For auld lang syne, &c.
Farewell, farewell ye Fairfield girls,
Whose love cannot be told,--
Your charms are bright, but brighter still
Is California gold!
CHORUS.--For auld lang syne, &c.
Farewell, farewell the jovial crew
Who turn'd the night to day,
Just wait awhile, till we can get
The shining gold to pay!
CHORUS.--For auld lang syne, &c.
Farewell, farewell to Ohio,
A gem of modern times,--
A mighty State, but mightier yet
The California dimes!
CHORUS.--For auld lang syne, &c.
Hurra for California, boys,
No matter what's before--
Our way is mark'd, our minds are bent
To reach the golden shore!
CHORUS.--For auld lang syne, &c.
Hurra! the land of promise lies
Just like old Canaan stood,
To lure us to the tempting prize
O'er many a field and flood!
CHORUS.--For auld lang syne, &c.
Hurra! for California, then,
A glorious song we'll give,--
Awhile to toil, awhile to sweat,
And then like monarchs live!
CHORUS.
For auld lang syne, my boys,
For auld lang syne,
We'll sing a song of kindness yet
For the days of auld lang syne!
I must relate an occurrence, proving that the western loafers are as
expert in strategy as the loafers of the east--yea, even as the celebrated
Beau Hickman who flourished at Washington City, whose
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exploits in the loafing line would fill a volume. A little below Red
River, at what is called the Cut-off, about nine o'clock at night, a
pistol was fired on an island, and the person who fired it swung a burning
brand around his head as a signal that he wished a passage. On rounding
to, it proved to be a solitary island, without a living soul except the
person wishing a passage, who brought on board what appeared to be a
trunk. He was a Frenchman, who could not, or pretended he could not speak
English. When pay time arrived he coolly observed that he had not a cent
in the world, adding that the Captain of a boat, from that cause, had
landed him on the solitary island. On examining what appeared to be his
trunk, it was discovered to be a bundle of old blankets and clothes formed
into that shape, proving that he could square his trunk if he could not
square his account. The circumstance created much laughter and some pity
among the cabin passengers. It is well that this loafer fell into the
hands of Captain Logan, who, instead of cruelly thrusting him upon another
desert island, concluded to give him a free passage to New Orleans,
considering it more in the light of a good joke than anything else. So
while one captain voluntarily took French leave of the Frenchman, the
other would not benevolently permit the Frenchman to take French leave of
him. Although at the lowest notch of poverty, the Frenchman was as gay as
a lark. Certainly the French and the Irish are the gayest people in the
world in misfortune.
About one hundred and sixty miles above New Orleans our California
expedition appeared to be brought almost to a close. About 10 o'clock at
night a tremendous storm from the south assailed our steamer, forcing the
waves over the hurricane deck, exposing us to two fatal dangers, explosion
of the boilers and wreck of the vessel in a spot where escape was
impossible. When the Captain became alarmed we thought it time for us to
be somewhat uneasy. If the storm had been fatal, the loss would have been
great in life and property, as the passengers in the cabin and on deck,
and the crew, amounted to about one hundred and seventy-five, and we had a
very valuable freight on board. But few had the courage to swear, and many
had the wisdom to pray, who afterwards were the foremost in drinking and
gambling, like the person in a storm at sea who prayed to the good Devil
as well as to the good Lord that he might be sure of safety. In fact,
those storms coming from the Gulf of Mexico are not to be laughed at by
the most courageous, as they sometimes extend their ravages almost to the
sources of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers, and then branch off to
play a few tricks in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. To preserve our vessel
from being broken asunder by the mountain billows, or whelmed beneath the
raging waves, the captain caused the steamer to be anchored near a high
shore, so that we might be some what shielded from the raging storm, where
we remained until morning.
As our steamer was detained five hours at Baton Rouge, a French word which
means Red Stick, we visited the residence of Gen. Zachary Taylor, or
rather President Taylor. Of course, he was absent, but he had left his
glorious mark on the place, everything being
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good and in its place according to regimental rule. The new State House,
in the course of erection, commanded our admiration.
During our passage the Mississippi river was unusually high, in some
places running over the levees, and occasionally over the highest of them.
These levees, or artificial embankments, formed to shield the farms from
the water, commence somewhere about eight hundred miles above New Orleans,
and are erected and repaired during the winter by gangs of slaves. It is
supposed by some authors that the channel of that river is gradually
filling from the floating mud and drifting trees conjoining and forming a
solid bottom, so that as the descending water is the same in quantity, it
must eventually rush over the highest levees that can be formed, and flood
all that portion of Louisiana along the river, especially New Orleans.
Such may happen in rivers which have a slow current, but we have the faith
to believe that the current of the Mississippi, confined by suitable
levees, is strong enough to force more than half of the drift mud and
trees into the Gulf of Mexico, by which that portion of Louisiana will be
preserved from drowning. To know that current in all its strength one must
voyage on it as I did. In some places it has swept whole farms from one
side and landed them on the other, in the curves of the river.
On the 20th of February we arrived at New Orleans, and sojourned at the
Planter's Hotel, conducted by Chandler, who is the most accommodating and
most reasonable host I have met in all my travels, impelling me to say
with some poet:--
"Whoe'er has travel'd this earth's dull round,
Where'er his route has been,
May joy to think he always found
The warmest welcome at an Inn!"
He not only gives the best that the New Orleans market affords, but he
gives his delicacies at the cheapest rates, and by his friendly face and
manners makes one feel perfectly at home.
To be a little jovial, we soon found that the inhabitants of New Orleans
are the most patriotic people in the United States--that is, they have
Fourth of July every Sunday, closing the stores on the occasion that the
people may have a better opportunity for frolicking, frequenting the horse-
race ground, the cockpit, the gambling establishments, soldier parades and
engine company celebrations, circuses and theatres; carrying on balls, and
sending up blazing sky rockets and balloons at night.
Understanding that the steamship "Maria Burt" was about starting for
Chagres, we employed one of our comrades, named Stambaugh, to engage
passage for us. Finding that he desired to place some of us in the
steerage, while himself and a few select friends wished to occupy the
cabin, we altered the plan by bringing all together into the cabin,
wishing to bring all on a level both as to comforts and privations.
Perhaps he thought some of us could not bear the cabin expenses--if so, he
is excusable; but if any other motive impelled his movements, he is
willing to have a burden on his heart which we would not have on ours for
a considerable sum. The steamship
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"Alabama," belonging to government, was also ready to start for the same
point, with Col. Weller and suite, appointed to assist in fixing or
running the boundary line between the extended United States and Mexico.
Some comrades, who joined us at Cincinnati, Ferguson, Chaney, Miller,
Effinger, Emmet, and Perkins, by some stroke of shrewd policy, got
excellent berths on the "Alabama," which we also would have obtained had
not another Stambaugh, with the different name of Ferguson, been rather
smarter with the tongue on the occasion.
Feb. 28th, we started from New Orleans in the "Maria Burt," intending to
go to Chagres, but as the reader will shortly see, we were obliged to take
a different route. Shortly after passing the Balize in the Gulf, the
vessel sprang a leak, and leaked so much that we returned with difficulty
to New Orleans. As the "Alabama" had departed, we took passage in the
steamship "Globe" going to Brazos in Texas. On that vessel we found Col.
Webb's company, consisting of one hundred men, bound for California. They
were fine looking intelligent gentlemen, well calculated to be successful
in such an expedition. Also, Simons' New Orleans company, comprising forty
stalwart adventurers, bound for the same promising land, our own company
at that time consisting of twenty persons, all inspired by hope and
jovialty. But, in the course of ocean events, this hilarity was doomed to
come to an end, when the mountainous billows of the Gulf commenced
operating on the susceptible frames of the landsmen, all suffering from
sea-sickness except myself and another person, which afflicted them until
our vessel arrived at the Brazos.
In this place and at this time, the shoemaker wishes appropriately to
offer some remarks respecting the celebrated and mysterious Gulf Stream,
which, originating apparently here, flows along the eastern coast of
America, and then diverges towards the Mediterranean sea, with a warm
current of about four miles per hour. There are two opinions respecting
its origin. One is, that the Pacific ocean, which is several feet higher
than the surface of the Gulf, flows into the latter through a subterranean
passage under the northern part of South America, the volcanoes heating
the water in its passage, and the descent mentioned giving it its
rapidity. The other opinion is, that the hot winds blowing for months from
Africa, forces the waves rapidly into the Gulf, the impetus forming and
carrying a stream around the shores of the Gulf, and then northwardly and
eastwardly as mentioned. In my judgement, the former opinion seems most
probable. All may not be aware of the fact, that this stream induced
Columbus to hasten the discovery of America. He had observed that its
current brought canoes, trees, and dead bodies of Indians from the
westward, and from those circumstances judged correctly that there was an
undiscovered country in that quarter.
We arrived March 4th, at Brazos, a small town consisting of about fifty
houses at the mouth of the Rio Grande river, from Fort Brown twenty-five
miles by land, and sixty by water. Col. Webb's company proceeded by
steamer two hundred miles up the Rio Grande to Davis' ranche, consisting
of a store, grocery, and farm. Thinking that it would be dangerous to take
about $11,000, extra, with them, Col.
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Webb placed it in the hands of a bar-keeper at the ranche, who said that
not long afterwards it had been stolen from him. With the loss of their
money came the desolating Cholera, which swept off about forty of their
number, and the rest returned to New Orleans, the very pictures of
despair, without money and without health. I had before frequently advised
my companions not to take so much provision and baggage with us, but was
constantly opposed; but they found at last that the shoemaker prophet was
inspired for the occasion. At the Brazos we purchased a wagon and six
mules for the conveyance of our goods, and a horse for each, the horses
costing from ten to fifty dollars. At Fort Brown we were obliged to
purchase an additional wagon and four mules. I tried there to pursuade
them to sell the wagons and mules, and proceed on horses, but without
effect. The others concluded to elect a captain, which I opposed, stating
that if we could not rule ourselves for the good of the whole, and each
take care of his own money, we were not fit for the journey to California,
but I was not successful in my argument. We then elected for our captain,
a Mr. Perkins of Cincinnati, an overbearing ignorant Englishman, who did
not suit my strict republican principles. I feel convinced that the
spending bump buds so prominent on his head, that he would have foolishly
expended more than the $11,000 Col. Webb lost, if he had possessed entire
sway. Six of the mules he was permitted to purchase soon dropped dead, and
the company were displeased with me, because I would not permit him to
purchase one for myself. I selected and bought one which I rode safely and
happily one thousand miles. On 8th of March, we started from Fort Brown
for Reynosa 60 miles, on the Rio Grande, experiencing much difficulty in
keeping the road, and finding water for ourselves and mules. At Charcoal
Lake, about half way, we hired a guide and interpreter, for $300, to take
us through to Mazatlan, on the Pacific ocean, one thousand miles from the
Brazos. We remained at this lake three days. Although the water of it was
so stagnant that the fish were lying dead upon its shores, we were obliged
to cook with and drink it. We then proceeded to Reynosa, at which place we
arrived on the 20th. Finding there that our complement of wagons would not
conveniently carry our goods, obliging us to drag along at the rate of ten
miles per day, we purchased another wagon and four mules, which I also
opposed, but with the same want of success. I was actually enraged at the
increase of our expenses. We had then about $1000 worth of wagons and
mules, and were now obliged to pay a duty of $60 on each wagon on passing
from Texas into Mexico, our personal baggage having already cost more than
its value. Firmly believing that Perkins would wastefully spend all our
money, if permitted to have his own way, we ejected him from his office,
electing in his stead, to act as governors, a committee of three persons,
viz: Stambaugh, Hart, and Perkins. At this place the cholera appeared in
our band, attacking Brown, of Alabama, who joined our company at Brazos,
and Stambaugh, from Lancaster, but fortunately both recovered. It, and
apprehended difficulties, so frightened Brown, that he left our company
and returned. We remained ten days
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encamped on the bank of the river opposite Reynosa. From our encampment
every morning and every evening we heard about three hundred bells ringing
in Reynosa, so terrifically that we thought at first the town was on fire,
or about to be attacked by some enemy, and felt inclined to cross the
river to render our assistance; but found afterwards they were ringing for
religious purposes. The Mexicans called them Joy Bells, but it was an
obstreperous joy to which we were not accustomed. On the second day of our
stay there, we were surprised on seeing a Hungarian gentleman ride into
our camp, stating that he belonged to a company of traders from Mexico,
returning to the United States, with three wagons laden with silver in the
bar and coin, which they had received for goods during their expedition,
adding that they had smuggled it across the river three miles above
Reynosa, and wished to encamp that night with us for protection, which we
readily granted, and were glad we did so, for the Hungarian adventurer
gave us much valuable information respecting our route. In the morning
they proceeded towards the Brazos, intending to go from there to New
Orleans.
As we are encamped on the bank of the Rio Grande, the shoemaker must have
a little liberty to shoe some of its traits. Rio Grande, in English, means
the Great River, and I can assure our readers that it is the greatest
river for winding, I ever saw. It rises in the mountains in a country
which has not been fully explored. I have understood that its banks among
the mountain passes exhibit some of the most romantic scenery in the
world. Descending this river the first prominent town is Santa Fe, an old
Spanish town. It is a great trading place, the most of the goods sold and
stored there being brought overland from St. Louis, in the United States,
1500 miles distant, the traders returning with rich furs, peltry, Mexican
silver and gold. But little of the ground along its banks is fit for
cultivation, and so shallow that vessels, drawing 5 feet water, cannot
ascend over 120 miles from its mouth. Matamoras, opposite Fort Brown, is
another of the principal towns on its banks, 60 miles above its mouth,
containing a population of 8,000. One of its principal curiosities is a
barberess, a French girl, pretty and smart, who cuts the heart and the
beard at the same time.
On the 30th we crossed to Reynosa, in canoes, taking our wagons to pieces
and crossing them in the same way, swimming over our mules, which occupied
us three days. Of course we were soon saluted by the custom house
officers, for their dues. While our committee waited on them to settle
that matter, the rest of our company rushed into the Rio Grande to bathe,
which proved a delicious treat. Listen what occurred while so doing. Ye
gods and goddesses, and ye little Cupids and big Venuses! Some senoritas,
married and unmarried, I presume, had been watching us, and came down to
bathe and show off their celestial charms, stripping to the skin while
talking like so many parrots, and then mingled with us in the nautical
amusement. As we had too much modesty to do in Mexico what they do there,
we left the watery angels to their sweet selves, and going ashore,
dressed, and watched them a considerable time while they
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scrutinized us critically. There must be much vice where such freedoms are
permitted. One cause why we did not stay in the water with them was this:--
We were aware of the excessive jealousy existing in the Spanish Mexican
character, knowing, that although it would have passed unnoticed had we
been Mexicans, that, being Americans, it might have ended fatally had we
remained with them in the water, and we should have experienced from their
male friends the stiletto or pistol instead of words of friendship. I love
to follow the advice of a celebrated traveller, who says, that in order to
get along safely with the males in foreign countries he avoided the
females as much as possible, knowing that jealousy is accompanied by the
same fatality in every land.
Reynosa contains about 3000 inhabitants, who were terribly frightened and
scathed by cholera, during our stay of three days in the place. The day we
left, sixty persons died in the place from its effects. In fact, every
house we passed in our progress from Fort Brown to Saltillo, had one or
more persons in it dead from cholera. Eight of our company, who were
Romanites, before leaving, fearing that disease, purchased from a Spanish
priest a sufficiency of prayers that would last them till we got to
Monterey, or to some other place in the other world if they died on the
way. While those Catholics were absent purchasing prayers, a Lancaster
lawyer, of our company, asked a splendidly dressed and lovely Senorita, if
she would go into another room with him, stating that he wished to have
some private conversation with her, I presume, on the state of the nation
and of womankind, in particular. She understood enough of his speech to
reply, "Si Senor." He thinking that she said that some one would see them
during their innocent interview, I told him that "Si," did not mean see
but "Yes," and that she was perfectly willing that he should have a
harmless kiss. On returning from the interview, the lawyer, thinking that
her sweet lips might have imparted the cholera or some other awful
disease, requested me to give him some No. 6 immediately, with which he
rubbed himself all over, but, it smarted his tender flesh so excessively
that he howled around the room like an old wolf, caught at last in a
baited trap. Oh! these attractive women! whom we find at the bottom of
every evil prevailing in every land. The lawyer paid dear for his whistle,
and he surely whistled with excessive pain for about one long hour, and
then had to receive jokes about it forever afterwards!
I witnessed several funerals while in Reynosa, and singular affairs they
were surely. The lids of the coffins were kept off until the processions
arrived at the grave, the corpse being covered with newly pulled roses,
while each procession was led by a drummer and fifer, who discoursed
lively music on their respective instruments. What does such funeral
philosophy mean? Does it say, that we should weep when a person comes into
the world, and rejoice when he or she is going out of it, ascending to a
better country, where the storms of life shall never reach us to blast our
prospects, and where no deaths shall interrupt the peace of families? Do
the roses sprinkled over the corpse speak of the roses of immortality
which never fade or die
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as the roses of earth do? Do the drum and fife speak of the more
entrancing melody, which shall greet the sainted spirit wherever it
progresses in the other world? Civilized people may laugh at such
proceedings, but I was perfectly willing to let the simple villagers enjoy
those simple emblems of future joys. And the graveyard, which I visited,
was also a curiosity. Although there was plenty of waste ground around it,
its limits were very contracted, which they made large enough for their
purpose in the following way. Each new corpse is buried in an old grave re-
opened, and suffered to remain there until it becomes a skeleton of bones
only, and then disinterred to give room for a fresh corpse, the bones and
skulls removed from the different graves, being piled around a cross,
which rises proudly above the Golgothean monument, showing by that cross,
that Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the whole world, good and bad; for, no
doubt, the bones of the worst as well as those of the best, were piled
around it. I asked one of our comrades, a Catholic, why it was done? He
said that the people of the place are half-civilized only. I thought it
singular that a Catholic would make such a remark of Catholics.
I then asked, why they did not permit Protestants to have churches in the
village for their civilization. He said that could not be permitted, as
the Catholic is the first and last church on earth. Truly, I thought, that
it is the last church on earth, and always will be the first in
superstition and bigotry!
Proceeding we reached, after two days travel, a town called Chenee, on a
river pronounced San Whan, one of the tributaries of the Rio Grande, 50
miles from Reynosa. We arrived at 11 o'clock at night, finding the
frolicking part of the inhabitants--which means the whole, as the Irishman
says--in an awful predicament. They had been enjoying a fandango that
Sunday night, which was suddenly interrupted at 9 o'clock by the priest,
who would not give them license to dance until twelve o'clock, as they
desired, he believing that there is a time to dance as well as a time to
sleep. We sympathized with the inhabitants with all our hearts and with
all our legs, as we greatly wished to exercise the latter in that innocent
and exhilerating amusement. As it is an ill wind that blows nobody good,
perhaps it was best that it so happened, as the Lancaster lawyer might
have got into another female predicament in which he would have had 100
fists applied to his body instead of that No. 6, I spoke of before. It
showed also the power of the priest over the people, whom for a handful of
dimes, he can snatch from hell and purgatory, and send to heaven when he
pleases. We only stopped long enough to get some hay for our mules, being
determined to encamp at a country ranche not far beyond, where we might
have our wants supplied more readily. We found the hay stacked in the
trees so that the cattle could not reach it; a necessary precaution as
they have no fences, and the cattle are herded in droves. Progressing, we
lost our way, in attempting to find the ford across the San Whan, so that
we were obliged to encamp on this side of it. A singular occurrence
happened that night. Baker and myself were on guard. Suddenly we were
startled by the screaming of Strode, who, in his fright, declared that he
saw a
Page 14
Camanche Indian or Mexica crawling towards the encampment. Leverett, who
had slept in the same tent, took the alarm in a worse form, and, wrapping
a blanket around him, rushed into the chapparel, shrieking that the
Indians were about massacreing the whole band. Of course, we wakened the
others, and all who remained prepared in military order for the expected
combat.
Looking into the gloom along the ground, we did see and hear something
that seemed in a threatening attitude. As it advanced, we marched out to
meet it, determined to fight and die in the defence of our rights,
although the continued screams of Strode and Leverett, were sufficient to
appal the stoutest soul, remembering the heroic conduct of General Zachary
Taylor at Monterey and Buena Vista, which inspired our own souls with the
same hardihood. Although the conduct of two of our companions plainly
said, that
"He who fights and runs away
May live to fight another day,"
we boldly advanced--advanced--advanced--and found the enemy to be--not a
Camanche Indian, not a renegade Mexican, or a wild beast--but an expanded
umbrella rolling on the ground towards us, moved by a gentle breeze.
Before retiring that night, one of our comrades had occasion to use that
umbrella, and left it expanded on the ground, which made some of us run
away and some of us laugh excessively.
The next morning we forded the San Whan. In doing so, one of our comrades
named Course, from Alexandria, in Virginia, came near being drowned. Being
on a very small weak mule, the force of the current swept both away into
deep water. As he could not swim, his situation was a critical one.
Stripping as fast as possible, I leaped in to his rescue, and succeeded,
after much difficulty, in bringing him to shore. The mule, after losing
the saddle, swam out. On the 10th of April, we arrived at Monterey. As the
Cholera was raging badly in the town, we disputed whether we should remain
or proceed to a mill five miles farther, where there were many
conveniences both for health and comfort. The committee determined that we
should remain there, which highly displeased the rest of the company. That
night, about 6 o'clock, Course and myself were attacked by Cholera. At 6
o'clock the next morning Course died, but fortunately I recovered to tell
the readers my adventures. We buried Course at the Walnut Springs, about
eight miles from the city, as we could not be permitted to bury him in a
Catholic burial ground in Monterey, the deceased having been an
Episcopahan. O cursed hell-born bigotry, that separates the living, and
then separates the holy dead. But, thank all the gods at once, it cannot
separate us in the other world, where, washed from all our sins through
Jesus Christ, we shall be placed on a glorious equality, where we shall
find, as we ought to know here, that God is no respecter of persons. A Mr.
Hyde, from the same place in Virginia, and belonging to the same Episcopal
Church, after helping to drink or finish three kegs of the best 4th proof
French brandy, preached an appropriate funeral discourse over our deceased
comrade before starting to the grave,
Page 15
reading in the appropriate places the suitable prayers; Perkins,
McLaughlin, and the Lancaster lawyer acted as mourners on the occasion,
and for the life of me I could not tell which made their eyes the reddest,
the tears or the brandy.
Passing from Monterey to Saltillo, we saw nothing extraordinary except
many inviting palmetto and prickly pear trees. Saltillo contains 8000
inhabitants, and has in its place, a magnificient fountain pouring out
water towards every point of the compass. We did not linger long at
Saltillo, and passed on to the Buena Vista battle ground, 8 miles, where
we encamped, employing as much time as we could spare, in viewing its
celebrated localities, remembering that there one of the greatest
victories was gained by Gen. Zachary Taylor, who with 5000 troops,
principally volunteers, conquered Santa Anna, commanding 25,000 lancers
and infantry. Buena Vista means in English a Fine View or Grand Sight, and
it was, indeed, a Grand Sight for our troops to see the Mexicans
scampering away as if fifty-thousand devils were at their heels. In fact,
they afterwards called Zachary the Devil --consequently his soldiers were
the imps. Although some poet jocosely said of our volunteers going to
Mexico:
"The volunteers to the wars have gone,
In the ranks of death you'll find them,
With their little caps their heads upon,
And no coat tails behind them."
Yet during that triumphant war, they showed as much skill and bravery as
the regular troops, and in some cases more, for American troops in the
majority of cases fight better when untramelled by the strictest
discipline. We visited the graves in which our heroes, who fell on that
glorious occasion, had been interred. They were buried, layer upon layer,
in two large pits--of course, covered with uncommon glory as well as with
common dirt. As that battle has been described and noticed by thousands of
pens, it is needless for me to notice it particularly here. But I must
mention one circumstance that happened there, which shows the
extraordinary coolness of Gen. Z. Taylor in battle. He saw a small cannon
ball coming directly towards his person. Instead of spurring "Old Whitey"
out of its way, he coolly rose in his very short stirrups and permitted
the ball to pass between his person and the saddle. Col. Wyncoop has
mentioned this circumstance in his book, and if he lies wilfully, you may
be sure that the shoemaker lies unwilfully.
We proceeded to Paras, finding the road skirted luxuriantly with the
palmetto, prickly pear, and a plant called the King's Crown. We stayed
three days at Paras, where we got our wagons repaired and the mules shod,
and disposed of some of our loading in order to facilitate us on our
journey. Thence to Quinquema. At this point the Camanche Indians became
numerous. Eight miles from that town before reaching it, nine of those
Indians attacked a Mexican train, consisting of mules packed with silver,
which thirty Mexicans were taking to Durango. We saw the transaction. The
Indians left the silver on the ground and drove off the mules, as the
Mexicans ran to us for protection. We tried to save a wounded Mexican, but
Page 16
seeing us hastily approaching, the Indians killed him and rapidly fled.
The inhabitants of Quinquema hailed us as if we were delivering angels,
and the alcalde offered us $50 each, if we would lead the citizens against
those Camanches, who are the noblest of the Indians in Mexico, but we
concluded not to interfere as it might afterwards hinder our journey and
endanger our lives, should those Indians hear of our interference. That
afternoon, before we started, the Mexicans had a battle with them, in
which the former had five killed and twelve wounded. But one Camanche was
killed, and he was dragged into town at the end of a lasso, the other end
being affixed to the horn of a saddle occupied by a vaunting Mexican.
Thence to Durango, where we arrived April 19th. It is one of the largest
and oldest cities in Mexico, containing, as I thought, about 125,000
inhabitants. The houses look like prisons, the doors and windows being
plentifully supplied with iron bars, as if to prevent the beaux from
carrying off the ladies or the Indians from capturing the whole family.
The roofs are flat, and may appropriately be used for forts in time of
war. The churches are among the most splendid in the Roman Catholic world.
On entering one of them I thought that I had prematurely got into
California, so valuable and splendid were the ornaments glittering with
real gold and silver. On a Sunday I had the curiosity to attend service in
the grandest of them. Without a seat, about 1000 persons were kneeling and
standing thickly together, each holding a lighted taper in his or her
hand, while the priest was giving some the holy wafer to eat as he drank
the wine. He was the bishop attended by twenty understrappers. Hearing
that on that Sunday afternoon, a bull-fight would take place in the town,
I attended of course, and there saw, among the gayest of the gay, the
bishop I mentioned and all his congregation. He had licensed the fight and
was determined to see it out, believing that it is as good to act proudly
in sin as it is to act humbly in religion, a very accommodating faith to
those who worship God and Devil at the same time. The admission price was
25 cents. About 3000 spectators were present. The enclosure comprised
about three acres, surrounded by a wall six feet in height. Each bull was
prepared for the sport this way--about fifty wooden spears, saturated with
brimstone, were pierced into different parts of his body. Those were
ignited, when the bull in a perfect blaze rushed furiously around the
enclosure, still further persecuted by three Mexicans on horseback, who
occasionally speared his flesh as they rode around and jumped over him,
escaping sometimes almost miraculously from the horns of the animal,
finally killing him by slow torture. In this way six bulls were killed,
but not until three horses had met the same fate, and one Mexican wounded.
The bishop, who delighted in such barbarity, and led his congregation to
admire the same brutality, professed to be a follower of that Jesus Christ
who on earth would not wilfully harm a fly or tread upon a feeble worm.
But, perhaps, he did not go so high in his belief, and only believed in
the Virgin Mary, and we know that some women are somewhat cruel on
occasions less barbarous than a bull fight. The next morning, while
passing along the street, we witnessed the following scene.
Page 17
Twelve soldiers on horseback, armed with muskets, pistols and Cutlasses, a
priest walking in the midst of them, while a musical band, in full
operation, brought up the rear. The citizens, wherever the procession
went, fell down upon their knees before his Heavenly Majesty. The soldiers
motioned to us intimating that we had better pull off our hats in honor of
that cunning priest, who was thus showing publicly that the military power
could at any time be brought out to sustain their interests. All of us
complied except Leverett, who, holding his hat on his head firmly with
both hands, swore audibly that he would not take it off for any such
purpose. The soldiers threatened to knock it off with their cutlasses, but
thought proper to advance without executing their purpose, especially
after Leverett observed that he obtained from the Mexican consul at New
Orleans permission to travel through Mexico with his hat on and with a
sound head!
At this place I determined to use my best efforts to have our wagons and
mules sold in order to go the rest of the land journey on pack mules, and
also to stop the joint-stock eating business, as I had frequently bought
chickens and eggs, which I never saw, much less eat of afterwards. Aided
by others, who saw the existing evils we succeeded, and the wagons, mules,
and some other articles were sold; $1000 worth of property brought but
$450. We then hired a train of thirty mules, accompanied by six muleteers,
to convey our decreased baggage and goods to Mazatlan, 160 miles distant,
on nothing but a mule path. I must here relate a laughable circumstance to
relieve the tediousness of the journey. Fennifrock got sick at Durango
with diarrhoea. Previously he had purchased some boiled beans, fully
peppered and compressed into a small space. As he was sick he could not
eat the luscious mess, and gave me permission to eat some of them. I ate a
small quantity, but Strode swallowed the rest at a meal. On Fennifrock
enquiring who had eaten his stock so voraciously, Strode told him that I
had eaten all of them up or rather down. Fennifrock attacked me for the
deed, when I observed that I could soon prove my innocence. As I expected,
the huge meal of beans made Strode dreadfully sick. Murder will out, and
beans will keep in, and extended Strode's stomach to the size of a small
barrel. He applied to me for medicine, but I told him I would give him
none, and that he might die of the bean disorder for slandering me.
However, on some one's applying a hot stone to his stomach, he vomited out
the whole of the beans before the eyes of Fennifrock, who was then
convinced that I had spoken the solemn truth. Some have a hell upon earth
for their misdeeds, but Strode had a young hell in his belly for his
crime! At Durango, finding that my own mule had so sore a back that I
could not ride it, I hired one at $1 per day.
Started from Durango, April 22d. The first night after leaving that city,
Strode and Denman lost their mules, either strayed or stolen, so they were
obliged to foot it. Denmam and myself being on very good terms, I
permitted him to ride my mule occasionally while I walked. On the third
day I walked considerably ahead, and stopped to rest until the train
reached me, when I found Strode riding my
Page 18
mule and Denman walking. On asking Denman how it happened, he answered
that Strode's feet were sore, and through compassion he permitted him to
ride. I observed that I wished only to oblige Denman, and that Strode
might walk to the devil if he pleased, even if he wore away his legs to
the knees in so doing. This so much displeased me that I would neither let
Denman nor Strode ride after that. I remembered the bean affair in which
Strode slandered me, and, as the Universalists say, every man must suffer
in his body and feet for the evil deeds he does on earth.
Stambaugh showed how curiously jealousy can operate on the human heart. In
passing over the mountains he exhibited a great deal of timidity, driving
his mule before him instead of riding it where there was not the least
danger. My courage and skill in riding up and down the precipices, showed
his fearfulness in a rediculous light, so much so that he advised me to do
as he did, only riding on the levels on the summits of the mountains. I
told him that if he was willing to give $1 per day for the privilege of
driving a mule up hill and down, he might do it, but that for myself I had
given $1 per day for my mule for the privilege of riding whenever it
suited my convenience, and that was all the time. I also observed that he
had better return to Durango and persuade Gen. Urrea to believe that he
was a male angel, unfit for such travel over Mexican mountains, as I had
heard through our interpreter, that the Lancaster lawyer, Perkins, Hyde,
(the man who preached the sermon,) and himself, had while in Durango
palmed themselves off to Gen. Urrea as very wealthy gentlemen, travelling
only to see the country, implying that myself and a few others were their
escort or servants. While the fact was, I shone the most prominent in that
city. All the rest shaved except myself, so that my beard reached almost
to my knees, and, consequently, with my long silver mounted rifle and
other accoutrements, I presented a truly formidable appearance, and
attracted general attention and admiration wherever I went. This, of
course, excited the jealousy of Stambaugh and a few others. As Gen. Urrea
had been the greatest cut-throat in murdering our straggling soldiers
during the war with Mexico, it showed rather a traitorous disposition to
visit him, which should cast some discredit on those who honored, or,
perhaps, dishonored him by a visit.
At this point we are travelling over very high mountains. At one spot we
passed over many acres of lava, which had been thrown out by a neighboring
volcano, which proved very troublesome to the feet of our mules. Visited a
warm spring, apparently hot enough to scald a chicken or boil an egg,
showing that the internal fires were burning beneath. If Father Miller had
lived in that neighborhood, he certainly would have fixed the time of the
end of the world about a dozen years sooner than he did. But volcanos are
great blessings instead of curses, and should excite our gratitude instead
of our fears. If a man has a colic, and applies no physic to remove the
cause, he, dies. So has the earth the colic at times, but those volcanos
remove the origin of it, or otherwise the globe would burst.
Page 19
On the fifth day from Durango, we reached the summit of the highest
mountain, where I thought I was nearer to the good world than I would ever
be again, from which we enjoyed a glorious prospect of mountains and
plains, and, towards the east a glimpse of the Pacific Ocean, which seemed
pacifically inviting us to its borders.
As we progressed, we had ice and snow on the mountains, where we encamped
at night; and by day in threading the valleys we enjoyed a delicious
climate, water-melons, peaches, grapes, cocoa nuts, oranges, lemons,
bananas and plantains. This truly romantic and solemn scenery affected us
considerably. Previously, we had almost constantly passed through scrubby
chapparel, and frequently could not find enough of wood to cook our meals;
but here, almost for the first time since leaving the Brazos, we were
traversing primeval forests, some of the trees of which had witnessed (if
trees have eyes) the exploits of the soldiers of Cortez and Pizzaro. I
could not help remembering and quoting a portion of Bryant's exquisite
poetry:--
"The groves were God's first temples. Ere man learned
To hew the shaft and lay the architrave,
And spread the roof above them--ere he fram'd
The lofty vault together and roll'd back
The sound of anthems, in the darkling wood
Amidst the cool and silence, he knelt down
And offered to the Mightiest solemn thanks.
And supplication. For his simple heart
Might not resist the sacred influences,
That from the stilly twilight of the place,
And from the grey old trunks that high in heaven
Mingled their mossy boughs, and from the sound
Of the invisible breath, that swayed at once
All their green tops, stole over him and bow'd
His spirit with the thought of boundless Power,
And inaccessible Majesty. Ah! why
Should we, in the world's riper years, neglect
God's ancient sanctuaries, and adore
Only among the crowd, and under roofs
That our frail hands have raised! Let me, at least,
Here in the shadow of this aged wood
Offer one hymn, thrice happy if it find
Acceptance in His ear!"
In those mountains we passed silver mines every day, some of which were
worked by English companies. At the bottom of the highest mountain I
mentioned, was a very singular rock, about two thousand feet high, while
its base was only about one hundred feet square. On its summit towered a
beautiful pine tree, 60 feet in height. Nothing more of note happened
until we arrived at Mazatlan on the Pacific ocean. Here we found a French
brig and a Danish schooner, both bound for San Francisco. I was informed
that the Lancaster lawyer observed to the French captain that he would
induce our company, and two or three other companies which had arrived by
way of Mexico city, to prefer his vessel, if he would give him his passage
free. As the Lancaster lawyer acted in this way, and as I also knew that
while in Durango he borrowed fifty dollars in silver of a negro, on the
credit of the company, and which still remained unpaid, telling the negro,
(in order to get that sum,) that our gold pieces would not pass for their
full value in Durango, but would in Mazatlan, I determined to quit so mean
a person, and
Page 20
forsake the company who would countenance him. I at once took passage on
the Danish schooner, named "Joanna Analuffa," commanded by a gentlemanly
German, paying $75, the distance from Mazatlan to San Francisco being 1500
miles. Started from Mazatlan May 10th, with 200 passengers on board. I
left $100 worth of articles with the company which went in the French
vessel, for which I never received a cent. Mazatlan contains about 10,000
inhabitants. Before leaving, Stambaugh observed to me that I could do
nothing without the company, and that I would certainly be murdered in
California without its protection, when I observed that I would rather die
than travel any further with such a swindling company. This greatly
enraged him, and the Lancaster lawyer picked up a gun to shoot me. I then
coolly told them that I did not wish wilfully to kill any body or to be
killed in an ordinary brawl, but that I was stout and stout-hearted, and
either with rifle, pistol, or bowie knife, I was honorably willing to
fight either of them on the spot. This latter offer neither of them
thought proper to accept. But now to the voyage.
After getting far out into the ocean, we ran a north-east course towards
the destined port. When a week from land, we were supplied with wormy
bread, putrid jerked beef, musty rice, and miserable tea, there not being
enough of tea to color the water, the water was colored previously, to
deceive us,) but we were too wide awake for the captain, and, being 200 in
number, we determined to have the worth of our money, as the Yankee boys
are number one on sea as well as on land. We threw those articles of food
overboard, telling the captain we must have better. This infuriated him,
and he swore that if we did not become satisfied with the food he gave us,
he would take us back to Mazatlan, and have us tried and imprisoned for
mutiny. We as furiously told him that hunger knew no law, and that as soon
as he turned the vessel towards Mazatlan we would shoot him, and,
moreover, that he must not only keep on his proper course, but give us
proper food, or we would take all the ship matters into our own hands. He
became as cool as a cowed rooster, kept on his course, and afterwards gave
us the best he had. We caught and ate a few sharks on the passage; and I
saw for the first time in my life whales every day, and porpoises darting
about in every direction, like artful politicians, turning summersets
occasionally to suit their respective views, and show the other fish their
superiority.
On the 30th I arrived at San Francisco, not knowing a single person there.
The first night there I experienced the first rain since leaving home. On
arriving, I went into a tent asking the proprietor what would be his
charge for permitting me to sleep on the bare ground that night. He
replied fifty cents, to which I instantly agreed. During the rain some of
the natives informed me that they had never seen rain nor heard thunder
until the d--d Yankees came to that region. In the morning I went to
another tent to get breakfast, for which I paid $2,50. The owner of that
tent offered me eight dollars per day if I would aid in erecting a muslin
house, besides board, which I thought high wages, as I had
Page 21
never earned over one dollar per day before. But, rejecting his offer, I
started for the mines that day. I paid twenty dollars for passage on a
schooner up the Sacramento river to Sacramento city, 160 miles from San
Francisco, that river emptying into the bay on which the latter is
situated. When about fifty miles from San Francisco, the captain got drunk
and ran the vessel aground. In a few hours the rising tide took us off.
The captain being still intoxicated, and, being fearful that he might
delay us to our loss, five or six of the stoutest passengers, (I being one
of the number,) attacked the little Irish captain, knocked him down, tied
him with ropes, and by our orders the vessel was safely and rapidly
steered to our port of destination.
On landing at Sacramento city I entered a tent, kept by Mrs. Moore, the
first American woman I had seen since leaving the States, who swore that
her brandy was better than any other man's in that renowned city. Her
price was fifty cents a drink. Sure enough, I soon found that she had a
great deal of the masculine gender about her, and that she permitted other
things (more expensive) in her tent than drinking brandy, considering one
of her sweetest smiles worth an ounce of gold or $16.
I then proceeded immediately to the gold mines or diggings on the North
Fork of the American river, which empties into the Sacramento river, being
45 miles from Sacramento city. That distance I walked, paying $20 for the
conveyance of my baggage on pack mules. The next day, about 10 o'clock
after leaving Sacramento city, I reached the mines. I passed the first day
in observing how five hundred persons dug and washed the gold. This place
is called Smith's Bar, because a man named Smith has a store there, where
he sells provisions and mining implements. There I paid ten dollars for a
small pan for washing gold, seven dollars for a pick, and eight dollars
for a small crow bar, renting a cradle for six dollars per day, although a
person I never saw before, named Hughes, who lives about St. Louis,
offered to lend me $100 for the purchase of a cradle, eight dollars for a
shovel, five dollars for a pint of pickles, fifty cents a pound for beef.
I had then but seventy-five cents left. I slept at night on a rock,
between two high mountains, with a blanket over and one under me,
reflecting in wakeful time that I was 3,500 miles from home, my mind
running back to my boyhood and my playmates, remembering the delicious
seasons I had enjoyed with my father and mother, and particularly with my
bosom friend and wife, Ellen, and my children in Lancaster, Ohio.
The next morning I commenced working in earnest, and laboring incessantly
for four weeks, finding, after deducting expenses, that I had cleared ten
dollars per day, that is $280. I then sold my mining implements, and
returned to San Francisco, expecting to get a letter there from my family.
I received one, being the first I had got. After blessing the steamer that
brought it, I addressed a letter to my wife, inclosing $200 and a sample
of the gold dust. I then went to the gold mines at another point, on a
river called the Stanish Lou, 200 miles south of the mines I had
previously visited.
Page 22
From that point I passed over to the mines on the Macallemy river, and
thence to Bear river, from Bear river to the Middle Fork of the American
River, and then to Weaver's Creek, thence to the Horse Shoe Bar, on the
North Fork of the American river, and to Juba river, thence to Feather
river and to Trinity river, these being situated in a barren mountainous
country, covered with scrubby pines and poisonous oaks. I found the miners
generally making, on an average, $16 per day. I saw three men dig out
$9000 in seven days, and two men dig $2500 in two days. But these are rare
circumstances. I saw a Spaniard having a lump of gold he had found
weighing one pound and a half. Finding gold digging too hard labor for me,
I returned to Sacramento city.
At this point I think proper to offer some remarks respecting the digging
and washing of the gold, and the best places for finding it. On the sides
and tops of mountains gold is not found in large quantities, nor on the
plains. But dig wherever you may think proper in that country, you will
find some. When a river is high you cannot work along it to advantage. The
explorer, if passing along a river when the water is high, may correctly
judge that gold may be found at the foot of a fall or eddy, where he will
or may be very successful when the water is low, the swiftness of the eddy
having accumulated the gold scales in piles in places called "pockets." In
such places the diggers should not be discouraged if at first they find
none, but dig on until they get to the rock where they will find it the
most, as gold, being the heaviest, passes through the sand and gravel, and
settles on the rock. In those eddies, or pockets, or gravel bars, formed
by the current of the river, some, not aware of what I said, will dig down
one, two, or three feet, and finding none will leave the spot, while an
old miner, coming afterwards, will dig deeper in the same hole, and find
thousands of dollars safely deposited on the rock. In the slate rock it is
only found in the crevices, as if it had been melted and poured into them
by the hands of the Almighty. In the white flint rock it is not found so
distinct or separate, but is there frequently seen commingled with the
rock itself, the gold still being perfectly pure or almost, only losing
two cents in the ounce when assayed at the mint, yielding seventeen
dollars and sixty cents to the ounce, some say a great deal more, but the
gold I gathered, which was the purest of the pure, only afforded that
amount in the mint at New Orleans. While I was at the mines the New York
and Massachusetts companies arrived, bringing with them patent gold
washers, but were compelled to throw them away and use the common simple
cradle, reminding me of the old woman who remarked that the old way of
getting children is the best in the world. I will now describe the simple
cradle. It resembles a common baby cradle, about four feet and a half
long, of white pine, having bottom, sides, head board, but none at the
foot. On the bottom three cleats, an inch wide and eighteen inches apart,
are nailed. A kind of hopper, the bottom of which is sheet iron perforated
with half inch holes, having a low raised board round the edge, is
fastened across the top of the cradle. The sand, gravel and gold are
poured into
Page 23
this hopper, and then while water is poured on these with one hand, the
cradle is rocked with the other, by which motion the gold, sand, and
gravel are forced into the body of the cradle, where the gold, being the
heaviest, lodges against the wooden cleats, while the sand and gravel pass
onward and out by the foot of it. Then the gold along those cleats, and
the little sand and gravel still mingled with it, are taken out, put into
a pan and washed at the edge of the river as clean as you can get it
without wasting any of the gold. Then it is placed on a handkerchief
spread in the sun, and when it is dry the remaining sand is blown from it
as one blows the dust from beans. This sand is as black as powder. The
fact is, gold is only found in black sand. The pure gold is then put into
a double sewed buckskin bag or purse, and is then ready for preservation
or exportation.
While lying asleep or awake at night I did not think it strange lizzards
to run over my body and up the legs of my trowsers, and for wolves, called
the kyota, to steal my breakfast prepared for the morning.
In my travels through California I saw thousands upon thousands of the
finest and fattest cattle I ever saw, perfectly wild;--deer, antelopes,
and elk, but I never saw the wild oats, wheat and clover high as a horse's
belly, mentioned by Col. Fremont, as published in his travels, and have
the strongest reasons for believing that they do not exist in that
country.
I caution persons going from this country to California against the
traders and speculators found in that country. When those strangers
inquire for the best diggings, those traders direct them to the spot where
they have provisions and mining implements for sale, whether those places
are the best or not. Strangers, after digging with little success in spots
to which they have been directed--perhaps in places which have been
abandoned, become disgusted, leave the gold region, and return home,
believing that the whole is a humbug affair; whereas, if they would travel
a little and search for themselves, they would find plenty of gold, return
well laden with the precious metal, and publish that it is the greatest or
rather only El Dorado in the world.
I will now notice some of the diseases of California, to which the mines
are particularly liable. One is the diarrh, caused by drinking the water,
surcharged with mineral, called mica, a substance which is yellow as gold,
which sometimes leads strangers to believing that it is that metal, but
gold is hard and this is soft. Strangers wishing to preserve their health,
should boil the water, and drink or otherwise use it when cool. Another is
produced by the poisonous oak. Then the scurvy, occasioned by eating too
much salt meat, and to avoid it vinegar or lime juice should be freely
used. The argue and fever, which is very common, as the nights are very
cold and the days excessively warm. I saw the thermometer 130 degrees in
the shade, and persons sun-struck instantly. To prevent being sun-struck,
the miner should constantly wear a wet cloth between his head and the
crown of his hat. To avoid the heat the
Page 24
miners work from daylight till 10 o'clock A.M., commencing at 4 in the
afternoon and working till dark.
I never saw trees in California fit for making rails, except the red wood
tree along the San Francisco Bay. The Bay of San Francisco is entered by a
channel two miles in width, when it widens to 40 miles, being by some
considered one of the safest and most beautiful in the world. But I have a
different opinion of it, as it is assailed by a hurricane every afternoon,
coming directly over the city, at which time a woman cannot walk the
streets. The banks of this bay are bluffy and mountainous. Opposite San
Francisco is a strait leading from the larger bay into a smaller one,
called Linn Bay into which Napper River empties. Every thirty miles up the
latter bay we pass through another strait leading into another bay.
On the strait a town is situated called Vernicia, containing about one
hundred good buildings; and I have the opinion that it will become the
principal city of California. Near it are a government Fort and Troops,
and a Navy Yard. Not a tree is seen in passing from San Francisco to
Vernicia, 45 miles, and doubtless never were any in that region. Vessels
are anchored from one mile to three miles from San Francisco, being laden
and unladen by lighters, but at Vernicia they run up to the shores, and
meet with no difficulty, being also perfectly secure from storms. New York
is situated at the mouth of the San Wocktine river, twenty miles above
Vernicia. From San Francisco to New York the banks are mountainous and
barren, without a tree or bush, and covered with wild cattle and elk. The
Sacramento river greatly resembles the Mississippi--not as wide, but in
width about equal to the Ohio river. I consider it the most beautiful
river in the world. The San Wocktine and Sacramento river join at their
mouths, forming a bay, about twenty miles long and ten miles broad,
between Vernicia and New York. About three miles below the junction of
these rivers, on the bay, is the town of Montezuma. A swamp extends along
the south side of the Sacramento river from its mouth to a point one
hundred miles above. Between this swamp and the river is a level plain
covered with wild grass resembling our meadows at home. On the opposite,
or east side of the river is a similar swamp and plain extending only to
Sacramento City. In the months of June, July, August and September,
persons cannot live near its banks in consequence of the musquitos. They
attack one as fiercely as yellow jackets, and in a minute his person is
literally covered with them, and they can kill a man in twenty four hours
if permitted to have their own malicious way. In Sacramento City I saw
several persons who, in passing up, had been so bitten that they could not
see or walk, being bloated by the poison of the stings. In voyaging up, on
one occasion, I was offered $15 a cord for chopping wood, but if offered
$100 per cord, I would not have accepted it in that musquito land. Another
instance of their fatality. A stranger voyaging that river to Sacramento
City in the "Mary" of New York, was so bitten by them that he became
deranged, and in his frenzy jumped overboard and was drowned.
Suter's Fort is two miles directly east of Sacramento City, on the
Page 25
road leading to the gold regions. Suter's saw-mill, where the gold was
first discovered, is fifty miles a N.E. course from Sacramento City. In
going to that mill, I passed over the most beautiful plains in the world,
occasionally meeting with groves of shady oak trees. The mill is situated
on the Middle Fork of the American river.--Crossing the Middle Fork the
ferriage cost me two dollars, and the same price was required of me for
crossing at Child's ferry on the American river. In Sacramento City, a man
named St. Clair, offered me $350 per month for driving a pair of oxen.
This I refused as I intended to go into trading. In the same City I saw a
gentleman, formerly attached to the Granville college in Ohio, who got for
driving two yoke of oxen $400 per month and boarded. I saw a journeyman
blacksmith, who, preferring going to the mines, refused $500 per month and
board. There is no law there, and no need of it at present. Men can gather
so much gold at the mines, that they have no need of office--cannot serve,
as the ox driver gets more than the Congress man. The government officers
do not attend to government business, employing their time in speculation.
I had the honor of erecting and occupying the most beautiful and
comfortable tent in Sacramento City. I formed it thus: Half way between
the ship landing and the main street was a singular sycamore tree, which,
with age and honor, had bent down to the shape of a half circle, while
from its curved trunk rose branches, casting a delightful shade around.
This curve I made the entrance or front door of my tent, building back of
it with muslin until it was sufficiently large for every purpose. Between
the two sides of the trunk ran my counter, leaving a small passage on one
side for entering and going out. It astonished both natives and
foreigners, who saw, that, like the nenowned Sam Patch, I could do some
things as well as others, on an eterprise which no one thought of before.
But I was more fortunate than that here. Sam Patch was drowned in trying
his experiments, but I swam head up high in going on with mine. In truth,
it was a patriarchal mode of living and trading, and the "Sycamore Tree
Establishment" became famous far and near.
I will now give some specimens of California life which I witnessed. An
Irishman, who lived on the opposite side of the river, came over to the
City to have a spree, for the Irishman is the same jovial personage every
where. Excited by ardent spirits, &c., he had been swearing that he would
kill somebody that day. From my tent, I saw him, with uplifted bowie
knife, pursuing an individual. When he had almost reached his expected
prey, the latter turned on him and wounded him severely with a pistol. His
wife was sent for, who came over in a canoe. With assistance she had her
husband placed in the bottom of it, and started for home. As the wound
made him restive, she swore that if he did not be still she would throw
him overboard. He died about four hours after reaching his dwelling.--
Elder, the man who shot the Irishman, was immediately arrested, and tried
before a kind of jury court, and acquitted. A few days afterwards a man
was arrested for stealing $50 worth of gold dust. A jury was called and a
judge appointed, and he was found guilty, his
Page 26
sentence running thus: that he should have his ears cut off, receive fifty
lashes on the bare back, and leave the country. Then lots were drawn to
discover who should cut off his ears, and it fell upon a person named
Clark. The prisoner prevailed upon a doctor sojourning there, to do the
job instead of Clark, knowing that he could do it more skillfully and with
less injury; but the difference was that between a little hell and a big
hell. The doctor complied with great good nature and willingness, and with
a well sharpened glittering razor, cut the scoundrel's ears off close to
his head. With bleeding head and back, and, no doubt, with an agonized
heart, if such a villian could feel, he stole a mule the same night, and
was never heard of afterwards. A doctor stepped into my tent for
refreshment. He was just from the mines with a gloomy counternance and
apparently with almost broken heart. He stated that he had left a
profitable practice in New Orleans for the life of a gold-seeking
wanderer--a splendid carriage, to walk on foot over barren hills and
valleys--an ample table, to cook his scanty worm meat and eat his musty
bread--a feather bed and lovely wife, to sleep on the hard ground
serenaded each night by howling starving wolves. The overland boys
commenced arriving. An overland doctor rode up to my tent, asking me if I
wished to purchase a horse. He said he was from Illinois. I asked him if
he had been to the mines. He answered that he had been to the Mormon
Island. He observed that he was going home, as he had only visited that
region for his health. I observed that any person who could endure the
fatigues consequent on traveling across the plains, must have been very
healthy at home. This created great laughter among some spectators, which
enraged the doctor. He swore that he would like to give Fremont, and all
the letter-writers who had extolled California, a quietus with arsenic, as
the intelligence about the gold was designed to humbug the people of the
United States. Off rode the doctor, and we saw no more of him. One day two
New Yorkers were eating dinner at my tent. In stepped a Massachusetts man,
who said that he had just returned from the mines. The New Yorkers, to
have a little fun with him, commenced asking him questions, and found that
he, like the celebrated doctor, was bound for home. They pretended they
had a diving bell, and offered him $16 per day and board, for working only
two hours a day with it, but his station should be during that time, in
the diving bell arising or descending. This offer he refused. They then
offered him wages for that purpose from $25 up to $50. He swore that he
would have nothing to do with the under-takin, as he believed they wished
to drown him. He said that he could live better in a Massachusetts poor
house than he could in California; home he would go, and took his hasty
departure, followed by the laughter of those who had tried to hook the
land gudgeon. A young man named Samuel Anderson, the son of a wealthy
gentleman in New York, came to my tent sick and without a cent. I gave him
something to eat, medicine and money to pay his way to San Francisco. He
was direct from the mines. I never saw him since and never learned whether
he lived or died.
Page 27
Here I would give a little advice. It is a great mistake in wealthy men
giving their sons money to go to California. They have not been accustomed
to hard labor and privations at home, and hence cannot be expected to
endure successfully the hardships and vexations of such a trip. The
lawyer, doctor, and clerk, are very good in their places, but the
California gold mines is not the place for them. None but the stalwart and
gigantic laboring man, who can work from sunrise to sunset and withstand
the hot sun, is fit for such an occupation. Men coming to and returning
from the mines to their homes, I found to be an every day occurrence. They
do not stay long enough to learn how to find the gold and to wash it. They
stay there frequently only a few hours and retire in disgust. I asked one
where he had been? He said, to Smith's Bar. I observed--it is a pleasure
trip from here to Smith's Bar. I asked another, who replied, that he had
just returned from the Horse Shoe Bar. Another, and he replied that he was
from the Mormon Island. A pleasant trip, I coolly said, with hungry belly
and sore feet. Very agreeable, indeed--a remark which I made to such
stragglers with every returning sun. I had a conversation one day with the
celebrated Capt. Suter at my tent, about Col. Fremont, in relation to his
first expedition to California. He said that Col. Fremont come to his
Fort, and took by force, horses, cattle, and provisions, for which he had
never been paid by government. I then spoke of the great crops of wheat he
was raising when the gold excitement commenced. He observed that he only
raised it for the use of his own stock, as there was not at that time a
mill in that region for grinding wheat. He has not a fence on his farm,
the Fort is in ruins, its walls having been formed, (as those of his house
in which there is now a tavern,) of adobe brick, or clay bricks not burnt.
He lives at Suterville, a town of about one hundred buildings, one mile
and a half below Sacramento City. I sold some brandy at my tent at twenty-
five cents per drink. I was surrounded by other liquor houses. When a
person came to me for brandy, I invariably observed that if he must and
would have it, and was determined to die, that I had the stuff that would
kill a man as quick as any other liquor in California. This I done fully
one hundred times a day, and most of those thus accosted went away without
drinking. I saw a fine young gentleman, a surveyor. He came to my tent,
and ate his dinner. He went to another tent and got drunk, and fell down
dead drunk before that tent. Before sunset he was a corpse, the liquor and
the hot sun having killed him. This young man was getting $50 a day and
boarded. O thou cursed brandy, what hast thou done! You have robbed a
mother of a son, but you did not stop there, you made many orphans and
widows in Sacramento City while I was there. I am firmly convinced that
ardent spirits are the principal cause of deaths in California. On one
occasion I saw a pint and a half of brandy sell for $11 50 at the mines.
In Sacramento City every other tent is devoted to gambling, or drinking,
and some to both. It is the same in San Francisco, and every other town in
that newly acquired territory. I can only compare it to a horse race track
on the last day of the races, just before
Page 28
the horses are brought out. Excuse the curious shoemaker for his curious
expressions, for he has a good object in view.
I will notice more proceedings at my tent, but I must begin by saying the
Lancaster boys are arriving. The vessel I sailed in from Mazatlan arrived
at San Francisco two months before the French brig in which they voyaged.
The catholics have their hell in purgatory, the universalists theirs on
earth, but the Lancaster boys were to have theirs on the Pacific ocean for
their conduct towards me. They arrived at Sacramento City without money,
and wished to borrow $50 from me. I readily agreed to let them have it.
They wrote a joint note, not with a pen, but with a pencil, that through
rubbing in the pocket book it would soon rub out. I observed to them at
the time that they need not think I am a fool because some may consider me
an ignorant shoemaker, for I had discovered why they wished to have the
note written with a flimsy pencil, and would not, in consequence, let them
have $50 on any terms. That was a great revolution in feelings, after
wishing to shoot me at Mazatlan, to try to borrow money from me at
Sacramento City; but the reader will see that the same principle, or
rather want of principle, was exhibited both in the shooting business and
the borrowing affair. They then took a pleasure trip to Smith's Bar, and I
never heard anything of them afterwards. From the time of my landing in
San Francisco, June 1, to the present time, August 20, I had accumulated
$1500, that is, cleared that sum, after paying all expenses. I firmly
believe that, if I had not been bothered and delayed through Texas and
Mexico by the Lancaster boys--that is, if the wagons had been sold, and we
had muled it in 30 days instead of the two months the trip occupied, I
might have doubled the $1500 between the dates I mentioned.
As usual with me, I wish to give a little advice to persons coming from
the States to the California mines. Let each person have only 2 good
flannel shirts, and the suit of clothes he usually wears, the gold he
intends spending in a belt fastened around his body;--1 good six-shooter
Colt pistol--good butcher knife instead of a bowie knife, as with the
former, one can eat, but not with the latter--a good rifle. These are all
the necessary articles he should have. If a man comes through the Isthmus,
with a huge trunk full of clothes and the mining implements, he is obliged
to pay to $16 per 100 lbs. for their conveyance, $20 per hundred from San
Francisco to Sacramento City, and $20 per hundred from Sacramento City to
the mines. Then he has paid more for those articles than the prices at
which they may be obtained in California. If a trunk is stored in San
Francisco or in Sacramento City, he has to pay $3 per month. I had twenty
trunks stored in my possession at that price, I placed them under a tree
outside the tent. People in the States may talk about conveniences, but
after a person is obliged to lug a cradle, two blankets, pick, shovel,
crowbar, and a week's provision, on his back, walking fifteen miles per
day through the hot sun, up and down the mountains, he has no use for a
trunk full of clothes and a tent. The person who digs gold lives like the
wild man, deprived of every comfort of life and society. I believe that
there is enough of gold in California region to supply
Page 29
the world, but the difficulty in obtaining it has never been so great in
any other region, and yet has it never been gathered so plentifully in the
same length of time. You cannot show me any other spot on earth where a
laboring man can make $16 per day by hard work, yet I would not advise any
person to come to this country. But read, judge for yourselves, for I have
told you the truth. I am willing that any person who has worked in the
mines should read my work, and, he, from personal experience, will
discover that I have not varied from the truth.
A gentleman, named Francis Shaeffer, whom I had known from a boy, stepped
into my tent. He was born and raised in Lancaster, Fairfield county, Ohio.
His father keeps the finest hotel in Lancaster, and, I think, is worth
$100,000. I was considerably glad to see Frank, as he was the first of my
acquaintance I had seen in the gold regions. He came the overland route
from Fort Independence, one among the first who got through. I asked him,
why he had come to that desolate place, as his father had enough at home
to sustain him during life without laboring. He answered that he knew
that, but he wished to make with his own hands as much as his father
possessed. I could not help sincerely pitying him when I saw his fine form
and expressive countenance, with an intelligence that might have realized
him a fortune in any other place, knowing and feeling that the hardships
and privations of that region would be severe on one who had been so
delicately raised and liberally educated, yet feeling confident that by
his extraordinary energy and ability he would acquire an independent
fortune at the mines, and would go to his home with one of the largest
treasures on earth.
A New York lawyer stepped into my tent one day, without the usual haughty
swagger he had frequently previously exhibited in Broadway, and without
the usual gloves on his hands and umbrella under his arm, which he had
displayed there in going to perform some peti-fogging business. I never
heard his name, and perhaps he was so ashamed of the mines he wished to
conceal it. He said there was no law in that country, and that gold
digging was too severe for his delicate hands and body. I observed that
the more law there is in any country the more trouble there is among men,
he said that he was without money and without hope, showing me a splendid
gold watch, saying that he wished me to purchase it from him, asking $50
for it, observing that it had cost him $110 in New York. I told him that I
would give him $20 for it. This he took and spent $5 of it with me, in
eating and drinking, before he left. A sailor was at my tent. The captain
of a vessel wished to hire him to accompany the former to Oregon. The
captain offered him $250 per month. The sailor asked $300. The captain
observed that that was too much, and he could not give it. The sailor then
retorted, that if this captain would accompany and help him at the mines
he would give him $300 per month and board. This is the only country in
which I have seen true democracy prevailing. The poor man can give as high
wages as the rich man, and the former can hire the latter as readily and
as liberally as the latter can hire the former. While I was in
Page 30
Sacramento City, an English vessel was lying at that port of the muslin
houses. Although the sailors had been receiving good wages, all of them
run away from the ships to the mines. The captain, who was receiving $50
per month from his employers in England, being an honest man and true to
their interests, remained on board. He hired at that port a cook, for his
own eating, to whom he gave $250 per month. This is the first time I ever
saw a cook get more wages than the captain of a vessel. No other country
can exhibit such a singularity as that. In fact, California has turned the
world upside down in every department of life. A New York gentleman walked
pompously into my tent, and asked me what I would take for the now
universally celebrated and appreciated "Sycamore Tree Establishment" and
all its appurtenances, the latter consisting of as much as an ordinary man
could carry on his back, and would be worth in the States about $50. I
told him $500, considering that the credit of the establishment was worth
a small fortune. He offered me $400 in cash. I observed that it was
useless to multiply words between gentlemen, and he might count out the
$400 in sterling gold, and he could take the whole concern and possession
at the same time.
Now I am ready to start for home. A man, named Walker, living in
Covington, opposite Cincinnati, who came with me from Mazatlin to
Sacramento City, got drunk at the latter place soon after I arrived there,
and went off intoxicated to the mines. When I saw him last he was making a
perfect worm fence along his route. I did not hear of him afterwards until
the moment I was ready to start towards home. I asked how he had
progressed after leaving me. He informed me that he had found a rich spot,
and had dug out $8500. He showed me the dust. Both of us then proceeded to
San Francisco, where, getting as beastly drunk, as ever, he gambled and
soon lost $1000. Then he had $7500 left, which I took care of for him. As
to fortune, there was a great disparity between us, as I had only $2000.
It is now August 20, and Walker and myself are at San Francisco, waiting
for a passage to the States. The U.S. Mail steamer "Panama," is anchored
in the bay, three miles from the town, appointed to sail Sept. 2d. She is
commanded by Capt. Baily. Our tickets for the steerage, in that ship, cost
us each $150. I could have sold my ticket for $250, as there were about
one thousand more than the steamer could take, wishing passage to the
States. There I saw several of the Lancaster boys. I call them boys, for
men would not have acted towards me as they did. They had not, as yet,
made one dollar. They tried to persuade me to stay longer in that country,
but they could not succeed. I told them that I had seen the elephant,
which had a longer tail and a bigger snout than the usual elephants. That
I was satisfied with the small bucket full of gold I had accumulated, and
would not stay to see it running over the sides like milk from a pail, as
I was no advocate for wastefulness. Perhaps they had not sense enough in
their contracted skulls to understand the homely illustration of the
Lancaster shoemaker. If so, they may die with their wisdom, as its loss
will be not the least loss to the world.
Page 31}
In walking through the town I saw people from all quarters of the globe,
showing that San Francisco had already become the landing of the world,
viz:--Americans, Englishmen, Hibernians, Scotch folks, Chinese, Sandwich
Islanders, South Americans, New Granadians, Mexicans, Polanders,
Sonorians. I saw anchored in the harbor about five hundred vessels
belonging to different nations, about one hundred at Vernicia, and two
hundred at Sacramento City, making in all 800 vessels, the sailors had all
ran off to the mines, averaging at that time but one man to a vessel to
take care of them. Some of the vessels were rotting, and I suppose the
majority of them would be destroyed by the N.W. hurricanes. I saw Col.
Fremont, Col. Weller, and Ex-Governor Shannon there. I conversed with them
about the gold and state of the country, as to its soil and political
interests. I saw about three hundred gamblers in the city, acting like
land sharks, entrapping the foolish gudgeons who were swimming about their
establishments. This state of society reminded me of two kinds of ducks I
saw at the east, and which I have seen swimming together. One of them is a
small duck, having a diving disposition. The other is large and indolent,
but always fat, and avoids the trouble of diving. When the small one dives
to the bottom, and brings up the luscious grass, the large duck artfully
swims to it, and, grasping the grass, eats it at leisure. I compared the
gambler to the large duck and the honest hard-working miner to the little
one, the gambler being always fat in the pocket, and the miner
proportionally poor in the same. This would also apply to many in the
United States.
When I was in the Macallemy river, I had the honor of seeing the lordly
Mr. Perkins, of Cincinnati, who had acted so aristocratically towards me
while passing through Mexico, so poisoned by the poisonous oak that he was
bloated and full of sores. Knowing the virulence of the disorder, and
seeing how greatly he had been poisoned, I judged that he afterwards died.
Should I see him again it will seem like a resurrection from the dead.
Dead or alive, his case, first and last, reminds me of the proverb which
says, that pride must have a fall--and sometimes even into the grave. I
believe in a hell on earth, and it is no matter what I believe about the
other world. Perhaps he was also a gambler. If so, old Death has shot with
his long rifle one of the big ducks I was speaking about.
Before starting in the steamship "Panama," I wish to offer some
appropriate reflections. In the midst of constant excitement I love
occasionally to pause and reflect on the consequences of things, and
express my views accordingly. It may be called the philosophy of a
shoemaker, but what of that. I have heard of shoemakers rising to high
stations in jurisprudence, poetry, and philosophy. But shoemakers are like
persons of other professions, some being more deep than others on certain
subjects. The bird that skims over a clear stream may see as much of the
pebbles as the duck that dives to the bottom. I mean that, although I am a
shoemaker, I may offer some good reflections on the value of California to
the world, and to the United States in particular. In the shop at home in
Lancaster I have
Page 32
cobbled the understanding of others: and in many cases have supplied
entirely new understandings to the shoes and boots of customers. So, in my
reflections, I may improve the understandings of some on Californian
matters, and impart to others entirely new understandings of those
subjects. Some proverb says, that the shoemaker should not go beyond his
last, but this is a free country, and shoemakers have as much right to
quit their last, and go to California to dig gold and offer their views,
as persons of any other trade or profession have. At this very time there
is a shoemaker in Europe who has become quite fashionable among the most
fashionable, in consequence of his published travels, he working at his
trade as he travels in order to pay expenses, and writing his journal at
night after constant travel or work. I know that some--an inglorious few--
disdain the literary productions of mechanics as they hate the mechanics
themselves; but, thank Heaven and St. Crispin, the god of the shoemakers,
we are in a better country than aristocratic Europe, where merit is
acknowledged and applauded whether it emanates from the skull of a
shoemaker, or the pomatumed pericranium of a lawyer, regular physician, or
quack doctor.
As in this volume I am neither whig nor democrat, therefore I shall offer
no remarks on the justness or unjustness of the war with Mexico which
placed California in our hands. It is enough for me to say that California
in time will become the pivot on which our national glory will revolve,--
in fact, will become the centre of the world. Here nations will meet and
shake hands with each other.--Asia coming from over the Pacific ocean, and
Europe from over the Atlantic, grasping the huge paws of Uncle Sam beyond
the Rocky Mountains--in our now Great West--and wishing him the highest
success, because their own interests will be advanced in our growing
prosperity. How we are spreading as a nation. About three quarters of a
century since we had about three millions of people, but now we have
extended our dominions from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean, with a
population numbering more than twenty millions--and many now living,
before they die shall see somewhere about a hundred and fifty millions of
inhabitants within the borders I have mentioned. Does any one doubt that
the states formed west of the Rocky Mountains will survive in unity with
those states formed, and to be formed, east of them? If such a doubt
exists, let it be instantly banished from American minds, although some
aristocratic European minds may entertain a contrary opinion, forever
croaking over the instability of republican institutions in order to show
the fancied stability of despotic thrones, notwithstanding they must see
that our glorious Union is getting firmer every day, our conflicting party
spirit only strengthening its roots as the storm strengthens the roots of
the giant oak. The Rocky Mountains, although towering like the Pyrenees
separating Spain from France, will not separate the interests of our East
and West. When the telegraph, railroad, and other means of conveyance of
thought and body, stretching entirely across North America, connect us
more closely together, the union of thought, feeling, and person, will be
perfect and productive of perfect amity.
Page 33
This is a widely known truth, but should be frequently repeated in order
to be more deeply impressed upon the mind. The bible is nearly two
thousand years old, yet its truths are constantly repeated from the pulpit
and elsewhere for public good. So of any other valuable truth--it should
be constantly placed in various forms before the intellect, although it
may be uttered by a shoemaker. If the only communications with those new
acquisitions were across the Isthmus by Chagres to Panama, or around the
Horn, or by ox and mule travel from Fort Independence, some slight fears
might be entertained for the permanency of the Union, but the
establishment of the continental railroad will soon remove such fears. In
that case, congressional representatives could travel as speedily from
Oregon and California to Washington City, (or to Cincinnati, should it
become the seat of government as some suppose,) as they formerly did from
our extreme west or north east by mail coaches. It is true that the
extending Roman empire was destroyed by home party spirit and foreign
invasion, but we are governing our extending dominions with a better
religion, a firmer political economy, and a higher mode of civilization,
and therefore need not fear such a termination to our rising grandeur. The
Almighty destroyed in ancient times the Babel tower government by
confusing the prevailing language, and separating the builders into tribes
with different tongues and habits, so that they could not understand each
other enough to concoct schemes against His better government, and
influenced by their growing quarrels separated still farther apart--but
the opposite is happening in our government, affording another proof that
it will continue firm. I mean that we will have the same language, laws,
and institutions, connecting the far east to the far west, so that each
state will be as proud of its own local sovereignty and interests as of
the general importance of the general government, like a good father
rejoicing in good children, and the children in the father, because their
interests as well as their joys are one, their linking affections speaking
the same language by which they can understand each other for mutual
advantage. Without the shadow of a doubt, when, in the future, we may
number fifty states, containing three hundred millions of people, it will
be the same!
Let the shoemaker philosophise a little longer on this subject with a
practical philosophy, which is far better than fallible mystifications on
air balloons, and the imagined philosopher's stone. Uncle Sam has a
philosopher's stone in his Californian and Oregonian possessions which
turns everything it touches to gold. Let us see what a railroad, by
Whitney or any other enterprising individual or company, connecting the
two shores, will accomplish. New York, which is within ten days of Europe
by steamer, will then be within twenty-five days of China by that railroad
and a steamer connecting its terminus with the Celestial Empire. The
Chinese themselves will acknowledge that our country, instead of theirs,
will be the true Celestial Empire--ah, more,--shedding both terrestrial
and celestial happiness and prosperity on every land with which it will be
connected. So that the hovering spirit of Columbus himself will
Page 34
rejoice over this short cut to the East Indies, contrasting it favorably
with the old weary route through weary oceans, and wish himself again on
earth that he might personally enjoy the glorious carrying out of an idea
which he tried to have on the same subject. Thus America will become the
centre of the world, both in a commercial way and in a moral and
intellectual sense. Europe is rising and we are rising higher very
appropriately about the same time, as if Providence had some prominent
object in producing simultaneously those coincidences. The Genius of
Liberty is giving Europe a vomiting dose, and she is about disgorging her
surplus population, fleeing for life and liberty, more plentifully than
ever upon our inviting shores. We must have more room and more employment
for the coming seekers for liberty, in order to do out part in carrying
out the design of the Supreme Disposer of events. The East and West shall
meet them with expanded arms, and the wilderness between shall bloom like
a rose that they may safely worship the Almighty and secure their own
rights. Since the crucifixion, the Star of Empire has westwardly held on
its brightening way, crossing the Atlantic ocean, and is now sending down
its reviving rays on Oregon and California. It is plain that we are to
become the mediator between both sides of the old world. God has given us
the political and moral means for doing it, and now he is imparting the
Californian gold that we may employ our increased talents with better
effect. About one hundred millions of the gold have been gathered by
different nations and more than fifty years will be employed in gathering
the remainder. What for? We may guess in regular yankee style.
Some even say, the object is, that the Jews, concentrating their long
separated interests, may get from California the gold wherewith to build
the temple of Jerusalem in all its ancient grandeur, in order that they
may be reinstated, and prophecy concerning them accredited. But such
arguments cannot jew me out of the opinion I am holding. It is true, it is
thus bestowed for the rebuilding of some temple, but it is the Temple of
Liberty, which was erected in Eden before the fall, and great was the fall
thereof when Satan entered the garden, destroying the liberty of pure
thought and action. Satan is seated on every throne distributing the same
chains. But the time has arrived when the Temple of Liberty shall be
rebuilt in all of its primitive glory, according to the surest word of
ancient and modern prophecy. For that purpose God has placed those golden
placers in our way, saying unto us: "Yea, verily I say unto you, ye shall
take of the gold I have provided, and therewith build on the sacred mount
of republican principles the Temple of Liberty, that the goings out of its
glory and the comings in of its praise, may be unto all nations a sweet
savor as of incense, where they may come to worship, and take thence the
brands which they have lighted at the eternal fire, and with them uplifted
go to and fro illuminating the dark places of the earth!"
At the appointed time we started in the "Panama." Raising steam and firing
a farewell gun, we were on our glorious way with 300 passengers on board.
Among them was the world-renowned Capt. Suter, being a delegate to the
convention held at Monterey to form a
Page 35
state government. Him and I conversed considerably together. He again
spoke of Col. Fremont. After again relating the grievances I before
mentioned, that is, how Fremont stole his property, he angrily said that
Fremont is a tyrant and a blackguard, but spoke very highly of Col.
Kearney who superceded Fremont on that military station. Also spoke very
highly of commodore Stockton, whose fleet so promptly sustained our
interests in California. He told me that, before the discovery of the
gold, the inhabitants slaughtered the cattle only for the hide and tallow,
but now they slaughter them for the meat and throw the hide and tallow
away. He also related to me how he first emigrated to that wild region.
Once he kept a store in Louisville, Kentucky. There he foolishly went bail
for a friend (or enemy,) and through the imprudence of the person he
bailed he was ruined or almost. From there he went to New Orleans. Thence
to Fort Independence and across the plains and Rocky Mountains to the
Columbia river in Oregon. From there to the Sandwich islands. The
government of those islands furnished him with ten servants to act as life
guards, and, accompanied by them, he went to Santa Barbara on the Pacific
coast. There the government, for the proper settlement of the country,
granted him the region in which most of the gold mines are. I then asked
him, to tell me the worth of his property at this time. He supposed about
$500,000. He has an amiable son in California, and a wife and two
daughters in Germany, adding that he had sent for the latter, and they
would soon be in California. The Capt. is a German, sixty years old, and
much of a gentleman.
Our steamer stopped at Monterey, and changed the mail. Also at San Diego.
At the latter place I saw a person, named Thomas Wilson, who had started
from Lancaster with me. He went by the way of the Isthmus. At Panama he
went as passenger on board of a vessel called the "Two Friends." She had
an unskillful captain, and had not enough of casks for the conveyance of
water. Provisions getting scarce and having much calm weather, the vessel
presented a scene of suffering almost unparalleled. Wilson said he had
suffered more than twenty deaths while voyaging in her. The vessel, being
in distress, was anchored off the coast, two hundred miles below San
Diego. Himself and thirty other passengers landed there, and walked to San
Diego without water or provisions except some wild beans they plucked by
the way. I asked him if he had money, being determined, if he had none, to
give him some to help him to San Francisco. He replied that he had. I
understood afterwards that he went in the "Panama" when she returned. Let
who will venture in sailing vessels on that route, as for myself, I would
not get in one even if offered a free passage. I know some instances in
which it occupied them one hundred days going from Panama to San
Francisco.
The next port we touched at to change the mail was Santa Barbara. Next
Acapulco, and then Mazatlan, where we laid one day getting in provisions.
There the passengers went ashore for recreation. I concluded to have a
bath in the Pacific Ocean. While bathing alone--how dangerous while ocean
sharks and land angels are so numerous--several senoritas came to the same
spot to enjoy the same amusement. As I am always bashful in the presence
of ladies, and more so
Page 36
when any parts of their bodies are exposed, I retreated to the shore,
putting on my clothes before their angelic and wondering eyes, they
wishing to guard me as attending mermaids while I bathed. I, however,
remained on the shore while they bathed, and when they had concluded and
dressed, we walked together to the city, they speaking with their eyes a
language which I did not quite understand, but enough to learn that they
were pleased with me and wished more of my company, pointing at the same
time to the setting sun and closing their eyes as if imitating sleep.
Pretending that I did not understand them, I left the angelic company. I
saw some half breed boys in the city, called muchachoes, or little
Americanoes, with whom the most respectable senoritas seemed highly
delighted.
The next port we reached and stopped at to change the mail was San Blas.
We ran from San Francisco to San Blas in sight of the coast all the time.
We saw whales of the largest size every day, all kinds of sea birds and
fish, and saw on the steamer an elephant almost as large as that I saw in
California. I perceived all the way down a cask of brandy on the wheel
house marked "Captain Baily." It had no hoops, but a coat and pantaloons,
and wore a Panama hat. Strange to say, I saw that cask of brandy walk from
the wheel house to the cabin and back again. Its proper name should have
been a tyrant. I hate all tyrants, but drunken tyrants the most. It was
the opinion of all the passengers that this walking cask of brandy kept a
prostitute on board.
I will now describe how the steerage passengers live or almost die on
those Pacific steamers. They are fed as hogs are fed at a distillery, only
they are fed in pans instead of troughs. They are divided into messes of
twelve persons each, a pan full of food to a mess. One day, backed by 100
steerage passengers, I took one of those swine pans, filled with the
disgusting food, into the cabin, and holding it before the eyes and nose
of this tyrannical and malicious cask of brandy, asked him whether it was
worth the $150 each of us paid for passage. He replied, that it was good
enough for steerage passengers. I then threw the pan and food overboard,
telling him that we would go to the cook house and take and eat what had
been prepared for the cabin passengers. He threatened to put the patriotic
shoemaker--myself I modestly mean--in irons, if I offered him any more
impudence. We immediately went to the cook house. The cook raised a
hatchet to slay me. One of my comrades, a man named Smith, from Alabama,
immediately knocked the understrapping villain down. We then took
chickens, bread, puddings, roast beef and eggs, but wasted nothing. After
that we fared sublimely well, as a reward for our benevolent heroism, and
for the advantage of all steerage passengers who may travel that route
after us. Afterwards this cask of brandy regarded Smith and myself as
fiends fresh from hell. We often called him the "Jack of Clubs," for he
looked more like that than he did like a man. The cabin passengers
honorably sided with us. I never heard one of the passengers call him a
gentleman; and in my opinion, he is a scoundrel. Travellers can never
travel comfortably on this route until there is an opposition line of
steamers.
Page 37
We arrived at Panama on the 22d of September. It is a very ancient city,
and the number of inhabitants about ten thousand. It is built much like
the old Spanish style, each house constituting a fort in time of war. The
streets are very narrow. It is under the government of New Granada. The
natives are principally colored like negroes, sprinkled with a few
Spaniards. No religion is allowed there except the Roman Catholic. It was
on Sunday morning I arrived. I saw in a house a big buck negro on his
knees, confessing his sins to a priest. The sabbath, being their day of
amusement as well as worship, I saw, in the afternoon, both the buck negro
and the priest at the cockpit. I meddle with no denomination--I belong to
none--I think it right for every man to worship according to the dictates
of his own conscience. Let the priest act as mediator between God and man
to all who choose to believe that way. I will acknowledge none but Christ
for my mediator. I will confess my sins to God, in Christ the Lord, and to
no other. I will risk my salvation on that basis.
Here I found an American who had hired all the mules in the country, and
others wishing them were obliged to hire from him. He asked $16 for a mule
to ride twenty-one miles to Cruces, a town at the head of canoe navigation
on the Chagres river. It contains about 1000 inhabitants. The most of us,
about 100, walked to Cruces instead of patronizing this wicked monopolist.
We met the U.S. Mail, brought by the Empire City, going from Chagres to
Panama. It was on twenty-four mules, each mule having three hundred
pounds. We also met fifty of the natives carrying baggage in the same
direction, each bearing from one to three hundred weight.
I had heard a great deal of this road, but never saw it before, always
hearing that it was the worst in the world. It is a narrow mule path,
mostly paved, on rolling ground, but not mountainous, with very excellent
water about every twenty rods. Those who think this a bad road have never
passed from Durango to Mazatlan. I can point to worse roads in Ohio. I had
frequently heard that the weather is very warm at the Isthmus, but I did
not find it warmer than at the gold mines. But it rains here every few
hours. I experienced here the first rain since that I mentioned which
occurred the first night after my arrival in San Francisco. The next
morning after arriving at Cruces, twelve of us started in a canoe on the
Chagres river for the town of Chagres, which is sixty miles from Cruces.
We stopped and breakfasted at Gorgona, eight miles below Cruces. In this
distance we passed through a perfect paradise. I had heard of Italian
scenery, but this far surpassed it. All who pass through having any taste
for the romantic, will agree with my opinion. Gorgona contains about 1000
inhabitants, who look like, if they are not negroes. Sugar cane grows in
that country better without cultivation than it does around New Orleans
with cultivation. Also, pine apples, cocoa nuts, oranges, lemons, and many
others of which I do not know the Spanish names, growing spontaneously
throughout the year. I believe it would beat the world for corn, if there
were yankees there to cultivate it. Each of us paid $1 for breakfast at
Gorgona. For passage from Cruces to Chagres each paid $16. We
Page 38
bade that glorious scenery farewell, and proceeded towards Chagres,
passing palm and palmetto trees, and the most beautiful timber on the
globe, every few rods seeing monkeys, parrots, in innumerable multitudes,
and the largest alligators I ever saw. We shot an alligator ten feet long.
This trip, helped by the current as well as oars, we made in one day. At
Chagres we found the "Empire City," the "Falcon," and "Alabama," and an
English steamer. The "Empire City" was bound for New York, by way of
Havana. Some went on the "Empire City," some on the "Falcon," but I went
on the "Alabama," bound for New Orleans. The "Falcon" was bound for the
same place. Chagres has about one thousand inhabitants. A very large and
beautiful battery is situated on a mountain east of the city, to defend
the latter in time of war.
Sept. 24, we started from Chagres for New Orleans, the distance being 1700
miles. Walker and myself took berths in the cabin, each paying $85. I had
worn out my boots in walking across the Isthmus, and threw them away. Not
having had an opportunity to purchase a pair in Chagres, of course I was
barefooted. After being three days in the cabin, the captain noticed me
particularly, thinking it strange that a barefooted gentleman should be
found among the cabin passengers,--not only barefooted, but with a dirty
shirt, and an old coat not worth a single dime, and without a hat, having
lost it overboard. The captain stepped up to me observing, that steerage
passengers were not permitted to come into the cabin. I made no reply, but
walked into the steerage, thinking that as I had had three days of
splendid cabin living at steerage price I would afterwards remain in the
steerage. This made Walker very angry, who walked into the captain in the
following way.--He told him that I was worth $2000, and had it with me,
that I had been in the cabin three days as a cabin passenger, and that in
this case he must not judge a man by his looks--that I was as good as
himself or any cabin passenger he had. The captain then came into the
steerage, and apologized to me, saying that he would gladly welcome me
back into the cabin, but I refused to go. I then paid him $45, which was
the price of passage in the steerage. Afterwards the captain treated me
very gentlemanly, and I consider him much of a gentleman. The vessel is
cleaner and the accommodations better than those of any other vessels in
which I have traveled. I can safely recommend this vessel to those wishing
to voyage to Chagres. This trip we made in six days. We landed at New
Orleans on the 30th of September, after the custom house officers had
examined our baggage. We then got into a cab, and went to Hewlett's Hotel.
Of course, I was in the condition, as to clothing, I before mentioned.
After getting out at the Hotel I soon had a smart crowd around me, gazing
at the barefooted gold digger in his scanty wardrobe, with his head
exposed to every wind of heaven. I then rigged myself in a suit that cost
me $90. I must say that Hewlett treated me as well in my old clothes as in
my new ones. He keeps a splendid house and is a magnificent gentlemen. I
noticed the next day, in the "Picayune," that the editor had noticed a
barefooted man, without a hat, speaking very highly of me, only he was
mistaken in the amount of money said
Page 39
to be in my possession, as he stated $40,000, while I only had about
$2000. Here poor Walker got on a spree and I left him, lamenting the evil
consequences arising from drinking ardent spirits, and of French brandy in
particular. I took passage for Cincinnati in a steamer singularly named
"No better beyond." I commenced and continued traveling to see
curiosities, and here was a great one. The water was low, and she could go
no farther than Cairo, at the mouth of the Ohio river, eight hundred miles
from New Orleans. But I got in a steamer better beyond--a great deal
better than the "No better beyond,"--at Louisville, Kentucky. It was the
"Pike," and it was a real pike in running swiftly. On the 12th of October
I landed in Cincinnati. There I took the cars for Xenia, and from that
place the coach to Columbus--and the coach like wise from Columbus to
Lancaster. Here I met my Ellen at the gate, the happiest hour I ever
experienced, reminding me of the fact that it was my most sorrowful hour
when I went out of that gate to start for California. I acquired gold in
California, and more than gold was acquired at home in my absence. I
presented her plenty of the gold, and in return she presented to me a
lovely son.
Robinson Peters, John D. Martin, and James Pratt, furnished me with $400
to go to California on the halves. I went, acted honorably, gave them the
half, and, impelled by gratitude, I honor them, and hope and pray that
they, their children, and their children's children, may enjoy every
necessary earthly blessing, and die happily, feeling convinced that they
had performed their duty towards God and man as their predecessors had
done.
The shoemaker is convinced that California in time will become a glorious
State, or States, of this glorious Union, and that thousands, in future
years, will be emigrating from the States to it. Wishing it and them the
greatest prosperity and highest happiness, to present to them the
following song, hoping that they will sing it as they are journeying to
that land which gives as well as promises, wealth and happiness to the
honorable and industrious:
THE CALIFORNIA EMIGRANT'S SONG.
Far onward towards the setting sun,
We are bound upon our way,
Nor till each ling'ring day is done
Our toilsome march we stay:
We're trav'ling on, a pilgrim band,
Another home to find,
Remote from that dear native land
We now have left behind!
The clime we seek is rich and fair,
As blessed isles of yore,
And lovelier prospects open there
Than e'er was seen before!
Vast plains spread out on ev'ry side,
Stretch to the sloping skies:
Broad rivers roll in tranquil pride,
And tow'ring forests rise!
Page 40
There mines of California gold
Their shining treasures show,
Which coming years shall yet unfold
To glad the bold and true!
That treasure we shall joyful find
With labor's sweetest smile,
To help the State, in purse and mind,
And bless ourselves the while!
There smiling uplands catch the beams
Of pearly morn serene,
Gay verdant meadows fringe the streams
That silvery wind between!
Of ev'ry hue and sweet perfume,
Wild flowers luxuriant spring,
While birds, with varied note and plume,
'Mid bowers of Nature sing!
But cherish'd home! 'tis painful still
To quit thy much loved shore,
For fears our sorrowing bosoms fill,
We ne'er may see thee more!
Yet thy green hills and sunny vales,
Those scenes of childhood all,
How oft 'till recollection fails,
Fond memory shall recall!
For there are faithful ones endear'd
By Nature's tend'rest ties,
Whose cordial smiles so oft have cheer'd
Life's burdening miseries!
Comrades, whom first in youth we knew,
In that bright region dwell:
Friends, whom we prov'd in perils true,
We bid them all farewell!
The joy must fade which most delights
The fond enraptur'd heart,
And souls, that friendship's chain unites,
Must still be torn apart!
From home departing, doom'd by fate,
Like wand'rers o'er the main,
From dearest friends we separate,
Never to meet again!
Farewell! farewell! but not forever:
We yet shall meet again
Beyond the reach of absence here,
Beyond the reach of pain!
There is on high a brighter land
Than California's shore,
Where rich and poor, not one behind,
Shall meet forevermore!
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