USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Biographical review; this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Litchfield County, Connecticut > Part 4
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At Gorgona we found the town greatly im- proved in a year. California emigrants were all leaving a little money there. The railroad route had been surveyed, and the natives with many West India negroes were at work in con-
structing it. Very few people, even the na- tives, can work in that climate without getting sick; and they were dying off rapidly. In a few hours, perhaps six, we went down the Chagres River to the ocean. The boatmen had nothing to do but to guide the craft in the right channel, and we were delighted with our trip. We were especially happy to think that we had got back to the Atlantic side of the continent.
At Chagres we at once went on board the new steamship "Georgia," about five thousand tons register. At that time I think that was the largest steamship afloat. We went to Havana, Cuba, in about three days. We put off passengers bound for New Orleans, and were to wait at Havana until a New Or- leans steamer arrived with passengers for New York. We waited three days until they ar- rived. That three days I remember as among the pleasant days of my life. We had just about time enough to visit everything in the city and outside of the walls for a distance of five miles. The memory of those days is like a pleasant dream. We sailed for New York in the afternoon. At supper time we were not hungry, next morning the same. Dr. Brown then said we both had yellow fever. We at once engaged the colored stew- ard who cared for our room to give us first- class attention, but to keep his mouth shut about our being sick. In four days we were off quarantine, New York, and the health officer came on board the ship, giving inspection of the rooms, and making out a clean record of health for everybody on the ship. We had dressed. and got out of our room, and were not noticed among the passengers. At the dock in New York City our colored man got a hack, and with our luggage took us to the Fall River steamer, got our tickets, state-room, baggage, and checks, then took us one at a time to our
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state-room, and helped us into our berths. It was several hours before the steamboat left, but no one disturbed us until morning. When we arrived at Fall River, where my wife was staying with her mother, I at once went in a hack to her residence. It was before any one was up in the house. I was soon put to bed, and put under the doctor's charge. For about a week I was as crazy as a loon, when I began to improve; but it was about a month before I got out much. After that for sev- eral months I had frequent attacks that laid me up for some days at a time, and I think it was full six months before I entirely recovered from my Havana attack. Dr. Brown arrived home in Manchester, N.H., in four hours after I arrived in Fall River. I think he re- covered from his fever earlier than I did. I now think that it was a fortunate circumstance that brought us together as friends and busi- ness partners. We never differed in any way, and I can say I always found him a Christian gentleman.
Dr. Brown and myself, I think, were the first two men that ever arrived in California from New Hampshire and the first two men that ever arrived in New Hampshire from there. We found everybody half-crazy about the gold in California. Many letters came in- quiring all about the country ; and several per- sons came over a hundred miles, seeking information. I told them all alike, unless they had surplus money, and were willing to work like slaves and endure hardships, they had better keep away from the gold diggings.
For four years, from 1850 to 1854, I re- mained in Manchester, where I built a fine residence. Thinking I could see a great future for Manchester, I bought several tracts of farming lands, laid out and graded streets, set some hundreds of shade trees, and cut the lands up into house lots for sale. All of
these lands have steadily increased in value. Many fine residences are now built upon them, and would at this time sell for as much money as would satisfy the wants of almost any one. But time is short, and waiting for advances in real estate was too slow to suit me. I liked Manchester and its people, and so long as I live shall hold in sacred memory the friends there that made me think this world was such a pleasant place to live in. It was at St. Michael's Church (now St. Paul's) that I was baptized and confirmed. Now I can think of but three persons who are alive that were members of that church when I was received.
In the spring of 1854 I sold out my entire possessions at Manchester, and removed to California, leaving my wife with our little daughter Minnie again with her mother at Fall River. Steamships were plenty at that time; and it was without any difficulty that I got passage for San Francisco via "City of Kingston," "Jamaica," and "Nicaragua." Very fortunately for me, I was assigned to a very nice state-room with Colonel Mansfield, Inspector-general of the United States Army. He had distinguished himself along with General Taylor in all of his battles in Mex- ico. Afterward he was killed at the battle of Antietam, fighting for the old flag. Persons who have seen the cyclorama of the battle of the "Merrimac " and the "Monitor " will re- member his lifelike tall figure, with his white hair and beard, sitting on a large gray horse on the shore at Newport News. This most prominent and lifelike figure first strikes the visitor's view. He was a noble specimen of a high-bred American gentleman. His offi- cial position gave him every comfort and privilege that were on the ship, in which he seemed to think I was equal with him. I liked that.
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We spent a day at Jamaica taking on coal, all of which was carried on board and dumped down the hole from black women's heads. They all went up one gangway and down the other at a regular marching pace, never miss- ing step even when dumping coal, all sing- ing some freedom song, every verse ending with "This is the jubilee." (This was nearly twenty years after they were made free by Great Britain.) They received ten cents an hour and occasionally a slap on the bare back by the men drivers employed to keep them up close in the procession. They were a jolly set. Colonel Mansfield took me with him to call on United States Consul Harrison, cousin of the first President Harrison. He was ap- pointed to the position he held by General Washington, and at that time was the oldest appointee in the service of the government. Our call lasted at least three hours. We were served with an elaborate lunch, and left the venerable old gentleman and his wife with feelings of high reagrd.
We took a drive all over the city and the suburbs. We could not form a very favorable impression of the effect of negro emancipation upon the welfare of the island. Hundreds of fine mansions were tumbling to ruin. Planta- tions and gardens, all of which had an clabo- rate and expensive system of irrigation, were growing up to weeds and brush. No one at work, no enterprise, no money. But the freed- men were lying round in the sun, pictures of perfect contentment. We next anchored some two miles off from Greytown, opposite the mouth of the river San Juan del Norte. We were taken to shore in good-sized boats over a very rough sea. There we took a small steamboat to Castillo Rapids. I think we made the trip in one day, over the proposed route of the great ship canal. We had a de- lightful day of it. The river in some places
was less than half a mile wide. At other places, and, in fact, most of the way, it seemed to be from five to ten miles wide. It was like a lake, all dotted with innumerable islands, covered with beautiful tropical growth. It did not seem like an uninhabited jungle, but more like pleasure grounds of a big estate.
At the head of Castillo Rapids we took a good-sized, well-arranged steamer, including sleeping-berths. The next morning we had crossed the fine lake to Virgin Bay. The steamship company provided us at this place with saddle mules, to take us to San Juan del Sud, some twelve miles distant, situated on a small, nice little harbor, the western ter- minus of the proposed ship canal. I thought I would like a nice ride down to the Pacific. So I gave the muleteer five dollars to bring the nicest mule he had to take me there. I got him. He was a mouse color, and his back was as smooth as a mouse. I felt quite proud as I trotted out of town, probably sixty rods. It was a good smooth road, and everything was lovely. All of a sudden my pretty mule made a break for the thick chaparral. It looked close enough to prevent a rabbit from entering it. I hung to the mule the best I could, but soon found myself sprawling in the tangled wilds of the chaparral : and the mule went on. I pulled myself together the best I could, but I failed entirely to treat my clothes in that way. I was scratched and bleeding, but not seriously hurt. I worked my way back to the corral, and got a tough-looking old mule, that took me through on time.
Our hotel was a greasy, dirty place, located in the sand, near the beach. At this place there are lots of " land crabs, " as large as a man's hand. They go all over and through the house as readily as a rat, and are a great annoyance. I could not sleep. We had
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tickets for the steamer "Brother Jonathan" for San Francisco. She was capable of carrying near two thousand passengers comfortably. We found that she had been disabled on her last up trip; and the steamship company had nothing to use as a substitute except the small steamship "Pacific," fitted to carry about four hundred passengers. A few days ahead of us a steamer from New Orleans had arrived at Nicaragua with many passengers, also bound for San Francisco, making all told full two thousand passengers. The steamer's officers gave out notice that no passengers could be taken on board until all the women and chil- dren were taken and their escorts. Well, I went out to the steamer with Colonel Mans- field, and we were received without any ques- tions being asked. At the purser's office we found the best state-room on the ship was reg- istered for us, and were handed the key to the room. When we sailed there were seven- teen hundred men, women, and children on board. What was to be done with them no one could imagine. At night they were all over the floors, on and under the tables, and anywhere where they could find a place to lie down. After a day or two out, small-pox broke out in the steerage among the New Or- leans passengers. During the voyage forty died, and were buried in the sea, mostly in the night. Strange to say, no case occurred in any other part of the ship or to anybody after we landed. The providing of food for so many people on that little steamship is a mat- ter that I cannot understand. All I know is that there was one little table, where three times a day there was an abundance of luxuries and delicacies, to say nothing of the substantials, and generally some little extras were sent to our state-room twice a day. We were near two weeks making our trip from Nicaragua to San Francisco. That was forty
years ago; but Colonel Mansfield's face, voice, and conversation are fresh in memory as if it were yesterday. For the three years that his duties kept him on the Pacific Coast he always called to see me when he came to San Francisco; and he took especial pains to bring round his army friends to introduce me to them. In that way I made the acquaint- ance of many army officers. He always showed true friendship for me, and I am proud to say he was one of the most esteemed friends I ever had.
San Francisco in 1854 had become a large city. Many miles of streets had been built up, with comfortable living and business quarters for the entire population, no two buildings alike. Most of them were what would now be called shanties. They had al- .most all been built before any street grades had been established. In 1854 the streets were in process of grading. Many buildings were down in a hole. Others were perched high in the air. There was a good deal of getting up and down stairs, but business of all kinds was booming. A picture of the city as it was at that time would now be a curios- ity. Hundreds of new, substantial buildings, with some claim to good architecture, were being constructed ; but rents were very high. A four-story building was going up on the corner of Commercial and Sansom Streets, about thirty by sixty feet. William Sherman and myself, having formed a business copart- nership, leased the lower floor and basenient at nine hundred and twenty-five dollars per month, eleven thousand one hundred dollars per year. It was a big rent, perhaps the largest in the city ; but we thought it was worth that to us. It was located near all the principal hotels and theatres; and everybody coming into the city had to face our big signs, sixty feet long, "S. L. Wilson & Co.," "San Francisco Cloth-
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ing Store." We found the location right for our business. After the first year we got our rent reduced nearly one-third. We bought odd invoices of clothing that were shipped from New York, Paris, and London, always buying the best we could get. The better the goods the quicker they sold and the larger the profit. We arranged with James Wilde, Jr., & Co., of New York, a leading manufacturer, to send us by express by every steamer the newest and choicest clothing to be made up, strictly custom work. We also sent on to them the measure of many of our customers for special goods and make. We never got any goods that were too costly to sell or to bc satisfactory to the buyer. Our business brought me in contact with most of the lead- ing men of the State, all the way from Sam Brannan to Governor Stanford.
My partner, Mr. William Sherman, had ncver had anything to do with mercantilc business, but was employed by his brother, Richard M. Sherman, to look after a valuable property owned by him on Montgomery Street, San Francisco. The buying for our firm, and getting orders off for New York to keep up our stock, and looking after our salcs, all de- volved on me. Mr. Sherman acted as book- keeper, and attended to the financial part of our business. Mr. Sherman was one of the leading men in establishing the public school system in San Francisco. He held the posi- tion of Chairman of the Board of Education for many years. He was also for several years Chairman of the State Committee of the Re- publican party, and during General Grant's administration as President he held the office of United States Sub-treasurer under a bond for near twenty millions of dollars. His long connection with public affairs gave him an intimate acquaintance with a large number of the prominent men in the State, who natu-
rally came to his place of business to talk politics, public business, and social affairs as well as the fashions of clothes.
While in that business I sold the outfit for General Walker's men on their way to Lower California on a filibustering expedition, whence they just escaped with their lives by the arrival at Ensenada of a United States government ship, on which our worthy citizen, Starr Kinny, was employed. Soon Walker went to Nicaragua to revolutionize that coun- try, and lost his head in short order. San Francisco for a long time has had the reputa- tion of having the best-dressed population on carth. It is a satisfaction to mc to think I contributed my full share to bring about that condition.
In the summer of 1856 my family came out to California with some of my friends. We commenced housekeeping at once, with the idea that this was to be our home for several years. A year and a half later our daughter. then near five years old, was taken down sick with diphtheria. Three days later she died. Her remains were taken to Manchester, and buried by the side of her little brother and sister. This death was a circumstance that we had never taken into account in all our plans for the future. It was the greatest grief that we had ever experienced. My wife, naturally consumptive, broke down entirely. I changed residence often, looking for better air, more cheerful company, or anything that would im- prove her health. A sea voyage home to her mother was thought to be the only thing lett for us to do. We tried that, with but little change. After we had lived there two months it was decided that I shoukl go to San Fran- cisco, and either sell out my business or ar- range for a residence East, and attend to the shipment of goods for our business. I had been back in San Francisco just two weeks
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when another steamer arrived, bringing the in- telligence that my wife died quietly ten days after I sailed, and that she was buried with all our three children. My troubles almost un- fitted me for business. In a month or two I sold out my entire interest in the firm of S. L. Wilson & Co .; and I was prepared for some new venture, as much as possible away from all old scenes and associations, where I had enjoyed so many pleasurable hours.
About this time some Mexicans were roam- ing about in what is now Nevada, looking for mines. They came across an old man named Comstock, digging out fine silver ore, not knowing what it was. The Mexicans knew at sight that he had a valuable mine, and they at once decided to give about all they possessed to obtain it. Their possessions consisted of an old gray mare and a little grub. Comstock arrived at the locality on foot, and rode away on horseback, thinking he had got the best of the trade. That was the great Comstock vein at Virginia City, where so many millions of dollars have been taken out, and where Mackay, Fair, Flood, and O'Brien gained their millions. The story of the discovery was soon known at San Francisco, where a rawhide sack of the ore had been exhibited. Locations of mining claims were soon made that covered the vein for several miles in length, and about every- thing that has ever proved valuable in that vicinity was covered by those locations. Thousands of people wanted to go there; but the Sierra Nevada Mountains stood in the way, with very deep snows and no roads, only the old emigrant trail, which in the summer was very difficult to travel with any kind of a team. But I decided to go, as some others had done.
It was in February, 1860, that I went over the mountain by way of Placerville and Straw-
berry Valley to Carson City and Virginia City, some of the way on horseback, but much of it on foot. In some places it was very deep mud, in others very deep snow, with occasionally a tolerable trail over the rocks. I think I was four days going from Placer- ville (the foot of the mountain on the Cali- fornia side) to Virginia City. There were about twenty men in the gang I travelled with and about as many horses; and we had rather of a jolly time- cabins to sleep in nights with big log fires and plenty to eat and drink, hot or cold. I think there were near three hundred people at Virginia City and vicinity when I arrived. There were perhaps a half a dozen comfortable little cabins built of stone and mud. The other quarters were almost all cloth tents. They have a horrible climate. The winter months are quite cold, it frequently freezing hard, with very high winds and sometimes several feet of snow, and very little firewood to be obtained within twenty miles. I was lucky enough to get a bunk to sleep in at the "Hotel de Hay- stack," a board shanty, twelve by twenty feet, with small lean-to for kitchen, kept by Nettleton, where some three hundred meals were served in course of every twenty-four hours. All provisions and general supplies had to be transported over the mountains dur- ing that winter on mules' backs, which made everything costly. Gambling-dens were flour- ishing. Numerous well-known murderers and outlaws made themselves conspicuous on the streets. We were in Utah, four hundred miles from Salt Lake City; and there were no courts or any recognized laws any nearer than Salt Lake. It was a pretty tough place. Almost everybody there was after silver mines. I soon became interested in claims that were located, also in several prospecting com- panies. Everybody was busy at something.
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I bought house lots that had been located in the business centre; and I located lots on the outer circle, for all of which I found cus- tomers. As the warmer weather came on in March and April, there was large emigration to Nevada, made up of all classes of people, but especially of bright, brainy young men. It was about as lively as Wall Street, New York. A miners' stock exchange was formed in San Francisco, and another at Virginia City. I was a member of both, and bought and sold according to my judgment. Large sums of money changed hands in these ex- changes daily. Fortunes were made and lost, both in San Francisco and Virginia City. There were very few people who did not have some interest in some of these Nevada silver mine locations. Even women and children had certificates showing that they were in sil- ver mining business. They put in their money for development, but rarely ever got it back.
In May, 1860, the Piute Indians were inis- treated by some vagabond whites. All at once they disappeared from the white settle- ments, and every day or two we heard of mas- sacres of travellers in various sections. It was decided that a hundred men well armed should go out on horseback, clean out the tribe, and teach them to behave themselves. Major Ormsby, of Carson City, was chosen to lead the forces. Just one hundred men were en- rolled. With them there were five to twelve camp followers. They went off full of fight and fun. The second or third day out they reached Pyramid Lake, where they followed the Indian trail up the side of a high rough hill. While in a narrow ravine they were suddenly surrounded by two thousand Indians, commanded by Chief Winnamucca and Son Bill, who were on horseback and well armed with rifles and other murderous weapons,
The result was, only three whites escaped with their lives. One of these, McCloughlen, came to the "Hotel de Haystack" three days after the fight. He had a rifle ball near his backbone, that had struck a rib on his side, and followed the rib back to where we cut it out with a penknife, just a little beneath the skin. A green-looking, beardless boy from Missouri in his retreat from the rear of the fight on horseback had overtaken McClough- len on foot. An appeal was made to him by McCloughlen to help save his life. The lad abandoned his horse, and with McClough- len made his way into a thicket, where the Indians were riding by them for hours. In the night this lad crawled up to the Indian camp, untied the lariat that held a horse, and carefully crawled back to McCloughlen, helped him mount, and led that horse back to Virginia City. That was an act of bravery and generous manhood seldom equalled. He is one of the unrecorded heroes. I am sorry that I cannot recall his name. The next day almost everybody had business that called him back to California immediately: and away they went on horses and mules and on foot, any way to get over the mountains. They took with them their firearms.
After the stampede we looked over the sith- ation, and found there were about three hun- dred of us left there who had walked over the mountain to get to Nevada, and did not like the idea of going back on the run. Near three thousand persons went over the monn- tain within three days. We found about thirty or forty old guns and pistols in our crowd and ammunition enough to last an hour or two. We sent an appeal over to the governor of California to send us help. In about ten days he sent over Jack Hays, the Texan Indian fighter, with about two hundred picked men. Those ten days were trouble-
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some times. Several Indian squaws who were employed at Virginia City as servants claimed to have secret information. Every day "the Indians were to appear to us that night." Of course everybody had to prepare for de- fence. Some had crowbars, pickaxes, etc. I had a big cheese knife. Signal fires were burning from every mountain top, and to all appearances we had got to fight. Pickets were out night and day. There was a stone building partly built up one story, which we converted into a fort for the protection of the women and children, where they were all gathered in every night. Among them was Alonzo Pixley's family, now of New Milford. No person in Virginia City thought of sleep- ing any one of those ten nights. All the sleep any one had was in the daytime. Jack Hays with some three hundred men went out, and gave the Indians a fight. He killed fifty Indians, and then asked them for a confer- ence. They agreed to call it square and go home to their usual peaceful lives. We were then ready to sleep and pursue our usual busi- ness; but no Indian came near Virginia City, and no white man ventured near the Indians.
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