{: K '>*.-■ ; ^■»Wi.'^>-^>:^e!BmS'':gF?5^g^-B-SK5.:,'„ CHARLES WILLIAM WASON COLLECTION CHINA AND THE CHINESE THE GIFT OF CHARLES WILLIAM WASON CLASS OF 1876 1918 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 924 075 243 406 « Cornell University y Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924075243406 THE KEW WEST; OB, OALIFOEIfIA IN 186T-1868. CHAKLES LORING BRACE, AUTHOR OF 'The Kaces or the Old Would;" "Home Life in Gebmaht;" HUHQAET IK 1851;" ETC., ETC. NEW TOEK: G. P. PUTNAM & SON. LONDON: N. TEiJBKEK & CO. Entered according to Act of Congreas, in tbe year 1869, by G. P. PUtKAM & SON, In the Clerk's Office of the District Conrt of the United States for the Southern District of K'ew York. Pebss op Wtxkoop & Hallesbeok, 118 Fulton Street, N.Y. PREFACE. " The New "West ! " Within a few years " The West " has ceased to be the great prairie region of the Amer- ican Contiaent. The prosperous States founded there are now the Central States of the Union. Beyond those rich fields, beyond the wide and half-barren plains, beyond the RockyMouhtains, the alkaUne deserts and the Sierra Nevada, is another region, which is " The New West," with a different climate, a changed flora and fauna, a strange scenery, and new outline of landscape, novel productions, and conditions utterly unknown to our branch of the Anglo-Saxon race. Here, under circumstances, in many respects more favorable than the Anglo-American has ever enjoyed, a new and powerful community is springing up, and possibly a new race formiag. This land is mainly terra incognita to Americans. My plan in this work is to sketch such features of California and her process of development, as most travelers have thus far neglected. In this view, I have taken least interest in her mining enterprises, but most in what is to be the basis of her future pros- perity — her agriculture, fruit-culture and vine-growing, and such undeveloped branches as silk-worm growing, and wine-making. PREFACE. In treating of this latter, I may have spoken so plain- ly as to offend many in the Pacific States, but they must remember that nothing is so much needed by an important branch of production, like this, in its first beginnings, as honest criticism. The treatment of the Chinese, by the lowest class, and the oppressive legislation upon them, have also been described without extenuation. The truth in such matters, is the best tribute a traveler can pay to the sense of justice of the more civilized Oalifomians who detest these abuses equally with ourselves. If in my outline sketches of this remarkable region and its vigorous people, I have given anything like my own impressions of the divine climate, the unique and awe-inspiring scenery, the singular and delightfully varied vegetation and productions, the enterprise, and intelligence, and generosity of the population, redeem- ing even the facts connected with the origin of their civilization, and the opening presented here for the surplus intelligent labor of our crowded commimities, I shall have succeeded in my task. Hereafter, when a powerful and cultivated society has been developed on the Pacific coast, and perchance a new and even more enlightened and prosperous Republic than its parent has been bmlt up, these notes of its " Origins" may still be preserved to show what were the humble and primitive foundations of so grand a structure of civilization and prosperity. CHARLES LORING BRACE. Hastings-upon-Hudson, April, 1869. OOI^rTENTS. CHAPTER I. The Trip to San Francisco. — Its Pleasures.— The Steamer Com- pany. — Savants and Explorers. — ^The Isthmus. — A Railroad through a Conservatory. — ^The Panama Railroad. — Steamers to the Isthmus. — ^Tea-trade. — The Pacific Voyage. — The Pacific Mail Steamship Company ; its Capacity and Success ; Organiz- ation, Economy; its China Line; Competition with Pacific Rail- road. — Exaggerated Expectations 13-28 CHAPTER II. Crystal Springs Ca:Son. — California Scenery. — ^A Romantic Ca- iion. — The Vegetation and Small Animals. — ^Wild Flowers. — Singular Trees. — ^The Red Woods. — Climate. — The Coast Range. — Objections to it. — ^Novelty of Aspect .... 30-35 CHAPTER III. San Francisco. — ^Difficulties of its Site. — ^A City of Flowers. — The Public Buildings. — ^Want of Parks. — The Dust. — Its invigorat- ing Climate. — The Key-hole Breeze. — Summer a Cool Season. — The Success of Universal Sufirage. — Police. — Outward Marks of Civilization. — Evils of Hotel-life 36-43 VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. The Future op San Francisco. — Tendency to leave the Interior for the Capital. — Climate favors the City. — Labor more Efficient here. — Education centers in it.--Its importance as a Center of Commerce.— The Connection with Asia. — A City of Expec- tations 44-48 CHAPTER V. Building Associations.' — The Success of these Companies. — Laborers securing Homes. — The Prosperity of the Laboring Class. — Wages. — The Labor-Exchange. — Its Success. — The Mint. — Its Business and Small Wastage. — The Accountability. — Statistics. — Eight Hour-Law — Its Probable Failure. — Selling by Weight. — Want of Small Change. — The Manufactures of the City. — Splendid California Blankets. — Social Life. — Want of Unity. — Extravagance. — Troubles with Servants. — ^Evil-speak- ing. — Speculative Habits. — ^Temptations. — The Generosity of People. — ^A Droll Instance. — The Clergy and the Press . 49-73 CHAPTER VL The Public Schools. — Their Excellence. — The Object-system. — Girls' High School. — Faults. — Cosmopolitan School. — School- system superior to the New York. — ^Want of Teachers. — Salaries ... 74-80 CHAPTER VII. The Big Trees.— Preparations for Trip to Yosemite.— Clothing needed. — Drive to Bear Valley. — Dust. — Saddling. — The Mus- tangs. — The Wicked Mule. — Moonlight Ride. — Sugar Pines. — Clark's Ranch. — A Character. — Clothiers' Signs. — Forest- Master.— The Big Trees. — Mariposa Grove. — Their Number. — Causes of their Size. — Description. — Measurements. — Probable Age. — A Remarkable Flower. — The Calaveras Grove.— The Mother of the Forest.— Vegetation of the Foot-Hills . 81-94 CONTENTS. VU CHAPTER VIII. The Yosemite CaSon.— The Morning.— Start.— California Mus- tangs. — A Gay Horse. — Digger Indians. — Our Party. — ^The Guides. — Description. — ^The First Glimpse. — El Capitan. — ^The Brothers. — Evening View. — Its Origin. — The Descent. — Twi- light in the Valley.— The Inn 95-105 CHAPTEE IX. The Yosemite. — ^Mr. Hutchings' Hotel. — ^An Original. — A Pretty English Lady. — The Atmosphere of the Valley. — The Picture of Beauty. — Comparison with European Scenes. — The Yosemite Fall.— The Voring Foss.— Cathedral Rock.— Bridal Veil.— The Tenaya Fork. — Nevada Fall. — Excursions. — The Tuolumne Canon. — Mr. Hoffman's Account. — ^Mr. Hutchings' Claims. — ^The Departure. — The Stand- point of Silence. — Comparison of Routes 106-120 CHAPTEE X. The SotlTHERiT Miking Counties. — Journey from Mariposa to Calaveras. — Great Quartz Vein. — Tertiary Deposits. — Table Mountain. — A EiVcr in the Air. — Romance of Mining. — Funereal Aspect. — The Miner's Grave. — Receipts frotn Southern Coun- ties. — Copper-Mining. — Mine at Copperopolis. — ^Miners' Law. — Its History and' Features.— J. Ross Browne's Description of the Code. — Different Size of Claims — Uncertainty of Mining Titles. — The Mining Act of 1866. — Its Favorable Effects on California. -Amendments advised. — Unity of Legislation needed . 121-136 CHAPTER XI. The Digger Indians. — A Digger Camp. — ^Their Physical Features. — The Dying Squaw. — Touching Funeral Ceremonies. — Their Religious Belief. — Tradition of Descent from the "Wolf. — Their Degradation. — Customs. — The Diggers of Nevada County. — The Camp in Mariposa County. — Woven Baskets. — Grass- hoppers for Food. — ^Wigwams.T-A Branch of the Shoshonees. — Viii CONTENTS. Perhaps descended from the Aztecs.— The Causes of their Degra- dation.— Perhaps the lowest Tribe on Earth.— Volume of Brain. —Comparison with Peruvian Skull.— The Antediluvian Indian. —The Calaveras Skull.— Found in Pliocene Deposits.— Table Mountain Skull.— Darwinian Theory .... 137-152 CHAPTER XII. The CoiiKGE of California. — The Moral Teachers in California. —Their Value to the State.— The Eev. Dr. Bushnell —The College Grounds.- Its Plan.— The Proposed University.- The Agricul- tural College.— Mining School.- Endowment of the University. — Japanese Students 153-160 CHAPTEE XIII. Gold Mining. — The Foot Hills. — Ruin from Gold Washing. — Hy- draulic Washing. — Gold Run. — The Blue Lead. — Grass Valley. — ^The Eureka Mine. — Great Profits.-'— The Hayward Mine. — Production of Grass Valley. — More Economical Mining. — Saving of Wastage. — Quartz Mining. — Good Luck. — Cement Mining. — Its Annual Yield. — Placer Mining. — Successful Operations. — Its Produce. — Gold Mining Processes. — Crushing and Amalgama- tion. — Mining Tricks and Failures. — Salting a Mine. — A Bogus Mine. — Scientific Reports. — The General Profits of Mining Doubt- ful. — Gold and Silver Product for 1867. — Whole Product since X848.— The Northern Mines 161-181 CHAPTER XIV. Pacific Railroad. — A Marvel of Engineering-work. — Its Difficul- ties. — Official Statement in Regard to the Union Pacific Rail- road. — ^Wells & Fargo's Express. — Virginia City. — Its Aspect. — Stock Speculation. — Material Tendencies. — Need of Humane Men. — The Silver Miners. — The Comstock Lode. — Mount David- sou. — The Savage Mine. — Uncertainty of Investments. — Marvel- ous Success of Empire Company. — Gould & Curry. — Hale & NororoBs: — Increaseof Value.— ^Whole Yield. — Treatment of Ores. -Silver Mud . 182-199 CONTENTS. IX CHAPTER XV. Professionai, Eobbees.— Non-resistance of Californians.— Polite- ness of Gentlemen of the Road.— An Adventure. — Lake Tahoe. — Robbing by Stages. — ^Indifference of a Fellow-traveler. — ^Wild Scene. — A Volley. — Coolness of Driver. — The Skirmish. — Need of Mounted Police.— Shooting of three Robbers . . 200-308 CHAPTER XVI. The Chinksb or Caufornia. — An excellent Working Popula- tion. — Their Submissiveness.-- Oppression.— Gradual Change of Public Opinion. — Their Importance.— Neatness of Habits.— A Brutal Scene. — Mining-tax.— Inadmissibility of their Testimony. — The Old Struggle of Humanity renewed.— Judge Axtell.209-214 CHAPTER XVII. The Chikesb. — Visit to Chinese Merchants.— Courtesies. — Impor- tation of Women. —Question of the Ballot. — Christianity. — De- bate on the Exclusion of Chinese Testimony. — The Injustice of it.— Chinese Theatre and Temple . . . 215-227 CHAPTER XVIII. Large Farming. — ^A Country-house. — Hospitality. — Olives, Al- monds, and Peaches. — Ornamental Trees. — A Wheat Farm. — Volunteer Crops. — r Threshing. — Livennore Valley. — Gigantic Farming. — Figs, Flax, and Hops. — Meiiuo-sheep. — ^Wheat Yield ofState.—Bariey.— Indian Corn ..... 228-242 CHAPTER XIX. The Geysers. — ^Napa and Calistoga. — ^Voss' Station, — Manners to Ladies. — Reckless Driving. — ^The Grizzly Bears. — Hot Springs. — ^Devil's Canon. — ^Russian River Valley. — ^Napa Valley 243-252 1« X- CONTENTS. CHAPTER XX. Wine-growing. — Need of Honest Criticism — Defects of Wines. — Want of Faithful Work. — Careless Wine-making. — ^Mistakes. — The Mission-grape. — ^Whole Science an Experiment . 253-259 CHAPTER XXI. The Sonoma Vineyards. — Production. — ^Mode of Planting — ^Prun- ing. — Cost and Yield per Acre. — Best Varieties. — Process of Wine-making. — The Buena Vista Society. — California Cham- pagne. — ^Process ofMaking. — ^Percentage of Alcohol. — Compari- son with Hastings Wine. — Vineyards on Sierras and Poot-Hills. — Yield and Profit. — Raisins. — Catawba Wine . . 260-276 CHAPTER XXII. Los Angeles — Characteristics. — ^Appearance. — Beauty Exaggerat- ed. — Bad Name — Improvements. — Mr. Wilson's Vineyard. — Orange-groves . — Lemons. — Fruit-crop of Valley. — Figs. — Limes. — Olives — Almonds. — Castor-oil . — Wild Mustard. — Immense Ranches.— Policy of Government.— Vaqueros. — Catch- ing Bulls with Lasso. — Wine-making. — ^Angelica Port. — Vim de i!ji«Mr.— Muscatel. —Profits. — Causes of Inferiority of Wines.— Morals of Los Angeles. — Climate. — Raiu-fall .-Ana- heim Vineyards . 277-296 CHAPTER XXni. The Oil- Wells.— Petroleum Seas —Santa Barbara.— The Agave Cactus. — Ground-Rodents. — Bees. — Wonderful Increase . — Cattle. —Sales of Land.— The Mammoth Grape-vine.- Silk- worm Growing —Question of Temperance.— Pomace Brandy.— Brandy-tax. — Santa Clara Valley Vineyards. — Quicksilver Mines.— Process of Extraction.— Total Yield . . 297-310 CHAPTER XXIV. Agricultural Resources op CALiFORNiA.-Depreciatory Opin- ions.— Amazing Development —Advantages for Production — CONTENTS. XI Large Yields. — Diiferent Crops. — Increasing Capital — Exports. — Wheat and Grain Harvests . — Silk-growing. — M. Prevost — Advantages in California. — Statistics. — Silk-making. — Practical Instructions on Silk-growing. — Profits. — Silk-worms . 311-329 CHAPTER XXV. The Climate of Pacific Coast. — ^Bata Wanting for the Science. — Northern-Coast Temperature. — Summer on whole Coast. — Winter. — Comparative Temperatures of Europe and Africa with those of the Coast. — Analogies of Climate. — ^Equability of Tem- perature. — Variety of Climate — Comparison between Europe and Pacific Coast. — Eain-fall. — Dryness of Air. — Causes of Pa- cific Climates. — Water Cooler in Summer. — Interior Climates. — Influence of Arizona Desert ..... 330-344 CHAPTER XXVI. Caufornia for the Emigrant. — ^Division of Soil into Freeholds. — Development of Agriculture. — Society becoming Settled. — Who sliould not come. — ^Wages. — Female Labor best adapted for Small Wine-growers and Farmers. — Advantages . 345-350 CHAPTER XXVIL Where to Settle in California. — Avoid River-bottoms. — Foot Hills doubtful. — Coast Valleys best. — Sonoma and Russian River. — San Joaquin — Bay-counties. — South of California. — Cheapness of Living. — Statement for Foot- Hills . 351-357 CHAPTER XXVIII. The American Palestine. — Correspondences between Syria and California. — Productions. — Irrigation. — Job's Description of Scenery. — Land-slides — ^Water-spouts. — The Miners' Work in Job. — The Droughts in both Countries . — Similarity of Seasons and of Fruits. — Wine-pressers . — Bible Scenes. — Dead Seas. — Geysers. — Mirage. — Flowers, Fruit, and Wine , . 358-366 Xll CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXIX. Effect or Cjlimate on Eace in California. — Indications of Eaoe-changes. — Improvement of Type. — Handsome Physique. — Expanded Lungs. — Prolific Power. — Children Healthier. — Dif- ferent Types. — Climate not All-powerful. — The Principle of In- heritance. — The Political Future. — A New Republic. — New Race.— The New West 367-373 THE I^^EW WEST; OR, CALIFORNIA IN 1867 AND '68. CHAPTER I. THE TEIP TO SAN FRANCISCO. The voyage from New York to California by the Isthmus had so often been pictured to me as a dis- agreeable and hard trip, that I was not at all pre- pared for the pleasures and varieties of it. Some of my impressions, no doubt, are due to the sensations of one just recovered from a tedious fever, and changing a sick room for the glorious ocean, with its airs of health and vigor. But, as an old traveler, I can honestly say, I know of, no sea-journey in any part of the world to compare with this in variety and enjoyment. Instead of the stormy North Atlantic, with its cold and fog, and the reeling state-rooms, smelling of oil, bilgewater and eructated dinners, and incessant gale and mist and chill, each day a bore and burden, we had here a blue sea with " the innumerable smile," the sparkle of spring sunlight 14 THE NEW WEST. , by day, and the trail of molten silver by nigbt, airs genial but bracing, only a ripple on the water from New York to Aspinwall, broad airy saloons, the state- room on deck, where, in your berth, you looked out, with a sense of delicious repose, on the blue waves of the Caribbean ; meals with every variety and luxury, every thing clean and pleasant, and the long voyage varied by a railroad ride through a tropical conser- vatory and a change to a new and even larger steamer on the Pacific, with the best accommodations. The California trip ought to be taken merely for pleasure, now that the traveler can enjoy the Pacific Mail Service, We had an unusually pleasant company, yet char- acteristic of the coast we were about to visit. There was a Superintendent of the Indians, a rough, ready, warm-hearted man, with a gredt deal of information about his proteges,; then several Mining Superin- tendents, men of much ability and energy; a young American gentleman, of a prominent New York family, and just graduated from Oxford, who was about to take charge of a mine in a remote mining town ; young ladies, teachers, clergymen, mothers with fam- ilies returning from a visit to the "East"; but, best of all for us, was a most interesting scientific party, Mr. Clarence King and his corps, going out to sur- vey the Continent on the fortieth parallel, under a Grovernment commission. It was a truly American phenomenon : here was a young man of twenty-four who had already on the State geological survey of Cali- fornia, proved himself one of the most daring of living 8TEAMEE — COMPANY. 15 explorers, and now was appointed by the Government to head the most important American scientific survey of this generation, one which would probably extend over a period of from five to eight years and embrace the investigation of the flora and fauna, the geology, meteorology, determination of altitude, and geography of the whole belt of the Pacific Railroad. A mag- nificent opportunity for a man of science, and which any savant living would hold an honor to be offered. Mr. King is evidently as thoroughly trained in habit of mind as he is bold and heroic in action. The records of his exploits in obtaining the heights of unkno^m peaks in the Sierras would read like a story of romance. Nothing has been done in the Alps to equal them in daring and diificulty ; though the explorations of the brothers Schlagintweit, in the Himalayas, may have been as arduous, Mr. King and his associates have discovered and ascended nearly to the summit of what is probably the highest peak of the United States, Mt. Whitney (over 15,000 feet) ; he also climbed Mt. Tyndall (14,386 feet), and Mt. Hoffman (10,872 feet). His stories of his years of wild life on the plains and among the mountains showed what a field of manly training and scientific work there is now on the Pacific slope for our jeunesse doree, who have no taste for business or the professions. The civilized man comes down and gathers up the best qualities of the barbarian — quickness of hand and eye, firm nerve, contempt of cold, hunger, and priva- tion, power to use his body to the best advantage, and the ability to front coolly danger and death — and 16 THE HEW WEST. witlithem he combines all which training and culture have given, to gain new conquests over Nature and to advance the frontiers of knowledge.-! It is a good thing to see such aims and works in an age of fraud, profit, and comfort. One person on board particularly attracted our in- terest^ Mr. J. C, a Mining Superintendent, and a self educated geologist and philosopher : he is a type of a class which undoubtedly exists in California, and I suppose nowhere else in the world, of men who have read little of books and seen little of the world, but who, ia their lonely rambles and "prospecting" among the mountains, have studied Nature profoundly and phUosophieally, as very few men ever do. Mr. C. is known to science, as having first detected the evidence of glacial action in the Sierras, and I have been assured by our first geologists, that his crude theories and investigations on the forma- tion of mineral veins, the ancient changes of climate on the Pacific coast, the lines of upheaval, the sources of the lava overflow and the like, were worthy of the most profound consideration by the ablest investiga- tors. He did not weary, sitting op. deck under the tropical star-light, discoursing by the hour, to my wife and me, as we watched the glorious Southern Cross or the phosphorescent wake of molten silver be- hind the steamer, of the phosphorus which the ocean had taken up from the atmosphere, of the future moon which he saw in the Zodiacal light then rising with lengthened cone from the waters, and of the grad- ual passage of minerals from gases and water into THE ISTHMUS, 17 mineral veins, and various problems connected there- with. He was naturally an ardent follower of Her- bert Spencer; but it was curious that both he and the other geologists were catastrophists in their theo- ries of the Pacific coast, and none of them were suf- ficiently acquainted with the grand discovery of this age, the law of Natural Selection, and its bearing on aU branches of scientific investigation. We enjoyed each moment of the sail through the West Indies and the Caribbean — that sea of such delicious blue that Humboldt suggested the poetic explanation of its color being caused by the dust of coral-reefs mingling with its waters : the pecuUar state of moist- ure and consequent refraction of the atmosphere is the more probable cause. Here the flying-fish be- gan to skip over the wavesj sometimes scores rising just before the hows, and sailing or leaping often a hundred yards or more. For several days before reaching the Isthmus, the heat was intense, and almost every one on board was more or less out of order. The journey over the Isthmus has been so often described that I will say little of it. It forms a most delightftd break in the long voyage, and would be worth the trip to Panama, alone, to enjoy. The true equator of heat on the western Continent is on this Isthmus, and the traveler has the rare opportunity of seeing tropical jungles, palms, mangroves, and bananas, draped and bound together with lianas and the parasitic vines of hot climates, with the superb flowers and birds and insects of an equatorial forest, 18 THE NEW "WEST. while riding in a raiJroad car, secure from malaria, and enjoying all the comforts of civilization. It is truly a jaunt through a conservatory. The astonishing number of different palms* sur- prises one ; the tree-ferns, the superb yellow or white flowers covering large forest trees, the marvelous growth of parasites, the callas and exquisite water- flowers in the pools where occasionally a large alliga- tor rolls lazily in, the chattering of monkeys in one or two thickets, and the flight of brilliant paroquets through the forest — ^these are the features in one's memory of that scene of rich tropical luxuriance on the Panama Railroad. As a work of engineering and difficulty it is most remarkable ; and one can well believe the current saying that every tie on the track has cost a human life. It is now, and always must be, a most important and lucrative transit. Nothing can fuUy compete with it, or withdraw large portions of its business. Its main trafiic will always be with the Central and South itmerican countries, as it is the nearest link of communication between eight millions of people and Europe. In 1860, its Califomian freight business was less than one-fifteenth of its whole trade ; in 1867, it was about one-third. + It is computed that the value of the trade between the South and Central American countries and the Atlantic is over $60,000,000 per annum. The new trade opening now between New York and * TwBnty-three varieties are olassifled on the Istlimus. t Dr. Otie. "IstUmns of Panama," &c. PANAMA BAILEOAD. 19 Japan and China, by the Pacific Mail steamers, may also throw a new and profitable business into its hands. Nine large steamship companies run now in connection with this road. The Pacific Mail, with twenty-five large steamships ; the Opposition Company, from New York and San Francisco ; the Compagnie-Gr6n6rale Transatlantique, coimecting with France and the West Indies ; the West Indies and Pacific, running to Liverpool ; the West India and South America ; the Royal Mail for the West Indies and Southampton, England ; the New Zealand and Australian, running to the British Colonies in the Southern Pacific ; the British Pacific, for the west coast of South America ; and the steamships of the railroad connecting Panama with Central America.* From their peculiar geographical position, the Com- pany enjoy almost amonopoly — good judges doubting if a canal can ever be built which wiU compete with them. The consequence of their advantageous position is that their charges for passengers are enormous — twenty- five dollars gold — ^for a journey of forty-seven miles. And their service is not at all of the first class. There is no station at all under the rain or hot sun at Aspin- wall, and quite a little walk must be taken from the steamer to the cars, which ought to be avoided. The station at Panama is but a poor one ; the cars are not well ventilated and have no supply of water, a neces- sity in that hot climate. Still the road is carefuUy managed, and has hardly ever met with an accident. The great competition it will meet with in the * Otis. "iBthuras," &o,, p. 55. 20 THE NEW, WEST. future, in the Califomian trade, will be from the Pacific Railroad. But this will only be in light and expensive freights, and first-class passenger traffic, and will not materially lessen its profits. How far the tea-trade between the Eastern coast and China is to come this way, is still a question. The transhipments are a great objection, and time is not, except with a few of the first cargoes, a very important element. The freight on tea, by the long sea route, from Hong Kong to New York, is about two cents a pound (or about the same as from New York to Chicago) ; by the Isthmus route it is about six cents and a half, with a gain of sixty days in time. The Company expect, however, to make the trip from Yokohama to New York, in 1869, in forty-five day sin summer, and forty-eight in winter. The tea importers with whom I have spoken say that the advantage thus far over the long sea route is not of great account. They do not believe that tea will ever come over the Pacific road for the Eastern coast. StUl no one can predict as to currents of com- merce, and thus far tea is forwarded over the Isthmus and apparently pays to lay down in. New York, in limited quantities, even at the present high rates of freight. Panama is one of the most beautiftdly-placed towns in the world, and the views from the harbor are un- surpassed. We were taken aboard our steamer — an immense one, the Constitution — on a tug-boat, and had some hours to enjoy the various aspects of the Bay. The run up the coast was even more delightful than that on the other side. The accommodations PACIFIC MAIL. 21 were luxurious, and we were often in sight of the grand volcanic chains of mountains along the coast of Cen- tral America and Mexico. The Pacific deserved its name, and hardly more than a ripple disturbed its blue surface all the way to San Francisco. A delicious land breeze blew every day from the coast, tempering the fierce heats ; and we lay in our berths, watching the blue waves and distant peaks, or reclined in easy chairs, having the very perfection of dolcc far niente life on sea-board. A little stay in the land-locked harbor of Acapulco varied the voyage, and off Cape St. Lucas the cool, invigorating breezes of the North- em Pacific began, causing white linens and muslins to be put away, and thick traveling-suits to appear .again. THE PACIFIC MAIL STEAMSHIP COMPANY. I should not close my sketch of the trip to Califor- nia without speaking of the great commercial Com- pany which seems destined to open new currents of commerce to the United States, as the Dutch East India Company did to Holland, and the British to Great Britain. Here, on the coast, the great link of Cali- fornia with the world outside, and its future connec- tion with newly-opened marts of commerce in the Orient, are through the Pacific Mail. This important commercial corporation, one of the most powerful and wealthy now existing in any country, are sailing a fleet of first-class steamers, such as many an old king- dom in Europe would be proud to possess. There are now some twenty-five large steamers floating their 23 THE NEW WEST. flag, with a combined capacity: of 61,474 tons, con- necting California with the Isthmus and New York ; while, on the other side, they are binding Japan and China to the Pacific coast, and, if the expectations of most Californians be well founded, are soon to turn a golden tide of commerce and travel from Asia to our far Western States, The remarkable success of this Company, iacreas- ing year after year, through such long, difficult, and expensive voyages, is a marked contrast to the failure of the American marine on the Atlantic, where sharp competition has driven us from the field. For a student of organization it is well worth inquiring to what this briUiant success is due. We believe it is especially owing to thorough organ- ization, and then to what we may call honesty ofworh. The present President of the Company is reputed to know every officer, and the detail of every ship, in all their large fleet. His associates in the office are thoroughly acquainted, each with his own branch. The Board of Management has men in it of cautious, far-reaching, organizing brains, and who are deter- mined that whatever public service the Company does, it shall be done thoroughly and ia good faith. The consequence is, through, all the extended administra- tion of this Commercial Board, there is thoroughness and exactness. The work is done, as they promise it shall be done. I have been exceedingly struck with this organiza- tion on this journey — a voyage altogether of some 5,300 miles through a hot climate, where a defect of ORGANIZATION. 23 management might bring about unpleasant results. Having traveled on most of the great Atlantic and European lines, I can truly say that I have never witnessed an equal organization, the only fault being some small defects in forwarding baggage on the Isthmus. Take the matter of coal alone, which, burned at the rate it is on a Cunarder, would cost the Company from $2,000 to $2,500 a day, while, by invention and economy, it is reduced on some of their steamers to some twenty-four tons a day, or some $530, and on theConsti- tutionio fifty tons, or some $1,100 per diem. On their steamers running between San Francisco and Japan, over five thousand miles, with one thousand seven hundred tons of dead weight, two thousand tons of merchandise, and one thousand five hundred passen- gers with baggage, and an average speed of two hun- dred and twenty sea knots per day, the coal con- sumption is only forty tons per diem. The fire-alarm was tried several times on the voyage with a perfect organization. On the Henry Chauncey more than a dozen streams were playing in about two minutes and a half, and the boats were all manned. Near Cuba, a man fell overboard, and went down nearly a mile astern. Within ten minutes, the steamer was stopped, a boat put out, the man picked up and brought aboard. The accommodations and table on both sides are unequaled, the latter even being provided with deli- cacies, such as canned fruits, canned vegetables, and fresh tropical fruit, seldom known at sea. The 24 THE NEW WEST. immense importance of cleanliness is recognized, and men are employed the whole time in sweeping and swabbing decks and guards. Every morning each state-room is carefully inspected by the officers of the ship, and the privies and closets are disinfected: neither of which useful sanitary provisions, so far as I have seen, are ever adopted on Atlantic steamers. The climate of the Pacific, no doubt, favors commo- dious and spacious arrangements, as it must also aid economy, for some of these steamers are sailed, it is said, with only a dozen sailors. No traveler could avoid being impressed with the moral order of these great floating hotels. We had on the Henry Chaun- cey and then on the Constitution, over a thousand passengers, thus brought together for three weeks. During that time there was no quarreling, no gambling, no hard drinking, and the Sundays were observed with more- seriousness and devotion than in most hotels on shore. Of course, much of this is due to the increasing civilization and good order of the Cali- fomian community, but much also to the strict regu- lations enforced by the Trustees of the Company. The religious community of the Pacific coast, we have reason to know, feel many obligations to Mr. McLane, Mr. POTTEE, and their feUow-managers for the good moral rules they have carried out on these ships. So exact is the organization that it is said the net returns of each trip of these steamers are as well known at the end of the voyage, as the profits of a petty retaU shop after the day's business is over. Most of the Captains of the line are old, experienced SUCCESS OF THE COMPAKY. 25 officers, several having been in the navy, and a good officer is not often allowed to be lost, even if he lie idle awhile. The results of years of this exactness and thorough- ness, of liberal providing where liberality is necessary, and of economy where saving must come ; of doing their work well and faithfully, have been to throw the main part of the traffic between the two coasts of America into the hands of this Company, and to furnish profits to the original stockholders such as are seldom gained. Their assets have increased from $4,000,000 in 1861, to $22,000,000 in 1868, during which time their profits were the enormous sum of $14,935,988. There has been, too, a wise and far-reaching pro- vision in the arrangements of the Company. The line does not depend alone on California. On our steamer were travelers to various parts of South America and to Australia and New Zealand, the latter connect- ing with English lines at the Isthmus. The last steamer from Aspinwall carried over forty British passengers from Australia, bound for England, vid New York. When Mexico is pacified, a great busi- ness will undoubtedly grow up on the Pacific side, between aU parts of Central and South America and California and New York. Freight is becoming a very important item. The Constitution brought down in sacks what would be equivalent to fourteen thousand barrels of flour from San Francisco for New York, and the last steamer had au equal amount. This export, of course, can not continue long, for it would be impossible for Califor- 26 THE NEW "WEST. nia to compete in wheat, in good seasons, with the Central West in the New York market, though it is said to cost less to carry a barrel of flour from San Francisco to New York than from fifty miles in the interior to the former city. But this serves to show how a good line opens commerce by taking advantage of special occasions and sudden wants. The boldest movement of the Company has been the starting of a new line of steamers between San Francisco and Japan and China. The opening trips have done better than was expected, and paid their expenses, with a profit. No great result could rea- sonably be expected for several years. Commerce has to be created with those distant and semi-barbar- ous countries. The Chinese are apparently thus far demanding our flour to a limited degree, but there seems no reason why China, with labor only ten cents a day and immense wheat-bearing districts, should not ultimately supply her own flour. From Japan there has been a demand for California manufactures. Whether this will continue is uncertain. It is equally uncertain whether our steamers can divert the teas from China to England or to New York, and transfer them to this new route. This line will certainly bring great numbers of Chinese emigrants, and such ^oods as are consumed by Chinese in California. It will also supply the whole Pacific slope with teas, and silks, and rice. It may accomplish even more. At all events, the far-seeing managers have deter- mined to make the trial. A new link of communica- tion of this kind creates new wants, and makes a ORIENTAL COMMEECE, 27 commerce. It will certainly divert much travel from China to Europe and America from the " Peninsular and Oriental" line. It is no doubt especially an effort to meet the vast changes in travel and commerce which are to begin when the Pacific Railroad is finished. In a few years, when the traveler from New York lands in nine days in San Francisco, the first-class passenger business by this line, vid the Isthmus, will be greatly diminished. Freights and emigrants will be their great reliance; Then their China line and a new European line may fill up the gaps made by the Pacific road in their income, and a new commerce with the Orient become as much a source of profit as has been the transfer of passengers to and from Cali- fornia. ^ Moreover, as California fills up with population, there must be an increased commerce by water to supply the country with luxuries, and to export its heavy commodities. I had always supposed that the Pacific Mail would be obliged to change its side-wheel steamers for pro- peDers, but they claim that they can run their boats now more cheaply than any propellers are run. The principal organizing brains of the line are Allan McLane and Howaed Potter, and these are men who look far beyond any immediate effects, and, with a noble ambition, seek to open new channels of commerce and civilization for their country and the world. The expectations current in New York of the gigan- 28 THE NEW WEST. tic effect to be produced on the growth of the city by the approaching commerce with the Orient, seem to me greatly exaggerated. It is not New York that the Pacific road or the cheapened transit by the Pacific Mail steamers, will most benefit. It is the whole Pacific slope, as far as the Central Basin, which is to feel the especial advantages of the new trade and the new emigration. San Francisco will grow under it, and the towns of the Sierras, and Nevada, and Utah ; but New York will be only distantly affected, and but little direct commerce, comparatively, take place be- tween it and the vast East by the new routes. And as to Chicago being especially benefited by it, or becoming a center of Oriental commerce and ex- change, it seems to me one of the wildest dreams of the sanguine American brain. CHAPTER II. CRYSTAL SPRINGS CANON. A FORTUNATE chance has placed me at once in a delightful retreat, with hospitable friends — one particu- larly refreshing after a long sea voyage, and which is really more characteristic of the country than the large cities. You leave San Francisco by the San Jos^ Railroad, one of the few railroads yet built in the State. The cars are comfortable, and the road seems well laid, passing over a country which the high winds have swept bare of trees, but which is covered with green grass and unusually gay wild flowers. The passengers look like any respectable railroad travel- ers on the Eastern coast, perhaps, on the whole, a tint ruddier and more robust, and fully as nicely dressed — the ladies often in quiet traveling dresses, and the gentlemen in good business suits, and gloved. We pass one or two picturesquely-built stone asylums or public institutions, and many modem suburban houses, ■\vitli numbers of wind-mills for supplying water. The names of stations are foreign, and every thing outside has a foreign air. After some twenty miles and an hour's time, we stop at San Mateo, a Kttle village, not unlike any of our new villages, though with a pret- tier stone church than is usual. The carriage drive now begins, and carries us by some roomy, comfort- able villas, such as one might see near Cleveland or 30 THE NEW WEST. Hartford, and then abruptly crossing a bright spark- ling stream, takes us along its banks a short distance, then over rolling hills, until we reach the Canon. Even in this brief glimpse of the open country, every thing is new. Half a dozen lamas are feeding in the fields which we skirt ; as we ride by, there is a scam- pering through all the fields of what look like gray squirrels with stumpy tails. Some stand on their little mounds and watch us. These are the ground- squirrels, that great pest to the California farmer, fairly honeycombing the ground and eating thousands of bushels of grain. No barns are visible, aU grain being stacked. There are few trees to be seen, except on the watercourses, and there they seem to have an unnaturally dark green color. The hills are rounded and worn smooth, different from any that one sees in the Eastern States in outline. The distant moun- tains are more sharp, conical, and volcano-like than on our coast. We now enter the dark Canon. That word is a happy legacy of the Spaniards, though no language has so many terms for mountain-features as our own. The cafion is not a guUy, for that is too small ; nor a valley, for that is too flat ; nor a gorge, or clove, or pass, or ravine precisely. It belongs to California ; its steep walls are the effect of cpuntless ages of rushing water, or they are the sides of a great split in the mountains made by the tremendous vol- canic forces which shaped this coast. It is darker deeper, more awful than our New England ravines, more abrupt than usual mountain passes. The Cry- stal Springs Canon, however, has more the character CEYSTAL SPRINGS CANON. 31 of a, wild Italian ravine. It was dark even at noon-day — the hard, well-watered road, smooth as a gentleman's avenue, winding in easy grades along the banks of a dashing crystal-clear stream, and beneath such weird trees. They were evergreen oaks {_Quer- cus crassipocula), different in effect from any tree I have any where seen, except now and then in Italy — precisely such as Salvator Rosa painted, and which a Ruskinian would say were impossible — heavy, moss- grown trunks, and great gray branches reaching out fantastically, without symmetry or harmony, the small twigs coming right out from thick arms, the branches of each tree twisted and contorted singularly, and the leaves a roof of small black green leaves, giving an impervious shade. These trees were often growing amid wild gray rocks, tossed about in great confu- sion, and covering the sides of the hills above. There was a singular romance and strange wild character to the whole ravine, which I never tired of while in California. It was a beautiful object to have so near a large city. The cottage where was my summer home was outside of the Canon, under some oaks, and on the verge of a considerable wood. The view there is characteristic ; — rounded yeUow hills, bare of trees, except occasionally dark green clumps with flattened tops, of evergreen oaks; the hills seem covered with grain to the very tops, but the crop is, in fact, generally wild oats, the great pasture in California, the seed no doubt originally dropped by the Spaniards, and, with that character- istic of domesticated plants, — a greater ability for the 32 THE NEW WEST. Struggle for existence' than the wild (because it has contended with more enemies), it has extirpated the wild grasses of the whole Pacific slope and covers now millions of acres. The hills opposite our cottage are green with a thick growth of forest, and my friend, with admirable taste, has laid out miles of walks un- der the close shade and among the fantastic oaks. Among the_tree-tops can be distinguished occasion- ally the magnificent dark green tops of the bay or laurel {Cal. Tetr anther a). There are elms on the low lands, and pines, oaks and beeches on the hills, the brush is fuU of game, which I shall begin to look after soon; and yet, though like, they are different animals from our own. The rabbits seem larger, and an enormous hare is seen occasionally ; the quail are smaller, and the male has a beautiful crown on the end of a thin sup- port of feather. These birds are not in season yet, and, as the game law is strict, they are undisturbed, and come out in flocks along all the paths. A pe- culiar feature of the woods are enormous rats' nests, some three feet high, made of twigs and moss. The small birds are all different from our own. A deer occasionally traverses the forest-openings to get to water, and now and then a " grizzly " is seen on the sides of the Canon. All is different from the Eastern coast ; the insects and ground animals are new, the musquitoes are smaller and more sluggish, the frogs have a strange note. We have come in at the end of the feast of wild flowers, but the meadows and hiU-sides are still gay with the most superb flow- WILD FLOWEBS. 33 ers. Evidently, many of our garden annuals are wild here. My wife never tires of gathering splendid bouquets of them, and decorating the house. Occa- sionally, as we walk through the forest, we are startled by coming suddenly on a bloody trunk, whose mus- cular, flesh-like branches have a singular resemblance to the preserved limbs of the human body in museums of anatomy, the Manzanita (Arctostaphylos glauca) / and we almost see the old metamorphosis — " Ilia dolet fieri lotigos sua brachia ranios * * * complectitur ingnina cortex," or the Madrona (^Arbutus Memiesii) with its trunk of a bright red, where the bark is stripped ofiF, attracts us. The woods are now sprinkled like snow with the white flowers' of the buckeye, a horse-chestnut (Cornus Nuttalii). On the far hills, toward the south, we can see the gigantic trunks of the superb "Red Wood" {Sequoia sempervirens), a most queenly tree, over two hundred feet high, and a near relative to the Big Trees. Its wood, polished and varnished, has a beautiful grain and rich color. We are here in the extreme western part of the coast range, and only one chain of high hiUs separates us from the ocean. These hills guard us from the tremendous winds which sweep over San Francisco ; at the same time, the air is cooled by the nearness to the sea. The dry season has begun ; dust (that great infliction of California) is gathering on the roads, and the meadows are becoming brown, but the air is like the elixir of life. The days remind me of the finest 34 THE NEW WEST. days under our Newport climate. A clear blue sky, a bright sunlight, with never a cloud ; at ten o'clock the day really too warm, when the delicious sea-breeze begins, and all is cool and bracing; the nights always cool, so that we invariably have an open wood- fire — though it is June — in the evening, and are glad of a pair of the splendid California blankets at night. One never tires under such an atmosphere. Of all human conditions, next to civilization and its advan- tages, the most important is climate ; perhaps, for personal happiness, it is more than all other material circumstances. Here, it seems to me, you have it as near perfection as man can attain without enervation. Just at this point, except in sheltered spots, the air is too cool for the vine and the fig; but wheat grows splendidly, and on hill-sides the peach, plum, and apple. Further in, in the coast range, every tem- perate and semi-tropical fruit grows in perfection. And in the same line with us are some of the finest dairy farms in the world. I hear of one north of the city with one thousand five hundred milch cows on it ; and there is one between us and San Francisco which must have hundreds. A friend of mine, with a truly Californian epigram, speaking of the immense Spanish cattle-ranches that used to be in existence here, says : "Those greasers,* they never know how to live! They had cattle on a thousand hills, and never a pint of milk to drink." Even now, as is well known, California has to import butter and cheese. * A name given to the Spanish- American aettlera. THE CLIMATE. 35 What has been accomplished already in a few such situations as this, shows what earthly paradises in the future will be created in the Californian Coast Range. The great enemies are dust in summer and mud in winter. But here, with a little care, this beautiful road through the Canon is kept smooth and free from dust, and, no doubt, in winter, paving or macadamiz- ing would greatly lessen the incumbrance of mud. For invalids needing a bracing climate, this part of the Coast Range is very favorable; but for consump- tives, a more inland, mild, and dry air would be bet- ter. Our winds are mainly from the sea, and yet the atmosphere has not the humidity to the feeling, of our own coast air. I observe, too, that decaying animal or vegetable substance does not give the same offen- sive odor as at home ; it dries up. The entire want of cloud or rain, the power of the sun, and the highly oxygenated character of the air, blowing over such vast spaces of salt water, must be the explana- tion of these phenomena. The whole region, and all its phenomena, seem to me more different from those of the Eastern coast, than Europe is from the Atlantic States. I am constantly wondering that people speak English. It seems to me that if a student of Nature from our coast were suddenly put down blind-fold in any portion of Cali- fornia, in the deepest forest, or on the mountain-top, and with only a few feet of horizon, he would know in an instant that he was not on the Atlantic slope, or in Europe. It is " The. New West." CHAPTER in. SAN FRANCISCO. I DOUBT whether the Puritan Fathers, when they landed on the rocky coast of New England in Decem- ber, had a harder task before them in building up a home, than the Americans, twenty-one years ago, who undertook to found a city on this bay. The site was simply a desert of sand, with hills of clay and sand, and a few ravines where grew the occasional low evergreen oaks which the violent ocean-winds per- mitted to exist. The air was filled with clouds of dust in summer, and the gulches and trails in winter were almost impassable with unknown depths of mud. There were no pleasant groves or green intervales such as must have greeted the first founders of New York, or deep forests such as sheltered the builders of Boston. Bare sand and rock were all the land- scape, and the few green trees in the garden of the Mission Dolores must have been the only vegetation to show what might be done, in beautifying the desert spot. But here American energy and perseverance have succeeded in founding a great city — mountains have been leveled and valleys filled up to accomplish it ; millions have been spent to subdue refractory Nature — water brought from a mountain-valley, twenty-five miles away, to bestow fertility on the barren site ; A CITY OF FLOWEBS. 37 beautiful lawns front many of the houses, flowers of indescribable richness and variety fiU every door- yard, exquisite shrubbery adorns the grass-plats ; there are long streets and hill-sides of comfortable houses with all the modern conveniences ; massive hotels equal to the best of our coast, handsome shops, large warehouses, churches — some of them of much beauty — school-houses and public buildings of taste and good architectural effect. The wonder is that so much could be accomplished with such an unprom- ising site and such refractory material during the space of twenty-one years. San Francisco should be called the '' City of Flow- ers." Such is the power of this divine climate, that it only needs a little patch of sand and mould, with plenty of water, to produce the most magnificent vegetation. Every house, with bits of yards like ours in New York, makes the most splendid show of flowers ; scar- let geraniums, ten feet high, lemon-verbenas which are small trees, fuchsias of immense size, callas in great bunches, splendid roses of many varieties, clambering vines, large cacti, gum-trees (Eucalypti) of Australia, and beautiful evergreens from Japan, Australia, and this coast — all left out through the year, and only needing plenty of water from the gar- den-hose. I have been much struck with a superb Norfolk Island pine in the yard of the post-office, which has been permitted to grow under the shelter of the buildings near by. A walk through the city is a constant study of botany. I never cease admiring the rich evergreens 38 THE NEW WEST. and magnificent flowers. Each householder keeps his garden-hose playing, morning and evening, and is rewarded soon by a paradise of vegetation. One of my friends tells me he makes his walking-sticks from his lemon-verbenas. In one yard I attempted to measure the height of a scarlet geranium which was fastened to a wall; it was over fifteen feet. Our friends, seeing our passion for these beautiful flowers, send us in superb bouquets. Our residence in the city is usually on Rincon HUl ; the views from this are most varied and beauti- ful, and in general the outlooks from the hills through- out the town are wonderfully fine. Its position, so far as water-aspect is concerned, is very fortunate. Few bays in the world can surpass this, both as a harbor, and for its grand sweep of view. One im- posing feature, which I afterward learned to watch as a landmark during hundreds of miles of journey, is the volcanic-like peak ofMt. Diablo, but few miles distant, a mountain only some 3,800 feet high, but, owing to its rising directly from a plaiu, commanding one of the greatest horizons to be seen from any mountain in the world. The few public buildings seem to me unusually good in effect —better than our new build- ingg in New York : such for instance as the Bank of California, the Merchants' Exchange, and the Aims- House in the suburbs. Montgomery street is a neat and pleasant business street, and some of the new streets have a fine appearance. The city, however, can never be an imposing one. The necessity of using wood, and the custom of building low (perhaps NEED OF PARKS. 39 from fear of earthquakes), and irregularity of size to the structures, deprive the streets of any grand air. With all the immense energy and great wealth of the citizens, Nature could never be utterly subdued. There are no large trees in the city, and no parks. One of our most experienced landscape gardeners who was here (Mr. Olmsted) believes that< under proper conditions, an agreeable park might be laid out. ■ The grounds would have to be somewhat sunken and pro- tected by hedges or otherwise from the sea-winds before shrubbery could be started ; but when a proper shelter was once secured, a little water, and this won- derfid climate would make the pleasure-grounds one of the gardens of the earth. A public-spirited citizen, who has succeeded so well with the What-Cheer- House, Mr. Woodward, has already opened some very pretty gardens to the public for a small entrance fee. The dust, too, of San Francisco has never been properly subdued. Why such an enterprising popu- lation should permit so many streets to be almost un- endurable from the clouds of sand, is not very com- prehensible. The wooden pavement, which answers better here, owing to the absence of frost, than in New York, and a more frequent use of the watering cart, will cure this great nuisance of the city. But the climate is the great charm of this city. It is the most exhilarating atmosphere in the world. In it man can do more work than any where" else, and under it he feels under a constant pressure of excite- ment. With a sun as of Italy, and a coast-wind cool 40 THE NEW WEST. as our November gales, and an air as crisp and dry as that of the high Alps, people work on, without let or relaxation, till they snap the vital cords suddenly. Few Americans here die gradually or of old age: they fall off without warning. The cool air of the Pacific blows into the heated land, through what may be called the keyhole of the State — the Golden Gate — and then diffuses itself like a fan through the country, so that in whatever direc- tion you travel from San Francisco, you travel with the wind, and, unfortunately, with clouds of dust too. Experienced travelers often attempt to avoid this great plague of California by going to many points by sea, and returning by land to the city, thus facing the wind. I have felt this "keyhole breeze" regularly every morning at eleven or thereabouts, even in the midst of the Sierras, a hundred miles away, in val- leys facing the west. In San Francisco it is this wind which especially modifies the climate. There is seldom a day too hot or too cold for out-door labor. Thick clothes are worn all the year long, and yet many people never have a fire in their grates. However warmly the day begins, before eleven comes the cool Pacific wind, and every one is glad of a thick coat. The winter is like the English summer, showery but delightful. Now and then, however, a rainy year comes, which makes a disagreeable season in winter. We may judge what a climate it is for fruits, for, on the first of January, green peas come in as strawberries go out. The summer is considered the severest season, and EFFECTS OF CLIMATE. 41 a melting hot day (if it accidentally come) is wel- comed. The objection to this city climate is the clouds of dust 'raised from the sand hills. The temp- tation, too, to overwork is excessive. There are none of those necessary resting spells which the "heated terms" on the eastern coast require of our hard-working citizens, and fewer of the useful vaca- tions which nature enforces in the diseases of our climate. As I have remarked, men die suddenly in this city ; and, as physicians assert, there is nowhere so much insanity in proportion to the population. But this is merely a matter of acclimation and habit of liv- ing. When society becomes more settled, people wiU learn to adapt themselves to the new conditions. The California Indians are said to have been remarkably long-lived. The more I examine the Californian capital, the more I am struck with its aspect as a city where Democracy has succeeded. Universal suffrage has had here its legitimate effect ; it has given the gov- ernment of affairs to the intelligent and moral classes, and those with most material interests. This may have arisen from the influence of large jiumbers of educated and energetic young Americans who early emigrated here, or it may be an effect of that tremen- dous outburst of moral power which overrode all the bounds of law and order, and put the elements of ras- cality and devilishness under foot for a generation to come — ^the revolution under the Vigilance Committee, thirteen years since. However it be explained, it is certain that the city is much better governed than any 42 THE NEW WEST. of our eastern cities. The police is good, the citizen is safe in the lowest streets ; fires are less frequent and destructive than with us, though the houses are of the most combustible nature ; there is little open and repulsive vice ; gambling is held in with a tight rein ; the streets are dirty, it is true, but cleaner than those of New York ; the schools (of which I shall speak more hereafter) and the school system are the best ; the Sunday is better observed than in New York. It is evident that the intelligent and moral element has the control, and keeps it vigorously. And all these results, be it remembered, have been obtained, not from the State, as with us, but by universal suffrage in the city. Of course there is jobbery here, as else- where, and the low and immoral elements get a voice sometimes; but, on the whole, the city seems well governed. There are other evidences, too, of high civilization : the churches are well attended, especially by men ; there are excellent libraries and reading-rooms, with large memberships ; social clubs, with handsome rooms and all the appliances of comfort ; institutions of charity ^nd benefaction for the orphan and the homeless and young criminal. One finds, beside, many houses where refinement and true taste prevail, and where much hospitality is shown. The great social evil of the city seems to be, how- ever, the hotel life. Large numbers of people, who ought to be keeping house, live, whether from laziness or supposed economy, alone, or with their families, in hotels or boarding-houses. From this kind of life HOTEL LIFE. 43 come the scandals which so much disgrace the city, and the bad gossip which is so prevalent here. Here ar3 brought out the fast and loud young girls we meet so much while traveling in California ; and here the young men, many of them foreigners, learn the free- and-easy manners with ladies which so destroys, on both sides, all the charm and grace of intercourse. This is not the fruit, it should be remembered, of the refinement of San Francisco, but mainly of this hotbed life in public places. CHAPTER IV. THE FUTDEE OF SAN FRANCISCO. Nature seems to have given a premonition that the Califomian capital was to be the great city of this coast, for no one is comfortable traveling from it to the inland, heat and dust increasing, owing to the prevailing winds ; and, as you approach it, you ap- proach healthy breezes, cool air, and a pleasant climate. Few will ever permanently live in the interior of California that can help it.* The villages, like the present mining-towns, will be " camps," where people make a campaign for fortune, but from which they return to the capital to enjoy the prizes of victory. All the fortunes accumulated now in the central plains, or the mines of the Foot HiUs and the Sierras, either leave the country or are poured into the great city of the coast. The complaint is that no one stays in the country beyond the Coast Range. There can * The following is from the Evening Bulletin ; " The Union, noticing the yolne of lands in Santa Clara Connty, as classified in the BuUetin some days ago, calls attention to the cheaper lands yet open to settlement along the Foot Hills of the Sierra. We have heretofore pointed ont the advantages of these lands for settlement. There is a desire which amounts almost to a mania in the mining towns to settle near the coast, or, as it is called, ' aroond the Bay.* People liv- ing in the mountains, away from farms, and oppressed a port of the year by excessive heat, imagine often that all extremes are modified, so that the happy mean can be found any where along the coast. But they forget the winds and fogs which push the wheat crops and vineyards well back to the hills ; and that accessible lands in proximity to the sea already bear a relatively high price." ATTRACTIONS TO COAST. 45 never be, outside of the valleys of this Range, a great class in California of rich farmers, or squires, or coun- try gentlemen, or even (permanently) prosperous and comfortable villages. The inevitable law of climate will force every one who can, to reside near the coast, and the immense attractions of San Francisco and the neighborhood will draw all wealth and culture toward it. The interior is dry, hot, and dusty, with a parched landscape, where, except on the mountains, shade-trees grow with great difficulty. To build at- tractive homes in such a region, is a work of immense toil. In the winter the roads are almost impassable, and all social communication is excessively impeded. No doubt, whatever the inventive brain and unbound- ed energy of our countrymen can accomplish to over- come the obstacles of Nature, will be done ia the in- terior, even as equal obstacles have been overcome on the coast. The bare and sunny hills will be covered with vineyards, the treeless plains will be irrigated, orchards and the trees of Australia will take the place of our shade-trees, railroads will be built, and there will be many a pretty village on the slopes of the Sierras ; still, wealth will never remain there ; fortunes will always be spent on the coast. Even the valleys of the Coast Range itself, as one ap- proaches the eastern border (for it must be remem- bered that this so-called '' Range " is really a wide tract of mountain, hill, valley, and intervale), are ex- ceedingly uncomfortable in summer, and very difficult of access in winter. There is something almost pa- thetic in the immense efforts made in some of these 46 THE NEW WEST. valleys to contrive places of amusement or summer resort for the San Franciscans. The '' Springs " are generally little wooden houses, scattered about in a flat, treeless vaUey, under the focus of a reverberat- ing furnace of hills, where the heat reaches 100 de- grees in the shade, and whose only ornaments, after great expense, are a few young and straggling orna- mental shrubs. They are said all to be non-paying enterprises in competition with the capital and the coast. Within seventy miles from San Francisco there is a fertile valley where, I am assured, the wheat will have to be fed to hogs, so difficult is it of access. Besides the concentration of farmers and the people who desire to spend their money, climate assures to San' Francisco the superiority in manufactures over the interior. Here laborers can do more work than any where else in California. There will be fewer days lost from heat or cold. Energy is greater here. The labor of each man is more efficient. Capital can accomplish more and derive greater profits in this city than in the same branches elsewhere. The population will be the most industrious working population in the world. Moreover, education must center here. No parent who desires to send his child away for educa- tion, would think of sending him to Stockton, or the towns in the mountains, even if they possessed the most distinguished institutions, for the climate is too trying away from the coast. A pretty suburb of San Francisco, Oakland, across the Bay, is already draw- ing to itself all the best educational institutions and SAN FRANCISCO AS A POET. 47 most intelligent society of the State. Here, under a climate even milder than that of the capital, and yet cool and invigorating, children from the whole Pacific coast are being educated, and this is undoubtedly to be the intellectual center of the whole region west of the Sierras. Climate compels it. Every one knows that Nature, so far as commercial relations are concerned, has evidently intended this city to be the outlet and entrepot of the Pacific coast. Every link of communication and commerce must end here. There is no port on the coast, from Victoria to Panama, which can for a moment compare with San Francisco in natural advantages. She has an imme- diate back-country which so far surpasses that of New York in the production of fruit and grain, as Illinois sur- passes Connecticut. She is linked, by steamboat and railroad, to the richest wheat-lands and orchards and gardens ever granted by a bountiful Nature to the hand of man. The whole mining interest of this State and Nevada empties its golden and silver streams into this port. She must feed and clothe and purchase for the whole mining population of the Sierras, and for the interior. All the trade with the northern coast and Oregon, in ice, fish, timber, and grain, cen- ters here, and equally the commerce in tropical fruit, wheat, hides, quicksilver, bullion, and manufactures with Mexico and South America. .Here will be the terminus and outlet of the great Pacific Railroad, the expectations from which are no doubt greatly exag- gerated, but which must pour in cheap labor here, and supply the central part of the continent with teas, 48 THE NEW WEST. clothing, and provisions from the Pacific coast. Here, too, is to be the opening of the new and as yet utterly unknown trade with the Oriental countries and the British colonies. The imagination which sees in the coming centuries new and vigorous Anglo-Saxon Republics on the islands of the Southern Ocean, and beholds an awakening and a new growth of the Oriental societies in Japan and China, and pictures the great bonds of commerce in steamer and railway which will connect Europe and the hundred millions of the Ameri- can Republic with the industry, invention, and natu- ral products of the vast East, and their teeming populations, and then remembers that the only outlet and link of this immense commerce and travel must be through this Golden Gate of the California capi- tal — may well be pardoned for the most extravagant expectations of the future of this City. The inhabi- tants evidently have fully entered into this dream of the future. The prices of city-lots are a good evi- dence. It is plainly a city of expectations. A stranger entering it, and hearing the conversation of the citi- zens, would at once imagine this was the capital of millions of population. He soon learns with surprise that the whole population of California is only about half that of New York city and suburbs, some 500,000, and that of this, San Francisco has about the quar- ter — 125,000. But the citizens are right. Such is the wonderful quality of nature here, and the selected energy of the Americans, that the five hundred thousand are equal to millions elsewhere. CHAPTER V. BUILDING ASSOCIATIONS THE MINT SOCIAL, LIFE. It is remarkable that San Francisco should have already excelled New York in one of those contriv- ances of civilization which enable the laboring man to have a home. Every one knows that with us the great misfortune of the laboring and mechanical classes is that they are forced to live crowded in tenement or boarding houses, and that their families have not the pleasures and advantages of a separate house. The inventive brain of the ingenious popula- tion on this coast has early seen and guarded against this risk. Land is as high, relatively to the wealth, in and around this city, as about New York. Interest is much higher, and it is proportionately much more difficult for poor men to borrow. But every mechanic and small shop-keeper and laborer is anxious to possess his own house, and he is enabled to attain it in the following manner : He has saved, we will suppose, five hundred dol- lars, with which he has purchased a small lot in the city or its suburbs. With the purchase deed in hand, he goes to the associations called the '* Building, Loan, and Savings Societies," and attempts to get a loan on his lot, for the purpose of building. The So- ciety first satisfy themselves of the soundness of the title, and the value of the ground, and then load, say ,50 THE NEW "WEST. three-quarters of the sum, on a mortgage upon the property. This they can safely do, on account of the increasing value of real estate here, and the improve- • ments purposed. The mechanic then makes his first contract with the carpenters and begins his building. With this contract to present to the Society, he now secures another loan, we will say of five hundred dol- lars, giving them a lien on the house, which shall take precedence even of "the mechanic's lien," and this loan is to be payable in monthly installments. In this way he may build a house worth one thousand or one thousand five hundred doUars, repaying also a portion of the loan, monlhly, from his savings, and giving the Association the security of the building, and the en- hanced value of the ground. As interest, he only pays monthly, at the rate of ten or twelve per cent, per annum. Frequently, a person from another class, a professional or business man of moderate means, not having sufficient ready money at once to build a home, or not wishing to disturb profitable investments, secures a loan on similar terms from these Savings and Building Associations, and is enabled to have a comfortable house. The result of this happy contriv- ance is that this city and its suburbs are full of what to an economist's eye ought to be the happiest bight — poor men's homes. So good is the security ihat but little has ever been lost by these associations, and their annual dividends are from ten to fifteen per cent. One, the Hibernia Savings and Loan Society, re- ceived, in 1867, $6,247,045 in deposits, and loaned BUILDING SOCIETIES. 51 $5,939,773, earning on this S312,086, and having on hand a reserve fund of $146,493, and cash, $518,426. The Savings Union received, in 1867, $1,312,313 in deposits, and loaned $1,259,258, earning $84,206, and having on hand $109,644. The Building, Loan, and Savings Society have a capital stock and deposit of $850,000, and have declared a dividend of one and a half per cent, a month. Their loans are not stated. Of these associations, the Hibernia declares ten per cent., the Savings Union ten on ordinary and fifteen on " term deposits," and others, which I have not men- tioned, reach as high as sixteen per cent. The great pro- portion of their loans is made for building-purposes. It will show the prosperity of the laboring classes in this city, to mention that four savings societies present now an aggregate amount of deposits of $12,896,239, and eight of $17,165,597. The principal part of these deposits was from servants and laborers. The aggregate deposits in the State average $640 to each positor, and in the city, $720. In New York State, the average is $270 to each depositor ; in Massachu- setts, $214 ; in Rhode Island, $340 ; in Connecticut, $239.60; and in Boston $191. But in California the deposits are gold. In other words, with flour at present rates, the average deposits in New York are equal to seventeen barrels of flour for each person, and in San Francisco, to one hundred and six barrels — or six times as much. Probably, in no city of the world, are the laboring classes in such prosperity. Almost every mechanic has his nice little house and flower-garden ; and as 52 THE NEW WEST. you go about among the people, you hear of this lady's cook having a thousand dollars in bank, or this one's chambermaid owning a city lot, or another's hired man already possessing a farm worth a thou- sand or two. Unlike the higher classes, they do not throw their wages into gambling mining speculations, but are said to invest in land, or to deposit ia savings banks ; and with interest at from ten to fifteen per ■ cent., these deposits accumulate fast. San Francisco must be a kind of paradise for fe- male servants. A "girl of all work " gets $30 a month in gold, with her expenses scarcely greater than in New York ; chambermaids receive from $20 to $25, and good female cooks even as high as $45. Male servants do not receive so high in proportion. A cook for laboring men will receive $40, ranch cook, $50 per month ; coachmen, $40 ; a farm hand of all work, $60 ; and even a Chinaman gets often $1.50 a day and food. Good teamsters get from $60 to $70 a month ; blacksmiths, $75 ; carpenters from $3 to $4 a day, and board, in the country ; rough car- penters from $50 to $60 a month; and a boy on a stock-ranch will receive $25. It wiU be imagined that under such wages, with flour at $6 to $7 (gold) a barrel, and beef at twelve to twenty cents, the savings of the laboring classes accumulate rapidly, and the laborer is often the capitalist at the same time. Perhaps in the opposite condition of things in New York will lie the difficulty of inaugurating building- associations, for our mechanics, with all their high LABOR EXCHANGE. 58 wages, are not saving much, and it may be that they could not pay the installments on these building loans. But in a large city like New York, there are certaialy enough persons with moderate savings, who would gladly borrow to build on such terms, but who now are not enabled to have their own houses, and are forced to the discomforts of tenement houses, or of boarding-houses, and to see their children growing up under evil associations. Who will imitate the Califomians in remedying this evil ? THE LABOE EXCHANGE. One of the remarkable instances of the intelligence and humanity of this new community was the estab- lishment, in 1868, of the "Labor Exchange." Before that year, San Francisco had always had more work than workers, but, owing to the cheap fare of the steamers, thousands of laborers were then suddenly poured into the city, and the question was " what to do with them ? " The Exchange was immediately organized by the citizens, and the unemployed labor at once trans- ferred to the rural districts. Here is a statement of its workings for the first twenty-three days : " On April 27, the California Labor and Employment Exchange opened its doors for business, and by Friday evening. May 22, four- teen hundred and seventy-five persons had been furnished with em- ployment without fee or charge. Men who have been hanging about the city for weeks, looking vainly for jobs, and never happening to apply at the right place at the right moment, have been brought into communication with employers who needed their services. Farm laborers, plowmen, milkers, and teamsters, who were anxious for work, but who were afraid to set out on tedious tramps over the 54 THE NEW WEST. length and breadth of the State in search of engagements, have been dispatched direct to the places where their services are required. The Exchange has placed over fifteen hundred men in employment, but yet it has not been able to fill every demand. The orders of em- ployers wanting workmen have been larger than the supply of work- people. The Exchange could have found situations for twenty-five hundred men of the particular qualifications wanted, had they pre- sented themselves. "The greatest number of orders have been for general laborers; of these, demands for nine hundred and two had been registered up to Friday evening. The wages offered have ranged from $1.50 to $2 per day, and from $25 to $50 per month when boarded. The wages, both with and without board, are computed in gold coin. For farm laborers, demands for one hundred and twenty-three have been re- gistered at wages from $1.50 to $2 per day without boai;d, and $30 to $45 per month with board. For teamsters, sixty-eight orders were registered, at wages, without board, of $2 per day, and $25 to $35 per month with board. For lumbermen, thirty-six demands were registered, and the wages "offered per month are $25 to $50, and even higher for skilled Canadians. For tracklayers, railroad hands, thirty demands were registered at $2 per day. For wood-choppers, thirty- three demands, at $1.50 to $2 per day, or $40 per month and found. For house painters, twenty-six, at $3 to $4. For carriage painters, five demands, at $3 per day. For milkers, twenty-eight demands, at $30 to $40 per month and found. For stone masons, fifteen demands, and the wages offered are $3 to $5 per day. For sash and blind makers, ten demands, at $2 to $4.50 per day, according to skill. For quartz miners, ten demands, wages offered, $40 per month and board. For wagon makers, nine demands, with offers of $3.50 to $4 per day without board, and $60 per month with board. The above are the demands in a few trades, selected almost at random, from the books of the Exchange. Hardly a trade, except such manufactures as have not yet been established on the coast, is unrepresented in the Secretary's list of demands. It is a significant hint, however, that among all the twenty-five hundred demands, only one employer sent an order for a clerk. Let the young gentlemen in this city who are wasting their lives in the vain hope of something " turning up," and those abroad who think of immigrating to California, notice this. In the twenty-three first days the office has been open, there were twenty-four hundred and ninety nine applications for men who could perform some one of the several varieties of manual labor, and only THE MINT. 55 one for a, clerk. The men who persist in their search for easy clerk- ships, after that intelligence, must indeed have hopeful temperaments : they must have the spirit that will hope on when all ground foi; hope is dead." — Evening Bulletin. THE SAN FRANCISCO MINT. One of the best examples of organization and hon- estj on this coast is the United States Mint of this city, under one of those gentlemen who at once inspire con- fidence, even in an acquaiatance — K. B. Swain, Esq. It would hardly be interesting to my readers to give a technical discription of this most important estab- lishment. At first sight, it seems a center of reck- lessness and waste : piles of gold and silver bars lie on trucks or scattered about in hea,ps ; bags of gold dust are emptied out, while crucibles of the precious metal are melted and ladled out, as if it were melting lead ; ingots are pressed, or chipped, or thrown around as if they were of clay, and bushels of yellow double- eagles and eagles, or bright half-dollars, are poured out and measured. " Surely some chips or fragments must disappear, or particles will go up the chimney, or workmen will carry off occasional pieces," is always said. And when to this is added the fact that this gold and silver comes from twelve thousand different depositors, and that it requires sixty thousand separate assays, we may judge what honesty and organization are required in the management of such an establish- ment. So necessary is loss or wastage, that the Gov- ernment allows one-fifth of one per cent, on the amount of bullion manipulated. This legal wastage in gold would be in one year, $59,810.52, for this mint : un- 66 THE NEW WEST. der Mr. Swain's management, it was, in fact, but $2,126.30 in 186G. And in silver, there was not only no loss, but a gain of $3,114.04 (owing to the silver ccntainedin gold), though the legal loss was $3,290.80. " The exhibit of the coiner is fully as remarkable. The amount of gold bullion, delivered to Mr. Schmolz, coiner, during the year 18G6, was $29,948,725.21. The amount returned by him during the same period was $29,947,221.83; showing his actual wastage to be $1,503.38 ; the legal limit being $44,923.08. The amount of silver bullion delivered to him during the year was $956,549.05 ; the amount returned by him was $956,500.67. Actual wastage, $48.38; legal limit, $1,913.10. In other words, the gold wastage of the melter and refiner was 3.56-lftO per cent, of the limit allowed by law ; the gold wastage of the coiner being 3.34-100 per cent. ; and the coiner's silver wastage, 2.53-100 per cent, of the legal limit. ]**C6. Legal lAmii. Coiner's actual loss (gold) $1,503 33 $44,923 G8 Coinep's actual loss (silver) .48 38 ] 913 10 M. & E. actual loss (gold) 2,126 30 59,810 52 $3,078 CO $106,640 70 M. & E. actual gain (silver) $3,114 64 3,290 80 Total actual loss $563 42 $109,937 50 " The manipulation of $30,000,000, with a loss of a little over $500, is imprecedented in the history of the tlnited States Mint and its branches. The wastage of the preceding three years, un^er the present ar- rangement, has been almost equally remarkable." It may be imagined that such a result is not gained A MISSING GOLD-PIECE. 57 without great care and labor. All the walls, pits, troughs, flues, chimneys, and floors, are carefully cleaned and scraped, " chemical detectives" are called in to detect a missing particle of gold, the grating under the feet catches many portions, and even the clothes of the workmen are never taken from the building, but are burned at the end of the year, and the gold particles in them are returned to the crucible. So close is the accountability of one department to another, that a five dollar piece was missed recently, and traced from one room to another, and finally came down to one very honest and respectable employe. He could give no account of the loss, but offered to resign if the Superintendent entertained any suspi- cion. The whole matter, however, was cleared up by a lucky thought of the watchman to look into the ofiice coat of the suspected employ^, where the miss- ing piece was found caught in some portion of the garment. I was glad to see that one important branch was entirely carried on by women — that is, the weighing of the coins. This very nice work is said to be better done by women, from their more delicate touch. They are only occupied some five hours a day, and receive high wages — I think $75 a month. It is interesting to hear of the confidence of the miners, in this "institution." Packages of bullion will lie for years unclaimed, and deposits often come without any demand for voucher, or receipt, and some- times without the depositor's name. The Mint was established in 1854, and, since that 3* 68 THE NEW "WEST. time, has coined over $240,000,000, or half the amount coined by the Philadelphia Mint since 1793. It had accommodations for coining $5,000,000 per annum. The coinage has usually quadrupled this esti- mate of the Government I in 1865, under Superinten- dent Swain, reaching $22,000,000. In one quarter of that year, $7,000,000 were coined, $2,000,000 more than the estimated annual coinage. The de- posits that year amounted to $22,000,000, of which California contributed $12,000,000 (gold), Idaho, $3,- 000,000 (silver), Oregon, $1,000,000 (silver). These figures are about the average proportion. MINT STATISTICS. 59 I S SE> O 1 , , , 5b« a . d o d ea o d d o o d d M 1 Per centa of ExpeoE to Eevei] Derived S& S, g. S. Sf. » S(. 00 3=. o„|o^ o« o„ o^ = n (M M i-H 00 en rH w = CD 03 m c- u^ M OI (M "U" 03 C* ■* 1 -H W r-l M 1-1 i-i rH Ol Ol CO OJ s ■* « ~^ in S2 t- M O) s ■* i-i ^ p-l t- •f ■^ OJ GO C4 b- n <=> \ el's 1-H t- o i-< ■^ s • CO o of a "* c c " !0 a c a OC pT V £ " H r-H iH rH o ^ If a e" cc O] ^ M O) Total Coinage hargeB o: talEeven &5 g I ^ ■^ cv a s i S ^ s o_ 'il 1 & o: OS t- cr (O ' tc c ' c c t^ ~ o ffi 1 f£ a (O £ * I 5i S M H O o g g s ■ s s g g 1 ft c C c c c o .": |2|= -i r 1 8Ssiis||s|ig||s|i EOpq G C C s T- s g s CO •! ^ a T- DQ D ^ N 1 iA tto O ( ^J 5 Is oo § i| ■v H 6 S S i ■g g i g 1 g g —. bD o c c ^1 siis^ 5m i iui 1^1 |i|i m U\l H ^* Ir fill ^ o> CO t- C4 _^ ■* s? M ■* c- iH iH t- o n b i> H c 02 U r , ^ ^ ? 5 p3 ? F n P P- . CQ 4-1 F3 fe t( h h ti »H ^ (h t- u S 1 ID s s s Q s s d Q. m -S P- ^ ^ ^ ^ .2 ,£ rC ,£ 11 E 1 £] s "a CO a (S a |2i C p _p fi P a 2 P _P^_ i> a a ■sjoai s i s a 2 2 1 ^ s 60 THE NEW WEST. EIGHT-HOUE LAW. Though the condition of the California laboring classes is so remarkable in point of comfort and prosperity, the great movement of Labor against Capital in the Eastern States — ^the effort to gain a larger share of the profits of capital by means of an "Eight- Hour Law" — ^has reached the Pacific slope. I witnessed a most imposing, well-dressed, and orderly procession of mechanics and laborers, who were combining to get ten hours' wages for eight hours' work. The men looked precisely like our mechanics at home, perhaps a shade more sun-burnt, but strong, active, and intelligent. There is some- thing always impressive in any great movement of the laboring class; and this or similar combinations are sweeping round the civilized world. They are perfectly legitimate on the part of the laborers, and, like trades unions and strikes, they are combinations against capital, and the only method that the laborer has of securing a larger portion of the profits of his employment. But, on the other hand, capital has an equally good right to oppose them, and secure all it can from the production which could not be carried on without it. The hosh which many of our papers utter about this struggle, and the passage of eight- hour laws by our Legislatures, seem to me in the highest degree absurd. Here, in California, however, the movement is pe- culiarly unjustifiable, and in its results, likely to be very injurious to the public interest. Labor has now an enormous share of the profits of production, as is EIGHT-HOUK LAW. 61 shown bv its condition, in the facts mentioned above. Capital is becoming more abundant and enjoys less profits, 'as is proved by the low rate of interest, com- pared with that of former years. Large numbers of the laborers are now capitalists. This effort to raise the rate of wages twenty-five per cent, will either force capital to emigrate to more profitable fields, or win compel it to introduce cheap labor, which wiU benefit the State, but not the Eight- Hour party. In the mean time, a great deal of production will be in- terrupted, and the development of the State retarded. From all we can hear, the eight hour movement will soon fall to the ground. Great corporations, like the Pacific Mail Company, are already closing some of their works till they can introduce cheaper labor, and all employers have the great resource of Chinese emi- gration to turn to, for cheap and sufficiently indus- trious working men. One good custom in San Francisco, is selling al- most all products of the soil by weight instead of measure. This ought to be the practice everywhere in the United States, and would be much fairer to the consumers. A singular result of the want of competition on small dealers here, is that the vine-growers are glad to sell the Mission grape at a cent and a half a pound on the vineyards, and do not dispose of nearly all their product, while"" the retailers never take less than five cents, and often get ten cents, and yet a great deal rots on their hands. The want of small change works badly, too, against the consumer. Thus, if I 62 THE NEW "WEST. want to buy a newspaper whose price is ten cents and pay a quarter, I get back ten, losing twenty-five per cent, on the transaction ; so with all retail purchases. The dealers themselves, however, buy in quantities, and do not lose. It is like our uncertain standard of value in the Eastern States : the loss is always on the consumer. Smaller change than a "bit" (a dime) is seldom seen. What a contrast to South Grermany, where one receives change to one-tenth of a cent ! THE MANUFACTUBES OF SAN FEANCISCO. The manufactures of this city are already a most important branch of its business, and are estimated to reach the value of $25,000,000 annually. They are, however, in the hands of comparatively few cap- italists. Thus the Rolling Mills, the Golden City Chemical and Assay Works, and the Powder Mills belong to not more than thirty stockholders. The three Woolen Mills have not more than a dozen stock- holders, though with a capital of $3,000,000, and pro- ducing about $2,000,000 worth of goods annually. Eight millions of the manufacturing stocks of the city are said to be owned by not more than fifty pei^ sons. Nothing in woolen manufacture in the world, surpasses the blankets inade here in the Mission Woolen Mills. They would make our housekeepers' eyes water to see them. The ordinary white house- blanket, for fifteen dollars (gold), are far beyond any- thing in our market, and the magnificent twenty-five dollar white blankets (used mainly as gifts) are im- mensely superior to any European goods. This is CALIFOKNIA BLANKETS. 63 owing partly to the quality of the wool, and partly to the fact that there is no temptation to use cotton in the manufacture. I went over the grand factory ; Chinese were managing almost every loom, their wa- ges generally being about one dollar per diem. The best camping and army blankets are made here. Remarkably good ladies' cloaks and woolens for business suits are also manufactured in this city. Of these three woolen mills, the Pioneer employs 350 hands, and run 72 looms and 6,000 spindles. They manufactured in 1866, 30,000 pairs blankets, 60,000 yards broadcloth and cassimeres, and 375,000 yards flannels. The Mission Mills, of whose blankets I have spoken, employ 425 hands, and have 50 looms, and 5,000 spindles. In 1866, they manufactured 80,000 pairs blankets, 125,000 yards broadcloth and cassi- meres, and 500,000 yards flannel and cloakings. The third mill is at MarysviUe. Among the other manufactures of the city and neighborhood, are Mayer's cotton wadding and bat- ting — production about 2,000 pounds per day; and cotton goods from the Oakland Cotton Manufacturing Company- — annual product, about 100,000 yards shirt- ing and 50,000 yards sheeting. In cordage, the Pa- cific Manufactory turns out about 2,000,000 pounds, assorted work. The various assaying establishments are important, assaying in 1867, $31,608,509 worth of gold and silver. There are also Chemical Factories, Oil Worhs, Pe- troleum Refineries, and Glass Worhs. The Iron Foundries, Boiler Shops, and Boiling Mills 64 THE NEW WEST. are very successful manufacturing enterprises. The value of iron manufactures for 1867, was $1,041,189. In the Pacific Iron Works, I was fortunate in making the acquaintance of one of the leading managers, Mr. Ika p. Rankin — a gentleman of such intelligence and character as to give one a high impression of the business men of California, whom he so often represents in public matters. Great quantities of mining machinery are being made in this and other factories for the whole Pa- cific slope and Mexico : — one quartz mill has been sent even to North Carolina. !rhere are also lead works, saw mills, flour mills, rice mills, sugar refineries, leather, shoe, clothing, and furniture factories. Breweries are found in almost every town of the State ; and, owing to the quality of the hops, the beer of the Pacific States is far su- perior to our miserable mixture in the Eastern States. Gold and silver manufacture is, of course, a highly important ^iranch of business and the work frequently shows a great deal of taste. The principal establish- ments are those of Tdcker, Sheeve, and Robert Sherwood. There are many other successful branches of manu- facture which it is not necessary to describe here. SOCIAL LIFE. Society in San Francisco has the defects of society in New York, much aggravated, with but few of the corresponding good qualities of the Atlantic city. There is no unity to it ; it is broken up into innu- SOCIAL LIFE 65 merable cliques and sets, and there are very few houses which can gather in them the best men, representing each his department, or profession, or craft. The general tone estimates each man by- money, and T think there is a profound but concealed contempt for any one living mainly for ideas or prin- ciples, the results of whose work are not shown by pecuniary rewards. There is a certain clique of the suddenly-rich, mining speculators, successful stock-gamblers, and others, who indulge in the most unbounded extrava- gance of living — giving parties costing many thou- sands of dollars, and displaying all that is possible in equipage and jewelry. Connected with these, are various women of a more or less doubtful position, whose previous history is uncertain, and whose present means of living and display are unknown. This set, however, is an exception. The most of the people are just such plain, intelligent, active per- sons as one sees in New England towns — living, how- ever, with less hospitality, and in poorer houses. Here and there are families of much cultivation and refinement, and with neat, Enghsh-like, comfortable homes. The expense of servants, cramps of course all house-keeping ; but the few each family has, are far smarter and cleverer than ours in the Eastern cities; they are evidently the best of their class. As might be expected, they feel their position grea;tly, and give their mistresses no end of trouble. If the troubles of mistresses with servants are a meas- ure of the prosperity of the working classes, in Cali- 66 THE NEW WEST. fornia the laborers must be in an El Dorado. With one family I know, the chambermaid left because the lady spoke disrespectfully of her "beau"; the cook gave warning because the waitress reflected on her personal appearance ; and if, at any time, it should happen that the overflowing tables of the Califomians have delicacies which the domestics do not share, they are liable to take summary leave. As a general thing, each family of moderate means has one smart girl, at thirty dollars per month wages, who does all the work. The curse of Californian society is its evil-speak- ing. It is rare to hear any one well spoken of. There seems to be hardly a name so honored as not to have a shade of scandal on it. One reason may be the fact that every individual is thoroughly known, and peccadillos and sins which, in our crowd- ed communities are forgotten or never brought to light, are there open and remembered. The tlistance, too, from the great world cultivates the habit of small interests and petty gossip. Then, no doubt, many men and some women, when they first came here, felt themselves somewhat beyond the restraints of moral- ity and civilization, and gave way to actions of which they would be ashamed now. No American commu- nity ever had so many energetic and educated men in proportion to its numbers, and none so many adven- turers. The fault in the foundation of society has reached the top, and will aflFect all future structures built upon it. California began its growth with mining spec- ulation ; the fever of those first years of tremendous SPECULATION. 67 excitement will never altogether leave the blood of her people. Venture — on a grand scale, it is true — and specida- tion, and throwing for great chances, will always characterize them. Plodding, patient industry will never stand in as high esteem on the Pacific coast, as with us. The same peculiarities reach every de- partment of life. People have a passion for achiev- ing great results at once, and are too often indifferent as to the means. A friend of mine, a clergyman of much esprit, speaking of a well known agent of the Pacific Mail Company, whose stiff integrity had annoyed some of the citizens, said to me, with a characteristic epigram " It makes those Califomians wince and howl to strike against even a chip of the Rock of Ages !" The " pessimists " here always say, " The worst about the Califomians is that you cannot depend on them ! " A distinguished savant said to me, " The thing that has annoyed me most, is that every one lies so ! " (mean- ing more especially the mining people). I think, how- ever, this is all exaggerated. Old experienced busi- ness men, of the highest integrity, assert that they have nowhere known business, in the older States, conducted on such honorable principles. I, myself, have happened to know a number of instances of CaU- fornians refusing to take advantage of legal oppor- tunities where much profit could have been made, from those with whom they were dealing. And take such a fact as this, stated by Mr. Cole, Senator from California, in the United States Senate: 68 THE HEW WEST. " In support of what I have said in behalf of the officers on the Pacific side, I will call attention to a statement which I have received from the Treasury Department, in reference to the whisky tax. The amount of tax upon whisky collected in the ten dis- tricts included within the cities of New York and Brooklyn — that is, the first nine districts of New York and the Thirty-second District of New York — reached, last year, the sum of $1,867,032. The amount collected in the San Francisco district, the first district in California, during the same period, was SI, 803,458. Nearly as much was collected in that one district as was collected in all the ten districts in New York, included in the cities of New York and Brooklyn." It must be remembered that there was never a place of such temptation as California. The prizes for "sharp-practice" are enormous, and public opin- ion is not strict. Take land-titles alone. The whole subject is in great confusion. A squatter's claim may sometimes be as good as a Mexican title ; a school warrant placed suddenly on lands supposed to be private property, but which, owing to defect of title, may turn out to be public, will bring in great returns. Thus, the casting a shade over any title, from whatever cause, has become a kind of black-mail on the unfortunate owners, and ofiers both to lawyers and speculators, most lucrative returns. It is not considered a respectable means of making money, and yet is not illegal, and is therefore a temptation. The enormous fluctuations in mining stocks are an- other fruitful source of semi-dishonest practices. "freezing out." 69 A board of directors can instruct its Superinten- dent to extract non-paying ores ; they can cause dam- aging reports to be spread, then lay assessments to bring a stock down to the lowest point, thus "freez- ing out" the unhappy stockholders, and causing them to sell at great loss ; and then buy in, and by a re- verse process bring up the stock to a most exaggera- ted value, till they can sell out at an immense profit. All these sharp dodges, of course, are practiced in New York, but not so openly, and against the current of public opinion. In California, the foremost bankers are publicly said to engage in them. As so much property is invested in mines whose value can be so suddenly changed, the temptation to sharp practice is greatly intensified. It is equally so with the courts. A decision on a mining claim will i..- volve millions of dollars ; a delay about the decision, an opinion from a Judge expressed in private, will carry the- stock up or down, and enable one or other party, or even the Judge himself, to make large sums, though, at last, his verdict may be given solely on law and evidence. Innumerable chances are thus con- stantly afforded designing and shrewd men to make sudden fortunes by doubtful means — more, proball/, than in any other community in the world. Numbei s of persons resist the temptations, and present examples of integrity unsurpassed in the older States, but many have yielded to them. The great virtues of Califomian society are its in- telligence, energy, and, above all, its generosity. There never was such a wide-awake community, open to all 70 THE NEW WEST. improvements, applying mind incessantly to the de- velopment of the country, ready to adopt, and ingeni- ous to apply all possible inventions and discoveries for the advancement of the material resources of the State. The most interesting thing about California, to an American, is to observe what results the scheming Yankee brain can bring about in the finest climate which the Anglo-Saxon race has ever enjoyed, and with a soU which is unequalled in the world for varie- ty and wealth of products — the "NEW West," settled by a new race. No fear of expense or trouble ever deters the Cali- fomian from any enterprise. The progress of the State in all departments of la- bor and education and material and mental develop- ments, during the last ten years, has been unsurpassed anywhere in the world. The citizens are very proud of their State, and few men leave here to return to our coast for a residence, who do not regret it. The individual is of far more importance in California than in older communities ; and the incessant whirl of life becomes a great attraction to those who are in it. The women, however, do not generally like the State, and sigh for our more quiet and cultivated Ufe. Though such tremendous efforts are put forth to make money here, no where is it less valued. The Califomian is the most generous of men. He scatters money with a lavish hand. No American will ever forget the bountiful contributions from this coast to our Sanitary Commission during the war. And yet HAKD-OR&AN EXHIBIIION. ')! it is a peculiarly impulsive generosity. One of the drollest scenes ever exhibited in a civilized communi- ty was enacted in San Francisco whUe I was there. Two politicians made a bet on the late election, and the loser was to march down the main business street playing a hand-organ. Before he appeared at the set time, the happy thought occurred to some philan- thropic citizens to raise money there and then for the treasuries of the Roman Catholic and Protestant Or- phan Asylums, which were very low. Accordingly, notice was given, and some well-known citizens fol- lowed the unlucky organist, in a carriage, with can- vas bags. The street was packed from one end to the other, the houses black with a laughiag, excited crowd; women and children were trampled under foot in the eagerness to see the procession. With the first few yards, a shower of silver coin began from bystanders and windows and house tops ; miners emptied their pouches, merchants their purses, and draymen their pockets ; half-dollars poured upon the organ-grinder; and, in a short time, one big bag after i,nother was filled, until some ten thousand dollars were raised for the orphans, besides provisions 3nough for the whole year. The generosity and intelligence of the community have enabled them to procure the most able ministry, and to support ihe best conducted press, which any city -with equal population can boast of in the country. The churches are largely attended by men, and a dull, inferior preacher finds his pews thinly seated. One of the ablest men on the coast is the Rev. Mr. Steb- 72 THE ]SrEW WEST. BINS, the Unitarian pastor, who occupies a pulpit once filled by a man who has become a kind of saint in the Pacific States — Thomas Stake King. Dr. Stone is a very eloquent and influential preach- er for the Congregationalists, and Dr. Eells and Dr. Wadswokth, among the Presbyterians, have a deep and true influence for good. The general tone of society is far less sectarian and narrow than on our coast. Not enough has yet been done of a practical kind, by the Christian bodies here, for the lowest and criminal class, or for the intelligent and adventurous mining communities. The House of Kefuge ("Industrial School") of the city is well conducted, but on the somewhat old con- gregated system, and there is not much eflbrt directed to the prevention of crime among children. There is much kind charity exercised in private toward the self-respecting and decent poor, whose sufferings in California are beyond belief, because here men are ashamed to beg. Mr. Swain has given the most touching instances of labors among this un- fortunate class. Clergymen, in general, occupy in this State a very influential and honored position, and have fairly remunerative salaries. In the press, the Evening Bulletin is, to my mind, one of the most valuable and interesting journals in the States; the AUa California and Sacramento Union stand very high through the country, and are very lucrative properties. They aU discuss questions with much intelligence and fairness, and are filled with HEWSPAPEKS. 73 most valuable information in regard to this coast. The Overland Mail, a monthly, is quite equal in ability to our monthlies, and, to my taste, much more interesting. SA-fci'! ■ CHAPTER VI. THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF SAN FRANCISCO A COSMO- POLITAN SCHOOL. Among those laying the moral foundations of Cali- fornia, should never be forgotten the public-spirited citizens who have made the school-system what it is. Under our Government, beyond all others, the school is the ground-work of order and liberty. I think, if the time and obstacles be considered, no city in the Union has accomplished more for popular edu- cation than San Francisco. A regular series of free schools has been established for all classes, from the primary to schools of a high grade — even to the ''Cosmopolitan" and Latin schools. The buildings are often large and commodious, with all the modern improvements in school furniture and the like. I doubt myself the wisdom of these large caravanseries of school-children, but, such as they are, they are fully equal to ours in New York; and, spacious as the rooms are, they are not sufficient, so that hundreds of children, in some wards, are continually turned away. Yet some 20,000 children are being educated annuaUv, THE OBJECT SYSTEM. 75 at the public expense, ixx this city, and the school levies reach nearly $350,000. My first visit among the schools was to a large Pri- mary, in Tehama street, containing over a thousand children. It was interesting to find that the improve- ment which we have sought so much to bring before the public ia New York, and which has been introduced into the Industrial Schools of the Children's Aid Society with much good efi'ect- — the " Object System " — has al. ready been adopted here. The teaching, too, showed the eflfect of a good Training School ; for teaching is as much an art as any high mechanical branch, and the long experience of years of patient labor in managing young minds, can be laid down in almost mathemati- cally exact rules and principles. All the suggestive methods of the object system, the efibrts and inven- tion to awaken the faculties and call forth the observ- ing powers, are now regularly taught in good training schools ; and though a good teacher knows all these instinctively, a poor one learns them mechanically, and becomes a far better teacher. It is disgraceful to be obliged to confess it, but in this matter, this young city of the Pacific is already far in advance of New York. A " Normal School " for teachers has been in active operation here for some time, while ours only dates from 1867. The California School, I can bear witness, has a large number of young teachers in faithful attendance, who are thoroughly taught. It is supported by the State. Many of the pupils teach a part of the year in the country, and then attend this school during the other 76 THE NEW WEST. part, and teach the classes of children who come to it as to any public school. Each teacher is not merely drilled theoretica,lly in teaching, but practically in a class-room, with children" attending from the neighbor- ing ward. I visited also the " Lincoln School," which is a spacious and handsome building for the purpose, with a most awkward and ghastly statue * of our revered President in front. Almost every school, by the way, has a picture of Lincoln and Staek King on its walls. This is a higher grade of school, with over a thousand pupils. The instruction which I heard, in arithmetic, was thorough, and requiring original work from the boys. The teachers were evi- dently men of education. The Girls' High School, in Bush street, evidently employs as good teachers as are found in our best private or public schools. The scholars were nicely dressed young girls from twelve to eighteen years, under perfect dis- cipline. They recited in geometry and physical geography in the most creditable manner, drawing their own figures in the former, and using different lettering from the text-book in the latter. The School Committee have apparently not yet heard of Gutot's text-books and maps, which are an immense advance on anything yet compiled for schools. There is no question that geography should begin with physical divisions before political, and that the first instructions in "place" shotdd be in regard to the immediate surroundings of the child, and then be ex- tended to those of his county, and State, and country. * Fortunately etaaken down since by an earthquake. COSMOPOLITAN SCHOOL. 77 This is the method adopted in the schools of San Francisco. They have also adopted the modern the- orythat every child can be taught something of music and drawing, if the work be begun young enough. Many of the teachers evidently possessed a correct , and free hand in drawing, and the children learnt it readily. • The fault of these otherwise excellent schools seems to be the same as with ours — a too high pressure of studies, too much cramming during a short period. This defect is mainly due to the parents, who insist on their daughters learning everything during a very few years ; keeping them for a short time under a far greater pressure than are the boys. People must be content to extend the time of their children's educa- tion, and see them learn thoroughly but more slowly ; at the same time preserving their physical freshness and vigor. But the greatest advance in the San Francisco school system is in the COSMOPOLITAN SCHOOL. This city, as is well known, is made up of various nationalities. It was early seen that it was of the greatest possible advantage to both Americans and foreign-born, to learn each other's language. As the Committee on this subject reported to the Board of Education : " They felt in their full force the pro- found words of GrOETHE, ' He who knows but his own language, does not even know that.' " Accordingly, Primary Schools were opened, in which French and English, and in others, French and German, were taught ; and these, by regular gradation, culminated 78 THE NEW WEST. in the excellent school so happily named above — the " Co'smopolitan School." Here, all the regu- lar school branches, such as reading, grammar, geography, history, and arithmetic, are taught in French, German, and English. Most of the school exercises are conducted in a foreign tongue. It is well known that, at a certain tender age a boy or girl catches a foreign language with wonderful readiness, such as they never show when more mature : this is especially the case if conversation and oral instruction be in that tongue. The result of this enlightened system in this school was evident. The sons of many Americans — some of the wealthiest families in the city — ^were sent here to learn French or German, and at the same time to acquire ordinary school instruc- tion. These lads recited or answered with a readi- ness and purity of accent not often witnessed ; while the French and German boys and girls preserved their own tongue in grammatical purity (a great advantage among a population which so soon depraves its language), and learned English in addition. The different grammars were not at all confused by the children, in fact, were better learned by the contrast, as English grammar is always best learned by our children, not in abstract definitions, but by the analy- sis of a foreign language, especially if it employ case- endings. The theory and practical result of this Cosmopo- litan School seemed most happy and successful. We ought to have in New York a dozen such public schools, for our own and the foreign-descended chil- SCHOOL SYSTEM. 79 dren. It is found here that Americans appreciate this school better than any nationality, the proportion among over one thousand children being fifty per cent. American, thirty per cent. Grerman, twenty per cent. French. The general school system of California has this advantage over ours in New York, in that it is more centralized, and the teaching profession really deter- mine who shall be teachers. The same books are used through all the schools of the State, and the same rules apply, under the general direction of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. There is thus a unity of school management throughout, and the latest improvements can be introduced every- where. No teacher can be anywhere appointed without a State certificate, and the Examining Boards are always constituted so as to have a majority of teachers on them. Thus, if a city ward desire to remove a teacher from political motives, they can do so ; but they cannot substitute another without an examination by the Board, so that, in effect, the appointment of teachers is taken out of the hands of politicians, and rests with properly chosen persons. The result of this system is a remarkably able and well-qualified class of teachers in the State. They are well paid, too — female teachers in the city receiving from six 'hundred to twelve hundred dollars (gold) per annum, board being about thirty dollars per month ; and male teachers getting from twelve hundred to two thousand five hundred dollars. A country female teacher will 80 THE NEW WEST. frequently receive seventy-five dollars a month, and her board will only cost her, say twenty dollars. There is a great demand in California for good female teachers, and at this time a dozen, with good certifi- cates, could be at once employed at salaries of from fifty to seventy-five dollars a month. In the Spring or Autumn any competent female teacher might come here with the confident expectation of being speedily engaged at a good salary in the country districts. CHAPTER VII. THE BIG TEEES^ — PEEPAKATIONS FOE THE TOSEMITE.* The great pleasure trip of the American continent will hereafter be the journey to the Yosemite. There is no one object of nature in the world — except Ni- agara — to equal it in attraction. Whenever the Pa- cific Eoad brings the two coasts within a fortnight of each other, innumerable parties will be made up to visit it I have been tolerably familiar, by foot-jour- neys, with Switzerland, Tyrol, and Norway, and I can truly say that no one scene in those grand regions can compare equally, in all its combinations, with the wonderful Canon of the Yosemite. It is a matter of congratulation, also, to me, that I saw it before any road, or coach, or rail-car had approached it. It ought not to be visited otherwise than as our party journeyed to it — on horses, winding in picturesque train over velvety trails, beneath the gigantic pines of the Sierras. But first, as to the making up of a party. It is of the utmost importance that a company should be se- lected who will travel slowly, and stop to enjoy ; and not "do" this glorious region, as so many are in the habit. A large party is not desirable — six or eight are quite enough ; and it must be remembered that it is much like an Adirondac camping party ; you are * Frononnced Tosemity. 82 THE NKW WEST. thrown necessarily on one another, and are in very intimate contact for two or three weeks. The best time to start is a week before fall moon, in June. At that season there are plenty of people in San Fran- cisco who are ready to make the excursion, and a party is easily got together. The water is then at its highest in the falls of the valley, the snow is melted, and the dust and heat of the central plain are not then at their worst, while the night journeys are made mag- nificent by the moon. For clothing, the great neces- sities in California are always flannel beneath, and linen outside. The best dress for gentlemen, is a good hunting-shirt of flannel, with a loose momiag coat (to be worn occasionally), stout pantaloons for riding, and heavy walking shoes. For ladies, a full Unen suit for the coach-drive, and a short linsey dress for horse- back. Whatever is worn must come out pretty ef- fectually ruined by dust and mud. No wraps or shawls are needed, or umbrellas (except for the sun), and no heavy luggage should be taken. Knapsacks or small leather bags are the best traveling baggage. A valise or trunk can be expressed to meei one as he comes out, either at CoultervUle or Mariposa. The whole expense for, say a fortnight from San Francisco, ought not to be over one hundred dollars, and may be much less. The charges for horses are two dollars and fifty cents (gold) per diem, guides two dollars and fifty cents, mule two dollars and fifty cents, and inns in the Valley three dollars and fifty cents; on the whole a very expensive trip. The common- sense way woidd be (if one had time) to buy a moun- PREPARATIONS FOE JOTJENEY. 83 tain-mustang at one of the towns in the Foot Hills for thirty dollars, make the trip without a guide (who is no more needed than on a turnpike,) and then sell the horse at the other end. In this way the whole trip could be made for fifty dollars. It is not a severe journey ; any lady not an invalid can make it, and no other in the world can give more enjoyment. Our party staried on the steamer in the afternoon for Stockton, and next morning, after a comfortable breakfast, were booked, by a large, easy, Concord coach, for Bear Valley, some 90 miles — fare $10. The drive was over an apparently barren, parched plain, almost without a tree for fifty miles — the Val- ley of the San Joaquin. The first portion passed some good wheat-fields, but the most of it was through a dreary region. The characteristic features are the wind-mills at each farm-house for raising water and irrigating. It is not, however, so barren a country as it looks. Like much of the unpromising-looking land in the State, it only needs irrigation to bring forth treasures of grain and fruit. We were troubled but little by the dust, as it was so early in the season ; but they say that later, the drive is almost intolerable. One of our party says he has known such dust there in August that the driver could not see his leaders ; and he has heard a passenger cry out in agony, '' Driver, stop, for God's sake ! or we shall be suf- focated!" and the coach has stopped to give all a chance to breathe, There was nothing of any special interest in the towns we passed through ; the close of the drive was 84 THE NEW WEST. through a superb mountain region by moonlight, and it was late when, thoroughly tired out, we reached Bear Valley. The next day we drove on through Mariposa to an inn, on the edge of the forest, very comfortable and neat — " White & Hatch's" — where we were to take horse, and our excursion woxdd fairly begin. Horses can be obtained at Mariposa or Bear Valley. They are generally mustangs of pied color, small and wiry, but the surest-footed creatures possi- ble — even surpassing the Norwegian posting-ponies Not one in our party, slipped or stumbled once, though sometimes treading over water-worn, rocky floors, or descending as nearly perpendicular mountain-sides as a horse could, with a rider on his back. Here, after a nice dinner, there was great buck- ling and arranging of saddles, and shortening of stir- rups, and packing of knapsacks on a most wicked- looking mule, which was our baggage animal. It may be remarked here that our excellent guide, of whom we expected so much help for the ladies, was, after the starting, mostly invisible, being occu- pied far in the rear in attending to the vagaries of this eccentric and unaccountable animal, who usually insisted on going down hill when he ought to go up, and who had a most malicious propensity for rush- ing, with his load, between trees too narrow for him, or for making sudden and perverse darts from the trail into the depths of some neighboring swamp. I can believe the accounts of my friend K., who says he has known a mule perfectly good and docile for six months, so as to get an opportunity for one spite- THE "WICKED MULE. 85 fill kick at his too trusting master, and that after that he would be as meek and stupid as before. Among all my many traveling experiences in vari- ous countries, I do not think I can ever forget the ro- mance and the delicious beauty of that first night's ride toward the Yosemite. The trail was barely wide enough for two to ride abreast, winding under majes- tic pines, over mountains, and down wide, deep dells, each step of the horses springing elastic from soft pine leaves. The sun soon set, and a magnificent moon arose, giving us at one time a broad belt of light over the path, and then leaving us to descend into a mysterious gulf of darkness, and then casting strange shadows and hall-lights through the pine branches over our procession of riders. As we pene- trated farther into the forest we began to wind about beneath trees, such as few of us had ever seen, — the superb sugar-pine, perhaps the most perfect tree in nature, — ^here starting with a diameter of from seven to twelve feet, and mounting up with most symmetri- cal branches to the height — say of Trinity Church spire (250 to 260 feet); on the end of its branches, cones hanging a foot long. Sometimes we came forth from the forest for a few moments, and had grand glimpses of great mountain valleys, only partly re- vealed in the glorious moonlight. Most of the party were old travelers, and were rather impervious to sensations, but we all agreed that this was a new one, and gave a most promising augury of the Yosemite excursion. After fourteen miles — an easy ride — we 86 THE KE"W WEST. all reached Clark's Eanch at a late hour, ready for supper and bed. CLAEK'S RAirCH AND THE BIG TREES. This ranch is a long, rambliag, low house, built under enormous sugar-pines, where travelers find ex- cellent quarters and rest in their journey to the Valley. Clark himself is evidently a character ; one of those men one frequently meets in California — the modem anchorite — a hater of civilization and a lover of the forest — ^handsome, thoughtful, interesting, and slov- enly. In his cabin were some of the choicest modem books and scientific surveys; the walls were lined with beautiful photographs of the Yosemite ; he knew more than any of his guests of the fauna, flora, and geology of the State ; he conversed well on any subject, and was at once philosopher, savant, chambermaid, cook, and landlord. By a wise selection he has been appointed by the State Commission, which has charge of the Yosemite, Forest-master, to take care of the wonderful trees, which are only at six miles distance. On that Com- mission are Messrs. F. L. Olmsted, Prof, J. D. Whit- net, K. W. Raymond, and others well known on this coast. It has been a wise provision among the Cali- fornia people, which has thus early set aside the mag- nificent Canon for public enjoyment for ever, and has placed these wonders of the forest beyond the reach of the showmen and spoilers who so soon destroy such monuments in America. CLOTHIEES' SIGNS. 87 Mr. Claek seems the very person to be their guar- dian. He evidently has a filial reverence for these relics of the past — these giants of ancient days. When I saw his vigorous action in one matter, I wished we had a Forest-master on the Hudson Eiver. During the whole journey to the Sierras, we had been tormented in every beautiful scene by most imperti- nent and obtrusive signs of a certain " clothing" es- tablishment in San Francisco. Just as we stopped our horses to take one dreamy gaze through a far- away perspective, there would rise up a placard in the foreground, "One Hundred Miles to Stockton! One Hundred and Fifty to Sowam, Mendam & Co !" Did we dismount to recline and drink at a cooHng spring, we were hardly at our ease on the soft pine twigs, when the solitude is desecrated by " Sowam's Prize Pantaloons !" on a neighboring tree ; if we wander out on a lonely walk for converse with nature and our own thoughts, "Sowam and Mendam's Drawers" haunt us at every turning. Every exquis- ite mountain scene is made hideous by advertise- ments, until at last our whole party swore that they would go naked their whole lives, rather than buy of "Sowam, Mendam & Co." This hobgoblin was before us among the Big Trees, and in the Yosemite. If anywhere in the world, Sowam will be there. We knew it. He would make life unendurable there. But Mr. Claek, hearing of our fears, reassured us. He said that this thing had been attempted by some shop-keepers, and he had stopped it summarily ; and now the Commission had secured 88 THE NEW WEST. an act which made it a penal offence to affix any business notices in the Yosemite Valley, or among the Big Trees. Verily, California is in the van of civili- zation. We started at not too early an hour for a forest ride to the Trees, Mr. Clark kindly guiding us. What may be called the avenue to these hoary mon- umeuts of antiquity, lies through a gigantic forest of sugar-pines, themselves some two hundred to two hundred and fifty feet high, so that when you reach the mighty towers of vegetation you lose a little the sense of theij vast height. I searched curiously as we rode through the forest for the conditions which should produce such monsters of growth. It must be remembered that the Sequoia gigantea is not found merely here, or at Calaveras, and its neighborhood. There appears to be a belt of them running along the slopes of the Sierras, about four thousand or five thou- sand feet above the sea level, and as far south as Visalia. They are so plentiful near that place as to be sawed for lumber, though what so light a wood could be used for, I can hardly think. In the neighborhood of the latter place, the Indians report a tree, far in the forest, surpassing in grandeur anything ever seen ; but thus far, no white man has ever cast eyes on it. It is a mistake, too, to suppose the race wearing out. I saw both here and in Calaveras young giant Se- quoiae, beginning patiently their thousand years of growth with all the vigor of their grand ancestors ; some of but four hundred years, mere youths, were growing splendidly. There are fewer yoimg trees here THE BIG TREES. 89 than in Calaveras, because fire or some other cause has swept among the under-brush of all trees, and must have destroyed many of these burly saplings. The Sequoia grows on mountain slopes, where the slow wash of water, through ages, brings down minute particles of fertilizing rocks, and the decayed vegeta- tion of countless centuries, with the moisture of eternal springs, water and feed its roots. It enjoys a sun of the tropics without a cloud for six months, and has the balmy air of the Pacific, with incessant and gentle moisture, and a warm covering of snow for its Winter. Beneath its roots, the ground never freezes.* As has been well saidy "It has nothing to do but to grow;" and so with all the favorable conditions that nature can offer — air and sun and moisture — it pumps up its food from the everlasting hiUs, and builds up its slow, vegetable-like substance during century after century into a gigantic, symmetrical and venerable pile, while nations begin and pass away beneath its shadow. Think of lying under a tree, beneath which the cotemporary of Axilla or Constantine might have rested, and which shall defy the storm, perhaps, when the present political divisions of the world are utterly passed away, and the names of Washington and Lincoln are among the heroes of a vague past. But how to give an impression of its size ! If my readers wiU imagine a Sequoia placed beside Trinity Church, he must conceive it filling up one of our largest dwelling-houses — say a diameter of thirty feet, with a circumference of ninety feet ; the bark of this * At least this is true of the Calaveras groTe. 90 THE NEW "WEST. gigantic trunk will be light, porous, and reddish in color, with many scars upon it of fire (its great enemy) ; then, perhaps, at the height of the Trinity belfry (say one hundred feet), two opposing huge branches will protrude, it may be, themselves, of the size of large trees (say eight feet in diameter) ; these will be twisted and much broken; above them, will come forth other heavy branches, which show the marks and blows of the storms of a thousand years or more, for the giant, so far above his fellows, meets a continual battering from the gales of the moun- tains. There is no symmetry in his top, or delicacy and grace in his outline ; he has battled and struggled with the storm for too many centuries to preserve an artistic appearance. He looks the giant of the forest, broad-rooted and strong-limbed, rough and weather- beaten, but defying snow and frost and hurricane for thousands of years, and still sheltering bird and beast and cattle beneath his grand shadow. His leaf is much like the leaf of our cedar, and the cone is a small, insignificant burr, hardly two inches long. As we follow up the top, we shall find the grad- ually-diminishing stem and broken branches reaching toward the blue vault nearly a hundred feet higher than the Trinity spire.* As I have said, fire is the great enemy of the Sequoia. The dry summers leave the vegetation exposed to conflagration, and there is no doubt that t he Indians, at an early perio d, through carelessness • Tho " Key Stone " tree in Cjlaveras is three hundred and tweuty-flve f-el high. AGE OF THE TBEES. 91 or design, burnt off whole districts, which have never recovered their former shrubbery. The Se- quoia, from its dry, light bark, catches like tinder. It is rare to see a tree untouched by fire. It may be that it has thus been especially diminished since man first appeared on the Pacific coast. It seems seldom to die of old age ; and one eminent botanist, of a most careful habit of mind, tells me that he has seen one, which, in his judgment, is over three thou- sand years old. The one in Calaveras, whose rings I counted, was apparently about one thousand eight hundred years old, but I am assured an exact count gives only about one thousand three hundred and seventy. As Mr. Claek philosophically says, "why should it not be in the nature of one tree to live three thousand years as much as of another to live thii-ty ? " The chance, however, of destructive elements assailing the life of any one being increases with time, and the " struggle for existence " must be greater. We visited one big tree in Calaveras which had been blown over two years before. The enormous weight which each tree carries makes it more difficult to bear the gales, as it overtops the forest. Perhaps any ordinary wood, such as oak or maple, would in- crease the specific gravity, so that at three hundred feet high, the leverage on the roots would be too great to bear any strain of a gale ; but this wood is almost like cork — lighter than any wood on the Eastern coast. The fall of this mighty tower, they say, was heard for miles around, and made the earth tremble. Where it fell it has buried its top deep in the ground, so 92 THE NEW WEST that there is quite a ravine made by the blow in the earth. You strike the trunk where it is still a large tree, and then walk upon it some two hundred feet toward the roots. When you reach the roots you are upon a height equal to the roof of a moderate sized house, and a fall from the trunk would be dangerous. You descend by a ladder. If I recollect rightly, there were three hundred and sixty-five trees in this Mariposa Grove . I measured one trunk, broken off at the top, where it was a foot in diameter, which was about two hundred and ninety feet in length, and estimating thirty feet as the length of the part broken off, it must have been some three hundred and twenty feet high. We lunched near a " camp " of the Greological Survey, in the heart of the grove, lying on our backs beneath the gigantic canopies, and feeling like pigmies at the feet of th se giants. The younger trees were often wreathed with a strange, yellow, hanging moss. Our ladies were deeply interested in a remarkable flower which grew beneath the snow, a few patches of which still re- mained here in June. It was a blood-red flower of a fleshy-like substance, like the Pyrola, or " Dutch- man's pipe," growing somewhat like a garden hya- cinth. Its stems were clustered, from six to ten inches high, with long erect scales, broader below and gradu- ally narrower, and finally becoming bracts. The flowers were numerous, and occupied the upper half of the stem. It is the Sarcodes sanguinea. We gathered some, but its wonderful red color could not be preserved, as it turns black. Great efforts were CAIiAVEEAS GEOVE. 93 made, too, to carry oflF some of the grand cones of the sugar-pines. The Seqitoia belongs to the same family with the Red Wood {Sequoia sempervirens), of which superb trees are seen all along the coast below San Fran- cisco — some over two hundred feet high, and perfect in symmetry. This wood is red like a cedar, and harder than that of the big trees ; when polished, it has a handsome grain, and is a remarkably enduring wood for fences or posts. I have seen good fencing of it eighteen years old. The Sequoia gigantea is found as a fossil tree in Greenland: it will probably grow in any part of the northern and western States. The Mariposa Grrove seems to me hai'dly equal to the Calaveras, as the latter, though containing, fewer trees, has finer specimens, taller and better preserved. Then, in the latter, a little house, used as a baU-room, built on the sawed-off stem of one tree, gives one a most impressive idea of their size. Here, however, we all rode some distance through the hoUow trunk of a fallen tree ! North of the Calaveras grove is still another of several hundred trees which I did not visit. The Calaveras grove is made ridiculous by a name being put on each tree, in a little sign. The " Old Maid " tree has her age most nearly ascertained, say 1370, and her diameter was thirty-five feet, before the bark was removed. It took three men twenty-five days to cut it down, by boring the trunk with augers. The " Mother of the Forest " was stripped of her 94 THE NEW WEST. bark for some hundred and sixteen feet by means of scaffolding ; portions of it were sent afterward to the great London Exhibition ; the circumference was 78 feet, and the height 327. The '^ Key Stone " is the highest — 325 feet. I have spoken before of the wonderful vegetation of these mountains, and the Foot-Hills. How often have we stopped to gaze at the red, flesh-like arms and limbs of the Manzanita — (this remarkable shrub has a wood, when polished, more brUliant than maho- gany) — or we have rested admiringly under the im- mense Pitch-pine {P. ponderosa), reaching above us some two hundred and fifty feet, with a diameter of ten or twelve feet, its bark a bright cinnamon in color, and in large plates, some three feet long and twenty inches wide. Of the Sugar-pine (P. Lambertiana) I have already spoken. Besides these, in these mountains, are the Spruce {Abies Douglasii) and many varieties of oak, among them the Live Oak {Q. Crassipocula) and the Yew ( Taxus brevifolia). The chaparral, with which we made such disagreeable acquaintance, is generally a thorny, impervious shrubbery, made up of the Chinquapin {Castanopsis ChrystophyUa), and the Chamiso {Adenostema fasiciilata). CHAPTER VIII. THE TOSEMITE CANON. The distance from Clark's Ranch — the last stop- ping place on the Mariposa route to the Yosemite — is about twenty-five miles, right through the Sierras. This is the dreaded day of the excursion for the ladies, and such gentlemen as are not used to horseback. So there is careful arrangement of saddles and stir- rups, blankets are strapped over the saddles for some of the ladies (a device for comfort which should never be neglected), and the advance is made in the fresh morning, with not quite the spirit of the first day. But soon the romance of the scene and the mode of journey, enliven all. We form a considerable train of various costumes, and wind through the silent for- ests and over the elastic pine needles and cony trails, and up the heavy slopes of mountains, in a most pic- turesque procession. The wicked pack-mule at first leads, as we are assured this is the only way to mol- lify her, but she soon makes a perverse plunge into a chaparral thicket, and we leave her to have a brisk, stirring canter in this most delicious atmosphere, on a fortunately level forest-glade — the guide afterwards bringing her up. 96 THE NEW WEST. No horses I have ever seen can compare, in ease of gait, with these California mustangs. They are trained early to a long, easy canter, and on a good road, they will '' lope " along sixty miles a day, with a motion like rocking in a cradle. They feed on oat- straw, or mountain pasture, and bear the hardest usage with little damage. The Spanish saddle is used, with high peaks before and behind, which is a great rest for a long ride. It is not kept on with buckle and strap like ours, but tied with horse-hair bands which fasten through two opposing rings, and thus can be strained to exactly the right degree. The stir- rups are covered with huge leathers which fall five or six inches below the feet, and the legs are protected by broad leathern shields. When night comes, on these trips, you have only to tether your horse in a mountain pasture, or turn him adrift to feed with the other horses. He gets little other care. Every Californian rides from his earliest years. You will see the smallest youngsters "loping" along with out-stretched arms and loose bridle, on the wildest- looking native horses. A pedestrian is a rare sight in the country. Horses are cheap, and the roads are only suited for riding. I have been constantly reminded, in this habit, of Hungarian peculiarities. May this healthy custom tell as favorably on Californian as it does on Himgarian physique. Our party, I have not mentioned, were made up of a Southern family — most charming specimens of the best-bred Southern people, and a married couple from THE MUSTANGS. 97 Philadelphia, who went into this thing as one of the duties of life. The Southerner, Colonel N., who had been familiar with horses all his life, had been favored with a steed, which, we were privately assured, had been the terror of the country around. " He'll kill him, sure," said a guide of another party to me, con- fidentially. " He's kicked one hostler to death, and nobody can't go near him in the stable. He bites like mad, too. The last party he was out in, he nearly killed one gen'leman ! It's an imposition to send him ! " I asked how they tried to break him ? " Why, sir, they first chained him up and flogged Mm with a cart- whi/p, but it wasn't of no use, he jist bucked whenever you got on him, and bit like anything." When Colonel N. heard this, he said, " D — ^n them ! I see they have just spoiled a good horse with their infernal treat- ment. He's just the horse I like." So after that we watched the Colonel and his horse with profound ad- miration, inwardly congratulating ourselves that we hadn't been served with him. But the Colonel was right ; under the hand of an intell^ent master he was a splendid animal. The Colonel approached him as he would, in conversation, a sensitive friend, knowing all his weak points, and respecting his good qualities. He, in return, soon came to know a genuine horseman, and never bit, or kicked, or "bucked " on the journey ; on the contrary, once when he was mired he seemed to know here was some real occasion for his mettle, and behaved beautifully. Once the Colonel was thrown on A. rocky ledge, within a few feet of a thousand-foot pre- cipice, but he never reproached or struck the animal ; 98 THE NEW WEST. he admitted he himself was wrong — he was trying, owing to the nature of the ground, to dismount on the wrong side. My wife, who was a bold rider, had -a perfect palfrey, ambling like a cradle, but never suf- fering Miss N., daughter of the Colonel, a very pretty young lady, who wore a white mask and looked like a ghost on horseback, to pass him. I had a dull, hard-trotting pied nag, and could do little with him. We found, on our journey that day, heavy masses of snow, though it was the middle of June. They gave us, however, but little trouble. Once, as we were galloping over a green little intervale among the snow- peaks, we were startled by a sudden rush of wild- looking Indian riders over our pathway. They were all armed, and were hunting deer. " Diggers ! " said the guide, and with ineffable contempt. "Poor devils — live on grasshoppers — huntin' for Hutchins, I s'pose ! " We took our lunch on the greensward, near a cold stream flowing from the ice, with the mighty snow- covered peaks of the far Sierras rising before us into the clear, blue vault. Again to saddle, and after a few miles, though in the thick forest, we know we are approaching the mighty Canon. Our guide stopped us to prepare us. THE YOSEMITE CANON. " Nowe there's no use talkin' !" (a favorite phrase of his.) ' ' I've takin a great many gents and ladies to that 'ere pint we're a comin' to — Inspirashin^ Pint, they THE aUIDE'S PICTUEK. 99 call it — and seed 'em jist pop right over ! There was Mrs. Van Ardle, as strong a female as you ever see ; when I shoVd her that, she jist caved right in ; and Mrs. Smith, the minit she peered over she gin oute. And I've seen gentlemen's hair stand right on eend ! " " But what causes them to faint ?" said some one. " I'm sure I don't know. But I dew know ye look right downe a sheer prespis, three-quarter of a mile deep, and across on t'other side, ye see a wall of rock a risin' amost a mile high ; and downe below ye see a purty green valley with a river in the middle on it, a windin' along aboute eight mile above, and aboute twenty waterfalls, jist like silver, a jumpia' over into it as if they coiddn't stop — some on 'em fif- teen hundred foot high ; and all along up mountings and prespisses, from a mile to half a mile high, as sheer as a wall, and sich purty colors on 'em, and all kinds of shadders. That's what's the matter ! There's no use talkin' ! But we must be oflf; there's that dam'd, mule on the back trail agia ! " We rode on a little distance through the thick forest, then, on a word from the guide, fastened our horses to the trees, and made our way through the bush, with beating hearts, till we came out on the ledge of a precipice ; a few steps more and we were on a shelving rock, hanging over the gorge, "Inspiration Point ; " and, lying down, we were instructed to creep cautiously to the edge. There the whole mighty view opened upon us. There was " no use talkin'," indeed ! 100 THE NEW WEST, One could well understand women fainting before it, especially when exhausted by the long ride. The first sudden glimpse seemed almost to take one's breath away, or to make one giddy. No aspect of nature I have ever looked upon, no sight of the deso- late ocean, heaving and lashing in mighty surges beneath wintry storm, or sudden view of Alpine snow- peaks through rifts of black thunder clouds, or glimpses of Norwegian coast-glaciers through the lulls of an Arctic gale, or even Niagara itself, was so full of the inspiration of awe as this first opening view of the Yosemite Canon. All other scenes of grandeur and beauty must fade away in my memory when this vision is forgotten. Before the mighty powers which had shaped this tremendous gorge, and in presence of this scene of unspeakable and indes- cribable beauty and majesty, man and his works seemed to sink away to nothingness. I thought I knew the Yosemite well, through the remarkable pho- tographs of Watkins (the best specimens of this art ever exhibited), but the great peculiarity of this scene cannot be shown in them — its wonderfiil and ex- quisite color. I almost felt as if I had known nothing of the Canon before, so surprising were the efiects of coloring and shadow. It must be remembered we had struck the gorge on one of its lateral walls, say about four nules from its western end. There is no approach to it from below, up the stream. As we lay on the edge of the cliff, we gazed up a narrow green valley, perfectly flat, from half a mile to a mile wide, and winding, some six miles above, between enormous THE EVENING VIEW. 101 cliffs and precipices, a small, bright sparkling stream in the middle, friaged with green grass or forest trees. The wall, over the edge of which we were looking, was nearly three-quarters of a mile high, and far below, the oaks and willows and poplars and pines in the green intervale, looked like little shrubs. On the other side, a short distance beyond, was the grand bluff of El Capitan, a sheer precipice of nearly four thousand feet, its light granite purple, in the evening light, the most majestic cliff that human eye has looked upon ; beyond were other bluffs and precipices, pearly gray and purplish white, with green fringes below, and dark archways or fantastic figures traced by shadows on their surface. There were buttresses, as of gigantic Cathedrals, and archways such as might support hills of granite, and domes where a mountain was the substructure, and half domes, and peaks whose regular succession has given them the name of ''Brothers " — aU varying in color and shadow, incessantly, with the receding light ; some with the delicious cool gray of the rook- color ; some white, with a reddish shade ; others faint purple ; others resplendent in pink and brilUant purple ; while over their edges, giving a joyous life to the scene, rushed sparkling silver streams, in innumerable waterfalls, dashing into the green valley below. We had been gazing at this scene of wonder a few moments in awe-struck silence, when aur Philadel- phia party broke in with : " Well, I suppose that's aU, 102 THE NEW WEST. we had better be going, now ! " The Yosemite had been done, and we must be off ! But Mr. S. was indignantly, though silently frowned down, and he and Mrs. S. went forward for the slow descent, leaving us to our cotitemplations. But the scene was changing. Over the vaUey, the heavy shadow of El Capitan continually increased its gigantic breadth of shade ; beyond him, the '' Arches," which, to be seen at that distance, must be a thousand feet in height, grew each instant more strongly marked, but stiU further beyond to the east, the North Dome and the Half Dome were golden and purple in the evening light ; and yet be- yond, the stiU white peaks of the Sierras towered above in the pale blue. On our side of the vast gorge," the foot of the vari- ous precipices and cliffs was covered with detritus, making, near the bottom, a considerable slope, on which grew many evergreen trees. On the other side there was one line of massive rock, which fell apparently plumb, without a break or curve, for nearly four thousand feet, and at its base, so hard was the material, there seemed no recent detritus at all. One could evidently touch the verj bottom of the immense fall of rock. The first glance at this wonderful Canon, with its rock-walls, and smooth, green, and wooded bottoms, showed that it was not a split in the heaped-up ranges of the Sierras. The opposite sides did not corres- pond. The, Three Brothers have no kindred on the other wall of the gorge ; the Cathedral no correspond- ITS OEIGIN. 103 ing giant Minster of granite ; nor El Capitan, a rival on the opposite side. The grand Half Dome not only has no matching half on the opposing mountain^ but its own gigantic half-sphere must have utterly disap- peared beneath the debris of the valley. Nor could water have worn this immense gorge, some ten miles in length, through the hardest por- phyritic granite. Some of the grandest canons in California have, indeed, been worn through slates and shales by the slow action of running water. But here there are few traces of the effect of water, and a thou- sand centuries of flowing water would hardly affect, in the smallest degree, such an enormous pile of molten and hardened stone as El Capitan. The popular explanation of the formation of the Yosemite is that ^'its bottom has fallen out." That IS (in the view of the Greological Survey), under the slow action of volcanic forces for many centuries and " year-thousands," the molten masses of the Sierras were gradually thrown up, there were cracks and shrinkages in the cooling, and here and there immense masses swallowed up in the molten rock below, thus leaving enormous fissures or canons, whose sides could not correspond with one another. Our guide finally became impatient of our long- continued contemplation of the scene, and hurried us on our journey again. The descent was begun a little distance on, in a series of zig-zags through the loose soil of the sides of the gor^e, in paths so steep that it seemed impossible to sit the horses ; some of us ac- cordingly, led our animals, but those who rode got on 104 THE NEW WEST. perfectly secure, as the sure-footed creatures never - stumbled once. At length, after a tedious scramble, we reached the hard ground under the forest trees along the stream. Most of the party were too tired to canter, but none were too wearied to be deeply impressed by the won- derful scene around them. As we ambled slowly along on the greensward, or beneath the groyes, the even- ing shadows were falling over the valleys, but above, iQ the dying light, the gigantic peaks arose in im- mense height over us, crushing us almost in the sense of their majesty. Each few steps the view of the various cliffs and projecting bulwarks of the grand canon changed, and there was a new exclamation of delight at some new effect of shadow, or some fresh and wonderful aspect of these imposing walls of rock. Now, as the gloaming passed, the fuU moon arose and lighted up the two enormous towers and colossal nave of the " Cathedral." Then, as we rode on, that merged into the rocky mountain side again, and the Three Brothers clasped their granite hands together ; then the low thunder of distant waters came to our ears, and the silvery fantastic light beamed on the ex- quisite Bridal Veil (a waterfall of a thousand feet), and soon revealed half the shining surface of the majestic Guardian of the Valley (El Capitan, or- Tutucanula), while on the south side arose the enormous obelisk of " Sentinel Rock ; " and still far- ther on, the broad belt of yellow light was reflected on the white stream of the glorious Yosemite Falls, falling near 1,500 feet over the mountain ridge. THE INN. 105 Fatigue and stiffiiess were forgotten in the magnifi- cent scene, until just opposite these last splendid falls ; the horses cantered into the open ground in front of a long, low log house — Hutchings', our destination in the Valley, — and those who were too stiff to get down were lifted from their horses, and a good supper and bed rested the weary party. CHAPTER IX. THE TOSEMITE — HUTCHINGS' HOTEL. One of the jokes current in the Valley is to care- fully warn the traveler, before coming to this hotel, " not to leave his bed-room door unlocked, as there are thieves about ! " On retiring to his room for the night, he discovers to his amazement, that his door is a sheet, and his partition from the adjoining sleeping- chamber also a cotton cloth. The curtain-lectures and bed-room conversations conducted under these circumstances, it may be judged, are discreet. The house, however, is clean, and the table excellent ; and Hutchings himself, enough of a character alone to make up for innumerable deficiencies. He is one of the original pioneers of the Valley, and at the same time is a man of considerable literary abilities, and a poet. He has written a very creditable guide-book on the Canon. No one could have a finer appreciation of the points of beauty, and the most characteristic scenes of the Valley. He is a "Gruide" in the high- est sense, and loves the wonderful region which he shows yearly to strangers from every quarter of the world. But, unfortunately, he is also hotel-keeper, waiter, and cook — employments requiring a good deal of close, practical attention, as earthly life is ar- ranged. Thus we come down, very hungry, to a deli- cious breakfast of fresh trout, venison, and great pans of garden strawberries; but, unfortunately, there are no knives and forks. A romantic young lady asks, in THE INN KEEPER. 107 an rmlucky moment, about the best point of view for the Nevada Fall. " Madam, there is but one ; you must get close to the Upper Fall, just above the mist of the lower, and there you will see a horizontal raia- bow beneath your feet, and the most exquisite — " Here a strong-minded lady, whose politeness is at an end, " But here Hutchings, we have no knives and forks ! " " Oh, beg a thousand pardons, madam ! " and he rushes off ; but meeting his wife on the way, she gives him coffee for the English party, and he forgets us entirely, and we get up good-naturedly and search out the implements ourselves. Again, from an amiable lady, " Please, Mr. Hutchings, an- other cup of coffee ! " " Certainly, madam ! " When the English lady from Calcutta asks him about some wild flowers, he goes off in a botanical and poetical disquisition, and in his abstraction brings the other lady, with great eagerness, a glass of water. Some- times sugar is handed you instead of salt for the trout, or cold water is poured into your coffee ; but none of the ladies mind, for our landlord is as hand- some as he is obliging, and really fuU of information. "Mr. Hutchings, how do you like it here in the winter ? " "Madam, I always retire then to my country seat, on the simny side of the Valley " (pointing to a little cabin on the other side, out of the eternal shadow of the rocks.) "I have it full of books, and I get a paper once ia three months. At first, I used to think it quite romantic to watch the avalanches, but when a fresh one fell every half mile as I waded through the 108 THE NEW WEST. snow, I began to get enough of them. We have snow- here ten feet deep, and I've slept in it like any bear sometimes, as I was backing my things in." " Well, you are not much troubled with neighbors." " No ; I have only Leidig (his next neighbor), and the Diggers ; that's what I like about it." It was a very agreeable thing to us travelers that Mr. Hutchings had been able to lay out an excellent garden in the Valley. He brought in strawberries of several varieties, and most delicious flavor, by the pail full, and says that he has them all summer. The trout are a far inferior fish to our Eastern trout, and much less prettily marked. We saw the Indians catch them in the icy-cold stream which flowed by the door. The venison, too, seems not equal to ours, but it cannot be in full season yet. Mr. Hutchings is always ready for a philosophical remark. My wife had gone out and gathered some splendid wild flowers, and arranged them about the room. " There, gentle- men," said he, " I have always said that the highest art was in producing beauty from the poorest materi- als." There were several parties in the hotel. A San Francisco business party, who were doing the Valley, with the rapidity they sold ready-made clothes : then the EngUsh party from India — very pleasant people, and among them, an exceedingly pretty young lady, who was watched by us gentlemen with great admira- tion, as she was not only very pretty, but wore an ex- quisite long riding-dress, while our ladies were all in what must always be a hideous dress—bloomers or very THE ATMOSPHERE. 109 short skirts. " But what will she do at the water- falls, and in the swamps ? " was the envious female whisper; but we, her admirers, were sure that an English woman would be practical; " She will come out with just the thing at the right moment ! " Alas ! our ladies were right ; she had to drop her beautiful plumes, and go in her petticoats, and finally borrow from her critics. This party were just from the Himalayas, and said that these contained no pass so grand as this. From this hotel there are excursions enough to occupy one for weeks, among the beautiful scenes of the Valley. Each morning the guide saddles the horses — ^which had been turned loose in the mountain pasture — and fastens them in front of the house ; and after lunch has been packed, we set off in different directions, to see the famous points and objects. One of the most enjoyable features of the excursion is simply cantering up and down the valley, getting the new aspects which open freshly every half-mile, and are different each hour of the day. The wonderful thing about the Canon, which will hereafter draw many an invahd here from distant lands, is its divine atmos- phere. To me, just recovering from a tedious fever, it seemed the very elixir of life — cool, clear, stimu- lating, and filled with light and glory from the sun of the South, which here never seems in summer to have a cloud. The nights are cool, but midday would be too warm were it not for the delicious sea-breeze which, every day at eleven, blows in from the Golden Gate, a hundred and fifty miles away. The gorge 110 THE NEW WEST. lies fortunately east and west, just about opposite to San Francisco, and about midway between the two flanks of the Sierras — ^here some seventy miles in width. Were it a north and south valley, even at its altitude (4,000 feet), it would be almost intolerable. Now nothing can surpass its mild, invigorating ch- mate, and harmonious and resplendent atmosphere. Life seems to have a new spring and hope under it. The charm of the Wonderful Valley is its cheerfulness and joy. Even the awe-inspiring grandeur and majesty of its features do not overwhelm the sense of its exquisite beauty, its wonderful delicacy, and color, and life, and joy. As I recall those rides in the fresh morning or the dreamy noon, that scene of unequaled grandeur and beauty is forever stamped on my memory, to re- main when all other scenes of earth have passed from remembrance — the pearly gray and purple preci- pices, awful in mass, far above one, with deep shadows on their rugged surfaces, dark lines of gigan- tic archways or fantastic images drawn clearly upon them, the bright white water dashing over the dis- tant gray tops seen against the dark blue of the unfathomable sky, the heavy shadows over the valley from the mighty peaks, the winding stream, and peaceful greensward with gay wild-flowers below, the snowy summits of the Sierras far away, the atmos- phere of glory illuminating all, and the eternal voice of many waters wherever you walk or rest ! This is the Yosemite in memory ! EUEOPEAW FALLS. Ill I have been thinking much of scenes in Norway, Tyrol, and Switzerland, with which to compare this. Switzerland, as a whole, is much superior iu combina- tions and variety of features to the Sierra region. But there is no one scene in Switzerland, or the other parts of mountainous Europe, which can at all equal this Califomian valley. The nearest approach to it is the Lauterbruennen Valley. It was my good for- tune to see that most grand and beautiful Swiss picture, in traveling on foot, by an unirequented path from the Rhone, over the Gemmi pass, by Kander- steg, and then straight over the moimtaias, coming out on the high ridges above Muerren; a somewhat analogous position to that from which you first strike the Yosemite. The Swiss scene has the advantage in the superb glaciers which flow into the upper end of the VaUey, but it is inferior ia grandeur, and even in life, to the Californian. The latter having im mensely grander precipices, and, instead of one water- fall — the Staubbach — a dozen on a much greater scale. The form, too, of the Canon, is unique, nothing in Europe resembling it : the immense vertical walls rising so abruptly from the green vale ! The peaks, too, which surroTind it, being original, even in the Sierras : the immense, inaccessible, concentric masses of granite — domes, or half domes, as if melted in some gigantic mould, and then, when cooled, left standing in the air. One of the grandest and most beautiful objects in the Valley was directly opposite our hotel, and its 112 THE NEW WEST. music never ceased, day or night — ^the Yosemite Fall. The stream which bears this name, heads about ten miles away, and then flows down, almost directly over the mighty precipice, into the Valley below — a depth of 2,550 feet. At this time, it is about thirty-five feet wide, by two or three deep. The fall has almost the appearance of one grand shoot of water, but it has, in reality, three divisions : the first is a descent of fifteen hundred feet on a ledge (as it seems), though it is, in fact, a shelf of rock, a third of a mile broad; then foUow a series of cascades for six hundred and twenty-five feet, and a final leap of four hundred. There is water enough now to give a bright, foaming, grand sweep of the whole cataract. It is certainly one of the most beautiful objects the human eye can ever gaze upon ! We never wearied of riding out over the green meadows and gay, wild flowers, to get some new aspect of it. The only Fall to compare it with, that I have seen, is the Voring Foss, in Norway. This is a fall of nine, hundred and fifty feet, but the water is so scanty that it is all resolved into wreaths of mist before it reaches the bottom ; and it makes but little impression on the mind, compared with the Yosemite Fall. It is, more- over, confined in a narrow, dark gorge, and must be seen usually from above. In seeing the Califomia Fall, I did not even think of the Norwegian. The amoimt of water, at this season, adds im- mensely to the cheerfulness and life of the VaUey ; but it also occasioned us a good deal of trouble in getting around. We were mired several times, and THK STRIKING PEATUEE8. 113 twice, one of our ladies was thrown on the soft greensward. But the scampering gallops through the groves, under these grand scenes, and the quiet amblings amid such beauty and sublimity, were pleasures which nothing marred. In our rides down the Canon, we were struck by the grand mass of the Sentinel Dome, 4,150 feet above the Valley, and said to give the finest point of view in the whole region round ; the valley itself, it must be remembered, being over 4,000 feet above the sea level. Then three-quarters of a mile beyond, is the majestic buttress of the Sentinel Rock, 3,000 feet high, of which a thousand feet is a smooth obelisk ; opposite to this are the Three Brothers, the highest 3,830 feet, and each regularly lower than the next. Then comes the Cathedral Rock, 2,660 feet, with two perfect spires, the most picturesque object in the Valley ; then the exquisite Pohono, or Bridal Veil, a flashing fall of a thousand feet swaying like a sUvery plume in the mountain breezes, and the grand feature of the Gorge, of which I have so often spoken. El Capitan, 3,600 feet. To the east of the hotel, about two miles above the Falls, the Valley ends and divides into three Canons, each containing scenery as remarkable as those of the main gorge. The north-west Gallon is the Tenaya Fork ; here we have the Half Dome, a majestic inac- cessible crest of concentric granite, 4,737 feet above the Valley, with a vertical face where the half sphere split off, of 2,000 feet in height ; the North Dome, a rounded 114 THE NEW WEST. mass, 3,568 feet, and easy to ascend from the north. In this fork is the exquisite Tisayac Lake, on which the morning reflections are so beautifully given. The middle Canon, that of the Merced River, is the most important one of the three. No ravine scenery in Europe equals this wild and extraordinary gorge. The river, which at this season has a tremendous body of water, descends through a wild ravine of two miles, 1,980 feet. The path wiads along over a series of wild falls and rapids, till a cloud and gale of mist and wet cover it, through which we reach a dry place at the foot of a magni¢ fall, 475 feet high — the Vernal. Then ladders are ascended up the face of the cHff, and we rest on the dry, sunny ledge over the boiliag and whirliag cataract. Still another scramble for a mile, and we find ourselves bUnded,' gasping in the breath of the furious cataract above. We are all clad in India-rubber coats (fiimished by a guide), and drip with water, and work up, inch by inch, stooping, as against a violent current. The gale takes away our breaths, and we have every now and then to catch a breath ; there is nothing visible ahead but clouds of mist and driving swirls of rain, with a roar filling the air, which prevents all voices from being heard. We are helping the ladies on with the utmost difficulty, but at last all reluctantly give out and turn back ; but I cannot bear to give up the view, and after groping in the furious storm and mist, I at length find a side- path through the chaparral, and soon reach a dry ledge beneath the superb iJevada Fall — a majestic sweep of thundering water, 639 feet in height, more THE NEVADA FALL. 115 grand than any water-fall in the Valley, because of the volume of water. There is a peculiar twist in the upper portion of it, which adds to its picturesque effect. On the other side, rises a most remarkable peak of granite, solitary and inaccessible — Mount Bro- derick, some 2,000 feet. The scene, as I stood there alone beneath this sublime sweep of waters, and amid those mighty mountain-cliffs, can never be forgotten. The South Fork I did not visit, but the photographs show that it possesses scenery as romantic as the other branches of the Canon. It is interesting to notice that these enormous water-falls in the Merced Canon have made scarcely an indentation on this most hard rock — a fact probably indicating that they have not existed a great length of time. The comparative ab- sence of detritus in the upper part of the main Valley, would seem to show the action of water and ice, press- ing the debris into the lower portion where more of it is found. There are, too, (as was discovered by Mr. King), something which may be called lateral mor- aines, and perhaps a tenninal moraine in the middle of the Canon, so that it seems not improbable, though there is no absolute evidence, that in a comparatively recent period, glaciers existed in the tipper part, and a lake in the body of the Yosemite Cation ; the descent of the whole Valley, it must be remembered, being only 50 feet during some eight miles. It is not my purpose to give a guide-book account of this unique valley, therefore, I have said nothing 'of great numbers of excursions which can be made from it^ to points of such scenic interest, as nowhere 116 THE NEW "WEST. exist in America. In future years, when travel- ers frequent the Sierras, as they now do the Alps, this will be the central point for the most grand and exciting excursions on foot, and horseback. From here, the grand peak of Mount Hofiinahn, 10,872 feet high, will be climbed, and Mount Dana, 13,227 feet; or going further South, the future Alpine clubman of the Sierras will follow the track of that most daring explorer, Clarence King, and attempt the ascent of Mount Whitney, a peak, as difficult and nearly as high as Mount Blanc, or some 15,000 feet. There is one point in the Sierras, not very far from here, where _^t;e mountains over 14,000 feet, and ^!f«/ over 13,000 feet high, are visible. From the Yosemite, too, excursions will be made to the Tuolumne Canon, also called Hetch- Ketchy, a magnificent gorge only a little inferior to this, sixteen miles north, on the Tuolumne River. It is about 3,900 feet above the sea-level, and like this, runs nearly east and west, but is only three miles long. The middle of the Canon is cut in two by " a low spur of shelving granite," dividing it into two portions, both of which are deliciously green, and apparently fertile, but very narrow ; the width varying from ten chains to three quarters of a mile. Here are granite preci- pices over 1800 feet high,and diflferent falls from 1,000 to 1,700 feet in height, with an enormous volume of water in the spring. There are peaks also, and bluffs, corresponding to the Brothers and the Cathe- dral Rock of the Yosemite, the latter in the Tuolumne, being 2,270 feet above the vaUey. It has been sel- dom visited, except by Indians ; the Pah Utahs, and THE HETCH HBTOHY. 117 the Big Creek tribes, disputing and fighting for its possession. Its climate is said to be milder than that of the Yosemite, as is shown by the vegetation. Mr. Hoffman, of the Topographical Corps, State Greological survey, who visited it in 1867 (from whose report these facts are taken), states that it shows distinct evidences of glaciers ; that it must have been filled by one branch of an enormous glacier, forty miles long, heading near Mount Dana, and Mount Lyell. The rocks on its sides are polished with the ice, and an enormous moraine extends along the edge of the vaEey for several miles.* Mr. Hutchings, as I have said, is one of the pioneers of the valley, having entered it in 1855 under great hardships and difficulties, sometimes wading in snow up to his neck, and sleeping in wiuter in the forest. The valley was first discovered in 1851. It had been Iioticed for some time that the Indians possessed a place of hiding which was unknown to the whites. * *' The Valley can be readied easily from Big Oak Flat, T)y taking the regu- lar Tosemite trail by Spragne's Banch and Big Flnme, as far as Mr. Hardin's fence, between the south and middle fork of Tnolunine river, abont 18 milesfrom Big Oak Flat. Here the trail turns off to the left, going to Wade's Meadows or Big Meadows, sometiines called Beservolr Meadows, the distance being about seven miles. From Wade's Bancb, the trail crosses the Middle fork of Tuo- lumne, and goes to the ' Hog Banch ;' five miles thence up divides, hetween the * Middle fork and Main river, abont two miles to another little ranch, called ' The Caiion.' From here, the trail winds down through rocks for six miles to Tuo- Inume Cafion. This trail is well blazed, and was made by Mr. Screech and others, for the pm'pose of driving sheep and cattle to the Valley ; the whole distance from Big Oak Flarbeing thirty-eight miles. Another trail, equally good, but a little longer, leaves the Yosemite trail about half a mile beyond the crossing of the South fork ; thence crosses the Middle fork Within abont one and one-half miles of the south fork crossing, and follows np the divide between the Middle fork and Main river, joining the first-named trail at the 'Hog Eanch.'" — Mr. Soffmmi'g report^ read by Prof. Whitney^ to the State QeoloffiocU Society of Oai^omia^ and quoted in, the " Evening BvUetyn.^"* 118 THE NEW WEST. After some uncommonlj bold robberies by the Indians, who escaped as usual, the thieves were followed closely up by a Major Savage and others, and their wonderful hiding place — ^this celebrated Canon — ^was discovered. Mr. Hutchings squatted, or purchased of squat- ters on this, which was public land. He has made many improvements, built bridges and cleared paths, and laid out garden and farm, and in many ways made the valley, and the means of reaching it, known to the public. After this was done, the whole valley, together with the Mariposa grove of Big Trees, was transferred to the State by Congress, to be pre- served as a park and public ground forever, — a most wise provision, showing that enlightened consideration for the ftiture which is a true token of high civiliza- tion ; for in coming years there will be a current of travelers to this valley such as now pours into Switzerland and the Tyrol, and it is obviously im- proper that any one individual should have the power of controlling large portions of it, or of making it in any way inconvenient or disagreeable to travelers. It should be entirely free for the public. On the other hand, Mr. Hutchings' claims ought to be considered. The Commissioners of the Park, however, brought an action of ejectment, but during the winter of 1867 and '68, Mr. H. succeeded in inducing the Legislature to pass an act giving him possession, in full, of a large tract in the Canon, provided Congress would consent. The Grovernor vetoed the bill, and it was again passed over the veto, though it afterwards failed to become THE DEPAETTJEE. 119 law through some neglect of the Clerk of the House. The proper course would evidently be to buy up Mr. Hutchings' claims at a reasonable rate, and then leave the valley open to the public. It will not be many years before a railroad will con- nect Stockton and the Toot Hills — perhaps near Hor- nitas — and then a coach-road be made from Mariposa to some point near the walls of the Canon. A hotel there in that delicious climate would be crowded in the summer months. We made our exit from the valley by the route to Black's and CoulterviUe ; first working over a tedious ferry, six miles below, with a boat fastened to a rope stretched across the river and carried from bank to bank by the force of the current acting at a diagonal to the attachment on the opposite shore. The ascent was most steep and difficult, a constant pull ia zig- zag paths for the little horses during three hours, with frightful precipices occasionally at the side. Once we crossed a slippery rock over a stream where only five or six yards separated us from an awful chasm. Yet no accident was ever known on the route. One point is of most imposing grandeur — the "Stand-point of Silence " — a spot to be remembered for various reasons by some of the party forever. There were occasional grand views, too, as we reached the height of the whole ridge ; but take it as a whole, it is not equal to the Mariposa route, and is far more diffi- cult. Black's, too, seemed a poor little house. My ad- vice would be for most travelers both to come in and go out 6j Mariposa. In this way they have but twenty- 120 THE NEW "WEST. four miles to ride m one day, while by the Coidter- ville route they must ride forty the first day to Black's Eauch, and twelve or fourteen the second to Coulter- ville. The views, too, the other way are very good, and luggage can be left at the last point, " White and Hatch's " and fresh clothing thus obtained at once. From Mariposa and Bear Valley there is a regular stage connecting with Stockton ; or a very interesting trip can be made along the Foot Hills to the Calaveras Grove, as we shall describe in the next chapter. CHAPTER X. THE SOUTHERN MINING COUNTIES. What are called the Southern Mining Counties, in California, are those sending out their treasure by Stockton — Mariposa, Tuolumne, Calaveras and Ama- dor. They were once the great mining region of California. My journey lay from Mariposa, along the Foot Hills to Calaveras. A singular appearance attracted the attention of our party at once on the Mariposa Hills. The slates which cover the ground here had been thrown almost on end by the volcanic upheaval of this region, and then eroded or broken, so that they stood in slightly inclined gray slabs, covered with moss, and had exactly the appearance of old grave-stones in countless numbers. We seemed to be journeying through the vast burial places of ancient nations. From Mariposa to Amador County, some 70 miles, one of the great quartz veins of California extends, where have been some of the most profitable quartz mines and placer-diggings. Near Coulterville it comes forth in a great mass of white quartz, called the Pefion Blanco (White Rock). In Mariposa there are few volcanic deposits, and therefore but little hy- draulic washings. The county is covered with the 6 ]23 THE NEW "WEST. ruins of the unused buildings of quartz mills. The number of these abortive attempts can hardly be im- ap-ined. Nothing of importance was being done in quartz mining on the Mariposa Estate, owing to the internal difficulties of the Company. TUOLUMNE COUNTY. In this county are more of the Tertiary and Post- Tertiary and volcanic deposits, and, in consequence, more placer-diggings. Interesting remains of the early fauna of Califor- nia have been found here more than anywhere else in the State. The auriferous slates occupy a belt of some twenty-five miles in width, but the country gen- erally is underlaid with granite, and volcanic deposits cover both granite and slates. ^A striking feature to the traveler's eye is the cropping out of the lime-stone belt. This vein was often the channel of The ancient rivers, which are now obliterated, and being worn by water into deep cavities, small ridges, or buttresses with a singular, corroded, and rounded form, are now left obtruding from the placer-diggings. Sometimes these curious ridges are cut with trap-dykes. It must be remembered that a great deal of the placer-mining of the State has been done in the beds of ancient rivers, which have now utterly passed away. These streams frequently run at right angles to the courses of the present rivers, showing how grand have been the changes of the surface of the country since i;hese old rivers washed down the fragments of quartz and golden sands from the high Sierras. These lime- TABLE MOUNTAIN. 123 %tone ridges acted, in those remote periods, as gigan- tic* "riffles," to catch the gold whirled down the streams, and the miner now has some of his greatest " finds " beneath them. In this limestone belt is a very curious cave, called " Bower Cave," which we visited, but which I will not stop here to describe. The great quartz vein cropped out again, near Jamestown. On one bank of the Stanislaus there was a singular appearance, as of coral reefs or cliffs. The people called it " lava," but it was an immense mass of calcareous tufa, formed over the auriferous gravel, and is said to contain interesting caverns. Here have been found valuable remains of the mastodon, elephant, and fogsil horse. TABLE MOUNTAIN. One of the most interesting features of scenery on the journey, was a long mountain ridge, as level as an artificial terrace. I thought, at first, it must be an ancient river terrace ; . it is, however, in fact, a river in, the air — a vast, solidified stream of lava, whose banks have vanished. This remarkable feature is well known to miners as the " Table Mountain," and is one of the most interesting evidences of the vast changes that have gone on upon the surface of the earth, that I ever remember to have seen. Countless ages ago, when the rhinoceros browsed on the forests of the Sierras, and the hippopotamus wallowed in the streams which now yield the golden * state Geologioal Survey. 124 THE NEW WEST. gravel to the Yankee miner, and the camel (or an ani-' mal allied to it) roamed over what are now the Foot Hills, a vast stream of lava was poured down from the mountains beyond the Big Trees of Calaveras, and flowed some forty miles, till it was solidified. It can be traced now on the north side of the Stanislaus River, at a height of more than 2,000 feet above the river. Below Abby's Ferry, the Stanislaus has broken through it, but it re-appears southwest of Columbia as a mountain, and continues some twenty miles from the river. There could not be a stream of lava 140 to 150 feet thick, and 1,700 feet wide (as it is in one point) without banks in which to flow. It must have run between mountains, and have followed the channel of some ancient river, as there are some 200 feet of auriferous gravel-beds beneath it. When it was poured from its volcano there could have been no Stanislaus Valley, now 2,000 feet deep. A moun- tain must have filled that canon, and also Wood's Creek on the other side, as walls for this tremendous river of lava. But its banks being of slate have all been eroded and washed away, while on the hard, basal- tic lava, hundreds of thousands of years have hardly made a wrinkle or furrow. It stands level as if by art, more solid than a mountain, almost untouched by time, while the surrounding country has been nearly washed away, and a furrow through it (and the slates) has been worn 2,000 feet deep by the slow action of a mountain torrent. Beneath this hoary monument of antiquity the modern miner has been'very busy, and some of the EOMANCE OF MINIKG. 125 richest " hauls " in California have been made here, yet it is estimated that, $1,000,000 more have been put in the Table Mountain, than taken out.* If any of my readers have any lingering romance about a mining country, or the "golden sands" of California, they should travel through the " Southern Mining Counties." Mining, at the best, is a sort of devil's or ghoul's work, on a landscape. The curse of nature seems to follow it. Even fresh battle-fields are soon covered with grass, and flowers, and grain ; but no green thing grows where the miner hath been. The shining meadows, with the gay wild flowers of California, are dug up as if with fresh-made graves ; the rounded outline of the hills is broken with heaps of dirt ; green slopes are disfigured with unsightly piles of gravel and stones ; fields are covered with sand and pebbles, as if from an inundation ; the clear mountain streams are muddy with dirt ; trees are overthrown, and vineyards and farm-houses undermined ; the whole landscape is a picture of roughness, waste, and desolation. But what shall I say of a deserted mining country, such as these counties ! For fifty miles, traveling through this scene of chaos, we saw but one white miner ; he stood, as pale as a corpse, in deep water, guiding listlessly a hydraulic pipe, and did not even look up as our party stopped, in a carriage, close by him, to gaze at his work. Here and there a lonely Chinaman, in some river bottom, was pensively sha- king his rocker, gleaning what the Americans had , *J. Boas Browne, 126 THE NEW WEST. abandoned, or two or three were quietly working some sluice in gold dirt, already sifted over and over again. The towns, rightly named "camps," seemed almost abandoned. People had left them when the tide of fortune turned, as the hunter leaves his " camp " when game fails. The long streets of gambling hells and drinking-saloons were almost empty. The saddest relics of the past were, here and there, the young men who had failed in mining and were broken down by drink, and now haunting the old dig- gings and the taverns for a chance job. They seemed, sometimes, men of education, and perhaps, of former wealth. What histories of tragic struggle with fortune and of defeat there are unwritten in California ! How many young men, for whom still fond hearts of sisters or mothers beat lovingly in vain, have fought the bat- tle of life here unsuccessfully, and have died, as men know how to die, in solitude and desertion, without a murmur or a groan. For in California, men who fail, are too proud to return to the East, or to ask sympa- thy or help. I know nothing more touching than, in these scenes of former greed and insane money- getting, to see occasionally a miner's grave. We can well imagine with what hope and courage that man had struck for fortune in these desolate places, where wealth sometimes came in a day ; bow he had tried and tried agaia, each time with lessening hope and weaker power ; how the best years slipped away while he lost all that is worth having, for the sake of the gold that always became ashes as he reached it. At THE miner's GBAVE. 127 last, the weary labor ended, and with broken heart he is laid in an unknown grave, beside the gold-dust he had so vainly labored for. I hope I may not be thought too melancholy in my picture of an old mining country, but certainly, at this time, the California southern mining-counties have a funereal aspect. There is here a fine opportunity for a Ruskinian moralist. Gold-hunting, in the ground, seems to curse not only the unhappy seekers, but nature itself. And yet this is but a superficial view. Gold-mining, as it is now in some northern counties, under responsible persons or associations and proper management, does not differ from any other business in its moral effects. And even here, Nature is begin- ning to assert her " healing power." Near Columbia and other towns, green vineyards are covering the unsightly heaps of gravel and the volcanic deposits turned up by the insatiable gold-diggers ; the bowie- knife of the miner is turned into the pruning-hook, and the pick-ax to the hoe; the ancient gold-sluices, in which water was brought from distant mountains, are now used as irrigating canals, and the sands that furnished the gold, now give the sustenance needed for the grape. The receipts at San Francisco, from the southern mines, during the year 1867, were $4,477,462 ; in 1866, $5,149,749, and in 1865, $6,426,260 ; in 1864, $6,858,153; in 1861, $9,363,214. The northern mines, during the year 1867, delivered $43,927,309. The former produce of the southern mines has reached, as we see, nearly $10,000,000 ; and the greater part 128 THE NEW WEST. from placer-diggings. At the present time, there are probably not a hundred thousand dollars a year ob- tained from these ; nearly the whole product must be from quartz mining. COPPER MINING. The Foot Hills of Calaveras County are the seat of the copper mining of the State. We visited the mine at Copperopolis, the Union, one of the largest copper deposits in the world. The ore is not found in fissure veins, but in large independent masses, lying in the direction of the strike of the inclosing rocks, and dip- ping with them. The rocks are chloride and clay- slates,* passing into hornblende slate and hornblende rock. There was little doing in this rich mine when I was there. Expenses are probably too great to make the produce remunerative, especially with the large sup- ply in other countries. The shipments of copper from Cahfornia, in 1863, were 5,933 tons, value, $512,925 ; in 1864, 14,315, value, $1,094,660; in the first six months of 1867, 3,444 tons, which did not pay expen- ses.t THE miner's law. As one passes through the mining districts, one hears continually of the " Miner's Local Law." It is a curious matter, and has interested me greatly. Here is an almost unwritten body of laws which has come down perhaps, in some of its features, from the * state Geological Survey. f Copper wliioli sold in Son rraneisoo at 14 ots. per lb. in 1865, sold inl867 at 9 cents. THE miner's law. 129 British Celts before Caesar, or from the Iberians in Spain, constantly enlarged and adapted to new cir- cumstances, improved especially in Mexico and Spain, now remodeled by Yankee genius, and so founded on common sense and the principles of justice, as to be recognized by the State and United States Courts of this coast, and allowed by State Law and by Con- gress, where not directly opposed to previous legisla- tion. Some of our ambitious orators have claimed this unwritten law as especially an American inven- tion, but its origin is undoubtedly to be found in Spanish and Mexican Mining Law, and in the customs and regulations of the local courts (or Stannaries) of the tin-miners of Devon and Cornwall, and the lead- workers of Derby. Its great principle, Gren. Halleck states to be, that the title to mining-property depends on discovery, and the continuance of title to the work- ing or development of it. Mr. G. Yale has written an admirable treatise on it, in a work called " Legal Titles to Mining-Claims and Water-Rights in California."* This body of laws relates to the public meetings of miners, and the forms to be followed ; the names and boundaries of claims ; the right of the discoverer to a double claim, and the limiting of the locator to only one claim, with many other matters relating thereto. Commissioner Browne, in his Report, so often quoted, estimates the number of mining-districts at 500, and states that the mining-regulations will fill a thousand pages. * Homan & Co., SanPrancisco, 1867. 130 THE NEW WEST. He thus describes them (pp. 226-7) : " There are not less than five hundred mining districts in Califor- nia, two hundred in Nevada, and one hundred each in Arizona, Idaho, and Oregon, each with its set of writ- ten regulations. The main objects of the regulations are to fix the boundaries of the district, the size of the claims, the manner in which claims shall be marked and recorded, the amount of work which must be done to secure the title, and the circumstances imder which the claim is considered abandoned and open to occupa- tion by new claimants. The districts usually do not contain more than a hundred square miles, frequently not more than ten, and there are, in places, a dozen within a radius of ten miles. In lode-mining, the claims are usually two hundred feet long on the lode ; in placers, the size depends on the character of the diggings and the amount of labor necessary to open them. In hiQ-diggings, where the pay-dirt is reached by long tunnels, the claim is usually a hundred feet wide, and reaches to the middle of the hill. Neglect to work a placer claim for ten days, in the season when it can be worked, is ordinarily considered as an abandonment. The regulations in the different dis- tricts are so various, however, that it is impossible to reduce them to a few classes comprehending all their provisions. The States of Nevada and Oregon, and the Territories of Idaho and Arizona have each adop- ted statutes in regard to the size and tenure of mining- claims, and these statutes, so far as they conflict with the district regulations, probably supersede them, although the Act of the last session of Congress, to 131 legalize the occupation of the mineral lands, provides for the issue of patents to only the holders of those lode-claims which are occupied and improved accord- ing to the local custom or i ules of miners in the dis- trict where the same is located." Mr. Browne, however, with many others, thinks that the existing local law is very imperfect and inade- quate, both to the wants of the present and future mining interest on this coast. There is no uniformity in it. California has some five hundred districts, and the law at one point may vary from the law five miles away, while a peculiar " custom " of a district may supersede all law. " Again, in one district the work required to be done to hold a claim is nominal; in another, exorbi- tant ; in another, abolished ; in another, adjourned from year to year. A stranger seeking to ascertain the law, is surprised to learn that there is no satis- factory public record to which he can refer, no public officer to whom he may apply, who is under any bond or obligation to furnish him information, or guarantee its authenticity. Often, in the newer districts, he finds there is not the semblance of a code, but a simple resolution adopting; the code of some other district, which may be a hundred miles distant. What guar- antee has he for investment of either capital or labor under such a system ? "Again, under the present loose organization of dis ■ tricts, with their vagueness of boundary, it is often impossible to determine by which code of laws a loca^ tion is governed. Gases of this kind have already 132 THE NEW WEST. arisen in several districts, and are liable to do so again in any part of the State ; and, under the pres- ent system, there is no means of guarding against it, except by an actual survey of the boundaries of every district — an incalculable expense." There is no permanency, either, in these regulations. A miners' meeting adopts one code, and then, a few weeks after, another is called together, and radically changes the previous proceedings. Neither is there protection to the miner nor encouragement to capital in them. The different sizes of claims in different States, and in different counties of the same State, is a source of great perplexity. Now, in Arizona, the claim may be 600 feet square, under statute; in Oregon, 300 by 150 feet; in Idaho, 200 by 100 feet; in Nevada County (Cal.), by miners' regulations, 100 feet ; in Tuolumne County, 150 by 150 feet; Sierra County, 250 by 250 feet ; and so on. The great difficulty in the mining regions of the Pacific coast, as I have often said before, has been the uncertainty of mining titles. The miner has had no home and no permanent interest ia the soil. He has merely wasted the country, like a conqueror, and then retired to other regions to enjoy his gains. Mr. Browne estimates that since the mines have been opened, $900,000,000 have been taken from the ground, besides the immense production from agricul- ture, while the whole taxable property of the State, of which nearly one-half is land, is only $180,000,000 ; showing how little of the acqiiired wealth has remained THE MINING ACT. 133 ia the State. As long ago as 1849, President Taylor, in his annual message, wisely said that " a permanent right of property in soil was as important to the suc- cess of mining as of agricultural pursuits." Congress has finally recognized this simple principle by a legislation considered, in California, the most important ever framed for the interests of the mining population of this coast : it is the Act of July 26, 1866, "granting titles in fee " to miners. By this law, all mineral lands of the United States are de- clared free to explore and to occupy by all citizens, or those who have declared their intention to be citizens. The land of any claim must be occupied and improved, and not less than $1,000 be spent on it, in labor and improvements, to give a continuance of title. On May 20, 1862, no pre-emption laws existed in California. On May 30, 1862, these laws were ex- tended to California, not, however, embracing the mineral lands. But, by this act of 1866, all mineral lands reserved from the operation of the Homestead law and the Pre-emption law, where no valuable mines have been discovered, can be pre-empted in favor of parties in possession who have improved homesteads for agricultural purposes. They can prove possession, and pay the Grovemment price ($1.25 per acre), or they can secure a patent for 160 acres by a five years' residence, without payment. As Yale justly says, "if lands for homes cannot be granted ia mining regions without containing minerals, then they must be granted in small parcels, with min- 134 THE STEW WEST. erals. The presence of minerals is not the fault of the miner (or owner), and a generous Government should not complaia, on making a donation, that it is acci- dentally more valuable than the owner could help." (p. 381.) The miner thus becomes, by this Act, as much a free-holder and possessor of the soil, as any farmer who has obtained a homestead on public lands. Hence- forth, he has a settled interest in the soil. He is no longer, by necessity, a rover and emigrant. He has a motive to build up, and beautify a home. He can have family ties, and family interests. A true foun- dation is thus laid for a settled society in the mining regions of the United States by this important legisla- tion. The second section of this Act enacts that the claim to a " lode, or vein of rock, bearing gold, sil- ver," etc., must have been worked and occupied ac- cording to "local customs of miners," and, also, that it is to extend "laterally, or otherwise, so as to conform to the local laws." But, in section 4, it is provided that " no location hereafter made shall ex- ceed 200 feet in length along the vein for each loca- tor, with an additional claim for discovery to the dis- coverer," etc., and that no one person may make more than one location on the same lode, and not more than 3,000 feet shall be taken in any one claim, by any association of persons." Mr. Browne urges very forcibly, that this recog- nizing "the local customs," leaves the size of claims in different States unequal, though reducing all to at CONFLICTING LEGISLATION. 135 least 200 feet — ^moreover, any individual can have as mncli by purchase as he chooses, and thus Companies may have immense tracts without improving them. He accordingly advises an amendment of the Act, " that no Company shall be permitted to possess a claim more than 2,000 feet in length." He thinks also, that in imitation of Mexican laws, each locator should be allowed to hold 500 feet. The width of claims, too, is subject to local customs, which are exceedingly various. "In Arizona, it is three hundred feet on each side of the middle of the lode ; in Oregon, it is twenty-five feet on each side of the lode ; in Idaho, it is a tract one hundred feet wide ; in Tuolumne County, Cahfomia, it is one hundred and fifty feet on each side of the lode ; in Sierra County, California, it is two hundred and fifty feet wide on each side ; in the Copperopolis District, it is three hundred feet wide, in the State of Nevada, Nevada County, California, and in many other counties of California, it is all the land that is actually occupied by the works of the Company or miner." The work required to hold claims, varies exceed- ingly, in difi'erent districts. One hundred dollars worth of work in Idaho, gives perpetual title, while fifty dollars annually, is required in Oregon ; one hun- dred dollars worth annually, in Nevada County ; and in Nevada, the payment of two cents per lineal foot, annually, gives a perpetual claim. The Law of Congress ought to settle this diversity, and to lay a permanent foundation, for centuries to come, for the mining interest. The various conflict- 186 THE NEW WEST. ing local customs and regulations could certainly be digested into a uniform, practical, and impartial code, for all the mineral lands of the United States. CHAPTER XL THE DIGGER INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA THEIR HABITS AND CUSTOMS THE ANTEDILUVIAN INDIAN. On our recent journey we stopped for the night at a well-known ranch. Around the house were those magnificent and symmetrical trees of which I have so often spoken — the sugar pines, reaching here a height of over 200 feet. Beneath one of these queenly trees, as we rode in, was a little camp of " Digger Indians." I examined them with interest, as, perhaps, the lowest tribe of the human race, and, it may be, the oldest. The men were small, short, pot-beUied, and small limbed, with complexions as dark as some tribes of negroes, cheek-bones high and prominent, the eyes far apart, with deep overhanging eyebrows, and masses of long, straight, ink-black hair growing low over the forehead. The frontal head was not low. The women were taller in proportion and better looking, sometimes with a deep, rich, coppery complexion. They were aU disgustingly dirty, and with but little clothing on them — mostly pieces of the old clothing of the whites. At night I was awakened and disturbed by a long, wild cry, between a wail and a supplication, proceed- ing sometimes from their tent, and sometimes from the 138 THE NEW WEST. forest near it. It was singularly wild and plaintive. I inquired in the morning what it was. " It was them cussed Injuns/' I was told, " yellin' 'cause a squaw's sick — goin' to die, I s'ppose ! " I went over to the tent and found a woman lying naked, under the furs of some wild animals outside the tent, and some other women muttering spells over her, and caring for her most tenderly ; others, their faces blackened with pitch (as a sign of grief), were weeping bitterly. I felt her pulse ; she was in high fever and evidently suffer- ing much- pain ; probably under a severe attack of rheumatic fever, to which these poor creatures are very subject, from their exposed life. Around her were conical baskets of wiUow or osier, made so close as to be filled with liquid, and dishes of the manzanita seed, and roasted acorns (their favorite food), with baskets of snails for frying. Other baskets in the tent con- tained pine-seed, from which they extract a nutritious food. Their favorite tidbits, later in the season, are roasted grasshoppers arid fried crickets. Everything was dirty and miserable about their quarters, to the last degree. They seemed, as they truly are, among the lowest tribes of the human race, though the im- memorial aborigines of California. The travelers of the ranch spoke of their wailings over the sick woman as we would speak of the bowl- ings of dogs, but to me their grief seemed as full of human affection as it ever does among the refined and the intelligent. Evidently, they clung to the form of the dying woman as we cling to the forms of our beloved ones, and it was as hard to speak the last word THE DYING SQUAW. 139 to the cold ear of the poor Indian squaw beneath the pine-tree shadow, as it is for us beneath the curtained bed, and Death tore at their heart-strings just as it tears at ours. That night, as the wild, agonized waU, which was half a supplication, sounded through the forest, there seemed to me in it the same im- measurable depth which belongs everywhere to hu- man sorrow, and I thought that the ear which catches every human groan, and listens to the cry of the lowest, must have opened most tenderly of all to that wail of depressed agony, and to that inarticulate, ago- nizing prayer. The dead are nearly always burned by the Digger Indians ; and it is said that the name of the departed is never mentioned, and if it be casually spoken, a shudder passes over the bystanders. A close observer* of these tribes, after describing the death and the funeral ceremony of an Indian, says: ''During this scene, I observed the females, as they jumped about, pointing in several directions, and ejaculating something I did not understand. On in- quiry, I learned they were pointing toward places where they had been with the deceased in childhood — gathering food, feasting, or on some other occasions of pleasure — and they were crying, ' No more yon- der ! No more yonder .' '" Again : " During the whole time, from the death of the individual, there was one who gave utterance to his sorrow in loud and broken strains. # « * On one occasion, I observed him drawing marks in * A. Johnston. {Schoolcraft's Hist, of Indian Tribes. Vol. 4.) 140 THE NEW WEST. the sand as lie spoke. He saidj ^ We are like these lines ! to-day we are here and can be seen 5 but death takes one away and then another^ as the winds wipe out these lines in the sand, until all are gone ! ' and, drawing his hand over the marks, he continued, ^ they are all gone even now — ^like them, we must all be wiped out, and will be seen no more ! ' " * So far as I can gather from conversation and research, these Root Diggers, or Bonacks, had no religious be- lief before the arrival of the Spaniards, Their idea of a Great Spirit is undoubtedly a reflex of Christian teachings — as it is probably with most, if not all, of our Eastern tribes. The only tradition of the future life I have heard of among them, is that after death the spirits sail over a great water in a canoe, and with the bad, the bottom drops out, and they are drowned, * Compare the rites of our ancestors, tlie Aryans, in India, as pictured by Max Mueller. ' ' Depart thou, depart thou by the ancient paths to the place whither oar fathers have departed. Meet with the ancient ones;t meet with the Lord of Death; obtain, thy desires in heaven. Throwing o£f thy imperfections g-otothy home. Become united with a body ; clothe thyself in a Bhining form. Gro ye ; depart ye; hasten ye from hence."t Therespousoamight then fitly come in: "Lot him depart to those for whom flo^ the rivers of nectar. Let him depart to those who through meditation,haTe obtained the victory ; who , by fi x ing their thoughts on the unseen, have gone to heaven. ■ . . !Ijet hiTn depart to the mighty in battle, to the heroes who have laid down their lives for others, to those who havo bestowed their goods on the poor."§ Eotuming to the direct form of address : ' ' May sweet breezes blow upon thee. May the water- shedding angels bear thee upward, cooling thee with their s^vift motion through the air, and sprinkling thee with dew. May thy soul go to Its own and hasten to the fathers " The service might fitly conclude with a chorus from the Veda : " Bear him ; carry Tiim ; let him with, all his faculties complete, go to the world of the righteous. Crossing the dart valley which spreadeth boundless around him, let the unborn soul ascend to heaven. ■ . Wash the feet of him who is stained with sin, let him go upward with cleansed feet. Crossing the gloom, gazing with wonder in many directions, let the unborn soul go up to heaven." ♦ ThePitrB. ^ Kig Veda, x. U. % x. 154. RELIGIOUS BELIEF. 141 while the good go to a land of plenty, where they drink and gamble for ages of ages. This is, without doubt, a modem notion. It is remarkable that this — one of the lowest tribes on earth — has a wide-spread tradition of its derivation from animals. They believe that the coyote (the wolf) is their fore- father.* At first, when the coyot6 died, the body be- came full of little animals or spirits, which took vari- ous shapes, some of deer, or elk, or antelope. But most took wings and flew away. The old coyotes feared that the earth would become depopulated by such a continual flight, and had the body burned. After this the body began to assume the shape of man, at first very imperfectly ; first walking on all fours, then acquiring one finger, then a toe, an eye, then two fingers, two eyes, and so on, until the perfect man was formed. After a while, this creature got into the habit of sitting, and wore off his tail, which is still a matter of much grief to the Bonacks, as they consider the tail quite an ornament, and often decorate themselves with one, at their dances and festivities. + All branches of the Aztec race are said by Brinton to worship the dog. The Nahuas had a temple for it, and a congregation of priests devoted to its service, and elaborate statues and a tomb were erected to its memory. Many of the Athabascan tribes and the West Eski- mos believe in their descent from a dog ; and the * Jolmston. (Hist, of Indian tribes.) t Johnston. 142 THE NEW WEST. Trukuwajs of Texas* celebrate their connection with a wolf by a grand annual dance, all dressed in wolf-skins. Whether the Digger myth is simply a recalling of the universal symbol (a dog) of the Water- Groddess — the moon, or whether it is founded on their respect for wolfish qualities, or on some vague tradition of animal descent, we have no means of de- ciding. Some tribes of Digger Indians have been known to sacrifice their widows on the funeral pyres of their husbands. Nearly all testimony agrees that they have no religious belief. The languages of the tribes of the Sacramento river (the Cushna) and of the Castanos, whom I suppose to be Bonacks, have no words for Grod, devil, or angel. The Cushna has none likewise for scalp, or for the different seasons, or for sail, or boat. The Castanos count to tens and then by tens ; they have no word for war-club. The Digger Indians are diminishing continually — through the usual causes which destroy savage races in contact with civilized, from the excessive use of alcoholic drinks, and from the diseases of the whites. There are laws, strictly enforced, making it a penal offense, punishable with fine and imprisonment, to sell liquor to Indians ; they still succeed, however, in procuring some. They, and their related branches, are the only tribes in America who never had any agriculture. Their only stores for winter were pine seeds, acorns, and grass seeds. This miserable diet * Brinton'8 " Myths of the Now World," p. 221. THEIR DEGKADATIOIf 143 has caused their poor physique, though it does not seem to have diminished their vitaHty, as they were remarkably long-lived when the whites arrived. They seldom use a gun, but have bows of great elas- ticity and strength. In winter their dwellings are conical frames of wood, covered with earth, with an aperture for the escape of the smoke, and one in the side for entrance. A few have wooden cabins, like the miners. According to those who have studied their habits closely, they are polygamists, though on account of their poverty it is rare to see a man with more than one wife. There is no marriage ceremony ; and the wife can leave the husband for good cause, but while with him, she is considered his property. They bum their dead, as I have said, and the women put on mourning by smearing the face, shoulders, and breast with black pitch. They are said to have a clear code of their own of right and wrong. Mr. Waite, speaking of the Diggers of Nevada County, says : " The Indian of this region has many points of resemblance with Ms Eastern brother. The same arrow-head, the same council house, where the chief receives his friends, the same taciturnity and gravity, the same medicine man, the same respect for dreamers or prophets, and the same improvidence belong to the race. But he differs widely in other respects. The Nevada Indian is not migratory ; he prac- tices no torture on his enemies ; the rite of adoption of wives and chil- dren of enemies is not known, but all are killed indiscriminately; chiefs are not hereditary or selected for prowess, but are chosen for other qualities — principally, it would seem, for ability to entertain or reward their friends. There is no regular chief to the tribe at pre- sent. Like all barbarous races, the Indian is addicted to games of chance, and like the Eastern Indians they tattoo themselves, but unlike them, they do not scalp their enemies." 144 THE KEW WEST. As Our party were riding recently through the forest in Mariposa County, we suddenly heard a strange yelling, and found ourselves right in the midst of an encampment of these Indians. It was beautifully chosen, on an open grassy knoll, in the midst of the thick trees, with a clear delicious spring on one side. A chief, far above the usual appearance of the Dig- gers, came forward to meet us. He looked like the best of our Eastern Indians, hale and strongly made, ^ with an aquiline . nose, dark copper complexion, and well shaped head, and the usual long, black hair low on the forehead. He was said to be a great himt^, and had a rifle in his hand. The others were sitting or lying on the ground, evidently having no covering for the night. They were short, weakly, miserable looking creatures, except some of the women, who appeared to have a better physique. These la^t were only half clad, and had long pendulous breasts. They all seemed exceedingly harmless, good natured crea- tures, and took the jokes of some of the party in the liveliest way. Colonel N. created immense amusement by offering a silver quarter for a kiss, which was accepted, to his dismay, by a hideous looking squaw. He stooped from his horse, and dropping the silver instead of the kiss, immediately spurred his horse, and rode away in the forest, amid their shouts of laughter. These all had Manzanita apples and acorns, for stores, and pine-seeds to make bread with. Their baskets were some two feet long, conical, and woven so close that they carry water in them. The women sling one THEIE FOUD. 146 oTer the shoulder, and with a little scoop, sweep the seed of the high grass into the basket. Some of them had for a head-dress a round bowl-shaped basket, in- terwoven with the red feathers of the wood-pecker and the blue of the crested quail. Their favorite food, grasshoppers, is caught by- digging a long ditch and making a fire in it : the grass- hoppers are then driven in large quantities into it, and are afterward gathered in a crisped condition, by the basketful. Old trappers say they are as good as shrimps for the table. I have never seen anything which can be called a cabin for them. Their wigwams in summer are mere arbors of leaves and a few branches. They have, however, as before mentioned, a Council Hut, and a " Sweat House." In this latter, any one who is sick or tired is placed, and the hut is heated by fires to the highest endurable degree ; and then the patient, after a tremendous perspiration, is taken out and plunged into a stream of cold water. This is the water-cure with a vengeance. The Root Diggers, or Bonacks, are the lowest branch of a low race — the Shoshonees — the Indians who held the Rocky Mountains and all the salt deserts and barren mountain chains from the sources of the Missouri, through the Utah basin, the Sierras, and south to New Mexico and.Texas. They are probably a degraded branch of the leading Indian race on this continent — the Aztec* — who reached a considerable * Por the connection between tlie Shoshonees and Aztec, see J . C. Ed. Busc't.- 'mann,ueher die^purencL'.r Aztek^ Spr. vm, Nord' Mex.et,al. Berlin, 1859. He makes the Bonacks,' or PwrMsht^ a branch of the Comauche-Shoshonee family, and thus a probable member of the great Sonora or Aztec family. 146 THE NEW "WEST. civilization. This family is divided into two branches, the Nahuas and Toltecs. The former considered themselves as coming from the north-west coast, trav- eling south until they reached Mexico. Traces of the Aztec language are found from Nicaragua to Van-_ couver's Island; The Bonacks were probably originally driven from the prairies to their barren mountain and plateau re- gion, and as game was scarce and difficult to secure, they gradually sank in the scale of being, and became root-diggers, not only not attaining the dignity of cidti- vators of the soil, but ilot even being hunters, except in one branch — the Comanches. These, since the arrival of the whites, in some way received, or stole, the great benefit of the horse, and at once rose above their mountain brethren. In fact, whenever a horse-using tribe comes in competition, in the " struggle for exist- ence," with a tribe of footmen, it. must inevitably force them out of their hunting-grounds. The Comanches, though as morally degraded as the Bonacks, became most fierce and energetic wamorsj and far superior to the people from which language shows them to have sprung. Some of the branches of the Shoshonees, in Oregon, on the salmon streams, again, seem superior to the mountain tribes, owing probably to their fish diet, and the social organization which springs from fishery. The Eoot Diggers of Califor- nia, bringing with them the long inherited listlessness, want of inventiveness, ignorance, weak physique, and habits of low diet and degradation of the Shoshonees of the great Salt Basin, and entering a country where game THEIR LOW CONDITIOIir. 147 is not very plentiful, have fallen still lower than their low ancestors, and become one of the most degraded tribes of man on earth ; having no monuments or tumuli or mounds, no art or architecture, or painting, no pottery or image making,*t or ornaments (except the very rudest), no war- club, or battle-axe, or tomahawk; <' without," says a faithful authority, " a single method of recording thought or action, without idols, sacrifices, prayers or priest," with no temple, and so far as is known, no religious belief. And yet the average volume of the Shoshonee brain is not small, being 8 1 cubic inches, while the ave- rage among all the barbarous North American Indian tribes is only 83^ to 84, and of the Mexican 79, and the Peruvian 75.$ Even our New York tribes, the Iro- quois, can boast only of 8 8 J. The Shoshonee facial angle average is 76J. The singular superiority in volume to the Peruvian is in the cerebellum, in the animal propensities, the frontal region being much smaller. The Peruvian reached a considerable civilization, and was easily conquered. The Comanche is a savage, but will probably never be subdued ; he will perish first. THE ANTEDILUVIAN INDIAN. The Digger Indian has been to me an object of pe- culiar interest, because there seems strong reason for believing him one of the oldest tribes on the earth, * A. Johnston. t A rude wooden image lias been found once on this coast, but is not reg^arded as an idol. The Bonacks haye stone knives and darts of obsidian. { Morton. 148 THE NEW WEST. that has remained for immemorial ages in just its present condition of barbarism. It is well known to geologists and to miners that at a period, as measured by historical records, immensely remote, the Sierras were the scene of a wide-extended volcanic action and disturbance. Vast streams of lava were poured forth from burning volcanoes, often in valleys whose mountain-sides are now quite obliterated and worn away. The slopes of the Sierras are covered now with these volcanic deposits. Since they were poured forth, new mountains have been formed, the ancient rivers have been filled up or turned from their courses, and the enormous canons of these American Alps have been worn away by the slow action of the new rivers. One can form thus a feeble estimate of the time which must have elapsed since that period of eruption and disturbance. And yet, even in the vastly ancient period preceding this — ^in the Pliocene of California — there is reason to believe that man existed (at the same time with the rhi- noceros, the camel, or a species allied to it, and the fos- sil horse), in an antiquity far beyond that of the flint- makers of Abbeville and Amiens, and outreaching all human estimates of time. The facts are these : A human skull ,7as found in a shaft sunk on a min- ing claim at Altaville, near Angelo, Calaveras county, Cal., by a Mr. James Matson. Mr. Matson states that it was found at a depth of about 130 feet, in a bed of gravel five feet in thickness, above which are four beds of consolidated volcanic ash, locally known as THE FOSSIL SKULL. 149 " lava." These volcanic beds are separated from each other by layers of gravel, described thus : 1. Black lava 40 feet 2. Gravel 3 feet 3. Light lava 30 feet 4. Gravel 5 feet 5. Light lava 15 feet 6. Gravel 25 feet 7. Dark brown lava 9 feet 8. Gravel , 5 feet 9. Red lava 4 feet 10. Red gravel 17 feet Total 1 53 feet The skvJl was found in bed No. 8, just above the lower stratum of lava. It was covered, and partly incrusted with stony matter. The portions preserved are the frontal bone, the nasal bone, the superior max- illary bone of the right side, the malar bones, a part of the temporal bone of the left side, with the mastoid process, and zygomatic process, and the whole of the orbits of both eyes. The base of the skull is imbedded in a mass of bone- breccia and small pebbles of volcanic rock, iacrusted with a thin layer of carbonate of lime. It is now de - posited in the office of the State Geological Survey. To the most superficial eye it has a remarkable re- semblance to the skuU of the Digger Indian ; the same rather elevated frontal region and yet large cerebellum, making the animal organs prominent, though showing no marked deficiency in the intellectual process j the 150 THE NEW WEST. facial angle fair, the same width between the eyes and overhanging process over them ; and the same re- markable width between the parietal bones, in the transverse diameter, of the skull, a similar height of the cheek bones, with large and square orbits and wide nasal orifice. The most remarkable feature of the skull was the great thickness of its bone-covering; otherwise it was by no means a low or degenerated type. The facts in regard to the discovery of the skull, stated above, were^ given in a paper, by Prof. J, D. Whitney, read before the California Academy of Sciences. He states, however, that he purposes visit- ing the locality itself, and seeing the exact place in • which this interesting relic was discovered. I visited the neighborhood, but learned that the shaft was still full of water, and therefore coidd not be ex- amined . N Subsequently the skuU was examined by Dr. Wy- man, and on " clearing away the mass of calcareous tufa which filled the cavity of the zygomatic arch, there were taken out two metatarsal bones, the lower end of a left fibula, part of the ulna, the end of a sternum bone, (all, perhaps, of the same skeleton,) also a fragment of a human tibia, too small for this skeleton, and a shell of Helix mormonensisP The gravel was cleared away from the skuU, and the lower jaw isolated and cleaned. The skuU had been fractured by violence, with the loss of the left frontal and posterior portion. The teeth and alveolar process showed it to belong to an old person, but it THE ANTEDILUVIAN TNBIAN. 151 was uncertain whether the skull was long or broad. (Sill. Journal, Sept. 1868.) The teeth of the Mastodon have been found in the same deposit. As a confirmation of the truth of this discovery, Dr. C. F. Winslow writes to the Journal of Science, (Nov., 1868), that he sent to the Boston Society of Natural History, in October, 1857, a fragment of a human skull found 180 feet belovs^ the surface of the Table Mountain, in the volcanic deposit. Few facts then having been ascertained in regard to human an- tiquity, the discovery attracted no attention. Even if this skull, by some accident, should have been dropped into these deposits, (which is exceed- ' ingly improbable,) it belongs without doubt, then, to another ancient period — the Post Pliocene, just suc- ceeding the volcanic epoch — in whose remains many human implements, such as stone mortars, and flint arrow heads, have been found, though thus far, no hu- man bones. At that remote period, the mastodon and the elephant wandered through the forests of the Sierras, and the tapir, the buffalo, and the horse abounded in the valleys. There seem no distinct flint, bone, and stone ages in California among the ancient inhabitants. Flint and stone are found together, and I believe no bone implements. It would thus ap- pear that, countless ages since, the prototypes, and probably the ancestors of the Digger Indians, plucked the seeds, and hunted the small animals, of the Sier- ras. They seem even to have been superior to the present tribes, for these have no movable stone-mor- 152 THE NEW WEST. tars, but grind their seeds in natural cavities of the rocks. This skull, if diiferent, is probably superior to the skull of the average modem Indian of California. For centuries beyond reckoning, this low and de- graded tribe has lived in a state of unchanging bar- barism, suited to its surroundings, and therefore con- tinuing to exist. There is nothing in this opposed to the Darwinian hypothesis,* as is assumed by some. The fossil ladians have not "developed," because it was not necessary in their "struggle for existence." Their low types, like those of the Lingula and Tere- bratuUna, were adapted to their circumstances through all periods of time. * The Darwinian discovery (for though first procmlgated by Dr. Wells, and contemporaneously hit upon by Mr. Wallace, its applica- tion and development are especially due to Mr. Darwin) of the law of Natural Selection is one of the great events in modem science, and constitutes, it seems to me, a step in the mental progress of the race. The influence of this discovery is felt now in every branch of scien. tific investigation, and though it may not be a perfect Hypothesis of Origin, it will at least explain the source and mode of formation of vast numbers of the forms of life. Its application to the Human Kaces, and its demonstration of their Unity and immense Antiquity, seem almost irrefutable. CHAPTER XII. THE COLLEGE OF CALIFORNIA AND THE PEOPOSED UNIVERSITY. The more any one traverses this State, the more he will be compelled to say, that far more important than the workers in the mines, on the farms, in the vineyards, or the orange groves, are the moral work- ers — ^the men laying the moral foundations of society. Even in a material point of view, this is true. Cali- fornia can spare any class of men sooner than those who are patiently and laboriously seeking to build up the education, the charities, and the religious interests of the State. The great obstacle to the progress of the Pacific Coast, which — if the marvelous natural resources of these States be estimated — ^has made their development far slower, relatively, than that of our Northwestern States, has always been the want of permanency in the population. People came to make money, and then returned to the Eastern Coast. No one thought of enjoying his wealth here. There was little sense of home among the Americans in Califor- rda. To this day they talk of the older States as "home," or as "the States," while this region is " California," as if it were outside of their country. Never was there a new community full of material prosperity, where so many emigrated. The wealth 154 THE NEW WEST. poured forth from these golden sands flowed away to enrich other soils. Had California continued to in- crease as did our Central West, or the Northwest, she would now have had millions of inhabitants. And the reason of the exodus of her population, and the want of immigration, till now every Jsranch of labor feels the evil, was simply the absence or insufficiency of the great moral agencies of society. There were few schools, few churches, no colleges here. Art and lit- erature and science could hardly live. Few cared for the thiags unseen and eternal. This was not the place for families, or for the education of children, or to pos- sess a refined home. Women, especially, disliked it. The tide was all toward sudden and material wealth. Men who had made money, could not enjoy it here, and men who sought to make it, preferred a community where the highest enjoyments and the noblest aspira- tions need not be entirely sacrificed to the pursuit of gain. So it naturally resxdted that men who left, did not return, and new men, and especially families, did not enter the State at all in the proportion which might have been expected, considering the marvelous attrac- tions offered. And thus, under the retribution of a great moral law, was the prodigious development of the Golden State, which was everywhere reasonably predicted, fatally and sadly arrested. But during all these years of materialism, there were here, as everywhere under Christianity, patient and laborious moral workers plying their hard task, "seeking not the things of their own," but those which belong to other generations, and a distant future ; toiling for CALIFORNIA COLLEGE. 155 principles amid the imdisgiiised. contempt of a commu- nity who cared only for gold ; laying patiently the foundations of education, and morality, and religion, in a population which lived in a fever of gambling, speculation, and money-getting. No one who was not here in the early years of California history, can truly appreciate the heroic labors and patient toils of these " enthusiasts for humanity," who were despised and neglected then, but whose labors, now just bearing fruit in various quarters, are seen to be worth more, even to the material interests of California, than all her gold mines. THE CALIFORNIA COLLEGE. Many of my readers will remember that years ago, when Rev. Dr. Bushnell was here, he, in company with Rev. Dr. Willey, Prof. Durant, and others, labored for the establishment of a " College of Califor- nia." Their efforts finally culminated in the founda- tion of a College under the Presidency of Dr. Willet, long known as a most unselfish worker for humanity and religion on this coast, with a small corps of well- trained and thoughtful Professors. The College is, as yet, an institution chiefly in em- bryo, but as a nucleus of the future intellectual life on the Pacific Coast, it is deeply interesting. It is fortu- nately planted in Oakland, a sort of Brooklyn to San Francisco, but enjoying a much pleasanter climate than the capital, and which has become a kind of in- tellectual center in California. Here are the best private female schools in the State. Here is the 156 aHE NEW WEST. Deaf Dumb and Blind Asyliun, under a Superinten- dent well known in New York, Mr. Wilkinson ; and here the College has a Preparatory Academy, built up by the energy of Rev. Mr. Bkatton, containing over two hundred pupils from all parts of the Pacific Coast. Innumerable villas and pretty houses are built here, so that for society, and many of the advantages of education, this is one of the best points in California for a residence. The Trustees of the College hold themselves peculiarly happy in having early secured the assistance and labors of Mr. F. L. Olmsted, the well-known landscape gardener, in laying out their grounds. If his plan be carried out, the College grounds in Oakland will be one of the prettiest bits of artificial and natural landscape in California. The great misfortune, however, seems to be that, even yet, the wealth of San Francisco has not reached that stage of civilization in which such intangible and dis-. tant benefits, as a college for learning, are liberally en- dowed, and the consequence is, the College is con- stantly forced to sell portions of its splendid estate to keep itself above water, thus consuming its material capital. The Trustees have the design, in their plans for future education, not to fall into the great error of the Eastern and European institutions of learning — the neglect of natural science — but to make that one of the leading branches taught. They feel the im- mense importance, even for a professional or business man, to understand the alphabet of science ; the pleas- ure it gives to his observation of nature, and the use it is to him in practical life. And nowhere is a THE TJNIVEESITT. 157 knowledge of natural science so much a necessity as on this coast, where the mineral interests are so vast, and where nature itself requires such new study and classification. If the future CoUege of CaHfornia can indeed be the center of all studies and collections bearing on the natural history of the Pacific Coast, it will be an invaluable institution ; but all that is, as yet, only in design. I was pleased to see that men of all sects and no sect, were upon the Board of Trustees, so as to make it a truly unsectarian College. A bill, however, (in 1868) has been presented to the State Legislature, which will probably merge the College into a larger Institution or University. The following is an analysis of the bill : "It provides for a State College of Agriculture, a State College of Mechanic Arts, a State College of Mines, a State College of Civil Engineering, and such other Colleges of Arts as the Board of Regents may es- tablish." A State College of Letters, College of Medi- cine, Law, and other professional colleges. These are all to be grouped together, under the head of a State University. The foundations have been laid, in this proposed organic act, to furnish instruction in every branch of human knowledge, which, in the judgment of the inost enlightened educators, has any practical value. It is a broad educational foundation, not only for the present, but for the future — for the time, not very remote, when the Pacific slope wiU have many millions of population, and when hundreds of youths will flock to this University for instruction, which, while it is ultimately as free as air, shall be more precious than gold. 158 THE NEW WEST. " The first in the order of establishment is the Agri- cultural College. But in consideration of the donation made to the State by the College of CaUfomia, the Board of Regents are required to organize a College of Letters, in connection with the University, as soon as practicable, and when this is done, the College of California will disincorporate, and after paying all debts, will turn over the remaining property to the University. "Provision is also made by which other colleges, now or hereafter established, may be affiliated with the University, so that students can be received from them, and upon examination, degrees conferred for proficiency in either general or special branches of learning. But colleges so affiliated may retaia their own property, while the President of the University is to be a member ex-officio of the faculties of all such affiliated colleges. In this way, any college can have a relation to the University, while it is left to manage its own affairs, so far as its separate existence is con- cerned. Special provision is also made to bestow scholarships, free from ordinary charges, upon such scholars in the public schools of the State, as shall dis- tinguish themselves- by study, and shall have passed the requisite examinations. In brief, the University is to open its doors as wide as possible to every youth who wants more education than the Common School can afibrd. It conducts him to any one, or all of the departments of practical science, as well as the heUes httres, and invites him to~make the most of the greatest advantages at the least possible cost. The THE UNIVERSITY. 159 bill is utterly free from the taint of a narrow provin- cialism. It is cosmopolitan, and just and liberal in all its provisions. The government of the University is to be by a Board of Regents, which is to consist of twenty-two members, and" to include the Governor of the State, Lieutenant-Governor, Speaker of the As- sembly, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, the President of the State Agricultural Society, and the President of the Mechanics' Institute of this city. Eight other members are to be nominated by the Gov- ernor, and eight additional honorary members are to be chosen by the appointed members. " The endowment proposed for the support of the University is the capital and interest accruing from the sale of seventy-two sections of land, heretofore granted to the State by Congress, and known as the ' Seminary Grant,' and from the sale of ten sections granted to the State for public buildings ; the avails and income from 150,000 acres of land, heretofore granted to the State for the benefit of ' Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts;' and all contributions here- after to be made by the State, or from the funds of private individuals. "The donation which the College of California has already made, is now, in the opinion of good judges, equivalent to 8100,000; and the property, which the College proposes to turn over at a future day, may be set down at $50,000. It is expected that the State will match this donation, which is, thus far, the largest ever made for education on the Pacific coast, by an appropriation of $100,000 to farnish the buildings 160 THE NEW WEST. necessary to put the University in operation with as little delay as possible." On a recent voyage of the Great Repuhlic to Japan, Mr. Allan McLane took over a proposition to the Tycoon, from the Board of the College of California, to educate nine or ten yoimg Japanese scholars in the Enghsh language and history, so as to promote a com- mercial and popular union between the two coun- tries. The students will be conveyed both ways, free of charge, by the Pacific Mail Company, and will be especially and gratuitously instructed in the College, and separate quarters wiU be furnished them, if de- sired. This idea originated with Mr. McLane, and bears the marks of his far-reaching and organizing ' brain. The results of an educated body of men growing up in Japan, and acquainted thoroughly with the American language and affairs, could hardly be measured in their effects on the commercial interests of the country, or the progress of civilization and Christianity. CHAPTER XIII. THE FOOT HILLS GOLD-MINING. It is a sad pity to see the beautiful rivers of Cali- fornia so spoiled by the gold-washings from above. The Sacramento is yellow with the sand from these works in the mountains, and the fine salmon which used to fill its streams, are being driven away each year. In a short time, unless efficient measures are taken to preserve the fish, the rivers of the State will be stripped of a most valuable product, as similar streams have been in New England. The sea-fish of San Francisco, however, are abundant, and of many new and remarkably fine va*-ieties. The mining in the Foot Hills is producing another remarkable eflFect ; it is driving out the farmers from the river-bottoms to the elevated land. These " flats " were always subject to periodical overflows, but, as the floods seldom reached beyond a well-known limit, and as they deposited fertilizing sediment, the cultivators could adapt themselves to them, and found their ad- vantage in them. But since the enormous hydraulic washings in the Foot Hills, or the Sierras, this has all been changed, on account of the filling up of the mountain streams with gravel and soil. In many of these streams, whole hills have been " sluiced" away, and have filled up the rivers from twenty to forty feet. 162 THE NEW WEST. When the winter floods come, they pour down these channels, and carry the soil and gravel to the valley streams, filling them up to the brim, causing floods, and thus burying thousands of acres of most valuable land every year, under this sandy and pebbly deposit. I heard of one instance, in Yuba County, of an or- chard of seventy-five acres, worth from $50,000 to $75,000, thus completely destroyed; and of many similar cases of smaller vineyards and farms. The following, from the Alta newspaper, will illus- trate this destructive action of man on nature : " Marys¥ille,once the best-built and neatest inland town of our State, with a flourishing commerce, has been retrograding for some years past, from changes incident to California. The best paying orchard of the State was Briggs'. This consisted of ninety acres of assorted fruit trees, on rich, sandy loam, kept moist by infiltration from the river. The fruit of this orchard was the earliest to reach the market, and, until prices tell to their present level, it paid well to send it to San Francisco, even at heavy cc*t of steamboat freight. What has be- come of this celebraied orchard, which was valued at $200,000 ? It is now a willow copse ! Its trees, which were so beautiful and so fragrant in full flower of Spring time, and whose rich show of frvSX, always heavy laden, was the greatest attraction on the highway, now gladden the eye no more, forever ! In its place stands a wilderness of rank willows, overtopping its former wealth of fruit trees, and blotting out the record of their history. " Dr. Tebgarden's rich and beautiful orchard of forty acre8,in near- er proximity to town, has shared the same fate, andBRlGGS' second orchard of 200 acres is fast following it. Nearly all that exceedingly fertile bottom-land that lined the banks of the Yuba for miles above, is also forever blotted out, and the work of devastation still advances along the bottoms of the Feather river, below the confluence of the Yuba. In time not distant, the whole of those rich, dark-soiled bottom- lands will be one barren waste of sand. This sad change is but a type, of the utter desolation that has already ruined the bottom-lands every- where along the streams that come from the gold mines. KtriN FROM GOLD WASHING. 163 " Every year,millions of tons of earth, grave],and aand are sent down the rivers that go from the mines toward the plains below. Every year there Is added so much to the channels of deposition, that the beds of the streams are elevated, and their waters spread more and more over the alluvial bottom-lands, and bury them under barren sands be- yond redemption. " Let it be understood that these rich lands count their acres by thousands upon thousands ; that they are smothered under from five to twenty feet of barren sand, and the eternity of their extinction from the wealth of the State will be comprehended. The Sacramento river, though further removed and broader in its base, is not less notably being uplifted, and year by year its ever-muddy waters are spreading over the flat and marshy lands on its borders. "The greater part of this destruction comes from what are called hy- draulic diggings. These are the richest lands for tillage in the un- dulant country of the gold ranges. They have a substratum of gravel which contains grains of native gold. To get a cheap separation of the gold from the gravel it is necessary to tear down the low elevations, varying from 500 to 200 feet, with the whole covering of rich top-soil, with the gardens and orchards, houses and fences that are on them. The dry gold is found to be there, the farm is devoured, and in an in- credibly short time, the piping water-jets, under a pressure of 100 or 200 feet, have torn away the gracefully swelling landscape of 200 or 300 ornate acres, and left in its place a pond of dirty water, with a broad border of huge boulders of rock, with cobble stones and barren gravel — a picture of utter ruin. The devastation could not be more complete if it were the last day, and the demons of destruction had been let loose to desolate the earth, that not a green thing should grow on it thereafter, forever ! The price of this awful ruin is probably some ten or twelve millions of gold dollars per annum, the product of this particular form of mining. It brings, for the present, a large equi- valent for the sacrifice of the fine vineyard and orchard land it ab- stracts from the food-producing capacity of the State. But in the end it may be regarded as a poor compensation. The gold passes away, whilb the land, with the wealthy homes it has ruined, would have endured from generation to generation.'' " GOLD RUN." I had no idea till I stopped at this place, what hy- draulic washing was, on a large scale. Here was a 164 THE NEW WEST. valley, of whose dimensions I cannot be certain, but from half to three quarters of a mile long, by a quarter broad, and some 250 feet deep, scooped out entirely by the miners' hydraulic pipe. Two or three men stood at the base of a great wall of earth and rock, and with heavy waterpipes, sup- ported on wooden frames, but guided by the miner, they speedily undermiaed the mountain-side (much to their own risk) and sent it floating down their sluices into the valley below. The whole vast ravine thus hoUowed out by the little human ants, was evidently the bed of an ancient river, filled with sand and peb- bles and petrified trunks, and here the modem miaer gathers the washings of ancient streams long since passed away. The iron pipe through which this tremendous force was exerted, was 800 feet long, with only a 2-inch nozzle and a pressure of 206 feet. The debris was carried Hke a torrent through an alternate series of " sluices, and ground-races, and falls" for mUes below, crushing the dirt thoroughly. Even as I stood watching the work, the hill melted like snow under this mighty agency. The channel of one ancient river, well known to the miners as the " Blue Lead," has been explored for at least twenty-five miles from Sebastopol, in the north- em part of Sierra County, to Snow Point, in Nevada County, and probably over this county also. It runs nearly at right angles to the present rivers, and its channel must have been filled by gradual and repeated overflows of lava, and changed by many volcanic up- heavals. PROFITS OF GOLD-MINING. 166 GRASS VALLEY. Like many travelers, I have had serious doubts whether gold-mining, during the last ten years, had been a source of much real profit to California, except in attracting labor, and I have taken pains to inquire of all my acquaintances if they could point out persons to me who had made and hept fortunes from gold-min- ing. As a general thing, they have admitted that they themselves, and their intimate friends, have been ex- ceptions, but the almost universal reply is, " There is Mr. Hayward in the Eureka mine, and look at Grass Valley, if you want to see profits ! " It is a fact that gold-mining in the Eureka mine, and in Grass Valley, and the northern counties, has passed through its adventurous and uncertain period, and is ■ now carried on more like other branches of business. Its profits are not made from sudden and brilHant " finds," but by reducing the expenses of working, and trusting to a regular and economical production. The Eureka mine. Grass Valley, is an instance. When this vein was first worked to a depth of about 34 feet below the surface, the yield of the quartz was from $6 to $12 a ton, which did little more than pay expenses.* Below that level, the yield increased from $14 to $21 ; at 100 feet, it paid $28 ; at 200, about $37, and at 300 feet, the yield has been over $60 per ton. " During the four months which preceded the first of Octoher, the mine produced 42,227f tons of quartz, which yielded $255,072.55, and the expenses of mining and milling were $67,320.83, leaving as profit, $177,751.72. The average yield of the quartz during the period was at the rate of $60.33 per ton. During the whole year the' amount of quartz worked was ll,375t tons, which produced $526,431.41 at * J. Eo88 Browne's report for 1867-'68. 166 THE NEW WEST. an expense of $168,389.23, leaving as profit for the whole year $368,042.19. The average yield per ton was $47.15, and the average cost of mining and milling was $13.75, leaving a profit of $33.40 per ton." (J. Koss Browne.) Mr. Hayward is said to have made his enormous fortune by a common-sense management of his mine, as he would manage any other business. His celebrated mine is at Sutter Creek, Amador County. Its average yield is not high : it has been worked since 1851, though only during the last eight years attaining much importance. It has produced altogether about S6, 000,000. The yield per ton is only about $25. The vein at the depth of 1,200 feet is about 25 feet broad. It is the deepest mine in the State. The veins in Grass Valley are noted for their nar- "rowness and the richness of the quartz. They are in- cased in a hard metamorphic rock, and the expenses of reduction are higher than elsewhere in California, amounting to from $15 to $26 per ton.* Within the last fourteen years, the total production from the Grass Valley district has not been far from $23,000,000.* Its annual yield now is about $3,500,000 ; 2,000 labor- ers being employed, and producing an average yield of some $1,750 : the average yield of the rock being from $30 to $35 per ton. A single vein, with an average width of 12 to 14 inches, on Massachusetts and Gold Hill, has produced, during that time, more than $7,000,000 worth of gold. More experiments in different processes of extract- ing the gold have been made here than anywhere else in the State. * J. Kos3 Browne. CHEAPER MINING. 167 GOLD-MINING. It must not be supposed that there is any one dis- trict on the Pacific coast which is exclusively a min- ing region. From the borders of Mexico to Alaska, and from the waters of the Missouri to the Coast Range, there are innumerable mining works in gold and silver, most of whose product comes out to the world by San Francisco — a yield said to be more than half the whole product of the world. There has no doubt been a large development to the mining interest in the last four years. Among the causes of this, has been the granting titles to mines by the Federal Government. Capital, of course, is more disposed to invest when a title to property is thus secured. Expenses, too, have diminished. Miners' wages now average $3 a day, while they used to be $4; mills charge 20 per cent, less for working, and guarantee 75 per cent, returns on the fire assay, where a year ago they would only guarantee GO per cent. The cost of assaying and refining bullion has been re- duced within a year some 50 per cent.* No one not familiar with the business can imagine the extent of the losses through incompetent refining- '' A striking illustration of the waste of bullion was recently presented in Virginia City, Nevada, where an assay office, which had done considerable busiuess for a couple of years, was closed up for want of patrons, when parties who had watched the method of busi- ness of the iirm obtained permission to test the dust in the furnace flue, and waste about the laboratory, t * t Commercial and Mining Eeyie'w. 168 THE NEW "WEST. and obtained $900 worth of bullion. The most sug- gestive fact connected with the transaction being, that while the bullion melted by the establishment never exceeded $2 per ounce in value, that collected from the flue was worth $2.50 per ounce ; it had gained 25 per cetit. by the loss of the silver, which, it is well known, vaporizes at a lower temperature than gold." It is estimated, too, that nearly 20 per cent, of the buUion received in San Francisco is derived now from the sulphurets and tailings, which, a few years ago, would have been thrown away. In one mine in Grass Valley, the past year, thousands of tons of old rubbish have been worked over, yielding an average of $15 per ton. It is said that, in over a dozen estab- lishments in the State, the yield from sulphurets, re- duced by chlorination or other process, is from $100 to $300 per ton. These formerly were considered of no value. The three great branches of mining, as is well known, are, (1.) Quartz ; (9.) Cement; (3.) Placer Mining. Some of the quartz-mining is now at great depth, and the yield is still found profitable. These "quartz-mines," however, are not always in quartz. One profitable mine near Lincoln, Placer County, is said to be in a hill of silicate of magnesia. Rich aurif- erous sulphurets, too, are said to be found in slate, lime- stone, and cemented gravel, as well as quartz. Of quartz mills, there are reported to be nearly 400, with 4,000 stamps, in California alone. Nevada County was formerly the great quartz-mining county ,^ but many other counties, such as El Dorado, Placer, Plu- GOOD LUCK. 169 mas, Yuba, &c., are now discovered to be equally rich. The names are often striking ; Poverty Ledge, Poor Man's Hill, Whiskey Diggings, Brandy City, Grizzly Flat, You Bet, etc. One stroke of good fortune in quartz mining, is re- lated by an authentic witness* this year ; — " A miner, named Johnson, discovered a ledge of decomposed quartz near Paulineville, Yuba county, in March, from which he obtained $10,000, with a rock- er, in a few hours, and $10,000 more from two hundred pounds of the rock which he carried to Marysville, and he has since sold his mine for a very handsome fortune." The produce of the quartz mines, in 1868, was about $9,000,000. CEMENT MINING. " Cement " is a very tough clay, enclosing gravel and boulders. The gravel is not auriferous, but it must be crushed, so as to permit the crushing of the clay. All the power spent in crushing the stones is lost. One stamp will crush from 4 to 6 tons of cement per day. The pulverization is not so fine as of quartz. The particles of clay that escape are easily dissolved in water. The gold is caught in the battery^ and that which escapes through the screen is caught in the sluice, t These hills of cement are very frequently covered with basalt or volcanic rock, showing that the cur- rents of lava often foUow the beds of the streams, * Comm. Hoview. t Browne's Keport. 8 170 THE NEW WEST. and the gravel is thus protected from the denudation which lays bare the sxirrounding country. It is almost always assumed now among miners, that a tun- nel cut into a basalt-covered hill wiU reach the bed of an ancient river. * Nearly one-half of the gold found in the State is extracted from these beds of ancient rivers. It is said that there are several hundred miles of this cement in the State, " ranging from one thousand feet to several miles wide, and from one hundred to one thousand feet deep, all of which is rich in gold." On this hard material, water and the tremendous hydraulic process has no more effect than on granite. There are now nearly 100 mills t in the State, engaged in crushing cement, and yielding much more profit than the quartz mills; Placer, Nevada, and Yuba Counties are the centers of this branch." "I The American mine at Manzanita Hill, North San Juan, Nevada County, for the past three years, has yielded a revenue of $105^000 anniially, among its eight owners, who have ground enough in their claim, of the same character," to last for forty years, if work- ed at the same rate as during the past three. Smarts- ville and Timbuctoo, in Yuba County, are famous for their cement claims. The cement here is less hard than in Nevada County, and is worked to a great ex- tent by the hydraulic process. The Blue Gravel claim at SmartsviUes is a specimen of the mines in Yuba. This claim contains upwards of one hundred '"" _ *Br(Jwn6's Keport. t J Comm. EeTiew. CEMENT MINING. 171 acres, averaging one hundred feet from surface to bed rock. Upwards of $1,000,000 have been taken from it, though it was not opened till March, 1864. It occupied nine years of incessant labor and the ex- penditure of upwards of $100,000 to open it. It has four miles of sluices, three feet wide and three feet deep, in which three tons of quicksilver are distributed to catch the Gold. 125,000 pounds of gunpowder are annually expended in blowing up, and breaking the cement where it is too hard for the hydraulic to wash. The water used in washing costs $25,000 per annum. It is this heavy outlay in opening these claims that has been the great obstacle to their development. Capital- ists are now largely interested in this business. The second largest individual income in the State, during the last year, was obtained by Mr. J. P. ^^ierce, one of the owners in the Blue Gravel claim, who paid taxes on an income of $102,000. Several other parties inter- ested in the mines of Yuba paid taxes on incomes of from $12,000 to $60,000." The yield from cement-mining or deep lying placers last year, was $14,000,000. PLACEE-MINING. This form of mining is decreasing every year, while quartz-mining slowly increases. Most of the surface gold is now obtained by hydraulic mining. The yield in some claims, is as large as $100 per day to the hand, but it does not average more than $10 or $15. The river mining is now mainly done by Chinese, who 17:2 THE NEW WEST. glean from the sands over and over again, after the whites have abandoned them. " The following is the produce of two successful placer-operations in the Lire Oak and Nebraska mines, in Nevada County. These claims were located in 1853, and have been worked continuously ever since. Before the hydraulic process was introduced, $350,000 per annum were taken out by means of drifting on the bed rock, hoisting the dirt with a windlass, and washing it in sluices. From November, 1853, to June, 1860, the Nebraska Company extracted $353,000 ; since then upwards of $350,000 more have been obtained. The three claims in the vicinity have taken out $1,218,000. Four other companies ad- joining, on the same "lead," have taken out upwards of $2,000,000. Other smaller companies, working over the same materials, have ob- tained upwards of another million of dollars, and all from less than 4,000 feet, on a lead which is known to extend for ten or fifteen miles.'' As old fields are abandoned in placer-mining, new ones are found. It is the branch of mining least be- neficial to the country. Its produce last year was about $2,000,000. ' GOLD MmiNG PROCESSES. The main processes of quartz-mining are well known. Crushing and amalgamation are the two great methods of reducing the ores. Most of the crushing is done with stamps. The stamp is usually a block of iron, weighing from 300 to 1500 pounds, fastened to. a wooden or iron shaft. A bat- tery consists of several stamps standing side by side. " * The stamps are successively lifted by machinery, and then al- lowed to fall on the quartz The height to which they are raised is from ten to fifteen inches, and each stamp falls from forty to eighty times in a minute. It is calculated that each stamp should crush a ton of quartz of ordinary quality in twenty four hours. The mills * J. Ross Browne. MINING PROCESSES, 173 usually run night and day. Of course the amount of quartz crushed depends to a considerable extent on the hardness of the rock, the weight of the stamp, height of the fall, and the rapidity of the blows. " The fineness to which the rock must be pulverized depends on cir- cumstances. The particles of gold may be very fine, so that the quartz must be reduced to an impalpable powder before they can be liberated ; but if the particles of gold and the grain of the rock are coarse, or if the pulp is to go through a grinding-pan, the quartz may be allowed to escape when many of the particles are as coarse as sea-sand or even coarser. The battery has on one side a screen of wire-cloth or per- forated sheet iron, with apertures of the size of the largest particles that must be permitted to escape. A steady current of water runs through the battery, so as to carry away the quartz dust as soon as it is fine enough. The sheet-iron screens are punched with needles and are known by the numbers. No. 7 screen is punched with a cambric-needle. No. 3 with a darning-needle. In Grass Valley most of the mills use Nos. 3 and 4 screens ; elsewhere Nos. 4 and 5 and 6 are preferred." " AMAXGAMATION OF G01J5." " Much of the gold is caught or amalgamated in the battery. The stamps fell into an iron box or mortar, into which an ounce of quick- silver is thrown for every ounce of gold supposed to be in the quartz. If the rock is crushed fine in the battery, two-thirds or three-fourths of all the gold saved may be caught there, leaving one-third or one- fourth that escapes through the screen. After leaving the battery, the pulverized quartz in most mills runs down over copper plate which has been washed over with diluted nitric acid, and then rubbed with quicksilver till the whole surface is covered with amalgam : and when the plate is covered with gold it operates far more eflFectually than when the quicksilver is fresh. Gold unites more readily with gold amalgam than with pure quicksilver. The copper plate, which is the bottom of a trough or sluice, may be fifty or a hundred feet long. " Between the copper plates in many mills are troughs, in the bot- tom of which are laid coarse blankets, or gunny bag, or even cowhide with the hair on and the grain against the stream. Gold amalgam and sulphurets are caught in the rough surface of the blanket, gunny sack, or hide, which must be taken up and washed at intervals, which are usually not more than half an hour long. The shaking table used in amalgamation is a long box with transverse divisions containing quicksilver. It is set horizontally and is shaken longitudinally, re- 174 THE NEW WEST. ceiving from 100 to 200 short jerks in a minute. By these jerks the pulp is thrown hack upon the quicksilver. "Pans are coming into use slowly in the gold quartz mills — at least in some of the new ones lately erected in Grass Valley. Kustel says of pan amalgamation that it is 'at present the most perfect gold ma- nipulation,' and by it 'gold is extracted as close as ninety-five per cent, of the fire assay' — that is, if there are no sulphurets. (Nevada and California processes, page 63.) The general opinion is that from twenty to forty per cent, of the gold is lost in the ordinary processes." MINING TEICKS AND FAILURES. The extent to which both eastern and San Fran- ciscan investors have been deluded and cheated ia California mines, could not be imagined by any one not familiar with the facts. Take this instance of "salting," which I have from the scientific gentleman employed. An ardent mercantile man from Buffalo, New York, was visiting a mine in the Foot HiUs, of- ferredfor sale cheap, and chanced to pickup some spec- imens of ore, scattered about. He had them assayed, and they showed a remarkable proportion of gold. Not betraying the hidden treasure thus luckily found, he went back to Buffalo, and informed his confiding friends. The demonstration was complete. Here was an average specimen of the ore; it yielded $100 a ton, and cost $25 to work; and they could take out 10 tons a day — $5,000 in a week — the whole mine only costing $60,000: "in twelve weeks you can clear your capital ! " The sixty thousand were speedily sub- scribed, and the mine was bought, the investors wait- ing eagerly for their golden egg to_ hatch. It chanced, however, that now the originator met my friend and A MINE. 175 showed him his specimen ores. " But these do not seem to belong to that formation ! " said my young savant. The speculator was frightened ; he engaged my friend for $500 to go right up and examine, and report. If he had reported favorably, he would un- doubtedly have received several thousand dollars from the stockholders. But he was obliged to inform the astounded Company that the mine was salted J (i. e. that those interesting and valuable specimens had been brought from some other quarter and dropped in\ and that it was not worth working. A gentleman interested, gave me another incident of a similar nature. Some commercial men in Lon- don became interested in the glowing accounts of a Califomian, of a celebrated gold mine in the Sierras. His specimen ores were astonishingly rich, and the whole investment appeared a very promising one. Their information, however, was not sufficiently trust- worthy, and they held off. The Califomian went to the Continent, leaving a telegraph address. In the mean time some of these gentlemen happened, at one of their places of daily resort, to meet another Amer- ican, also from California. They fell into a conversa- tion with him ; had he ever been in Nevada County? Oh, yes, he had slept over every yard of it ! Did he ever hear of the Grolconda mine ? Certainly ; knew it well ! Well, what did he think of it ? The strang- er, as a man accustomed to judge, replied carefully with caution. — They pressed him. — He inquired the price set on it. " Two hundred thousand dollars." He shook his head distrustfully ; then described the mine, 176 THE NEW WEST. and what he knew of its product. It was a fair mine, but not worth more than half that money. In fact, he knew> that the company had received an offer of that amount and might at any moment sell it. They must work rapidly to secure it. The Englishmen resolved to try for it. They telegraphed to the Califomian. He re- turned. They offered him $100,000, provided every- thing should appear all right on investigation. He would not secure the purchase to them without $10,000 down. So eager were they, that they were about paying him this amount, until their lawyer suggested that the title should be first investigated. An agent was accordingly sent to California, who went out to the mine. He not only discovered no title, "but not even a claim or a digging," and his employers escaped with a couple of thousands loss. " Scientific Reports " smell in the nostrils now of CaUfornians. So many magnificent mines and rich veins are dished up annually in such splendid style on paper, which are never found to pay a penny to the investor, that a good report of a savant is about the last thing the knowing^ speculators look to. Scientific superintendents, too, are no better thought of. Skill and training in the East, they say, are no preparation for practical mining on this coast. I heard of one graduate of a mining school, who imported and carted up to his mine a new and improved piece of machin- ery, at a cost of some $20,000, and when it reached there, it was discovered to be too large for the shaft, so that to get it into ihe mine, the whole entrance must be enlarj;ed. at an expense of some $50,000. MINING MISTAKES. 177 The result was, that the valuable machinery was left outside, and finally broken up for old iron. The amount of useless ''prospecting" done by Eastern engineers, at enormous expense, can only be meas- ured by the losses of Wall street and Montgomery street in gold-mining stocks. Nor have the " prac- tical men " of California done any better : as witness the large sums sp.mt uselessly near the San Carlos mine, in mistaking chromic iron for silver ore, or in mining for tin south of Los Ang.les, or digging for petroleum npar Santa Barbara — though in this last blunder, science also must take its share of blame. I never yet met any business man in California who had not lost money in mining, and I heard of but very few fortunes which had been made and Jcept in this business. Still, gold and silver mining has built up this coast with towns and villages, and has served to develop an amazing agriculture in a country which otherwise would have been as little known or explored as Arizona. It has certainly " paid" to this region, whether it has to the lenders of capital in the East or not. California herself shows all the signs of prosperity. Wages are high, means of living not very expensive, and th.' inter st on capital moderate. Individuals live in much comfort and abundance, and the working- classes are in better condition than anywhere else in the world. Before the last five years, this prosperity must have arisen largely from the profits in mining- Still, population has not increased rapidly, very many 178 THE NEW WEST having returned who had failed in business ; the wage- fund may have come largely in borrowed capital from the East, and the high wages and high interest (which prevailed a few years since) may have partly de- pended on the gambling exjpectation of profit, which gold-mining induces. No one can say what losses Eastern investors, and disappointed and unlucky miners have incurred ; so that it is extremely difficult to decide how much it has cost to extract the nine hundred millions of dollars which are beheved to have been taken from the mines of California since 1848. This enormous yield has affected the value of gold throughout the world, and has been a great aid in our exchanges ; but what profit (if any) has accrued from it, over and above what would have arisen from the application of the same labor and capital to the wheat- fields of the Central West, is exceedingly difficult 'to estimate. The quantity obtained each year from surface-dig- gings in California is estimated at $2,000,000 ; from cement or deep-lying placers, $14,000,000; from quartz-mines, $9,000,000 ; total, $25,000,000. Mr. Browne, in his report for 1867, thus reckons the GOLD AJSD SILVER PKODtTCT FOK 1867. " From the best information available, the following is a near approxi- mation to our total gold and silver product for the year ending Jan- uary 1, 1867: California $25,000,000 Nevada 20,000,000 Montana 12,000,000 BULLION PRODUCT. 179 Oregon .' $2,000,000 Colorado 2,500,000 New Mexico 500,000 Arizona 500,000 Add for bullion derived from unknown sourc- es within our States and Territories, un- accounted for by Assessors and Express Companies, etc 5,000,000 Total product of the United States $75,000,000 PRODUCT OF THE PACIFIC STATES AND TERRITORIES. " The bullion product of Washington is estimated by the Surveyor. General at $1,500,000. That of Oregon is stated as high as $2,500,000. Intelligent residents of Idaho and Montana represent that the figures ^ven in the above estimate, so far as these Territories are concerned, are entirely too low, and might be doubled without exceeding the truth. The product of Idaho alone, for this year, is said to be from $15 000,000 to $18,000,000. That of Montana is estimated by the Surveyor-General at $20,000,000. Similar exceptions are taken to the estimates of Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. As I have no grounds for accepting those statements, beyond the assertion that njost of the bullion is carried away in the pockets of the miners, I am inclined to rely upon the returns of the assessors, express companies, and oiScial tables of export. Admitting that a fraction over seven per cent may have escaped, although reasonable allowance is made for this in the estimate of $70,000,000, and that a considerable sum may be derived from sources not enumerated, I feel confident the additional allowance of $5,000,000 is sufficient to cover the entire bullion product of the United States for the year 1867, thus making the aggregate from all sources $75,000,000, as stated in the Eeport of the Secretary of the Treasury. "I have endeavored to obtain returns of the annual product of each State and Territory since 1848, but for the reasons already stated, and in absence of the reliable statistics, it has been impossible to make the necessary divisions with more than approximate accuracy. As nearly as I can judge from the imperfect returns available, the following, iu round numbers, is not far irom the total product : California $900,000,000 Nevada 90,000,000 180 THE NEW WEST. Montana 65,000,000 Idaho 45,000,000 Washington 10,000,000 Colorado 20,000,000 New Mexico and Arizona 25,000,000 In jewelry, plate, spoons, etc., and re- tained for circulation on Pacific coast.. 45,000,000 Add for amounts buried or concealed, and amounts from unenumerated sources, and of which no account may have been taken 50,000,000 Total 11,255,000,000 " Tills statement requires explanation. Up to 1855, a considerable portion of the gold taken from California was not manifested. In 1849, the actual yield was probably $10,030,000 ; in 1350, $35,000,000; in 1851, $46,000,000 ; in 1852, $50,000,000; in 1853, $60,C00,000; and in l'^54, $53,000,000. The amount unaccounted for by manifest was not BO great after the last date. In 1861, Nevada and Idaho commenced adding their treasures to the shipments, so that after that date, a deduction for the amounts produced from these sources would be necessary, if the manifests alone were taken as a criterion, in order to arrive at the product of California. An addition should be made for the amount retained for currency, estimated by some as high as 145.000,000; but probably not exceeding $35,000,000 or $40,000,0 0; and, for plate, jewelry, etc., of California gold, $2,000,0IK), and Ne- vada silver, $3,000,000. Incorporated in these shipments are the amounts received from Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, Arizona, Washing- ton, and British Columbia ; but these cannot be deducted from the manifest of Exports, according to the Express returns, since the pro- portions are not accurately known of the amounts retained and ship- ped, derived from separate sources. THE EXPORTATION OF TREASURE FROM CALIFORNIA. " The following table shows the amount of treasure manifested for exportation from San Francisco : EXPORT OF TEEASUEE. 181 TEAB, AMOUNT. 1849 $4,921,250 1850 27,676,346 1851 42,582,695 1852 46,588,434 1853 : 57,330,034 1854 51,323,653 1855 45,182,631 1856 48,880.543 1857 48,976,697 1858 47,548,025 1859 47,649,462 1860 42,203 345 1861 40,639,080 1862 42,551,761 1863 46,071,920 1864 55,707,201 1865 44,984,546 Total $740,832,623 COMPABISION' or RECEIPTS AND EXPORTS. "The following figures show the exports, the receipts, and the differ- ence between exports and receipts for the last five years : Tears. Exports. Eeceipta. Difference. 1861 $40,639,080 $43,391,760 $2,752,686 gain 1862 42,561,761 49,375,462 6,813,701 " 1863 46,071,920 52,953,961 6,382,041 " 1864 55,707,201 55,223,407 473,794 loss. 1865 44,984,546 55,467,593 10,482,947 gain. Th& Northern Mines. — The production from these mmes is steadily increasing ; being in 1862, $30,948,- 369; Iq 1864, $34,782,312; in 1865, $36,649,337. These mines, it should be remembered, are in the counties north of Stockton. 182 THE NEW WEST. CHAPTER XIV. THE PACIFIC KAILROAD AND VIRGINIA CITY. The work accomplished by the Pacific Railroad in crossing the Sierras, is one of the marvels of the world in engineering skill. The only enterprise approaching it, is the railroad opened by the Austrian Grovem- ment over the Brenner Pass in Tyrol, connecting Inns- pruck and Botzen. The American road makes a steady ascent for ninety miles from Sacramento to Cisco, its present terminus, where it reaches an altitude of 5,911 feet; as it crosses the summit it is 7,042 feet above the level of the sea. During this ascent it cross- es enormous ravines on trestle-work, winding in sharp curves around the mountain-side, where you look down into canons thousands of feet below you, or through long mountain valleys filled with pine for- ests, and gradually climb, by many a grade and curve, grand peaks so high that the snow lies in summer on the summits. The motion is slow and careful, and as the course is often directly the re- verse of the main direction, the traveler has abundant opportunity of studying . the landscape, and enjoying the novel sensation of climbing the American Alps on a railway car. Sometimes the track is cut in the soKd rock, sometimes supported by huge piles of ma- sonry, again penetrating in dark tunnels the rocky THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 183 mountain-side. Frequently for miles it is covered with snow-roofs made of heavy timber ; indeed, it is said that forty miles of these roofs must be made be- fore the road will be safe from avalanches and snow- drifts. The famous tunnel (some 1,700 feet long) at the summit is finished, and there is a good deal done on the further side, as we saw grading work going on, with little bevies of Chinese, far up on the moun- tain sides for miles beyond. On these alpine summits the snow is the great enemy. It piles and drifts here forty feet deep. The precipitation of the Sierras is mainly snow, and there are points where, as near Don- ner Lake, the fall of snow is some years 60 feet deep. This fact, and the accumulation of snow on the Eocky Mountains, will always make this route dangerous and liable to delays. To have a train snowed up in this desolate region, 200 miles from any inhabited district, would be no joke. But when the road is fairly finished over the Sierras, it will give the grandest journey which can be taken on this continent. It is like trav- eling by steam over the passes of the Alps, and trav- elers will come from far and near to enjoy the magnifi- cent scenery of the Sierra Nevada in the comfortable railway car. As we cross the summit, the eye trav- erses a vast landscape of barren mountain peaks with enormous bare valleys between, and beyond, the snowy summits of the peaks near Carson River — a scene of grandeur and desolation, in which it would seem im- possible that a work like a railroad could be construct- ed. And far beyond the region which the eye can reach, lies a country even yet more difficult and inhos- 184 THE NEW WEST. pitable, where the real difficulties of the Pacific Road commence — the fearful wildemess and deseit be- tween the Sierras and Salt Lake, where for five hundred, perhaps seven hundred mUes, not a tree of timber or a piece of firewood can be obtained. There, every stick of fuel, every railroad tie, and beam for trestle-work, must be carried on construction-trains from these mountains. If my readers wiU fancy building a railway in Ohio, and supplying it with fuel from New- York, they will understand the difficulties which lie before this road. Great depots of wood will have to be made at various points in the desert, and immense construction-trains employed. The difficulty of water, too, is an immense one. In many places, even Artesian wells, such is the position of the strata, will not bring water ; and when it comes, it wiU be so alkaline as to impede the production of steam. The question of questions for the Pacific Road is, " Can coal be found near the track ? " With good anthracite coal discovered anywhere convenient to their line they have solved the problem. There is no prospect of it near the Sierras, but it is confidently believed that near Denver, or between that point and Salt Lake good coal exists. This fact is to be settled by an important geological commission, now engaged under authority of Congress in investigating the whole region near the 40th parallel of latitude, under the direction of Mr. Clarence King. With coal even 250 miles away, they can manage the question of fuel. Whatever energy and capital can accomplish, will be done by the Board of Direction in California, who have shown PACIFIC RAILEOAD. 185 a remarkable activity and business skill in their operations. The cost of the road, and the great ex- pense of running it, will always be an obstacle to cheap freights or low fares. Men experienced in these mat- ters doubt if they ever carry freights of importance from one coast to the other, except the lightest and most valuable. But they will create a large local traffic, and find their great profits from way-business. There must be a great deal also of through travel, both for pleasure and business. When our pleasure-seekers on the Eastern coast can reach in a week such objects of wonderful grandeur and beauty as the Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, and the high Sierras, there will be ci owds taking their summer trip hither. This region will be- come our American Switzerland. In the Annual Eeport for 1868, of the Secretary of the Interior a statement is submitted from Mr. Wil- liams, one of the Grovernment Directors, as to the cost of the Union Pacific Road, which is autjientic. Assuming that the two companies, the Union Paci- fic and Central Pacific, meetnear the northern extreme of Salt Lake, the total length of line built by the former, the eastern company, will be 1,110 miles; and the estimated expense, including telegraph, equipment, track-layinz, bridging and everything, is $38,524,801, or $34,917 a mile, or omitting what is not fairly chargeable on the track-superstructure, about $27,000 per mile. To meet this, the following will be their assets : For 1,110 miles of the road, the cash value of the Government bonds and the company's first mortgage 186 THE NEW WEST. bonds, for which this subsidy forms the basis, may be estimated as follows : United States bonds from Omaha to the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains, Black Hill Range, as fixed by the Pres- ident, 526 miles, at $16,000 $8,416,000 United States bonds thence for 150 miles, at $48,000 7,200,000 United States bonds for the remainder of 1,110 miles, being 434 miles, at $32,000 13,888,000 Total United States bonds bearing 6 per cent, in currency $29,504,000 Average per mile 26,580 The company, as the road progresses, issues its own first mortgage bonds to the same amount. These six per cent, thirty-year bonds, principal and interest payable in coin, are a prior lien to that of the Government. Estimating the Grovemment bonds at par, and the company's first mortgage bonds at 92 per cent, over all expense of agencies and commissions, the total cash proceeds amount to $56,647,680, averaging per mile, $51,034. The lands granted by Congress, whatever may be their value, is a further bestowment from the Gov- ernment. The great routes between the eastern coast and the Pacific, will be ultimately, we believe, the South- em Pacific, through Texas, and the Northern, connect- ing Lake Superior with Puget's Sound. On neither of PACIFIC KAILROAD. l87 these would snow be an obstacle, and the Northern will pass through a region destraed to be of great value in the distant future, while the country between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierras must always, with the exception of a few districts, be an inhospitable wilderness. The present Pacific roads have chosen the worst isothermals in the United States for their route, and for a part, the most desolate and barren desert. They will, however, always feed and supply the mining regions. The Wells & Fargo Express are doing their best to fill up the gap of railroad in the midst of the continent. The arrangements bear the stamp of the same organ- izing brains which have made the Pacific mail organi- zation what it is. At the terminus, coaches met the passengers, each coach well made and comfortable, with six horses, evidently picked Morgans. Fifteen passengers were put on a coach, and then, with most skillful drivers, we bowled along over an excellent road, well watered, and beneath piae trees, down the mountain at the rate of from ten to twelve miles an hour ; changing teams every ten miles. There were no ruts, and no dust troubled us. I have seen no such coaching since years ago in Old England. With an outside seat, and in the midst of the Alpine scenery, it was the perfection of traveling. At every station teams were changed with the greatest rapidity, and it was only when night came that we fell in+o a cautious and moderate gait, for which there was reason, as a bad accident had occurred the night before — a stage 188 THE NEW WEST. tipping over and killing a lady passenger. Such ac- cidents, however, have been rare on this liae. The Wells & Fargo have won their immense influence and business on the Pacific coast by thorough organization — ^by promptness, exactness, and energy. They have even in effect driven out the Post-office from a large part of its business. With them, the overland- route will grow continually more complete and convenient. VIRGINIA CITY AND THE SILVEE MINES. Virginia City is certainly one of the most charac- teristic places of this remarkable region. If my read- ers will imagine a mountain-side of the Sierras with- out a tree, amid grand hills, where nothing green can be seen for fifty miles, with deep bare valleys, and ia the distance, beyond Carson River, great blue moun- tain peaks capped with snow, and on this mighty mountain slope, a little, low-built town — say of 1 5,000 inhabitants, with brown, wooden houses and a few brick stores, and in its streets a throng and business almost like that of Broadway, they will have a feeble impression of the " Silver City." It is more than a hundred miles away from the first link with civiliza- tion, and yet coaches, wagons, and the stream of " mountaia-schooners " pour into it unceasingly ; these last are enormous freight-vans, drawn by twelve or fifteen mules, which carry everything — pianos, glass, fruit from evQry region, sUks, machinery, clothing, wines, furniture, and all that luxury needs or money purchases. One of the characteristic features of the place, which I shall never forget, is the pensive, THE SILVER CITY. 189 patient form of the Chinaman, slowly driving his still more patient donkey, and selling his dollar's worth of wood — yet never crying his wares or soliciting a pur- chaser. The town, with parallel streets, is built on the mines, and is already falling into the cavities, which fact seems to trouble the citizens very little.' About the city, and in it, are the tall chimneys and the gray stone buildings of the famous mining companies, whose names are known through the world. The town is cut off from the pleasures, the art, and the civilization of the outside world. It makes up for it with the excitements of the stock market. All day long the streets boil over with stock speculation. It is a most striking contrast ; above, the clear blue sky, like that of the high Alps, with its infinite depths ; in a few steps, the loneliness of a desert ; around, the vast solitudes and mighty snow-peaks of the Sierras ; and below, men rushing to and fro with wild excite- ment to speculate by telegraph in the miniag market of San Francisco. It is like the sudden transference of the William street Grold-room to the top of Mount Righi. Here hundreds of thousands are won and lost in a day. Here cunning directors are occupied in " freez- ing out " unfortunate stockholders thousands of miles away, or are forcing up stocks, whose worthlessness they know, to incredible values, or are preparing new reports and statements to beguile the unhappy public, A single day will alter the apparent value of property here by millions of dollars. ^ 190 THE NEW WEST. At night, Virginia City is ablaze with the lights of liquor-saloons, and there being, I suppose, little society in the place, these haunts are thronged, with men. I did not, however, happen to see any hard drinking or drunkenness. The only women visible were evidently women of bad character. I had much conversation with some of the clergy- men and others, who were seeking to benefit the morals of the town. The great thing needed is, evi- dently, a refined and virtuous female society. Such a throng of men, thrown together in a wild pursuit of gain, without family life or the influence of superior women, must deteriorate and injure one another. Life has no attractions to offer here but the intense strug- gle for gold, the excitements of gambling, and the pleasures of low vice. So demoralizing is the place, that men who have been here for many years, lose all taste for the higher pleasures of civilization or for family life, and find any other pursuits dull and insipid. There are, it is true, families in the town of much refinement and character, but they have no perceptible influence on the mass. As a means of contending with the temptations of hard drinking, I wonder that the religious community of Virgruia City have not tried the simple experiment which has worked so much good in New York — the founding of social resorts, where liquors are not sold, and good reading is supplied, such as our " Cofi'ee and Reading-rooms." Many a young man might be saved by them. How much there are needed, through the mining MORAL EFFOETS NEEDED. 191 regions of California, truly Christian and humane mis- sionaries ; men of tact and talent, without the stiffness of the profession, with knowledge of the world, and warm hearts, who could go among these rough or busy men; and offer them what they seldom receive, a man- ly sympathy. California, as I have often said, is not what we in the East consider it, a country alone of success and fortune. There is many a man in the battle of life here who falls defeated and alone, or lies wounded and broken behind the successful march, or creeps away to die unnoticed. A man of religion and humanity coming among the miners, and offering a heart full of sympathy, would find so many hidden wounds — so much disappointment — so many unseen struggles for a better life, that the hearts of these rough men would open at once to any one inspired by religion and sym- pathy. It is a wonder to me that the churches have done so little for a population of such intelligence as this, and of such needs. THE SILVEK MINES. The Comstock Lode, on which the silver mines of Virginia City and Gold Hill are situated, is probably the most productive mineral vein in the world. It is only a strip of land three miles long by 600 yards wide, yet it yields $12,000,000 annually. Five thousand men are employed on it during the year, and the produce for each workman is about $2,000 per annum — an average of production, probably equaled on no other mineral vein in the world. In 1865 there were 46 192 THE NEW WEST. companies working it, who owned 22,258 feet, and had excavated about 28 miles of tunnels and drifts, and 5 3-4 miles of shafts, ' wings and inclines, with some 33 miles more of chimneys, &c. The longest tunnel made is the Latrohe — 3.200 feet ; the greatest depth penetrated is by the Grould & Curry, 821 feet. These companies have 44 hoisting and pumping en- gines, aggregating more than 1,500 horse-power; 76 mills are employed in reducing the ore, with an ag- gregate capacity for crushing 1,800 tons daily. They consume annually about 22,265 cords of wood, at a cost of about $16 per cord. Their wood and timber together are estimated to cost annually about $1,000,- 000. Mount Davidson, in which this famous vein occurs, is a barren mountain, composed of serpentine, quartz, syenite, gneiss, and talcose and calcareous rocks. Its summit is 7,827 feet above the sea level, while the vein itself and Virginia City are about 6,200 feet. The lode is a regular fissure vein, and subject to the usual displacements and faults of mineral veins, which throw such an uncertainty over all mining operations. At one place it may be entirely interrupted by trap- dykes or other rocks, or the wall-rock may be imbed- ded in it, or other matter destitute of ore. The ore, too, is often deposited in ''chimneys" which run lengthways with the vein, and thus carry the rich de- posits out of one property into another ; so that the unfortunate company which had been gathering their hundreds of thousands in one month, may be entirely without income the next ; and yet after penetrating SILVER MIXES. 193 posit, or they may labor for years without meeting with any. I visited, during my stay in Virginia City, the Savage Mine, as being one of the safest and best con- ducted, and also went over the works of the Gould & Curry, Hale & Norcross, and Empire. In the Sav- age we were placed on a platform in a shaft, and with a warning from my conductor, we disappeared as if by magic from the cheerfiil surface of the world, and descended with frightful rapidity some 600 feet into the bowels of the mountain, getting wild glimpses as we passed of what seemed dark caverns, with lights gleaming, and mysterious-looking forms wielding the pick-ax — ^which were the various levels with their workmen — until we landed quietly near the bottom. These steam-worked shafts and platforms, however, seem very dangerous things, and I hear of constant horrible accidents in them. It was remarkable how dry and commodious the various wings and levels and galleries were in this mine. My guide took fragments from each rock as we groped around the mine, and gave estimates of its value with perfect confidence. " This wiU pay $40 a ton; this, $15; this, $80; this, $500; and this, $2,000!" while all I could dis- cern was a more or less dark shade of the sulphurets. He says (what I hear everywhere) that the companies now are careful not to commit the error of the Grould & Curry, and bring all their best ores at once to the mill, but they mix them and so average their product. They all are working with far greater economy than they used to ; and when a branch of the Pacific Road 9 194 THE SEW WEST. touches Yirginia City they hope to be able to bring down their expense for fuel (now $15 a cord) and for lumber (now $45 per thousand) at least one-half. Ttfy guide — a very intelligent foreman who has risen from the workmen — says that the miners are constantly in- vesting their savings in one, two, or three of the shares of these companies, and knowing the precise condition of their own mines, they often make large sums. The cost of reducing the ore in the Savage was about $16 per ton, and the yield averages about $44. In 1866, this mine alone produced 30,653 tons of ore, and reduced 20,535 — valued at $1,303,582. Dur- ing the twenty-six months after they began their works (April, 1863) they produced bullion valued at $3,600,709, and paid out in dividends over $800,000. During the first six months of 1867, the mine produced $1,845,000 of bullion against $711,553 in 1866, and divided $750 per share in the same period, or $600,- 000 against no dividend in 1866. Its shares were worth this summer about $4,700 per foot. The general opinion in the other mines seemed to be, that this company had ore enough in sight to pay large dividends for a year. Yet no sane mortal on the eastern coast should think of investing in this or any other California or Nevada mine on the strength of such facts. Indeed, the more I see of mines and mining operators on this coast, the more I wonder that eastern capital can be directed to them with any confidence or reason- able hope. When a given mining stock is presented to investors in New York or New England, no one can DANGEROUS INVESTMENTS. 195 possibly say how much real value it represents. It may all exist in imagination, or it may represent a hondfide mining claim; but what its value will be a month or a year hence, no mortal can predict. It may be even the best existing silver-mining stock on the Pacific coast, and yet in three months not be worth one-half its present price. Every superintendent to whom I spoke in the Comstock mines said to me that he could not possibly predict what their product would be after a twelvemonth ; it might be tenfold their pres- ent; it might be nothing. The business is the most uncertain imaginable. It is said that the hills about Virginia City could be covered with the sUver dollars uselessly wasted by " eastern " investors and specu- lators. Then mining stocks on this coast have fallen to a large degree into the hands of the most unscrupulous gamblers. No such sharpers exist in the world as deal in mining-stock speculations in California and Nevada. Beside them Wall street itself is rural and moral. Many of them have now large individual and banking capital to back them. They can falsely re- duce values, and purposely diminish production, till they can lay assessments and " freeze out " the un- happy stockholders, and then buy in themselves ; or they can produce extravagantly a short time, and '' cor- ral" a stock, tin it rises to fabulous prices, and then sell out, leaving the unfortunate public the owner of a worthless property. The general rumor in CaUfomia accuses the Bank of California, or its managers, of farthering these unprincipled speculations. But while 196 THE NEW WEST. even the occasional prizes of silver-mining remain as they do on this coast there will always be investors and spectdators. Thus, take such fortune as this; the Empire Mining Company was organized in Virginia City on March 7, 1863. On November 30, 1864, they had crushed about 25,000 tons of ore, and had received from it in bullion, $1,043,720. No capital stock was ecer -paid in, though it was valued (in 1864) at a mil- lion ; no assessment had ever been laid, and the mine had paid all expenses, beside paying the owners $308,000 above all cost and charges. Its dividends in 18Go amounted to $120,000. This property, which had cost its owners nothing, was at one time worth $10,000 a foot. In 1866 it had fallen to $1,000 : it . is now worth $180 a share, or $1,800 a foot. The fluctuations in some of those miniug stocks have been marvelous ; thus, Gould & Curry was worth in 1859 $3 a foot ; in eight months it rose to $liOO ; in less than two years it rose to $5,0l 0, and reached once, we think, $7,000. It is now worth $700. This company alone has taken out $14,00;i,- 000 worth of bullion, and has paid over $4,000,000 in dividends. Theie seemed to be very little doing in its works during my visit. The mine may, however, yet strike some fresh deposit, and its value rise again. Hale & Norcross again has risen in a single year (1865- '66) from $150 to $1,275 per foot ; it is now $3,250. This mine worked four years without discovering any ore of value, and expended $350,000 without appar- ent result. In 1866 it struck pay-ore, and produced PROFITS. 197 $736,594 in bullion in eight months. During the first six months of 1867 it divided $290,000 to its stockholders, and is now one of the most profitable mines on the Comstock Lode. There was a great increase in the product of many of these Comstock mines during 1867. Thus twelve of the most important produced, in the first half of 1866, an aggregate value of bullion of $4,926,707; in 1867, in a similar period, their product was $8,043,- 343. Their market value has increased also in a striking manner. The stocks of fifteen leading com- panies were worth, on July 1, 1866, $5,739,780 ; on July 1, 1867, they were worth $13,683,640. This increase of value is partly due to good luck, but partly to greater economy of working. It is said that nearly one-fourth of all the bullion received from Nevada during the past six months, has been collected from the waste of the mills. The entire cafion through which the tailings and waste from the mills about Virginia City and Grold Hill flow to Carson River, has been flumed for several miles. The bot- tom of the flume is covered with blankiets, which are changed every four or eight hours to gather the ma- terial collected on them. This refuse and waste is said to be worked at a higher profit than some of the original ores. The whole yield of the mines on the Comstock Lode from 1859 to 1867, is estimated at $66,000,000, or about $44 to the ton of ore. The whole yield for Nevada for 1867 is estimated at $19,000,000, or say $17,500,000 for these mines. 198 THE NEW WEST The ores of the Comstock mines are generally black and gray stilphurets of silver; occasionally native silver is found. Combined with the ore are sulphur- ets, in small quantities, of iron, lead^ antimony, cop- per, &c. The silver has gold also associated with it. The ores are treated by simple crushing and amal- gamating. The great instrument for amalgamating is the pan, of which there are several kinds in use It is generally a cast iron vessel, two feet deep, and from two to seven feet in diameter. A shaft rises through •it, turned by steam or water, and to it are fastened pieces of iron, which are made to run over the move- able iron bottom and grind the pulp Some have chambers at the bottom for steam, to keep the pulp at a temperature of 200 degrees. Into the pan is put a quantity of ore with salt, iron pyrites, quicksilver, and enough water to make mud. The great object of the "muUer," or grinder, is to grind thoroughly the material, and to bring all the par- ticles in contact with the quicksilver. The pan is worked about three hours and a half, and then water is run into the pulp to render it liquid enough to flow off through a valve in the bottom, into the "agitator" or " separator ; " as it flows off or runs over, it forms a genuine silver mud, in which the traveler has the sat- isfaction of wading for the first time in his life. In the separator, pulp is mixed with a large quantity of water, and by an arrangement of discharging openings, is gradually strained and reheved of its earthy parti- cles, until nothing but pyrites and liquid amalgam are left. SILVER MUD. 199 The amalgam is drawn off from the bottom, and is washed in clear water and dried with flannel. It is finally strained through thick conical bags of canvas, which are beaten with sticks to drain them thoroughly. The hard dry amalgam is finally carried to the assay office, where the mercury is separated by exposing it to red heat in a cast-iron cylindrical retort. The mercury is vaporised, and then condensed by a stream of cold water in a " Liebig Condenser." The silver remaining is broken up and melted in plumbago cru- cibles, and cast into " bricks " or ingots of silver, which are assayed, valued, and marked accordingly. Among the many friends to whose attentions I am iudebted in Virginia City, I must speak of the polite- ness and hospitality of Mr. Geaves, Superintendent of the Empire Mills. CHAPTER XV. PROFESSIONAL EOBBEES. I HAVE reached now the mountain region of Califor- nia, where robbing is ahnost a profession. Not a week passes, sometimes not three days, in which we do not hear of a coach robbed or of teamsters or foot- passengers being plundered. No one resists. ~ Your native Californian takes robbing as an Englishman without an umbrella takes a shower. It is unpleasant, he may grumble a little, but it belongs to a law of nature. A man is considered somewhat of a fool, who should be killed defending his property. I have often talked with the old settlers about this non-re- sisting habit. It does not arise from want of courage, for if ' a mountain Californian possesses any virtue, it is a reckless disregard of life. It seems to come from a low appreciation of money, where it is made so easily, and a cool, intelligent accepting of a fact, as a fact. They understand perfectly what a " six- shooter" means when presented to their face, and they hand over their "bullion." It was the same sort of American intelligence which kept New Orleans perfectly quiet under Gen. Butler's strong arm, where an Italian city would have been fermenting with outbreaks. GENTLEMEN EOBBEES. 201 The usual habit of the " gentlemen of the road " is this, as I have gathered from innumerable stories : They wait tiU they hear of a coach with a Wells & Fargo box of treasure. In a narrow pass of rocks or the depth of the forest, the driver suddenly hears from a man at the roadside, with a sack, mask, and a re- peating rifle, "Hollo, Charley ! Stop a bit ! " Charley never carries arms, and reins up his long team at once. One robber unfastens the traces, another cov- ers the coach with his gun, and another steps up to the coach door. There is no vulgar presenting of pistols in the faces of the passengers. The leader has his revolvers at his side and his Henry's rifle in one hand, but he thoroughly knows his men, and merely opens the door, and troubles the gentlemen passengers to step out a moment. The ladies are not molested, for the Califomian is polite to women, even in articulo mortis. The gentlemen are arranged in a line, and then the great object of the hunt is dragged, out — the Wells & Fargo strong-box. Axes are brought or gunpowder is applied, and the safe is opened. The driver offers a robber a " chaw of tobacco," and the latter talks sociably with him of the weather or other matters. No one grumbles and no one swears. If a good haul is made from the strong-box, the passen- gers are allowed to go back to their seats with a polite " good evening " from the highwaymen. But if not much is found, they are required to hand over any bullion or spare cash they may have. They are not searched, and manage frequently to conceal large sums in the coach or on their persons. One of my 9» 202 THE NEW WEST. friends, robbed thus of thirty or forty dollars, repre- sented that he would not have enough to get home, and they restored him his money. Another was found with but ten dollars, and the thieves told him he would not have enough to get down to the settle- ments, and presented him with twenty-five ! Two coaches last Autumn, near Virginia City, with some thirty passengers, were thus robbed by only three or four men. My own experience has been interesting. A Mend, in the usual hearty manner of the country, had driven me over in his own team from Virginia City to Lake Tahoe, doing eighteen miles in an hour and a half, and the rest of the distance at the rate of ten miles an hour. The lake is one of the gems of the Sierras — perhaps the wildest and most striking sheet of water in Amer- ica — a broad, blue, sparkling lake, with water clear as crystal, set in the midst of grand snow peaks and an outline of mountains almost as wild as the Alps around Lake Lucerne, with forests of pine growing down to the water's edge. It is a wonder that the lake is not more known and visited. It is said by Professor Whitney to be over 1000 feet deep, while its mountain sides are over 3000 feet high. Professor W. supposes that its formation may be traced to simi- lar causes to those which produced the Yosemite — a ■ deep local subsidence in connection with volcanic action. At Friday's Station I was to take the stage, and while waiting here, exciting rumors began to arrive BOBBING BY STAGES. 203 through the teamsters continually coming in. Three men, who were believed to be deserters from the army, had begun, about seventy miles below, a regular rob- bing raid. They entered houses, stopped passengers, rifled teamsters, and were plundering all along the way. They laid by in the day in the sage brush, and at night resumed their thieving march. The people here reckoned that they traveled about fourteen miles every night. '' They were down at Yank's night be- fore last ; they'll be at Osgood's to-night, and about here to-morrow night ! Are you all ready, Jim ? " Jim replied that he was getting ready his pistols and shot- guns for them ; but this robbing by regular stages, on a telegraph and coach road, struck me as highly charac- teristic. I asked them why they did not turn out and hunt the fellows down. " Let them darned feUers as was robbed, hunt 'em if they want. I ain't agoin' to ! Besides, Watson and Jim Hines is after 'em." As we drove down the moTmtain at night, the driver shouted before the houses occasionally: " Heard anything of the robbers ? " " No ; but we are gettin' ready for 'em." And to an old black hostler, " I say, CiESAE, they'U clean you out ! " " Wall," was the reply, rather pitifully, " I hain't got nothin' but one biled shirt, and that's bein' washed." Grradually we began to hear news of the thieves. An up-driver said he passed the " What Cheer House " down below, and the landlord was in a great trouble. He had put his head out of the window, and asked the driver to stop, for God's sake, for robbers were in the house, and if one of the passengers had a pistol 204 THE NEW WEBT. they and the driver might drive them out. The driver said he " drove up to the end of the house, but there was a woman and child inside the coach, who com- menced bucking so, and there ain't none of them pas- sengers as ever have pistols, so I drove along," leaving the fate of the landlord of the "What Cheer " in pro- found mystery. To us the driver said, confidingly : "They'll clean you out, sure." I had a feUow-pas- senger on the front seat, an old Califomian, who had, thus far, been profoundly indifferent to the robbing ru- mors. He now looked languidly up : "I say. Bill, have those robbers anything with them?" "Wall, I should think they had ; two double-barreled shot gtms and a rifle. I see 'em last night ! " " Then they may have all I've got," said the other, indifferently, and turned over to sleep. It was impossible for me to sleep. The coach-lights flashing among the forest trees seemed to reveal bands of armed men, and every now and then, as some rock stood out in the weird gleam, it assumed the form of a bandit, with slouched hat and gun. Several times I clutched my watch to put it in my satchel, as the coach suddenly stopped, or an unusual noise was heard, but no robbers appeared. At length, at a toll-bridge, two men with slouched hats and guns stepped forward to the coach, but their manner was too quiet for the gentry of the road, and I saw they must be the officers of whom we had heard. We had gone but a little distance beyond the bridge when crack ! crack ! a volley re-echoed among the rocks, which set my heart beating and caused me to hide my A VOLLEY. 205 watch quickly in my bag, and some gold pieces in my shoes. I expected to hear the driver drop or the team stop. But nothing occurred ; the driver never stopped or spoke ; my fellow-passenger barely in- terrupted his snoring enough to wake up and mutter, " They're done for, I bet ! " evidently regarding the whole affair as we wouH a thunder-storm. I thought it would not do to appear ignorant of the customs of the country, even if fusilading coaches was one, so I said nothing, and we proceeded on in silence. At length, about ten miles further on, as the driver stopped to water, he asked casually, "Did you hear that shooting ? " " Yes, I should think I did," I answered excitedly ; " what was it ? " ''I guess it was Watson and Jim Hines cleanin' them robbers out at Osgood's," he answered indiflferently. "Fust, I thought I was done for ! " and this was aU our con- versation, except that my fellow-passenger shouted, " I say, driver, if you see anything of 'em, wake me up!" At PlacerviUe we learned, through the telegraph, that the Sheriff and his assistant had fought the rob- bers on Osgood's bridge, a few rods behind us, and killed the ringleader, wounded another, and the third had escaped ; they had also wounded the assistant, in return. They must have passed us near the bridge, but for some inscrutable reason, whether dreading Wells & Paruo's wrath, or fearing pursuit, they did not stop the coach. The people generally were of the impression that the third highwayman would not be found in a condi- 206 THE KEW "WEST. tion to be returned for a trial by jury. " I shouldn't like to be him, if Jim Hines was after me with a broken arm! He'll be so^ upon there ! JiM 'ill talk to him some ! " What is wanted in California is a mounted poUce. One woidd think that between the local commimities and Wells & Faeoo (who are said to lose by robbers some $20,000 a year) an efficient force of poHce, with good horses, might be maintained, so as to make the mountains thoroughly safe. There was a very striking instance, last year, of summary punishment inflicted on robbers. A coach had been stopped, and a strong box of Wells & Fae- GO rifled of several thousand dollars. The robbers were known even by name, as usual, and as the Ex- press Compan;f offered a large reward, the police were soon in active pursuit. They were led by a very determined and skillful officer, named WiLSON. He traced the thieves through the mountains, up to a certain canon which divided into two branches. His men he sent up one, and he himself coolly and warily threaded the other. At length, he came in sight of them on a hillside in the distance. In California, there is no parleying with robbers, or summoning to surrender, or any such nonsense. The thief and the policeman alike hold their lives in their hands. The robbers here had fortunately only revolvers and shot- guns, but the Sheriff a Henry's repeating rifle, with which he was a crack shot. He kneeled and took de- liberate aim, as he would at a deer, and rolled one robber over into the canon, the second he brought A CBACK SHOT. 207 down in like manner, and the third, as he sprang for the woods, was wounded, and subsequently^ discovered dying in the bushes. Such an act of remarkable nerve and coolness rang through the State, and Wil- son was even made "Aid" to the Governor, as a tribute to his bravery. 208 THE NEW WEST. CHAPTER XVI. THE CHINESE OF CALIPOKNIA. One of the most striking figures to the traveler, in the California landscape, is the Oriental and half-pensive form of the Chinese emigrant, always calm amid aU the bustle around him. Sometimes I see these Eastern laborers with their broad hats leisurely working in the fruit-gardens, as if in a tea plantation. Sometimes they are binding sheaves behind the American reapers; again, quietly and reflectively shaking the ^'rocker" for gold-dust in some lonely river bottom, or steadily working in swarms on a railroad embankment, or rid- ing slowly castaway horses in the Sierras, or traveling over the country mounted on the coach-tops, or mak- ing a large and picturesque part of the stream of human- ity which pours through the streets of San Francisco — always busy yet never hurried ; clean, social, sober, polite, with an expression, it often seems to me, of half contempt for this western hurry and barbarism ; the neatest and most respectable working population I ever saw. I am often surprised at the faces and expressions one encounters among them ; such, if you saw them in European dress, you would have said were the faces cer- tainly of scholars and gentlemen — countenances fre- quently of marked refinement, and eyes of deep, thoughtful, almost sad expression. It is a strange THEIR StrBMISSION. 209 contrast the powerful, intense, pushing sons of the Pil- grims, and this meek, quiet, dreamy pagan of the Ori- ent, meeting on the shores of the Pacific. The latter bends like the rush before our iron race ; he abandons the immemorial customs of ages, and falls, to a degree, into the current of Anglo-American civilization. One old sea captain, who had been much ia the East, said he had seen many countries where the Chinese were liv- ing as strangers, but "this was the only one where John Chinaman hides his pig-tail." He dresses frequently (in the country) like an American ; he begins occa- sionally to eat beef, and has already learned something of Yankee sharpness. In general, however, he is stiU a stranger — ^the very incarnation of meekness and submission beneath the strong race which he is serv- ing. There is one habit in man which always seemed to me to bring him nearest to the brute creation — ^the disposition to attack or oppress a feUow-creature who is disabled by nature or is too weak to resist; that tendency which makes horses kick the lame one, or fowls attack the dying one of the flock. The Chinaman ha,s been the luckless object of this brutal instinct in California. He has incarnated, amid a Christian community, the inspired doctrine of " Ee- sist not evil ! " " Turn ye the other cheek ! " and the result has been that every man's hand has been against him. The whites have cheated, robbed, beaten him, and he has returned it all with docility and faith- ful service. When struck, he struck not again ; ' when robbed (at least so it was a few years ago), he com- 210 THE NEW WEST. plained not ; when murdered, there was often no re- dress. The most miserable drunken white ruffian could beat him, or strip him of his hard earnings, or kill him, and if there were no white witnesses, justice could not overtake the offender. While aU other men — even the lowest vagabonds — ^were gladly admitted to the mines, he alone was, and is now, excluded ; and even on the placer-diggings, he alone must pay his tax of four dollars before being permitted to work. Even the Digger Indians, seeing this universal oppression, ventured also to plunder and persecute this imresisting stranger. He had no influential friends ; he did not know the language ; he had no power to resist, and for years the Chinaman tried the virtue of meekness on his enemies. It is a history, like our treatment of the Indians and the negroes, which should make every American blush —of wrong done to the helpless and borne with meek- ness ; of oppression on the weak which never called forth an act of resistance or word of retort. At length, the aspect of this Christian patience in a Pagan; this meekness, which bore all without a murmur ; of this enduring, industrious, respectful stranger, who did his work faithfully, and returned not evil for evil, began to touch the generosity of Califomians. The China- man, even against the prejudices of race, and the com- petition of ignorant labor, began to win his way to pub- lic respect. White men sometimes took his part against white ruffians. Employers found him too use- ful to permit him to be driven off by " anti-coolie" vagabonds. The conscience of the people arose CHANGE OF OPINIOK. 211 against this oppression. Public opinion more and 'more sheltered him, and set the pursuit of justice after those who wronged him. White men have even been hung, in these later years, for murdering Chinese. Their labor, too, became more and more indispensable for the country. A hundred different branches soon depended on it. Without it, it was evident that man- ufactures and a lai^e part of Califomian agriculture and horticulture would cease to exist ; railroads could not be constructed, and a vast deal of business must be contracted or given up. The result, both of con- science and of interest, in California, has been a great change of opinion and action toward the Chinese. People everywhere speak well of them, and agree that they are the most industrious and steady of laborers, not as efficient, perhaps, as the Irish, but more regular and sober, and with a great talent at imitation. In person they are the neatest of creatures. I have seen a whole gang, after a day's work on a farm, washing themselves all over with waim water, which they keep ready for their return, as carefully as a company of gentlemen, and I was assured this is their daily habit. The common laborers are said to keep a horn instru- ment for cleaning their tongues every morning ! They are always neatly and nicely dressed, and are far more agreeable coach-company than the Mexicans or Span- iards here, who are exceedingly "odorous." But though opinion has so much changed toward them, I frequently hear of or see such acts as this, reported recently to the BuUetin: 312 THE NEW WEST. "a BBtTTAL SCENE. " Ediior Bulletin — A most inhuman scene occurred on Sunday evening at the corner of Green and D'upont streets. A party of young scamps — the oldest not more than eleven years — attacked a peaceable Chinaman, without provocation, and beat him in an unmer- ciful manner. They pulled him down, beat and kicked him, and pelted him with stones till the blood ran out of the wounds. A large crowd stood aiound at the time, and none of them offered to interfere. One man — elbowing and pushing himself up to where the poor fellow lay — seeing that it was a Chinaman, exclaimed, ' O, it's nothing but a Chinaman ! Served him right; been a good thing if they had killed liim entirely ! ' When the policeman arrived the boys had decamped ; and when he proceeded to lift the Chinaman it was found that he was not able to stand, the poor fellow groaning the while in terrible agony. "These flagrant outrages are frequent in that neighborhood. Hardly a night passes but what a Chinaman is attacked by these young ruffians." Or this : " Iix-TEEATMBNT OP CHINESE. — Not long ago, a gentleman pass- ing along Kearny street, interfered to save a little Chinese boy from the attacks of a dog, whom half a dozen white-skinned scoundrels were setting upon him, that they might enjoy the precious sight of the agony of the screaming child. That instance of inhumanity is not an isolated case. The AUa of yesterday morning says : " Last evening, at the fire on Dnpont street, a crowd of Waverley Place loafers, and thieves, and roughs, who were being kept back from the fire by the police, amused themselves by throwing a Chinawoman down in the muddy street, and dragging her back and forth by the hair for some minutes. The poor female heathen was rescued from their clutches at last by officer Saulsbury, and taken to the calaboose for protection. He also arrested one of her ass^lants, who was pointed out by the woman, but as she could not testify against him he was dismissed on his arrival at the calaboose. The woman then begged an officer to take her to her husband's house, say- ing, in piteous accents, ' Do pleasy with me go ! So many white mans billy me ! Do with me go ! ' " My laundryman came recently, with his basket splashed with mud and his clothes spoiled, weeping "WRONGS ON THE CHINESE. 213 bitterly, saying that some boys had pelted and at- tacked him. He evidently had not resisted. I was pleased to see, however, the other day, that some " anti-coolie " school-boys, who were attacking some Httle yellow boys, met with as good as they gave, and at length were fairly driven off the field by the stones of their Mongolian antagonists. The odious tax on the Chinese miner, however, still exists, and he is still excluded from most of the mines. Moreover, at this day, a white scoundrel could enter the cabin of half-a-dozen honest Chinese with his revolver in hand, rob them of their toilsome earnings^ and murder one or more, and no testimony of theirs could convict him. Such an injustice as this, established by law, is a damning blot on Califor- nian civilization. It is as bad as many of the abuses of slavery, and one is surprised how the humanity and religion of this State could have en- dured it so long. No sensible man of any party de- fends it. The old battle of humanity fought out on our coast, of justice to the negro, is going on here in different form — of justice to the pagan. The same weapons are used, the same appeals to low and ignorant preju- dices of race, and the same assertion of the unit^ersal rights of humanity. Caste and ignorance and dema- gogue sophisms on one side, and enthusiasm and gen- erosity and the principles of justice on the other. In the recent political canvass, the Union candidate was represented in caricatures as leading to the polls a Digger Indian, a Chinaman, and a baboon, though all 214 THE NEW WEST. that he or his party ever claim for the Chinaman is "justice before the law." And when we read of a prominent politician — Judge AxTELL, a successful candidate for Congress —uttering such nonsense as this (and we seem to have heard precisely the same sentiments a hundred times in New York political meetings), we know perfectly what sort of men utter them, and what hear them : " The employment of Chinese," said the Judge, " on the Pacific Railroad, toward the construction of which California and the United States had made magnificent donations in money and lands, he condemned emphatically. He was opposed to, and would prevent as far as possible, giving that glorious patrimony to Chinese or ne- groes. The advantages of that great work must redound to the bene- fit of white men." We also know how such a contest must end. We know that the spirit of the age and all forces unseen, are moving like a spring-tide with the party of justice, and however long delayed, the triumph of equal rights to all must come. CHAPTER XVIL THE CHINESE, A FRIEND, to whom I am indebted for many hospita- ble favors, took me recently among the Chinese mer- chants and in the Chinese quarter of San Francisco. The merchants were gentlemen evidently, and receiv- ed us with as much politeness and refinement as the same class would visitors in any civilized country. We were invariably offered tea, which was made at the moment, in exceedingly small and delicate China cups, and then drained from the leaves into another cup, and drunk without sugar or cream — a finer tea, it struck me, than any we have on the eastern coast. They all spoke rather discouragingly of business, whether because they considered that were safer in a for- eign country, or because the Chinese are gleaning less from the diggings, and their custom is falling off. It was plain that they had no love for the country, and feel the oppressions and disabilities bitterly to which they are subjected. If they had any matter of dispute with an American or with one of their own countrymen, they preferred to decide it by arbitration, they said, as they had no. expectation of any justice from juries or courts. They all expected to return to China, though some had been here a number of years. What pleased them most here was the climate, of which all spoke 216 THE NEW WEST. with much satisfaction. If I understood them c5r- rectly, most of .the under-class were laborers from up the rivers in China, who were sent out by four dif- ferent emigration companies, who paid them so much wages and received what they earned. But few of the upper classes ever come here, and seldom any famihes. The women were mostly of bad character. They all agreed that this was not the place for a Chinese lady. Those who spoke English seemed generally to have learned it in a school which a liberal American has opened for their children. We examined their com- puting tables with sliding balls, and put some rather long problems to them, which they completed as soon with these as we could with figures. Some took us up- stairs to their little Chinese parlors, furnished with handsome formal black-oak chairs, nicely carved, and with Japanese tables; the floors were covered with matting, everything very neat and clean. I am told that they are exceedingly faithful in all their engage- ments, and that there are merchants here who might have as good credit as any American names in San Francisco. " There are men here," said my friend, "who, if they should agree to pay $250,000 for some- thing the day after to-morrow, would be certain to present the cash on the very moment ; though where they keep it is a mystery, as they do not bank with us." I could not find that they ever insured with American companies. A legal friend — a most genial and able man. Me. ToMPKlNSr— who has occasion- ally had them as clients, tells me that he never in his professional experience has had more intelligent CHINESE COtTRTESIES. 217 and reasonable clients, or has met men with more pleasant little courtesies. Another says that he has occasionally been present at dinners given by their leading merchants, and their tact in offeriag the healths of particular individuals, and coupling with them some personal and appreciative remarks, could not be ex- ceeded in the most polite English or American circles. We asked the most cultivated of these merchants about Confucius' writings; but it was to them evidently something as Virgil would be to an educated mer- chant at home— a school exercise which they never read now. The lower quarters of the Chinese were by no means so attractive. The introduction of abandoned women, gamblers, opium-sellers, and liquor-dealers, together with the great crowding of the working population, are already producing in San Francisco what we know so weU in New- York as " fever-nests," and centers of crime and poverty. The Chinese dens here already need some strict sanitary regulations and police in- terference. If it were not for these blessed winds, I am convinced they would have originated pesti- lence long since. This importation of lewd and dis- eased women, it seems to me, might be checked by some vigorous action of public opinion on the ship- owners. The Pacific Mail would certainly never lend itself to such a disgusting branch of business. In these rounds we saw many children which would show that some of the working-men must have brought wives with them. Notwithstanding the few idle and lewd men to be seen in the low quarters, the great 10 218 THE NEW WEST. proportion were very busy; some were making ci- gars, others keeping groceries or meat-shops, and very many were going out to work in American manufac- tories. There were numerous Chinese laundries where American families have their washing done at a lower rate than white washerwomen can afford. The Chinese, it may be remarked, sprinkles his clothes by spitting water from his mouth. The employers of the Chinese laborers invariably agree that they are excellent workmen. They never have, lite the whites, a Simday spree and a "blue Monday." They are always " on hand " at the time agreed upon ; always sober and industrious. Now and then they have a difficulty with their native " bosses " (who manage their affairs with the Americaa em- ployers), because there is " too much workee and too little payee ; " but this is soon set right, and they prove most trustworthy laborers. They soon learn to cook, and are good sei'vants. I see that one of them in a mining town has been so successful recently as an as- sayer, and in subduing refractory ores, that the people, in their enthusiasm, propose td have him ' ' naturalized " as an American citizen. Notwithstanding this low quarter and the vicious Chinese in it, I have no hesitation in saying that no- where in the world is there a more sober, neat, hard- working class of laborers than the Chinese of California. Still with all this, and much more that could be said in their favor, the problem about the Chinese in America is a most difficult one. Under our form of government we ought to have no race or class QUESTION OF THE BALLOT. 219 which cannot be assimilated. Every class ought to have the power to protect itself by the ballot, the edu- cation and the sense of responsibility which, it gives. But it is obviously most unwise to give the suffrage to the Chinese at present. They do not (generally) under- stand our language. They are entirely separated from us ia all their ideas and habits. They probably possess the vaguest possible knowledge of our system of govern- ment, and they are a transient population. No one at present claims this right for them. And yet if their numbers increase, and they continue subject to the wrongs which oppress them now, the conscience of our people wiU be aroused, and the ballot will be claimed — and justly — ^for them, as their only protec- tion from tyranny and oppression. Besides, to have a great class of helots among us, outside of our popular Government, would never suit our system, and to in- clude them in our system might almost overturn it on this coast. In that golden moment, in which the whole question of suffrage for the South, and through the South for the country, was in effect settled by Congress for all coming time, had we set up intelligence as a test, we would have begun that direction in which no ignorant, debased or foreign under-class could ever hereafter give us any terrors. AU the reasoning mind of the nation seemed to demand this test. But through one of those accidents which seem sometimes to determine the fate of nations, we took our drift, and henceforth in this current we must move, whether toward weal or woe. With intelligence as 220 THE NEW WEST. a test of sufirage, the Chiaese question could have been settled ultimately ia California without danger. Now thejre seems no solution. The practical middle course, it seems to me, for the present, is at once to make the Chinese " equal before the law " with natives or whites — ^without justice no State is secure — and then seek by every legal and proper means to dis- courage immigration. There are, I supipose, 50,000 Chiaese* in this State or on its borders — ^that is, one-tenth of its population. This is quite enough of a transient, Asiatic, unrepublican people, to mingle in the community which is to build up the great Pacific Republic of future centuries. But if they cannot be prevented from coming with- out too odious exactions, then the christian States on the Pacific coast must accept the burden which Provi- dence has thrown upon them, of this pagan race, and do their best to elevate them. Thus far the experiment of christianizing the Chinese in California has been any- thing but a happy one. I am told by friends of the missionaries in China, that the influence of the re- turned Chiaese is uniformly against Christianity. Their reasoning is, that if the doctrines of Cheist bear such fruit as they have experienced iu America, they prefer Confucius or Buddha. No doubt, however, they carry back many new ideas, and a respect for American energy and inven- tion. They learn the English language, also ; and I cannot doubt that as time goes on, and they are more - The number in San I^ancisco ranges from 1,000 to 6,0C0: in the State from 40,005 to 60,000 ; not increasing much. CHEISTIANIXY FOE THE CHINESE. 221 justly and kindly treated, many Chinese will be brought to look carefully into the doctrines of Christi- anity, and thus supplement the truths and wonderfully humane principles of their great Teacher, and learn what he never taught — the sublime and ennobling truths and hopes of the Christian Faith. The influ- ence hereafter of this contact of the Orient and the West on our Pacific shores, we can but feebly ima- gine. Time alone can unfold it. But first of all, among a Christian people — " Justice must be done." We append, as an illustration of the subject, extracts from a recent debate, in the California Legislature, on the question whether their " Criminal Practice Act" shall be so amended as to allow- Negroes, Chinamen and Mongolians to be witnesses against white men, when an injury to their own per- sons or property is charged. The member from Placer County said : " We are now educating a class of robbers — ^boys and young men — who have a perfect disregard for the rights of others, because under the protection of the existing law they can commit assaults, and mur- der and rob, with perfect impunity. These robbers even talk of their deeds, and admit and boast of them without fear of being held to ac- count for them. This is because courts have held that other testi- mony, direct as to the commission of the crime, is necessary, beyond proof of the confessions of the criminals themselves. The fact that these men depend upon robberies for a livelihood is well understood. yet they go on without fear of punishment. There have been many men in Placer County, loafing around the mining towns for weeks at a time, idle, and without means of obtaining a livelihood, destitute of money, until on a certain morning they would be found to have plenty of money, and at the same time the fact was everywhere known that there had been a robbery committed at the Chinese town in the vicin- ity. Men would say to them, ' Ah ! you have been down calling on 222 THE NEW WEST. the Chinamen again,' and they would laugh, and not take the trouble to deny the insinuation — or admit it openly. The want of such law, apart from the losses of the Chinese, has cost Placer County, in futile efforts to punish crime, at least $10,000 during the past year. The SheriflF alone, out of his own pocket, has spent, in the last two years, at least $1,000, for which he has not been reimbursed, in effortsto punish this class of persons. He spoke of a recent case where they robbed, beat, and murdered Chinamen, and one of the robbers being caught by them, was now in jail, but likely to be discharged, ' because none but Chinese testimony against him could be pro- cured.' ' ' Mr. Shaw said : " He had always been surprised at the difference of opinion among sensible men on this matter of testimony. The true principle would naturally seem to be to admit the testimony of any sane human being who could throw light upon the facts in question. But these contin- ual outrages upon the person and property of Chinamen were dis- graceful to our State and our civilization. Admit the truth of the charge made against them — that they are a nation of great liars — then they must, in giving their testimony, confront a jury imbued with this prejudice, not disposed to believe them unless their evidence is corroborated by circumstantial evidence, or otherwise. This preju- dice may go far to prevent the effect of false testimony. English courts never refuse to swear Chinamen or any other nationality." Mr. Johnson, of El Dorado, said: " He knew that such a law was necessary, because the same sys- tem of robbery and oppression mentioned as existing in Placer Coun- ty, also existed in his own county." He also said: ' ' That there was another point to which he wished to call at- tention ; it was that from robbing Chinamen to robbing white men the transition was very easy. He had acted as Judge in his own county, and therefore knew this fact, and alluded to several cases ot murderers who had been arrested and convicted of killing white men, who commenced by robbing Chinamen, and were gradually embol- dened by the impunity with which they had operated. Therefore, to protect our own people we must prevent this impunity for crimes against others. Whatever he might think as to the propriety of CHINESE TESTIMONY. 223 limiting the political rights of such persons before the law, they should all stand equal as to the protection of their lives and property." I regret to say that though the amendment passed the Senate by a large majority, it was defeated in the Detnocratic House. The following comments which the writer made in a New York Journal, on this proceeding, may be re- peated here. " In other words, the State Assembly has put itself deliberately in the position that any white ruffian might plunder and murder any half dozen decent and honest Chinese laborers, and unless his deeds were seen by other white men, no court could convict him. We venture to say that no act in the code of the In- quisition, under Alba, or in the old English system of legal injustice against the Irish, or the laws of the South toward the negro, was more barbarous, cruel, and stupid, than this provision of the CaUfomia law of the nineteenth century. It has not the excuse of the Spanish Inquisition, of bigotry ; or of English tyranny, the pride of conquest ; or of Southern cruelty, the stem necessities of a system of forced labor. It is the pure stupidity of race and caste prejudice. " There never was a laboring class more harmless, industrious and respectable, than the Chinese working- men of the Pacific Coast. All testimony agrees that they are more reliable than the Irish laborers; that they keep their contracts excellently ; and that with their merchants "the word is as good as the bond." They are an absolute necessity to the materi- al development of California. Without them no rail- roads would be built or manufactures carried on, and 224 THE NEW WEST. half of the grain and fruit production of the State would at once be cut off or never gathered. Every household depends on them, and few have cause to complain of their idleness or dishonesty or fickleness. To drive them out of the State by oppressive legisla- tion is like renewing the French edicts against the Huguenots, or the Spanish toward the Moors. It is to banish the most economical and productive class in the State. And yet hardly a paper reaches us from the Pacific Coast without an account of some brutal and barbarous violence toward these unoffending foreigners by white ruffians. The Act in the Criminal Practice which it is sought to amend, is in reality an Act to encourage murder and robbery of Chinamen by Spanish or American thieves and cut-throats. And when one thinks what a Califomian white or brown ruffian is — the very scum of the prohtai/res of the earth, a man steeped in crime and often a reftigee from justice, whose word would not be accepted by his own gang of murderous outcasts — ^and that his testi- mony is to be received, while the oath of the decent, honest, hard-working Chinaman whom he has sought to murder, is to be rejected — we may judge what this step of Califomian progress is. A State with such an act in its criminal code is not worthy to be called civ- ilized. Its civilization is but the flashy gilt over barbarism. " For the only argument which can be used against Chinese testimony, that this people do not believe in Grod, and therefore do not know the nature of an oath, is an argument already passed by modem progress. CHINESE TESTIMONY. 225 whicli holds that all testimony should be received and estimated by judge and jury for what it is worth. Be- sides, the Chinese have oaths or rites which are bind- ing on themselves, and which could be employed in our courts. ''But whether CaUfomia chooses to abide by this code of barbarism and -bigotry or not, we trust that it will be seen to be the duty of the new Chinese Am- bassador — Mr. BuRLmCrAME — to protest, both in the name of humanity and of the Chinese Grovemment, against the acts of atrocity which we hear of weekly from the Pacific coast, committed on unoffending Chinamen. Some protection ought to be afforded by international law to these oppressed foreigners, if State law will not afford it. And the public opinion of all just and right-minded men should be brought to bear promptly on a commimity which can sanction such cruelties and oppressions." CHINESE THEATRE. I went, while in San Francisco, one evening to see the Chinese theatre. It corresponded in its general style to the sixpenny theatres of London, or the " Bowery " of New York ; but it struck me, though of course knowing nothing of the language, that the acting was more lively and natural than in them. The first scenes were scarcely attended to. Every one smoked, even the actors, the band and the prompter ; the audience smoked incessantly and chatted together. The galleries were crowded with women — I suppose 226 THE NEW WEST. of doubtful character — but they were clean, well- dressed, and not immodest in manner. Everything was orderly, and the only disturbance was made by a white man insisting on sitting on the back of a bench, from which he was forcibly jerked down by a policeman. The band played a most monotonous ting-tong through aU the play, and some of the dia- logue seemed to be intended to be operatic. The second and third acts became more lively and manifestly began to attract the interest of the audi- ence. There were one or two passages of pantomime, or a sort of polite dialogue of manner, where one per- son tried to cut another, which were very well done. The principal character was evidently a sort of a clown, or a coxmtryman ignorant of polite manners. He was brought up before a judge imder certain ac- cusations, and instead of prostrating himself as the others did, he squatted on his hams, to the great in- dignation of the officials and the intense delight of the audience. The accent and manner of the judge were as thoroughly official and refined, in contrast with those of the bumpkin, as they would be on an En^sh stage. After passing through various adventures, the country- man seems finally to be reconciled to his enemies and acquitted by the court. The last play created great excitement, and was, I was assured, part of a historical drama which runs on for months. There were processions of kings and queens, and warriors and governors, and soldiers and retainers, and fierce battles, and executions, and bastinadoes, CHINESE TEMPLE. 227 ending in a. tremendous confused finale, which to us was incomprehensible. There seemed to be through- out, no female actors ; men acted the women's parts. On the whole, the Chinese show seemed to be quite up to the standard of the "Sixpenny Gaff," or the New York Bowery. I visited also the other extreme of Chinese sights, the Temple. It was by no means equal in its own ar- rangements to the theatre. The lower part of the building seemed occupied as a very inferior and miserable lodging-house, and even the outer courts of the Sanctum were invaded by cooking and prepara- tions, apparently for lodgers. The inner and sacred shrine was occupied by a hideous, nondescript Bud- dhist idol, with little candles burning before it, and various arms and bronzed ornaments scattered about it. ~ The manner of the worshipers was anything but reverent. On one occasion, while traveling in a desolate mountain region, I was much impressed by the sad, lonely form of a Chinaman, walking pensively toward a solitary grave, and scattering little papers as he went. These, it seems, were his prayers to the spirit of his ancestors and to the departed, Agaia, lately, when a large party of Chinese set off in a steamer for China, the waters were covered with these bits of paper from the crowd on the dock — being prayers for their safe return home. 228 THE NEW WEST. CHAPTER XVm. LARGE FARMING. I DROVE up recently to the doorway of a picturesque house, belonging to one of that class perhaps peculiar to California — "the large farmers." The building, like very many in the country districts of the State, shows an effort toward an appropriate architecture. It is built of wood, painted brown ; the roof-Hne is broken with sharp gables, and the front has a very broad verandah, ornamented with creeping vines ; the wings run out behind, inclosing a little fountain in a small square, into which the central hall opens under another rear verandah. In this climate, galleries or verandahs are an essential of life, and as bedrooms under the roof are not objectionable, the pointed gables and pictur- esque roof-forms can be adoplted without difficulty. Much of the inside is finished with native woods, var- nished. Few on the eastern coast have any idea of the beauty of some of the native woods here. The State is unfortunately deficient in son^e of the most useful woods, espeeiaUy the oak and ash — so that the material for barrel-staves and wagon-frames has to be imported from our coast; but in ornamental varieties she has some exquisite specimens. The manzanita, when pol- ished, has a deep red, with exquisite graining, more beautiftd than mahogany. The laurel is one of the A COUNTRY HOUSE. 229 richest woods ever used for paneling, and the white oak is remarkably pretty, and even the red-wood or- naments a room nicely with its rich color. One may judge of California hospitality when I say that almost my first salutation from the gentleman was, "Well, you have come to spend a month, of course," and a riding horse was at my service every day, &c., &c. This property is withia four hours of the city, and will soon be within two. It enjoys the coolness of the sea-breeze without the chill and dust of San Francisco winds. You have the sun of Italy and the temperature of an English summer; seldom in winter a frost, and in summer a heat rarely above 80 degrees, and more generally about 70 degrees, with nights always cool. As a consequence, this gentleman's garden will show a variety of vegetation, I believe, rarely seen anywhere else on earth. Think of an orchard where the oHve grows by the side of the quince, and the almond near the barberry; where the fig and the grape flourish equally with the apple, the peach, and the cherry. His house is almost embowered in olives, and fig-trees, with trunks six inches thick, form groves about it, while long lines of almonds stretch away toward the rear. Behind it is a dense orchard of peach-trees. A small pahn is flourishing in front, and a few rods ofi", in the kitchen garden, Indian com and peas and tomatoes. Such a combination of the best fruits and products of two zones is a wonderful spectacle. California is an elysium for the orchard-grower or tree-planter. Here is a splendid hedge ten feet high, of the " cherry-holly," planted from seed a few years ago; here are orchards 230 THE NEW "WEST. bearing immense quantities of fruit, only five or six years old, and shade-trees from Australia, perhaps seven inches thick in trunk, set out from a shoot only two years since. A man sits under hi& own grove in ten years, and gets his fruit in two or three. The most exquisite trees and growths are being introduced from Japan and Australia. You see in such grounds the beautiful Australian gum-trees (Eucalypti*), with their siagular variety of leaves on the same trunk, destined here- after, 'if they equal their Australian ancestors, to reach a growth of 250-300 feet, and a girth of 100. Japanese acacias and shrubs, with variegated leaves, also abound, and the symmetrical Norfolk Island pine, the Monterey cypress and pine, and the young giant Sequoia, be- ginning patiently his thousand years of growth. Every- thing grows here, the ivy as well as the Japanese honeysuckle. • i On the upper portion of this gentleman's garden a stream of water was turned, brought from the moun- tains, and occasionally ditches were unclosed, which carried it among the strawberries and vegetables, and along the roots of the fruit-trees, in a rough kind of surface-irrigation. All that California gardening wants is water, and then the sun does the rest. On every farm you see either the wind-mill or the artesian well^ to carry to it the great necessity. There is arising, however, a considerable difference of opinion among *If Irecollect right, there were ovate leaves and narrow lanceolate leaves on the some tree. Could it be a cross of the B. Hedcni and M. coeaferai or was it simply the different a£fe of different parts of the tree ) A CALIFORNIA FARM. 231 horticTilttirists about the extent to which irrigation is necessary. The best vineyards do not use it, and it is said shade-trees are made shallow-rooted by too much of it. The farm around the house is a sight to behold, and one which begins to implant in a stranger's mind some adequate idea of the immense resources of Cal- ifornia. Away over the plain, down the slopes of the ravines, over the hills opposite and into the valleys beyond, stretched the rich golden grain, acre after acre of such product as the world scarcely ever saw — long, fall ears, with dry, glutinous grains and grace- ftdly bending stalks; not a weed or a tree appear to disturb the view, except sometimes the wild mustard (itself a profitable harvest) scattered in portions of it. In parts the harvest has been cut, and thick, regidar bundles of sheaves, like crowded encampments, dot the hUls and vales as far as the eye can reach. In some places the product will reach sixty bushels to the acre ; in one field of two hundred acres, it will be fifty bushels. In one quarter, the gentleman has taken eighty-seven bushels per acre from 200 acres. The whole farm will average over thirty-three bush- els, and this gentleman will reap 60j000 bushels this year. The wild-mustard seed in the wheat pays the whole cost of threshing ! He has sixty men at work, of whom forty are Chinese, and he is harvesting from about sixty acres a day. The machine used is the ordinary " header " of the country, which cuts the heads of the grain and throws them into a large cart, looking like a moving house driven by the side of it- 233 THE NEW WEST. There does not seem as much saTing of labor in it as might be expected. The Chinese are paid $1.50 (gold) a day and board, and prove excellent workmen ; ordinary hands for light work receive $1.00 to $1.50 a day without rations. The scale of operations may be judged, when it is mentioned that the sacks alone for the wheat wUl cost this farmer $5,000. I was shown in one field a unique sight, a " volun- teer crop " of wheat, which had sprung of itself in a field unbroken and uncultivated, from last year's scat- tered seeds, so rich that it would probably average forty to forty-five bushels to the acre. My Mends said that they had known barley even in the third year of a volunteer crop reach forty-five bushels, where not a touch of human labor had been put upon it. Let it be remembered that the average yield, even of the West, in wheat, is only fifteen bushels to the acre, and one can understand what a soil and climate this is. In one year (1852) this gentleman states that he harvested 700 bushels of potatoes to the acre from a field of 20 acres. The threshing of the wheat is done entirely by steam. The machiues go around from farm to farm and thresh about 900 bushels a day. The thresher gets $40 per day, and the cost is about 9 cents a bushel. The profit on wheat is about $15 an acre here; and the cost of planting, cultivating, reapiag and sacks, wiU reach $15 (not including rent). During my visit, we took a drive through the Liv- vermore Valley. This was an agricultural sight such A WHEAT VALLEY. 233 as no other country can present. Think of 10,000 acres of tall golden wheat without a tree, or hedge, or fence, extending its yellow waving surface as far as the eye could reach, and averaging seventy bushels to the acre — four hundred thousand bushels in this petty valley, of which no one ever heard. And five years ago, no one thought this land was worth cultivating, and it could have bSen bought for $5 an acre — now it is worth $100. When my friend first came here, he had wisdom enough to see that the great wealth of California was not in its gold-mines, but in the soil. Like most early Califomians, he brought with him but a few dollars, and left heavy debts behind him in the East. All the new comers were rushing to the mines, but he hired a vegetable garden, for $5,000 for five years, from a Spanish Mission, and made twenty thousand dollars year after year. There was barren-looking land lying aroimd the Mission which no one would cultivate, and the owners of ranches in what is now probably the most productive soil in the world, used to come to the neighborhood of the Mis- sion to plant a few vegetables, ^where they could enjoy the blessings of the priests — not believing that the outside soil could yield anything. Mr. A. bought some of this ; and hearing that there would be a dearth of potatoes, he planted them, paying enor- mously for everything : $250 a month for a common laborer, for instance, and eight cents a pound for freight from San Francisco. But the next year he made two htmdred thousand dollars from his potatoeSr 234 THE NEW WEST. The year after, however, there was such a harvest of potatoes through the State, that it did not pay to take them from the ground, and he lost fifty thousand dol- lars ! He went on then experimenting on a gigantic scale ; at one time owning the whole cotmtry-side ; and once, he spent $18,000 introducing apples, and lost it all I at other times he lost stiU more heavily. He is now prosperous and a large farmer, and widely known for his warm-hearted hospitality. Though his ranche is some 4,000 acres, there are ranches to which his is a mere inclosure. I hear of one, near the city, whose boundary line, if you stand in the center, is the horizon. Those in Los Angeles County are immense. It is for- timate for the interests of the State, that these immense properties are becoming rapidly broken up. With modem combination in the use of machinery, a large - farmer cannot use costly contrivances, for saving la- bor more than a small one. His only advantage and benefit to the community is, that he can try experi- ments more. But the CaJifomians have such restless and inventive minds, and are a community of such wealth, that even the poorest landowners wiU always be experimenting on some new productions. The im- mensely superior value of small farmers, or free- holders, over large, for the moral and political- well-being of a community, needs no argument in America. Among Mr. A.'s various crops was one of almonds. This tree, he reckons, yields twenty pounds to the tree in seven years ; the profit is about $2.00 to a tree. The ^^5 give twenty pounds to the tree in fourteen FIGS AND OLIVES. 235 years. They seem to me, both dry and green, quite equal to the best foreign. They command good prices in the market. His olives looked well, and they are now erecting olive-presses in various places to press CaJifomia olive oil, which is said to be quite equal to any foreign oil. But the delicious fruits were the peaches, plums, and nectarines. The trees hung heavy with the crops of them. There were all our best varieties, and fuUy equal, if not surpassing ours in richness and delicate flavor. It is a mistake to suppose that the California fruits are inferior to those of the Eastern States. The only one of poor flavor is the apple, which has suffered much from an insect. The strawberries, blackberries, rasp- berries, and cherries, are also quite equal to those of our coast. I used to spend hours in these orchards, luxuriating on the delicious fruit. Unfortunately for the grower, these finiits have become so plentiful in CaJifomia, as hardly to pay for raising. StiU I was pointed out, in this neighborhood, a clergyman's gar- den which added some $3,000 per annum to his meagre salary. Flcix is also beginning to be grown in this county. My friend raised 1,300 pounds of seed on the acre in one field. It must become eventually a very profit- able crop. The importance of it may be judged from the fact, that in 1866, there was a call for over 9,000,000 sacks for wheat, which were imported at a cost of $1,500,000. The total crop of seed is esti- mated now at about 150 tons. There is said to be a market for over 1,000 tons annually for oil purposes. 236 THE NEW WEST. The raising of Hops also is increasiag. There is no doubt that the yield is much larger, and the quality better, than on the eastern coast. The beer made from it is far superior to ours. They mention J instances where 2,000 to 3,000 pounds of cured hops have been raised to the acre. I heard of one farmer in Sacramento, who made, from hops, $1,000 per acre this year. The dry climate, free from storms, with a succession of southwest winds, warm genial sun, and copious dews at night, is singularly favorable to this growth. The pests of European hop-growers, such as the aphis, hop-mouse, mould-blight, and various para- sites, never trouble the Califomian. The low lands along the river-bottoms (not the adobe soils), with deep rich loam and porous subsoil, are the best lands for it. But even on the uplands, 1,500 pounds of dried hops to the acre are not uncommon. The picking is done by Indians or Chinese, at $1.00 per day, without rations. The usual price is 25 cents to 35 cents per pound ; they have been as high as 85 cents. Instances are given of hops four inches in length being obtained the first summer after plant- ing. The total crop is now 200,912 pounds, from 313 acres. Many of my agrictdtural friends believe that the Tule swamps about the mouths of the CaUfomia rivers win eventually become rice-fields. The climate, how- ever, is probably too cool for the growth of this valu- able product. Improvements in breeds become a source of im- mense profit in California. I passed in this neighbor- MERINO SHEEP. 237 hood a sheep-farm whose owner had imported seven- teen ewes and two or three rams of merinos, which had cost him $7,000 ; he derived from them a steady income of some $5,000 a year. One sheep- raiser in Alameda Comity has over 1,500 head of thorough-bred merinos. It is estimated that there are at the present time 2,500,000 sheep in the State, producing about 12,500,000 pounds of wool annually. In 1856 the clip was only 600,000 pounds. The following is an account from the Evening Bul- letin of THE CASHMEKE GOAT AND COTSWOLD SHEEP IN CALIFOENIA. ' ' The Cashmere goat was first imported from Angora, in Asia Minor, to the United States, as early as 1846. In the fall of 1861, W. Lan- drum obtained two bucks from a grower in the State of Geor^a, and brought them into this State. In the fall of 1857, Messrs. Landrum, Butterfield & Co. imported eighty-four bucks and four does into this State, direct from Angora. They were driven 900 miles to Con- stantinople, and from thence were shipped to Boston, and thence to California. They were taken to Monterey County. The result in the growth of the pure bloods, and also in the cross with the com- mon California goat, has far exceeded the most sanguine expectations of those engaged in the business. The growers have on hand, by crossing, about 1,500, including those of pure blood. They have also on hand 100 or more bucks for sale, containing three-fourths, seven-eights, and fifteen-sixteenths of pure blood. Beside these, they have sold upward of 100 of difierent grades to parties who have en- gaged in growing the Cashmere wool. It is noteworthy that the fiber of the wool, with rare exceptions, becomes pure white from crossing the first cross with a black ; and the second cross gives a fiber sufficiently fine for valuable purposes. The fourth cross pro- duces a fiber nearly as soft and fine as the pure blood. The only dif- ference really perceptible is, that the fleece is not quite so heavy. The weight of the fleece of the pure blood ranges from four to ten pounds. As yet^ the Cashmere wool in this State can not be said to 338 THE NEW "WEST. have any fixed price, a» at present there is no demand. At the EaBt, where a demand exists, the manufacturers informed Messrs. Landmm & Co. that they ' had paid as high as from one to sixteen dollars per pound, the average price being from two to three dollars per pound. "Messrs. Landrum & Butterfield have five pelts of Cashmere wool, two pure and three graded, in ' Quincy Hall ' Clothing Emporium, on Washington street, near Montgomery, where those interested in the growth of Cashmere wool, or wishing to verify the facts above stated, can inspect the fleeces for themselves, and can obtain further information from Thomas Butterfield. who is now stopping at the Buss House, or by addressing him at Santa Cruz. Ii should, per- haps, for the benefit of wool-growers in this State, be further stated, that the Angora goat seems to be as hardy as the common goat, feed- ing on the most poisonous weeds with impunity, and to be free from the diseases to which sheep are liable. The foregoing results may be ta^en as a practical demonstration that the growing the Cashmere wool, at no distant day is to become an important branch of industry in this State, and indeed on the whole Pacific coast. " Messrs. Landrum & Butterfield are also engaged in the importa- tion and growing of the Cotswold sheep. One of them is now in Can- ada, and is expected to arrive here some time in August, with fifty or more full-blooded Cotswold to increase their stock, and to supply those who may wish to purchase to cross or improve their fiocks. The fiber of the Cotswold is more valuable, and the fleece heavier, than those of any other sheep. The weight of the carcass is double that of the common sheep, and the mutton of a finer quality — ^being only equaled by that of the Southdown, while they are more prolific." WHEAT-UEOWmG COUNTIES. From the wheat yield of California for 1866, of 14,000,000 bushels', ninety-five percent, was furnished by eighteen counties, as follows: COUNTIES BUSHELS. Alameda 1.091,760 Butte 231,041 Contra Costa 620,110 Marin 92,328 Mendocino ^ 180,000 Monterey 184,550 WHEAT COUNTIES. 239 COUNTIES. P0SHEIB. Napa 624,435 Sacramento 192,170 San Joaquin 1,139111 San Mateo 420,000 Santa Clara 3,506,000 Santa Cruz 244,577 Solano 2,117,350 Sonoma 581,241 Stanislaus 150,662 Sutter 269.050 Tehama 270,035 Yolo 1,446,579 Total 13,361,699 Other 32 counties 719,053 Total wheat crop in 1866 14,080,753 This wheat district lies within a semicircle of 120 miles, taking San Francisco as the initial point, in counties either on the bay, the ocean, or the San Joa- quin and Sacramento Rivers. The wheat-growing area of the State was as fol- lows during the last three years : ' . * ACRES UNDER WHEAT CULTIVATION. conuTiBB. 1865. 1866. 1867. Alameda 40,051 38,792 53,190 Butte 19,975 21,919 19,070 Contra Costa ,... 28,615 39,718 43,501 Marin 3,260 3,567 4,291 Mendocino 6,500 11,000 12,000 Monterey 3,283 4,983 5,700 Napa 31,156 29,735 37,405 Sacramento 10,142 9,870 5,400 San Joaquin 47,558 69,132 91,790 San Mateo 16,000 20,000 16,000 Santa Clara 93,000 109,000 150,000 * Erenlng Bnlletln. 240 THE I^EW WEST. COUNTIES. 1865 1866. 1867. Santa Cruz...; 6,179 9,629 9,710 Solano 55,500 141,150 160,000 Sonoma 30,465 35,023 27,943 Stanislaus 10,000 11,190 32.250 Sutter 10,640 15,732 21,730 Tehama 7,832 13,424 14,862 Tolo 20,282 47,705 62,877 Total 440,438 631,569 747,719 Other 32 counties 41,034 59,176 98,658 Total for State.... 481,472 690,475 684,376 "Assuming that these figures (which are taken from the Surveyor-General's Report) are approxi- mately correct, we find that of the strictly wheat- producing counties, the land under cultivation with this cereal, in 1866, was forty-three per cent, greater than in 1865, while that of 1867 was eighteen per cent, greater than in 1866, an increase for 1867 as against 1865 of about seventy per cent. Extending the comparison so as to cover the whole State, there was forty-three per cent, more land under wheat cultivation iii 1866 than in 1865, and twenty-two per cent, more in 1867 than in 1866, or an increase of about seventy-six per cent, in two years." The greatest wheat-producing counties are just around the Bay — eight of them producing, in 1866, 6,053,124 bushels, against 3,144,376 in 1860. Wheat does not do well south of Monterey. It is esti- mated that 150,000 acres of new land were put in wheat during 1868, and at least 20,000,000 bushels produced. The yield of wheat to the acre was for- merly wonderful in California. Fields of sixty to one hundred acres have averaged ninety to one hun- YIELD PER ACRE. 241 dred bushels, and choice sites as high as one hundred and twenty. Wherever the land is properly sown and cultivated, the yield will now average forty bush- els. But here, as elsewhere in the United States, there is a great deal of poor farming. The lands receive neither rest nor manure, and even the straw is burned. What with volunteer crops, and cattle turned in to feed, many farms are almost ruined. Some farmers are beginning now to crop one year and summer-fallow the next. By this means an aver- age yield of twenty, bushels is soon raised to forty. The truth is, such is the improvident habit of the people, that these magnificent grain-fields, which might be the granary of the world, are being rapidly re- duced to the condition of the Virginia tobacco-fields. Every year the organic materials of the soil are burnt up in the straw and dissipated. There is little economy shown anywhere, and the yield in many districts has been brought down to twenty bushels. There is an imminent danger that extravagance and waste may desolate the CaUfornia wheat lands, as they have the gold lands. The most successful varieties of wheat are the White Australian, White and Red Chili, Chili Club- Wheat, and Sonora. The flour is said to be stronger from these than our " Eastern " wheat. The charac- teristics of the California wheat are its dryness and hardness, so that the grain requires to be dampened before it can be profitably ground. These qualities peculiarly fit it for transportation. Our millers, how- ever, do not, evidently, understand the grinding it. 11 242 THE NEW "WEST. I find the California flour in New York often very yellow and inferior in quality, while here it is white as snow and of the best quality. Owing to the floods in some districts, the wheat crop is harvested in some parts of Galiforma while it is seed-time in others. BAELET. The great crop of the State, next to wheat, and the common feed for animals, is barley, which wiU average, on new laqd, 55 to 60 bushels to the acre ; it has averaged as high as 80 to 130 bushels ; and a field of 100 acres, in Pajaro Valley, is reported to have produced, in 1854, 133f bushels to the acre, of clean plump grain. The yield for the State is nearly the same as that of wheat. Oats grow well in California, but are not in great demand. Indian Corn does not do well generally, as on the lands liable to overflow (such as most of the river-bottoms) the ground is stiU covered with water in May ; this makes the planting late, and the autumn rains set in before the grain is matured, and the yield is thus light and poor. The best com lands are in the Russian River Valley (Sonoma County). CHAPTER XIX. THE GETSEES GRIZZLY BEARS. The various excirrsions through the Bay of San Francisco are remarkably beautiful. The trip to the G-eysers — one of the regular objects of sight-seeiag in the State — can be made either by Napa or Peta- luma. We ' chose the former route, and enjoyed the steamboat sail extremely. Napa VaUey is one of the prettiest valleys in the State. In the spring, the drive is as if through a park, the green fields being sprinkled ahnost artistically with a variety of ever- green oaks (Q. sonomensis), which look like the elm. The lull-sides, and even the intervale, are green with vineyards, or covered with thrifty wheat. On each side of the narrow valley are wooded, rounded hills, very pretty in outline. Even at this season (July), with the dust lying six inches deep in the roads, and the fields as brown as stubble-fields, it was a lovely drive. We stopped at several watering-places. As I said before, there is something almost pathetic in the im- mense efforts made to render these places attractive. The White Sulphur Spring is somewhat romantic in situation, but Calistoga consists of a group of little houses, with a bare common in the midst, on which 244 THE KEW WEST. some scanty shrubbery was growing, a great warm- water bathing-basin, and a long low hotel. Large sums had been laid out on it. But nothing could be less interesting or agreeable. The thermometer at both these rural resorts remained at from 100° to 105° while we were in the neighborhood. The heat is, perhaps, an attraction to San Franciscans, as one ob- jection to their own climate, they say, is that they can never get up a perspiration. By a very early start, we reach Voss' Station for breakfast, expecting, according to advertisement, to connect with the ''world-renowned Voss' team." But the world-renowned had fallen out with the CaJistoga people, and had driven off to the Greysers early. So we were left to spend the day at this interesting sta- tion, which is a kind of focus of a reverberating fur- nace of hills, with a view into a barn-yard and over some brown fields. In observing the traveling company one meets with on these journeys, I am struck with one fact — that the least gentlemanly persons you meet are for- eigners — especially the English. The American or Irish Califomian is extremely polite to ladies — truly attentive, though perhaps a shade too familiar; but your young English or French Califomian treats a lady almost as familiarly as he would a man, and I fancy he puts on a freedom to which he is not accus- tomed, and the resulting effect is not happy. One of the greatest civilizing agencies in America, is our re- spect for woman, and the women of this coast ought not merely to receive it, but to claim it ; and any young WANT OP GEtTMBLING. 345 foreign prig, who tries to ignore it, should be quietly- taught his mistake. There is one peculiarity here which belongs to all our people ; it originated with the frontier, and has been transplanted to our cosmopoli- tan cities — ^no one ever grumbles at public accommo- dations. In a new country you must be very con- siderate of your neighbor, whether he be stage-driver or bar-keeper ; if he impose shockingly on you, you must bear it in silence. The consequence is, there is no public criticism on public arrangements. The only corrective is competition. I am of opinion that a little more ill-natured and wholesome scolding on these matters, especially in our Eastern States, would produce a good effect. Here, as a general thing, the coimtry inns or hotels on traveled routes are excellent. But now and then, there is a thorough-going flashy California house, with a most elaborate and preten- tious outside, and all the necessary things inside neglected ; dirty beds, poor ware, bad bread, and greasy cooking. Such exceptions would be speedily put an end to by vigorous grumbling ; but no one ever says a word in public against them. Voss' Station, however, was not of this class. Small as it was, it was neat and well managed. The drive over to the Geysers was very interest- ing; in part being just upon the very ridge of a sharp mountain, the steep sides covered with chap- paral coming up on each side to the very edge of the road. There were some fine views of mountain scenery on the route. We drove down the descent to the Geyser Hotel in the most reckless manner. 246 THE NEW "WEST. making the two miles in about nine minutes, and swinging the wagon around the zigzags with a tre- mendous speed I but the ground is soft, and the wheels could not easily get over the edge of the road. Still, as is well known, there are constant accidents in CaU- fornia from reckless stage-driving. In one part of our route, we saw a plain trail of bears, which crossed the public road. " THE GEIZZIIBS." One cannot help acquiring a kind of respect for this animal from the stories one continually hears about him in California. I believe, without excep- tion, he is the most formidable animal that walks the earth. Think of a creature, weighing 1,800 pounds, that can run as fast as a horse, and with a strength that would crush a lion as if he were a squirrel, and with such masses of muscle and fat over his vital organs, that it is exceedingly difficult to shoot him. I find very few hunters who have ever even ventured to htmt one. It is said that no grizzly ever attacks a Digger, or a Digger Indian him ; they mutually avoid each other's company. It is so with all ordinary hunters. The bear seldom attacks a human being unless wounded, or unless it is a dam with young. Yet I see in the papers con- stant accounts of terrible encounters with them, in which frequently the human side does not come off the best. One young hunter, I heard of recently, who saved himself after having wounded a bear, by throwing himself on his face and covering the back of his head with his hands. This is a common maneuver ; the BEARS. 247 bear supposes his enemy dead, and gives him one or two hard blows and leaves him. I saw a wood- man in Calaveras, with his eye gone, and much scar- red, who had been obliged to fight a grizzly with a pocket-knife, and MUed him. He was almost torn to pieces, but recovered. One dare-devil feat is, to crawl laboriously into a narrow bear's-trail in a chap- paral thicket, where there can be no retreat, and shoot the grizzly in his den. The weapon the bear is most afraid of, is the las- so, or reata. He can do nothing against it. I have known one of the wild Spanish riders to capture twenty in a season with this singular implement. They are also trapped often in little houses, and then transferred to cages. It was thus that Adams caught his magnificent collection. They do a great deal of damage. On this very journey I heard of one ranch that had lost a hundred horses through one. Among the Sierras, the traveler on horseback need apprehend little danger from them ; and a foot- traveler has more to fear from wild cattle than bears. I am often much struck with the vivid use of new English words in California. I was discussing with a maninthe stage-coach some question of morals. "The first thing for a man," he said, "is to live true to his convictions ; if he doesn't do that, he had better sell out ; there's no pay-rock in him ! " Another — a cler- gyman of much esprit — I heard speak lately in a ser- mon, of " the hard-pan of character — the bed-rock of the man," as if in every man, beneath the detritus 248 THE NEW WEST. of habits, and the drift of conventionalities, and the loose deposits and accumulations of customs and ex- ternals, there was a foundation — a " bed-rock " — of essential character, against which you must strike if you would reach him. To corral a stock is to get the stock into your hands — to ''comer" it, as we would say. To " freeze out " stockholders, is an operation I have al- ready explained ; and " salting " a mine is a trick also described heretofore The Getseb Hotel is a plain wooden house, near the foot of the Devil's Canon, which is the great ob- ject of interest to travelers. The landlord made up, by good nature and liveliness, for any want of accom- modations which might be felt. The interest of the spot lies in the fact that here may be witnessed the last spent forces of the great volcanic action which once shaped all this coast. One can well believe that the Indians found the Devil's Canon a most infernal place, and carefully avoided it. Our party climbed to the hill above, becaine rather belated, and then descended it almost in darkness. It is a small ravine, fiUed with sulphurous mist, where the ground is hot and quaking, and there is a sound of continual puffing engines beneath your feet. Some of the party became quite confused with the sulphur- ous odor and noise, and feared every instant breaking through the hot clods into the fiery depths below, or stepping into some boiling spring. With some of the Geysers there was such a force of steam as to be THE GEYSERS. 249 heard at a considerable distance, and to suggest to our enterprising landlord the device of puttiag a steam-whistle over the vent, but, for some reason, the contrivance did not work. An egg was boiled in three minutes in one ; another, called the Devil's Ink Bottle, boiled over with genuine ink, with which a letter was afterward written. The ground was cov- ered with salts of sulphur, of alum, and charged with various acids, which destroyed our boots in a few minutes. The water was highly charged with sul- phuretted hydrogen and sulphurous acid, and many salts, such as sulphates of iron, Hme, and magnesia. There was a species of grass growing in the water, though its temperature was at 200 degrees.* The explanation of these phenomena made in the Greological Survey, and the ordinary theory in books of science, of similar phenomena, seems sufficient. Somewhere above, in the Sierras, water comes in con- tact with heated lava in some volcano which does not now discharge, or some interior lake of lava, and being formed into steam it is forced out by the pres- sure, through crevices, until, as steam and hot water, it reaches the stream of this canon, and finds a vent for itself ia these geysers. Hot water, under pressure, dissolves metallic sulphurets, especially sulphuret of iron, and these solutions it brings down from the rocks to this stream. The ink mentioned above is a sulphuret of iron. I am told by residents that the volcanic action is sometimes shown here by quakings of the earth and rumblings. The line of former ac- * state Geological Surrey. 11» 250 THE NEW WEST. tion is clearly made evident ia the mountains by great acciunulations of pumice, scorise, obsidian and volcanic slag. The surrounding rocks here, however, are metamorphic sandstones and silicious slates- This canon opens into the canon of Pluton river, which is a branch of Russian river; it is said to be 1700 feet above the sea. Four miles up are other geysers, some 2,200 feet in elevation. The DevU's Canon is a furnace of heat in the day, both from the sun and the ground. The hotel itself was one of the hottest places I ever visited. Alto- gether the excursion is hardly worth the trouble taken to make it. The journey back took us through a part of the Russian River Valley — yet to be one of the great wheat vaUeys of California — and out by the' Peta- luma Valley. All these fine agricultural districts are to be opened soon by railways to VaUejo, where wheat and wine can be at once put aboard ships in deep water. This town must become a very important entrepot. THE CAPACITIES OF NAPA VALLEY. This beautiful valley we have just driven through, will be a favorite with emigrants from the eastern coast, on account of the cheapness of its lands and its nearness to market. It is not equal to the famous wheat counties, such as Santa Clara and Solano, and others, in the amount of its yield, but it is more regu- lar, there beiag few high lands which yield nothing in a very dry season, or very low lands which are NAPA VALLEY. 251 destroyed by a too wet year. Almost every acre of it, except those near the sulphur springs, can pro- duce grain, and the adobe land in the centre has very fair crops. The lower end, from Suscol to Napa, has luxuriant crops, and the upper looks well. One farm we passed had been let out under the expectation that at thirty bushels to the acre, and with wheat at $1.50 per cental, the lessee would make a net profit of $6.50 per acre. The yield, however, turned out forty bushels, and the profit netted was $10 per acre. Land at the upper end of the valley has been held cheap, though next year it will all be within three miles of the railroad. One farm last year was offered at $25 per acre, and is worth now double.. There are a number of valleys opening into the head of Napa, and all more or less good grain dis- tricts — the Loconoma, Coyota, and Knight's valleys. The Russian River Valley is thirty miles long and about five miles wide ; its average yield is between twenty and thirty bushels, though sometimes rising to forty bushels. In Napa Valley there are said to be from 1,000 to 2,000 acres in vines. No good wine, so far as I saw, had been produced there. THE STATE GEOLOGICAL SDEVET. I have quoted often in this volume from what may be called the geological memoranda of Prof. Whitney and his corps, contained in the volume on " Q-eology," which are the only trustworthy sources of information 252 THE KEW WEST. in regard to the geology and topography of Cali- fornia. Prof. Whitney's geological survey has been, of course, honest, scientific, and so far as it extended, thorough, and will constitute a most valuable basis for scientific theories and practical iavestigations. The volumes, papers, and maps, also, which have been furnished, or will soon appear, from himself and his able assistants, are of immense value to science. The survey has been summarily broken off by the California Legislature, leaving, we believe. Prof. Whitney ia debt for these public services, he having sacrificed, with a noble devotion to science, something of his private fortune in the survey. For the credit of the State it ought to be resumed and thoroughly carried out. CHAPTER XX. WINE-GEOWING. There is nothing that California needs so much in developing her material resources as a little truth- speaking. Every one here uses the language of com- pliment about whatever is Califomian. Every trav- eler or stranger arriving here, falls into the customary style of praise about the wonderful resources of this State, and the result is, that in some branches, the people do not really know what success is, until the un- mistakable lessons of the market, or the statistics of trade, teach them. This has been remarkably true of the vineyard interest. Most of the vineyards are cul- tivated by small vine-growers, who have seldom or ever tasted good wine, and who imagine their own the very best wine in the world. Travelers who write about the coimtry, and journalists and horticultural writers, all agree to flatter and compliment this important branch of culture. Thus Mr. Hyatt, who has written an excellent work on the Califomian grape culture, speaks of the " innate fine qualities and delicious aro- ma which characterize our pure wines." A promi- nent New York journal also says : " To persons whose tastes have been perverted by fiery, vitiated com- pounds, which pass in the market for foreign wines, these pure California juices seem at first rather weak, and their delicate aromas and flavors fail of apprecia- tion ; but all natural, healthy tastes find in them the requisites of a perfect wine," &c., &c. Mr. Shaw, an English authority on vine-culture, 254 THE NEW WEST. reports that " the wines of California offer a fair com- parison with those of Europe." This is the general tone of the newspapers and agricultural papers of the State, whereas those who are behind the scenes, the large vine-growers and others, know that the re- verse of all this is true ; that, in general, the California wines have not a delicious aroma — ^that they are by no means "weak." On the contrary, their proportion of alcohol is the difficulty, and they do not at all compare favorably with the good or light table-wines of France, Germany, or Hungary. In fact, on a broad scale, the wine-making of California has been a failure. The best evidence is in the table of exports. With a climate universally admitted to be the best adapted for grape-growing in the world — far surpass- ing that of France or Germany — Cahfomia was only able, out of a product of some 3,000,000 of gallons, to export, in the last six months of 1867, a paltry $63,000 worth, and this was $30,000 less than in the same period of 1866. The price, too, in many districts, has reached the low point of 25 cents per gallon, or at the rate of 5 cents per bottle, while French claret commands its 50 cents to $1.50 per bottle. In other places, so small is the demand, it must be converted into brandy to find any sale for it. Even the last report of the Department of Agriculture in Washing- ton, which was expected to say everything complimen- tary, spoke thus in regard to CaUfornian wines which had been analyzed : " Whatever may be the cause, it seemed 'unjust to pronounce an opinion upon the mer- its of wines which were plainly unfit for drinking." POOR WINES. 256 The Committee of the State Agricultural Society thus report, with most honorable frankness, on the wines offered to them, in 1868 : " The Committee would state that they have, in several cases, reject- ed wines of certain vintages on account of imperfect condition. They considered it was not the intention of the Society to award pre- miums to sour or adulterated wines, which would only perpetuate a practice of deceiving the puhlic. They regret to state that the exhibit in the Class they were appointed to judge, was most meagre and in- sufficient for the magnitude of the interests they represented. In wines, in particular, the exhibit was most disgraceful to the wine- growers of the State, there being only twelve entries altogether, a portion of which were imperfect from lack of careful treatment, and adulterated to conceal the same. "The Committee found evidences of wines that had spoiled, being 'doctored' with brandy or pure spirits to conceal the acid smell and taste. In sparkling wines, they found that the same fraud had been perpetrated, the sour wines having had brandy and sugar syrup added to conceal the acid taste. It is by such practices the wine- grower is injured, the entire interest being damaged by the cupidity of a comparatively few persons, to pass oflF spoiled wines as perfect." It is well known that CaHfornian wines have lost all reputation in New York, and that they are seldom seen now on gentlemen's tables. In California itself, it is very uncommon to see them on the table, or to find them in hotels. And yet there is no one branch of agriculture which can become so profitable for this State, none which can produce so much in small bulk to the acre at so little expense, and of a nature to be in such general demand, or to which the cli- mate and soil are so wonderfully adapted. In the natural course of things, wines, next to wheat, ought to be the great export of California. There is no limit to the demand, and hardly to her capacities of 256 THE NEW WEST. production. She could yield three hundred millions as easily as three millions of gallons. I believe, also, among our whisky and brandy-drinking population, the introduction of cheap light Californian wines would be a public benefit. What is, then, the cause of the apparent failure of this most important in- dustrial branch in California ? On first examining the subject, I confess I feared the difficulty lay in some element of the soil or of the grape which prevented the production of a good wine-juice. But it is evident that the most diverse soils are employed in California for wine-culture, and analysis does not show that they differ essentially in character from European soils. Further investigation showed me that the difficulty lay in what has ruined so many enterprises in California — ^in a moral cause — in what may be called honesty of work. There has been no lack of intelligence, and energy, and enter- prise applied to this, as to every other branch on this coast, but there has often been a great want of honesty and thoroughness, especially in agents or branches of this business ia our large cities. I am convinced that pure good table-wines are made here, such as never reach our market. There is carelessness throughout in the export business. The impression is strong through California that New York cares for nothing but alcoholic, vitiated, and doctored wines, so that one wine is mixed with another to suit our supposed depraved tastes, and the Port is doctored, and the "Angelica" is prepared for us with 16 to 18 per cent, of brandy fretted in, forming, not a wine, but a BAD WINE-MAKING. 257 liqueur. The casks are often carelessly prepared, thus injuring the wine in the start ; the wine is not old enough, and ferments on the passage ; then it is badly bottled and corked in New York, or San Fancisco, and sours or depraves ; and again, in New York, the Hock is watered, or the wine is mingled with poor French wines, and so palmed off, on our coast, as Cal- ifornia wines. The result of all this dishonesty of treatment is, that at the end, we, on the eastern coast, get most perverted specimens of Califomian wine. All the leading wine-growers agree that these are some of the obstacles to their business. But there are difficulties, even back of these, on the vine- yards themselves. There is a great deal of careless wine-making. I saw one large wine-cellar, owned by a French vinter, which was occupied half as a stable and half as a wine-store, where nothing but a thin partition separated the wines fermenting from the ma- nure of the stable. Any one who knows the sensi- tive nature of the fermenting wine, can imagine the ef- fect on its quality. There is, frequently, very little care about an equitable temperature for the cellars, and the wine acidifies from the changes to which it is subject. I think no one ever attempts- to make a wine from the very choicest of the grapes, as Tokay or Johannisberg is made ; everything is thrown in to- gether under the wine-press. Irstead of mixing grapes for the press, frequently diff arent wines are put together, which must cause a somevirhat artificial wine. Then, tiU recently, vineyards have been too much in the rich or adobe (clay) soil of the plains, in- 258 THE NEW WEST. stead of on the gravelly or volcanic soil of the hills. The mistake, however, is now being rapidly cor- rected, and the Foot Hills are being covered with vineyards. For a long period, too, irrigation was too much employed, which resulted, in some soils^ in too much wood to the vine, and an insipid fruit. Except on the plains of Los Angeles, irrigation for vineyards is now mostly abandoned in California. The Mission grape, moreover, has been too much the favorite. I am inclined to believe, with some vintagers, that the Mission grape is really noth- ing more than, the old Catalonian grape, brought here by the Spanish padres, which makes the sail- ors' wine of Spain — a rough, strong, heady wine. It is their favorite, because they tried it first, and it happened to succeed. The wine it now yields is precisely of this character — rough, alcoholic, and heady, with a strong, coarse aroma, and in the red variety, tasting of the earth. I doubt if it ever made a good wiae in California, and yet there are miUions of vines of it. The experienced vinta- gers are now seeiag the necessity of mingling this grape, under the press, with the foreign grape, to give the wine a delicate bouquet and flavor. Some discard it altogether. The whole science of grape-growing has been neces- sarily an experiment on this coast. The rules which applied to Europe often did not at all hold here. It was discovered soon that a slight change in soil and climate made an entire change in the wine produced. The best grape for a given locality, and its mode of treat- WINE MAKING. 259 raent, were entirely matters of experiment. Every- thing had to be learned. Moreover, wine-making itself is like bread-making, a fruit of tact and tra- ditional experience. Here all was new in the mat- ter. Then, there was little capital in the business, and the vintage-growers were obliged to put their wines on the market too young, and thus offend the public taste, as they were compared with older wines. But with all these obstacles, and with the dishonesty of agents and dealers, I am convinced that California has produced, and will hereafter produce, such native wines as have never yet reached our market, and which will in time engage in a successfal competition with European wines. 260 THE KEW WEST. CHAPTER XXI. THE SONOMA VINETAEDS. * The usual character of the summer scenery in the Califomian valleys, as I have often said, is a brown intervale, like a grain stubble-field, sprinkled with clumps of oaks or single elms of dark-green foliage, and bounded by equally brown hiUs of rolling form, set out with oaks, as if by art. It is only on closer examination that you discover the brown fields to be often wUd-oat fields, and the supposed elms^ the white oaks, left as nature planted them. Three of the prettiest valleys in the State — the Napa, Petaluma, and Sonoma — liave now the additional beauty of green vineyards on the plains and on the hill-sides. Sonoma has the reputation of possessing the neatest and most carefuUy-managed vineyards in the State. The town of the valley — Sonoma — ^is a wretched, run-down-looking village, with one of the poorest- hotels in the State, sorely needing, as an old Spaniard, Gen. Vallejo, frankly informed us, an arrival of Yankee settlers to wake it up. The whole valley, however, is filled with beautiful vineyards, to which is generally attached a neat villa or farm-house. These places are nicely kept, and evidently worked with skiU apd care. I visited, in company with a most delightftd companion and friend, Mr. Craig's, Mr. Caeeigan's, Major SoHp!i- VINEYARDS. 261 der's, the " Buena Vista," and Mr. Deesel's. Noth- ing can surpass the hospitality and courtesy of these Cahfomia country-gentlemen to strangers. The production of the vineyards ranged from 22,- 000 gallons to 43,000 gallons per annum each. The whole number of vines in the vaUey is esti- mated at 2,438,000. The soil is a red gravelly clay near the foot of the hUls, and a light sandy loam in the centre of the valley; the best wine, as usual, comes from the hills. The usual plan was to plant the vines eight feet apart, each way, so that plows and cultivators could easily pass through them ; this would give 680 to the acre. One vineyard found six feet enough, and had 1,210 to the acre. Col. Harasztht had attempted a three-feet division on a new theory, but his successor on the Buena Vista vineyard — Mr, Dkesel — had been obliged to take up thousands of his vines, to the great loss of the Society, as this division cost so much in hand-labor, and di- minished so much the product. No trenching or manuring is used in California. Here the soil is plowed at least one foot in depth, and then harrowed, and perhaps rolled ; it is subsequently cross-plowed sometimes twice, and thus is broken up three or four times -during a season, this method bringing the moisture of the atmosphere to the roots, in a climate which has no summer rain. In regard to summer pruning and low pruning of vines in California, there is great difference of opinion among vintagers. The usual method is not to prune during the summer the first year, but to rub off the weaker buds, and in the 262 THE NEW WEST. autumn, if the vines are intended to furnish layers, to leave two strong lateral branches, and one good stalk with two buds. Every spring the main stems are reduced to two or four buds ; some, however, trim in the autumn in preference. Of the layer- planting it is not necessary here to speak in detail. Grenerally the vines are pruned low — say "eighteen inches or two feet ; but in northern exposures this subjects the clusters of grapes to too much moisture, and they are allowed a higher growth. The summer pruning is thought by many vintagers to be inju- dicious or useless, as in this climate there is only too much heat and Ught, and aU the lungs of the plants are needed to absorb moisture. The best vines I saw in this valley were pruned low — ^like tomato vines — but tied up so that the grapes would not rest on the ground, as contact with it injures them. The squeez- ing of the buds at an early period, is thought much better than summer knife-pruning. All, it should be remembered, are trimmed down to two or four buds. Vines are seldom staked in California, as upon the Ehine, or trained or trellised, as in Italy, but are left in heads or bunches, with branches five or six feet long — this horizontal training distributing the sap equally, and the leaves sheltering the grapes from the excessive heat of the sun, and keeping the warmth of the earth round the grapes at night. The vines act, too, as a sort of mulching on the surface of the ground, and retain its moisture. The yield in the Sonoma Valley was often spoken of as averaging thirteen pounds of fruit, or a gallon COST PER ACRE. 263 of wine to the vine after five years, which would make a product of some 650 gallons to the acre. The Buena Vista vineyard did not average more than 400 gallons, but with 370 acres under cultivation, on a part of which were young vines. I have known, however, 1,000 gallons to the acre, even upon twenty acres, and there are even larger yields. In France and Germany the average is said to be 175 gallons, and in Italy 400 gallons. At 600 gallons it gives a return of, say $240 per acre, and if the wine be of good quality, a much larger one. No other crop is nearly so profitable. The expenses are variously estimated. Mr. BeaiO) reckons the whole cost of vines (say $10 per 1,000), of preparing, harrowing, and four times plowing, per acre, for the first year, as about $30. Mr. Hyatt puts the CTiltivatiag for vines at $15 per acre ; summer-fallow, $5 ; cuttings, $5 per 1,000 ; planting, $2 per 1,000; cultivating, $15 per acre, or total $42 per acre. The general estimate after that for three years is $7,50 each year per acre ; Mr. Hyatt makes it about $20. On the fourth year there may be a yield of 2,000 pounds per acre, which at two cents a pound would pay two years' cultivation. The fifth year 5,000 pounds may be reasonably expected, and the sixth, 6,000 pounds to 9,000 pounds, the seventh, from 6,000 to 10,000, or even as high ais 13,000 pounds. Grapes, however, when sold for wine-pressing to neighboring vineyards will not bring now more than a cent and a-half a pound. In the San Francisco 264 THE NEW WEST. markets they cost from five cents to ten cents ; the most delicate and superb table-grapes, not surpassed in the world, such as the black Hambtirg, the Muscat of Alexandria, Muscatel, Malaga, and others, seldom bringing at retail more than eight cents a pound. Grood vine-land, unbroken, can be bought from $5 to $75 per acre. Vineyards of six or seven years of age sell from $100 to $400 per acre. Many of these vintagers sold their wine near by, carting it themselves. In one case Mr. Caeeigan had succeeded remarkably ia making a red wine from the Zinfidel grape, which was one of the best red wines in California (for in general the red wiaes here are miserable). For this he received $1.50 per gallon, when four years old. This grape — ^the Zinfindel, or Zinfidel — is a large bearer. It is said to be a Hun- garian seedUng of the black Pineaux, or of a Cham- pagne grape of France. It is a highly-esteemed va- riety. The profits on the private vineyards were evidently large, as they all looked comfortable and well kept, though in general they did not get more than forty cents per gallon for their wine, which is at the rate of about eight cents a bottle. There was little that was new in the processes for making wine in this valley. It was as nearly as pos- sible like the cider-making in New England; the white wine being the juice of the grapes pressed under a wine-press, and the red wine from ferment- ing the pulp of mashed grapes, the color comiag from the skins ; the juice of the latter is then pressed out and finishes its fermentation in a clean cask. The WINE-MAKING. 266 earthy taste of the red wine must come from some pecidiar quality of these skins. In some cas^s the grapes are passed through a machine to separate the stems from the grapes, and mash them without break- ing the seed. The must is run into clean casks, made as pure as possible from all taste of the wood or all previous liquors. The cask is kept in a cool cellar. Fermentation is carriBd on here with loosened bungs, the gases being supposed to expel the air ; but much aroma must thus escape. I have not seen anywhere in California fermentation by a syphon through water, though there are a few vineyards where this is tried. The cellars in Sonoma are the best in the State, those of the Buena Vista Society being cut in the solid rock, at a very great expense. The others are generally large buildings, like barns, above ground, with thick or double walls. In one, Major Schnei- DEe's, the temperature is said to be kept within a few degrees of 60° the year round. This gentleman, owing to his wealth, is able to keep his wines some years, and will undoubtedly acquire much reputation for them, because they are not forced on the market too young. Two or three of his white wines are among the best of the State. His foreman derided the idea of the Mission grape making a good wine alone ; he uses the foreign varieties, among them, the Rissling, from which the celebrated Johannisberg is made. This grape is a great favorite in the valley. It is thus described : Bunches of medium size and compact ; berries light-colored, rather small, and 12 266 THE NEW WEST. round ; skin thin ; flesh tender and jmcy, with sweet and sprightly flavor. The White Muscatine is used here also. I suppose from it is made a Muscatel wine by Mr. Deesel, which is one of the most delicate wines made in California. It has never reached our coast. The Buena Vista, from various causes, has not paid a profit ; perhaps it never will ; but I am convinced, under its present skillful superintendence, it will here- after produce some celebrated wines. Mr. Dkesel, the superintendent, has now some very fair white wines. His sparkling wine I did not taste. The Sonoma white wines are found, by Dr. Weth- EKELL, to contain 8 J per cent of alcohol, and the red wines, 10 per cent. The Hock of 1860 had 14 per cent. CALIFORNIA CHAMPAGNE. Innumerable experiments have been tried in this valley, in making a sparkling wine. Two methods have been attempted in California to produce the ef- fervescing quality — one by normal fermentation in bottles, and the other by injecting carbonic acid gas into still wine. The latter is universally considered an unhealthy and iUegitimate way of producing this wine. Over two hundred thousand dollars are said to have been expendbd in vain by various firms — the Messrs. Sansevain Brothers^ Crevolin Brothers, and Col. Harasztht, and the Buena Vista Vmicultural Society, in these experiments. CHAMPAGNE. 267 The follo-vring is an account in the Evening Bulletin of the difficulties of the latter association : " In 1863, this assoriation commenced operations by putting up 9,000 bottles of wine, which not proving of a good sparkling quality, was uncorked, put into casks again, and sold for vinegar or distill- ing. In 1864, they put in 72,000 bottles, from which they sent to this city between 500 and 600 dozen, and uncorked the balance and sold it for the same fault as in the preceding year. In 1865, they put in 42,000 bottles, which fermenting too violently, caused a breakage of over 50 per cent., while a large part of the rest had to be uncorked and put in casks again to save it. This wine was disposed of for the same purposes as in the preceding years, the Society getting very little sound wine from that year's making. In 18b6, they put up about 40,000 bottles, which is still in course of manufacture, and from which, and the wine of 18615, the officers of the Society expect to get about 2,000 dozen in condition to market. The wine used in the above-named years was made from the Mission or California variety of grape, grown in the Society's vineyards in Sonoma Valley. The wine, before bottling, was of excellent quality, and every circum- stance connected with it promised success in making good spark- ling wine. The expert who had charge of the manufacture was con- sidered fully competent to succeed, but the results were unsatisfac- tory, as above stated. "In January of this year, I. Laksberger, agent of the Vinicultural Society in this city, in connection with Arfab Haraszthy (son of Col. Haraszthy), concluded to engage in making sparkling wine in San Francisco. The latter-named gentleman had gone through an apprenticeship of over two years in the wine cellars of the best champagne wine-firms of Bheims, France, and felt satisfied that the obstacles that stood in the way of successful champagne-making could be overcome. After several trials, with varying results, he succeeded in May, iu producing a few dozen of really good wine, which he considered equal, if not superior, to any then made in the State. Relinquishing his agency for the Buena Vista Vinicultural So- ciety's wines, Mr. Lansberger removed to Jackson, near Montgom- ery street, where he fitted up the building for wine-making, which he has steadily prosecuted up to the present date. With the view of ex- perimenting without excessive loss through failure, he has made wine in comparatively small lots, so that if one or more proved defective 268 THE NEW WEST. in quality, the fault might be corrected without large waste. He commenced in May with a lot of 65 dozen bottles, and up to the first of October, had put up twelve separate lots of that quantity, with the following results : First lot failed to sparkle, and was uncorked ; the second, third, and fourth lot progressed slowly, and a large por- tion had to be uncorked for want of sparkle. The fifth lot fermented too violently, and after about 40 per cent, of the bottles were broken, the rest were uncorked to save the bottles. The succeeding lots proved of excellent quality, and have been disposed of as soon as boxed, ready for delivery. The average breakage of bottles was about 16 per cent, on the amount put up, while the wastage in dis- gorging made the total loss about 25 per cent. The manufacture of sparkling wines requires the use of good judgment and skill, as the condition of the wine, in its various stages of manufacture, is judged almost entirely by the eye. Skillfulness in shaking bottles, to settle the deposit in the wine on corks, and good taste in flavoring, are also required, and can only be attained by thorough instmctiou and practice." The process of making is not essentially different from the French method, except that it is much shorter — for four months instead of ten months — and no refined wine spirits need be added to the wine, on account of its natural strength of alcohol (some 14 per cent) Artificial heat, too, is used in the early stages of fermentation, by the principal maker, Lans- BEEGER, in San Francisco ; though I think not in So- noma. White wine, from six months to two years old is used, grape-sugar, or a solution of rock-candy, being added in the casks, and the whole is repeatedly stir- red till fermentation begins. Then the wine is drawn off into bottles, which are corked and tied with strong twine, and then stacked in large piles. They are now placed in the heating-rooms, if heat is used. When the wine has reached a favorable stage, it is restacked, with the heads downward. The sediment CHAMPAGNE-MAKING. 269 now deposits itself on the side of the bottle. Every day the bottle is shaken by an experienced hand, to bring the sediment down just above the cork. When the wine works clear, the expert very dextrously cuts the twine, and lets the cork and sediment be driven out by the gas ; both are caught in a tub, as also what- ever wine may be spilled in the operation. The bot- tle is now passed to the filler and receives the flavor- ing and sweetening liquid, and any wine needed to fill it ; it is then corked by machine, and the cork wired. Afterward, the bottles are carefully exam- ined, lest some fragments of glass or cork may be- in them, and then are labeled and packed. The wine ought to be kept several months, to improve in qual- ity. The great losses in this business are from break- age of bottles, especially in May and August, when fermentation is active. The expenses, too, in Califor- nia, are very high, as compared with thftse of France ; bottles, all imported, costing $1 per dozen, and corks $40 per thousand. The produce, thus far, of California, in sparkling wine, I believe is in sufficient demand at home to need no export ; though sample cases have been sent to various countries. It has mainly been made from the Mission grape, but now the Muscatel is being employed for it. I suppose a hundred different varieties of grapes are being tried in Sonoma Valley. It is remarkable that such skillful cultivators can give so little scientific information about their wines. Not one knew the proportion of sugar or of alcohol in 270 THE NEW WEST. their wines, exactly, though some of them had sac- charometers. The analysis of Dr. Wetheeell, of the Smithsonian Institute, gives eight and a half per cent, as the percentage of alcohol in the white wine, and one per cent, of sugar when free from alcohoL The red wine has ten per cent, of alcohol, and two per cent, of sugar ; while some CaUfomia wines, as the Port, have eighteen per cent, of alcohol, and seven and a half per cent, of sugar; and the Angelica, seventeen per cent, of sugar and eighteen of alco- hol. The great want in the wine-crdture of California, is a light, cheap table-wine. Sonoma, from its coolet climate, and the character of its soil) seems capable of producing this. In this wonderftd climate, the grape thrives to perfection. The total rain-faU in California is only 22 inches, while on the Rhine it is 36.17 inches, and at Bordeaux, 34; in Madeira, 30.87 ; and even in Mal- aga 23.3 inches. It is rare to find a year in Grermany or France in which damp or frosts do not injure the ^apes. Here they are never injured. Rot is un- known, and disease scarce ever attacks the vines. The mean annual temperature of California is al- most exactly that of Cadiz — 60° ; while the vintage months average 68° in Sacramento ; in Malaga, 71°. The advantage here over many countries is, that the summer heat is prolonged into autumn — the mean temperature of Sacramento, in September, being 78° 95'. Sonoma is probably a littlei cooler, and there- fore better adapted for northern vine-growers. A COMPARISON, 271 Among all the wines produced in this valley, and in other parts of California, both from the Isabella grape and other varieties, I am surprised at thus far meeting with none which can at all compare, in purity, and flavor, and bouquet, with one Eastern wine — the Sherry made from the Isabella grape by the Brothers KowLET, at Hastings-upon-Hudson. The comparison, of course, can only be made with the strong wines, such as resemble Sherry or Madeira. The labors of these gentlemen are a model to all wine-makers. They have experimented faithfully and carefully during some four- teen years, doing their work in a very modest, but very honest manner ; not puffing their wares, and not pressing them on the market till they were sure of their quality. Whatever other merits it possessed, they were determined that their wine should be pure and genuine, and the natural fermentation of the grape-juice. No alcohol or brandy was fretted in, or essential oils added, or artificial coloring or ingre- dients mixed in. The Hastings wine is a pure natural American wine, not exactly a Sherry or Madeira, having its own delicious flavor and bouquet, without the headiness and alcohol of the California strong ■wines, and iuU of health and vigor to those needing a vinous tonic. This result is the fruit of years of quiet, honest work, on a soil infinitely inferior to that of Sonoma or Los Angeles, and with a comparatively unfavorable climate. Not till the vintagers of California work as thoroughly, honestly, and with as much science, will they produce a strong wine equal to our eastern wine. 272 ■ THE NEW WEST. THE SIEEBAS AND FOOT HILLS. The best vine districts of this State will hereafter be the borders and the sides of the Sierras. It is beiieyed that the whole range of mountains, from Shasta to Santa Barbara, say 25 miles broad by 350 long, is admirably adapted for grape cultivation. The climate, too, is drier than in the coast range. The wines made are generally like those of Madeira and Teneriffe, with a strong per centage of alcohol. In Nevada County the soU chosen is a volcanic ash, or sedimentary lava, like the soil of the vineyards on Vesuvius, or it is decomposed granite, enriched with potash and soda, and impregnated with oxide of iron. It is not improbable that in the ftiture, wines will be almost accidentally produced in such places, equal to Johannisberg or Tokay. At present, in the above county, there are only some 130,000 vines ) but land is cheap, and the hills will soon be covered with vineyards. Mr. Waite states that 8,000 pounds of grapes to the acre, from vines five years old, is not uncommon. The vines need irrigation the first year, but after that, on moist soils, will take care of themselves. The use of a plow or cultivator in summer often supersedes irrigation. The vineyards are small, vary- ing from 100 to 3,000 vines. There is but one with more than 10,000 vines. The French have made here a species of claret ; the grapes cultivated are the Mission, Black Hamburg, Muscatel, and Catawba. The wines of this county are generally strongly alcohol- ic ; they are thrown into market young, but bring high WINES. 273 prices, some selling as high as two dollars per gallon, even in cask. In Grass Valley there are numerous vineyards. The best red wine made in the State, resembhng Burgundy, I am assured, on good authority, is made at Columbia, Tuolumne County, on the Foot Hills, by Mr. Jarvis. At Coloma, on the Sierras, the Isabella and Ca- tawba grapes are found to succeed remarkably well. Mr. Alhoff has distinguished himself with wines from these. '■ There is a single Isabella vine here, trained on an ia^rbor, which bears this year some 2,500 bunches, weighing 1,000 pounds. At Folsom, Sacramento County, Mr. Bugbet has succeeded in making the very finest raisins. His crop last year was 25,000 pounds, worth twenty cents a pound. He also made nineteen different varieties of wines. His whole product was 10,000 gallons last year, worth from $1.25 to $2 per gallon. The following is the analysis of his soil : Silica and silicates of alumina, iron, and magnesia.. 894.50 Almnlna and peroxide of iron 49.50 Lime 2.37 Magnesia 0.31 Soluble salts 14.22 960.80 Organic matter 30.00 Moisture 9.20 1,000.00 This is what would be called a poor soil ; yet it produces the finest grapes. His red wine, from the red Trammer, is highly spoken of. 12" 274 THE NEW WEST. RAISINS. Raisins are made by half breaking the stems of the principal bunches of grapes, and thus preventing the flow of sap. The fruit then shrivels in the sun, the watery portion is dried, and the sugar concentrated and increased in proportion. A good grape for this purpose is one of the many Malaga varieties, but a Hungarian grape {Fifer Zagos) is preferred. The raisins from this are of a light-red color and white bloom, of medium size, with a thin skin, tender pulp and seed, and a pure, sweet flavor, free from musky taste.* This grape was brought from Hungary, in 1853, and from two small cuttings have sprung 50,000 bearing vines, and some 300,000 cuttings and roots. It is a prolific bearer, and averages in six years thirty to forty pounds to the vine. This vine is usu- ally trimmed, Uke the other vines in California, as a to- mato bush, the main stalk some eighteen inches from the ground. The young wood is staked up about four feet high, and the runners pinched in during the summer, so as to throw out lateral shoots, and thus protect the fruit from the rays of the sun by the leaves. There has been some discussion whether this grape was not reaUy a Malaga variety, but opinion inclines to its being a Hungarian. A golden-colored wine is made from it, between Sherry and Madeira. The fruit grows in long bunches, and the berries are of cblong shape, light-green translucent color, and vary- ing in size from the middle of the bunch down. * Mr. Ddhn's Report to State Agrioultnral Society of 1868. CATAWBA WINE. 275 The Muscat of Alexandria has also been tried for raisins, hut they are musky^ and tend too much to absorb moisture and ferment. The white Chasselas, also, is found not to succeed, the skin being too tough, and the seeds too large and hard, and the pulp not aweet or fuU enough. The Mission grape makes a fair second-class raisin. About 80^000 pounds of raisins were produced in the State, in 1866. Before many years California will supply the Union with raisins. '' The Catawba," says Mr. Hittel, " bears twenty- five per cent, less than the Mission grape, and it re- quires about two pounds more of the berries to make a gallon of wine, but there is a certain and prompt market at twice the price paid for the wine made of the Mission grape. Mr, Alhoff sells all his wine, except perhaps fifty gallons reserved for keeping, before it is eight months old. Besides the produce of his own vineyard, he buys all the Catawba grapes he can get from his neighbors.- Last fall he paid two cents per poun(?on the vine, and two and a half cents delivered. He has the handsomest wine-cellars that I have seen in the State. They are fifty feet long, twenty feet wide, twelve feet high, buUt in the hill- side, and are arched over with neatly cut sandstone. One of his cellars is almost nice enough for a parlor. Mr. Alhoff says that the Catawba wine keeps far better than any other. He can draw off a 500-gallon cask of it, gallon by gallon, for four months, and it will keep sweet, whereas other wines will turn sour in a few weeks if the cask is not full." 276 THB NEW "WEST. Mr. BuGBEY ranks his varieties as follows, in tie order named, viz. : the Black Zinfindel, Red Traminer, White Malaga, VerdeUio, and Los Angeles. The Ver- delho makes the best wine, and the Black Zinfindel produces the largest quantity of grapes. In the Foot HUls the Red Mountain and Zinfindel grapes are said by Mr. Hittel, a most intelligent observer, to bear more than the Mission variety, and the Catawba and Isabella only one-third as much. The Muscat varieties make excellent raisins, but bear twenty-five per cent, less than the Mission grape. CHAPTER XXII. LOS ANGELES ORANGE- GROVES AND VINEYARDS. The trip to Los Aageles (some five hundred miles) I made by steamer in about three days — a pleasant voyage in good company. We stopped only at Santa Barbara. The great difficulty of this whole southern coast is the want of good harbors. We anchored at Don Pedro, some twenty-two miles from Los Angeles, almost in an open roadstead, and then were taken in a tug four miles to Wilmington, a place of 1,000 in- habitants, built up by the energy of one man. Here a coach took us for eighteen miles over a flat plain, covered with wild mustard, some eight feet high, to Los Angeles. The region about Los Angeles may be considered as the " South " of California. It is largely settled by Southerners ; it was somewhat secessionist, or at least opposed to the Government, during the war. The people have all the virtues and the vices of that section of our country ; they are warm-hearted, hospitable, slovenly, lazy, and profane. Nature has done everything for it, and man • very little. The whole region is half a centxiry behind the north of CaUfomia in its improvements, and yet has a climate, a soil, and a luxuriance of vegetation, and a variety of fruits, which made the early Spaniards consider it the very garden of the angels. 278 THE NKW WEST. I asked a Catholic priest with whom I was traveling, if it deserved its name. He replied, characteristically, that the Holy Scriptures informs us there are two kinds of angels, the good and the bad, and of the latter he thought there was no want in the place.- The name must have been originally applied to the. town by travelers coming here in the spring, over the Arizona desert. To them a bit of green must have seemed angelic. Froebbl's descriiptipn of its loveliness, as I recall it, seems highly romantic and exaggerated. It is simply a Spanish mud village of one-story houses, with broad, dirty, hot streets. Beneath the wide verandas the people sitj and two-thirds of the population seem to spend the day smoking in front of the hotel, and going in for " drinks;" Without the town are broad roads, which are dusty or cut up with the surface- irrigation, running between large willow hedges, made by sticking willow branches in the ground and interlacing them like a fence ; they soon grow and form a thick, scraggy, ugly hedge^ twelve or fifteen feet high. And this in a climate where the beautiful pepper-tree makes a superb hedge, and I suppose the cherry-holly would grow luxuriantly. Behind these hedges, however, are the richest gardens, vineyards, orange-groves, and lemon, fig, and olive plantations which can be seen in America. The country beyond these places is flat, brown, and arid, till another green and beautiful plain is reached, watered artificially from the Santa Susanna Mountains, some ten or twelve miles from the towii. On a height near the LOS ANGELES. 279 city is a very pretty view of the Los Angeles VaUey, green with vineyards, orange-groves, and willow hedges; it is some fifty miles long by twenty-five broad, and irrigation is supplied by the river of the same name. Between Los Angeles and its seaport, Wilmington, on the other side, are some twenty miles of brown heath, covered with wild mustard. There are certainly scores of places in California far more beautiful. The town itself has had, till recently, a bad name. It has been the Botany Bay of both California and Mexico. Hither drifted all the cut-throats and rogues of both countries, to be near the border and thus easily escape the law. There have been several Vigilance Committees here during the last ten years ; the last one, a few years since, hung five men. Even now, though it contains some 8,000 inhabitants^ the town has no gas* in the streets, and I was told by various, citizens that they would not cross the plaza at night for fear of robbery. No one rides in the country near by without arms, and there have been instances of the Mexicans attempting to lasso travelers for the purpose of murder and robbery. Probably one-half of the population are native Califomian or Mexican, and very slow to adopt any improvement. This is one of the strongholds of Califomian Democracy. But American ideas and men are penetrating it. A most energetic and able man — ^the Republican Senator to the State Legislature, Gen. Banning — rhas taken hold of Wilmington, and * Since then, I nnderstand tho city haa been lighted Trith gas made tram aaphaltnm, wliich abounds in this region. 280 THE NEW WEST. is building that up, and bringing a great deal of business there. New one-story brick houses are taking the place of the adobe. Schools are being improved under an intelligent school superintendent, Mr. JitcKEE. Law is now supreme, and robberies or deeds of violence but seldom occur. The Spanish land- holders are being stirred up at what they see around them, and are making many improvements. And ,in the town and country around are some large Ameri- can landed proprietors, who are exceedingly intelligent and public-spirited. Among them are Mr. BLeller, Mr. Wilson, and M. Sansevain, the largest vine- growers in the State. It seems, however, the mis- fortune of this region, that the land is held in such large parcels, and but few small independent farmers are to be found. Yet, as promising a speedy pe- cuniary return, it is undoubtedly the most desirable place for farmers emigrating, in the whole State. The climate is warm, but tempered by a cool sear-breeze, BO that there is less suGfering from the heat than in some of the mountain districts of the State. Fever and ague seem almost unknown, and there are few prevalent diseases. The nights are generally cool ; but even in winter frost seldom does any damage. Oae of the finest places I visited was Mr. Wilson'?, a gentleman well known for his hospitality and his large agricultural operations. His estate is some nine miles from Los Angeles, and extends in the plain, beneath the Santa Susanna Mountains, for some ten or "eleven miles, containing 14,000 acres of land. The view from the hill near the house is charming, MR. Wilson's vineyard. 281 a plain in front, green with tte orange groves and vineyards, and the towers of the old Spanish Mission, (San Gabriel) rising from the rich foliage. In the east, the peak of San Bernardino and the summit of San Gorgonio, and to the north, the fine masses of the San Fernando mountains, some 8,000 feet high. Mr. Wilson's vineyard contaras 300,000 vines, mostly of the Mission grape, wide planted and low- pruned. In this climate, especially near the city, the vine-growers are obliged to irrigate. One field of twenty acres produces some twenty thousand gallons of wine; his whole production is about 100,000 gallons. He makes a white wine, which, after four or five years, is a very fair table-wine. I think the price of ordinary wine here is 35 or 40 cents per gallon. We saw here a beautiful grove of orange trees, with dark green, velvety leaves, sprinkled with light green branches — ^the richest foliage to be seen in nature. They were set some twenty feet apart ; they bear eight or ten years after the planting of the seed. The full-grown tree can reach thirty or forty feet in height. Twenty of Mr. Wilson's trees yielded $1,200 in one year. He has about 2,000 orange-trees growing, and nearly as many lemon. There is a great demand on this coast for lemons, even in the mining region, and when the demand is satisfied the juice can be converted into citric acid. Lemons are worth three cents a-piece on the ground, and a tree will frequently yield $50 or $60 in one year. It is easUy propagated from cuttings, and will bear in six or eight years. There are two varieties 283 THE NEW WEST. here, the Sicily and the China. The last, however^ is considered almost worthless ; it bears a large lemon of a bright orange-color, with corrugated skin, but it is sour, without flavor. Both oranges and lemons are set out widely enough apart to give the matured tree full scope, and the ground about them is kept broken and loose. I think no manure is used. The ripening season commences in December, and lasts till May^ Their enemies are the gophers, who gnaw the trunk near the ground, and an insect which hides under the leaf, and smears it with a glutinous matter that inj urea the plant. On. the whole, however, there is Uttle difficulty in raising them. The original Los Angeles oranges are said to have come from the seed of the Sandwich Island orange, but, as usually happens here, the California seed and fruit prove better than the original. Both the orange and lemon of Los Angeles are remarkably good. It is estimated that there are about 8,800 fruit-bearing orange trees in the valley; 135,000 maturing trees, and 200,000 plants. The fruit-bearing^ are said to average about 2,000 oranges each after eight years, which would give a crop of over 17,000,000, worth some $527,000 for the Los Angeles farmers. Of lemons, the estimate is 500 fruit-bearing, 2,500 maturingj and 35,000 of this spring's planting. A single orchard whiBh I vis- ited afterward — Mr. WoLFSKiLL's-r-will produce 600,000 oranges this seasoiv The tendency in California is always to overdo any particular branch, and Los Angeles, alone, will glut the market with these fruits. ALMONDS AND OLIVES. 283 I was shown a bush of limes on Mr. Wilson's place, from which the children had sold $16 worth, and it seemed still full of fruit. The lime-tree is propagated from seed, and bears fruit in five years. There are estimated to be of limes in this valley 400 fruit-bearing, 1,500 maturing, and 5,0(tO seedlings. Of figs, fruit-bearing, 3,500; maturing, 7,000; this spring's cuttings, 10,000. The fig is propa- gated from cuttings and bears in two years. It yields two crops, in June and in August. Among the trees on this and other estates here, are the English walnuts, almonds and olives. The walnut is a beautiful shade-tree, and bears in seven years from the nuts. There is always a good demand for the nut. The almond yields from the sixth year, and its fruit will bring thirty-five cents a pound, and can be exported to any part of the world. Its only enemy is a fungus, which attaches itself to the ends of the roots and gradually spreads to the heart of the tree. The olive ripens beautifully, and they are now extracting the oil for market, so that olive oil will become another of the many exports of this rich and fertile valley. Besides these, peaches, apricots, nectarines, apples, pears, pomegranates, cherries, strawberries, melons, cactus-finit, and even the palm, grow and flourish in this delicious climate. It is unfortunately unsuited alone to wheat, which does not seem to grow well south of Monterey — the sea fogs and hot svm causing rust. The yield is only 284 THE NEW WEST. some ten or fifteen bushels to the acre. Indian com grows here some ten or twelve feet high, and will bear to the amount of 175 bushels to the acre. Among the strange variety of vegetable products which await the energy of Americans in this favored region, is the castor-bean. The beans are planted two or three in a hill, and then thinned out, leaving one healthy plant to the hill. They reqtdre no more work than corn, and will yield often thirty or forty bushels to the acre. Fifteen hundred pounds to the acre is not un- common, which is equal to seventy-five gallons of oil, worth, at $2.50 per gallon, some $187 — a good return per acre. This plant grows well, also, in the north of California. All the fields and hills around Los Angeles are covered with the wild mustard, sometimes eight feet high. This produces an excellent mustard, better, many assert, than the Etiropean. It is believed that this will eventually be cut by reapers and harvested with great profit. It is thought, also, that various tropical fruits would succeed here, such as pine- apples, bananas, coffees, cocoa-nuts, and even ixbro, from the Pacific islands. Immense sheep ranches occupy the apparently barren plains and hills without the city. But the terrible drought of 1863 cut off great numbers of cattle which used to sprinkle the heights. It also had the effect of breaking up some of the large ranches, as the owners were reduced to poverty, and were forced to sell their land. I heard of one estate, of LARGE EANCHES. 285 250,000 acres, -with 50,000 cattle on it, owned by a Yankee Don, which was thus broken up and sold. There are other large ranches, one, the San Fer- nando, owned by Gren. Pico, contains 121,619 acres; another, belonging to Messrs. Pico & Stearns, 56,- 979 acres ; another, belonging to the Jerba family, 62,516 acres; another, the San Pecho, 43,119 acres, and so on with many others. A great part, however, of these immense estates is utterly useless for every- thing but pasture, and even the good soils require constant irrigation to make them bear well. The riparian and water-claims are a source of incessant Ktigation and quarrel. Of the 20,000 inhabitants of this valley, only about one-third are native American, Yet the immense energy and restless impulse of the Yankee population are gradually but surely driving out the old Spaniards from their ill-farmed or neglected properties. It is rare anywhere in California that you pass a thrifty, well-kept farm, and hear that this is a Spaniard's or Mexican's. As a general thing the Spanish owner has gambled, or drunk, or otherwise wasted his prop- erty, or has been passed by his neighbors in com- petition, or has lost large portions of his ranch by sharp legal practice among the Yankees. On a broad view it is better for the whole country that his wide, half-cultivated, or abandoned farm, should be broken up, even by an oppressive legislation ; and, undoubtedly, his own original title was often hardly more equitable or legal than that of the squatters on his neglected acres. Certainly many of the grants 286 THE NEW WEST. to the Spanish Missions by the Mexican Government, covering square leagues, were made from conquered property, were of the vaguest dieseription, and would inevitably give rise to much litigation. Many were probably manufactured after the conquest of Cali- fornia, by enterprising brokers and speculators. The apparently harsh legislation which required Mexican owners to prove titles before a Land Commission and then the United States Courts, was, on the whole, a public benefit. The policy of every Grovemment should be to treat land as different from other species of property, to use it for public purposes, to en- courage its fair subdivision and easy transfer, and prevent its lying useless. Cases of individual hard- ship and injustice there imdoubtedly were, but, on the whole, we believe this legislation in California was productive of good to the whole community. THE VAQUEEOS. One of the characteristic personages of this region is the Mexican vaquero, or cattle-driver, th.e best rider in the world. You will see him on his high- backed Spanish saddle, girt like a vice about the horse, with the enormous stirrup-leathers, his reata of cattle-hidej strong enough to hold a bull, wound around the pummel, with slouched hat and loosCj out-stretched arms, cantering along lazily on his wiry mustang, and you would hardly take him for the horseman he is. But let his employer tell him that you want to see him catch a. bull, and he is all aroused. The Uttle horse springs under the spur and dashes toward a CATTLE DRIVERS. 287 herd of cattle on the flat heath ; the Spaniard makes for a single bull, who rushes oflF over the plain ; the horse follows like the wind, but not too near — he knows his business perfectly. The vaquero hxu-Is the coil, and the horse throws himself back on his hind-legs, with his fore-legs braced forward, like a statue ; in the next instant the bull is rolling over in the dust, with his tongue sticking out of his mouth, the noose fast about his neck, and the horse unmoved by the shock. Or teU him to catch that white-and- red bull yonder " by the right fore-leg." The two are off in a cloud of dust, tearing over the plain, the horse evidently enjoying the sport as much as the man. You ride after, and find under a cloud of dust the bull on the ground, caught by the leg you ordered, and the horse, without a word of command, keeping the reata just strained enough to prevent the animal's getting on his legs, so that, if necessary, he could be branded. The man and horse seem one. One of the favorite games of the vaquero is burying a fowl in the ground, with its head out, and then giving it as a prize to whoever will tear it from the ground, on the fiill gallop. The feats these fellows perform in dashing, at fuH speed, down mountains and rough canons, would amaze any civilized horseman. It is well known that the great wealth of large districts of southern California has been in cattle. These roamed by the tens of thousands aU over the plains ; the only way of determining the owners was by driving them together every spring to a rodeo on a certain ranch, and having a branding. Here each 288 THE NEW WEST. owner had his vaquero, and lassoed the cattle which were his, branding the calves and those whose marks were somewhat obliterated. The cattle without marks were left with the owner of the ranch on which the rodeo took place. With some of the owners this was the only time they saw their property through the year, until they slaughtered them ; many not knowing within hundreds or thousands the numbers of their " stock." The brands, both of cattle and horses, are matters of legal description, and are controlled by law in California, copies, burned in leather, being required to be deposited in the County Recorder's office. On such occasions^ as these rodeos, the vaqueros were the great characters : hunting, lassoing, capturing cows, and struggling with bulls, and separating the armies of cattle. Besides Mr. Wilson's, I visited Mr. Keller's and M. Sansevain's, and the Wolfskill vineyards. Each of these wlU make this year about one himdred thou- sand gallons of wine. Mr Keller is an exceedingly intelligent wine-grower. He is trying M. Pastuer's experiment of heating the' strong wines, after the vinous fermentation, in order to preserve them. His " Madeira," a very pleasant sherry-like wine, with an acid taste, is prepared thus, in a chamber heated to (I think) over 113 degrees. I should fear the effect of this process on the flavor. The making of wine usually begins here early in October. Most of the vine-growers still press with the feet, employing Indians for the purpose, fearing to mash the seed in the ordinary press ; but Mr. Wil- son, and KoHLER & Frohling, use presses. What- WIWE- PRESSING. 289 ever disagreeable effects might result from treading out grapes with these dirty Indians, are all removed by fermentation ; still it is a useless and antiquated method. With the white wine, the pulp is removed so soon as pressing has ceased, and the must let off into great casks or vats ; with the red, the juice is left on the pulp for a week or more, and thus acquires its red coloring." Some vintners leave the grapes on the vine till they are shriveled, and thus produce a strong rSd wine, like Port ; but all the red wines are poor. The " Angelica " is usually made by mixing one gallon of grape brandy with three of grape juice, fresh from the press. The brandy retards ferment- ation. Another method is to reduce the fresh juice about one-fourth or one-fifth by boiling^ then place it in barrels and " rack " it off once or twice, till it gets clear. The boiling also checks fermentation. It is really thus a liqueur and not a wine. It contains at least sixteen per cent, of alcohol ; and " Muscatel," a similar liqueur-wine, nineteen per cent. " Port " is made by pressing the grapes, skins, and stalks, and when the wine is half fermented it is transferred to large casks. Brandy is sometimes then put in to check fermentation. But the California grape-juice has so much alcohol that not much brandy is " fretted in." The color is mainly due to the skins. I am not aware that elderberry-juice is added to give color, as in Oporto. AH this class of wines in Cali- fornia are poor and very alcoholic, the per centage in Port being eighteen 4t least. 13 290 THE NEW WEST. Mr. Kelleu's " No. 4 " white wine is one of the best white wines here. The " Cocomungo " brand is made on a Spanish vineyard near Los Angeles, and commands a high price, but it is not a remarkable wiae. A fair " Sherry " is made here by Mr. Keller, and others, but not equal to the New York Sherry. The Los Angeles wines are not equal, on the whole, to the Ijonoma, and all the arrangements of their vineyards are. inferior. Their cellars are much poorer. A German settlement (of which I shall speak*present- ly) a little south, on a much inferior soil, has already surpassed them in a white wine — the Anaheim, which is a light, pure- table-wine. The Mission grape is used everywhere here, but M. San^vain is already introducing foreign varieties with great success, and most of the vintagers doubt the value of the former. Nothing could surpass the Malaga, Muscat, and Black Hamburg grapes on this gentleman's vines. AU the vineyards and orchards are copiously irri- gated, which is contrary to the custom of the rest of the State. It is a great pity that so much of the wine-making of California has been directed to what are not strictly wines, but are liqueurs, or, rather, vins de liqueur. Any wine with an arrested fermentation, and with brandy put in, is a dangerous drink ; heady, trying to the stomach, laden with gout and other diseases, and tempting to drunkenness. Whatever healthy quahties a light wine may possess, and however it may conduce to temperance, these vins de liqueur act immediately in the opposite directioni It should be understood LIQUEUR- WINES. 291 bytte public that the California Angelica, and Musca- tel, and Port, are beverages of this description. Their fermentation is arrested either by boiling or by pouring in brandy. The Muscatel of Los Angeles tastes like a cold punch. The Port is perhaps no more danger- ous than the wine of the Old World made in a similar manner, yet it seems rougher and more alcohoHc. The Angelica corresponds in its two kinds to the arrope of Spain, and the geropiga of Portugal. One -vineyard — that of Kohlek & Feohling, in Los Angeles — ^makes it in a somewhat diflferent man- ner from that pursued by many other wine-growers. They allow the must to ferment to a small degree for a few days, and then put in the brandy. They claim to have reduced the proportion of alcohol to only fifteen per cent, in Angelica, and to considerably less than that of the ordinary Port in their Los Angeles Port. The great wonder is that Norton's Virginia Seed- ling is so little known in California, where almost every European variety of grape has been successfully in- troduced. No red wine has ever been produced in America equal to that made by the Germans of Mis- souri from this grape. A remarkable evidence of the bad name of the Califomian wines was recently offered in San Fran- cisco, by a cellar full of choice wine — the Q-erke wine — as good an article as they have ever exported, which had been sent to New York, and was offered there at a low price — I suppose three or four dollars per dozen — and could not he sold, so that it had to be returned. It was retailed in San Francisco at $12 a dozen! 292 THE NEW WEST. The wine-sellers can buy their wine on a Cali- fornia vdneyard from 35 cents to 47 cents a gallon; all expenses for freight, casking, leakage, etc., to New York, are only some 35 cents (gold), so that they can lay down their wiae in a New York cellar for a dollar (currency) a gallon, or about 20 cents abottle, and sell it to dealers at $2.25 a gallon, and by the box any- where from $6 to $12 or $15 a dozen. One of the greatest expenses in California are the casks, as the country has no native ash or oak adapted for these. The largest wine-maker ia California told me that he would give a cask full of wine for every empty cask ; but this was in a district where casks were especially costly. In speculating over the apparent inferiority of California wines to European, I have wondered whether the defect could be in any degree due to climate. It is well known that the grape from which Sherry is made, if transplanted to the dry climate of the Cape of Good Hope, produces a very different and an inferior wine to the famous wine of Xeres. May not the dry and warm climate of California act on the grape by intensifying the essential oils, which are at the base of odors, and thus produce the peculiar and not agreeable bouquet which distinguishes all these wines f It would seem as if the acetic ether were the strong peculiarity of this bouquet. We know that all odors and oils are strengthened by this wonderfal climate. Thus the mustard is said to be stronger than the European mustard, the hops have a more astringent quality than our Eastern hops, and I LOS AN-GELES. 293 have myself observed the odor of musk in certain grapes almost as strong as if it were an animal product. It may thus be that some one essential oil which is formed in all wines, is here intensified and becomes the prevailing property. I throw this out merely as a suggestion. If it be a fact, the inventive genius of the Californian culti- vators will no doubt eventually overcome even this obstacle. In looking to foreign countries, one tinfortunate analogy suggests itself; the country most resembling California in climate and productions, is Syria; and yet Syria, though abounding in the most delicious grapes, has never produced a first-class wine, unless we except one preserved in a convent in the Leb- anon. Los Angeles is not deficient in some of the appli- ances or aids of civilization, despite the rather Mexi- can air of the town. There are two or three respect- able hotels, three or four Protestant churches, a Ro- man Catholic church, a number of primary and gram- mar and private schools, hospitals, a school and home of St. Vincent de Paul, and two newspapers. The churches, however, are said to have but little influ- ence, and even the police do not control the bad ele- ments, as would be desirable. A friend of miue, a well-known doctor, said he was crossing the plaza a moonlight night, when a Spaniard met him and asked him for " a light." He observed that the man's right arm was behind him, 294 THE NEW WEST. and that the moonlight glimmered on cold steel. He politely took out a revolver, put his cigar in the end, and presenting it to him while he cocked it, sa,id most suavely, "With the utmost pleasure, Sefior!" The ruffian vanished rapidly. The most charming feature of the valley is the climate, the spring being like the summer of Madrid, or 74°, and the summer cooler than that of southern France, or about 67°, with an autumn of only 56°, and a winter like that of our southern coast — say 50° mean. The following table is quoted by an intelli- gent observer in the Evening Bulletin of San Fran- cisco, as a record of the five hottest days in 1852: Sunrise. Noon. Sunset. AuguBt26 65"^ 84° 67=' August27 65 84 , 67 Augustas 64 84 67 August29 65 83 66 AugustSO 65 83 66 AugustSl 64 82 65 During my visit, in August, the thermometer was about 80" in the middle of the day, but I was glad of blankets at night. At a little distance in the interior the heat increases fearfully. Here, it is said, field- work is done from January 1 to December 31, by laborers in shirt-sleeves. The rainy season begius in November, and lasts three or four months, but the rain -fall is not heavy ; at one point near Los Angeles, the Ranche del Chino, the annual fall being only 9.7 inches. On the whole, however, I do not believe it is an invigorating climate, and for a Northerner, the north of California would be preferable. CJEKMAN VINEYARDS. 295 ANAHEIM. Some twenty miles south of the foot of Los Aa- geles, the Grermans have a beautiful little settlement of vineyards, among lately-planted orchards of oranges, figs, almonds, and olives, called Anaheim. It was founded by an association of Germans in 1857, the land — 1,100 acres — ^being divided into fifty. lots, of twenty acres each, having a portion in the centre for public improvements. Eight acres in each lot were planted with vines. The whole cost was $70,000. Each vineyard was then sold at $1,400 to German vine-growers. From four to eight additional acres to each vineyard have been planted with vines. I had much conversation with the managers, and tasted the wine. They have not the best soil for a rich wine, and they are obliged to irrigate much, which must weaken the quahty of the grapes ; still, they have produced an unusually pleasant and light wine, the only one I saw which seemed to circulate . through the State. I found it even in the Sierras, where it was sold at $1.00 per bottle. It cannot be stronger than an ordinary Rhine wine. I attempted to bring a box over the Isthmus, but it soured. Such is the bad reputation of all California wines, that this year, out of 400,000 gallons manufactured by this colony, 250,000 are still in bond, and the price ruling on the vineyards is twenty-five cents a gallon, or about Jive cents a bottle. There will be 100,- 000 additional vines bearing in 1868, so that, despite the tax, the wine will have to be converted into brandy, 396 THE NEW WEST. wMch is a misfortune to the whole region. Aad yet the Anaheim wine-growers cry aloud for the reduction of the brandy tax. Many of these are now burdened with heavy mortgages, and some are entirely dis- couraged by the results of wine-making on the Pacific coast. CHAPTER XXIII. THE OIL-WELLS THE MAMMOTH UKAPE-VINE. I WAS aroused one morning from my state-room on the coast steamer, near Santa Barbara, by a strong smell of kerosene, and supposed that the room-lamp had been knocked over, but at the same time I heard something said about " oil on the water," and went up on deck. To my surprise, I found the sea for miles covered with floating oil, which had the exact smeU of petroleum. We were then some two miles from land. There was considerable swell on, but the captain said he had seen the sea as smooth as glass and covered with oil for miles at this point. I felt that I had now run through with all the CaJifomia experience. I had waded in silver mud in the mills at Virginia City, bathed in streams turbid with golden sands in the Foot Hills, and now sailed over petroleum seas near Santa Barbara. It was this phenomenon, it wiU be remembered, which gave the first impulse to the excitement in California about petroleum, and resulted in the formation of several large petroleum companies a few years since. Any one who recalls the furor about Pennsylvania oil-wells, where the superficial indications were often far less encouraging to an unscientific eye, might well excuse the excitement in regard to this region. A very 13* 298 THE KEW WEST. trustworthy gentleman also informed me that he had often known of cattle mired and lost in a substance on this coast which looked like thickened petroleum. Under the light of present experience, a scientific man would at once say that the presence of large masses of asphaltum on the surface, or even of flowing oil, was a presumption against the existence of much petroleum oil at that point. Oil fit for bumiag is not obtained when the strata are exposed to the air, or turned up on edge, or are only covered with a light detritus. There must be a superficial covering of rock over the oil-stratum, to confine the fluid, or to allow it gradually to form away from the atmosphere. This is always the case in Pennsylvania. The strata there are generally horizontal or turned up at a slight angle. The facts in regard to this cast ' seem to be that a bituminous slate-formation extends from Los Angeles to Cape Mendocino, with the strata generally turned up at a high angle.* The contor- tions of this slate n^ar Santa Barbara were . very marked. The asphaltum is often in the sandstone over the bituminous slate, as if it had been forced up by heat and pressure. In the slates themselves, as we learn from Prof. Whitney's report, it is somewhat uniformly diffused. The precise relation of asphaltum to petroleum is uncertain ; whether it arises from the thickening or oxydization of that oil, what proportion of the hydro-carbons in -the bituminous slates evapo- rates on exposure, and what is oxydized to asphaltum, the Geological Survey agree is an entire matter of *The State Geological Snrvey. CALIFOENIA PETROLEUM. 299 uncertainty. The only thing clear is, that the strata near Santa Barbara are too much exposed to the air to allow of much petroleum near the surface, and that the oil which is extracted is too thick for practical use. I could not doubt, from what I heard, that pure petroleum does sometimes come forth from some of the borings, but at such a depth and under such expense that it does not pay, commercially. Labor, machinery, and transport, are so high in this part of Cahfomia, that, with the present price of oil, it is doubtful if a full-flowing well of oil would pay much profit. Some of these large oil-ranches would make ex- cellent vineyards. Santa Barbara itself has one of the most beautiful situations in California, placed in a green valley opening out to the sea, between picturesque hiUs on each side, and with a fine chain of mountains in the background. The grand old Spanish Mission seems to stand guard over it, upon the hiUs behind. Near the landing, in a gentleman's garden, is a beautiful product of the south of California — the Cen- tury Plant, or Agave Americana. It was planted eleven years ago, and its great leaves cover a circum- ference of some sixty feet, while its top is some forty feet high. It is in splendid flower. These maguey s grow freely here, and will make fine hedges. They are indigenous in San Diego. An intelligent botanical authority in the Bulletin says : " When the maguey in Mexico is in large forests, and at the time the capsule and column dries up, nothing can exceed the monotony 300 THE NEW WEST. and tristeria of a forced journey through its precincts, from its long, ghost-like, bleached columns, full of hundreds of fruit- vessels, shak- ing and rustling in the winds of the arid mesas of that country. The small maguey of our State, called kihote by the natives, andtvhieh bears on its column hundreds of snow-white blossoms, has been planted in several gardens of Santa Barbara since 1865, but none of them had flowered in 1867. They are said to mature in five years in these districts. As this plant is found in the inner ranges of Contra Costa, there is no doubt it could be grown in the Oakland gardens.' ' One of the most formidable hedges in the State is the cactus, which grows here some twenty feet high. I attempted to eat the fruit — ^the puma — without suf- ficient warning or preparation, and filled my mouth with the minute thorns. The Mexican gathering it used leather shields for his fingers ia handling the fruit. It had a sweet, watery taste, and is greatly prized here ; but to a Northerner, the tropical and semi-tropical fruits are far inferior in deKcacy and flavor to northern fruits. The pests of this region are the various ground- rodents, the gophers, field-mice, and ground-squirrels. Whole fields are stripped by them of grain, and or- chards of oranges and other fruit destroyed. They can only be exterminated by poison. I know one farmer whe spends $250 per annum on strichnine and other poisons, for these burrowers. The dry summers enable them to bring to maturity their numerous offspring. The old ignorant warfare against bees has been com- menced here, the vintagers believing that these in- dustrious little creatures destroy their grapes and ripe fruit. The increase of this insect is one of those striking evidences which California so often presents, BEES. 301 of the enormous production of one form of life, when once introduced to this genial climate. Before 1853, not a honey-bee had ever crossed the Sierras or Salt ' Basin to the Pacific slope (which in itself is a some- what singular fact). A Mr. Shelton in that year intro- duced the first hive. Even in 1857 a hive would often sell for $100 or $200. The bees increased so rapidly that the business of bee-producing soon ceased to pay, and the insects tbok flight to the mountains and forests. Now all the woods and hills of the State are full of wild bees, and the Mexicans and hunters get their wax and honey for nothing. A one-year hive will often produce thirty poimds of liquid honey, and two pounds of clean wax ; and a single family, says a good authority, will often throw off ten swarms annually. In no distant time, honey and wax must be one of the exports of the south of California. One of the great plagues throughout California to the cattle-breeder, is a species of mullen — the teazle- burr. Each plant is of the size of a blackberry, and contains some hundred burrs, which adhere continually to the tails and fleece of sheep and to cattle. It covers here thousands of acres, and is a perpetual torment to the cattle-breeders. The woolen factories in San Francisco have distinct machinery for crush- ing and combing out these burrs. Despite the destruction by the fearful drought of 1862, both among cattle and sheep, there were in 1867, in this county, 11,090 head of horn stock, and 104,000 sheep ; and in land, 46,000 acres were under 302 THE NEW WEST. ctdtivation. The grape-vines numbered 230,000 ; olive-trees, 11,100; walnuts, 7,400; almonds, 8,550; and figs, 2,200. In silk-worms, the crop for 1867 was some 400,000 cocoons. There have been sales recently of large ranches arotind Santa Barbara, which will give an idea of the prices of land in Southern California. Thus two ranches, the old I^oriega Eancho of San Julian, of eleven leagues, and La Epada, of two leagues, cover- ing 53,000 acres, sold together for $83,000, or say at $1.25 an acre ; much of it excellent pasture-land, and some being good arable soil. One-haJf of Sonata, or 13,300 acres, brought $8,'000, and so on with over 130,000 acres, the most of it being sold from $1 to $2 per acre, though some brought from. $8 to $10. There were also sold about 1,000 acres of a farm of Mr. Hill, the old Mission garden lands, capable of pro- ducing olives, almonds, oranges, lemons, figs, cotton, tobacco, hops, beans, and corn — in fact almost every fruit and vegetable, near a beautiful sea-beach, and at an average price of fowrteen dollars an acre. The production of butter and cheese is increasing here, and there are now some cheese factories near the town; Among other productions, dkra and sweet potatoes are grown very successfully in Santa Barbara. One of the wonders of California is a mammoth grape-vine at Montecito, near this place. It was planted by a lady, Donna de Dominguez, over sixty- five years ago, from a slip which she had cut in Mon- terey County for a horsewhip. It is trained on a MAMMOTH GRAPE-VINE. 303 trellis about ten feet from the ground, and now covers a space, as I measured it, of ninety-three feet by about fifty. The circumference of the trunk, five inches from the ground, was three feet and a half inches ; and, eight feet high just below the branches it meas- ured four feet and three inches. It bears about eight thousand pounds of grapes per annum, and is said to almost support the 'family which own it. There are several vineyards in this region, also, and many groves of orange, lemon, olive and ahnond-trees. But here, as everywhere, the Mission grape is too much ia use, from which a good wine can seldom be made. The people are very anxious to be relieved from the tax on native brandy ; but I trust that they will not be by the coming or any other Congress. No article is a more legitimate subject for taxation ; it is mainly a luxury, and a deleterious one. If not taxed, much of the wine of the country will be turned into it. On the much-disputed question of the influence of light wines as checking intemperance, I have no doubt, from much observation of wine countries, especially of Hungary, that they act on a broad scale in this direc- tion, though naturally with many exceptions. But truth compels me to say that thus far native wines in California have had no such desirable effect ; perhaps, first, because light wines are not much made here ; and second, because Califomians do not drink their own wines if they can help it. Here and in Los Angeles, where wine could be sold at a profit for ten cents a bottle, no person in the hotel or on the boat caUed for wine at his meals, but instead, immediately after. 304 THE NEW WEST. every one rushed to the bar for raw whisky. With such habits, dyspepsia and indigestion are naturally common. Such is the sluggishness of this southern population in California, that in a country, the most blessed by nature in the world, they do not raise enough wheat for themselves, and have not a single flour-mjU. Our steamer brought a quantity of flour for the town, and had to land it in boats after a very tedious fashion, no one in Santa Barbara having had enterprise enough to employ a lighter, ' The want of good harbors for these southern towns is a great obsta,cle to their progress ; but a greater is the want of what the people call "live men." The most energetic man on the whole coast is, as I men- tioned before, Gren. Banning, of Wilmington. One vigorous and interesting experiment, however, is being made here by Messrs. Packard & Gocx in silk-worms. They have 4,000 thrifty mulberry-tree^ and 6,000 more are planted near the town from their nurseries. The produce this season is about 300,000 cocoons of excellent quality. Everything promises success to this important experiment. With all the social drawbacks no part of California oflfers more material inducements to the farmer and horticulturist than does this southern section. Good land can be bought cheap anywhere from $2 to $50 an acre, according to location, and everything, almost, that man wants, can be produced upon it — every fruit or product of the semi-tropical and temperate zones QUESTION OF TEMPEEANCE. 305 The climate is healthy ; there is regular connection by daily stage in seventy-two hours with San Francisco, and a tri-monthly steamer in forty-eight hours. The Southern Pacific Railroad will eventually pass here. The country only needs more Yankees to be the best part of the State. In regard to the. great question of temperance in this State, it seems to me unwise for the moral com- munity to throw itself into a struggle with such an important horticultural interest as vine-growing. California is as certain to be a vast vine-growing and wine-making State as France. All the conditions of its soil and climate point to this as one of the most natural and profitable branches of production of the State. No moral opposition could sensibly affect it. Furthermore, the drunkenness of the State (which especially in the mining towns and in the south is lamentable), does not come from wine-drinking. It is the result of heavy drinking of brandy and whisky. Now, assuming the universality of this appetite for alcoholic stimulus, and admitting (as most are ready to do) that a light wine is healthful and promotive of digestion, would it not be the part of a wise legislator, and even a moralist, to endeavor to check the heavy drinking by introducing- or encouraging the taste for light beverages ? Would not temperance in a wine country, such as California, be best promoted by in- ducing the vine-growers to make a light, pure wine, and by discouraging the use of brandy and whisky ? To expect total abstinence in a country where wine 306 THE NEW WEST. is thirty-five cents a gallon, seems almost as absurd as to inculcate it at Bordeaux or in Johannisberg. The increased use of brandy can at once be checked by Congress contiuuing the Internal Revenue Tax. And instead of petitioning Congress for its removal, all public-spirited Californians should unite to request its continuance. A pure light wine can be made if the public demand it. Any effects on the people, from such a course as is proposed, must naturally be distant, but it is the coming generation that alone can be influenced by true temperance. Wine will never take the place of whisky with old topers. But, on the broad scale, we may reasonably believe that the use of light wines in California wUl in future years pro- mote self-restraint in drinking, as it has done in Hun- gary, Germany and France, as compared with Sweden, Scotland and England, where these wines cannot easily be obtained. Thus far, as I have before re- marked, California gives us no data for conclusions. The course of all reformers and friends of the public good here on this question must be shaped by experi- ence elsewhere. That points, it seems to me, in but one direction. On the argument made by the vine-growers, that the- refuse or pomace left after the grapes have been pressed, must be turned into, brandy, and that this, if vmtaxed, will give them sufficient profit to enable them to sell cheap light wines, but that otherwise they can not sell cheap wines, the following remarks are ap- pended, made by the writer in a city journal. POMACE BRANDT. 307 "It is well known to aU wine-growers that the sub- stance left after the grape-juice is pressed out — the pomace — is not fit to make even common brandy. It does not contain sufficient alcohol, and has a rough oflfensive flavor. The consequence is that whisky, or rectified spirits, have to be added to it, and when dis- tilled, a most villainous compound is formed, which acts especially on ithe coating of the stomach and the nervous system. Physicians say that more delirium tremens is caused by this cheap pomace brandy, which is sold imder the name of 'French brandy,' than from almost any other cause. "If to doctored Ports and, in New York, watered Hocks and brandied Angelicas, were added the poison of pomace brandy as a California product, the last end of the California wine-trade would be reached. The diffi- culty with the wine business of CaKfomia is not the expense of production, nor the low prices ruling. Even with wine at 50 cents (gold) a gallon, on the vineyard, the wine-growers coidd make money enough. The trouble is that such is the bad reputation of the Cal- ifornia wines for impurity and carelessness of making, that the public do not want them at all. As the Cali- fornia papers admit, there are himdreds of thousands of gallons now in cask on the different vineyards which cannot be sold at 25 cents a gallon. The real fault has no doubt often been with the wine-merchants, and with the New York agents, but often also on the vineyards. The true remedy is not to produce a poisonous and cheap brandy of the grape-refuse, but to make better wines. If the California wines were what they ought 308 THE NEW WEST. to be, millions of gallons could be profitably sold here. "We consider brandy a luxury, and a deleterious luxury, and therefore it should pay a heavy proportion of the national taxation, and we trust Congress will not lighten its burdens for the Pacific States." SAUTA CLARA VALLEY. The Santa Clara Valley, in which San Jose is situ- ated, is a lovely valley, highly cultivated, and with one of the most delicious climates in the world. The moist and adobe soil of the center of the plain, how- ever, is not the best for producing a good wine, though it is green with vineyards. The laest wines are made on the red clay, mixed with gravel and limestone, on the neighboring hiUs. I visited a number of large vineyards here ; some are for sale as low as $1.25 per acre. The wide-plant- ing is becoming the practice of the State, but Gen. Naglee, who has a superb place here, is trying the narrow system — the three-feet division. So far as I saw, no really good wines are made in the valley ; all were rough and heady. The Almaden hills may yet produce, however, some fair white wines. The county ia estimated to have 1,000,000 vines. In examining such a place as Gen. Naglee's, one sees what a satis- faction there must be in California in settii^g out grounds. Such shrubbery is not to be found in the world; such numerous and beautiful varieties. On this place there were shrubs from Japan and China, trees from Australia, evergreens from this coast, and QUICKSILVER MINES. 309 flowers and fruit from every climate, all flourishing as they can nowhere else ia the world. It really repays to garden in California. NEW-ALMADEN MINES. I visited, while in the Santa Clara Valley, the famous quicksilver mines of New-Almaden. They are about thirteen miles from San Jose, on a range of hills some 1,500 feet above the valley. The rocks in which the cinnabar is found, are magnesian schists. We ascended to the openiag of the mine by a care- fully-graded road, some three miles. Here half a dozen of us were put on an ore-car, and pushed by hand through a level some eight hundred feet long, into the center of the mountain, where we entered a large chamber, made by the removal of the cinnabar. From this a vertical shaft descended nearly three hundred feet. The lower part of the mine is reached by ladders in various openings or cavities, which com- municate with one another by narrow passages. The bucket is also used for descent. One of these de- scending passages is forty feet high and seventy feet broad. The galleries are frequently heavily timbered, to sustain the rock above. Owing to the low price of quicksilver in the markets of the world, the production is by no means so extensive here as it has been. I believe a large portion of the laborers were then out of employment. The ores are usually extracted by contract, the price paid being from $3 to $5 per cwrga of 300 pounds. The laborers are mostly Mexicans. 310 THE KEW WEST. The mercury is extracted from the ores by con- densation. The only preparation is breaking them by hand, in order to remove the unproductive rock. They are then thrown into brick fumaceS; capable of holding from 60,000 to 110,000 pounds. The chambers are heated from a furnace on the side, with wood fuel, and separated by a wall of brick pierced with openings. The product of combustion is forced through alternate chambers above and below, until all the mercury is condensed. The famaces are built on double arches of brickwork and plates of iron, to catch all falling particles of the metal. Formerly, much was lost in the earth. The metal begins to run in from four to six hours after the fires are lighted, and in about 60 hours it is discharged through the various condensing chambers into large kettles, where it is all ready for market. The total product of this mine, in 1865, was 47,078 flasks, or 3,604,465 potmds of quicksilver. The ex- port during the last six months was 12,716 flasks, worth $423,290, or a decrease of 5,711 flasks, and of value, $253,102 since 1866. Of these 12,716 flasks some 9,000 were exported to South America. The whole landed estate of the company is over twelve square miles, of which about one-third is mineral ground. There are over 400 buildings and workshops on the property. The New-Almaden mine is now, we believe, the largest quicksilver mine in the world. CHAPTER XXIV. THE AGRICULTUKAL KESODECES OF CALIFORNIA. Most people who come here from the eastern coast, and who think at all on the matter, are inclined to depreciate the resources of California. This is cer- tainly the tendency among scientific men. It is partly the result of the exaggerated claims made by Califomians, and the universal flattery which is em- ployed toward them and their State in public ad- dresses, so that thoughtful persons come to doubt that which is so loudly boasted of. Then the first aspect of the State, especially in summer, is not en- couraging ; the brown and burnt hiUs, and the dusty roads running through wide sections of her apparently barren plains, seem to promise anything but plentiful harvests, or agricultural wealth. Moreover, there are great obstacles apparent which seem certain to impede a rapid development in the State. One is the want of good coal, which is a necessity of life in industrial progress ; another, the liability of the country to ex- cessive drouths, which destroy both cattle and crops; and most of all, the vast distance of the interior from large markets. To these must be added the high price of labor, and the extravagant habits induced by gold-mining and its gambling successes, so that pro-, duction becomes very costly, and could hardly be ex- pected to compete with the closely-managed and eco- 312 THE NEW WEST. nomical production of the Eastern coast, or the pro- ductive agriculture of the central West. Moreover, capital has been scarce, and commanded immense prices, owing to expected profits in the mines, 'or the sale of city real estate, so that large production, demanding borrowed capital, in agriculture and manufactures, could hardly have been looked for. With aU these obstacles and natural impediments, however, CaUfomia has entered on a career of de- velopment which, in another decade, will astonish the Union. I fully believe there is no such creation of wealth going on anywhere else in the United States, and that nowhere else in the world is there so great a proportion of savings to each producer. And yet, thus far, there are no railroads to open thousands of fertile valleys, and only about half the population of New York city and its suburbs to work all this great territory. The expectations from the Pacific Railroad among the people are greatly ex- aggerated. It can never be a hne of through-freight, except in small and valuable parcels. For all her great products, California will be no nearer market than before. But there will undoubtedly be a great local market opened in the mining regions, and per- haps even as far- as Salt Lake, so that the western half of the continent will be fed and clothed and sup- plied with luxuries from the Pacific coast. But the great advantage to California from this important route will be the supply it will aflfbrd of cheap labor. A laborer may be landed in San Francisco from New York for $40 or $50, and wages will at once find ADVANTAGES TOR PRODUCTION 313 their level on the two coasts. Production, then, will be immensely cheapened throughout the State. The want of labor, thus far, has been marvelously supplied by an accidental immigration from the far East, of the Chinese. Without these useful workers, California would at this day be scarcely more than Nevada — a great mining-ground, whose wealth all flows away. Few manufactures would have been started, or large arms worked ; the rich would have emigrated, the export of wheat have never commenced, and the Pacific Road could not have been built over the Sierras. With Chinese labor and the immeasurable advantages of climate, the Californian farmer is able now to compete in the markets of the world with the farmers of Illinois and Indiana, and the peasants of the Black Sea, though his distance from market may be some 10,000 miles or more. It must be remembered that nature gives the culti- vator of the ground a great start here over his com- petitors in foreign countries. The farmer need sel- dom shelter his harvest ; he leaves the grain-stack in the open air, assured that until November it wiU escape any rain. He is saved the expense of large bams and the carrying the crop to and fro. He need be under no hurry in harvesting, for showers never come, and thus haste and waste are spared. His wheat, owing to the dry climate, is dry and glutinous, keep- ing sweet long, and makes the best flour in the world. <' Stock " being cheap, he can have heavy teams, and on the level fields do a great deal of machine-work, even using steam occasionally for threshing. His 14 314 THE NEW WEST. Chinese labor costs him no more than Irish labor does in the West, and though it may be less efficient, it is more regular and certain, while he himself, owing to the climate, can work a third or fourth more than his Eastern or Western competitor. The snow or rain interrupts him but little, and ague or disease seldom cripples him. Most of all, nature gives him a far greater product than it does the farmer of older States. He will often take fifty, sixty, even eighty bushels of wheat to the acre, and wiU sometimes reap forty bushels of " volun- teer crop " where he has not sown, and can even gather his forty bushels of " volimteer " barley for three years without sowing or cultivating. The average yield through the State, on bad land and good, is about twenty-four bushels, while that of the West is fifteen bushels. No cultivator in the world, moreover, can have so many dififerent products to turn to ; beside his wheat and barley, he can plant flax, hemp, Indian corn, and potatoes, raise every variety of vegetables, or have his orchards of peaches, apricots, plums, pears, cherries, apples, almonds, olives, and figs ; or he can raise English walnuts or peanuts, or plant vineyards which in five years are quite sure to bring him in from $300 to $500 an acre in wine, and even more in raisins. He has no hay to cut, for his cattle and horses can feed on the wild oats all the year round, or, if he must have some stored, he can cut it from land other- wise of no value ; or he can feed stock from wheat-straw. IKCBEASING CAPITAL. 315 There are, indeed, as I have mentioned before, ob- stacles to his getting this crop to market, in the want of elevators, and grain-bins, and railroads. These, however, will soon be overcome. Such have been the profits of agriculture and commerce, that capital is accumulating in San Francisco, and interest on long loans is down to ten per cent, per annum. This sur- plus capital will soon be directing itself to railroads and conveniences for transporting grain. The saving on sacks alone will make a difference of ten per cent, to the farmer on the cost of production, and the cheap- ening of freights by railways will make an incredible difference — in fact, will open rich valleys which now can send nothing to market. Then the transport by sea is always a great advantage, as compared with land transport. It is said that the freight on wheat now, from San Francisco to Liverpool, is no more than from Chicago to the same point. As this port becomes more known as a grain-exporting port, and buys more directly from the foreign markets, freights will be cheaper. England is evidently to be the great market for California wheat. It can hardly compete with Western wheat on the New- York market, except in years of short harvest. Seventeen years ago, Mr. Webstee, in a famous oration, ventured to predict that California not only did not then, but never could, produce one-fourth or even one-tenth of the agricultural products of Illinois. In uttering this prediction, he merely expressed the opinions of most intelligent men who had resided here. 316 THE NEW WEST. But California already, with (I suppose) one-third of the population, produces some 12,000,000 to 15,000- 000 bushels of wheat annually, which is nearly half the yield of Illinois ; while in barley she produces four times as much, and in fruit she probably now equals her. Moreover, California's produce of wheat this year is some 25 bushels to each inhabitant, while that of the Western States (if the ratio of 1860 be preserved) is only 10 bushels, and that of Illinois about 14 bushels ; and of the Middle States only 3§ bushels. During the six months of 1867, ending June 30, California exported in flour, 317,924 barrels, valued at $1,958,619, being an increase of 161,058 barrels, and of $962,479 in value over the same period last year. Of this amount the largest quantity was sent to New York— 190,486 barrels, value, $1,222,219, against 22 barrels last year! China took 55,247 barrels, worth $31,2,896 ; Great Britain, 34,282 barrels, worth $193,589; Brazil, 14,508 barrels, worth $84,280 ; Central America, 6,504 barrels; and the East Indies 5,500 barrels. Australia, which took a large amount the year before, took none this year, while Brazil and the East Indies are new customers. In wheat, the export is 2,012,713 sacks, worth $3,940,103, which is an increase of 1,36.6,647 sacks, arid in value of $2,567,552 Great Britain is the great customer, taking 1,456,584 sacks, against 38,383 last year, and our coast 447,538 sacks, against 86,764 in 1866 ; while Australia takes 3,534 sacks, against 409,978 last year, and China receives less by EXPORTS. 317 54,537. There is a new customer in Spain to the amount of 8,474 sacks. The export of barley for six months in 1866 was 208,526 sacks of 100 pounds; in the last six months, there has been a temporary falling off, the export being 63,484 sacks, valued at $60,426. Of oats, 4,310 sacks were exported; of hides, 39,545, valued at $6,782, during the last six months ; of tallow, 825 packages; of quicksilver, 12,710 flasks, valued at $423,028, of which the largest sale was in Australia, and the next ia Peru. In this last there is a reduc- tion of 5,720 flasks, and of $252,974 ia value, com- pared with six months in 1866. Of copper, the export for this period is 3,554 tons, valued at $222,148, which is a falling off in value since 1866 of $451,640. In wines the export is 2,239 packages, valued at $63,- 389, which is a decrease of value since 1866 of $30,- 398. In wool, the export is 2,123,172 pounds, val- ued at $393,201 — an increase in pounds of 25,289; in lumber, 71,975,000 feet were exported. A financial writer makes the following estimate of the value of a few of this year's main produc- tions: Wheat, 7,000,000 sacks $15,000,000 Barley, 9,000,000 sacks 5,600,000 Oats, 1,500,000 sacks 2,200,000 Wool, 8,000,000 lbs 2,000,000 Other products 4,000,000 Total agricultural $28,800 000 Wine, it is supposed, will reach 3,500,000 gallons this year. 318 THE NEW WEST. It is believed that 150,000 acres of new land will be put in wheat during 1868, and that the crops will reach 20,000,000 bushels. The interesting fact about the figures given above is the unexpected opening of some new market as an old one fails. If Australia has a good harvest and ceases to demand so much as she has done, our eastern coast suddenly calls for flour ; if China fails, Great Britain takes her place ; and even remote Spain comes as a customer to the Pacific coast. It must be remembered, there is no exact limit in Europe or in the East to the consumption of wheat. The line of white-bread eat- ing may continually descend in Great Britain, and Prance, and Germany, as the production of wheat is cheapened or as the consumption of foreign products by our own people enables foreigners to buy of us. Our high protective tariff will undoubtedly tend to diminish the export of cereals to foreign countries. ' In Japan and China the consumption of our wheat or flour depends mainly on the quantity of the rice crop. If this be small and the. price high, the people turn to American wheat. It is hoped that the return- emigration of Chinese laborers may make the taste for our flour more popular, and to become one of the wants of the Oriental population. In ten years, we believe, California wiU be the leading wheat-growing State in the American Union. She will produce this year from fifteen to twenty mil- lions of bushels, with a farming population of prob- ably not more than two hundred thousand. There are numbers of rich valleys that are not even scratched SILK-GROWING. 319 with the plow as yet. Thousands of acres of the best wheat land in America have yet to be developed, es- pecially in the south. It is estimated that the arable land in the State is 50,000,000 acres ; there are under cultivation only about 7,000,000 acres. It needs only an immigration of laborers aijd small farmers to cause such a harvest to wave on these brown hills, as is no- where else seen on this continent. SILK-GEOWING. Among the undeveloped sources of wealth in Cali- fornia, must be enumerated silk-growing — a branch still in its infancy, but fnll of promise for the future. Wheat, wine, wool, and silk, we believe, are to be the important products of this State^ outside of the mine- ral .production. Public attention all over the world has been much called to the advantages of California in raising silk-worms, from the dreadful disease raging throughout the silk-growing coxmtries among the silk- worms, owing to bad feeding, over-crowding, a too damp atmosphere, and variable temperature. Even Japan sends out now infected eggs. All those experienced in the science of silk-worm raising agree that the cUmate of California is un- equaled in the world in adaptation to this branch. Ex- periments have been making now for a number of years in this matter, under the guidance of an en- thusiastic, public-spirited horticulturist, a Frenchman, M. Peevost, of San Jos6, who deserves something better of the State than medals. I visited his co- coonery in San Jos6. His experience is that the 330 THE NEW "WEST. great advantage of the climate here more than makes up for the higher price of labor, and he believes that the production can be carried on nearly as cheaply as in France or Italy. Thus, in Europe, dampness, rain, electricity and sudden change of temperature, kill from twenty-five per cent, to seventy-five per cent, of the worms. Here the dry and rainless atmosphere and equable temperature are such that few ever perish. Then the quality of the worm and the silk depends on its food. But nowhere do the mulberry- trees produce such rich vegetation as in this wonder- ful climate, and the silk-worms thrive accordingly. M. Peevost, too, has discovered that here branches are a better food than leaves (the European custom being to give the latter), and by providing this there is a considerable saving of labor. He finds, also, that there is no necessity of artificial heat to hatch the eggs ; he has only to transfer them from his cellar to his garret, and the warm sun on the roof does the work. Nor is any artificial process needed to stifle the chrysalis before the sUk is reeled off ; he has only to expose the cocoon to the powerful rays of the sun for a few hours and the cocoon is ready for sale or for the spinner. The lustre of the silk, which is often so much injured by the baking of the cocoons in Europe, is thus preserved in aU its brilliancy. M. Prevost states that the worm remains in a chrysalis state in CaUfomia from twelve to fourteen days, in France, twenty-one, and in India, eleven days. A considerable portion of the foreign silk-grower's time is spent in preventing diseases among the worms. SILK- WORMS. 321 and much has been written on the subject, but here diseases are almost unknown. It seems not improba- ble that under the wonderfully favorable atmosphere of this coast, a new and improved variety of cocoon will be gradually produced. The California eggs are already highly valued by foreign silk-growers. M. Peevost produces several millions of eggs each sea- son (one ounce of eggs containing some 40,000), and they are all sold and engaged for years to come at the rate of $5 per ounce. He could sell them by the hundreds of pounds if he could spare them. He has received one order from Mexico, and one for one hundred pounds from Italy. He raised, himself, in one year 100,000 worms and as many cocoons — a work in France for eight persons. His great effort has been, however, to scatter eggs and cocoons through the State, where he has given away great numbers of them. Numerous individuals — ^it is said as many as one thousand — ^throughout California, are now at work on the experiment of raising sUk-worms. All are successful, the largest cocooneries being at Santa Barbara. M. Peevost has tried the Chinese variety of cocoon (the yellow), the Japanese (the white), and one imported from France. The latter seems to be the best. There was nothing in the plan of the cocoonery of M. Peevost of special value, the great point seeming to be to keep the eggs cool and dry till they are put in a warm place to hatch, and then to give the worms plenty of pure air, good food, and to leave them undisturbed in their different stages of growth. The details are the same as in the like 14* 323 THE NEW WEST, branches in Europe, Great care has to be taken against insects and mice. Each female is expected to lay about 300 eggs, though here she often produces 450. An ounce of eggs can produce 165 pounds of cocoons. It is estimated that an acre of trees will produce anywhere from 40 to 500 pounds of sUk, at a cost not exceeding $2.25 a pound. One hundred pounds of leaves are calculated to produce one pound of reeled silk. An acre of trees ought in four years to yield from 50,000 to 60,000 poimds of leaves, which would be 500 pounds of silk, worth some $3,500 — a good profit if it ever be realized. These calculations must call up in the minds of my readers the estimates of the mines of wealth, which so many thousands of our citizens once thought laid up in the mulberry-trees. But it is to be borne in mind we planted the trees and raised the worms in a very dif- ferent climate from this. SUk-culture coidd never be an important interest on our coast ; but this region has all the conditions for it except one, and that is, cheap labor. This last may be afforded by Chinese, or by women and children working in their own farm- houses, as M. Prevost's plan is to induce each house- holder to have his own cocoonery, and perhaps reel his own silk. The Califomians seem taking hold of the matter with characteristic energy and inventive- ness. Nowhere do mulberry-trees grow as quickly and vigorously — the variety preferred being the Morvis Moretti, which originated in Pavia. The silk pro- duced on its leaves has a superior gloss and finer SILK- MAKING. 323 quality than common silk. Some 4,000,000 trees are said already to have been planted in the State. What is needed now, it seems to me, is some public and pecuniary encouragement by the State to such a man as M. Peevost (who has sacrificed considerable means in these public-spirited efforts), to enable him thoroughly to demonstrate the possibility and success of silk-growing on this coast. It is possible the effort may succeed without public help, but the first -pro- moter of an interest of such vast importance deserves honorable recognition. We are glad to see that the Legislature of 1868 has appropriated a premium of $250 for cultivating 5,000 mulberry trees for silk cxil- ture, and $300 for every 100,000 silk-cocoons pro- duced in good merchantable condition. It is believed that 2,000,000 cocoons were bred in the State in 1868; about 200,000 were sold, and about 1,000 ounces of eggs, at $4 per ounce. A silk factory is already being erected at San Jose, with machinery for reeling, cleaning, drilling, and twisting, and with thir- ty-five hand-looms for weaving broad silks, which are fitted with double sets of harness ; the company design especially to manufacture a rich black taffetas, or arm- azine, of a quality that cannot be imported, and, when ordered, to make the same in colors. It is expected that the Californian ladies will be able shortly to sport such silks as are known now only by tradition, and whose only defect will be that they never wear out ; most foreign silks, as is well known, being so adulter- ated in dyeing, or made so light, or mingled so with cotton, as to be little serviceable. To those who smile 324 THE NEW WEST. at such promises as only California boastings, the people may well appeal to what they have done in woolens ; for, certainly, no imported or native blanket can approach in quality, in fineness, and softness, and thickness, the "mission blanket " of San Francisco. San Jos^ may yet become the Lyons of the Pacific , coast, and a new stream of wealth flow into the country from its silk manufacture. We already hear of silk- worm-growers from France and Italy establishing themselves in California in order to obtain the remarkable variety of cocoons and eggs produced here. The producing of eggs is even more profitable than raising worms for silk, as after selling the eggs, the cocoons can be retained for silk- velvet, &c. The following are M. Peevost's instructions to silk-growers : " Select TOUR Cocoons PROM THE Eggs. — ^For seed, the very best cocoons should he selected ; that Is, those which are of the largest size and feel firm and are of a bright color ; and so far as possible, an equal number of males and females ; the male cocoons are slender, depressed in the middle, and pointed at both ends ; the female cocoons are of a larger size and of a rounder form, and resemble in shape a hen's egg. " If we keep selecting carefully our very best cocoons for seed, it is my opinion, and also that of other competent silk-growers, that under our fine climate, so very favorable to silk culture, within a few years, we will obtain a California variety, that will surpass in size and quality all the varieties known and cultivated now. " After having stripped the floss, they may be strung together by threads, being careful not to pierce the cocoon, and hung up to the wainscot in festoons ; or placed in a single layer in open paper boxes, on shelves or tables, in a darkened, retired, warm and airy place ; and from twelve to fifteen days from the time they complete spinning, according to the warmth of the season, the moth emerges from the cocoon, in the shape of a large butterfly, of a grayish-white color, BILK -GROWING. 325 with four wings, two eyes, and two feathery plumes or horns. The male usually appears first, and is known by his smaller size and a continual flutter of his wings. The female is of a larger size, of a whiter color, and seldom moves. These are to be paired, and then removed by their wings to sheets of paper spread on tables or boards, where they are to be left in darkness, as when complete, the silkworm is a night insect. " They generally come out of the cocoons in the morning, between seven and nine o'clock, when you have to be there and see that they are all paired ; otherwise, your eggs would not be good for anything.- Those that are paired you take by the wings, being careful not to hurt or separate them ; you put them on the papers, and those that are not paired, you take them, males and females, and put them together on a separate sheet of paper, and they will soon get paired there ; and when they are, you take them and put them with the others. "Sometimes, among the paired ones, a male or more gets loose, and as soon as you see this you must take them off, becanse they would disturb the others, and cause many of them to get loose also ; and it is important that they should not be disturbed. . Tou put these loose ones, male and female, back with the unpaired ones, so that they may all get paired again. " After they are all paired you leave them in their dark place till about four or five o'clock in the afternoon, when you have to separate them. For that pui-pose, take the wings of the male in one hand, and the wings of the female with the other ; draw them apart gently, so as not to hurt them ; place the males in a box, and the females on the table or cloth on which you wish to have them lay their eggs. " Most of the females begin to lay as soon as separated from the males ; but be careful to leave no males among the females that are placed to lay their eggs, and if by mistake you have thrown a female among the males, carefully place it with the others. ' ' After that operation is done, and the females commence laying, you have nothing more to do with thein ; cover the box which contains the males, and keep it so until the next morning; it is what is called the reserve. The next morning proceed the same way as I have said above; but it happens sometimes that you have more females than males, in which case, after you have all your males of the morning employed, you take the quantity you need from your reserve, as you must remember that every female must be provided for for producing good eggs. 326 THE NEW WEST. " After you have been using the males you want from your reserve, throw all the balance out, and the birds will soon eat them. Do the same thing every day, till all the moths have emerged from the cocoons. " One hundred pairs of cocoons, which weigh a pound, will produce an ounce of eggs ; and an ounce of eggs is considered to produce forty thousand silk-worms. " After your females have done laying their eggs they will all die, and then you can roll together carefully the papers on which your eggs are, and place them in tin boxes. Two sides or more of these •boxes should be of perforated tin. These boxes, to he preserved, should be placed in a cool room or dry cellar, where they will not he liable to freeze ; but freezing, though it may injure by retarding the period of their hatching, yet does not destroy them. " It is preferable, thirty or forty hours after the females have been laying, to take them out from their eggs, because after that time they lay but a few eggs, and those last eggs are not considered as good as the first laid. " As we will now raise eggs for exportation, we must adopt a uniform plan for our eggs in California, as they have in other countries where they are raising eggs to export, and for that purpose I have been examining several paste-boards (cartoons), and have found one of a good size, and of a good and light quality ; they are little over nine inches and a half wide by one foot and one inch long ; they only cost one cent a-piece ; I think they are the best thing we can adopt. Those that have them not in their localities can have them by sending to me their orders with the money for the quantity they desire to receive. " This year, particularly, the weather has been uncommonly bad for the worms, on account of the constant cold weather, fogs, and rain, we had so late in the spring. I desire to repeat here to our silk- growers, and wish to impress it on their minds, that they must not feed their worms with wet leaves. The food must be gathered — as much as possible — when the sun shines upon the trees ; wait until the dew is off. Gather late in the afternoon your food for the night and for the first feeding of the morning ; give as much as needed of the leaves right fresh from the trees. Do not let them get faded, as they are in that state too hard for the worm to eat." Mr. W. M. Hatne niakes the following recom- mendations to the State Agriciiltural Society: SILK-WOEMS. 327 " The quantity of feed that a given number will require, say for fifty thousand worms, the first week, will average about fifteen pounds per day ; second age, about siity pounds per day ; third age, about one hundred and forty pounds per day ; fourth age, about three hundred pounds per day. Now, allowing seven days to each age, we have, in round numbers, seven thousand eight hundred and five pounds, of mulberry -leaves to make fifty thousand cocoons. Twenty times this amount will be one hundred and fifty-six thousand one hundred pounds, which will make one million cocoons. ' ' The Japanese sil^- worms, being of a much smaller variety, and consequently not making so large cocoons, will not consume more than two-thirds this amount of feed. It will be seen that I have allowed thirty -five days for the worms to commence spinning. This is about the usual time when not fed at night during the last two ages of their existence ; but if properly treated and fed day and night during the last two ages of their lives, they will commence spinning in twenty-eight to thirty-two days from the hatching. The worms, when about to molt, will seek obscurity from the light, when they will'firmly attach themselves to the fibres of the leaves, remaining perfectly motionless, in a death-like torpid state, for twelve or eighteen hours, when they will commence to move their bodies forward, and if not disturbed, will, in the course of twelve or eighteen hours more, extricate themselves from their old skin or coating, and leave it as firmly attached -to the first as when fastened there by them at the commencement of the process. " It will be observed, according to my experience and calculations, that seventy-eight tons of mulberry-leaves will make one million of cocoons, and that three acres of mulberries will yield ninety tons of feed. Three acres, then, will give us ample food for one million of the large Chinese cocoons. Those cocoons will weigh about one thousand four hundred pounds after being well dried and the chrysalis losing all of its animal matter and becoming a light shell within the cocoons, in which state we shall not lose over seventy per cent, in winding, which will give ua four hundred and twenty pounds of raw silk. This, at ssven dollars per pound, will give us two thousand nine hundred and forty dollars for two and one half acres of mul- berries. Now for the expense : COST. Amount. Six men for the first age |42 00 Eight men for the second age 56 00 Twelve men for the third age 84 00 338 THE NEW WEST, COST — (Continued). Amount. Twenty men for the fourth age $140 00 Thirty men for the fifth age. .' 210 00 Winding, at one dollar per pound 430 00 lotal expense in full, when put in hanks of raw silk ^952 00 ■• This leaves ahout two thousand dollars for two and a half acres, or eight hundred dollars net per acre. The capital to he invested to secure these results will be two and one-half acres of mulberries, say five hundred dollars per acre ; a cocoonery and reels, ahout eight thousand dollars, making ten thousand five hundred dollars. But it must ie remembered that by increasing your plantation to eight acres you can make three millions of cocoons in one season without any ad- ditional cost of building, by the following process : See that you have sufficient eggs for hatching this number. Place them in a tin box with perforated sides and ends ; keep the box in a dry, cool place through the winter ; at the latter part of the winter put them in an ice-house where they will be kept at a temperature of about forty degrees. On the first of May take one million, which will be in weight twenty-five ounces, and hatch them. By the first of June these will be so far out of the way that you may hatch another twenty-five ounces, and so for July ; and if you have eggs, you may hatch the fourth batch for August, which will give the nice sum of eight thousand dollars net profit on four millions of cocoons. " After we have chosen a sufficient number of cocoons to furnish eggs for the next year's feeding, they are placsd thinly upon a shelf, and in eight to ten days from the time th-y have finished spinning they are transformed into a chrysalis, which immediately emits from its mouth an oily substance against one end of the cocoon, and, simultaneously, with its head commences a shoving and pushing motion, when in a few houi-s it will emerge again into the world. They are then taken, male and female, and all put into a box, and as fast as they pair they are taken out and placed upon a table. In this position they are allowed to remain about six hours. They are then separated and the males put into a box. The females are placed on sheets of white paper, and in three or four hours she will lay her eggs to the number of three or four hundred. This process is gone through ivith every day until the millers have laid all their eggs — this will finish the existence of the silk-worm for the year. ' PROFITS OF SILK- RAISING. 329 I append a letter on this important subject : Santa Baebaea— State op Califoenia, July 15, 1868. Dkar Sir, — In the month of April I hatched out three ounces of eggs of silk-worms — (French and Japan eggs.) In the middle of June I had one hundred thousand cocoons. 100,000 cocoons— 40 lbs of pure silk |400 00 ( Premium of the State of California on 100,000 cocoons 300 00 Total $700 00 EXPENSES. Wages to six girls, 15 years old, about ' . . . . $50 00 Wages to the Superintendent 50 00 Winding off of the cocoons 100 00— $200 00 '" Balance $500 00 The price of silk worm eggs is nominal in California. I never sold any. I would consider $5.00 per ounce as the best business to go in. This year (1868) I, in company with A Packard, hatched out six ounces of silk worm eggs ; they are doing well, and very soon, if you wish, I will give you the result of 1868 operations. Now, sir, you must notice that few places in California can give labor-wages as low as Santa Barbara. Our town is inhabited by about one hundred families of Califomians (Mexicans^; each family has &om five to twenty children ; said children will not be servants, principally the girls, but they will attend to silkworms with pleasure (light work and not permament), and that for low wages. We have (Mr. A. Packard and myself) ten acres of land planted with 2,000 mulberry trees, six years old. Next year we will be able to feed the worms on nine ounces of eggs, and perhaps make two crops in a year. I don't see any diflSculty. California can produce all the silk they want, but they must plant trees before they speculate on silk-worm eggs, and before putting up machinery for the weaving of silk. I shall be glad to give you all the information on the silk business, and will always remain within the limits of truth. Exaggerations have been killing many good enterprises in California. Yours very truly, T. E. GOUX. 330 THE NEW WEST. CHAPTER XXV. THE CLIMATE OF THE PACIFIC COAST CALIFOHNIA AND OEEGON. The causes of the peciiliar climate of our western coast are still not altogether clear. Some important ^ facts, however, are known, which aid in explaining it, and no doubt if the careful investigations of the Gov- ernment geographical survey in the Sierras, und the observations of Government officers on the sea-board and at the various mUitary stations, both in regard to meteorology and marine currents and temperature be continued, we shall have, in a few years, the basis of a ''Science of CHmate " for the Pacific coast. The data of the science least known and determined are the marine currents of the Pacific Ocean, which must have so vast an influence in determining the ch- mate of its coasts, and the hygrometical condition of the atmosphere (or the exact amount of moisture con- tained in it) on this border of the continent. Every traveler and observer will agree that there is a myste- rious something in the cHmate of Western California, for instance, which is singularly bracing and invigorat- ing, which cannot exactly be explained by its equabil- ity, its temperature, or its dryness. Whether it arises from that unknown element called ozone, which the air is said especially to acquire in blowing over wide tracts of ocean, or whether it comes from that fortunate NORTHERN COAST CLIMATE. 331 mixture of oceanic aad continental climates which char- acterizes this coast, or from some xrtterly undiscovered cause, future investigations must decide. In this brief account of the climates of the Pacific coast, we will confine ourselves to the facts which are known, but are not often put together, and to inferences which can be safely drawn from them. The general impression of intelligent people in the Eastern States of the coast of the Northern Pacific, is that it is a most disagreeable, cold, gloomy, half-barren region, with little capacities for production or future development. Nothing can be further from the truth. The coasts of our northern possessions on the Pacific, and of British America, and an immense tract lying eastward and stretching far to the north, are as. capa- ble of producing the grains and fruits of a temperate climate, and of supporting a large population, as any part of Northern Europe. The isothermal lines are the best measures of the capacity of a country in sup- porting life. Beginning as far to the nbrth as Alaska, we find the mean annual temperature (32°) here the same as that of the north coast of Lake Superior, of most of Norway^ and of latitude 50° in Asia. Coming down to Sitka, from which the ice (con- sumed in California) is brought, we find the summer of Norway (55° mean), and crossing the mountains to the interior plain we discover precisely in its latitude a district so warm and sunny as to possess the summer of France (65° mean). An immense region in this part of the continent, reaching as far north as 60° 65' 332 THE NEW "WEST. north latitude or beyond tlie latitude, of Alaska, is adapted, with the exception of the mountains, to wheat and bread grains. Going stiU northward of this, even above the lati- tude of Alaska, and north of the southernmost point of Greenland, we find a region near the McKenzie River so mild in climate as to possess the summer of Ire- land (60'' mean.) This delicious summer tempera- ture extends from this point southward till it strikes the coast below Puget's Sound, and continues on to near Los Angeles, or at the latitude of Africa, for 1,500 miles of north and south distance. This won- derftd range of a cool and mild summer (57° to 60°), for such an immense distance over a whole coast, is a fact unknown elsewhere in the world. It is as if the summer of Ireland extended from Bergen, in Nor- way, to the Straits of Gibraltar, or from Hudson's Bay to Mexico. It should be remembered that this tem- perature is far inland on the north, in British Ameri- ca, and is in the neighborhood of the coast in Wash- ington Territory, Oregon,' and California. It thus appears that on the Pacific 6oast the iso- thermals are north and south instead of east and west. StiU it must be remembered that down the whole coast, between the coast ranges and the high mountains of the interior, are parallel belts of climate which are considerably diflFerent from one another. If we descend a little south in British America, in about the latitude of Hudson's Bay and Scotland, we find the summer of France (65° mean). This belt of suimy climate, though interrupted by the Rocky Moun- CLIMATE. 333 tains, we may follow down inside of the coast ranges, and eastward of San Francisco, tiU we reach Los An- geles ; or, as if from Scotland to Africa, one belt of delicious summer extended through Europe. Again, beginning in the latitude of Puget's Sound, in the eastward of the mountains, in British America, we find the summer of southern France and northern Italy (70° mean). This is interrupted by the moun- tains, and begins again in the latitude of Astoria, ex- tending down through Oregon and Central California, near the Sierras, to the south of Los Angeles, or the latitude of northern Africa — the region, in its central portions, of the vine, the fig and the oHve. On the other hand, Puget's Sound has on its north- em coast the climate of Ireland and England through the year, or a mean annual temperature of 50°. Its rain-fall, however, is greater, being fifty-five inches annually, against forty-five to fifty inches in those countries. Central California, up to the 40th parallel, has the yearly temperature (60° mean) of Spain, Central Italy, Asia Minor and Northern Syria, while San Francisco is a little cooler, having a mean anniial temperature of 55°. Southern CaHfomia, beginning near the 30th paral- lel, and including the region above the Gulf up to a point in the interior, east of Los Angeles, has the mean annual temperature of North Africa and Cairo (70°). If we consider the summer climates of the south, we find the summer of Algeria (80° mean) prevailing through the Cahfomian Peninsula, and extending up 334 THE NEW WEST. the deserts eastward of the Sierras xintil it reaches a poiiit in the Great Basin of Nevada, as far north as the latitude of San Francisco. Again, in the central part of California, in the VaUey of the St. Joaqtiin, we discover a small district with the summer of the Grreat Desert of Sahara (85°), and a monthly mean at 3 P. M. of 108° ; and we meet with this formidable temperature stiU further south in the Arizona Desert. One spot near the Colorado and the GUa enjoys the summer of the hottest parts of Africa (90° mean), and reaches at times a temperature hardly surpassed in the world, the thermometer sometimes indicating 116° in the shade, and keeping a mean of over 100° for a month. Again, if we look at the winter temperatiu-e, we find that the winter of Ireland, England, Western France, and Northern Italy and Asia Minor (40° mean) begins at Vancouver's and passes down through Oregon westward of the Cascade Mountains, and fol- lows the line of the Sierras to a little north of San Francisco, while the winter of Charleston (50° mean) begins in this city, and passes down inside of the coast range to the lower Colorado. Before examining farther the particular character- istics of the Pacific climates, or seeking for their causes, it may be well to observe the general correspon- dence between the Pacific countries and those of the Eastern continents. This coast has no analogy with our Atlantic, but only with the European coasts, and with them many points of difference. On the north, Sitka and the upper portion of the British American ANALOGIES' OF CLIMATE. 335 sea-board correspond with Norway ; Puget's Sound, Vancouyer's Island, Washington, and Oregon with Ire- land and England ; Central California with Spain and Syria; and the Peninsula with North Africa. There seems no region corresponding with France. The in- land regions on the north, in British America, seem in climate and productions to bear an analogy to North Germany and Sweden. Evidently, if we may trust to the observations of temperature and the accounts of intelligent travelers, there is a vast, unknown, but fertile region, reaching up the coast, and extending on the east side of the continuance of the Rocky * Moun- tains as far north as the 60th parallel, capable in the future of supporting millions of inhabitants, and of pro- ducing all the grasses and bread-grains and trees of the temperate zone. The most wonderful feature of the Califomian coast climate, is its equability. The winters' range of tem- perature, during four years of observation, was only 4°. The range in San Francisco, between January and July, was only 8° 3', while in Washington, for the same period, it was five times as great, or 44° 2', The temperature of San Diego ranges less than half a degree on the average for each month of the year. I will quote here some tables of the range of tem- perature, at different seasons, on the Pacific and At- lantic coasts in Europe, as well as of the mean winter temperature ; they are taken from Blodgett's excel- lent work on the " Climatology of the United States,'' from which the facts stated above are mainly taken. * Prof. Whitney proposes the name Cordilleras for this chain. 336 THE NEW WEST. SPRING. Advance of Temperature. April to Ml March Stations . Mean Boston 36.2 New York 38.3 San Francisco 52.8 Fort Miller, Cal 56.7 London 42.5 Mai'cli to April. 10.2 10.4 2.5 6.3 4.4 ay. 10.1 10.7 0.0 6.0 6.6 May to Jnne. 9.7 9.0 3.5 4.9 7.0 AUTUMN. Decline of Temperatwre. Angnst. Station. Mean. Ang. to Sept. to Sept. Oct. West Point 71.8 7.5 11.3 San Francisco. . .57.2 1.0 0.3 Fort Miller 83.0 7.0 8.5 Fort Vancouver. 65.0 4.7 7.5 WINTER TEMPERATURE Stations Mean Stations. Oct. to Not. Not. to Deo. 10.8 19.3 8.6 3.1 12.0 7.4 6.8 10.0 Mean. San Diego 52.3 Lisbon 52.5 Aspinwall 43.4 Penzance 44.2 Sitka 26.5 Bergen 36.3 San Francisco 50.0 It will be seen from this that San Francisco only changes 2° 4' from March to April, while the range in New York and Boston is five times as much, and from April to May ten times as much as in the corresponding months on the western coast. In autumn the temperature rises in San Francisco in September, as compared with August, and only falls 3' of one degree in October, while it falls 11° at West Point. Again, from October to November, and November to December, it falls but 3° in each, while here the decrease is 10". VARIETIES OF CLIMATE. 337 In winter the mean temperature of San Diego and Lisbon are the same, of Sitka and Bergen (Norway), and nearly of Astoria and Penzance (Cornwall). A very remarkable feature is also the variety of climates within a breadth of 150 miles in California. Thus, one may be enjoying a cool, pleasant June, say with a mean of 57*^, in Monterey ; he may travel east 150 miles, and pass through five successive belts of climate, representing, in turns, the summers of Ireland, France, northern Italy, Spain, and Algeria, until at Fort Miller he finds a mean temperature of 108°, or the heats of interior Africa. Again, he has but the journey of a few miles to the snows and frosts of the Sierras. Within two hundred miles, he may thus try almost every belt of the world's climate. In comparing the temperature of Pacific stations with European, we find that San Francisco has the yearly temperature of Bordeaux and of Constantinople, but with far more equability of climate. Its spring (57° and 54°) is milder than that of any city with which it can be compared, except - Lisbon or Cadiz; its summer (69° and 57°) is less warm, and its winter far more genial than, for instance, that of Bordeaux, Madrid, Cadiz, Lisbon, or Constantinople. Monterey, again, has the yearly temperature of Toulouse, San Diego or Cadiz. Los Angeles, which has a spring equal in warmth (74°) to the summer of Madrid, has a summer (67°) cooler than any cor- responding European station, with an autumn (56°) as moderate as that of southern France. Taking the year through, the climate of California 15 338 THE NEW WEST. is a dry one, the summer, from the middle of May till November, being almost entirely without rain, and the winter being mainly only a showery season. The annual rain-fall is only about 22 inches,* which is nearlyr the same with that of Syria, and about equal with Paris and Marseilles, while our coast reaches 42. The driest seasons prevail at Fort Yuma (where the rain-fall is only 3.15 inches) and on the southern coast. Thus, on the Ranche del Chino, near Los Angeles, the fall is 9.7 inches ; at San Diego, 10.43 ;■ * Eaik-fall in Califoenia.— The Stockton Gazette has been collecting the statistics of the raln.fall in the State for 1868, vhich will be found below : MAKE IBLAHB. Inches. Kainnp toJanuary 1 14.34 Bain during January 9.50 Kain during February 3. "8 Eain during March 5.27 Bain during April, to 8 Q^8 Total 32.47 The greatest fall of rain we had was from 7 A. M., March 2, to 7 A. M., March 3 ; during that time, 24 hours, it rained 63 inches. We obtained, through the courtesy of Dr. Shurtleff, the report of the rain-fall during the present season, up to date, as follows : 1867. Sept. Oct Nov. 5. ' 6.. " 19.. " 22.. " 26.. Dec. 2.. " 5.. ■' 7.. 10. 18. Inches. 63 62 73 46 62 06 29 13 .20 .53 .14 1367. Dec. 18.. 20. 21. 22. 23-, 24. 26. 26. 30-, 31. Total., Inches. i.l3 37 13 125 13 42 48 53 27 21 RAIN-FALL. 339 at San Luis Rey, 12.20. It increases steadily up the coast, being about 23 at San Francisco,* 47.38 at Fort Vancouver, Oregon, or about the same as at Cin- 1868. Jan. Feb. 4. 12.. 14. 18. 20. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 20. 20. 24. Inches . 75 07 18 102 23 14 40 40 28 32 20 . 20 . .32 . .41 , .37 . .16 Feb. 26.. " 27. Inches. 38 Mar. April 29. 1. 2. 4.. 12.. 14.. 15.. 23.. 9., 10.. 11. 12. . .43 . .16 . .54 . .08 . .75 . .09 . 84 . .53 .14 40 .33 Total 817 * FALL OP KAIN IN S4N FBANCISCO . In the season of l849-'0 the rain-fall was 33.10 1850-51 7.18 1851-52 - 19-25 1852-53 33.20 1853-54 23.87 1854-55 2368 1855-56 21-66 1856-57 19 88 1837-58 21 81 1858-59 22.22 1859-60 22 27 1860-61 19 ■?2 1861-62 «-27 1862-63 1'^ 1863-64. 1864-65. 1865-66 1866-67. 10 08 24 73 33.84 1867-68 to March 26th 36.27 It will be seen by the table above, that the wet winter of 1849-50-33 10-lOOtlis inches-was foUowed by the dronght of 1850-1 when only 7 18-100th8 inches of rain feU between July 1 and Jnne 30. Again, the extremely heavy fall of rain iu the years 1861-2 was followed by the drought of 1862-3, when only 340 THE NEW WEST. cinnati; 86.35 at Astoria, and 89.94 at Sitka — the latter even surpassing Bergen, in Norway (80 inches). The spring rains only average two inches in San Diego, ten in San Francisco, and fifteen at Astoria. All the famous vine countries of Europe have more rain through the year than Central California. Thus Bordeaux has 34 inches ; the Rhine, 36.17; Madeira, 30.87; Manheim, 27. The stranger from the eastern coast is particularly struck with the dryness and purity of the California atmosphere. Animals which are left about dead, and garbsige, do not infect the air as at home. Decaying substance seems to dry up. To this is due in part the remarkable salubrity of San Francisco. And yet much moisture must be borne in on the prevailing westerly sea winds, as is shown by the heavy fog which they cause in this city and its neighborhood. So dry and healthy are the nights, anywhere away from the coast; that one can sleen out in " the open " with fhe greatest comfort, and numbers of the laboring men in the rural districts still keep up their camping habits by rolling themselves in their blankets, and '^ turning in " on a hay-stack or under a tree. 13 62-lOOths inches fell, and the still greater drought of 1863-4— 108 -lOOths inches. There has been no dronght except when there had been excesBive rains in former years, tut there was one yeat— 1852-3 — when the rain-fall was 33 20-lOOths inches, and it was followed by the arerage weather. The last two seasons have both been excessively wet ; in 1866-7 74-lOOthB of an inch more rain foU than in the wet season of 1849-50, which was followed by the driest single year since American occupation. The greatest amount of excess over the average rain-faJl in any one year was in 1861-2, when the excess was over 27 inches, and two years of destructive dronght passed over before we saw an average season again. The excess of the two lost seasons added together is over 24 inches, and we must expect a very light roin-faU next season — Evening BuUetin. CAUSES OF CLIMATE. 341 In investigating the causes of the peculiar climates on the Pacific coast, as I have said before, the diffi- culty is in the want of thorough observations of the facts. The great controlling cause is, without doubt, the ocean-current, or currents that set in on that coast; but how little is known of these. We only know. this, that in summer a great body of cool water pours in, probably from the Arctic regions, on the whole coast of California, Oregon, and British America, and that this current is probably somewhat turned off from the northern portion of British America by the peninsula of Alaska and ihe adjacent islands. The result is that this part of the coast is often warmer than the more southern portion in summer. This great body of cool water is coldest near the coast, so that on the fortieth parallel its temperature is increased from 46 - 5 ', near the land, steadily through five degrees of longitude westward to 68", and on the thirtieth from 62° to 66° during three degrees.* Its average temperature near land is 57°, or the same with the coast climate. In winter the water near the coast is two or three degrees higher than in summer, and as much higher than the temperature of the land. As the sun's rays in the summer months become more vertical, the inner plains and deserts of Califor- nia and Nevada become heated, and the air rarefied. The great body of cool atmosphere on the neighboring ocean at once begins to pour into the rarefied spaces, and we have that constant sea-gale, which each day roars through the opening in the mountains, called the * Maoiy, as quoted by Blodgett. 343 THE NEW WEST. " Golden Gate," and, pouring over the coast ranges, cools all interior California. The coast is reduced to an average temperature of 57° by it, and but for it, unde^ a semi-tropical sun, without rain, the inner plains would become a desert. This sea-wind is? however, stripped of much moisture by the coast ranges, so that the interior suffers from want of water, and when it reaches the Sierras and passes them, it becomes an utterly dry wind over the great Basin of the middle of the continent. I have felt this coohng gale in the very midst of the hottest canons of the Sierras. Again, in the winter, the sun's rays becoming less vertical, and the interior being cooled, at the same time the ocean water (from some unexplained reason) being warmer, the sea gales cease, and the coast is warmer in autumn than in summer. The south and southeast winds, as well as the west and northwest, bringing in milder air- than that of the land", are at once condensed, and the rainy season ensues. The most rainy point for the wind at San Francisco is south-southeast, which is the line of the southern coast, and must bring in a milder temperature. The return of the sun northward again reverses this. The upper coasts of the Pacific are struck by the return trades in summer, and the weather being milder than on the Califomian coast, and their interior portions, perhaps, less highly rarefied, their winds are less vio- lent and more warm, and thus more constantly con- densed, so that they have far more rain throughout the year. But why the Oregon coast should have so INTEEIOB CLIMATES. 343 much more rain than the Californian, and with such frequent southeast winds, is not clear from any facts I have been able to collect. The coast ranges along the whole coast naturally form interior climates quite different from that of the sea-board. The further the interior ranges are from the influence of the sea air, and the nearer to reflected heat from the sides of the Sierras, the hotter they become, until, as at Fort Miller, where the sun's rays are concentrated by hill-sides and the sea-breeze is shut off, we have the heat of the tropics ; or, as at Fort Yuma, where the air is mainly from interior deserts, and the sea-breeze is utterly dried, and the latitude is far south, we find one of the hottest regions known in the world. So in interior British America and Washington Territory, we have re- gions quite northward, shut off from cool sea-winds and from dry desert air, placed between mountains where the summer sun produces a temperature and flora which surprises us. There are probably also fea- tures in the configuration of the Northern Continent with which we are as yet unacquainted, sheltering these remarkable districts from Arctic winds. I shall speak in a future chapter of the interesting correspondence between Syria and California. If we consider that the rain-fall and annual mean of temper- ature of both are nearly the same, we shall see where the essential resemblance lies. But the Great African Desert acts upon the Asiatic country with fai; greater power than does our interior Basin and the Arizona desert on California. And the Meditei^ 344 THE NEW WEST. ranean is feeble in its importance compared with that vast body of water which cools and tempers the cli- mate of the Pacific coast. The climate of California is essentially its own, and has no exact analogue elsewhere in the world. CHAPTER XXVI. CALIFORNIA FOR THE EMIGRANT. A GOOD proportion, probably, of the American people, are always designing to change their dwelling- place. There is a steady and strong current every year from our older States to the newer, and again from them to the unknown and desolate regions in the center of the continent. The young men are asking themselves in every quarter of the Union whither they can move to better their condition. For the last five or eight years the great stream of emi- gration in the United States has only carried a few eddies to these Pacific States, and California has given the rare instance in American annals of a rich and fertUe region increasing but slowly in population. The causes of this retrogression I have spoken of elsewhere. They lay in the unfavorable or undevel- oped moral agencies here, the uncertainty of the tenure of land, the bad name attached to mining, and the distance of the country from the world's centers of population. But within the last few years a new and better era has opened for California. She has become an agricultural State — a country of farmers. It is her capacities in this direction which have es- pecially interested me, believing, as I do, and as every student of economy must, that the only perma- 15 346 THE NEW WEST. nent foundation for prosperity is in a division of the soil into independent and self-supporting freeholds for agriculture, rather than in large grazing ranches, or in associated or individual mining properties. As I have endeavored to show in these notes, agri- culture has made an astonishing development in these latter years in California, of which, perhaps, the most striking evidence lies in the fact that the wheat crop of the State this year will just about equal in value the produce of gold and silver. Society, too, is becoming settled. The labors of self-sacrificing men have borne fruit, and the various supports to civilization — schools, and academies, and charities, and churches — have sprung up. A new generation has nearly come to maturity who know no country but California, and do not speak of the east- ern coast as "home," and believe this State to be the center and perfection of all good. This is giving a less shifting and adventurous air to the community. With all the defects which will always afilict a so- ciety founded on mining and adventure, law is be- coming supreme, and civilization is gradually asserting her power. The country is becoming far more at- tractive to the immigrant. Then the amazing natural resources of this coast are beginning to appear, and the wonderful richness and bounty of its climate and soil. Nothing but the astonishing ignorance which prevails in our Eastern States of this great treasure which we have in our own territory, could have kept a populous agricultural immigration, long ere this, from settling and cultivating these favored valleys CHEAP FARES. 347 and hill-sides. The great obstacle to the settlement of California is now nearly removed ; for though the Pacific Railroad may not be entirely finished this summer, the gap will be easily bridged over by coaches or immigrant wagons ; and both the overland line and the Pacific mail steamships will then compete in carry- ing the immigrants. The latter, it seems to me, will have the advantage. With cheap screw-steamers, such as now run between New York and Liverpool, they could easily convey a thousand immigrants to San Francisco from our coast for $40 each, or even less — supposing the fare on the Isthmus reduced, as it must be by this competition. The President of the Pacific Railroad speaks of landing emigrants in San Francisco from St. Louis for $35. Whether this be done or not, in a few years a powerful current of immigration wiU sweep in to this coast, and it wiU be an important question what sort of people should come, and where they should settle. In the first place it should be distinctly understood by all persons thinking of emigrating, that this is not the country for a lazy man or woman. No idle per- son thrives here. If a man had money and could afford to be, idle he would not enjoy it. Every- one works hard in California. Its climate is the very air of labor — ^nowhere else in the world do people toil so closely. Nor is this the place for that large class who lie so heavily on the charitable, and who are so constantly seeking emplojrment in our Northern cities. What we may call the half-educated class, petty clerks, small shop-keepers, broken-down scholars. 348 THE NEW WEST. accountants, and unsuccessfiil professional men — ^they can do nothing here ; the city is full of them ; the coast of the Pacific is all strewn with these ship- wrecked fortunes. And when such people fail here, they sink far deeper than at home. The very atmos- phere is an atmosphere of pride. No one could con- descend to beg here. A man who is utterly defeated in the struggle of life in California does not ask for a helping hand; he starves, or he ends his troubles with selT-murder. For Heaven's sake let the weak and half-educated and unlucky teware of the Pacific coast ! The labor most in demand now in this State is female labor. As I have shown before, the wages of "domestics" are three times higher than in New York, waitresses and chambermaids receiving from ,$20 to $25 (in gold) a month, and cooks $30; girls for all work get $30, also. They are treated better than servants at home, and are almost certain to marry above their rank of life. Large numbers of them have good properties here. They receive better wages than the men. The wonder is that more of our smartest servant-girls do not come, as their pas- sage-money would only be from $50 to $75, and a well-recommended girl might get her fare advanced. Female teachers, with good certificatesj are also in demand, and could earn from $50 to $75 a month. Nowhere in the world are women treated so well, or are so much needed. In the mining regions four out of five of the men are said to be bachelors. In male labor, all kind& of skilled workmen are in HIGH WAGES. 349 demand, and receive high wages ; they very gen- erally have houses of their own, and money in bank. From $50 to $125 dollars a month, in gold, are not uncommon wages for teamsters, carpenters, ship- builders, caulkers, blacksmiths, and the Hke ; some, however, being paid by the day. Miners receive from $3.50 to $5 a day. Farm-laborers, of course, are always needed, and can reckon on $30 to $40 a month and board ; they soon come to own farms of their own. In regard to skilled professional labor, it is impossible to give an opinion, the demand depend- ing so much on circumstances. An able young law- yer or physician ought certainly to make his way in San Francisco, -but perhaps with no more chances in his favor than in New York or Boston. The country seems to me best of all adapted for men with small capitals who are farmers or vine- growers. For such it offers immense inducements. The work of clearing a farm here is as nothing com- pared with that needed in- the Northwest, for instance. For six months in the year the new settler can " camp," not needing a house in this delicious cli- mate ; he has no barns to build at first ; there is no forest to clear, or stones to remove ; he has only to girdle the few trees he may wish to destroy, fence in his land, and at once begin his plowing. His hay or feed is read^ at hand, on all the hills, so that feeding his stock costs him little trouble or expense. His first crop of wheat may be anywhere from forty to sixty bushels to the acre. His land, which he may have bought anywhere from $5 to $25 an acre, 350 THE NEW WEST. according to its nearness to market, at once begins a steady rise in value, and soon sells for from $50 to $100, so constant is the demand for wheat and barley. There is no better investment in the State than good wheat-lands under cultivation. All the luxuries of the farmer the new settler can have speedily. In three or four years he can enjoy a variety of fruits from his own orchards, and vegetables from his gar- den, such as are seen nowhere else in the world. He can get good stock cheap, and raise them easily. He may try sheep-raising on his barren hiUs^ — a most profitable branch in California ; or^ if near a city, he may have a dairy ranch, or breed fowls for mar- ket, or he may attempt unusual crops, such as hops, which are far superior to the eastern, or flax, which grows luxuriantly, or the castor-bean for a lubricating oil, or olives for olive-oil, or almonds, which sell everywhere, or figs for market, or grapes for raisins ; or he may put his wife and children at silk-worm growing — ^yet destined to be the great pur- suit of California. In the ordinary fruit, such as peaches, pears, apricots, and apples, he will find the market overstocked. His great stand-by will be wheat and wool. CHAPTER XXVIL WHERE TO SETTLE IN CALIFORNIA. As I have often said, no agricultural pursuit in this State is neajrly so profitable as vine-growing. The vintager can buy his land for from $5 to $75 an acre, according to its nearness to market. He must have a little capital, so as to be able to wait five or six years, though he can at the same time be sup- porting himself by some other branch, as wheat- raising or stock'-breeding. After six years he can reckon on from $60 to $100 an acre for his grapes ; or, for his wine, from $25 up to $600 per acre, ac- cording to its quality and his own skill. But both in farming and vine-culture the stranger must bear in mind that he has everything to learn. There is no climate in Europe or the Eastern States, and few soils, that resemble those of California. The conditions are essentially difi'erent, and what would suit our circumstances might be entirely unadapted to these. No one must enter on any branch of agri- culture or gardening here and fancy he knows it beforehand, however experienced he may be at home. He must be willing to wait and learn ; and, indeed, the wisest way would be for every farmer or vine-grower to spend a year in some person's employ before he started for himself. He would really save money and time in this way. Hundreds of thousands of dollars 352 THE NEW WEST. have been wasted in California by inexperienced per- sons experimenting in these branches. A stranger, desiring to settle in this State, should avoid the river bottoms, such as the lower plains of the Sacramento and San Joaquin, as those are the only parts of the country subject to the fever and ague; though the land is comparatively cheap, and if a system of irrigation be ever introduced, wiU become valuable wheat land. If he fear great heat, he must avoid the Foot HiUs and the vaUeys of the Sierras, though it is on these hUls that the best vine-lands are found, and here the greatest profit in wine-making will be made. Good vine-land can be bought in such places for a mere trifle. But for many years it will be very difficult to build up pleasant homes in these localities. The climate is very hot in summer ; the roads are deep with dust or heavy with mud. There are few good schools or churches. Society is very limited, and the aspect of the landscape to a Northerner is very bare and arid. When railroads intersect the whole State, these Foot Hills will become desirable homesteads. At present their distance from market is a serious ob- jection, as it costs no more to convey a barrel of flour from Saji Francisco to New York than from some of these hills to the seaboard. The wheat-grower must not look south of Monterey, as the rust below that point spoils the harvest. Perhaps, for both farmer and vine-grower, the most desirable parts of the State now are the valleys of the coast range north of the Bay of San Francisco, such as Sonoma, Napa, Peta- NOKTHERN VALLEYS. 353 luma, and even as far north as Eussian river. In these lovely valleys a delicious climate prevails. The sun is warm, but in the afternoon the sea-breeze from the Grolden Grate tempers the air, and the nights are always cool. The coolest of the valleys is Sonoma, and per- haps the best adapted for vine-growing, though vines grow in thelh all. Here is a pleasant coun- try-society, too, of vintagers, and an access to the city in a few hours by coaeh and steamboat. Vine-land can be bought here quite cheaply, and market is near at hand. Wheat, however, does not do so well in Sonoma as elsewhere. The other valleys are being opened by railways, and contain the best wheat lands and excellent vineyards. There are very rich wheat lands in the Russian River Valley, and beyond it, which now can be bought for from $5 to $^5 an acre, and which in a year or two will be very accessible. The climate is healthy here, though warm in summer; the scenery is attractive, or- chards flourish, and with the sea on one side, and a railroad connecting with the Bay at Petaluma or Vallejo, they will be near the outside world. The country towns have good schools, and they are all near the city. Beyond this, there are said to be good and very cheap farm-lands in the Humboldt region — a part of the country I have not explored. There is a large breadth of land about the head-waters of the San Joaquin still open for settlement, to be bought for $1.25 or $2.00 an acre. A tract of land of 200,000 acres, wheat land, in Merced county, can be 354 THE NEW WEST. bought at Government prices, and wheat farms at $5 per acre, with credit for a part of the purchase-money. The most attractive parts of the whole State for a farmer or vine-grower, with capital, is the neighbor- hood of the Bay. Here in Contra Costa, Alameda, and Santa Clara counties, are the richest wheat lands in the world, the most luxuriant orchards of every variety of fruit — the quince and the olive growing side by side — and some good vine-lands. The cli- mate is perfect ; mild in winter, and not too hot in summer; market is close by; schools and churches are near; railways and steamboats connect with the outside world. Here, if anywhere in America, could be built beautiful country homes, surrounded by fields rich with profitable harvest. But land is high, from $50 to $100 an acre, though a crop of from forty to seventy bushels of wheat cotdd be reasonably ex- pected, which would be a handsome return on the cost, both of land and cultivation. The farmers in these counties are rich. Vine- growing here is still an experiment, and no good wine has been made in the whole region. Grrapes, how- ever, must pay well. Orchards have been overdone, and scarcely repay, except as a luxury. Of the south of California — the sunny and fertile region about Los Angeles and Santa Barbara — I have spoken before. In a material point of view this is undoubtedly the most desirable part of the State for an immigrant ; that is, land in proportion to its price will yield more to the cultivator. He can grow here oranges, lemons, almonds, figs, olives, and the rarest vines. The vineyards bear most beautifiilly. The SOUTHERN CALIFOBNIA. 355 drawbacks are the want of water, whicli, however, in certain localities, can be obtained by a little outlay, the want of good harbors, and, above all, the low educatioiial and moral status of the population. The climate, too, though not oppressive, is enervating. A combined immigration of Yankees could easily over- come many of the moral disadvantages which result from the " Southern " and Spanish influences, and, I folly believe, could make those counties one of the gardens of the world. There is an opening to immi- gration now, from the fact of several of the large estates being in process of breaking up. Sheep- raising could be carried on here with great profit. But the great wealth of this region must always lie in its fruit, and whatever of these can be condensed or preserved for market wiU always pay. The problem of a first-class wine they have not yet solved. The other portions of the south, such as San Ber- nadino,Ttdare, and Fresno counties, though containing some beautiful fertile valleys and much undeveloped wealth, are in general too desolate and barren and too remote from market, to attract the immigrant farmer. The true policy for a new settler coming here would be to purchase soon after the Pacific Road is finished, as the labor and capital which will pour in with this will raise most of the valuable grain-lands of the State to a high point. Whether, on the whole, a family can live here as cheaply as in the Western and Atlantic States, is a diiScult question.* Flour is * I copy portions of a bill at a first-class retail grocery. Best table butter, 45 cents; corn-meal, 4 cents per pound; buckwheat, 9 cents; roast coffee, 40 cents; 8i pounds conunonsnga, ei. 00; 1 dozen eggs, 40 cents; 50 pounds 356 THE NEW WEST. at about half the price of the New York market ; meats are a little cheaper, and would be far cheaper but for the scarcity of cattle since the destruction by the drouth. In general, hereafter, meat will be much lower. Clothing is about the same ; but the high .price of labor and the extravagant habits of the people (a bequest of the mining era) raise all small expenses. The measure of the economy of a popu- lation is the subdivision of money. In Germany we have change to one-tenth of a cent ; here the lowest change is the dime. And in this, as with our un- certain standard of value in the East, the small shop- keepers get the advantage of the consumers. I was assured, on good authority, that the over- change taken in this way by Wells & Faego for their postal envelopes range between $25 and $100 a day. It has seemed to me that, on the whole, every householder's expenses were about thirty-threp per cent, greater here than at home,- with less comfort for the money — ^that is, the paper dollar ia the East is about equal to the gold one in California. The following are the views of an intelligent observ- er as to the advantages of the " Foot Hills": ' ' Freights from the lower coast range from $9 to $15 per ton. Farm produce cannot be sent from the counties below San Luis Obispo to this market as matters now are, at an average of less than |10 per ton, or half a cent per pound, for wheat, barley, and oats. A farm in San Diego county may seem very cheap at $10 per acre, but may, in fact, be very dear, if wanted for grain crops, at thepres- flonr, $1.60 ; 7 pounds emsfaed sagar, $1.00 ; 3^ pounds farina, 50 cents ; 1 quart cranberries, 35 cents; 1 pound chocolate, 49 cents; flour by the barrel, about {7.00. ADVANTAGES OF FOOT HILLS. 357 ent prices of transportation. At present, very little produce besides butter and cheese can be sent to San Francisco at a profit from coun- ties below Monterey. Persons -who buy for a prospective value, expect to wait some years until cheap transportation or home markets have brought up the value of lands. But the greater number of those seeking homes cannot afford to wait for years. They want a mar- ket as soon as possible, where any surplus produce can be disposed of at a profit. The proximity or remoteness of a market, with high or low rates of transportation, makes the difference between a pros- perous farmer and one who can hardly make both ends meet. " Lands in the Foot Hills are relatively near to market. So long as there is a population in the mountains, there must be a market for all the crops which can be raised in the Foot Hills. We have seen hay sold at $60 per ton which had been drawn a moderate distance into the mountains, when the same hay would have been a drug in the valleys at $16 to $20 per ton. The heat, which is so often a bug- bear, not only ripens crops, but brings all sorts of fruits to perfection. There is also a greater rain-fall upon the Foot Hills than in the interior valleys. It is harder work to cultivate a hill-farm ; but there are advantages which more than balance this one drawback. Nearly all these lands have an abundance of wood, without which no farm is ever complete. Besides, they are generally well watered, either by springs or running brooks, and the lands being natural water-sheds, the crops can never be drowned out by the winter floods. During the present year there is a considerable breadth of valley land which does not produce much more than half a crop because of the winter floods ; while hill lands invariably mature large crops. The large wheat farms are all very well ; but most settlers have not the capital to buy and stock them. They want the best thing for present pur- poses ; and in this view we doubt if there are any lands which can be made available for so many uses as the cheap lands in the Foot Hills of the coast range, and more particularly of the Sierra. They are picturesque, have greater natural resources, more moisture, and be- sides being adapted to grain and hay, are always good fruit and dairy lands." CHAPTER XXVIII. THE AMEKICAN PALESTINE, OB COERESPONDENCES BETWEEN THE PACIFIC COAST AND SYRIA. I HAVE often been struck, in traveling through California and Nevada, with the old Bible descriptions of nature and scenery, as applicable here ^ and have found a kind of constant exegesis or commentary in my journey, on the vivid imagery of the Hebrew prophets and poets. The country seems a kind of American Palestine. It may interest my readers to notice a few of these correspondences. The language of the Jewish law in describing the favored land of Judea, into which the children of Israel had been led, pictured it (Deut. viii. 8-9) as " a land of wheat and barley and vines and fig-trees and pomegranates ; a land of oUve-oil and honey ; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness ; thou shalt not lack anything in it ; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mavest dig brass (copper)." This catalogue of productions corresponds exactly to that of Califomian agricultural wealth, and copper will be yet one of the great exports of the Pacific coast. One of the earliest pictures of Jewish pastoral life represents Abraham's servant, after his meeting with Eebecca, feeding his camels "with straw and prov- ender (or barley"). (Gen xxiv. 32). The modem THE AMERICAN PALESTINE. 359 traveler still feeds Ms horses in Palestine on straw and barley ; and in California that is his only "feed " wherever he journeys, for there is no hay, and wild oats cover the valley and hills of the San Joaquia as they do Bashan and Carmel. As he travels on toward the Foot HiUs, he often watches the numerous hawks' nests on the top of dead trees, precisely as he sees them on the high Lebanon ; and the self-acting water-wheels which supply water to Yankee houses and farms in Calaveras, will remind him of those which supply the dwellings on the plains of Orontes ; and in the artificial ponds and reservoirs for watering the vineyards in Tuolumne, he will recall the description of "the pools of water to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees " (Ecc. ii. 4) in Solomon's vineyards. Here, too, he will see the mulberry, even as in Palestine, and the cactus growing wild, and grounds surrounded with huge hedges of cactus, as in Syria. The plains covered with wild mustard will recall the valley of Jordan, and in both he wiU hear of traditions of the mustard becoming almost a tree, for " the fowls of the air to lodge under the shadow of it." In both countries the cabbage is perennial and becomes a shrub or tree — one being credibly reported in the south of California as some twenty feet high. When Job described the " brooks which are black- ish by reason of the ice, and what time they wax warm, they vanish ; when it is hot, they are consumed out of their place ; they go to nothing and perish ; the troops of Tema looked for them, they were con- founded because they had hoped ; they came thither, 360 THE NEW WEST. and were ashamed " (Job xv. 15-19); he pictured the experience of the modem traveler in the Sierras, who crosses with difficulty a swollen torrent in the spring, and returns in the summerj after a hot day's ride, thirsty for water, and is " confounded," be- cause the stream "is consumed out of its place." The Califomian experiences of a mountain on fire, and of accidental fires consuming large grain-fields, seem to have been also familiar to the Jews, for one of David's similes is : " As fire bumeth the wood, and as the flame setteththe mountain on fire" (Ps. Ixxxiii) ; and one of the provisions of the law was that "if fire breaketh out and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of com, or the standing com, or the field be consumed, he that kindled the fire shall surely make restitution " (Ex. xxii. 6.) When David speaks of "water- spouts," he alludes to a phenomenon which sometimes appears in the midst of the Sierra Nevada, for I have heard authentic instances of travelers and their vehicles swept away from a road into a mountain ravine by these sudden outbursts of water, as they are sometimes at this day in the Lebanon. The mining towns of Nevada, nestled among the bare and mighty lulls, will recall how the bare moun- tains of Judea were " round about Jerusalem," and the comfort in "the shadow of a great rock," as one descends the treeless slopes to Carson river, will re- mind one of that beautiful image of the Hebrew poet. The "cattle on a thousand hills " is as true of Cali- fornia as once of Palestine, and the shepherds leading the flock and carrying the young in their arms may COERESPONDESrCES. 361 be seen now on the hills of Los Angeles, as once on those of Judea. The many warnings in the Bible against slipping and falling, and the imagery taken from the narrow pathways which traversed the ravines of "Palestine — such as "their feet set in slippery places," "they shall slide in due time," " ways like slippery places in the darkness " — might be drawn now from the ex- periences in the canons of the Pacific mountains, where a single misstep of your horse will at any mo- ment plunge you down a frightful abyss. The tremendous land slides of the Yosemite and other canons must have had their analogy in the Lebanon or other Syrian ranges, for one of Job's grand figures is of " the mountain falling cometh to nought, and the rock is moved out of its place." — Job X., iv., 18. The vivid description of the miner's work, in the 28th chapter of Job, though badly translated, gives in the original a remarkably similar picture to the scenes which meet the stranger's eye in the quartz and silver mines of the Foot Hills and the Sierras. (I will adopt my own rendering) : " Surely there is a vein for silver and a place for gold where they strain it. Iron is taken out of the earth and brass is molten out of the ore. He (the miner) setteth an end to darkness, and searcheth out all secret things;" * * * and (v. 4) he "breaketh a shaft from where men dwell ; they (the miners) are unsupported by the feet ; they hang down far from the [dwellings of] men ; they swing to and fro;" and 363 THE NEW WEST. again (v. 9), " He putteth forth Ms hand upon the hard flint, he overturneth the mountains by the roots ; (y. 10), he sinketh shafts among the rocks; (v. 11), he bindeth the floods from overflowing^' {i. e. he stops the waters in the mine). There are certainly most of the mining processes famUiar to the Califomians represented in the oldest Hebrew poetry. The great importance of wells and places where water is found on a journey, which appears so much in early Jewish history, recalls one's observations in the saliferous deserts of Nevada, and the barren wastes of Eastern California, where the stations are wells, and all bargains or treaties must be made near some fresh-water spring. The terrible experience of California in the drouth had a correspondence in that of the inhabitants of Palestine. Five years ago, throughout the interior of the State, for some months the " Heaven was as brass, and the earth as iron; " and the whole farming popu- lation could have repeated the fearful lamentation of Joel, " Tell ye your children of it, and let your child- ren teU their children, and their children another gen- eration, that which the palmer-worm hath left hath the locust eaten, and that which the locust hath left hath the canker-worm eaten, and that which the canker- worm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten. * * * Howl^ all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine, for it is cut off from your mouth. * * * He hath laid my wine waste and barked my fig-tree. • * * The field is wasted, the land moumeth, for the com is wasted, DKOUTH. 363 the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth. Be ye ashamed, oh ye husbandmen: howl, oh ye vine- dressers, for the wheat and for the barley, because the harvest of the field is perished. The vine is dried up and the fig-tree languisheth ; the pomegranate tree, the palm-tree also, and the apple-tree, even all the trees of the field are withered. * * * The seed is rot- ten under their clods, the gamers are laid desolate, the bams are broken down, for the com is withered. How do the beasts groan. The herds of cattle are perplexed because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate. * * * The beasts of the field cry out also unto thee ; for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness." Every one of these dreadful experiences were felt in the interior of Cali- fornia in that terrible year (1863) of the drouth. The vines, the figs, the pomegranates and apples (in what other coimtry could these two fraits be mentioned as growing together ?) withered and perished. The bar- ley and wheat harvest in many districts was de- stroyed. The cattle died by the tens of thousands from thirst and the want of pasture, and what vegetation the drouth spared, fire consumed, and armies of insects devoured. The State has never recovered its wealth of cattle destroyed in that one summer. The allusion in Joel to the seed rotting in a dry season after the harvest, is true both of Syria and California, and of few other countries, for the planting- time in both is in the autumn, and if the winter rain 364 THE NEW "WEST. be too long delayed, the seed rots in the ground. This resemblance brings us to the most prominent corre- spondence between the two countries — and that is the similarity of seasons. When a New-Englander reads in the Bible of " the early and latter rain," it makes but a vague impression on his raind, but a Califomian, whose summer is a dry season, knows how vitally im- portant to the crops are the autumn and spring rains. And when the Jewish prophet promises as a blessing to the favored people " The treader of grapes shall overtake him that soweth seed" (Amos ix.), and the law holds forth that " If ye walk in my statutes the vintage shall reach Tmto the sowing time" (Lev. xxvi.), and " Your threshing shall reach imto the vintage;" and "The plowman shall overtake the reaper;" the words may be unintelligible at first to a resident of our eastern coast, but to the inhabitant of the Pacific slope, they describe precisely his most fortunate sea- sons. When the wheat harvest is so full as to crowd on the vintage, and the grape crop so rich that the press- ing reaches into the autumn plowing and sowing, then is the year a boxmtiful one to the farmer of the Pacific coast. The old proverbs, too, have a new meaning here : "He will not plow by reason of the cold," is the plow- ing just before winter ; and " A sweeping rain that leaveth no food," is the too early autumn rain which injures the wheat-stacks left in the air, and utterly destroys the pastures. For both in Carmel and Cali- fornia, the hills are covered with a kind of " growing "WINE-PRESSEES. 365 hay," a dried grass or clover, which retains its nutri- tive properties, and is excellent pasture, but which the first raius utterly ruin. In CaUfomia, as in Palestine, the west or southwest wind brings rain, and cold or clear weather comes out of the north, while the east wind is dry a one. Syria has lost its ancient wealth of fruit and trees, and California is rapidly approaching the moderate standard of other countries ; but there are still vines in the old Spanish missions whose bunches would almost rival those famous grapes of Eschol. And upon many vineyards, one may still behold the wine-pressers, "With dyed garments, and garments red like him that treadeth in the wine-vat," even as the Jewish vinta- gers of old. The almond-trees in the gardens of Alameda, with their snowy-white heads, wiU explain that description of old age by Solomon, " When the almond-tree shall flourish," and the olives of Los Angeles will recall a hundred vivid similes and pictures in the Hebrew poets. One finds "The good olive grafted on the wild olive," and as you pass an old olive-tree with young shoots growing symmetrically around it from its roots, you understand the simile, "Thy children shall be like olive-plants round about thy table." " Though the labor of the olive should fail" (Haba. iii.;, has a new meaning, for no tree requires so little labor ; and when you see the ground covered with its immature flowers, you appreciate Job's comparison : " He shall cast off his flower like the olive " (Job xv. 33). And in autumn, after the shaking, when one or 366 THE NEW WEST. two olives remain standing out against the gray sky, the traveler wiU think of the words, " Yet gleaning grapes shall be left ia it, as the shaking of an olive- tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bo ugh," &c. (Is. xvii. 6), In California one hears of " The first and second crop of figs," spoken of in the New Testament | and as one rests in a mountain canon, under the gloomy shadow 7)f the weird evergreen oak, with wild fan- tastic branches and dense foliage, one can understand why the corresponding evergreen oak of Palestine and Syria was so often chosen as a place of wild pagan rites, and was so frequently aUuded to in the demmci- ations of the prophets. There are Dead Seas and Salt Lakes in both coun- tries ; saliferous vegetations ; and the hot springs of Tiberias, with their deposits of sulphur and salt, and the geysers north of Damascus, correspond to the geysers in the Sierras. Great deposits of asphaltum or bitumen are found in both, and not much petrole- Tun. Earthqxiakes are still felt in each, and the mir- age astonishes the traveler near the Salt Lake as it does near the Dead Sea, and in both a sirocco is ex- perienced. Wild flowers, without scent, cover the fields of both Syria and California with the gayest gar- ments ; the acacia, the walnut, and the mistletoe, are characteristic of each ; the edible cactus is in both, and (I think) the wild pear. A last unfortunate correspondence is that each has every variety of the best grapes and no good wine. CHAPTER XXIX. EFFECTS OF CLIMATE ON RACE IN CALIFOENIA. Twenty-one years is the whole duration of San Francisco, and of what may be called Anglo-Ameri- can CaJifomia. This is much too small a period of time to permit any material race-changes to be seen. Yet, if ever a change of circumstances, a different climate, changed diet, and new relations to the world, could form a new human variety, then certainly a fresh race would spring up on the Pacific coast. The mixture of blood which, with an instdar climate, has formed from Northmen, Danes, Anglians, and Sax- ons, a human variety so different from each of its elements — the EngUsh-speaking race — is not half so great, nor the change of circumstances half so radical, as that which has taken place here, and which will inevitably; in the long course of ages, form a fresh Race in the hu- man family on the western shores of this continent. I have spoken of the singular correspondence be- tween California and Nevada and Syria. I have often wondered whether the Asiatic climate of California would hereafter produce any minds on whom nature would stamp itself, as it did on the won- derful Hebrew poets, or who could be thus inspired by devotion and worship. But alas ! blood is stronger than isothermal Hnes, or 368 THE NEW WEST. the influences of ocean currents and prevailing winds. The Anglo-Saxon mind can never be a seer into the invisible world of devotion, and it is doubtful if the American mind will ever listen patiently enough to the voices of nature to be able to interpret them for men of all countries and times. Moreover, it must be admit- ted that miniag occupations are not a very good foun- dation for poetry and devotion. Still, even in these twenty years, climate and new circumstances have begun to produce their minute but certain effects. I have examined, as a student of races, very carefully the prevailing physical types on this coast, and I thiak I am not mistaken in noting a change which has already begun. No one who has watched closely the physical type which is gradually being formed in the older States, from mixture of races and the influence of climate, can doubt that the physical beauty of the English-speaking race in America is improving. One can travel in no public conveyance now ia the Eastern States without being struck with the delicacy and regularity of profile, and the personal beauty of some of the passengers, whether men or women.* Our race is becoming acclimated, and is living more sensibly, and with the blendiag of so many related races, is elevating its physical type. The same result, from more manifest causes, is tak- ing place in California. Here, picked men in the flush of life from most European races have gathered. * Since this was written, an intelligent English traveler, Hot. Mr. Zincko,makesa similar observation . FOEMING A NDW BACE. 369 They have mainly occupied themselves with vigorous pursuits, such as miniug, or with out-door occupations, such as teaming and farming. They have had the best food, plenty of both fruit and meat, and (on the coast) the best climate which the Anglo-Saxon has ever en- joyed ; equable, sunny, cool, and invigorating. In the interior they have had a dry, mountain, Asiatic clim- ate, with great extremes to struggle with, but which has not yet produced its natural eflfect on the physique, as the people so constantly emigrate to the coast. The effect of all these combined causes on the phys- ical type of California is, that it is especially the land of handsome men. One sees great numbers of fine manly profiles, with fuU, ruddy cheeks, and taU, vig- orous forms. The spare, dry, nervous type of the east- em American is not common in the interior. City residents, of course, are always inferior physically to the rural population ; but even the San Franciscans begin to have an English look. I am constantly meet- ing young, ruddy, round-faced business men, whom I mistake for Englishmen, but who are Yankee-bom. Still, the curse of this city, overwork, is teUing on the physique of the people. The climate tempts to do too much, and, though there is little sickness, life snaps off suddenly- The principal diseases of the city seem to be rheumatic, and those which affect the throat. la the Sierras, especially at Virginia City, there seems no doubt that the rarefied atmosphere has ex- panded the chests of the people, even in these few years. The impression prevails generally in Califor- nia that the climate favors the prolific power of both le* 370 THE NEW WEST. animals and human beings ; both certainly matm'e earlier than in the Eastern States. Physicians, how- ever, are inclined to trace the remarkable effect on women, observed here, as much to change of chmate as to any peculiar power in it. I have heard of some very large families here — one of twenty-eight children, all of one mother. But it should be remembered that the great checks on increase of population are always artificial, or economical, rather than want of physical power : and here luxury does not make children a weariness, or poverty a burden. The children in the country, and from the wealthier classes of the city, seem more ruddy, healthy-looking, and prettier than ours in the east. Among the work- ing people of San Francisco they are as pale, peaked, and nervous, with brains as much overworked, as in our cities. It is said that babes do not suffer from teething, as do ours, and mothers do not dread " the second summer," as at home. The young girls of the city show a great deal of beauty, and such rich bloom of complexion as we sel- dom see in the Atlantic border. The coast physique will, no doubt, be merely the American type improved. The inhabitant of the Sier- ras and the central river bottoms wiU ultimately be- come more Asiatic or Arab-like in type — darker, sparer, and, on the whole, with less muscular vigor — ^for the common diet of the plains wiU more and more be the delicious fruits and vegetables of that region ; and a fruit or vegetable-eating race is never so vigorous or energetic as a meat-eating. CLIMATE NOT ALL-POWEEFtJt. 371 The south of CaJifomia will tend toward an Italian or Moorish type, under the enervating influence of climate and a bountifiil finiit-diet. A " southern " as- pect is already very perceptible even in the pure An- glo-Saxons of Los Angeles and its neighborhood. Still, in all these theoretical remarks, I desire to enter a most distinct caveat against a thesis which is now being maintained by a distinguished American scien^ tific authority — ^that climate is all-powerful in deter- mining the mental and moral tendencies of a people. Climate is only one element in forming a race ; many other circumstances enter, among them, first of all, hlood or race — ^that is, inherited tendencies, strength- ened by the influence of a long line of ancestors. All the facts of the science of ethnology are against the theory of climate as the determining cause. Even color cannot be explained by climate alone. Isothermals are strong, but they can never produce "the love-songs of Persia in the dells of Sonora," or the poetry of the Hebrews in the canons of the Sier- ras, or "the civilization of Peru" on the American shores of the Pacific, any more than they have made Europe and Asia alike, or even Asia like itself, in the same temperature and under the same rain-fall. The power of the principle of Inheritance, though modified in the course of ages as to the qualities it transmits by Natural Selection, is far stronger than most influences of climate. In observations so purely speculative as these, look- ing to far centuries in the future, I may be permitted to note what will be the inevitable political effect of 372 THE NEW WEST. the imperceptible but powerful agencies whict are now slowly building up a new race on the Pacific. Five hundred or a thousand years from now, when we have an Anglo-American Chinese-like empire of hundreds of miUions, east of the Rocky MoTmtaias — the leading community of the world — ^there will be another mag- nificent republic, or series of republics, on the Pacific coast, beginning their independent existence of centu- ries. Whether, in that distant period, the Imperial Union would consent or not to a volimtary separation of its superb Pacific provinces, we cannot predict, but we can assuredly prophesy that whenever a great pop- ulation on this coast desire to be independent, they will certainly become so. A world in arms could not subdue such a remote region as this, or reannex it by force to the United States. Of course, for generations to come there will be an enthusiastic loyalty on this coast to the Union. But the influences of climate and circumstances are too strong. This is now a separate world from ours. Its climate,^ its fauna and flora, its productions, its mode of agriculture, its arts, its rela- tions to other countries, its interests, its questions of finance, government, law, and morality, are all differ- ent from our own. Everything here is peculiar and original, even now. Mighty barriers of desert and mountain separate this region now, and always wiU, from the civilized world. Two or three railroads over this vast wilderness wiU be mere threads of connection with Europe and America. And if there be such contrasts and differences now in twenty years between the people and region east A NEW KACE. 373 and west of the Rocky Mountains, what will there be in a hundred or five hundred years I It is true that the ideas, the. manners, the government, the religion implanted here are American — yes, Puritan. These they will always be, but there can be no doubt that in a remote future they will be embodied in a new race of the English-speaking family, and under a separate and independent popular government. This will be the " New West." FINIS. EBBATDM.-On page 89 read AttIlA for Amlla. New and Final Volume of Bayard Taylor's Travels. G. P. Putnam & Son will publish early in 1869 BY-WAYS OF EUROPE. By the author of " Views Afoot," " Home and Abroad," &c. CONTENTS : A Familiar Letter to the Reader. The Grande Chartreuse. A Cruise on Lake Lagoda. The KyfThauser and its Legends. Between Europe and Asia. A Week at Capri. Winter-Life in St Petersburg. A Trip to Ischia. The Litde Land of Appenzeli. The Land of Paoli. From Perpignan to Montserrat. The Island of Maddalena. Balearic Days. In the Teutsberger Forest. Catalonian Bridle-Roads. The Suabian Aib. The Republic of the Pyrenees. In one vol. i2mo. (uniform with his other works), blue cloth, $2.25. THE NEW WEST; Or, California in 1867 and '68. By CHARLES L. BRACE, Author of " Races of the Old World," " Home-Life in Germany," " Hungary in iSsj," &c i2mo. 300 pp. (In February.) This work contains an account of what till lately has been a terra incognita to Americans themselves, — the Pacific Slope. Mr. Brace in his California journey has described what most travellers have omitted, the minute features of natural scenery and products, the different world of vegetation, and climate, and landscape which characterizes the Pacific coast. He has investigated closely the vine-growing regions, and the wine-making of California ; its wonderful gardens and orchards, the new branch of silk-growinj; just beginning, and the remarkable agricultural capaci- ties of the State. He pictures that wonder of the world, the Yosemitk Valley. and the Giant Trees, and the Geysers. Social Life, Schools, and Education are also treated, and several chapters are given to the Chinese in the State. Much practical advice is given to emigrants and far- ,mers as to where to settle in California. Adventures among Robbers and Digger- Indians are the subjects of some of the chapters. It is a work which all Americans who desire to understand their own country, should possess. A MEMORIAL OF THE REV. DR. TAYLOR. SERMONS Preached in Grace Church, New York. 1846-67. By the late Rev. Thomas House Taylor, D.D. With a fine Photographic Portrait from Elliott's Picture. In one volume. 8vo. Tinted Paper. Price, $3-00. *..<* This volume is printed specially for Subscribers and Memoers of Grace Church. Those desiring copies of the First Edition, which will be handsomely printed are requested to send their names at once. "GET THE BESl THE REASONS WHY Putnam's Magazine is so generally acknowledged at home and abroad to be the Leading Literary Magazine of the United States are obvious to all intelligent readers. I. ^ its national and cosmopolitan reputation is the growth of fifteen years. 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