History of the State of California

"The saloon contains two very handsome billiard-tables, which are constantly occupied by players, chiefly Americans, some of them of first-rate excellence. The charge was a dollar per game of a hundred, and they were no sooner vacated by one party than another came in.

"The establishment contained nine gambling-tables, which were crowded day and night, by the citizens and the miners; many of the latter staking very large sums upon the turn of a card. The stakes, however, varied from twenty-five cents to five thousand dollars; and the excitement of some of the losers was frequently fearful to contemplate. Some who gained largely prudently withdrew; and I was informed that, a few days previously to my arrival, a new-comer from the States, who was bound for the mines, having come into the saloon, and tried his fortune at the monte tables, luckily made twenty thousand dollars, with which he returned home, by the steamer, two days afterwards.

"The 'Golden Eagle,' (l'Aguila d'Oro) is another gambling establishment, situated in one of the streets leading into the Plaza. It is a canvas house, about fifty feet square, fitted up with the requisites for play, and let out by the proprietor at the rate of fifteen hundred dollars a month. Every available spot around the tables was crowded to inconvenience by persons who were engaged deeply in the game, the majority standing up and watching the chances with countenances betokening the greatest excitement.

"I now proceeded to the City Hotel, a large but somewhat antiquated building, constructed of adobé, after the Spanish fashion, but hybridized by American improvements. The interior was even more insufferable than the El Dorado, in respect of the boisterousness of its frequenters. In the first room that I entered were five gambling-tables, doing a 'smashing business' – a term employed, somewhat in contradiction to its import, to denote prosperity. The majority of the players were Americans and other foreigners, intermixed with a goodly number of Spaniards of the lowest order. There was the same excitement, the same recklessness, and the same trickery here, as at the other gambling saloons, only infinitely more noise and smoke, and swearing and inebriety.

"Here I met with another of the volunteers, who proposing a walk, we went out together, and proceeded to the Plaza. I found a good many old acquaintances set up in business at this spot; one, who had been a captain, had recently turned money-broker, and now kept an office for the exchange of coin and gold-dust, having entered into partnership with a highly respectable and agreeable individual, of active business habits, who promised to prove a great acquisition to the concern.

"We soon reached a low, long, adobé building, situated at the upper side of the square, and which my companion told me was the Custom House. To the right of the Plaza stood the Saint Charles's Hotel, a wooden edifice covered in with canvas, and the Peytona House, an establishment of a similar description, in both of which we did not fail to find the usual games carried on.

"The streets leading down to the water-side contain comparatively few hotels or eating-houses, they being chiefly wood and canvas trading-stores. I observed amongst them several newly opened auction and commission-rooms, where goods were being put up, recommended and knocked down in true Yankee style. An immense number of wooden frame-houses in course of erection met our view in every direction; and upon remarking that many of them appeared to have been purposely left incomplete, I ascertained that this arose from the extreme difficulty of procuring lumber, which, on account of its scarcity, occasionally fetched an incredibly high price. A good deal of it is brought from Oregon, and some from South America. Many of the larger houses, but far inferior, notwithstanding, to such of the same kind as could easily be procured in New York at a rental of from 300 to 400 dollars a-year, cost here at least 10,000 dollars to build them, the lots on which they were erected being valued at sums varying from 30,000 to 50,000 dollars, according to the locality. Many spots of ground, just large enough for a small trading-house or a tent to stand upon, let at from 1200 to 2000 dollars.

"Amongst the various emigrants who daily flocked into the city – for each day brought its fresh arrivals – were numerous Chinese, and a very considerable number of Frenchmen, from the Sandwich Islands and from South America. The former had been consigned, with houses and merchandise, to certain Americans in San Francisco, to whom they were bound by contract, as laborers, to work at a scale of wages very far below the average paid to mechanics and others generally. The houses they brought with them from China, and which they set up where they were wanted, were infinitely superior and more substantial than those erected by the Yankees, being built chiefly of logs of wood, or scantling, from six to eight inches in thickness, placed one on the top of the other, to form the front, rear, and sides; whilst the roofs were constructed on an equally simple and ingenious plan, and were remarkable for durability.

"These Chinese had all the air of men likely to prove good citizens, being quiet, inoffensive, and particularly industrious. I once went into an eating-house, kept by one of these people, and was astonished at the neat arrangement and cleanliness of the place, the excellence of the table, and moderate charges. It was styled the 'Canton Restaurant;' and so thoroughly Chinese was it in its appointments, and in the manner of service, that one might have easily fancied one's self in the heart of the Celestial Empire. The barkeeper – though he spoke excellent English – was a Chinese, as were also the attendants. Every article that was sold, even of the most trifling kind, was set down, in Chinese characters, as it was disposed of; it being the duty of one of the waiters to attend to this department. This he did very cleverly and quickly, having a sheet of paper for the purpose, on which the article and the price were noted down in Chinese characters, by means of a long, thin brush, moistened in a solution of Indian or Chinese ink. As I had always been given to understand that these people were of dirty habits, I feel it only right to state that I was delighted with the cleanliness of this place, and am gratified to be able to bear testimony to the injustice of such a sweeping assertion.

"As for the French, they seemed entirely out of their element in this Yankee town; and this circumstance is not to be wondered at, when the climate and the habits of the people are taken into consideration, and also the strange deficiencies they must have observed in the ordinary intercourse of life between the citizens, so different from the polished address, common even amongst the peasantry in their rudest villages; to say nothing of the difficulty of carrying on business amongst a people whose language they did not understand. But their universal goal was the mines; and to the mines they went, with very few exceptions.

"Speaking of them reminds me of a 'Café Restaurant,' in San Francisco, kept by a very civil Frenchman, and situated on the way to the Point. I mention it, because I one day made here the most uncomfortable repast it had ever been my lot to sit down to. Yet this was not owing to any lack of attention on the part of the proprietor, to any inferiority in the quality of his provisions, or to any deficiency of culinary skill in their preparation; but simply to the prevalence of the pest to which I have already alluded as invading my own tent, namely, the dust. The house was built chiefly of wood, and had a canvas roof, but this was insufficient to keep out the impalpable particles with which the air was charged, and which settled upon and insinuated themselves into every article in the place. There was dust on the counter, on the shelves, on the seats, on the decanters, and in them; on the tables, in the salt, on my beef-steak, and in my coffee. There was dust on the polite landlord's cheeks, and in his amiable wife's eyes, which she was wiping with the corner of a dusty apron. I hurried my meal, and was paying my score, when I caught sight of my own face in a dusty-looking and dust-covered glass near the bar, and saw that I too had become covered with it, my entire person being literally encrusted with a coat of powder, from which I experienced considerable difficulty in cleansing myself.

"Notwithstanding all I had seen of San Francisco, there yet existed here a world apart, that I should never have dreamed of, but for my being one day called upon to act upon a jury appointed to sit in inquest over a person who had died there. This place was called the 'Happy Valley.'

"Previously to our repairing thither, we attended at the court-house, to take the usual oath. Proceeding then through the lower part of the town, we reached the beach, along which, by the water-side, we walked for a distance of three miles – up to our ancles in mud and sand – until we came to a spot where there were innumerable tents pitched, of all sizes, forms, and descriptions, forming an irregular line stretching along the shore for about two miles.

"The ground was, of course, low, damp, and muddy; and the most unmistakeable evidences of discomfort, misery, and sickness, met our view on every side, for the locality was one of the unwholesomest in the vicinity of the town. Yet here, to avoid the payment of enormous ground-rents, and at the same time to combine the advantage of cheap living, were encamped the major portion of the most recently arrived emigrants, and, amongst the rest, those of the ship Brooklyn, on one of the passengers of which the inquest was about to be held.

"This, then, was the 'Happy Valley;' a term no doubt applied to it in derision, taking into consideration the squalor, the discomfort, the filth, the misery, and the distress that were rife there.

"I am satisfied that much of the crime and lawlessness that is prevalent in California – particularly in towns like San Francisco, where the ruder sex are congregated exclusively and in large multitudes – is attributable to the want of the humanizing presence of women. In San Francisco there were about ten thousand males, and scarcely a hundred females; for, although in many parts of California the latter outnumber the former, the national prejudice against color was too strong for legitimate amalgamation to take place."

Such was San Francisco soon after the discovery of the riches of the Sacramento region. From an insignificant settlement, sometimes the resort of whaling-vessels, and of a few traders, it was quickly transferred into a city, with an extensive and constantly increasing commerce. In its streets and squares, erected where, just before, was a desert plain, people of almost every nation were seen busily engaged in traffic, or preparing for departure to the gold region. It seemed the work of the enchanter.

Although, like San Francisco, Monterey was almost deserted by its inhabitants upon the receipt of information of the gold discovery, it soon began to give signs of improvement. The bay, upon the shore of which the town is located, is more exposed to the swell of the sea, and to the north-west storms, than the Bay of San Francisco, and therefore the harbor is inferior. Yet Monterey received a considerable share of the tide of emigration. Those who stopped there were generally persons who intended to make a permanent settlement, and engage in mercantile pursuits; and, therefore, though the increase of the town was not so rapid as that of San Francisco, it carried with it more denotements of stability.

The town is situated on a short bend near the entrance of the bay, upon its southern side. The point of land which partly protects its harbor from the sea is called Point Pinos. A very neat and pretty appearance is presented by the houses of the native Californians, which are generally constructed of adobés and white-plastered. Those of the Americans are easily distinguished by their being built of logs and planks, and presenting a more substantial, but rougher appearance. The town is surrounded by hills, covered with lofty pine trees. Upon a height which overlooks the town and harbor, a fort was built by the Americans during the war with Mexico, and a military force continued there till after the treaty of peace.

The country in the neighborhood of Monterey is fertile, and yields ample reward to the agriculturist. There would, therefore, be no lack of supplies of provisions, but for the indolence of the Californians, owning the different ranches in the surrounding country. From this cause, great scarcity of provisions of all kinds is often the result. Notwithstanding the additions made by Yankee enterprise and innovation, the general manners and customs of the inhabitants of Monterey retain all their old Spanish character; and some of the customs of the natives, particularly their amusements, are heartily joined in by the more susceptible of the new-comers. The fandango and the serenade with the guitar, still hold their sway as freely and as undisturbed as in old Spain. The winters are severely felt here. The rain causes torrents of water to pour down from the hills in the rear of the town, deluging the principal streets, and rendering their passage almost impossible. During this period, the only resort of the inhabitants for passing away the time is the vice of gambling, in which they early become adepts. This gambling propensity, noticed among the Californians, induced a considerable number of the initiated to emigrate from the United States, and Monterey received a goodly proportion of them. Such an increase of the population, however, could not be considered desirable. Upon the whole, though in a less degree, the effect of the golden attractions of California could be seen at Monterey as at San Francisco. Though it did not spring at once from a small settlement to a large city, it was considerably improved, and in 1849, it numbered more than a thousand inhabitants.

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1

A gold placera was discovered some years ago, near the mission of San Fernando, but it was very little worked, on account of the want of water.

2

Farnham's Adventures in California. – Wilkes's Narrative of the Exploring Expedition. – Fremont's Narrative.

3

See Farnham's Adventures. Wilkes's and Fremont's Narratives, and Emory's Report. – In 1846, Eugenio Macnamara, a Catholic priest and Missionary, obtained a grant of a large tract of land between the San Joaquin and the Sierra Nevada, the Cosumnes and the Tulares in the vicinity of San Gabriel, from Pio Pico, governor of the Californias, for the purpose of establishing upon it a large colony of Irish Catholics; but the grant was not ratified by the Central Government, and the project was not carried into effect. There is no evidence that Father Macnamara was aware of the existence of gold in the valley of the San Joaquin.

4

Official Despatch of Colonel Mason, Commander of the 10th Military Department, August 17, 1848. – Letters of Thomas C. Larkin, U.S. Consul at Monterey, to the Secretary of State, June 1, and June 28, 1848.

5

Feather River is the first considerable branch of the Sacramento below the Prairie Buttes. It has a course of about forty miles, and empties into the main river about fifteen miles above New Helvetia. Though the Sacramento is navigable for vessels only to that place, boats can pass up one hundred miles further.

6

Four Months Among the Gold Finders of California, by J. Tyrwhitt Brooks, M.D.

7

Personal Adventures in Upper and Lower California, by William Redmond Ryan.

8

Sights in the Gold Region, or Scenes by the Way, by Theodore T. Johnson.

9

Four Months Among the Gold Finders of California, by J. Tyrwhitt Brooks, M.D.

10

Six Months in the Gold Mines, by E. Gould Buffum