The man in his tent, who had squatted on Rincon Point,
an elevated locality, that commanded a grand view
of the bay, informed me that when he squatted there
with his tent, that he could find no person who claimed
the land. He had been there but a few days, when
some parties came to him and offered to give him so
much a month for the privilege of putting up their
tent near his. He said he had no objections.
They paid him. Then other parties who wanted
to put up their tents were referred to him. From
these various persons he was getting a very liberal
income. He informed me that as long as it lasted,
he was in no hurry to go to the mines.
THE CLIPPER SHIPS.
About this time was the first appearance of the celebrated
clipper ships. They anchored off of Happy Valley
and attracted great attention; they could make the
trip around Cape Horn from New York to San Francisco
in three or four months; they run wet; their bows were
very sharp, and, in a rough sea, instead of mounting
the waves, they cut them, and the bows ran under water,
and their progress was not impeded by the waves, saving
two or three months’ time, which was of great
consideration then. There was no railroad across
the Isthmus then, and there was no other way of transporting
freight between the cities of New York and San Francisco
except around Cape Horn. They had great fame then.
England conceded their superiority over all other
sailing vessels for speed; but they have passed away,
the railroad reducing the time to from five to eight
days; of course, there is a great difference between
that and three or four months. The days of sailing
vessels, however great their speed, to a great extent,
is gone. Besides, there are regular lines of
steamers to most every port of the world, and the ocean
is covered with tramp steamers.
That winter a convention was called to organize a
State government and apply for admission to the Union.
The Southern element there wanted to make it a slave
State. The Northerners, including both Whigs and
Democrats, wanted it free. They did not want to
be brought in competition with slave labor in the
mines, and have their occupation degraded in that
way. Their pride, as well as interest, was at
stake, and there was great feeling on the subject.
Meetings were called all through the mines and addresses
made and candidates nominated. The average of
intelligence there was away above any other part of
the country. For they were men of enterprise,
or they would not have been there in that early day.
At Mormon Island, one of the miners got up and made
a speech. He so impressed them with his ability
that they unanimously nominated him as their candidate
to the Constitutional Convention. He was an old
acquaintance of mine. In 1847 or 1848 he was a
Democratic member of the Legislature of the State of
New York, from Washington county, and was chosen by
that body to deliver the oration on Washington’s
Copyrights
The Adventures of a Forty-niner from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.
