Personal Adventures in Upper and Lower California in 1848-9; with the author's experience at the mines

Preface

. The following sketches were not originally intended to meet the public eye, having been hastily thrown off for the amusement of the writer's family in England ; and now, if iu yielding to the earnest and repeated solicitations of perhaps over-zealous and too partial friends, he should subject himself to the charge of temerity, by giving them a more extended circulation, be trusts that some in dulgence will be shown him, on the ground that the sceues he describes have excited more thau a passing interest in the public mind, and that little has as yet been published that is calculated to satisfy it. If time had admitted of it, the Author would have preferred giving the narrative some other form

PREFACE.

. IV than that of Personal Adventures, and sinking bis own individuality in some more general mode of treating the subject ; but aarain he must ask the reader to bear in mind that the more convenient framework that originally suggested itself was that in which it now appears; and that, when his permission was asked to publish the manu script, he was at too great a distance to alter its construction. In explanation of the motives that in duced the writer to venture upon so distant an expedition — for they were somewhat different from those that influence the feverish speculations of the present day — it wiU be sufficient to state that he was one of those restless spirits, who, during the late war between the United States and Mexico, sought relief from the monotony of civilized life, in a more congenial and adventurous existence amidst the wilds and mountains of California. That country bad just begun to attract the eager regards of the American democrats, who, appreciating its happy geo-

PREFACE.

. V graphical position, and the advantages to be derived from its fine harbours, could not fail to see in this acquisition another gigantic stride towards the fulfilment of their boasted destiny. The favourable accounts, too, which had been recently received, from some few writers and travellers, of its capabilities for agricultural as well as for commercial purposes, tended in no small degree to inflame the general desire to add this " bright par ticular star" to the national constellation. The author must confess to his not having been altogether uninfluenced by the latter feeling, so thoroughly does a lengthened residence in the States imbue a foreigner with the prevailing spirit of the people; while his tastes as an artist were no less excited by the glowing descriptions that had been received of the sunny skies and genial atmosphere of this new-born Italy.

He longed for the warmth and brightness of a tropical climate, and hoped that, even a few degrees further north, on the Pacific side, he might experience an improvement

PREFACE.

. VI in the general state of his health and spirits, which had been greatly impaired by the sedentary and unwholesome nature of the pursuits in which he had been engaged. March 25, 1850. ILLUSTRATIONS VOL. I. PAGE Principal Street of San Francisco (Frontispiece.) Montcey . . . . .75 A Watering-place — Lower California . . 98 Mountain Scenery — Lower California . .128 Specimen of Bamboo Houses in general use in Lower California . . . . .138 Sketch during the war — Lower California . .141 San Jose . . . . . .186 On the Road to the Mines . . .252 On the Road to the Mines — Encamping for the night 280 On the Road to the Mines — Burning Trees for a Camp-fire . . . . . .302 VOL. II. The Stanislaus Mine . . (Frontispiece.) Sonoreans Dry-washing Gold . . .13 Gold rocker — Washing pan — Gold borer . .16 Life at the " diggins" — Supper time . . 30 Trading-post in the Mines . . .47 Ranche in Upper California . . .78 Going to a Fandango . . . .110 Sacramento City . . . . .162 How to turn a Ship's Cooking-galley into a Cafe Restaurant . . . . .192 Gambling Scene in San Francisco . . . 212 A Serenade — Upper California . . . 288 One of the Old Spanish Houses in San Francisco — Scene near " the Hollow "... 260 Isthmus of Panama — The Return Home . . IN UPPER AND LOWER CALIFORNIA.

Chapter I

Departure for Fort Hamilton — Initiation into the hardships of a military career — " There is a bright side to every thing " — Sketches from Life — A n odd compound of opposite qualities — A Swedish kit — Eugene O'Reilly — A German Esculapius and a Yankee quack — An awkward subject for the drill-sergeant — Foray in the farmyards — Our Cap tain's exordium and peroration — Peculiarities of the Volun teer service. There is no career, however humble, which drags its slow length along unmarked by some eventful epoch, whether of joy or grief — some passage in the monotonous routine of an ob scure existence, which serves to indicate the long, dull stages of our journey to the grave — VOL. I. B some decisive moment, in short, when the mind, abandoning itself to extremes, rashly compro mises the future in the exaggerations of a heated imagination, and embraces at a grasp its chances of good or evil.

Such was the day on which I joined the band of hardy adventurers who had resolved to stake their lives on the conquest and settle ment of a region so distant, that even to reach it involved no ordinary amount of peril. I had wound up all my affairs in New York the pre vious evening, and severed, as I then thought for ever, the many ties that bound me to a place in which I had passed some of the hap piest, though, at the same time, some of the most anxious moments of my life. There were few amongst us who cared much as to the chances of our revisiting the scenes we were then quitting ; for we were, for the most part, thoroughly sick of the life of large cities, and exaggerated to ourselves the delights of a pas toral existence in a new settlement, in which both climate and soil were supposed to render the allotted duties of man more of a pastime than a toil.

So wisely ordained is it that the imagination should exert a powerful in fluence over our actions; for were we to be swayed solely by the dictates of what is called common sense, those who are tempted to con stitute themselves the pioneers of civilization would never have resolution enough to face the dangers of the forest or wilderness. I arrived at Fort Hamilton in the beginning of June, 1847, and found assembled there nearly the full complement of persons deemed necessary for the expedition. They were, for the most part, composed of intelligent and, in some instances, well-educated young men, dashed, as in all such enterprises, with a sprinkling of the wild and reckless spirits to be found in all the Atlantic cities. This diversity of habits and character was to be expected, from the nature of the service on which we had volunteered ; the military por tion of it, as in the case of the old Roman colonists, being regarded merely as a period b2 of probation to qualify us for the enjoyment of our future conquests.

Although fully prepared " to rough it," even in the American sense of the term, our initiation into the hardships of a military career, during a sojourn of several months at the fort, realized, at the outset, our worst anticipations, and there were few amongst us who would not have gladly exchanged for active service in the field the confinement and discomfort that we endured here previous to our embarkation. Between severe and con stant drilling, and the most culpable irregularity in the supply of provisions, we had a tolerable foretaste of what we should have to encounter when we came to deal with the sterner realities of a soldier's life. And yet, strange to say, although the previous habits and education of many amongst this motley assemblage of adventurers of different nations but ill adapted them for the privations and dull uniformity of this sort of life, and still less for the close companionship of the uncon genial spirits with whom they were compelled to associate, there was comparatively but little repining, a general determination seeming to have been arrived at to look at everything under its brightest aspect, and to accept the incidents of our position, distasteful though they might be, in the true spirit of stoicism.

And, after all, there is a sunny side to every phase of this much-abused existence of ours. Our life at the fort, although miserable enough, Heaven knows, was not altogether devoid of amusemeut and instruction to those who are fond of the study of character. As, in the course of the following narrative, I may have occasion to introduce some of my companions to the notice of my readers, some previous acquaintance with their peculiarities may serve to give greater zest to the little episodes in which they play a part. The butt of the detachment, and geneial target for the witlings, was a young Swede named Wettermark, who presented in his per son a curious compound of the most opposite qualities. Brave as a lion, yet querulous under privations ; deeply read, yet simple as a child ; full of genius, yet incapable of turning his abilities to any practical account, he was a notable example of that anomalous mental organization not unfrequently to be met with, in which an extraordinary capacity for absorb ing information is conjoined with a lamentable sterility and unfruitfulness — the rich seed sown producing but tares.

Not less curious than the strange jumble of miscellaneous acquirements laid up to rust in the mental storehouse of this eccentric being, were the contents of his compendious kit, the proportions of which had never struck his simple brain to be incompatible with the exi gencies of " light marching order," or of rapid evolutions executed in mountainous and hostile regions. His chest, a specimen of the mecha nical skill of the "fatherland," and which, without forcing a simile, might not unaptly be compared to a sarcophagus, was crammed to overflowing with the collectanea of many indus triously spent years. Editions of the classics, the works of Goethe, Schiller, and Lessing, the novels of Dumas and Madame Dudevant, were to be seen commingled with Swedish song books, a silver-mounted flute, and a collection of operatic music, an herbarium, instruments of navigation, carpenters' tools, and, in short, materials for tailoring, tinkering, and exe cuting any sort of mechanical work.

To cap the collection, there was a heavy, though short and wide-bored rifle, and a bear-trap, which he had brought with him from Stockholm. It is scarcely necessary to add, that the proprietor of this curious medley possessed habits of untiring industry ; for, when not engaged in reading, he generally occupied himself with some branch or other of the arts, although not precisely those that are generally supposed to be akin to or congenial with literary tastes. To sum up his ac complishments, he could translate the plays of the Greek dramatists, solve a problem in Euclid, play the overture to an opera, manufacture a writing-desk, and — I blush to say it — solder a tin kettle. And yet, of these varied acquirements, the poor fellow had never been able to make a single profitable investment, his whole career having been marked by one uninterrupted series of failures and mishaps.

Desponding in temperament, and, when under the influence of his morbid fancies, querulous as an old woman, his foibles and eccentricities, combined with the diffi culty he experienced in expressing himself in English, afforded infinite amusement to those who, gifted with less good nature than a keen perception of the ridiculous, rendered him the incessant butt of their ungenerous witticisms. Having attempted to sketch the Swede, the portrait would be incomplete without its attendant shadow, Mr. Eugene O'Reilly, a good-hearted fellow in the main, but, like the generality of his countrymen, somewhat addicted to the perpetration of practical jokes — in a word, the Mickey Free of our company. Possessed of an inimitable talent for mimicry, the peculiarities of Wetter mark acquired an additional raciness in the imitations of the Irishman, who seemed to hang upon his every accent, and to make him the one great study of his life.

It is impos sible to describe the irresistible effect of the manner in which, in the Swede's imperfect English and inflated style of reasoning, he represented him as attempting to reconcile the inconsistency of his admiration for the despotic institutions of Germany with his service of a republic — an anomaly, by the by, not unfrequently to be witnessed now-a-days in men of much greater celebrity than poor Wettermark. O'Reilly was not without his own weak nesses, the most prominent and inconvenient of which was a rather exaggerated estimate of his vocal powers. Without a note in his voice that could be strained into the execution of the simplest air, and without the slightest ear for music, he was perpetually inflicting upon us his primitive notions of melody. He accepted the roar of laughter with which these displays were usually received, as a testimony of the high degree of appreciation in which we held them; and, indeed, if he had been susceptible enough to divine the truth, I quesb5 tion if it would have made any difference to him ; for such was his uncontrollable love of mischief and fun, that he would sooner enjoy a little merriment at his own expence than be reduced to a state of inaction for five minutes together.

In person he was short, round featured, and slightly pitted with the small pox ; with an eye that irradiated, by its droll and ever restless expression, an otherwise plain and insignificant face. In short, he was a perfect epitome of Irish virtues and Irish frailties ; with a heart that bore rather too large a proportion to the brain ; and a vein of humour that rendered him the life and soul of every circle into which he happened to be thrown. Then we had two disciples of Galen : and, as Nature delights in contrasts, it would be difficult to find two beings more dissimilar in character or appearance. Dr. Freiind was a regularly educated and licensed experimenter on the human frame ; while Dr. Judson — Hank Judson, as he was familiarly called — owed the whole of his professional reputation to a certain talent which he possessed for practising on the credulity of the ignorant, having been engaged in the fabrication of some of those patent panaceas which leave little or nothing to be discovered in the shape of remedial agents.

The German physician was a tall, muscular man, with a most forbidding countenance, to which a pair of enormous moustaches imparted additional fierceness. And yet the husk be lied the kernel, for no man could be milder or more inoffensive, except when he came in collision with Judson, to whom he seemed to have a sort of natural as well as professional antipathy. Owing to the effects of a long incarceration, to which he had been subjected for some political offence in his own country, he was liable to nervous attacks of a most distressing nature, under the influence of which his powerful frame became convulsed to such a degree, that the exhaustion which succeeded left him as helpless as an infant. Judson was a thin, wiry little Yankee, with a face like a hatchet, to which the body seemed a slender enough handle, so that his whole appearance was suggestive of a metallic sharpness in strict accordance with his other qualities.

Take him as you would, you were sure to strike against some angle or another of his character ; and you invariably recoiled from the collision with a sensation of pain. In fact, the aggressive principle seemed so instinctive to his malevolent nature, that his very repose was as much to be dreaded as the watchful inaction of some treacherous animal of the feline tribe. Freiind took but little pains to conceal his contempt and dislike of the quack ; and the latter, being afraid to resort to any overt act of retaliation against his formidable-looking rival, who could have crushed him like an insect, quietly awaited his opportunity until the German was prostrated by one of his periodical attacks. Then, approaching him cautiously, and taking care to maintain a safe distance between them, he commenced the assault in the following ingenious and charac teristic manner.

" How do you feel now, Doctor ?" No answer. "The paroxysm is over, I guess? Now, if you would be guided by my advice " A groan and convulsive spasm. " You would leave off drugging yourself with your sulphates and muriates, whicli only have the effect of tanning the coats of your stomach " " Oh ! verdammter quack !" " And of converting you into the shrivelled up and desiccated proportions of an Egyptian mummy. Why, man, your cuticle is already dark enough to make mourning gloves for your family." Another groan, the Doctor's eyes rolling wildly about in search of the nearest projectile. " If you were to study nature more, and your absurd pharmacopoeia less, I calculate you would soon be as slick as a four-year old." " Kreutz donner-wetter !" " Why don't you try my hemostatic pills ? They are free from minerals, and are composed merely of those simple botanical remedies that prolonged the lives of the patriarchs to the asre of the oak, and enabled them to people half the earth."

"Der teufel hold dich — you tamt charlatan !" " You licensed practitioners are obstinate creatures. You fancy you know all about pathology and physiology, whilst you actually create the diseases you pretend to treat. I cannot help saying that a more ignorant and benighted set " Here this complimentary allocution was suddenly brought to a termination, by a camp stool, which the Doctor's returning strength had placed within his reach, describing sundry gyrations round the Yankee's head, and putting him effectually to flight. One of the most popular men of the de tachment, owing to the amusement which he afforded us, was Johnny Broghan, as genial a little soul as ever ripened into mellowness under the combined influence of love and wine, with a rubicund and oleaginous counte nance, stuck forward like an excrescence on a short, puffy figure, and resembling as nearly as possible, in his ensemble, that lusus of vegetation, a double potato.

He had been originally a farmer in Canada, but being un fortunate in his speculations, he had, with cha racteristic want of judgment, made choice of a military career. He entered a militia regi ment in his native province, but, being trou bled with a couple of physical peculiarities, which brought him more frequently than was desirable under the notice of his commanding officer, namely, an inability to march in straight lines, or from a defect in the tympa num, to catch the voice of his superiors in the field, he received and gladly accepted an intimation from his Colonel that, as nature had not qualified him to advance the glory of the British arms, he would do well to transfer his services to some other pursuit. What his motives were for again embracing a profession in which he had cut so unhappy a figure, we never could make out, for his ancient infirmities seemed to have increased instead of diminished ; his mode of progression, owing to another little weakness that had subsequently grown upon him, having become more decidedly curvilinear, and his hearing, if possible, more difficult.

If you add to these little peculiarities a voice which can no otherwise be described than as the bubble and squeak of some floundering animal, you have Johnny's portrait as nearly as I can sketch it. Although our commanding officer had been only temporarily placed at our head, and had no intention of accompanying the expedition, it would not be fair to pass him over without notice, inasmuch as it would be difficult to find a more perfect specimen of a class not unfrequently to be met with in the States, although in Europe only familiar to us in the traditions that have consecrated the memory of Major Dalgetty. He was possessed of the true Yankee trading spirit, and regarded the profession of arms in a purely military light. Like his uncle, Colonel Jonathan D. S , who got such a hard name for his regiment, by charging bayonets on a sheriff's officer, who had disturbed his afternoon siesta, it was supposed, I know not with how much justice, that he Avas in the habit of speculating and gaining largely on the supplies for his men.

With all this, he was a favourite with them, for his arrival at the fort was invariably celebrated by " general gaol delivery," no matter how important the military offence for which the delinquents were confined. A circumstance, although trivial in itself, which occurred shortly after my arrival, will serve to illustrate thoroughly the character of the man. I have already alluded to the irregularity of the supplies of provisions fur nished to us, and on one occasion " the pres sure from within" became so great, that several of the scamps of the detachment sallied out at night for a foray through the portholes of the fort, and committed extensive depredations on the neighbouring gardens and poultry-yards. This was beginning the campaign rather early ; and the result was, that a strong remonstrance was instantly for warded to the captain's residence in the city, and he hastened to the fort in anticipation of a mutiny.

The men were immediately paraded ; but, as usual, the sly smile and whispered jest that passed along the line showed that they laboured under no very great degree of ap prehension. Our worthy commander, assuming an air of sternness calculated to make an impression on the injured parties, who were called in to assist at the scene, addressed the detachment in a speech of such indignant eloquence, that it was evident the wound inflicted on his sense of military honour would be difficult to heal. He threatened to inflict the severest punishment on the ma rauders, in case he should succeed in finding them out — an event, owing to the proverbial good nature of the captain, amongst the remotest of all possible contingencies ; and in one short hour after, when the crowd had dispersed, and whilst the tones of his stern admonition were still ringing in our ears, our worthy chief was seated before a fine bird which had formed part of the booty, and which he pronounced excellent, qualifying his eulogium only by the expression of his regret that, as we had run the risk of taking the turkey, we should have carelessly forgotten the sausages.

Having dashed off these few hurried sketches, in order to give the reader some idea of the heterogeneous elements of which the expedi tion was composed, it becomes necessary for me to say a few words respecting the organization ofthe force itself; as otherwise the laxity of discipline apparent in the foregoing details may appear strange to those unacquainted with the volunteer service of the States. The system is based upon the erroneous notion of republican equality being compatible with the requirements of a service which is in itself a pure despotism ; for the corporal is as much a despot, with reference to the private soldier, as the comraander-in-chief, whose absolute commands all are bound to obey, from the next in authority under him, down to the lowest man in the ranks. In order to soften down the arbitrary distinctions of the military service — distinctions so repugnant to Ameri can prejudices, on the score of equality — the men are permitted to choose their own officers; by which means it is supposed their greater alacrity and obedience will be se cured, and they themselves rendered more effective than mere mercenaries in the field.

But by this compromise there is nothing gained ; the individual chosen is either some one who has held out liberal promises of in dulgence and license, or some one whom government influence has succeeded in thrust ing upon them. The result is, that they have two kinds of officers; a few regularly educated and qualified for their position, but by far the greater number inexperienced and unequal to the responsibilities of military command, and whose conflicting notions of its duties and requirements give rise to dissension, disobedience, and disorder. In addition to the privilege I have mentioned, the volunteer enjoys others denied to the regular soldier. He chooses his own uniform, receives larger pay, and serves a shorter period; for which, and many other reasons, he considers himself comparatively a free agent, and possessing a right to exemp tion from the severe discipline of the army.

I may, however, state, that the volunteers have frequently found themselves placed under officers, who, although disposed to indulge them to the very verge of weakness, were not inclined to concede to them their assumed right of disobedience, and who have not failed, in cases of insubordination, to teach them that, notwithstanding the many privi leges they enjoy, they are, for the term of their service, as much bound by the regula tions of the army as the regular forces, and equally punishable for offences against discipline. But the volunteers never can become thorough soldiers, under the present system ; and I feel convinced that nothing but their individual daring and courage, under the direction of the few properly trained military men whose judgment and determination guided their reckless valour, and brought it to bear at the opportune moment, could have carried them through the many dangers they had to encounter, or enabled them to accomplish as much as they effected during the Mexican war.

Chapter II

The Departure — 'Tribulations on Board — The Green eyed Monster — The rail to Philadelphia — On Board again — Captain Briggs' elocution — The Atlantic — Scenes and incidents at Sea — Crossing the Line — A Wreck — News of Friends — Arrival at Rio de Janeiro. The 15th of August, the day of our de parture, at length arrived, with its excitement, its regrets, its bustle, and its leave-takings. We were going, at last ; but whither, few amongst us knew, and many cared not : in deed, as I have before said, none of us enter tained any very sanguine ideas of ever return ing ; for, at this period, the steadier portion of the community regarded a voyage to Cali fornia in the light of an enterprise approxi mating in sanity to an expedition to the moon, respecting which, in fact, much more was known. Nevertheless, the scene was one suggestive of varied emotions, and pregnant with interest and strong contrast.

The band played cheering airs, but the loud sobs of relatives and friends about to separate, per haps for ever, imparted deep melancholy to strains intended to be mirthful. Here and there, lovers had coupled off, and were making the most of the few remaining minutes they had to spend together ; a melancholy enjoyment participated in by several married pairs, whose affectionate and pro longed farewell conveyed a tacit reproach to sundry other couples, who, in the bustle of the embarkation, were exchanging unconjugal compliments respecting the due stowage of the baggage and the children ! In another place were brothers, bidding adieu to tearful mothers and sisters, and to fathers who man fully checked the tide of grief as it sought its natural exit. Of this class, but apart from the rest, were two fine young men, between whom the ties of consanguinity or of friend ship had been drawn so close, as to render this parting the bitterest and most affecting of all the painful incidents passing around us.

I never saw two beings more completely un manned, as they stood side by side, with hands convulsively clasped together, and the briny flood pouring in a torrent down their cheeks, presenting a picture of such intense anguish, as to attract the attention even of those who had their own sorrows to occupy them. We were so crowded, on board the schooner which was to convey us down to the steamer, that there ensued an incessant struggle on deck for breathing room : to walk about was impossible; to stand or to sit with comfort equally so ; and below, suffocation appeared imminent. To increase our tribulation and uneasiness, we had to encounter the pangs of hunger ; for we discovered that the cook had abandoned his post, and that there was no dinner. At about eleven at night, we lay to off Castle Garden, when the outcry for food became so resolute, that our first lieutenant found it imperative to send ashore for pro visions.

The embassy, however, not producing any result, inasmuch as the caterers did not make their appearance, it was judged advisable, about midnight, to despatch a second party in search of the delinquents, whom they found regaling themselves, and utterly ob livious of the cravings of their companions on board. The two parties returned together, bringing a scanty supply of bread and cheese and beer, which rapidly disappeared, the dis tribution of the former being pretty fair, but that of the liquid being regulated by the law of the strongest and the most enterprising. How ever, in spite of short commons, comparative contentment was beginning to manifest itself, when the cry of "Murder!" was suddenly uttered, in a piercing scream, by one of the women. There was a general rush to the hatch whence the shriek had proceeded, and where one of the sergeants and a lieutenant were seen engaged in what appeared a deadly struggle, each striving to throw the other overboard.