The land of gold; reality versus fiction

Introductory Remarks--Erroneous opinions respecting California--Sterility of the Soil--The Seasons--Destitution of Mechanical and Manufacturing Resources--Dependence upon Import...

California statistically considered--Cost of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo--Price of Passage and Services of Immigrants--Total Yield of the Mines--Amount of Property destroyed...

Extraordinary Depravity and Corruption--Reasons assigned for the laxity of Morals--Much of the Degeneracy and Dissipation attributable to the absence of female society--The Case...

Importance of San Francisco--The Golden Gate--The Harbor--Long Wharf--A Motley Crowd--The Shipping--Names of Vessels--Vagrant Boys--Commercial Street--Wooden Tenements--The Jews...

National habits and traits of Chinese Character--Their Dress--The number of Chinese in California--How they employ their time--Their arrogance and presumption--Manner of Eating-...

The Pacific Side of the Continent much Inferior to the Atlantic Side--Poverty and Suffering in California--Rash and mistaken ideas of the country--A few very Fertile Valleys--Va...

Trip to the Mines--Modus Operandi of Single-handed Mining--Names of Bars--Mining Laws--More Gentility and Nobleness of Soul among the Miners than any other Class of People in Ca...

Situation of Stockton--The San Joaquin Valley--Trip to Sonora--The best Hotel in the Place--A Lunatic--A Gambling Prodigy--Shooting Affair--A case of Lynch Law--Description of S...

Embarkation from New York--A Terrible Storm--Loss of Masts and narrow escape from Shipwreck--Wreck of a Swedish Brig--An unfortunate Little Bird--Patagonia and Cape Horn--Stoppa...

Departure from San Francisco--Matters and Things aboard the Steamer--The Passengers--A Hoax--Arrival at San Juan del Sur--Novel Mode of Debarkation--Ludicrous Scenes--Trip acros...

Trip to Bodega on a Mischievous and Refractory Mule--A Chinese Encampment--Description of the country in the vicinity of Bodega--The Village of Petaluma--Cruel Treatment of an I...

Indolence and Insignificance of the Digger Indians--What they eat--Means of obtaining the Necessaries of Life--Their Habits and Peculiarities--An Incident at a Slaughterhouse--T...

Resume of the preceding chapters--Arguments in favor of the Atlantic and Pacific Railway--Advantages of the Southern Route--Abstract of the Report of the Secretary of War on the...

An intelligent and patriotic curiosity will find the history of few countries more interesting than that of California--which has at length realized those dreams of El Dorado th...

Let us now take a glance at the _pros_ and _cons_ of California in statistical form. I have said that the State is bankrupt, that she has never returned an equivalent for the la...

Having looked into the financial condition of California, let us now briefly consider the moral and religious state of its society, We know that we are undertaking an ungrateful...

It has not been more truthfully remarked that Paris is France, than that San Francisco is California. This is the grand mart in which all the travel, news, capital, business, an...

We will now look into Clay street, which intersects Montgomery, and runs parallel with Commercial. Next to Montgomery, this is the most fashionable street in the city; the large...

After a night’s lodging in one of the human-stables of San Francisco, called here, for politeness’ sake, hotels, we feel sufficiently refreshed to continue our reconnoissance of...

The national habits and traits of Chinese character, to which they cling with uncompromising tenacity in this country, are strikingly anomalous and distinct from those of all ot...

California has features as distinct and peculiar as the Alps or the Andes. It cannot be mistaken for any other country; it is like no other region on the face of the earth. Bein...

The Sabbath in California is kept, when kept at all, as a day of hilarity and bacchanalian sports, rather than as a season of holy meditation or religious devotion. Horse-racing...

It was a beautiful Sabbath morning in November, when the bells aroused me from a dreamy sleep; but before arising from my couch, being lazy and inclined to muse, I allowed my fa...

Mission Dolores, the place where these cruel sports were held, is a small village about two miles south-west of San Francisco, which was first settled by a couple of Roman Catho...

Sacramento is situated on the river and in the heart of the valley of the same name, about one hundred miles north-east of San Francisco. It is the second city in the State in s...

My first experience in mining was obtained on the banks of the Yuba river, a small tributary of the Feather, which is itself a branch of the Sacramento. Our party, in a stage-co...

I have perambulated the streets of San Francisco, Sacramento, Marysville and Stockton; but of all the California cities, after San Francisco, Stockton is my choice. It is named...

Among our readers there may be some who are contemplating a trip to California, and may be hesitating between the two routes commonly traveled. For their sakes, I have violated...

About six hundred homeward-bound passengers, myself included, left San Francisco on the 16th of March, in the splendid steamship Cortes, under command of Captain Cropper. It bei...

More than satisfied with the experience I had acquired in mining operations in California, I found much difficulty in deciding upon my future course. At one time I made up my mi...

The title of our chapter will bring up to the minds of all who visited California, during its early days, some startling recollections. The Vigilance Committee was the instituti...

Once more in San Francisco, I made preparations to return to the Atlantic States as rapidly as my health and dilapidated means would permit. Before leaving this pseudo Eldorado...

Of all the aborigines that are known to travelers within the limits of the western continent, the Digger Indians are certainly the most filthy and abominable. A worse set of vag...

In the preceding chapters it has been my purpose to impart such information as would lead my reader to a correct knowledge of the present condition of things in California, and...