USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > A history of the city of San Francisco; and incidentally of the state of California > Part 8
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
SEC. 54. Peace. The war had ended practically on the fourteenth September, 1847, when the Amer- ican army under General Scott occupied the Mexican capital. From that time both parties were anxious to make peace; but the Mexican chieftains for a long time could not come to an agreement among them- selves. At last, on the second of February, 1848, a treaty was made, and though there were some defects in the authority of the negotiations on each side, yet the terms agreed upon were considered satisfactory, and both nations ratified them rather than expose them- selves to the danger of delay. The ratifications were exchanged on the thirtieth of May at Queretaro, where
122
HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO.
the document had been signed. The news of the treaty reached San Francisco on the eighth of Au- gust, and on the eleventh the people celebrated the establishment of peace and the recognition of the American title to California. This recognition was of much influence in pacifying the native Californians. There was no fear that Mexico could in any event retake the country about San Francisco bay, but there might have been serious trouble on the southern coast, where murders, on account of antipathies of race were not rare as late as 1858. Besides the other reasons for rejoicing, there was the fulfillment of the promise, made by Commodore Sloat in his proclamation issued when he hoisted the American flag, that it would bring prosperity to the country. Only twenty-five months had elapsed, and already wonders had been accomplished.
In the eleven years following secularization, the white population had increased from five thousand to thir- teen thousand, according to estimates, for no general census had been taken in the meantime, but the Indi- ans had decreased or disappeared rapidly. The towns of San Diego, Santa Barbara, Monterey, San Fran- cisco and Sonoma had risen on the sites of the old Missions. A wagon road had been opened from Mis- souri, and rude trails from New Mexico and Oregon, and settlers had come in by sea as well as land. Americans, looking upon California as theirs by man- ifest destiny, were the most numerous and influential. They married into leading families of Los Angeles,
123
THE VILLAGE ERA.
Santa Barbara, Monterey and Sonoma, obtained con- trol of the valleys north of Carquinez strait, intro- duced saw-mills, grist-mills, light wagons, improved agricultural and mechanical tools, habits of reading and industry, an appreciation of the value of the country and a confidence that it would not be neg- lected much longer. The American authority had been established two years before the gold excitement attracted general attention, and in that brief period, though it was a time of hostility and confusion, Cali- fornia had made considerable progress, indicating that she would have prospered, even without the help of any mines.
124
HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO.
CHAPTER IV.
THE GOLDEN ERA.
SECTION 55. Gold. James W. Marshal, an Amer- ican employed by Sutter in building a saw-mill to be driven by water, at Coloma, forty-five miles north- eastward from Sacramento, on the nineteenth of Jan- uary, 1848, found gold in the race or ditch, and hav- ing heard of the gold mines in the Los Angeles region, and being a man of excitable character and active imagination, supposed he had made a great dis- covery. He immediately began to talk of it to the people round him, but they, like. himself, did not know how to test gold or to separate it from clay and gravel, and they ridiculed him for attaching so much importance to his brass, as they called it. Neverthe- less, whenever the water was stopped so that the ditch was empty, they looked for pieces of metal which had been exposed by the current, so that in a month, with- out neglecting their work at the mill, they had got several ounces together, most of it in very small pieces, the largest as heavy as a ten-dollar coin. As boiling in lye and touching with vinegar did not make the stuff turn green, the workmen began to think Marshal might be right; and in the latter part of Feb- ruary one of their number, a Mr. Bennett, partly for the purpose of ascertaining the value of Marshal's gold, went to San Francisco. Soon after landing he was introduced to Isaac Humphrey, who had been a
125
THE GOLDEN ERA.
gold miner in Georgia. On examining the specimens, of which Bennett had half an ounce, he immediately declared that it was gold, that the pieces were larger than those found in Georgia, and that the mines must be rich.
He tried to induce some of his friends to go with him, but they had no money to spend in such " foolish- ness," as they called it, and he and Bennett had to go alone. On the seventh of March he arrived at the mill; and the next day, with a pan, prospected enough to satisfy himself that the diggings would pay well. He then made a rocker, went into the business of washing gold, and was successful from the first. The other men observed how he worked and imitated his example. On the twenty-fifth of March the " Star" stated that gold dust had become an article of traffic at New Helvetia, and a few days later a party includ- ing E. C. Kemble, editor of that journal, left San Francisco to visit the diggings. At New Helvetia they were joined by Captain Sutter, who was vexed because his men, hired to run his mill, were neglect- ing their work of getting out lumber; the mill labor- ers, perhaps ashamed of the violation of their contract, pretended while the visitors were there to be engaged in lumbering, and Humphrey was probably away in some distant ravine. Whatever was the cause, Kem- ble could find neither gold nor mines, and immediately after his return he declared the mines " a sham." He had scarcely printed his opinion before half a pound of the dust was offered to the merchants in town, and
126
HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO.
after inquiring of a jeweler and a man who had seen gold dust at Los Angeles, they took it at eight dollars an ounce, charging a high price for their provisions. Everybody went to look at the stuff in the store, and before the end of April, so many had gone to Coloma, that the population was perceptibly reduced. Every schooner from New Helvetia brought more dust, some of which sold for four dollars per ounce in coin. More orders for provisions, and more favorable news caused more people to go to the mines. On the twenty-ninth of May, the " Californian " announced its own suspen- sion, because of the general abandonment of the town, and added that the whole country was resounding with " the sordid cry of gold, gold, GOLD!" Two weeks later the "Star" also suspended, compositors, editors and devils, all going to the diggings. The San Francis- cans were already greedy for news; and if there had not been a complete stoppage of ordinary business, the newspapers would have continued to appear. Three fourths of the men had left, and town lots were offered at one half, or one third of the price at which they had been held a month before, the owners being willing to sacrifice all their property to reach the mines with a good supply of tools and provisions.
SEC. 56. Trade Stimulated. But this condition of affairs did not last long; many of those who went to the placers saw that there was gold enough to attract a large migration, which must pay a great tribute to San Francisco. Those miners at the diggings, though comparatively few, already demanded many articles
127
THE GOLDEN ERA.
which must be obtained from Oregon, the Atlantic states and Hawaiian Islands. Gold was abundant, and there was no disposition to spare it. If certain com- forts and luxuries of life could not be bought for the ordinary price, they must still be procured, for the miners would pay ten prices rather than do without them. It was under considerations of this kind that some of those who had left the little town at the bay, soon returned and prepared themselves to profit by its business and growth.
In June and July about two hundred and fifty thou- sand dollars of gold dust were received at San Francisco; in the next two months, six hundred thousand dollars; and the sums continued to increase. The exports of 1847 had been worth one hundred and sixty thousand dollars; and after September, 1848, the monthly re- ceipts from the mines were at least twice as much. It was estimated that six thousand persons, includ- ing tame Indians in the service of white masters, were at work in the mines before the close of the year. In September, a Honolulu paper announced the arrival of a vessel there from San Francisco, with " a cargo of gold dust and lumber." The gold export of 1848, as shown by the custom-house statistics, amounted to two million dollars, and the duties on imports to one hundred and ninety-five thousand dol- lars.
In May, the people in the mines were nearly all from the valleys that send their waters to the ocean through the Golden Gate; in June, many adventurers
128
HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO.
from Monterey and Santa Cruz had arrived; in July, from Los Angeles; and in September and October, from the Hawaiian Islands and Oregon. The farms and gardens having been neglected, California could not supply the demand of the miners for provisions; and vessels, mostly schooners, were sent off to buy flour, salted meat, dried fruit, sugar, coffee, rice, fresh vegetables, distilled liquors, bedding, tent cloth and ready-made clothes, at any price. The miners had not only ceased to produce anything save gold, but their capacity for consumption had suddenly trebled. Men who had before lived upon five dollars a month now spent three hundred. Many who had been idlers, when they could make little by labor, were now among the most industrious; others, who had be- fore never wasted a day, became loungers, because they could live with comparative comfort by gam- bling, or with an occasional day of work. The gen- eral results were a vast increase of wealth, an unex- ampled industrial production, a constant excitement that has contributed to form the intellectual character of the Californians, and a vast commercial activity which enriched San Francisco, the port through which most of the supplies for the mines came, and through which nearly all the immigrants by sea arrived. Much of the coin at San Francisco had been carried off to the mines, and gold dust had become current in its place at twelve dollars an ounce, though in New York it was worth about eighteen dollars. On the thirty- first of July Governor Mason issued an order that the
129
THE GOLDEN ERA.
duties at the custom-house might be paid in dust, and on the ninth of September a public meeting of busi- ness men agreed that gold dust should be accepted at sixteen dollars per ounce.
SEC. 57. The Excitement in the East. From the Hawaiian Islands the news of the gold discovery was carried to all the ports of the Pacific; and in October the adventurers from Oregon, Mexico, Chile, Peru, and the various Pacific islands began to come in throngs. Lieutenant E. F. Beale, of the navy, who left Monterey on the first of July with official despatches, crossed Mexico, and must have reached Washington in August; but the earliest serious mention of the gold discovery in the press of the Atlantic slope seems to have been that made in the Baltimore "Sun" of September 20. From that time forward nearly every week brought its additions to the reports from the diggings, though for months they were regarded with general incredulity and ridicule. They came through many different channels, all agreeing in the main fact that there was an immense demand for provisions, tools, and various other articles of merchandise, as well as for labor. Letters were received in every State from men in the mines advising their relatives and friends to sell out at much sacrifice and start without delay. At Portland, Mazatlan, San Blas, Guaymas, Panama, Callao, Valparaiso, and Honolulu, there was an ex- citement the like of which had never been seen, and soon there was a similar excitement throughout the United States. The main topic of conversation was
9
130
HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO.
California. It filled the papers; it was the subject of the most popular songs; it suggested the plot and dialogue of some of the most successful theatrical pieces; it destroyed the popular interest in the re- ligious revivals which were then worked up every winter in several Atlantic cities; it added immensely to the business and profits of fortune-tellers; it was a common text for sermons deprecating the evil influ- ence of a thirst for gold by clergymen who saw many of their congregation preparing to depart; it was the absorbing topic of conversation in every family; and it was a remarkable experience for those who stayed as home as well for those who went. The country was in a condition of high prosperity, that prepared a considerable proportion of the people to take a part in the excitement. Money was abundant; the Mex- ican war, besides being a grand military success, had attracted a large number of immigrants; and had stimulated business and enterprise. Thousands of young men, after sharing the triumphant campaigns of Scott and Taylor, had not settled down yet to dull labor, and were looking round for some new field of inspiriting activity. To them the news from Cali- fornia was a special delight; and as every week brought additional confirmation of the wonderful reports, their enthusiasm rose and extended to the whole popula- tion, so that from Maine to Texas there was one uni- versal frenzy. It occupied, the thoughts of all; it disturbed business; it prevented marriages; it broke up families; it was the hope of those who could go, and the despair of those who could not.
131
THE GOLDEN ERA.
The noise of preparation filled the country. Most of those taken with the gold fever in the Mississippi basin prepared to start on the journey by land so soon as the spring should open; those along the Atlantic coast went by Cape Horn. The most active and en- ergetic young men of every state were among the adventurers. The New York "Tribune," near the close of January, said :
A resident of New York, coming back after a three month's absence, would wonder at the word 'California,' seen every- where in glaring letters, and at the columns of vessels adver- tised in the papers about to sail for San Francisco. He would be puzzled at seeing a new class of men in the streets, in a pe- culiar costume-broad felt hats of a reddish brown hue, loose, rough coats reaching to the knee, and high boots. Californians throng the streets; several of the hotels are almost filled with them; and though large numbers leave every day, there is no apparent diminution of their numbers. Even those who have watched the gradual progress of the excitement are astonished at its extent and intensity. The ordinary course of business seems for the time to be changed; bakers keep their ovens hot day and night, turning out immense quantities of ship bread, without supplying the demand; the provision stores of all kinds are besieged by orders; manufacturers of rubber goods, rifles, pistols, bowie knives, etc., can scarcely supply the demand.
In his "Seeking the Golden Fleece," Dr. Stillman says:
At the close of the month of January, ninety vessels had sailed from the various ports, carrying nearly eight thousand men, and seventy more ships were up for passage. Never since the cru- sades was such a movement known; not a family but had one or more representatives gone or preparing to go. Every man was a walking arsenal, prepared for every emergency but that of not coming back loaded with gold. Companies for mining and trad-
132
HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO.
ing were formed in every considerable town, and those who could not go subscribed to the stock and sent a representative. Editors, who in the columns of their papers had discouraged the movement and exhorted the young men to be satisfied with the slow gains of home industry and stand by their households, sold out, and by virtue of their character as representatives of the press, obtained extraordinary facilities for transportation, and anticipated the quickest of us at the gold mines by at least a month. Ministers of the gospel raised their voices against the dangers of riches, and, like Cassandra, prophesied unutterable woes upon the country, and started in the first ship as mission- aries to San Francisco. Physicians, impatient at the slow ac- tion of alterants, sold their horses, and leaving their uncollected accounts with their families, procured a good supply of musket balls and Dupont's best rifle powder, and shoved off for the land of gold, to the tune of " Oh, Susanna."
The song here referred to "The California Emi- grant," gave the California fever to thousands, who without its stimulus would have remained in their native towns. Written by Jonathan Nichols, who left Salem, Massachusetts, in the ship " Eliza," on the twenty-first of December, 1848, for the land of gold, it was sung everywhere and by everybody, and at concerts, and in the theatres, even when poorly rendered, was received with more fervor by the multi- tude than was shown to the well executed airs from the most brilliant operas. This song bears to Cali- fornia a relation similar to that borne to the United States by the music of Yankee Doodle.
SEC. 58. 1849. The year of 1849 was marked by the arrival of, at least, three times as many immi- grants as the entire previous population of the terri- tory, and on account of the very large proportion of
133
THE GOLDEN ERA.
young, intelligent, active men, skilled in the industrial arts, the productive power was increased, at least, five fold; by the increase of San Francisco from a popula- tion of about two thousand to six or eight times as many; by the establishment of a line of mail steamers to New York, 'running each way every month, and by a line of river steamers between San Francisco and Sacramento, running each way every day; by the popular movement or mob to punish the ruffians known as " the hounds;" by the adoption of a state constitution; by the rapid spread of gold washing between Mariposa and Trinity river over extensive districts where no placers had been discovered or worked in the previous year; by the collection in San Francisco harbor of four hundred ships which had been deserted by their sailors; by the sale of a large num- ber of city lots; by the construction of a good wharf; and by a serious conflagration.
SEC. 59. First Great Fire. The first of the great fires of San Francisco came on the twenty-fourth of December, and burned down all of the buildings on Kearny street, between Washington and Clay, and at that time those were the most valuable in the city, including the Parker House, a two-story frame, which served as a hotel and gambling-house. The entire loss was one million dollars.
The high expense of landing merchandise in light- ers, when laborers charged from eight to sixteen dol- lars a day, at a place where the greater part of the water-front was a wide mud flat, except at high tide,
134
HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO.
and where the rocks of Clark's Point could not accom- modate one tenth of the business, induced Alcalde Leavenworth in May to give the block bounded by Clay, Sacramento, Battery and Front streets, to en- courage the building of a wharf projected on the line of Commercial street. Six months later the structure on the line of that street, known for years as Long Wharf, extended out eight hundred feet, reaching nearly to the line of Front street, and the water at its end was so deep that the largest ships could lie there at low tide. It became the landing-place for most of the steamers, and for much merchandise. Business houses crowded both sides of the street above the wharf, and for several years it was one of the chief centers of retail traffic.
SEC. 60. Telegraph Hill. The urgent demand for the earliest possible information about the entrance of vessels into the harbor, a result of the rapid increase of commerce, and the large profits of the merchants, led in September to the erection of a house on Tele- graph Hill, for the purpose of making signals visible throughout the city. A couple of arms, which could be raised or lowered at pleasure on a high pole, indi- cated by their position whether any water-craft was coming in at the Golden Gate, and, if so, what its character; if a steamer, whether a side-wheeler or screw steamer; if a sailing vessel, whether ship, brig or schooner. All the business men and many of the women and children were familiar with the signs, and those not in sight of the station made inquiries at
135
THE GOLDEN ERA.
brief intervals what vessels had arrived. When the telegraph signalled a side-wheeler about the time when the Panama steamer was due, the city fluttered with excitement, and thousands of men rushed to see friends, to hear the news, and to look after letters. The moment after the steamer reached the dock, the streets were full of boys crying the New York papers, the sale of which was a source of large revenue to the newsmen. At a theater one evening, a stupid actor rushed upon the stage with his arms stretched out awkwardly, asking, " What means this, my lord;" the actor who was to respond hesitated, in ignorance of his part, but a newsboy in the third tier shouted out: " Side-wheel steamer." The answer was so ap- propriate, that the house instantaneously recognized and applauded it loud and long.
SEC. 61. Edward Everett. Among the notable pioneer vessels for California was the " Edward Everett," which sailed from Boston on the thirteenth of January, 1849, and arrived at San Francisco on the seventh of July with one hundred and fifty-two pas- sengers, or rather owners, for they bought the ship, each paying for a share and contributing to the fund with which her supplies were furnished. The dis- tinguished gentleman, after whom she was named, was then president of Harvard college, and having heard that many of the company were young men of good education and character, he sent a box with three hundred volumes of standard books for their entertain- ment and instruction during the long voyage before
136
HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO.
them. The passengers made good use of his liberal gift, and many of them proved, by their subsequent lives, that they were worthy of his bounty. The plan of forming clubs to purchase ships to carry the mem- bers to California was adopted in numerous instances.
SEC. 62. First Steamer. In the forenoon of the twenty-eighth of February, 1849, the news ran through the town that a merchant steamer had entered the Golden Gate, and as the first boat of the Pacific Mail company, from which great benefits were expected, was overdue, the people ran out in joyful excitement, some going to the top of Telegraph Hill, and others to Clark's Point, the landing place. The sun was bright, the sky clear, the atmosphere quiet, the tem- perature warm, the bay still, and the hills green, the beauty of the day contributing to the general happi- ness. At last San Francisco was bound to the Atlan- tic coast by steam. As the vessel, black with its wondering passengers, came round Clark's Point, a couple of American war-ships at anchor in the cove welcomed the new-comers with a display of flags, the playing of national airs by the bands, salutes from the guns, the manning of the yards, and cheer after cheer from the crews-cheers that were repeated upon the shore and answered from the steamer until the echoes came back from the hills. The occasion was one never to be forgotten by those present.
So soon as the steamer could come to anchor, for she could not reach the wharf, the boats went off and there was an anxious interchange of inquiries. The
-
137
THE GOLDEN ERA.
passengers, greedy to know whether the stories of the gold discoveries were true, were told that the mines were rich beyond example, yielding several millions every month, a report that could well be believed; for instead of seeing, as they expected, a harbor nearly empty and a dull village, they saw a bay crowded with ships, and a town that looked like the camp of an army. In return for the news from the mines, the town people were told that two othe steamers belong- ing to the Pacific Mail company had started to come round Cape Horn, and that the monthly service with New York by way of Panama had now commenced regularly. This provided facilities for travel and the transmission of news, with the help of which the mines would soon fill up with people. The San Fran- ciscans feared nothing else so much as the difficulties of access to the Atlantic slope, and the lack of mail transportation. The arrival of this steamer was a great epoch in the early history of the city, and the general appreciation of its importance was shown by the gatherings of the people to congratulate one an- other and talk over the news, by the firing of pistols, and by an illumination in the evening.
Congress had passed an act on the third of March, 1847-before Mexico had ceded her claim to Califor- nia, and even before General Scott had taken Vera Cruz-providing that a semi-monthly mail should be carried from New York to Panama, and authorizing a contract for a monthly mail each way between Pan- ama and Oregon. It was not until after the war had
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.