GEORGE W. CALLAHAN

 

George W. Callahan was born in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, in February 1845, the son of Daniel E. and Rebecca (Sebring) Callahan, who crossed the plains from Wisconsin in 1849, and settled in Sacramento, where for many years they kept what is known as the Golden Eagle Hotel, the first in the Capital City. The story of Daniel Callahan and his wife, in connection with the early days, would fill a volume. A few brief items, which is all the scope which this work permits, will be found interesting to the many friends and acquaintances who still remember the genial host of the Golden Eagle. He crossed the plains with ox teams, bringing with him his wife and two children – William H., his younger son, was born in Sacramento – arriving here in September 1849, having been six months on the tedious journey; they camped on the corner of Fifth and M Streets, and during the flood of the following year lost everything. Procuring a team he began teaming to the mines, the mother taking in washing and having a few boarders. In the spring of 1851 he bought a lot on K Street, near the corner of Seventh, and erected thereon a frame building, which in its turn was destroyed by the great fire of that year. Hotel accommodations there were none, and lodging almost impossible to obtain. He erected a large canvas tent with bunks similar to those found on river steamers, and later on traded a span of horses for a small frame building which was erected beside the canvas tent. This hotel soon became headquarters for all the speculators and horsemen in the city, drawn thither by its proximity to the horse market, which was located on the same square and carried on by Toll, Captain Smith, Wrightmire, and other celebrities of those days. Toll’s livery stable was across the way, and this was the busiest corner of the city. One day Wrightmire, with a piece of chalk, drew upon the canvas tent the picture of an eagle, and from that day Callahan’s place was known as the Golden Eagle. After the fire the corner lot was purchased and a more commodious building was erected, which eventually grew into the imposing edifice of the present day and was kept by Callahan until 1874. He was a man of many friends generous to a fault, fond of sport; his “pack of hounds” were known by all, and many a good story is related of mine host of the Golden Eagle. A politician, a Democrat, but numbering among his friends men of all parties, when in 1876, he was brought forward as the candidate for the office of County Treasurer, an office which he filled for seven years; he was elected by the handsome majority of 2,000 votes, in a district clearly Republican by at least 1,880 majority. He died in 1883; his wife at this writing still survives him. His son, George W. Callahan, received his preliminary education in the Sacramento schools, and was brought up in his father’s hotel. He was united in marriage to Miss Minnie A. Howell, daughter of L.V.H. Howell, of San Francisco. He left the hotel in 1874 to become Deputy Sheriff under the administration of Hon. H.M. LaRue, after which he was connected with the Sacramento Bank. In 1881, he went to Deming, New Mexico, where for a year he kept an “eating house.” Later on he went East and traveled extensively throughout the States. Returning, he became interested in silver mining in Chawanda in the Dolores mining district for a time, returning again to California; was at the time of his father’s demise, in charge of his extensive ranch in Placer County, an occupation which he still follows. His address is Diamond Spring, El Dorado County.