Part 3 (1/2)

The captain said it would not come, they would not venture out in that sea in a small boat I said it would be there certain, I knew h, in a few mo and one guiding the rudder They caside and we had the anchor aboard in five minutes In the stern was Mr Watson, one of the firm He said he was afraid to trust his men in that sea for fear they would fail to deliver it The profit on it to them was only 350, and it was a very wealthy fired their word to me that they would have it there at that time (Would that there were more of such honorable men) We hoisted anchor, the tide in our favor and a stiff breeze blowing We passed out of the bay of San Francisco into the bay of Los Angles, and crossed that into the Straits of Benica, which is fourand connects with Suisan bay The Straits of Benica was a perfectly safe anchorage It was approaching night, and blowing alale I was in hopes and expected that the captain would co before venturing out into the Suisan bay, which enty miles across to the mouth of the San Joaquin river, where ere bound The bay was alht of land I think he would have come to anchor if I, the owner, had not been on board, and had not urged upon hi the vessel in Stockton in ti with his business, and had hoped and expected, all the way through the straits, that he would coht Darkness was setting in, but he did not coale increased to a hurricane; all sails were taken in, and ere scudding under bare poles, and had a lantern hung up in the rigging The captain came to ale; he would have to seek a place to anchor on the side of the bay I said to him, he was the captain The line was thrown out every few , and the anchor was cast We had been there but a short tie as ours, caot entangled in our anchor chain, and kept drawing us nearer to them If they had struck our vessel we kneere lost They would have sunk us at once Seven times they came down on us and each time, by superhuers doing their best, fully realizing the danger they were in It seems to me that I hear now the oaths of the captain of the other vessel rising above the sounds of the terrific hurricane as he was ordering his er if they collided with us Of course, he was on the bare poles As he cahth time they hoisted their jib sail As the wind struck it, it seemed to lift their vessel out of the water, and, thank God, ere freed froo, and, as I write, it all lives before me as visible as if it were yesterday The captain of the other vessel had seen our light, and, supposing ere in the right channel, had followed us We had escaped what seeer Our new good chain was attached to our bad chain, and the captain had let out all our chain to free us fro by our bad chain in the open roadstead, not in the protection of a harbor, and liable to drag our anchor or break our chain and be wrecked; but we could do nothing et into et to sleep, and, if I found ht be saved I did sleep, and when I awoke it was daylight The gale was subsiding We had dragged our anchor The bow of our brig was very sharp; the banks were soft ed in The tide was low and ere almost out of water We fortunately had struck the land with our bow, and that hat saved us If we had struck with the side of the vessel ould have been wrecked So, ever since we had been freed from the other vessel, we had been in safety and did not know it We waited for the tide to rise and then got our kedge anchor out and pulled the vessel out off the bank as the tide rose The sea was very rough, but the gale had subsided, and by 11 o'clock ere entering the mouth of the San Joaquin river in safety It was forty miles up the river to Stockton

The river was in a valley of Tullieries The land seemed to be in the course of formation There was but one tree between the mouth and Stockton, a , called the Lone Tree The only place on its banks where the soil had forh to produce one, surrounded by hills at that season of the year, covered with beautiful wild flowers

The scenery was nificent As the river curved we could see the white sails of other vessels They looked as if they were in a field You could not see the water at a little distance, the river being narrow We could almost jump from our deck to the banks We felt in perfect safety

Contrasting that with the night before in that terrible hurricane and in the death struggles for our lives, it produced a supre of ethereal ideal happiness that this earth seemed almost a Paradise The captain inforht have to anchor It was called the Devil's Elbow There was a sharp turn in the river and the current was rapid, and we ht have to pull the vessel around it; but sometimes, if it was favorable, he could sail around it, and if done successfully, then the vessels that had come to anchor could find no fault; otherwise you had to come to behind the others and take your turn When ere co to it, he was at the helm and I at his side, to see as the best to do As we approached,several vessels had coe vessel that the captain said could never get around If we anchored behind it weto the charter We had put an English sailor in the hold to let the anchor go, in case we did not succeed, if we gave hinal to do so As we ca up, filling all the sails I said to the captain, let her go As we passed the vessels that had co fro by theot two-thirds of the way around, the sailor in the hold let the anchor go without orders He got frightened If he had not, ould have ot ahead of all the other vessels, and got to Stockton in a there was a drove ofdischarged and packed on their backs to be taken to the ood roads there in those early days About all the grain and flour came from Valparaiso and Chili, put up very nicely in fifty and one hundred pound sacks, so it was easy to handle As soon as all the mules were packed, the headas he went, was started first, and all the rest, in single file, followed hi camps in the interior In two or three days ere unloaded, and ere prepared to return The freight old, at 16 per ounce in full, all being satisfactory to the shi+pper I had delivered it within the tiers who came up with ive hie back on the vessel to San Francisco; that he wanted to try to get hohteen thousand old o hoo, you will never forgive yourself, but go to the ed and want to go back, I will give you a free passage, as we have no passengers on our return trip

HOME SICKNESS

When a person was attacked with it, it seemed the worst kind of malady, as it would take thee Many were reat distance frofor theold mines, to marry them I can recall several instances where I have known the with an old Californian of those days He said he had once given up and made up his mind to wander off by himself on the mountains and die, which he did As he lay there in despair, after a while he thought he would look around him, and he saw the hill was covered with every variety of beautiful wild flowers

He said their beauty seeive hiain, and he became successful and returned to the States with a competency

[Illustration: THE DESPONDENT MINER]

The early pioneers had some conflict with the Indians in the interior of the country Five Oregon old, but a terrible retribution was visited upon those Indians concerned in it by the enraged Forty-niners The Indians, at first, had nothing but bows and arrows, and, of course, could not coeave up all contests with the whites, for they saas useless There was an acorn that was quite plenty in California, being longer than ours, but not of a bitter taste The squaws er Indians were the next tribe east of therade They would set fire to the prairie grass to burn the grasshoppers, and pick theon tribes were a higher grade, a warlike race, and superior in every respect The highest grade of them, in the United States now, are the Choctaws and Chicksaws that formerly occupied the northern parts of the State of Mississippi When a youngalone, and was treated with great hospitality by theent, and they have laws and custoenerally look upon all of thereat a difference between different tribes as much as between different white nations The California Indians were not naturally warlike, and when the early pioneers expected any trouble froo and see theenerally settled their difficulty without any conflicts

JESUIT MISSION STATIONS

There were about sixteen Jesuit old, and were there for the purpose of converting the Indians to the Catholic church, and when converted, generally made them work to sustain their missionary establishments

I had returned to my office on the North Beach after ressing with his brewery He had received a favorable letter frothat cost 800 in Rio Janeiro, at a broker's office, as collateral security for 250 borrowed on it at ten per cent perI could keep it and wear it until he paidIt was as represented, and I redeemed it and wore it for a considerable ti letter from S

that he had laid out the city and been elected alcalde, and ouldup there, and if I would send up the ring by him he would appreciate it so much, and he would be responsible that I should not lose any thing by it I was foolish enough to be persuaded by hiivenor any of the money invested in Touwalma city, for it turned out a failure It was never the head of navigation on the river, or any thing else that was ever heard of

There were three unfortunate events that occurred in California in the winterof 1850 The rainy season had destroyed all the daold rivers and raceways, which had been constructed at great expense for the purpose of working the beds of the river for gold, the rivers often rising fro with terrible force

The second, the flooding of Sacrae quantities ofthe houses there The third was the great fire in San Francisco, destroying one-third of the main business portion of the city, upon which there was no insurance

There were no coents there to insure property then, as it was too risky There was one four-story fire-proof building that was stored full of the e, for it was considered absolutely fire-proof, but when the fire cas around it caused the iron sides of it to expand, which let the roof fall in and burned every thing to the ground, so that nothing was saved Instead of being a place of safety, it was the most destructive of all

So in the rear of the fire to saveI ordered the men to hoist anchor and put out further in the bay, which saved it These unfortunate events destroyed and marred the fortune of many On the day before I called on a private banker, G, on the plaza, and presented my check for 800 He said tosteaold was shi+pped to the mint in Philadelphia by the for it, it would be an accohing it out I then thought it would make no difference to ht want some favor of him I said, if I can have it in three days without fail it would answer old in the scales to weigh it I said never ht, burnt his place up and all his property He was a ruined man I never saw hiained to sell lishn very popular there), to sell on cooods ca the capital to the owners and being satisfied with his co buildings in San Francisco He had constructed a fire-proof building which he rented to the governe sum per month, likewise the first theatre in the city, and other buildings He informed me at one time how much his rents amounted to per month; the sum was several thousand dollars Money orth but three to five per cent in England per year to the owners of the merchandise; while in California it was in deht he would land (where he had a wife and children) and pay up all his obligations with extra allowance, for the use of the reat fire destroyed all his buildings, and he was a ruinedno insurance in the city then I met a friend in New York about two years after my return from California; I asked him when he saw Mr G last He said, ”it was about 11 o'clock one day at a hotel where he invited some friends to take a drink Mr G was there, he declined; but afterward called hi he had had no breakfast that ” Such was an example of some of the fluctuations of fortune in those days

Some parties came with various kinds of machinery that was to make a certain fortune for thereat expense I never knew of one that was successful About all the coo around Cape Horn forin California, but what they brought with theenerally sold for e, and they had ht the shi+ps as they came in and hired the captain I recollect one, called the _Mechanics' Own_

Every person joining their company in the States had to be voted in and pay 1,000 They put on airs and talked quite aristocratic of their captain as their boy

Three persons started the first bank in San Francisco, called the Miners' Bank, on the northwestern corner of the plaza Mr Haight, as froiold as low as 8 per ounce, when it orth more than 18 at the mint East

The owners of the bank made 100,000 each in three or four years

Before the discovery of gold the then small places on the Pacific Coast obtained their supplies fro the coast and stopped at their towns occasionally After the discovery of gold, at first goods went up four or five times their previous value, and when one of these vessels was seen entering the port, parties would put out in set aboard of the about the discovery of the gold), would bargain with theoods, and finally offer the beyond their expectations the offer was generally accepted, and thus so speculations were iold discovery, on his first day in San Francisco, infors Most of his old acquaintances wanted to know if he did not want to borrow some money; they had some that he could have as well as not

The stea lines were foret there The New York papers at first sold for 1 each Then they got down to fifty cents I sold the _New York Herald_, that was more than a month old, that contained the latest news there from the States in the interior, for 5, and the ive it to a party of friends I was going to see in the reat treat to them It is almost impossible to recall all the exact scenes of those days, so as to have them fully realized by the reader

The city of San Francisco was extending more rapidly in what they called the Happy Valley district, which was toward the Mission of Dolores, established by the Jesuits I visited it when the building was intact I recollect a painting of an Indian warrior, with his bows and arrows, the i to heaven--I suppose to create favorable impression on Indians andon with his brewery, and borrowingme deeper on his paper He heard that I had 2,500 deposited with McCondery & Co, and pleaded with h I had lost all confidence in hi it in the sea I informed him that I had shi+pped it the day before, which I had not, but went right down and gave an order for its shi+pht over-persuade me to let him have it, and I thus saved it Whenbursted, and it ran down to the furnace and set it on fire, and burnt it up That was the fate of the first brewery started in California Since then there have been millions made in that business there

The North Beach property, after I had sold all my houses out, I closed my interest in It proved a failure to use for a wharf or shi+pping point