USA > California > A picture of pioneer times in California, illustrated with anecdotes and stores taken from real life > Part 9
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Where now are all those young, energetic, bright fellows who were passengers on the ship South Carolina ? Her brave com- mander, and I think more than three-fourths of her passengers, are gone to their last rest. Her two first officers, Mr. Wilson and Mr. O'Neil, are, I believe, both well off and enjoying a pros- perous life. Messrs. Oliver, Shaw, Pearsy and Cunningham, of San Francisco; Reed, of San Jose, and White and his wife, of Santa Cruz, are all that I know of as living, though, of course, there are many others of whom I have lost track. To this list of the living must be added myself, now here in Southern Cali- fornia, seated in my rancho office writing out these pages for our young people's entertainment.
I had the pleasure lately of spending a few days with the Whites in Santa Cruz. Of course, we talked over old times, our voyage out from New York, of San Francisco and its '49-ers. My wife, who was with me, being a '49-er, we were all in sympa- thy when condemning the Society of California Pioneers for not repudiating the dedication to them of such a book as the " Annals." While in that locality I heard some anecdotes from the Whites and others so characteristic of the days of '49 that I will give some of them to you before closing this subject.
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CHAPTER VII.
ISLAND OF JUAN FERNANDEZ-ESCAPE OF THE CONVICTS-ENTERING THE GOLDEN GATE - UNWILLINGNESS OF CAPTAINS TO COMMAND CALIFOR- NIA BOUND SHIPS-PREPARATIONS TO CHECK MUTINY-MUTINIES ON TWO SHIPS, AND THEIR JUSTIFICATION.
The ship South Carolina made only one stop more after leav- ing Rio. We put in to the Island of Juan Fernandez for a sup- ply of fresh water. This visit interested us all very much, for the most fascinating story we ever read in childhood was the story of " Robinson Crusoe," the scene of which was this island. We found that it had been lately used by the Chilean govern- ment as a prison for convicts, but now there was only one family living on it, and an English runaway sailor. The convicts had seized an American ship that had put in there, as we had, for water, and compelled the captain to take them all on board and sail for a certain port they named, in South America. The captain feigned to accept their terms, but ran into a port in Chile not named by them; and, on some pretence, sent a boat ashore before landing any of the convicts. In this way he warned the inhabitants of the character of his passefigers, and as they landed most of them were taken prisoners, or shot in efforts to do so. The government of Chile never again attempted to use the island for that purpose. It appeared to us well stocked with wild goats, and we understood with hogs also. The garden and orchards cultivated by the convicts were yet there, which afforded us a feast of fresh fruit. The seasons being the re- verse of ours in the north, the fruits were all ripening just at that time.
On the last day of June, 1849, we entered the Golden Gate of San Francisco Bay without a pilot, with every rag of canvas spread, not one accident or death having happened to us on the voyage. Captain Hamilton was in wild, joyous spirits at this happy termination of a voyage he had begun with serious
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anxiety for the result. The Cape Horn immigration was looked on by the captains of the merchant vessels with a good deal of apprehension. They feared to go to sea with a crowd of Ameri- can passengers, as they thought it would be hard for them to brook the one-man power only known on board a ship at sea. They feared that the spirit of independence, which is so much a part of every American's composition, that is fostered by his education from childhood to manhood, would make it almost impossible for him to submit to a power entirely dictatorial in its character. On this account, many of the New York captains declined the command of ships intended for this new trade to California. They said: "I have often and often come from Europe without the least fear or thought of insubordination from the passengers, but they were Europeans and in the habit all their lives of being governed, this way or that, without daring to ask questions as to why their rulers did this or did that; but not so our countrymen. Their rulers are mere puppets in their hands, who have to dance to whatever tune their masters, the people, choose to play for them, without so much as daring to ask their masters why they play that tune. No, no; save me from a shipload of Yankee passengers. You will find that just as soon as they recover from their first seasickness they will hold a ' mass meeting' on the quarter-deck, without deigning to ask the captain's permission, and prescribe rules for the government of the ship; or perhaps they will depose the captain altogether, and put in his place a popular sailor taken from before the mast, as their idea will be to run the ship on democratic principles. So, excuse me from the command of a California passenger ship." This feeling was so universal among the American com- manders that none but men of nerve and courage accepted the position, and the greatest care was taken to get officers and a crew of first-class men. Every ship was well provided with small arms and handcuffs and shackles, to be used in any emer- gency, but never was a more unfounded fear entertained, as the result proved.
The same education that taught the American boy indepen- dence of thought, feeling and action, also taught him the abso- lute necessity of every American citizen, who claimed to have a particle of propriety or decency in his composition, standing by and upholding all laws made, either by his own State or by Congress. We are all naturally proud of our country; we be-
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lieve in its government and in its laws, without a dissenting voice; we know these laws are our own and that none but the worthless or wicked disregard them.
The immigration to California, particularly the sea-going part of it, was, as 1 have before stated, almost universally of reason- ably well educated people. Many of them never saw a ship or the ocean before they embarked for California; but, notwith- standing this, they perfectly understood that by the laws made by Congress the captain of every ship was a dictator in power the moment a ship was out of harbor, and each man perfectly comprehended that his own welfare, and in fact his life, de- pended on the captain's being defended and maintained in that power. They did not yield a blind obedience, it is true, as did the European immigrant passengers, but they did yield an intel- ligent obedience fully as complete, and of ten times the value, for it held out in times of peril and danger, when the slavish sort would be sure to fail. And so it is with the whole theory of our American institutions. They are founded on equality and jus- tice to all, and supported and guarded by the intelligence of the people, and will stand shocks that would throw other nations into chaos most deplorable. How clearly this is shown by the result of the war of the rebellion. Captain Hamilton, of the South Carolina, shared in these apprehensions of danger I have mentioned, and made every preparation possible to guard and protect himself in any emergency. In talking this matter over with Mr. White, my fellow passenger, last Summer, he alluded to a conversation between himself and Captain Hamilton, which he had once before repeated to me in San Francisco. It is worth giving, as it illustrates this point of our early California history. Captain Hamilton was a fine, intelligent looking man, large and well built. He was just the beau-ideal of an Ameri- can merchant ship commander. As he paced the quarter-deck, his dark grey eyes seemed to take in every spar, rope, sail and man on board that whole ship. As you looked at him, you felt he was a power, and a power in which you could implicitly trust. Mr. White said: "It was our third day out and the first fine day we had, comparatively speaking; for it was yet gloomy and rough. I was seated by my wife trying to assume a cheerful tone about things in general, so as to encourage her, when the captain suddenly turned round from his walk on the quarter- deck, came directly towards us and took a seat by us, saying: 6
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with a calm sort of smile: 'Good morning to you both; good morning, Mrs. White. How do you feel ? Three days off of one hundred and fifty. How do you think you will hold out ?' ' Oh, I will do first rate, captain; I made up my mind, you know, before we started, to stand it; and now there is nothing else for me to do, and I have no wish to do anything else and have no regrets whatever.' 'I am glad to hear you say so, Mrs. White, and glad you look forward so cheerfully to the privations of a long passage. The men I do not mind, but I cannot help thinking of you all the time.' We both expressed our sincere thanks. 'Yes,' he responded; ' I cannot help thinking of you both all the time, you are so peculiarly situated; and I made up my mind that I would talk to you plainly, for it is right to do so, to put you on your guard, and Mrs. White has shown such courage that she will not be frightened, I am sure.' As he now spoke his face assumed a set, determined expression, and his grey eyes looked fierce, but not cold. I felt the blood rush back on my heart, and I saw my wife grow pale, but neither of us uttered a word, and the captain continued: 'I have been at sea with more passengers than I have now, two to one, and never feared them any more than I would so many rats; but a ship full of my own countrymen is a different thing. Each one of these thinks he knows just as much as the captain, if not a great deal more, and, of course, they can overpower the captain of a merchant ship if they are so disposed, and take the ship out of his hands, and many think that will be the result with most of our California going ships at this time. Now, this concerns you both more than it does any one else on board, so I thought I would just tell you what I will do in case I find I cannot main- tain myself in command, and I want your full consent. My two first officers are with me, and I shall consult no one else. I have plenty of small arms and sixty pair of ' ruffles,' an article I never took to sea before, and if the passengers undertake to get the ship away from me they will find it no child's play; but if I see they are about to succeed, I will put her down. Yes; I will take this ship, and you in it, safe in my command to San Fran- cisco, if the Lord spares my life and allows her to float, or sink her with all on board! What do you say, both of you?' I felt a choking sensation, but, without saying a word, I turned to my wife. She was pale, but perfectly composed, and without the least hesitation said in a quick, decided voice: 'Yes, captain;
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if they dare take the ship from you, sink her! We are perfectly satisfied.' The captain instantly rose to his feet, and, extending his hand to my wife, said: ' All right, Mrs. White; just the an- swer I expected from you. We will do it, as sure as there is a God in Heaven.' Proud of the cool courage of my little wife, I then said: 'Now, captain, that is settled; but let me assure you that your fears are totally unfounded. I am perfectly satisfied there are 100 of the 150 passengers now on board that would die fighting by your side sooner than see the ship go out of your command.' 'I hope so; I hope you are right; we shall soon see.' In about ten days after this conversation, the captain again came to where my wife and I were seated on deck. He was all smiles, and looked most happy. After taking a seat he said: 'Since I last talked with you I have become acquainted with most of the passengers, and I find you are right in your estimate of their characters. There are at least 125 of them as true and good men as ever trod a deck, and will stand by me while there is a plank left under us.' Of all the ships that left Atlantic American ports in 1849, for California, two were taken by the passengers from the captains, but in both these instances the captains proved to be worthless drunkards, and the justifi- cation was so plain that no one was prosecuted."
CHAPTER VIII.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF SAN FRANCISCO-ITS HURRY OF BUSINESS-MEETING OLD FACES-$7,000 GAIN ON AN INVESTMENT OF NOTHING-A LESSON FROM "TONY" -- FIRST BRICK BUILDING-JOHN A. MCGLYNN AND ONE OF SAN FRANCISCO'S TWO WAGONS-THE MONTHLY MAIL-CURIOUS GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTS-MR. MCGLYNN AT THE GREAT FIRE.
Now we are all on shore in San Francisco, what do we find ? What do we see all around us ? According to the " Annals," we should find a crowd of men and lewd women, both lost to every thought of restraint and decency. Never was a falser represen- tation made. No; we found ourselves surrounded by a fast, rushing, surging people, where every hour of daylight appeared of immense value to them. No one had time to talk to you, ex- cept on business. You met men you had never seen before, whose names yon did not know, or care to know, and did busi- ness with them, often involving thousands, with perfect trust in their word, for it was worth no man's while to tell a lie, even if he had that mean propensity, in those days; and, if such a fellow there was, he was soon found out and elbowed out of the way, and that was the end of him. As I hurried along Mont- gomery street, on the second day of my arrival, I met a young man I had known in New York as a clerk in a hardware store. I only knew his first name, and that was " Tony." I did not know that he had left for California. "Hello, Tony, is that yourself ?" " Oh, yes; I came across Mexico with Frank Turk, who is here also. How long are you here, Gray ?" " Nearly two days." " What have you done since you came ? How much have you made ?" " Not a dollar, so far." "No? Why, I have made $7,000; but then I have been here ten days." "Tell a fellow how you made it." " Why, I went up here on this street they call Sacramento street, and I saw eight lots advertised for sale there. I went to the owners and bought them all, though I had not ten dollars to my name; but the holder of the lots
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gave me until four o'clock in the afternoon to get the money; so before that hour I had sold five of the lots for just the price of the eight, and this forenoon I sold the last of the other three, by which I netted in the transaction just $7,000." " But, Tony, suppose you had failed in selling, what would you have done ?" " Oh, what would I have done ? Oh, in that case, I would just explain that I failed in getting the money, and what could he do ?" " Well, but I have some goods, you know." "Well, sell the goods, Gray, as soon as you can. Get rid of them in some way, put the money in your pocket and dash in, just as I have. But where are you going now ?" " Well, I am going to see Frank Ward and C. L. Ross on some business." " Have you a letter of introduction to either of them? If you have, never present it; no one here has time to read such things. No one cares ever to know your name. If you are the right sort of a man everything goes smoothly here. So don't bother about letters of introduction. They are only laughed at and thrown unread into the waste basket. I just met a man," Tony con- tinued, "this morning, I had done some business with, and I asked him the name of his partner, and he answered, ' Oh, I have only been in with him two months, and I never thought of asking him his name.' That is our style in California; but in a few days you will understand it yourself. So, good morning." As Tony left, I could not help laughing at the lesson I had just received in " the ways of the place." Poor Tony, what has be- come of him I know not. I hope he may be rich and happy somewhere. His career in California was short and successful, with an end that might have been anticipated from such a reck- less beginning.
At this time, July, 1849, there was just one brick building on Montgomery street. It stood on the west side, some 200 feet north of Sacramento street. It was a two-story, large house, having a frontage of, perhaps, 100 feet on Montgomery street, with a sort of a porch or piazza along the front. It was owned by Howard, Mellis & Co., old-time Californians. About the last of July I was surprised one day to see this building undergoing alterations and repairs of every sort. The result was that it was cut into offices and stores, with one large store on the ground floor, over the door of which now appeared a flaming, large sign, of "Bleaker, Van Dyke & Co.," auctioneers, with an additional notice in small letters that Mr. Bleaker, a relative of the famous
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auctioneer of that name in New York city, would devote his whole attention to the auction branch of the business. I had that day purchased an invoice of goods, and it occurred to me to try some of them at auction; so I went to the store, and the first person I saw was Tony, who, I soon found, was no other than Mr. Bleaker, and that was the first time I knew his name. He received me cordially, saying: " Well, Gray, what do you think of our doings here ? We rented this large lot and all this building from Howard, Mellis & Co. for two years at $3,000 a month. We have cut it up so that we get $8,000 a month rent and the use of this store." I, of course, congratulated him on such a good start, and put my business in his hands. He at- tended to it well, and we had many transactions afterward equally satisfactory. This firm made money very fast, and, I think, it was in the early part of '50 that Tony sold out to his partners for $200,000, $50,000 cash down and three notes of $50,000 each, at six, twelve and eighteen months. There was a clause in the notes providing that, in case the buildings were destroyed by fire before the notes became due, that fact should cancel the obliga- tion to pay them. Tony, of late, had begun to gamble, and was losing heavily, and this was, in fact, the reason he sold out, as his partner refused to continue any longer with him. When he sold out, his intention was to return to New York at once, where he had left a charming, young wife, but one more game must he have before leaving San Francisco forever, so that night he visited Jim Recket's handsomely furnished gambling rooms on Clay street. At the dawn of day the next morning he wished Jim and every dollar of his $50,000 a last good-by-the $50,000 forever, but not so Jim Recket, for Tony came back the next night and put up the six month note, and at daylight the next morning wished good-by to that also. The next night Tony again tried his luck, and lost the twelve month note. As he was leaving the saloon, Jim Recket, who was a sort of prince in his business, coolly said to him: "Now, you confounded fool, go to your old partners, tell them what an ass you have made of your- self, and ask them to let you have a few thousand on that last note, and leave in the steamer that goes to Panama to-day. If they won't do it, come to me, and I will get some one to do it. Do as I tell you, or to-morrow you will not have a dollar. I would not have cleaned you out, but I saw you were on it, and I might as well have it as any one else." Tony did as Recket
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told him, and his partners did advance $10,000 on the last note, and with that money, and the note indorsed with this payment, he left for New York that very day. My recollection is that Dr. Harris afterwards told me that Tony lost every dollar of the $10,000 playing poker on the steamer; so Tony met his poor young wife just as poor as when he left her, for a fire did come before any one of these notes became due, sweeping away Van Dyke & Co.'s building, so that these notes were never paid.
The same day I met Tony I met John A. McGlynn. He was leading two half-wild mules. " Why, John, what are you going to do with those rats? Did you buy them ?" "Yes; of course I did. We brought a wagon and harness with us from New York, and I am going to hitch up those mules and go to teaming. I can make more money that way than any other, for there is but cne wagon in San Francisco besides ours, and that is the one owned by Howard, Mellis & Co." " Where did you get the ยท mules ?" " My partner and myself walked out through the sand to the Mission Dolores, and we bought them of an American we found there, of the name of Parker. We did not meet a human being on the way to the Mission but two American Ore- gon boys, about twelve and sixteen years of age. They had no shoes on, nor much clothes either. They had axes on their shoulders, so we asked them how much they made a day cutting wood. They said an ounce each; so I said to my partner that if such looking boys could make $16 a day, it showed that we had not struck the wrong country after all."
John A. McGlynn was so well known in California that a few words in relation to him may not be uninteresting to you. He is the best representative of those times that I can draw to my mind. He was an out-and-out Californian in all his manners and ways. For the four years I resided in San Francisco McGlynn and myself were warm friends, and in after years, when I visited San Francisco, if I did not meet John and have a regular sit-down talk with him, I did not feel as if I had been in the city. As a man, he was as honest as the sun; as a friend, there were few like him, and none more unselfish or better. He had but few personal enemies and many friends. As I was saying, he commenced his career in San Francisco by hitching up his wild California mules to the wagon brought into the country by White, McGlynn & Co., and started as a regular teamster. He wore a red flannel shirt and an old white hat,
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which will be well remembered by San Francisco '49ers. This firm soon picked up a second wagon, for which they paid some enormous price, and the first driver they hired for the sec- ond team was a young lawyer who had studied law with New York's favorite Senator, Daniel S. Dickenson. This lawyer's. turning teamster amused John very much, so that, in writing home to his mother in New York, he said: " We have to-day hired a lawyer to drive a mule team. That is all the use lawyers are out here. We pay him $175 a month. Then, when you meet Judge White, my partner's brother, tell him this." Mrs. McGlynn, John's mother, wrote in reply: "I saw Judge White and told him what you said, and he told me to say to you that he, as a lawyer, must say you could not have done better in the selection of a driver, and that he had no doubt your mule team would be well and profitably handled, for that the whole busi- ness of a lawyer is to know how to manage mules and asses, so as to make them pay." In three or four months later there were all sorts of vehicles used for hauling goods and lumber in San Francisco. There was the Pennsylvania heavy wagon, the Boston unwieldy dray, the New York light dray, the New Or- leans outlandish dray, and many other sorts, suitable and unsuit- able. Fine American horses began also to show themselves in San Francisco. Every man in the draying business looked up to John as a leader. In case of a dispute, his decision was always taken as law. Howard, Mellis & Co.'s fine wagon and team, the only one in the city at that time equal to those John controlled, was driven by a Chileno, a powerfully built man. Goods were mostly, at that time, delivered from the ships in lighters at the foot of Sacramento street, at a little wharf about a hundred feet long, extending from where Sansome street now is to the water.
When a ship was discharging, so many drays of all sorts, mostly drawn by half-wild, unbroken horses, would crowd to this landing place, that great confusion would ensue. To remedy this, the draymen held a meeting, over which John presided, and adopted regulations to govern such cases.
The next day there was a jam at the little wharf as usual; all, however, governed themselves by the rules adopted, except the driver of Howard, Mellis & Co.'s team. He dashed in his heavy American mules, regardless of whom he discommoded. John ordered him to take his place according to the rule in such cases,
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but he paid no attention to the order. John gave the order again, and this time accompanied with a welt of his New Orleans driver's whip on the Chileno man's shoulders. In an instant more they had both leaped from their wagon seats to the *ground. The Chileno rushed toward Mack with bowie-knife in hand. John was unarmed. He was left-handed, for which the Chileno was not prepared, and John's blow dropped him to the ground, and in an instant he had him pinioned fast, and held him so until he promised good behavior. On regaining his feet, the Chileno invited all hands to drink, and John never had a warmer personal friend in after times than that driver. Through all the year of '49we had but one mail a month, via Panama. When the steamer arrived with the mail the town was in excite- ment, and a rush to the Postoffice for letters was in order, without any pretence of doing it in order, except in one respect, as follows: There was but one delivery window, and a line was formed from this window, always of immense length. The Postoffice was then in the old adobe at the upper side of the Plaza. At these times I have often seen the line extend from the Postoffice across the Plaza and down Clay street nearly to Montgomery. On one of these occasions I took my place in the line, about three o'clock in the afternoon. Some distance ahead of me in the line, I saw John McGlynn quietly reading a news- paper. I pulled a paper from my pocket and followed his ex- ample. So we progressed slowly and surely, but more slowly than surely.
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