Gold Seekers of '49

Edwin L. (Edwin Legrand) Sabin

Informations

• Publié par: vuim
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 37
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Gold Seekers of '49, by Edwin L. Sabin This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Gold Seekers of '49 Author: Edwin L. Sabin Illustrator: Charles H. Stephens Release Date: October 25, 2007 [EBook #23192] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GOLD SEEKERS OF '49 *** Produced by Al Haines "You stole those papers" GOLD SEEKERS OF '49 HOW IN THE YEAR 1849 CHARLEY ADAMS AND HIS FATHER SET OUT FOR FAR CALIFORNIA, THERE TO FIND A GOLD MINE; HOW THEY CROSSED THE TROPICAL ISTHMUS OF PANAMA, BY CANOE AND BY MULE TO THE PACIFIC SIDE; HOW THEY LANDED AT LAST IN WONDERFUL SAN FRANCISCO, AND WHAT BEFELL THEM THERE AND IN THE HIGH SIERRAS; RELATING HOW THEY ENCOUNTERED FORTUNE AND MISFORTUNE IN THAT NEW LAND PEOPLED FROM EVERY QUARTER OF THE GLOBE BY EDWIN L. SABIN AUTHOR OF "WITH CARSON AND FRÉMONT," "ON THE PLAINS WITH CUSTER," "BUFFALO BILL AND THE OVERLAND TRAIL," ETC. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY CHARLES H. STEPHENS AND MAPS PHILADELPHIA & LONDON J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY TO THE AMERICAN BOY AND THIS WONDERFUL LAND WHICH IS HIS IN WHICH TO GROW AND PROSPER Part of God's providence it was to found A Nation's bulwark on this chosen ground; Not Jesuit's zeal nor pioneer's unrest Planted these pickets in the distant West, But He who first the Nation's fate forecast Placed here His fountains sealed for ages past, Rock-ribbed and guarded till the coming time Should fit the people for their work sublime; When a new Moses with his rod of steel Smote the tall cliffs with one wide-ringing peal, And the old miracle in record told To the new Nation was revealed in gold. —BRET HARTE FOREWORD It has taken Americans to build the Panama Canal, and it took the Americans to build California. These are two great feats of which we Americans of the United States may well be proud: the building of that canal, in the strange tropics 2000 miles away across the water, and the up-rearing of a mighty State, under equally strange conditions, 2000 miles away across plains and mountains. On the Isthmus men of many nationalities combined like a vast family; each man, from laborer to engineer, doing his stint, without favoritism and without graft, toward the big result. So in California likewise a people collected from practically all the world became Americans together under the Flag, and working shoulder to shoulder—rich and poor, old and young, educated and uneducated, no matter what their manner of life previously—they joined forces to make California worthy of being a State in the Union. So hurrah for the Panama Canal, built by American methods which encourage every man to do his share; and hurrah for California, raised to Statehood upon the foundation of American equality! The discovery of gold in California was hailed as an occasion for getting rich quick; but its purpose proved to be the development of character. It seems a long, long way back to Forty-nine, when across the Isthmus and across the plains thousands of men—yes, and not a few women and children—pluckily forged ahead, bound for the Land of Gold. Some made their fortunes, but the best that any of them achieved lay in the towns that they founded, the laws that they enacted, the homes that they established, and the realization that these things were of more importance than the mere frenzy for quick wealth. In not many years the completion of the Canal will also seem a long, long way back. We Americans will have turned to some other marvelous accomplishment, but the Canal will continue to exist as a monument to American energy and democracy. So we who share in that California which our elders made, by railroad and canal hurried so comfortably over the trails that they toilsomely opened in years agone, have a great deal to think about and a great deal of which to be proud. EDWIN L. SABIN CALIFORNIA, June 1, 1915. CONTENTS CHAPTER THE STORY OF CALIFORNIA THE PANAMA CANAL THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER HURRAH FOR THE GOLDEN WEST AN UNWELCOME COMPANION A FRIEND IN NEED AN ATTACK BY THE ENEMY THE LANDING AT THE ISTHMUS A RACE UP THE RIVER A TRICK—AND ITS CONSEQUENCES TIT FOR TAT ALMOST LEFT BEHIND CHARLEY LOSES OUT CALIFORNIA HO! INTO THE GOLDEN GATE ALL ASHORE THE SIGHTS OF SAN FRANCISCO CHARLEY HEARS A CONVERSATION ON TO THE DIGGIN'S THE TRAIL OF THE ENEMY A GREAT DISCOVERY ANOTHER GREAT DISCOVERY MINERS' JUSTICE THE BEST OF ALL I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. XIX. XX. XXI. XXII. ILLUSTRATIONS "YOU STOLE THOSE PAPERS" . . . . . . . . . . . . Frontispiece "OVER THEY GO!" DOWN SLIPPED CHARLEY'S HORSE FROM THE TRAIL "I'VE LOST THE PAPERS" BILLY STEPPED ON HIS LEAD ROPE AND LEVELED HIS GUN LIKE LIGHTNING MAPS THE MAP FROM THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER FROM NEW ORLEANS TO SAN FRANCISCO, 1849 THE ROUTE ACROSS THE ISTHMUS IN 1849 THE VOYAGE OF THE SCHOONER "MARY ANN" FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO THE GOLD FIELDS, 1849 FROM SACRAMENTO TO "THE DIGGIN'S," 1849 THE STORY OF CALIFORNIA 1542—On September 28, 1542, Captain Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, a Portuguese navigator in the service of Spain, on a voyage of exploration along the coast northward from Mexico casts anchor of his two small ships, the San Salvador and the Victoria, in San Diego Bay. He christens it the Puerta de San Miguel (Port of Saint Michael). Thence his ships explore north clear to the line of present Oregon. Mid-voyage he dies from an accident, and is buried on San Miguel Island, opposite present Santa Barbara. The exploration is continued by his lieutenant, Bartolome Ferrelo. 1579—In June, 1579, Sir Francis Drake, English adventurer, lands near the Bay of San Francisco, to overhaul his ship, the Golden Hind . He takes possession of the shore for Queen Elizabeth, christens it New Albion, and erects a monument. His bay is called Francis Drake's Bay. 1587—The Bay of Monterey visited, according to description, in 1587, by the Spanish navigator Pedro de Unamunu, in his ship Nuestra Señora de la Esperança (Our Lady of Hope). He lands and erects a cross, and christens the place Puerta de San Lucas (Port of Saint Luke), taking possession for the King of Spain. 1595—In 1595 the Spanish navigator Sebastian Rodriguez Cermeno is wrecked in Francis Drake's Bay, to which he gives the name Bay of San Francisco. This was a small bay behind Point Reyes, north of the entrance to the Golden Gate. 1602—Cabrillo's Port of San Miguel entered in 1602 by the Spanish navigator Sebastian Vizcaino, with four vessels: the San Diego (Saint James), the Santo Tomas (Saint Thomas), the Tres Reyes (Three Kings), and a launch. He christens the bay San Diego. Voyaging further, he rediscovers the Port of San Lucas, and christens it Monterey, in honor of the Count of Monterey, the ruler for Spain in Mexico. 1769—Sent out by Comandante José de Galvez, inspector general for Spain in Mexico, in 1769 the first expedition by land ascends from Lower California of Mexico into Alta (Upper) California. It is in two parties, one commanded by Captain Rivera y Moncada and accompanied by the Franciscan priest Padre Juan Crespi, the other commanded by Gaspar de Portola, governor of the Californias for Spain, and accompanied by the Franciscan priest Padre Junipero Serra. The object was to establish three Franciscan missions—one at San Diego, one at Monterey, one at San Francisco; and at Monterey a town and a fort. By sea set forth, with another expedition, and with supplies, the ships San Carlos (Saint Charles), San Antonio (Saint Anthony), and San José (Saint Joseph). Th e San José was disabled at the start. The meeting place was to be San Diego. Here, July 16, 1769, the mission of San Diego de Arcala is founded. 1769—November 2, 1769, the present Bay of San Francisco is discovered, from a hill, by some soldiers in the party of Gaspar de Portola, who had led an expedition northward from San Diego, to search for Monterey. 1770—June 3, 1770, the mission of San Carlos Borromeo de Monterey is founded. Three other missions follow, to September, 1772. 1776—September 17, 1776, the presidio or military station of San Francisco is founded. 1776—October 9, 1776, the mission of San Francisco de Asis is dedicated, on the shore of the real San Francisco Bay. By August 23, 1823, twenty-one missions have been placed. 1781—September 4, 1781, the town of Los Angeles is established. 1794—In 1794, as old records say, the first American arrived, landing from a ship and settling in Santa Barbara. He is called by the Californians, "Boston Boy." 1804—Upper California is made a separate Spanish province, by royal decree of August 29, 1804. 1821—By revolt of Mexico against Spain, in 1821 California becomes a Mexican province. 1826—In 1826 arrive the first Americans by land, being a party of trappers led from Salt Lake by Jedediah S. Smith. 1832—Captain Benjamin Morrell, Jr., of the American vessel Tartar, after having stopped at California publishes, in 1832, a book upon his travels, in which he urges the acquisition of California by the United States. 1835—President Andrew Jackson authorizes Colonel Anthony Butler, American official in Mexico, to purchase, if possible, for the United States, "the whole bay of San Francisco." The plan fails. 1839—July 3, 1839, arrives at Monterey Captain John August Sutter, a Swiss-American. In August he takes up a tract of land on the south bank of the American River, east from present Sacramento, and there establishes a trading post which he names New Helvetia, but which became better known as Sutter's Fort. The post grows to be a rallying place for American trappers and settlers. 1841—In November, 1841, arrive the first company of American