USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > A history of California and an extended history of Los Angeles and environs : also containing biographies of well-known citizens of the past and present, Volume I > Part 25
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76
"And this is the gold fever, the only form of that popular southerner, yellow jack, with which we can be alarmingiy threatened. The insatiate maw of the monster, not appeased by the easy conquest of the rough-fisted yeomanry of the north, must needs ravage a healthy, prosperous place beyond his dominion and turn the town topsy-turvy in a twinkling.
"A fleet of launches left this place on Sunday and Monday last bound up the Sacramento river, close stowed with human beings, led by love of filthy lucre to the perennial yielding gold mines of the north. When any man can find two ounces a day and two thousand men can find their hands full, of work, was there ever anything so superlatively silly!
"Honestly, though, we are inclined to believe the reputed wealth of that section of country, thirty miles in extent, all sham, a superb take-in as was ever got up to guzzle the gullible. But it is not improbable that this mine, or, properly, placer of gold can be traced as far south as the city of Los Angeles, where the precious metal has been found for a number of years in the bed of a stream issuing from its mountains, said
to be a continuation of this gold chain which courses southward from the base of the snowy mountains. But our best information respecting the metal and the quantity in which it is gath- ered varies much from many reports current, yet it is beyond a question that no richer mines of gold have ever been discovered upon this con- tinent.
"Should there be no paper forthcoming on Saturday next, our readers may assure them- selves it will not be the fault of us individually. To make the matter public, already our devil has rebelled, our pressman (poor fellow) last seen was in search of a pickaxe, and we feel like Mr. Hamlet, we shall never again look upon the likes of him. Then, too, our compositors have, in defiance, sworn terrible oaths against type- sticking as vulgar and unfashionable. Hope has not yet fled us, but really, in the phraseology of the day, 'things is getting curious.'"
And things kept getting more and more curi- ous. The rush increased. The next issue of The Star (May 27) announces that the Sacra- mento, a first-class craft, left here Thursday last thronged with passengers for the gold mines, a motley assemblage, composed of lawyers, mer- chants, grocers, carpenters, cartmen and cooks, all possessed with the desire of becoming rich. The latest accounts from the gold country are highly flattering. Over three hundred men are engaged in washing gold, and numbers are con- tinually arriving from every part of the country. Then the editor closes with a wail: "Persons recently arrived from the country speak of ranches deserted and crops neglected and suf- fered to waste. The unhappy consequence of this state of affairs is easily foreseen. One more twinkle, and The Star disappeared in the gloom. On June 14 appeared a single sheet, the size of foolscap. The editor announced: "In fewer words than are usually employed in the an- nouncement of similar events, we appear before the remnant of a reading community on this occasion with the material or immaterial in- formation that we have stopped the paper, that its publication ceased with the last regular issue (June 7). On the approach of autumn, we shali again appear to announce The Star's redivus. We have done. Let our parting word be haste
160
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD,
luego." (Star and Californian reappeared No- vember 14, 1848. The Star had absorbed The Californian. E. C. Kemble was its editor and proprietor.)
Although there was no paper in existence on the coast to spread the news from the gold fields, it found its way out of California, and the rush from abroad began. It did not acquire great force in 1848, but in 1849 the immigration to California exceeded all previous migrations in the history of the race.
Among the first foreigners to rush to the mines were the Mexicans of Sonora. Many of these had had some experience in placer mining in their native country, and the report of rich placers in California, where gold could be had for the picking up, aroused them from their lazy self-content and stimulated them to go in search of it. Traveling in squads of from fifty to one hundred, they came by the old Auza trail across the Colorado desert, through the San Gorgonio Pass, then up the coast and on to the mines. They were a job lot of immigrants, poor in purse and poor in brain. They were despised by the native Californians and maltreated by the Amer- icans. Their knowledge of mining came in play, and the more provident among them soon man- aged to pick up a few thousand dollars, and then returned to their homes, plutocrats. The im- provident gambled away their earnings and re- mained in the country to add to its criminal ele- ment. The Oregoniaus came in force, and all the towns in California were almost depopulated of their male population. By the close of 1848, there were ten thousand men at work in the mines.
The first official report of the discovery was sent to Washington by Thomas O. Larkin, June 1, and reached its destination about the middle of September. Lieutenant Beale, by way of Mexico, brought dispatches dated a month later, which arrived about the same time as Larkin's report. These accounts were published in the eastern papers, and the excitement began.
In the early part of December, Lieutenant Loeser arrived at Washington with Governor Mason's report of his observations in the mines made in August. But the most positive evidence was a tea caddy of gold dust containing about
two hundred and thirty ounces that Governor Mason had caused to be purchased in the mines with money from the civil service fund. This the lieutenant had brought with him. It was placed on exhibition at the war office. Here was tan- gible evidence of the existence of gold in Cali- fornia, the doubters were silenced and the ex- citement was on and the rush began.
By the Ist of January, 1849, vessels were fit- ting out in every seaport on the Atlantic coast : and the Gulf of Mexico. Sixty ships were an- nounced to sail from New York in February and seventy from Philadelphia and Boston. All kinds of crafts were pressed into the service, some to go by way of Cape Horn, others to land their passengers at Vera Cruz, Greytown and Chagres, the voyagers to take their chances on the Pa- cific side for a passage on some unknown ves- sel.
With opening of spring, the overland travel began. Forty thousand men gathered at differ- ent points on the Missouri river, but principally at St. Joseph and Independence. Horses, mules, oxen and cows were used for the propelling power of the various forms of vehicles that were to convey the provisions and other impedimenta of the army of gold seekers. By the Ist of May the grass was grown enough on the plains to furnish feed for the stock, and the vanguard of the grand army of gold hunters started. For two months, company after company left the rendezvous and joined the procession until for one thousand miles there was an almost un- broken line of wagons and pack trains. The first half of the journey was made with little . nconvenience, but on the last part there was great suffering and loss of life. The cholera broke out among them, and it is estimated that five thousand died on the plains. The alkali desert of the Humboldt was the place where the imn igrants suffered most. Exhausted by the long journey and weakenel by lack of food, many succumbed under the lardship of the des- ert journey and died. The crossing of the Sierras was attended with great har lships. From the loss of their horses and oxen, many were com- pelled to cross the mountains on foot. Their provisions exhausted, they would have perished but for relief sent out from California. The
161
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
greatest sufferers were the woman and children, who in considerable numbers made the perilous journey.
The overland immigration of 1850 exceeded that of 1849. According to record kept at Fort Laramie, there passed that station during the season thirty-nine thousand men, two thousand five hundred women and six hundred children, making a total of forty-two thousand one hun- dred persons. These immigrants had with them when passing Fort Laramie twenty-three thou- sand horses, eight thousand mules, three thou- sand six hundred oxen, seven thousand cows and nine thousand wagons.
Besides those coming by the northern route, that is by the South Pass and the Humboldt river, at least ten thousand found their way to the land of gold by the old Spanish trail, by the Gila route and by Texas, Coahuila and Chihua- hua into Arizona, and thence across the Colo- rado desert to Los Angeles, and from there by the coast route or the San Joaquin valley to the mines.
The Pacific Mail Steamship Company had been organized before the discovery of gold in California. March 3, 1847, an act of Congress was passed authorizing the secretary of the navy to advertise for bids to carry the United States mails by one line of steamers between New York and Chagres, and by another line between Panama and Astoria, Ore. On the Atlantic side the contract called for five ships of one thousand five hundred tons burden, on the Pacific side two of one thousand tons each, and one of six hun- dred tons. These were deemed sufficient for the trade and travel between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States. The Pacific Mail Steamship Company was incorporated April 12, 1848, with a capital stock of $500,000. October 6, 1848, the California, the first steamer for the Pacific, sailed from New York, and was followed in the two succeeding months by the Oregon and the Panama. The California sailed before the news of the gold discovery had reached New York, and she had taken no passengers. When she arrived at Panama, January 30, 1849, she encountered a rush of fifteen hundred gold hunt- ers, clamorous for a passage. These had reached Chagres on sailing vessels, and ascended the
Chagres river in bongos or dugouts to Gor- gona, and from thence by land to Panama. The California had accommodations for only one hundred, but four hundred managed to find some place to stow themselves away. The price of tickets rose to a fabulous sum, as high as $1,000 having been paid for a steerage passage. The California entered the bay of San Francisco February 28, 1849, and was greeted by the boon of cannon and the cheers of thousands of people lining the shores of the bay. The other two steamers arrived on time, and the Pacific Mail Steamship Company became the predominant factor in California travel for twenty years, or up to the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869. The charges for fare on these steamers in the early '50s were prohibitory to men of small means. From New York to Chagres in the saloon the fare was $150, in the cabin $120. From Panama to San Francisco in the saloon, $250; cabin, $200. Add to these the expense of crossing the isthmus, and the argo- naut was out a goodly sum when he reached the land of the golden fleece, indeed, he was often fleeced of his last dollar before he entered the Golden Gate.
The first effect of the gold discovery on San Francisco, as we have seen, was to depopulate it, and of necessity suspend all building opera- tions. In less than three months the reaction began, and the city experienced one of the most magical booms in history. Real estate doubled in some instances in twenty-four hours. The Californian of September 3, 1848, says: "The vacant lot on the corner of Montgomery and Washington streets was offered the day previous for $5,000 and next day sold readily for $10,000." Lumber went up in value until it was sold at a dollar per square foot. Wages kept pace with the general advance. Sixteen dollars a day was mechanic's wages, and the labor market was not overstocked even at these high rates. With the approach of winter, the gold seekers came flock- ing back to the city to find shelter and to spend their suddenly acquired wealth. The latter was easily accomplished, but the former was more difficult. Any kind of a shelter that would keep out the rain was utilized for a dwelling. Rows of tents that circled around the business por-
11
162
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
tion, shanties patched together from pieces of packing boxes and sheds thatched with brush from the chaparral-covered hills constituted the principal dwellings at that time of the future metropolis of California. The yield of the mines for 1848 has been estimated at ten million dollars. This was the result of only a few months' labor of not to exceed at any time ten thousand men. The rush of miners did not reach the mines until July, and mining opera- tions were mainly suspended by the middle of October.
New discoveries had followed in quick suc- cession Marshall's find at Coloma until by the close of 1848 gold placers had been located on all the principal tributaries of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. Some of the richest yields were obtained from what was known as "Dry Diggins." These were dry ravines from which pay dirt had to be packed to water for washing or the gold separated by dry washing, tossing the earth into the air until it was blown away by the wind, the gold, on account of its weight, remaining in the pan.
A correspondent of the Californian, writing August 15, 1848, from what he designates as "Dry Diggins," gives this account of the rich- ness of that gold field: "At the lower mines (Mormon Island) the miners count the success of the day in dollars; at the upper mines near the mill (Coloma), in ounces, and here in pounds. The only instrument used at first was a butcher knife, and the demand for that ar- ticle was so great that $40 has been refused for one.
"The earth is taken out of the ravines which make out of the mountains and is carried in wagons or packed on horses from one to three miles to water and washed. Four hundred dol- lars is the average to the cart load. In one in- stance five loads yielded $16,000. Instances are known here where men have carried the earth on their backs and collected from $800 to $1,500 a day."
The rapidity with which the country was ex- plored by prospectors was truly remarkable. The editor of the Californian, who had sus- pended the publication of his paper on May 29 to visit the mines, returned and resumed it on July 15 (1848). In an editorial in that issue he gives his observations: "The country from the Ajuba (Yuba) to the San Joaquin rivers, a dis- tance of one hundred and twenty miles, and from the base toward the summit of the moun- tains as far as Snow Hill, about seventy miles, has been explored, and gold found in every part. There are probably three thousand men, including Indians, engaged in collecting gold. The amount collected by each man who works ranges from $10 to $350 per day. The publisher of this paper, while on a tour alone to the min- ing district, collected, with the aid of a shovel, pick and pan, from $44 to $128 a day, averag- ing about $100. The largest piece of gold known to be found weighed four pounds." Among other remarkable yields the Californian reports these: "One man dug $12,000 in six days, and three others obtained thirty-six pounds of pure metal in one day."
CHAPTER XXIV. MAKING A STATE.
C OL. R. B. MASON, who had been the military governor of California since the departure of General Kearny in May, 1847, had grown weary of his task. He had been in the military service of his country thirty years and wished to be relieved. His request was granted, and on the 12th of April, 1849, Brevet Brigadier General Bennett Riley,
his successor, arrived at Monterey and the next day entered upon his duties as civil governor. Gen. Persifer F. Smith, who had been appointed commander of the Pacific division of the United States army, arrived at San Francisco Febru- ary 26, 1849, and relieved Colonel Mason of his military command. A brigade of troops six hundred and fifty strong had been sent to
163
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
California for military service on the border and to maintain order. Most of these promptly deserted as soon as an opportunity offered and found their way to the mines.
Colonel Mason, who under the most trying circumstances had faithfully served his govern- ment and administered justice to the people of California, took his departure May I, 1849. The same year he died at St. Louis of cholera.
A year had passed since the treaty of peace with Mexico had been signed, which made Cali- fornia United States territory, but Congress had done nothing toward giving it a govern- ment. The anomalous condition existed of citi- zens of the United States, living in the United States, being governed by Mexican laws admin- istered by a mixed constituency of Mexican- born and American-born officials. The pro- slavery element in Congress was determined to foist the curse of human slavery on a portion of the territory acquired from Mexico, but the discovery of gold and the consequent rush of freemen to the territory had disarranged the plans of the slave-holding faction in Congress, and as a consequence all legislation was at a standstill.
The people were becoming restive at the long delay. The Americanized Mexican laws and forms of government were unpopular and it was humiliating to the conqueror to be gov- erned by the laws of the people conquered. The question of calling a convention to form a provisional government was agitated by the newspapers and met a hearty response from the people. Meetings were held at San José, De- cember II, 1848; at San Francisco, December 21, and at Sacramento, January 6, 1849, to consider the question of establishing a pro- visional government. It was recommended by the San José meeting that a convention be held at that place on the second Monday of January. The San Francisco convention recommended the 5th of March; this the Monterey committee considered too early as it would take the dele- gates from below fifteen days to reach the pu- eblo of San José. There was no regular mail and the roads in February (when the delegates would have to start) were impassable. The committee recommended May I as the earliest
date for the meeting to consider the question of calling of a convention. Sonoma, without wait- ing, took the initiative and elected ten delegates to a provisional government convention. There was no unanimity in regard to the time of meet- ting or as to what could be done if the conven- tion met. It was finally agreed to postpone the time of meeting to the first Monday of August, when, if Congress had done nothing towards giving California some form of government bet- ter than that existing, the convention should meet and organize a provisional government.
The local government of San Francisco had become so entangled and mixed up by various councils that it was doubtful whether it had any legal legislative body. When the term of the first council, which had been authorized by Colonel Mason in 1848, was about to ex- pire an election was held December 27, to choose their successors. Seven new council- men were chosen. The old council declared the election fraudulent and ordered a new one. An election was held, notwithstanding the pro- test of a number of the best citizens, and an- other council chosen. So the city was blessed or cursed with three separate and distinct coun- cils. The old council voted itself out of ex- istence and then there were but two, but that was one too many. Then the people, disgusted with the condition of affairs, called a public meeting, at which it was decided to elect a legislative assembly of fifteen members, who should be empowered to make the necessary laws for the government of the city. An election was held on the 21st of February, 1849, and a legislative assembly and justices elected. Then Alcalde Levenworth refused to turn over the city records to the Chief Magistrate-elect Nor- ton. On the 22d of March the legislative as- sembly abolished the office of alcalde, but Levenworth still held on to the records. He was finally compelled by public opinion and a writ of replevin to surrender the official records to Judge Norton. The confusion constantly arising from the attempt to carry on a govern- ment that was semi-military and semi-Mexican induced Governor Riley to order an election to be held August Ist, to elect delegates to a convention to meet in Monterey September Ist,
164
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
1849, to form a state constitution or territorial organization to be ratified by the people and submitted to Congress for its approval. Judges, prefects and alcaldes were to be elected at the same time in the principal municipal districts. The constitutional convention was to consist of thirty-seven delegates, apportioned as follows: San Diego two, Los Angeles four, Santa Bar- bara two, San Luis Obispo two, Monterey five, San José five, San Francisco five, Sonoma four, Sacramento four, and San Joaquin four. In- stead of thirty-seven delegates as provided for in the call, forty-eight were elected and seated.
The convention met September 1, 1849, at Monterey in Colton Hall. This was a stone building erected by Alcalde Walter Colton for a town hall and school house. The money to build it was derived partly from fines and partly from subscriptions, the prisoners doing the greater part of the work. It was the most commodious public building at that time in the territory.
Of the forty-eight delegates elected twenty- two were natives of the northern states; fifteen of the slave states; four were of foreign birth, and seven were native Californians. Several of the latter neither spoke nor understood the English language and William E. P. Hartnell was appointed interpreter. Dr. Robert Semple of Bear Flag fame was elected president, Will- iam G. Marcy and J. Ross Browne reporters.
1 1
Early in the session the slavery question was disposed of by the adoption of a section declar- ing that neither slavery or involuntary servitude, unless for the punishment of crimes, shall ever be tolerated in this state. The question of fix- ing the boundaries of the future state excited the most discussion. The pro-slavery faction was led by William M. Gwin, who had a few months before migrated from Mississippi to California with the avowed purpose of repre- senting the new state in the United States sen- ate. The scheme of Gwin and his southern as- sociates was to make the Rocky mountains the eastern boundary. This would create a state with an era of about four hundred thousand square miles. They reasoned that when the admission of the state came before congress the southern members would oppose the admission
of so large an area under a free state constitu- tion and that ultimately a compromise might be effected. California would be split in two from east to west, the old dividing line, the parallel of 36° 30', would be established and Southern California come into the Union as a slave state. There were at that time fifteen free and fifteen slave states. If two states, one free and one slave, could be made out of Califor- nia, the equilibrium between the opposing fac- tions would be maintained. The Rocky moun- tain boundary was at one time during the ses- sion adopted, but in the closing days of the session the free state men discovered Gwin's scheme and it was defeated. The present boun- daries were established by a majority of two.
A committee had been appointed to receive propositions and designs for a state seal. Only one design was offered. It was presented by Caleb Lyon of Lyondale, as he usually signed his name, but was drawn by Major Robert S. Garnett, an army officer. It contained a figure of Minerva in the foreground, a grizzly bear feeding on a bunch of grapes; a miner with an uplifted pick; a gold rocker and pan; a view of the Golden Gate with ships riding at anchor in the Bay of San Francisco; the peaks of the Sierra Nevadas in the distance; a sheaf of wheat ; thirty-one stars and above all the word "Eureka" (I have found it), which might apply either to the miner or the bear. The design seems to have been an attempt to advertise the resources of the state. General Vallejo wanted the bear taken out of the design, or if allowed to remain, that he be made fast by a lasso in the hands of a vaquero. This amendment was re- jected, as was also one submitted by O. M. Wozencraft to strike out the figures of the gold digger and the bear and introduce instead bales of merchandise and bags of gold. The original design was adopted with the addition of the words, "The Great Seal of the State of Califor- nia." The convention voted to give Lyon $1,000 as full compensation for engraving the seal and furnishing the press and all appendages.
Garnett, the designer of the seal, was a Vir- ginian by birth. He graduated from West Point in 1841, served through the Mexican war and through several of the Indian wars on the
165
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.