History of the State of California Part 13

Believing that every event which in any way affects the interests or welfare of California is important to those who have watched her progress and have been astonished at her rapid rise, we will in this and a subsequent chapter, bring the narrative up to the time of issuing this work.

The city of San Francisco, in the midst of her progress and prosperity, has been twice visited by the destroying element of fire.

The first calamity of this kind occurred on the morning of the 25th of December, 1849. The fire consumed all that portion of the city on and near the plaza, involving a loss, at California prices, of over a million of dollars. Fortunately, it was the rainy season. If the fire had occurred during the dry season, and the prevalence of the furious gales, the whole city, composed, as it was, of canvas tents and wooden houses, must have been destroyed. The event did not materially affect the progress of the city; for the burnt district was entirely rebuilt within twenty days.

The second great fire occurred on the night of the 4th of May, 1850.

It broke out in the United States Hotel, situated on the plaza, or Portsmouth Square--the very heart of the city. The flames soon spread to the adjoining buildings, and several of the princ.i.p.al hotels were destroyed. Nothing could stop the progress of the fire but the tearing down of a whole block of houses on one of the streets leading from the Square. Five entire blocks of the business portion of the city were destroyed--involving a loss of about a million of dollars. To show the amount of enterprise and energy existing in San Francisco, no better opportunity is afforded than to look at the state of things in that city, ten days after the fire. We extract from the Alta Californian of the 15th of May, the following remarks:

"THE BURNED DISTRICT.--Intimately as we are acquainted with the predominant spirit of energy and enterprise of our city, we have almost wondered at the rapidity with which the burned district is being again built up. It exceeds the speed with which the work was accomplished after the December fire. Already, in Portsmouth Square, the Bella Union and St. Charles, houses of public resort, are opened and hourly thronged. In Washington Street, two dry goods stores, 'La Amarilla' and Juan Cima's, are opened and stocked, and on both sides of the way buildings are nearly completed, and will be ready for occupation by the latter end of this week. In fact, the ruins are more than half covered over, and except that the new edifices are not of so elegant a character or so substantially built, even, as previously, they will present a handsome appearance.

"The fact of the business season having now fairly commenced, and the necessity of being alive to take advantage of it, has materially accelerated operations. The present busy hum created by the industrious mechanic, will soon give way to the usual activity and bustle of mercantile trade, and ere the departure of the next steamer a casual observer would be scarcely able to realize the devastation of the 4th inst. Notwithstanding the immense amount of property destroyed, which was not at all over-estimated, business has not been so generally depressed, even momentarily, as it was feared and antic.i.p.ated. Our community have risen again to the surface of the waters with cork-like buoyancy, and the sad and gloomy faces of the early part of last week have brightened by the prosperous hopes antic.i.p.ated in the future. Never was calamity taken with more fort.i.tude and philosophy than in this city. And if to win success is but to deserve, then those who have suffered will meet with their just reward. _Nil desperandum_ seems to be the popular motto, amalgamated with the David Crocket principle, enlarged and improved. We are satisfied that nothing can r.e.t.a.r.d or check the prosperity, rapid growth, advancement and importance of this, the princ.i.p.al city and seaport of the Pacific coast. _Viva_ San Francisco!"

[Ill.u.s.tration: MODE OF WASHING CLOTHES IN CALIFORNIA.]

The annexed extract from the Message of the Mayor of San Francisco gives an idea of the quant.i.ty of disease and dest.i.tution in that city. No doubt San Francisco is the grand receptacle for all who become diseased in any way at the mines or other places in the interior; and this may serve to account for the extraordinary statements contained in the Message--

"During the last nine months, an expense of eighty thousand dollars has been incurred for the support of the sick and dest.i.tute, who have been thrown penniless upon our sh.o.r.es, and found friendless and homeless in our streets, and for the burial of those who have died without sufficient means to defray the expenses of interment. If these enormous expenditures are continued, (and it is evident from the rapid growth of the population, that they must seriously increase, unless some new system is adopted,) it will readily be perceived that a very large portion of the revenue of the city will be absorbed in defraying the expenses of the hospital department alone. Something therefore must speedily be done to remedy this great drain upon the public purse."

As an indication of the vast increase of the commerce of San Francisco, it is stated that, in six days in the month of May, 1850, there arrived at that port seventy-six vessels, freighted with cargoes to find a market there. Several large steamboats have been put upon the Sacramento and the Bay of San Francisco, and they are reaping extraordinary profits. The trip from San Francisco to Sacramento City was, a few years ago, a work of some days, but it is now performed in less than nine hours.

The reports from the mines continue to be of the most favorable character. Gold has been discovered upon Trinity River, about two hundred miles north of Sacramento City, and the digging has proved to be equal to that of any of the other placers. The mouth of the river, which empties into Trinity Bay, has been surveyed, and, being considered a very good harbor, a town has been projected, to be situated upon the sh.o.r.e at the mouth of the river. Rich diggings have been opened near Mariposa, and on one occasion, a ma.s.s of gold and quartz, weighing fifty pounds, was taken from them, and sold for sixteen hundred dollars. Several important discoveries have been made on the Mokulumne River. Out of one hole, three men, in two days, took the sum of four thousand dollars. It is thought that more bullion will be obtained during the dry season of the present year, 1850, than has been received since the commencement of the gold-digging. This seems to falsify the predictions of some persons, that the gold region would be speedily exhausted.

The following is an account of some b.l.o.o.d.y transactions upon the North Fork of the American River. We extract it from the Pacific News of May 15th, 1850:--

"About two weeks ago, a party of Indians came stealthily upon a few miners who were sleeping after their work was over in their tents on the North Fork, some twenty miles above Auburn. Before the Indians gave any warning to the whites of their presence, they killed two, wounded another, and then succeeded in making their escape. On Friday of last week, a trader, who was travelling with his team, was surrounded by Indians when about fifteen miles above Auburn. The arrows from their bows took effect upon his person, and he only saved his life by a precipitous flight. They carried off his coat which he left in his wagon, with $600 worth of gold dust in the pocket. They also robbed his wagon of several valuable articles. Upon receiving news of this attack at Auburn, a number of men set out on horseback, in pursuit of the Indians. They overtook them in a valley not far from Auburn, and found a large party of them drawn up to meet them. The Indians were armed with bows and arrows and had one gun. The whites attacked them, and soon put them to flight. The Indians left a considerable number of dead behind them, and it is supposed that they carried off many more. Two of the whites were wounded with the arrows of the Indians, but not fatally.

"It is believed by many of the miners that there are white men among the Indians, inciting them to hostilities. It is pretty certain that a German doctor has been leading them on in their attacks. A meeting was held at Auburn, last Monday evening, to raise a company of volunteers for the purpose of scouring the country, and making war upon the Indians wherever found, so long as they maintain a hostile position, and a number of men were enrolled."

A portion of the Indians of the eastern part of California have always manifested their hostility to the whites, and have taken numerous occasions to wreak their vengeance upon those whom they consider the invaders of their country. But the pursuit of such a course will only hasten their own destruction. They are in no condition to contend with the whites, and their proper course would be to conciliate those whom they cannot resist. The following account of an exterminating expedition against the Indians is from the Alta Californian of the first of June. To our thinking, the punishment far exceeded the offence, and the officer who gave the order for extermination, is culpable in a high degree.

"We have received particulars of the recent slaughter of a large body of Clear Lake Indians by an expedition sent out against them from the United States garrisons at Sonoma and Benecia. The tribe that incurred this terrible punishment, comprises the natives of Sonoma and Napa valleys, and has maintained, in general undisturbed peaceful relations with the white settlers of that section of California. Last summer, however, a stubborn family Indian offered an indignity to the wife of one Kelsey, who had resided in the country some nine years, for which he was taken before a magistrate and sentenced to receive one hundred lashes. After this punishment, on the same day, we are informed Kelsey, sought the wretched offender, and laid him dead at his feet, shooting him in the presence of several gentlemen, who remonstrated with him on the barbarity of the deed. This man Kelsey was afterwards murdered, as was also a brother-in-law, by the Indians of the neighborhood. Since then repeated acts of violence have been visited upon the natives, and our readers will remember the accounts which we published a few months since, of outrages committed in Sonoma and Napa, by a party of desperate white men. The Indians were driven to the mountains, and subsequently made depredatory incursions upon their old masters, driving away cattle, and indulging their natural propensity to steal. Complaints were made,--doubtless the accounts of their conduct highly colored,--to the garrisons of Benecia and Sonoma, and on the 1st of the month an expedition was fitted out against them, composed of a detachment of infantry, and a company of dragoons, under command of Lieutenant Davidson, (seventy-five in all,) with orders to proceed against the Clear Lake Indians, and _exterminate_, if possible, the tribe.

"The troops arrived in the vicinity of the lake, and came unexpectedly upon a body of Indians numbering between two and three hundred. They immediately surrounded them, and as the Indians raised a shout of defiance and attempted escape, _poured in a destructive fire indiscriminately upon men, women, and children_. 'They fell,' says our informant, 'as gra.s.s before the sweep of the scythe.' Little or no resistance was encountered, and the work of butchery was of short duration. The shrieks of the slaughtered victims died away, the roar of muskets then ceased, and stretched lifeless upon the sod of their native valley were the bleeding bodies of these Indians--nor s.e.x, nor age was spared; it was the order of extermination fearfully obeyed.

The troops returned to the stations, and quiet is for the present restored."

Here is the account of more Indian troubles.

"FIGHT WITH THE SACRAMENTO INDIANS.--TREATY.--In consequence of depredations of the Indians of the Sacramento valley and outrages committed by them, General Thomas J. Green, 1st Division, State Militia, ordered out two companies of Mounted Volunteers, under command of Captain Allgiers and Captain Charles Hoyt, and marched from Oro, on the 17th of May, in the direction of Deer Creek. On the same day Lieutenant Bell, of Captain A.'s company, with ten men, encountered a large number of Indians, killed five, and took six prisoners.

"On the 18th the command scoured the country in the region of Deer Creek and Bear River. On the 19th, the trail to Colonel Holt's mill, where he was murdered, was taken, the villages found to be deserted, and the white settlement abandoned.

"On the 20th, the Indians, two or three hundred strong, were discovered within two miles of Bear River, upon an elevated conical hill. An engagement took place, in which eleven Indians were killed and a number wounded. About fifty of the state volunteers were engaged. None were killed, but Captain Hoyt, Lieutenant Lewis, and Mr.

Russell were wounded. Major Frederick Emory (brother of Major Emory, United States Topographical Engineers of the boundary Commission,) was accidentally shot through the thigh with a rifle ball. He was aid-de-camp to General T. J. Green.

"On the 25th, the Indian Chiefs Weimer, Buckler, and Pooliel, came in, by permission, and entered into a treaty of peace between the three tribes, severally represented, and the State of California and Government of the United States. The treaty is sensible and comprehensive."

In the following, among other interesting intelligence, will be found an account of that which was expected long before it occurred--the resistance of some of the numerous body of foreign gold-seekers to the tax imposed upon them. The license tax is certainly a just one; but the foreigners presumed upon their number and strength, that they had power sufficient to resist its imposition. The easy excitability of the Americans, upon any subject connected with their own soil is well known; and it is exceedingly strange that a serious collision did not take place. We extract from the Alta Californian, of June 1st, 1850.

The _Alta Californian_ has letters from Stockton to May 22d. On the Tuolumne, but little gold digging has been effected since last fall along the banks. The gold is under water, and preparations were making by companies to dam the streams to get at it. This work has been actively going on for five or six months. There is want of men at this kind of work, and eight or ten dollars a day is readily obtained. The diggings at Jamestown, Sonora, &c., have been partially deserted on account of new diggings discovered at Columbia, three miles from Sonora, at the last accounts some two thousand persons had collected there, and town lots were selling at high prices.

Sonora is growing very rapidly, being in the centre of an extensive mining region. It is likely to be next to Stockton in size and importance. Discoveries of rich placers have been made in its vicinity lately; some of the richest holes at Columbia are thirty, forty, and fifty feet deep. A serious difficulty has broken out at Sonora. A number of foreigners refused to comply with the law taxing them for the privilege of working the mines. A time was fixed by the collector to summon a posse of American citizens to prevent them from working.

The day previous to the time fixed, the foreigners paraded with guns, &c., and reinforcements of Americans were sent for from the neighboring towns. A letter from Stockton, dated May 22d, adds:

"In the evening, the sheriff, Mr. Work, was accosted by a Mexican, who asked him if he was not an officer, or the officer who intended to enforce the payment of the license. On replying that he was, the Mexican made an attempt to stab him, when a person standing by, named Clark, with a single stroke of a bowie knife, nearly severed his head from his body. Thirty armed Americans soon arrived from Mormon Gulch, and the whole American population were on the alert all night.

"At last accounts there were two or three hundred Americans at Sonora, under arms, and others were hourly arriving. On Monday the excitement had somewhat abated. Hundreds of the Mexicans and Chileans were packing up and leaving for Stockton. Many of them disclaimed having had any intention of resorting to arms, and all were evidently more or less frightened at the aspect of affairs. It appears that the Mexicans who took part in the disturbance, were led on by some hot-headed Frenchman, lately arrived from France, of the Red Republican order.

They found, however, that the majority of the Spaniards were not disposed to join them, and it is supposed that the whole affair will blow over without any very serious consequences. The affair will probably be a severe blow to business, for the present, in Sonora."

The _Stockton Times_ has a letter from Sonora, giving the details of this difficulty. The foreigners said they were willing to pay four or five dollars per month, but that the amount demanded was utterly beyond their power to pay. They made this statement at an interview with the Governor. The letter goes on as follows:

"During the discussion, an American who wished to get out of the crowd, began elbowing his way from the place where he stood, when a Mexican or Chilian, in front of him, drew a pistol. In a moment a dozen revolvers were out, and a precipitate retreat was made by the foreigners. No shot was fired, but the Mexicans were alarmed, and the town was cleared in five minutes. Our peace now seemed threatened by about five thousand men outside, and no inconsiderable alarm was created in town. The citizens armed themselves, and expresses were sent to Mormon Creek and Sullivan's Diggings, from which places about five hundred well armed Americans arrived, and marched through the streets with guns and rifles on their shoulders. The demonstration was sufficient; the crowds in the vicinity soon dispersed, and quiet was restored. The only thing to be feared, is the misguided zeal of our own citizens, who although generally sympathizing with the discontent occasioned by the unjust tax, are incensed that the foreigners should presume to take the law into their own hands, and may not be willing to allow the affair to rest where it is.

A serious affray took place this afternoon, in which a Mexican was seriously wounded. A man was noticed parading the streets with two or three pistols and a knife in his belt; the man was intoxicated, and the sheriff arrested him, or rather took his arms from him. While in the act, a Mexican came up behind and made a stab at the officer with a large knife. The murderous intent was frustrated by a bystander, who, with a bowie knife, struck the man, wounding him severely. Mr.

Work, the sheriff, was happily untouched.

This state of affairs, if allowed to last, will ruin the prosperity of the whole southern mines, and your own town of Stockton will be the first to suffer thereby.

_Monday, May 20._--A guard was kept up all last night, but every thing was quiet, and as I said yesterday, I believe the danger, if any was to be apprehended, had pa.s.sed away. But the excitable feelings of the hundreds of Americans now under arms had to be indulged, and hearing that a camp, mostly composed of foreigners, situated about seven miles from Sonora, had mounted Mexican, Chilian, and French flags, (what truth there is in the report, I know not,) they have started out this morning to avenge the insult, and chastise the temerity of the "greasers" and "outsiders." I sincerely trust there will be good sense enough in the party to refrain from wanton aggression.

Gov. Burnett has sent Hon. John Bidwell and Judge H. A. Schoolcraft in charge of the block of stone contributed by California to the Washington Monument. It is thus described:

"This block of gold-bearing quartz, is from the Mariposa diggings, near Fremont's mines, and weighs about one hundred and twenty-five pounds. In shape it is irregular, approaching a square, its sides varying from eighteen to twenty inches in length. It averages in thickness nine inches--across its face diagonally it is twenty-one inches by measurement. Very little gold is perceptible to the naked eye, but it is estimated to contain about eighty dollars worth."

Since the above events were recorded, another most disastrous fire has occurred in the city of San Francisco. It broke out in the Sacramento House, situated in the wealthiest portion of the city, on the 17th of June, 1850, at eight o'clock, A.M., and in the short s.p.a.ce of three hours, about two-thirds of the wealthiest district was consumed. The shipping in the harbor was only saved by the greatest exertion. The entire loss is estimated at from three to four millions of dollars.

This event occurring so soon after the previous fire, has had a depressing and gloomy effect upon the business operations, not only of San Francisco, but of Sacramento City also. Many of the heaviest trading houses have been entirely ruined; and others brought to the verge of it. Several individuals, including the Mayor of the city, distinguished themselves by their n.o.ble and generous exertions to arrest the progress of the fire and save property.

The emigration to California by way of the overland route is six times as great during the present year as it was in 1849. The last company left Council Bluffs, on the 15th of June. They brought up the rear of near four thousand wagons, ten or twelve thousand persons, and about twenty thousand head of horses and cattle. The continued success of the gold diggers and the extraordinary prospect in regard to the quant.i.ty that will be obtained during the mining season of 1850, serves to keep up the excitement and to allure the emigrant to the golden land.

There is a prospect that the seat of government of California will be removed from San Jose to the proposed new city of Vallejo, about twenty miles above San Francisco, near the Straits of Carquinez, and at the junction of the Napa and San Pablo Bays. The new city has already been surveyed, and a company of influential capitalists organized, with the determination to "go ahead," whether the capital is or is not established at this point. The site no doubt presents many advantages for a large commercial city, not possessed by San Francisco. The distance from the "Golden Gates," (as the entrance from the Pacific to the succession of bays connected with the harbor of San Francisco is termed) is about the same as San Francisco. The harbor is one of the safest and most commodious in the world, and the commissioners appointed by the general government to make surveys and decide upon the best location, have to recommend Mare's Island, half a mile from Vallejo, as the naval depot of the United States in California. The climate of Vallejo is delightful, and the place is never subjected to those strong and cold northerly winds which render San Francisco so disagreeable as a residence and so dangerous as a commercial city. There is plenty of marble for building purposes in the immediate vicinity of Vallejo, and plenty of limestone at a convenient distance, and easily obtainable. The new city will command a most beautiful view of San Pablo Bay and of the country adjacent, and the Napa valley (through which the Napa River flows, and near the mouth of which the city is located,) and the Sonoma valley in the vicinity are among the most fertile in California. Near Vallejo are also mineral springs, possessing similar properties, and said to equal the celebrated Congress Springs at Saratoga.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE MINERALOGICAL AND OTHER CHARACTERISTICS OF GOLD, AND THE MODE OF DISTINGUISHING IT WHEN FOUND; TOGETHER WITH THE a.s.sAY, REDUCTION, AND REFINEMENT OF GOLD.

For the purpose of presenting all that is connected with that precious metal, that has built up a state within a few years, and of making the reader fully acquainted with all that is necessary for the gold-seeker to know, we will now describe, in some detail, the natural history, character of gold, and the mode of determining its presence and value.

Gold _invariably_ exhibits something of the peculiar yellow color which it is known to possess in a pure state; but this color is modified by various metals with which it may be mixed. Thus it may be described as having various shades of gold-yellow; occasionally approaching silver-white, occasionally resembling bra.s.s-yellow of every degree of intensity, and even verging on steel-gray in some specimens from South America.

The l.u.s.tre of gold is highly metallic and shining, and owing to the small amount of oxidation at its surface, it preserves its shining l.u.s.tre even after long exposure in contact with other substances. Thus the shining particles are often seen in sand when the quant.i.ty is barely sufficient to repay the cost of working, notwithstanding the value of the metal. Even however, if the surface is dull, the true color and appearance are easily restored by rubbing, and when polished it takes a very vivid l.u.s.tre, which is preserved for a long time in the atmosphere.

Although in the division which has been introduced into gold-yellow, bra.s.s-yellow, and grayish-yellow, native gold seems with some slight modifications to agree with the geological relations of its varieties, yet this mode of arrangement deserves little serious notice. The gold-yellow varieties comprise the specimens of the highest gold-yellow colors, though there are some among them which have rather a pale color; they include most of the crystals and of the imitative shapes, in fact the greater part of the species itself. The bra.s.s-yellow native gold is confined to some of the regular and imitative shapes of a pale color (which is generally called bra.s.s-yellow,) and, as it is said, of a less specific gravity than the preceding one; but this does not seem to have ever been ascertained by direct experiment. The grayish-yellow native gold occurs only in those small flat grains which are mixed with the native platina, and possess a yellow color a little inclining to gray; they are said to have the greatest specific gravity of them all. The real foundation of this distribution seems to be the opinion that the first are the purest, the second mixed with a little silver, and the third with platina. It is not known whether the latter admixture really takes place, but it is certain that several varieties of gold-yellow native gold contain an admixture of silver.[17]

In color and l.u.s.tre, inexperienced persons might mistake various substances for gold; these are chiefly iron and copper pyrites, but from them it may be readily distinguished, being softer than steel and very malleable; whereas iron pyrites is harder than steel, and copper pyrites is not malleable; for although the latter mineral yields easily to the point of a knife, it crumbles when we attempt to cut or hammer it, whereas gold may be separated in thin slices, or beaten out into thin plates by the hammer. There can thus be no possible difficulty in distinguishing these various minerals in a native state, even with nothing but an ordinary steel knife. From any other minerals, as mica, whose presence has also misled some persons, gold is easily known by very simple experiments with a pair of scales, or even by careful washing with water, for gold being much heavier than any other substance found with it (except platina and one or two extremely rare metals,) will always fall first to the bottom, if shaken in water with mud, while mica will generally be the last material to fall. This is the case, however fine or few the particles of either mineral may be.

Gold therefore can be distinguished by its relative weight or specific gravity, and by its relative hardness, from other bodies which resemble it. It is described generally as soft, completely malleable and flexible, but more accurately as softer than iron, copper or silver, but harder than tin or lead. It is useful to know facts of this kind, as a simple experiment that can be made with instruments at hand, is often more valuable than a much more accurate examination requiring materials not immediately available. Thus if it is found that a specimen (perhaps a small scale or spangle) is readily scratched by silver, copper or iron, and scratches tin and lead, it may, if of the right color and sinking rapidly in water, be fairly a.s.sumed to be gold.