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PREFACE.
PREFACE.
Nothing that I can say here will blind the reader to the deficiency of these pages; they are in truth, as their title expresses, the recollections of a “Journal burnt,” and I present here but an outline of what I have seen or heard during three years of my life; and if I am wanting in figures and statistics and anything of weight as regards the country written of, it is certainly because I recalled this Journal unexpectedly, and far from the scenes it once depicted. I may have remembered too lit
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ERRATUM.
ERRATUM.
Page 204, fifteenth line, for “Athletes,” read “Athletæ. ” [Corrected by ebook transcriber.]...
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CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.
CHAGRES RIVER—CURIOSITY—ISTHMUS OF PANAMA—WASHINGTON HOTEL—ANTS—A NATIVE OF VIRGINIA—GOLD TRAIN—ROBBERY—PANAMA BELLS—AN EMIGRANT SHIP—AN AFFECTING PREACHER—SAN FRANCISCO. April, 1850. At eight A.M. , Chagres was reported in sight, and as we neared the land, it presented an appearance far from inviting. The American steamer, “Cherokee,” ran into the anchorage with us, and immediately disgorged five hundred American citizens in red and blue shirts. I landed with as much expedition as possible, and
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CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER II.
A GREAT COUNTRY—IMPROVEMENT—ADVENTURERS—DRINKING-SALOONS—THE OLD JUDGE—BANKS—MINE SPECULATORS—GAMBLING HOUSES—“DON’T SHOOT”—CLIMATE—HIGH AND DRY. June, 1850. The fire was fast subsiding; and as the embers died away, and the heavy smoke rolled off to leeward, the site of the conflagration was plainly marked out to the spectator like a great black chart. There is nothing particularly impressive in the scene, for although four hundred houses have been destroyed, they were but of wood, or thin sheet
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CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER III.
BENICIA—BARNES—A MAD BLOODHOUND—HIS DEATH—GRASSHOPPERS—DON RAYMOND—A BLESSED CITY—WICKED MULES—“CAMPING OUT”—NAPA—FOURTH OF JULY—AGRICULTURISTS—SONOMA—COMPETITION—AN IRASCIBLE BULL. July, 1850. Great labour and capital have been expended on the wharves of San Francisco; there is little space left between these, and ships ride at their sides, and discharge their cargoes with as much rapidity and comfort as if they were in dock. The central wharf is nearly a mile in length, and from the end of thi
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CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER IV.
SPANISH GRANTS—SQUATTERS—SQUATTER FIGHTS—A SPANISH RANCHE—GOOD QUARTERS—FLEAS—VANITY—VACCAROS—QUILP—ENGLISH SADDLES—ANTELOPE HUNT—RATTLE-SNAKES—QUILP WALTZES—CALIFORNIAN HORSES—SADDLES—HORSE-BREAKING—A TAME HORSE. August, 1850. Leaving Sonoma at daylight, we passed through the Sonoma Valley, which in many places, but a few hundred yards in width and studded with groups of oaks and flowering evergreens, has all the appearance of a private park bounded by mountains—the herds of deer, of which now
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CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER V.
SPANISH PRIESTS—INDIANS—QUILP FORGETS HIMSELF—HABITS OF NATIVE CALIFORNIANS—FATHER BARTOLEMÉO—THE LASSO—GOOD RIDERS—CATTLE BRANDING—RAYMOND PROVIDES MULES—RUSSIAN RIVER—WE ENCAMP—SAW-MILL—I PROPOSE TO “SQUAT.” August, 1850. The capabilities of Santa Rosa Valley had not been overlooked by the early missionaries, and the house now occupied by Don Raymond had been built by them. The object of these priests had been, first, to encourage the wild Indians of the country to settle near their mission-ho
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CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VI.
THE LITTLE VALLEY—THREE MARTYRS—MOUNTAIN LIFE—THE POOR DOES—CASTOR-OIL—A SICK DOG—THE CARPENTARO—GREY SQUIRREL—DIGGER INDIANS—RED-WOOD TREE—AMERICAN RIFLES—GRIZZLY BEAR HUNT—SHELDON WOUNDED—DIFFICULTY IN KILLING THE BEAR—HABITS OF THE BEAR—A THIEF. September, 1850. The country which we now traversed consisted of a series of small round-topped hills, uniform in size but varying in feature. The whole had been long since subjected to violent volcanic action, so whilst one hill was crowned with a gr
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CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VII.
DEER HUNTING—WILD BULLS—WILD FOWL—A DUCK GUN—DRIVING AN OX-TEAM—I REFLECT—AN ESTAMPEDE—THE TIGER CAT—RAINY SEASON—INDIAN FIRES—WASPS—WE ARE ROBBED BY THE INDIANS—I KILL A BEAR—CROSSING A SWOLLEN RIVER. Christmas, 1850. To render agreeable a life where men are thrown entirely on their own resources, the chief point is to ensure contentment, and nothing conduces more to this end than to apportion to each one of the party an equal and strictly-defined share of work. Forest life, in my case, never a
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CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER VIII.
About five miles from Sonoma is an “embarcadero,” or landing place, situated on a mud creek, which is navigable for small boats, and communicates with the bay of San Francisco. Here are three houses, which conjointly represent the town of San Luis; opposite the town some fishing-boats lay at anchor, and in one of these I bargained for a passage to San Francisco, in company with eight live bullocks, that were now lying on the strand, bound neck and heels together, moaning piteously, as if impatie
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CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER IX.
THE OLD CRAB-CATCHER—MR. WARREN—AMERICAN FRIENDSHIP—THE AMERICAN PRESS—EDUCATION IN AMERICA—AMERICANS GOOD COLONISTS—CALIFORNIAN CORRESPONDENCE. April, 1851. At daylight the next morning we found ourselves among the shipping that lay moored in crowds in front of San Francisco. Whilst threading our way to the wharf, we narrowly escaped being swamped by one of the Stockton river steamboats, which, in fact, did graze our stern. The Yankee freshwater skippers of those days expected everything to get
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CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER X.
LONG WHARF—CLIPPER SHIPS—CHINESE EMIGRANTS—THE MAY FIRE—AN EXCITING SCENE—IRON HOUSES—VALLEJO—THE COYOTE—WILD GEESE. May, 1851. The Central Wharf of San Francisco, which is nearly a mile in length, is for some distance occupied on either side by Jew slopsellers; and, as these indefatigable gentlemen insist all over the world upon exposing their wares outside their shops, the first glance down Central Wharf impresses you with the idea that the inhabitants of the district have hung their clothes o
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CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XI.
COYOTE HUNTING—MY DOMINIONS ARE INVADED—THOMAS KILLS A BEAR—A TRIAL OF STRENGTH—ROWE’S “LOT”—CHOCTAW ELK—A BUTCHERY—ROUGH LIFE—FERTILITY OF THE SOIL. June, 1851. Our first duty, on arriving at Vallejo, was to erect a temporary shanty, and before we had been long there the materials for about fifty houses were scattered over the ground by various speculators. Ramsey laid the foundation of a small village on his own account, and built a dwelling-house, a livery stable, and another grog-shop, in wh
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CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XII.
ANOTHER FIRE—MY GEOLOGICAL FRIEND—“BURNT OUT”—SACRAMENTO—LEVEE—HULKS—RATS—VIGILANCE COMMITTEE—START FOR VOLCANO—CROCKETT—“RIGHT SIDE UP.” June, 1851. Shortly after my return to Vallejo, a bright glare in the direction of San Francisco indicated too surely that the city was again in flames. The wind was very high, and we had every reason to believe that the conflagration was general. Having roused out the Old Soldier to his intense disgust, I reached Benicia in time to take a passage to San Franc
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CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIII.
AN OLD SHE-GOAT—OUR MINERALOGIST—GOLD DIGGERS—MURDERER’S BAR—THE THEORIST PUZZLED—MINING LAWS—JUMPING CLAIMS—THE MINER’S LIFE—“LET HER SLIDE”—HOSTILE INDIANS—WE ARE DISGUSTED—FIRE-PROOF HOUSES. July, 1851. We reached the Salmon Fall diggings about noon, and, without halting, crossed a wooden bridge that had been built here on the north fork of the American River; we paid five dollars toll to its enterprising owner, and ascended the opposite hill. The road here became so uneven that we got out of
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CHAPTER XIV.
CHAPTER XIV.
JOE BELLOW—STOCKTON—A BEAR TRAPPER—BEAR AND BULL FIGHTS—AN UNEASY BEAR—CALIFORNIAN INNS—NATURAL ROADS—GOOD DRIVING—I KILL A FLEA—SONORA—THE EVENING COMMENCES—FRENCH EMIGRANTS—A DRINKING BAR—NUMBER EIGHTY—A CORRAL AND A MORAL. September, 1851. So many reports had reached San Francisco at this time of the discovery, in various parts of the mining regions, of auriferous veins of quartz of immense wealth, that all that portion of the population who were in waiting for something to turn up had alread
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CHAPTER XV.
CHAPTER XV.
THE GOLD MINE—THE INNOCENCE OF SONORA—SUNDAY IN SONORA—SELLING A HORSE—CARRYING WEAPONS—BOB—WE LEAVE VALLEJO—WE ARE “BOUND TO GO”—THE SHADOW OF A CROW. September 1851. Early the next morning I proceeded on horseback with Joe Bellow and an engineer to the mine, which was situated near a mining village called Tuttle-Town. To reach this spot we had to cross a table mountain, so covered with the débris of former volcanic eruptions, that it was a perfect cinder-heap upon a large scale. The ground rev
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CHAPTER XVI.
CHAPTER XVI.
I EXPLAIN TO THE PATIENT READER—PIONEERS—A LADY’S BOOT—MAINSPRING—MEXICAN ROBBERS—VICTIMS OF PREJUDICE—WORKS ON AMERICA—TWO PIGS—POWER OF THE HUMAN WILL. Sept. 1851. In less than a fortnight we had a couple of canvas houses erected at Tuttle Town; each of these had a large fire-place and chimney, built of mud and stones, and surmounted by an empty barrel for a chimney-pot, after the popular architecture of the mines. Rowe and I occupied the small shanty, whilst in the larger one I had Barnes, Th
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CHAPTER XVII.
CHAPTER XVII.
YIELD OF GOLD—ITS DURATION—MORMON GULCH—THE DISTRIBUTION OF GOLD—TUNNELLING—DAMMING RIVERS—HOLDEN’S GARDEN—ENERGY IN THE MINES—QUARTZ-MINES—QUARTZ MINING SUCCESSFUL—THE AUTHOR GETS OUT OF HIS DEPTH. October, 1851. The diggings in our immediate vicinity were not actively worked, as there was not sufficient water for the purpose; this, however, was shortly to be remedied, for companies composed of miners were at work in every direction, conducting water from the rivers to the dry diggings; and at
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CHAPTER XVIII.
CHAPTER XVIII.
TRANSPORT MACHINERY TO THE MINE—THE CARPENTER JUDGE, AND CONSTABLE ROWE—CUT-THROAT JACK—GREASERS—FRENCH MINERS—JOHN CHINAMAN—CHINESE FEROCITY—THE FEAST OF LANTERNS—CHINESE DESPOTISM—FALSE SYMPATHY. November, 1851. In the course of three months we had collected two or three hundred tons of ore, and as the tests we daily made still bore out our preconceived opinions of the value of the mine, I proceeded to San Francisco for the purpose of procuring the steam power and machinery requisite for a tri
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CHAPTER XIX.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE FIREMEN OF SAN FRANCISCO—“WE STRIVE TO SAVE”—A BARBER’S SALOON—OYSTERS—PLACES OF AMUSEMENT—A PICKLED HEAD—SHOOTING ON SIGHT. Christmas, 1851. The machinery was at length in its place, and we got the steam up for a trial; our engineer was one of the same school as he of the Stockton boat, and considered that engines were “bound to go,” whether on sea or land; and when I remarked to him that ninety pounds of steam was about double the pressure the boiler ought to bear, he asked very naturally
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CHAPTER XX.
CHAPTER XX.
RAT-CATCHERS—DRAYS—CRESTED PARTRIDGE—A MARVELLOUS STORY—SAILORS IN THE MINES—A VERDICT—THE QUARTZ HAS THE BEST OF IT—I LEAVE TUTTLE-TOWN. January, 1852. Rats are very numerous in San Francisco, as also are ratting-dogs. The roughest Skyes and most ferocious bull-dogs seem to have congregated in that city; and so much interest do the people take in the destruction of the common enemy, that a crowd is instantly collected if by chance a Scotch terrier, arrested by the flavour of a rat, wags his tai
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CHAPTER XXI.
CHAPTER XXI.
ADVICE TO EMIGRANTS—GOLD COUNTRIES—SELF-DOCTORING—ADVICE CONTINUED—I ARRIVE AT STOCKTON. January, 1852. We know that the militia of the United States is very numerous, inasmuch as it consists of every man capable of bearing arms; but it certainly would appear that all the officers have emigrated to California, so universal are the military titles there. Now as I proceed to Stockton I meet here and there old mining acquaintances working at the gulches that I have to cross. I am startled by a voic
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CHAPTER XXII.
CHAPTER XXII.
ELECTIONS—EXECUTIONS—REFORMS—EXILES—“KNOW NOTHINGS”—TESTIMONIALS—SPEAKING TRUMPETS—OCEAN STEAMERS—LIFE-BUOYS—AIR-BOATS—CONFIDENCE NECESSARY—FITTING A RAFT—A SUGGESTION. March, 1852. When I arrived at San Francisco, I found the authorities very busy altering the grades of the streets, and covering them with planks. As the rear of the town had been built on sand, at an elevation of some twenty feet above the new grade, the houses there had soon the appearance of being built on the edge of a dry ra
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CHAPTER XXIII.
CHAPTER XXIII.
“HERCULES” FAILS—LAND CRABS—MR. BOBBINS—“RUSHING” THE SHIP—NEW YORK. May, 1852. The weather being fine, the roads were in tolerable order when we arrived at Panama; we made light, therefore, of the journey, and, having arrived at Gorgona, we dismounted from our mules, and, taking boats, went swiftly down the rapid river, landing at the village of Barbacoes, to which point the railway was now completed. The station-house consisted of a large shed, in which hundreds of fowls and thousands of eggs
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CHAPTER XXIV.
CHAPTER XXIV.
YELLOW FEVER—A WOODEN HEAD—HARD TIMES—A GALE—WE SPRING A LEAK—ACAPULCO—SMUGGLING—CHOLERA—CONCLUSION. Christmas, 1852. “ I’ll soon be back, boys,” was my last remark, it will be remembered, as I parted from the Tuttletonians on the road; consequently, in the winter of 1852 I found myself at the Island of St. Thomas, on my way back to the scrofulous pigs, the Carpenter Judge, and Constable Rowe. I had made up my mind that for the time being I would have no more to do with quartz mining. I saw that
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SOILS OF THE VALLEY SANTA CLARA AND SHORES OF SAN FRANCISCO BAY.
SOILS OF THE VALLEY SANTA CLARA AND SHORES OF SAN FRANCISCO BAY.
The soils on the Bay San Francisco differ much on its eastern and western sides; both borders of the bay present the tertiary series, but both do not present the trapean rocks to the same degree of development; this, then, of course, will cause a distinctive and marked difference in the productive capabilities of either shore. It will be found in all the soils which have been derived in whole, or in part, from rocks more recent than the tertiary group, that a more extensive and varied adaptation
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THE STRUCTURE OF THE VALLEYS OF SACRAMENTO AND SAN JOAQUIN.
THE STRUCTURE OF THE VALLEYS OF SACRAMENTO AND SAN JOAQUIN.
These valleys form a “single geographical formation,” stretching from the terminal spurs of the Cascade Mountains at the north to the junction of the Sierra Nevada with the southern terminus of the Monte Diablo range with the thirty-fourth parallel of north latitude. The length of the valley is about three hundred and eighty miles in length on an air line, with a breadth of fifty miles at its widest point. The general appearance of the valley is that of an extended plain composed of alluvium, an
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MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE COAST MOUNTAINS.
MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE COAST MOUNTAINS.
The minerals of these mountains are widely dispersed throughout their entire extent; they consist principally of copper, iron, lead, silver, gold, nickel, and antimony, with agates, chalcedony, and many others, too numerous to mention here. Silver. —In the county of Monterey this metal occurs in the form of argentiferous galena (or lead and silver), and this mineral is found in the primitive and transition limestone abounding in this section; it is found in small veins and disseminated; the rang
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PLACER MINING.
PLACER MINING.
The writer enters into a long treatise on this branch of mining, and represents its progress as being very extensive during the last two years. It is now ascertained to a certainty that the placer ranges extend to the east, within ten or fifteen miles of the “summit ridge,” so called, of the Sierra Nevada; and the condition in which it is found at these points is similar in all respects to that in the older or more western sections, with, perhaps, one exception, and that the relative age of both
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QUARTZ MINING.
QUARTZ MINING.
After a few preliminary remarks upon the permanency of the gold mines of this State, the author proceeds to an elaborate consideration of the geological position which the quartz veins hold to the rocks with which they are connected. Under the head of “Character and positions of the older veins below the surface,” he concludes thus:— From what testimony we have in our possession relative to these veins, it seems but reasonable to conclude that their integrity is perfect, or as nearly so as can b
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