THE
ARGONAUTS OF CALIFORNIA.
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CHAPTER XV.
WHERE ARE THE PIONEERS?--THE OVERLAND STAGE--PONY EXPRESS--THE SOUND OF
WAR--WET WINTER—THE HOTEL ON THE ROAD--THE RAILROAD.
UPWARDS of ten years had now elapsed since
our arrival in California. The excitement in relation to gold mining has
somewhat subsided, and all human affairs seem to have become established upon a
more permanent basis. All residents, with but few exceptions, are now well
pleased with their adopted home, and intend to remain and grow up with country.
But how about the pioneers at this time?
They were very numerous throughout this portion of the mining region. In
December, ‘59, they numbered in this county at least 25,000, a small portion of
them only, however, engaged in mining. And now, at the expiration only ten
years, I find upon investigation that there are not to exceed 600 in the county
remaining. A few are yet engaged in mining; many have left for their Eastern
homes, and some have crossed to the other side, while many have fenced in
tracts of land and are engaged in fruit raising. But the great majority have
scattered throughout the length and breadth of the Pacific Slope, some to
engage in agriculture or in stock raising in the valleys below, and others
entering into business of various kinds in the Cities of San Francisco and Sacramento.
With the discovery of the silver mines in
Nevada there ensues another very important event: The overland stage, a boon to
old-timers, for they can now communicate with their friends in the East much
quicker and oftener than by water, is established, and which again in its turn,
as a means of rapid communication with the East, is superseded by the pony
express. The first arrival of the pony express occurred, I think, in the fall
of ‘59. The wild mustang was ridden by Harry Rolf, now a resident of Oakland,
and he came flying through the city of Placerville, on his way to Sacramento
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City, amid the waving of
flags, the firing of guns, and the hurrah of the multitude which lined the
sides of the road to witness the important event. But although we were
occupying a new and as yet an unsettled portion of the earth which we had only
recently occupied, yet the progressive spirit of the age, for which our nation
is noted, was not wanting, for in a very short time these primitive means of
transit and of communication with the East were again in their turn thrust
aside and superseded by the iron horse and the telegraph. Soon came, also, the
sound of war and strife between the North and the South, and now the very
important question which had agitated the country for nearly a century was to
be decided for all time, viz., should the whole country be for freedom or for
slavery? There were many throughout the State who believed the latter to be
possible, but the sentiment was almost universal that we in California would
prevent, by all possible means, any attempt upon the part of either side to
involve the residents of the State in the conflict, and all such attempts,
therefore, were very effectually suppressed and peace and quietness reigned
throughout the State. There was, however, a stage robbery which occurred upon
the Virginia City road, a few miles above Placerville. A large amount of silver
bullion was stolen, and in effecting the capture of the robbers one of the
officers was killed, his name being T. G. Caples. In their defense the robbers
claimed that they were commissioned officers, acting under orders from their
commanders of the Confederate Government; they were, consequently, not outlaws
or robbers, and demanded the rights and usages due to prisoners of war. But
unfortunately for them our judges did not take that view of the case, and they
were found guilty of highway robbery. One of them (Poole) was found guilty also
of murder and executed in Placerville in the fall of ‘63, if I am not mistaken.
The winter of ‘61-’62 was a very wet one,
and water therefore was abundant throughout the mining regions, enabling the
miners to work and ground-sluice many good paying claims located above the ditches
which furnished the water for mining purposes below. Sacramento felt the
effects of this unusually rainy winter, for twice during the season was the
city flooded, causing great damage and loss.
A little incident resulting upon this
flood in Sacramento is perhaps worth relating, as it illustrates not only the
uncertainty of
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things generally, but also
that each and every locality is subject in its own way to certain events
peculiar to the surrounding conditions.
A certain emigrant from the Fatherland,
who lost all his earthly possessions during the flood to Sacramento City, came
to the conclusion that he would in future make his dwelling place in some more
elevated locality, above the reach of the raging floods and at high water mark.
He therefore, in the fall of ‘63, in accordance with this desire, bought an old
station or wayside hotel, located in the toll road a few miles above
Placerville. During the succeeding winter, our German friend, with his family
and a few others, were sitting around the big store one afternoon. It was
storming heavily outside, and the landlord was congratulating himself upon the
fact that he was far above all danger from the floods and earthquakes below,
and that he had found at last a safe home for his family. Just at this moment
his wife jumped from her chair, and exclaimed:
Q“Mine
Gott ! Vat vas dat noise I hear?”
They all jumped to their feet, and none
too soon, for at this instant, the rear end of the room in which they were
sitting fell in with a crash, and a huge boulder went crashing through the
front of the building into the road, rolled away into the creek, some
seventy-five yards below.
To say that our German friend and the rest
of them were astonished, or astounded would hardly express it, for they were
simply paralyzed. After recovering his senses, he exclaimed, in the most solemn
accents:
“Ach mine Gott ! Mine Gott ! How vas dot
den? Oh ! Mine grashus, vere ve go next ! I vat most drowned out mit dose
vaters in Sacramento, vas shaked all to bieces by dem earthquakes at San
Francisco, und den I was gone up here, vare dem earthquakes or dem waters do
not come at all, vid mine family, und, but up here, mine grashus, dem mountains
shust come right through mine house und smash dem all to bieces. Mine Got, vare
ve goes now to pysoursellufs?”
His wife suggested that they had better go
to San Francisco.
“Oh, mine grashus, no no. Dem earthquakes
down dere vill shust shakes mine head off righd avay, und gife mine families
the
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shakes all ofer. No I tink ve
vill go pack to Shairmany, for we can find no blace to life here in dot strange
country. By von blace you vas shake all to bieces by dem earthquakes; den you
go to anudder blace, und der vater come and vash you all avay; den you vas find
anudder blace, vare you don’t see dem shakes or dem vaters, und den, pyshiminy,
dem hills is all loose, und dey shust dumble down right ofer on to mine house.
I goes to Shairmany, mine frent, pooty quick; now don’t it?”
An event was now about to take place which
was to change to a great extent the future condition of our new home upon the
Pacific Coast. For although all were apparently content and well satisfied with
our relative position, yet there was a certain feeling of disconnection, an
impassable barrier between us and our old homesteads with the pleasing
associations connected with them; there were between us high and lofty ranges of
rugged mountains and barren plains that to many were absolutely impassable,
while yet by water the voyage to visit friends and our Eastern friends was a
long and tedious one; under such circumstances it was evident that something
yet was wanting which would enable us to enjoy to the fullest extent the
favorable conditions afforded by a residence here in California, and this
something which all felt the necessity of was a rapid means of communication
with our former Eastern homes. The great event, therefore, to which I alluded
was the commencement, by a few energetic old-timers, of a railroad across the
continent was often talked of among the miners, and those who had traveled and
prospected among the deep canons and rugged cliffs of the mountains were very
strongly impressed with the conviction that the building of a railroad across
and over them would be a physical impossibility; consequently, when all
preparations were made for the purpose, it was the general opinion among them
that it was the wild fancy of a few lunatics who were ignorant of railroads in
general, or what natural barriers and obstacles were to be encountered in the
building of this railroad in particular. Notwithstanding the protest and
prophetic warnings of the old mountaineers, the work was formally commenced in
Sacramento City in ‘63, and the last (golden) spike driven in ‘68, which formed
the connecting link between the two roads, making a continuous line between the
Atlantic and the Pacific Coasts. The effect of this connection was at
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once apparent, for we now
felt as though we formed a part of the nation and under its protection; but
whether the iron rails had any effect upon the electric conditions of the
country (as was maintained by certain ones), causing atmospheric changes here,
is immaterial; at any rate, social conditions, which heretofore had been
unbalanced, were now properly adjusted, for, instead of dwelling away off in
some remote corner of the universe, in a foreign land, as we imagined,
separated entirely from intercourse with higher conditions of existence by
mountain ranges and barren deserts, the iron rails had now broken down the
barriers, and from this point in our history we felt more at home. But what
said the old miners who had predicted all sorts of troubles, disasters, and
failure of the lunatics, the originators of the undertaking, after its
successful completion? “Well” (as one of them expressed himself--an
Englishman), “give a company of Americans the right of way and a subsidy, and
blast me yies if they wouldn’t run a tunnel through the earth and build a
railroad to China, yer know.”
An observation of Nature’s works shows us
that the wise Creator, in scattering upon the surface of our planet his
treasures in the form of gems and rich mineral ores, decided it best to give to
such portions of the surface as were the most barren and desolate, the most
rugged and mountainous, as well as the least attractive and unfit for
cultivation or civilization, the greatest amount of treasures in the form of
precious stones or valuable mineral ores as some compensation for such defects,
and an investigation of the earth’s surface shows us that this is almost
universally the case. But in the case of California however, for some wise
purpose, he saw fit to make one grand exception; for although containing, as it
does, some of the richest mines in the world, yet it contains also some of the
richest and most valuable farming lands, the low, red hills in the mining
regions, the best adapted for the cultivation of the vine and all other
varieties of fruit. It contains, also, the largest trees, as well as the
highest waterfall in the world, the grandest scenery and the finest climate, as
well as many other advantages possessed by no other country. The effects of
this railroad connection with the East was to enable thousands to make their
homes here in this favored country, or to travel through it for observation,
with a design at some future time of again returning to dwell amidst the orange
groves, and to breathe the pure air of this favored country,
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And, furthermore, to enable
many of the old pioneers, who had abandoned all hopes of ever being able to
visit the familiar scenes of their early days, to once more journey towards the
rising sun; to visit their early homes in the East without fear of Indians, or
starvation upon the desert plains, or of shipwreck upon the water.
Transcribed by:
Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Proofread by Betty Vickroy.
© 2008 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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