USA > California > History of California, Volume VI > Part 52
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461
COMMERCE AND INDUSTRIES.
The old rowdy gambling spirit gave way before the growing influence of the home circle, and social reunions, with a preference for musical and athletic entertainments rather than dramatic, although Sacramento boasts of having in Oct. 1879 given the first regular theatrical performance in the state. The first theatre, the Eagle, was opened informally on Sept. 25, 1849, by the Stockton Minstrels, Placer Times, Sept. 29, 1849, and by a regular dramatic troupe on Oct. 18th, with the Bandit Chief. Id., Oct. 18. It did not pay. The Tehama was inaugurated in April 1850, and burned in Ang. 1851. The contemporary Pacific could seat 1,000 persons. Rowe's circus opened here in May. In Sept. 1850 rose the American, with Booth, sr, as manager. The fire of 1852 made a sweep which left room for the Sacramento theatre of March 1853, the Edwin Forrest of Oct. 1855, which in 1860 became a melodeon, the National, later Metropolitan, of Aug. 1856, which in later years was the only theatre of the city, the Academy of Music of 1868 failing. See the chapter on drama for references; also Massett's Drifting, 135-6, which claims his concert on Apr. 22, 1849, as the first public entertainment here. Placer Times, Apr. 22, 1850; Sac. Rec., Dec. 1, 1869; Sac. Bee, June 5, 1876; Sac. Direct., 1856, pp. 12-13; Taylor's Eldorado, ii. 29-31; Upham's Notes, 291 et seq. Of three musical soeieties the first was organized in 1855. A race-track was formed in 1850, and a Jockey Club, with daily races, says Sac. Transcript, Feb. 14, 1851. The city council of this year forbade bull-fights, Id., Oct. 14, 1850, which usually took place between bears and bulls. Yet a bear-fight is recorded in 1856. Hayes' Cal. Notes, i. 277. Rifle and athletic clubs won favor. Journals of July 1-5, 1850, indicate elaborate en- tertainments for the national birthday. The entries of sailing crafts numbered in 1856 nearly 700, with a gradual increase, only of small craft, however, for sea-going ships soon confined themselves to the bay. The chief distributing agents in early days were pack-trains and teams, which in 1855 numbered 700, and absorbed about $3,500,000 in freights. The trade of the city then amounted to $6,000,000 a month. Railroads now began to curtail this means of transportation, as well as the stages, which in 1856 covered 24 main routes with over 200 coaches and wagons. By 1853, however, the steamboats con- ducting the river traffic numbered 25, with a tonnage of 5,075 tons, valued at somewhat over $1,000,000. Most of them were absorbed by the Cal. S. Navig. Co., which added boats of from 1,000 to 1,600 tons. In 1867 there were 31 steamers. Their competition afforded comparatively little room for sailing vessels, and larger ones soon stopped within the bay, but sloops and schooners kept a large share of the traffic, their entries increasing from 246 in 1851 to 681 in 1856 and 953 in 1859. The greater part of the goods brought by them were transmitted to the interior by teams, which in 1855 numbered 700, receiving $3,500,000 in freight, assisted by several stage lines, for which Sacramento was the centre. In 1853 these lines consolidated with a capital of $700,000, embracing in 1856 over 200 coaches and wagons, with 1,100 horses, which covered 24 main routes, traversing daily nearly 1,500 miles. The telegraph opened here in 1853. In 1855 the monthly trade of the city was estimated at $6,000,000 upon a capital of $10,000,000, the monthly re- ceipt of gold-dust being $3,000,000, and the manufacturing outturn $300,000. The financial crisis this year at S. F. found here a serious reflection, although
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CITY BUILDING.
the traces were soon effaced. For further and more general account, see the chapters on commerce; also Merc. Gaz., yearly end review of Alta Cal., etc .; Id., March 31, 1853; Sac. Transcript, Feb. 14, 1851; Sac. Union, Nov. 24, 1855; Sac. Illust., 27, etc .; Wheaton's Stat., MS., 8-9. As the centre of distribution for the valley, the city became noted for its superior hotel accommodation.
The manufactaring resources of the city, which in 1855 were estimated to produce $300,000 a month, gained in proportion to the trade, with aid notably of lumber, flour, and woollen mills, foundries, breweries, and fish, pork, and fruit curing. Several industries were started by Sutter, as already related, including a pretentious flour-mill at Brighton, which was never completed. In 1850 two such mills were established at Sacramento. Several others fol- lowed after the fire of 1852. In 1855, there were six, with a capacity of 585 barrels a day. The spring of 1850 saw here the foundry known as the Cal. Steam Engine Works. The Eureka was established in Sept. 1851, which in time yielded to the Union of 1857. The Sacramento opened in Oct. 1852, Anderson's boiler-shop in 1853, and several more after 1857. P. Kadell be- gan brewing in 1850. Seven rival establishments appeared during the follow- ing 30 years, besides distilleries, producing in 1879 over half a million gallons. A soda factory started in 1849. A number of brick-yards succeeded Zins' pioneer kilns, and bricks were shipped in 1851-2. Wagon-shops, which rank among the earliest industries, numbered in 1858 fourscore. Fish-curing be- gan in 1851, and four years later three establishments employed therein from 100 to 200 persons. Pork-curing opened successfully in 1853, and of late years fruit-curing. Saw and planing mills and sash factories were established in and after 1852. A pickle factory started in 1852, and in 1856 soap was made on a large scale. A regular tannery early succeeded to Sutter's primi- tive vats, and potteries date since 1851. Among other later industries, the woollen mills of 1868 take prominence. For additional information on the early condition of the city, see notably Sac. Transcript, May 15-June 15, 1851; Placer Times, Sept. 15, 1851-2; Bauer's Stat., MS .; Garniss' Early Days, MS., 20-1; Wilson's Travels, MS., 29-31; Grimshaw's Nar., MS, 20-3; Player- Frowd's Col., 10-14; Hancock's Thirteen Years, MS , 126; Fay's Facts, MS , 7-8; Burnett's Rec., ii 29 et seq .; Robinson's Port., 108-42; Hayes' Cal Notes, v. 61, etc .; Sac. Co. Hist., passim, which contain much compiled material of value. I have also consulted the archives in the county clerk's office, the courts, and state library. In the Sac. directories there is much history. In Culver's Directory appears some important information. John F. Morse gives forty pages in the Sac. Directory of 1853-4, published by Samuel Colville, the only good early sketch of the city, and which has constituted the groundwork of all the directory histories succeeding it. To the sketch of Morse, Robert E. Draper made important additions, which appeared in the directory issues of succeeding years. In the Sac. Directory of 1871, Daniel J. Thomas throws together 100 pages of 'History of Sacramento.' To a certain extent, direc- tories, like newspapers, constitute first-class historical material. After 1852, a directory was issued annually. Sac. Illustrated is the title of a paper- bound 4to of 36 pages, published at Sac. in 1855, and which comprises an elaborate history of Sac., bringing it down from the conquest by Cortés ! Although depending mainly on Morse's account, it is, nevertheless, a valuable
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MARYSVILLE.
contribution. Barber and Baker are the authors as well as the engravers and publishers. Illustrations are given of Sutter's Fort in 1846; the embarcadero, summer of 1849; Sac. in 1855; Sac., winter of 1849; J street, Ist Jan., 1853; Sac., winter 1853; Sutterville, Washington, beside many views of buildings and localities. Further Sac. history may be found in Capron's Cal., 91-3, 102; Player-Frowd's Six Months, 10-14; Taylor's Ellorado, i. 219-20, 223-4; Lett's Cal. Ill., 131-3; Matthewson's Cal. Affairs, MS., 1-2; Currey's Incidents, MS., 7; Moore's Pion. Ex., MS., 3, 8; Barnes' Or. and Cal., MS., 14.
The most prominent town north of Sacramento, since 1849-50, was Marysville, founded by C. Covillaud, at the head of steamboat navigation on the river. This advantage, together with proximity to the rich mining dis- tricts along Feather and Yuba rivers, gave this place the lead over a host of rival aspirants, after the eclipse of Vernon, at the mouth of the Feather. By Feb. 1851 Marysville stood incorporated as a city, and faced unflinchingly the customary affliction of California river settlements in the charge of fires and floods. Progress continued throughout the fifties, after which the de- cline in mining had its effect, especially when the railroad began to abstract trade. Agricultural interests have, however, interposed a check, coupled with bright promises of a partial revival.
On the site of Marysville stood originally New Mecklenburg, a trading post of two adobe houses erected by Theodore Cordua, a native of Mecklen- burg, who had leased the tract from Sutter for 19 years for a stock rancho. A sloop maintained frequent communication with Sutter's Fort and Yerba Buena. In Oct. 1848 he sold half his interest in the rancho, and in his own grant stretching north of it, to Charles Covilland, a Frenchman, his overseer, for $12,500, and three months later the remainder, for $20,000, to M. C. Nye and W. Foster, his brothers-in-law. This new firm opened stores at different mining camps, Nye staying at New Mecklenburg, which now became known as Nye's rancho. In Sept. Covillaud bought the entire real estate, only to admit three other partners, J. M. Ramirez, J. Sampson, and T. Sicard, under the firm of Covilland & Co. In the spring of 1849 the town of Vernon had been founded at the mouth of Feather River, the supposed head of navigation, but with the rise of water toward the close of the year, experiments proved that the Yuba mouth could claim this advantage. Encouraged, moreover, by the congregation here of miners during the winter, Brannan, Reading, and Cheever had since July sought to plant an entrepôt opposite in Yuba City. With this double incentive Covillaud & Co. engaged A. Le Plongeon, later explorer of Yucatan, to lay out a rival town under the similar name of Yubaville. Both places were trumpeted abroad, and lots freely sold; but the latter site, being more accessible to the rich Yuba mines, soon took the lead, and by the begin- ning of 1850 boasted a population of 300. Advertisement in Placer Times, Jan. 19, 1850. On Jan. 18th, Stephen J. Field, who had just come up to act as agent for the firm, was elected first alcalde, assisted by J. B. Wadleigh, with T. M. Twitchell for sheriff, replaced by R. B. Buchanan, and with a council. All official duties were left to Field, however, who promoted local interests by obtaining a perfected title to the land from Sutter, by taking prompt steps to suppress cattle-stealing, as per notices in Id., Feb. 2, 1850, and by overcoming
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CITY BUILDING.
squatter intrusions. Cal. Courier, Aug. 26, 1850. Stimulant was given by the arrival at this time of the steamboat Lawrence with cargo and passengers, and the establishment of regular communication with Sac., with the help of the Phoenix, Linda, and other boats. Marysville Directory, 1855, p. iv .- v. Freight 8 cents a pound, fare $25. Hutchings' Mag., iii. 348. Thus assured, the name of Yubaville -- with the suggested Sicardova and Norwich-was exchanged for Marysville, in honor of Covillaud's wife, Mary Murphy of the Donner party. Burnett's Rec., MS., i. 381; Quigley's Irish Race, 211; Ballou's Adven., MS., 22. The best accounts of the founding are in Field's Remin., 20 et seq .; Yuba Co. Hist., 33 et seq .; Delano's Life, 286; Crosby's Stat., MS., 27-8; Warren's Dust and Foam, 146-7; S. F. Herald, Oct. 16, 1851. Among the pioneers were J. Crook, E. Gillespie, G. H. Beach, Al. Kerchner, D. C. Brenham, Colton, Parks, and Fisk. The first frame house was brought up by Ayers and Colby. By the middle of Feb. 1850 the inhabitants were placed at 500, and the float- ing population at 1,000. Over 350 lots had been sold by March. Among leading business houses were Low & Bros, Cook, Baker, & Co., J. C. Fall & Co., Ford & Goodwin, Babb & Eaton, Eaton & Green, Treadwell & Co., Packard & Woodruff, and J. H. Jewett. The first religious services were held by Washburn, who kept a store. Comments in Wood's Pioneer, 89-90; Marysville Dir., 1855, p. viii. In April the Sac. Transcript, Apr. 26, 1850, enumerates 150 structures besides tents, with a hospital nearly completed; 700 votes were then cast here for county officers. The Marysville Herald began its issue on Aug. 6, 1850. In this month there were 25 vessels at the levee. Directory, p. x. The fall in the water level interrupted navigation, with recourse to stages and mule train, to the consternation of many inves- tors and to encouragement of rival towns like Eliza, Plumas, Veazie, Hamilton, Linda, Featherton, Yaleston, which aspired to at least a share of trade. But in Nov. the Gov. Dana reopened the river route, and the lighter steamers of later years overcame the difficulty. Thus reassured, a charter was somewhat hastily adopted Dec. 17th, with great enthusiasm. On Feb. 5, 1851, Field assisted in the legislature to incorporate the city of Marysville. Text and discussion in Cal. Statutes, 1831, 550; 1857, 40, 257; 1860, 78; Cal. Jour. Sen., 1851, p. 1828, 1851; later modifications in Id., 1855, p. 877; Cal. Statutes, 1835, 321; Hittell's Codes, ii. 1653. The first mayor was S. M. Miles; there were 8 aldermen. Officials in Marysville Manual, 85-6. Miles' impeachment in Turner's Impeachment, 45; Id., Stat. Further danger threatened the rising settlement in several disastrous conflagrations, the first on Ang. 31, 1851, which destroyed buildings in the business portion, with a loss of half a mil- lion dollars; the second on Sept. 10th, loss $80,000. Rebuilding was prompt, however, and steps were taken for a fire department, which succeeded in checking subsequent fires, till 1854, when two severe ravages took place, in- volving $400,000. The next large fire happened in 1856, loss $145,000, after which only smaller raids occurred. Alta Cal., Sept. 2, 11, 1851; Nov. 9, 1832; May 26, July 29, 1854; Sept. 7, 1856; Placer Times, Sept. 15, 1851; Marys- ville Herald, being their main source; S. F. Bulletin, Sept. 8, 1856, etc. Water and gas contracts in 1855. Sac. Union, Feb. 15, 1855. Floods also brought their effective lessons. Traditionary inundations were spoken of by Indians, wherein entire villages had been swept away, and in 1846-7 an over-
465
STOCKTON.
flow took place. Marysville suffered little in the wet winter of 1849-50, but in 1852-53 four freshets came between Nov. and March, causing great loss. The city grade was raised, and later a levee constructed. Alta Cal., Jan. 5, 1853; S. F. Herald, March 31, Apr. 1, 1853; Yuba Co. Hist., 67-9; Marysv. Directory, 1858, p. x. The subsequent rise of waters therefore did no harm except in 1861-2 and 1866, and notably in 1875. The city flourished with the mines, and the census of 1852 assigned her a population of 4,500, includ- ing no doubt a floating mass. U. S. Census, Seventh, 982. The proportion of nationalities is indicated by the death list, embracing 92 Americans, 39 Mexi- cans, 16 Frenchmen, and a small scattering of others. The number of brick houses increased from two in 1851 to 49 in 1855. The first directory appeared in Aug. 1853. In 1855 the population had reached nearly 8,000, with prop- erty assessed at $3,320,000, a funded debt of $100,000, besides $23,000 scrip; taxes $2.05 per $100. Marysville Dir., 1855, p. xiii .; F. F. Low, Stat., MS., 6-7. Low, established here since 1850, opened a bank after the great crisis of 1855. Henshaw's Events, MS., 6; Bauer's Stat., MS., 5-6; Sac. Union, July 13, Nov. 15, 1855, etc .; view in Pict. Union, Jan. 1855; Marysville Appeal, Jan. 14, 1865; July 2, 1870; Hutchings' Mag., iii. 347-8. Previous to 1860, when counting 1,881 votes, it had attained to the third place in the state, but the decline of mining and the trade absorbed by the railroad caused it to fall be- hind, until by 1880 the population was little over 4,300.
Corresponding to Sacramento, which forms the main depôt for the north- ern half of the great valley, Stockton taps the southern half, sustained by the additional advantages of being the head of summer navigation on the San Joaquin. An appreciation of these features led to its founding, by Charles M. Weber, as early as 1847, and the gold excitement gave so decisive an im- pulse that by 1849 the isolated rancho had sprung into a tented town of a thou- sand inhabitants, swelled by a still larger floating population, and with a trade rapidly increasing in response to the unfolding mining region; facilitated on the one side by regular sail and steam communication with San Francisco, and on the other by wagon and pack trains by the hundred. As a winter station for miners, it partook of the stirring phases of life characterizing the metrop- olis at this period, with gambling and drinking houses, dissolute and criminal
excesses. In 1850 it became the county seat and an incorporated city, and in the following year the state insane asylum was placed there about the time of a great conflagration which swept away half the city. Since then the agri- cultural development of the fertile valley, with the aid of irrigation canals, swamp-land reclamation, and railroad construction, have sustained the steady prosperity of the place.
Founded in 1847, by Charles M. Weber, under the name of Tuleburg, and laid out by J. O'Farrell, the spot was also known as New Albany, after the birth-place of Weber's partner, Gulnac. Stockton Indep., Oct. 13, 1866. It met with little success till the gold discovery opened fresh prospects. After a trip to the mines with the Stockton Mining and Trading Company which he had here organized, Weber returned in Sept. 1848 to open a store, and to establish the place as an entrepôt for the southern mines. Lying intermediate between these, and along the accepted route through Livermore Pass to them
HIST. CAL., VOL. VI. 30
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CITY BUILDING.
and to Sacramento, as well as at the head of summer navigation in the San Joaquin River on Stockton or Mormon Slough, its position was assured. In the following spring it was laid out, resurveyed by Major Hammond, and given the more pretentious name of Stockton, after the commodore. Settlers flocked in and round the few tule houses, and the one wooden building of the autumn of 1848-which some call Bussell's Tavern-sprang quickly a tented town, with a permanent population in the following year of 1,000, besides a still larger floating mass of passengers for the gold region, of visiting and wintering miners, and passing traders. This floating population Upham, Notes, 237, estimates at 2,000. In April 1850 some 2,000 or 3,000 people landed here en route for the mines. Among the first settlers were W. Max- well, Jos. Bussell, for a while the only married man, Jas Sirey, Stockton, D. Whitehouse, N. Taylor, G. G. Belt. Stockton Indep., May 25, 1875; Stockton Herald, May 25, 1875. In Aug. 1849, Taylor, Eldorado, i. 77, found 25 ves- sels in the port; a firm doing business to the extent of $100,000 had just bought a lot of 80 feet for $6,000, and erected a $15,000 clapboard house. Buffum's Six Mo., 155; Larkin's Doc., MS., vii. 92; Pac. News, Jan. 1, 1850. Irregular plan, says Hall, Son., MS., 21-1; Willey's Pers. Mem., MS., 96; Alta Cal., June 14, 1849; Miscel. Stat., MS., 21. Yet only 2 or 3 wooden houses. Staple's Stat., MS., 9; McCracken's Portland, MS., 1-2. " Head of navigation." Sutton's Exper., MS., 1; Findlay's Stat., MS., 1-2; Grimshaw's Nar., MS., 38. The early whale-boats communicating with Yerba Buena had been replaced by schooners, two owned by Hawley, Observ., MS., 5, and these were soon supplanted to some extent by steamboats, of which the first to arrive here, in Aug. 1849, was the Merrimac, San Joaq. Co. Hist., 23, followed by the Capt. Sutter-the first according to Tinkham, Hist. Stockton, 318-the El Dorado, W'm Robinson, Mariposa, Mint, and Mansel White. Several ocean vessels of light draught were brought up and abandoned, from which mate- rial was obtained for building a sloop as early as May 1850. In later years ship-building was constant here. The traffic by water in early days was mainly in the nature of imports, which by 1855 had grown to such an extent that over 2,800 tons were at times landed in a single week, Sac. Union, July 25, 1855; while export proceeded chiefly by wagon or prairie-schooner trains. In the autumn of 1850 were counted 70 teams and over 200 pack-mules on the road between Stockton and the Stanislaus. S. F. Picayune, Sept. 19, 1850. Each team carried from 5,000 to 6,000 1bs. In Dec. 1852 the freight to So- nora was $20 per cwt. Alta Cal., Nov. 25, Dec. 8, 1852; Dec. 7-8, 1856. Stages had been started in 1849 to Calaveras by Raney. Taylor's Eldorado, i. 79, 75. Ferries were doing a good business on the San Joaquin at $2 for a mounted man. Cal. Courier, Sept. 9, 1850; Sac. Union, Sept. 22, Oct. 12, 17, 1855. Seven stages leave daily. S. F. Herald, June 16, 1851. In 1856 a little flour and some hides shared with gold and passengers the return ship- ments. In 1851 steamboat competitors offered free passage to S. F. Sac. Transcript, Jan. 14, 1851. A new steam line was proposed in the Stockton Item, Jan. 8, 1855. As a resort and winter station for miners life displayed itself in varied phases, with drinking and gambling saloons in full blast, and with a criminal admixture that gave the vigilance committee of 1851 no small work. Two men were hanged as early as 1849. T'inkham's Hist., 135 et seq .;
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PLACERVILLE.
Placer Times, Apr. 13, 1850; Nov. 30, 1851; Wadsworth (2d alcalde in 1849), in Vig. Com. Miss., MS., 26; Unbound Doc., MS., 49; Pac. News, Nov. 20, 1850; Feb. 10, 1851; Alta Cal., Feb. 26, June 27, 1851; June 23, 1854; Oct. 1, 1855. In Feb. 1850 the town became the county seat for San Joaquin, and on July 23d it was incorporated as a city, Sam. Purdy being chosen the first mayor. The 7 aldermen chosen were soon after increased to 11. Hittell's Codes, ii. 1587; reincorporation, in Cal. Jour. Sen., 1852, 779; Id., Statutes, 1857, 133, 197; 1859, 72; 1869-70, 24, 587; 1871-2, 557, 595; Stockton Indep., June 24-5, 1880. The preceding alcaldes were G. G. Belt, the first, Reynolds, and Ben. Williams, the latter first county judge, none of them worthy men, says Tinkham, Hist., 131, 136, 145. They had latterly been aided by a council. Finances, in Alta Cal., Dec. 12, 1852. This indication of stability increased settlement, and the Puc. News, May 17, 1850, speaks of some 200 houses going up within a few weeks, brick buildings beginning in 1851; yet the court-house was not erected until 1854. The channel was bridged, a newspaper appeared on March 16, 1850, in the Stockton Weekly Times, followed in June by the Stockton Journal.
In the same year school and church buildings rose, the presbyterian lead- ing, in May, although teaching and preaching had flourished since 1848-9. Stockton Herald, June 28, 1870; Id., Indep., Sept. 18, 25, 1875; Nov. 16, 1878; Woods' Pioneer, 21-8, 91-2. An abode was also provided for Thalia; and with 1851 the state insane asylum was established here. Outline in Cal. Jour. Sen., 1877, ap. ix. The position exposed it to overflows, which dur- ing the first years made the spot a mud-hole, Soule's Stat., MS., 2-3; Mc- Daniel's Early Days, MS., 17; and in Dec. 1852, especially, did much damage, the water rising 20 inches higher than ever before, and carrying off the bridge and fire-engine house. S. F. Herald, Dec. 22, 1852. Of fires it had the usual experience, the first notable one being on Dec. 23-4, 1849, and the heaviest on May 6, 1851, which destroyed half the city, with a loss placed at over a million dollars, 100 firms suffering. Pac. News, Dec. 27, 1849; Little's Fire- man's Book, 70; Sac. Transcript, May 15, 1851; Alta Cal., May 8-9, 1851; Sac. Union, Aug. 1, 1855; June 19, 1856. The fire brigade started in 1849, developed by the following year into a regular department, as described in San Joaq. Co. Hist., 9 et seq. View and description of Stockton in 1854. Pict. Union, Apr. 1854; S. F. Bulletin, Jan. 27, 1862. The Stockton Directory, 1856, places the property value at $2,616,000. By 1877 it had risen to $17,- 000,000, debt $400,000. By 1870 the population stood at 10,000, after which the increase was slow for a time. Orr's Stockton, 3-25; Stockton Independ., 1861-79, passim; Id., Herald, May 17, 1878.
Among mining towns Placerville presents a striking illustration of their vicissitudes and evolution. It sprang into existence as a rich camp in the middle of 1848, and gained early in the following year unenviable notoriety as the scene of the first mob tribunal of flush times, together with the significant . appellation of Hangtown, which still clings to it. As a ' dry diggings' it fluctuated with the seasons, between winter flowing with water and pros- perity, and summer drought with dulness and departures. The opening of a canal, however, chained fortune for a time to the spot, and raised it to the
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