Part 59

The landlord started off to bring my allowance of opium, lamp, pipe, etc., and the colonel improved the opportunity to illustrate his theory that the opium smoker is not absolutely insensible to pain, like the patient who inhales chloroform, but simply too drunk to resent the imposition which produces it. Tearing off a little slip of cane from the edge of one of the couches, he went up to the wholly insensible customer on the couch, and inserting it in his nostril twirled it swiftly around. A sharp sneeze and a convulsive winking of the dull eyes followed, but no other movement was made by the sleeper. “There, you see now that I am right! If he had taken chloroform he would not even sneeze; his nerves would be utterly incapable of receiving a sensation.”

[Sidenote: WAKING THE WRONG PASSENGER.]

Turning to the other customer, who now lay like a log on his couch, he drew his penknife, opened it, then, changing his mind, put it back, and taking a pin from his vest, inserted it quickly in the calf of his victim’s leg. The other leg, which was hanging half over the side of the couch, straightened out with a quick, convulsive movement, and the toe of the heavy felt and wooden-soled shoe on the foot came in contact with the colonel’s shin with a vicious energy, which sent him dancing back to the doorway with a remark which did not sound like a blessing, just as the proprietor came in with the opium and its accessories. “Why the —— don’t you make your customers take their boots off when they go to bed?” the colonel demanded savagely of the smiling and obsequious master of the house, as he rubbed his shin and cast a glance of hatred at the recumbent form of the lodger who had proved such a poor subject for experiments. “Me no shabbee!” was the non-committal reply.

I lay down on the bed and placed myself in the orthodox position, the doctor resting himself at my head, and the colonel rolling a cigarito and settling down on the edge of the couch at my feet. The host prepared the opium, placed it in the pipe, presented the end of the stick to my lips, and told me, after his own fashion, to pull away. I pulled, and began choking and coughing. The first experiment was a dead failure; the next was more nearly a success, and I felt my head rapidly assuming the dimensions of a sugar-barrel while my body and legs appeared to be shrinking proportionately, all their bulk being drawn up towards and into my head. I felt as I imagine drowning people feel, and gasped convulsively for breath. I could not recognize anything around me for a moment, and then I saw the dark eyes and long mustachios of the colonel coming out of a cloud of smoke and making directly for me at lightning speed, like a hairy comet flying through the air. The idea flashed through my brain that he was about to burn a match under my nose, or commit some similar atrocity by way of an experiment “in the interest of science,” and as one struggling in a horrible nightmare I sprang off the bed, staggering around without being able to feel my feet under me, and groping blindly about for something to seize in order to steady myself.

[Sidenote: EXPERIENCE OF A NOVICE.]

There was a low, dull humming in my ears, a giddiness in my head, and a general sense of faintness and nausea pervading my entire system. “For God’s sake, take me out of this!” I cried, at last; and some time after I realized that I was being walked up and down the sidewalk, the doctor and the colonel supporting me on either side. My head was getting clearer, but I felt deadly ill. The faint, sickening odor of the opium fumes clung around me and oppressed me, and I said as much at last, as I leaned heavily against a lamp-post.

The colonel with his usual enthusiasm exclaimed, “O, yes, I see it; you want a good strong stimulant of some kind to help you get rid of it. Now, I know a Mexican over on the corner of Vallejo Street, who has got some double refined _Mescal_, which will dissolve a gun-flint in half an hour; one good drink of that will set you all right.”

“Not if I know myself aright!” I remarked, emphatically. “You are the most hospitable people I have ever fallen in with. Your good intentions are unbounded, and your kindness I never can forget, but I don’t want any _Mescal_ to-night. I have made a sufficient number of new acquaintances for one evening. Pisco, Cocomongo, Betel, Samshoo, and Opium, are all very fine in their way, but the new things are crowding each other a little too fast. We will omit the _Mescal_ on this occasion; I want to go home!”

They called a hack, and we rode back to the Occidental in silence. This was my first experience in a San Francisco opium den.

It will also be my last!

Next morning the colonel called on me and said he had forgotten something—an opium den worse than the one we had seen.

“How’s that?” I asked.

[Sidenote: LIVING IN A SEWER.]

“Why,” said the colonel, “it is an opium den of a very romantic character. Some years ago the line of Jackson Street was changed by the city authorities, and it became necessary to build new sewers. The old sewer was given up, and in the new arrangements it was under some of the buildings occupied by the Chinese. They took possession of it, and hollowed out galleries on either side. The enterprising proprietors converted it into an opium palace, at the popular admission fee of two cents. The accommodations and odors are a hundred-fold worse than those of the place where we were last night. For two cents you can get smells enough to last you a lifetime. Do you want to go?”

I concluded that I wanted nothing more in the opium line, and declined to go. I may have been too fastidious, but I had not then travelled as much as I have in later years, and novices, you know, are inclined to be particular.

A sewer, whether abandoned or not, has few charms. At St. Louis there are, or were when I was last there, some of the smaller sewers that are so broken at their mouths, near the river’s edge, as to present the appearance of natural springs where the water oozes up through the sand. One day a gentleman was standing near one of these sewer mouths, when two countrymen came strolling along the bank, one of them thirty feet ahead of the other. As the foremost of the twain spied the water slowly pouring from the earth, he shouted to his friend,—

“Hullo, Jim; here’s another spring!”

“Well, Gaul darn it,” answered the other, “if tain’t no better water than the last we found I don’t want none of it.”

LV.

GOLD AND ITS USES.

ANTIQUITY OF GOLD.—ITS WORSHIP.—ANCIENT GOLD MINES.—KING SOLOMON.—GOLD IN AMERICA.—STORY OF A HUNTER.—THE SHEPHERD AND THE CHILD.—HOW PIZARRO EUCHRED THE PERUVIAN KING.—SUTTER’S FORT AND SAW-MILL.—MARSHALL’S DISCOVERY IN THE MILL-RACE.—ROMANCE AND REALITY.—SPREADING THE NEWS.—NAVIGATION UNDER DISADVANTAGES.—THE GOLD EXCITEMENT.—THE PAN AND ROCKER.—THE AUTHOR AS A GOLD MINER.—HOW HE WORKED THE ROCKER.—HARRY AND HIS TIN DIPPER.—DISAPPOINTMENT AND DINNER.—VICISSITUDES OF GOLD MINING.

The most valuable metal generally known is gold, and it is likewise one of the most ancient. It is found in various parts of the globe, and is sufficiently scarce, and sufficiently hard to obtain, to make it precious. No doubt there is enough of it in the composition of this globe, if it could be easily obtained, to make it a very common metal. An Irishman once said, speaking of the gold mines of California, that there was sufficient of the precious metal there, but it was terribly mixed up with dirt. If it were not for this mixing with dirt, and the difficulty of separating it, all of us might have gold enough and to spare, though it is quite possible that it might be of no more value than tin or brass.

The peculiarity of gold is, that it is never obtained entirely pure. Silver is always alloyed with it, but in no definite proportions. One of the purest specimens ever obtained gave, when analyzed, ninety-eight hundredths of gold, while the remaining two hundredths were about equally divided between silver and copper. Sometimes gold is found alloyed with silver in about equal proportions.

[Sidenote: GOLD IN ANCIENT TIMES.]

Gold is frequently referred to in the Scriptures, both in the Old Testament and in the New; in one of the earliest books of the Old Testament many applications of gold are described similar to those of the present day. It was beaten into plates, drawn into wires, and even woven with threads of linen for priestly robes. It was fashioned into breastplates, wrought into chains, and used as a setting for precious stones.

Sometimes it was made into gods and idols, and in some parts of the world it is worshipped as an idol up to the present day. A great many men and women in this nineteenth century worship gold more earnestly and more devotedly than they worship anything else.

The ancients, when they wrought their gold into idols, evidently had a keen perception of human nature.

An idol of iron or of wood may be of little account; but let one be made of gold, especially of solid gold, and with diamonds for eyes, and the whole world will fall down and worship it.

Where the ancients obtained their gold is not positively known, but it is supposed that it was brought from Africa or the East Indies, for the reason that the fleet of Solomon, in addition to gold, brought back ivory, spices, precious stones, ebony, peacocks, apes, and sandal wood. The cargoes of King Solomon were evidently of a widely assorted character, and doubtless found a good market. Gold mines were evidently worked in the desert of Gobi in the early days, and along the Ural Mountains there are now found the traces of ancient mining operations supposed to date back to the time of King Solomon.

In the time of the Romans gold was not so abundant, and in the middle ages the production was very small. At the date of the discovery of America, it was estimated that the whole amount of gold and silver in the old world was about one hundred and seventy millions of dollars, and that the supply obtained each year did not exceed the loss by wear and other forms of destruction.

[Sidenote: THE RICHEST GOLD MINES.]

To enumerate all the gold mines of the world would require much more space than I have at my disposal. Nearly all parts of Europe contain deposits of the precious metal, though in many places where the ground is known to be auriferous the deposits are too poor to pay the expenses of working. The richest gold mines of Europe are in Russia, particularly along the Ural Mountains. The eastern slope of the Ural Mountains is more productive than the western, and the richest portion of Northern Asia, so far as gold is concerned, is in Eastern Siberia. Gold mining in that region, although not productive, is comparatively in its infancy, and great results may be looked for before many years. Until quite recently all mines in Russia were owned by the government, and were operated by officers in the interest of the crown. The result was, that there was very little enterprise displayed in mining operations. The officer in charge of a mining district would be unwilling to take any active steps, or run great risks in the explorations in the interest of the gold mines, as he would know that if he failed to return a profit to the government he would very likely lose his place. Consequently nearly all the mining operations were conducted on a sure basis.

Some years ago the Russian government changed its policy, and began throwing open its mining works to private enterprise, exacting from the miners a liberal percentage of the gross amount of gold and silver which they had obtained. The result was, that under the stimulus of the enterprise,—in which private organizations will always excel the government,—the mining interest in Russia increased rapidly, and the government now obtains from its percentage a much larger annual revenue than it had obtained before from the gold.

The discoveries of gold in America date from a very early period. There were large quantities of gold and silver in the hands of the Peruvians and the Aztecs at the time of the famous expedition of Pizarro and Cortes. A story is told of one of the captured kings of Peru, who, in order to secure his ransom, agreed to bring together in two months gold and silver enough to fill his room. This would have been a sufficiently great undertaking had he been confined in an ordinary prison cell; but his captor, with an eye to business, had put him in a large apartment, suited to his royal state. The room is said to have been twenty-two feet long, seventeen feet wide, and nine feet high. Such was the richness of Peru in the precious metals, that the old king had no doubt of his ability to meet his contract; and he did fill the room in the time. When his work was finished, and the metal was melted, it was found that he had collected over fifteen millions of dollars—a very handsome sum to pay for his liberty, which he did not get after all.

[Sidenote: DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN AMERICA.]

From the time of the discovery in America until 1520, there was more gold than silver exported to Europe; but about that time Mexico was conquered, and large quantities of silver were obtained. In the first three hundred years succeeding the discovery of America, the receipts of American gold were estimated at three and a half times the production of the old world, and those of silver at twelve times the amount of this metal produced outside of America. Gold was dug in America many hundreds of years ago. In some portions of Georgia the ruins of ancient huts and utensils were uncovered a few years ago in working some of the mines, and they are supposed to have belonged to a race of men now extinct, though it is contended by some persons that these gold works belonged to the period of Ferdinand de Soto. In the early part of this century gold mines were successfully worked in the Carolinas, Georgia, and other states; but latterly the yield from these mines has greatly declined, and the returns of gold are quite small.

The discoveries of gold in California in 1848, and in Australia three years later, are events in the history of the human race of more importance than the discoveries of Mexico and Peru in the days of Cortes and Pizarro. These discoveries have given a new impetus to the migratory population of the whole world, built up large cities and regions where before there was only a wilderness, carried civilization and commerce where they were never known before, brought together strange people of all nations, mingling them in harmony side by side, and have done more, perhaps, in the cause of universal peace and good will among all nations than any other discoveries of the present day.

In California, more than in any other part of America, people of all nations are assembled. In the streets of San Francisco one may see the synagogue, the church, and the pagoda. Christian and pagan, Jew and gentile, are mingled in the crowds that pass along the streets, and they are found laboring side by side to obtain the chief end of a large part of human existence—the possession of wealth.

[Sidenote: ROMANTIC STORIES.]

The discovery of gold in California, like many discoveries of gold and silver elsewhere, was not the work of science. It very often happens that those find who do not seek. A shepherd, a poor laborer, and even children are chosen by Nature to reveal to the world the treasures which she holds beneath the surface. It was not Columbus, nor Cortes, nor Pizarro who discovered the silver of South America, but an Indian hunter. The most famous silver mines of Peru were found in the same way. One day a shepherd, leading his flock to feed on the slopes of the Andes, lighted some bushes to prepare his frugal meal. A pebble heated by the flame attracted his attention through its brightness, which reflected the rays of the sun. He found the stone massive and heavy, and finally carried it to the mint at Lima, where it was tested, and proved to be silver. The poor shepherd through his discovery became a millionaire.

A hunter, climbing the rocks in search of game, pulled up a bush, and found pieces of silver imbedded in the earth which the roots retained. A child, playing one day in the valley near the cottage of a poor peasant in Russia, picked up a shining pebble, and brought it home. The pebble was found to be very heavy, and on examination proved to be of gold. Investigations followed this discovery, and an extensive gold field was opened.

The discovery of gold in California was accidental. Captain Sutter, who had seen many vicissitudes and adventures in Europe and the wilds of America, arrived in California in 1839; and two years later he obtained a grant of land, and built a fort, which soon became the refuge for people coming into the country. The pioneers of California all bear testimony to the generosity of Captain Sutter at the time when his fort was the capital, and he was king of the American colony in the valley of the Sacramento. The legislature of California a few years ago recognized his claims to the generosity of the people of the Pacific coast by granting him a small pension for the remainder of his life.

[Sidenote: SHINING PARTICLES IN A MILL-RACE.]

Captain Sutter erected a saw-mill on the south fork of the American River, at a place now called Coloma. On the 19th day of January, 1848, James W. Marshall, while engaged in digging a race for the saw-mill, found some pieces of yellow metal, which he and the half dozen men working with him at the mill supposed to be gold. He was confident of the importance of the discovery, but he knew nothing of chemistry or gold mining, and therefore could not prove the nature of the metal, or know how to obtain it in paying quantities. Every day he examined the mill-race to look for the metal; every man at the mill thought Marshall was very wild, and so paid little attention to him. The swift current of the mill-race washed away much of the earth, and by this means particles of gold were left behind.

In a little while Marshall had quite a collection of specimens, and his associates began to think that possibly there might be a gold mine there after all. About the middle of February, one of the party employed at the mill went to San Francisco, and took these specimens with him. He was introduced to a gold miner from Georgia, who was immediately satisfied of the character of the metal, and knew that the diggings must be rich. This miner, Humphrey by name, determined to go at once to the mill, and examine the digging.

He arrived there on the 7th of March, and found work going on at the mill just as if there was no gold within a thousand miles. The next day he took a pan and spade, and washed some of the dirt from the bottom of the mill-race; and in a few hours he pronounced the mine the richest he had ever seen or known in Georgia. He then made a rocker, and went to work washing for gold, and every day he obtained an ounce or two of metal. The men at the mill made rockers for themselves, and all were soon busy in searching for gold. Everything else was abandoned.

The rumor of the discovery did not spread rapidly. In the middle of March the owner of a large ranche at the head of the Sacramento valley visited Sutter’s fort, heard of the mining at Coloma, and went to see it. He said that if similarity of formation could be taken as proof, there must be gold on his ranche. So, after ascertaining the mode of washing, he posted off, and in a few weeks was at work on the bars of Clear Creek, nearly two hundred miles from Coloma. A few days later, another man visited the mill, and the result was, that in less than a month, he had a party of Indians washing gold on Feather River, twenty-five miles from Coloma. Thus the gold mines were opened almost simultaneously at distant points.

The first printed notice of the discovery of gold was given in a newspaper published in San Francisco, on the 15th of March. On the 29th of May, the same paper announced that its publication would be suspended, and said,—

[Sidenote: THE RUSH FOR THE MINES.]

“The whole country, from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and from the sea-shore to the base of the Sierra Nevada, resounds with the sordid cry of, Gold! gold! gold!—while the field is left half planted, the house half built, and everything neglected but the manufacture of picks, and shovels, and the means of transportation to the spot where a man obtained one hundred and twenty dollars’ worth of the real stuff in one day’s washing, and the average for all concerned was twenty dollars per diem.”

The towns and villages were deserted. Farmers left their fields, and the crews of ships at anchor in San Francisco Bay deserted; soldiers left their posts; herdsmen abandoned their charges, and everybody made the quickest possible speed to the mines. Merchants of San Francisco found their clerks leaving their counters, and in many instances, after struggling against fate, finding themselves alone, without assistance and unable to obtain any, they closed their shops, and followed the example of their subordinates.

[Sidenote: HOW A SHIP WAS DESERTED.]

It is related that one day a ship came into port, having taken a pilot outside the entrance to the bay. The pilot, in the hearing of some of the crew, told the captain of the wonderful discovery, and, as he afterwards acknowledged, exaggerated the real state of affairs very considerably. The ship came to anchor about sunset, and was to be moved to her dock the next morning. When the captain went on deck to wait the arrival of his pilot, he found nobody on board. The sailors had heard the story of wonderful fortunes to be obtained in the mines, and they had stolen a boat, and gone ashore. The first and second mates had followed the example of the men, leaving the captain to his solitary ship. The pilot came off, as agreed. He was a conservative old grandfather, who did not believe in making money; otherwise there would have been no pilot at all. He told the captain that it was useless to try to get the ship to the dock, or do anything with her; and the latter, after thinking the matter over, concluded it would be best to leave the craft at anchor, put her in charge of a keeper, if such a man could possibly be found, and make a journey to the mines himself.

The first specimen of gold sent from California to New York was forwarded to the editor of the New York Herald, the paper which was first on the Atlantic coast to announce the discovery. The first rumors were received with incredulity and ridicule, but very soon the specimens of the precious metal coming in considerable quantities, and the enthusiastic letters of officers of the army and men of good repute, changed the current of feeling, and an almost unparalleled excitement began. It spread through Europe and Asia, and the thirst for gold was universal. In 1847 the population of California altogether was not fifteen thousand; in 1849 the great rush began, and it was estimated that, during the six months from the 1st of July, 1849, to the 1st of January, 1850, ninety thousand persons arrived in California from Mexico, Chili, Peru, the Sandwich Islands, United States, and Europe. Of this ninety thousand, such were the hardships they had to endure, and the privations to which they were subjected, one fifth of the entire number perished by disease within six months succeeding their arrival.

Before 1850 the population of California had risen to one hundred thousand, and it has been increasing ever since. Its population ten years later was estimated at about seven hundred thousand.