The gold hunters — Key Ideas to Explore

II. ACROSS THE ISTHMUS 38

III. A CITY IN THE MAKING 53

IV. LIFE AT HIGH SPEED 73

V. OFF FOR THE MINES 99

VI. LOOKING FOR GOLD 116

VII. INDIANS AND CHINAMEN 130

VIII. MINERS’ LAW 146

IX. GOLD IS WHERE YOU FIND IT 160

X. URSUS HORRIBILIS 173

XII. SITTERS FOR PORTRAITS 195

XIII. ON THE WAY TO DOWNIEVILLE 208

XIV. THE REASON FOR LYNCH LAW 216

XV. GROWING OVER NIGHT 227

XVI. A BAND OF WANDERERS 241

XVII. CHINESE IN THE EARLY DAYS 252

XVIII. DOWN WITH THE FLOOD 262

XIX. A BULL AND BEAR FIGHT 271

XX. A MOUNTAIN OF GOLD 286

XXI. IN LIGHTER MOOD 297

XXII. SONORA AND THE MEXICANS 306

XXIII. BULL FIGHTING 316

XXIV. A CITY BURNED 325

XXV. THE DAY WE CELEBRATE 333

XXVI. FRENCHMEN IN THE MINES 342

XXVII. THE RESOURCEFUL AMERICANS 353

ON TO THE GOLD FIELDS

About the beginning of the year 1851, the rage for emigration to California from the United States was at its height. All sorts and conditions of men, old, young, and middle-aged, allured by the hope of acquiring sudden wealth, and fascinated with the adventure and excitement of a life in California, were relinquishing their existing pursuits and associations to commence a totally new existence in the land of gold.

The rush of eager gold-hunters was so great that the Panama Steamship Company’s office in New York used to be perfectly mobbed for a day and a night previous to the day appointed for selling tickets for their steamers. Sailing vessels were despatched for Chagres almost daily, carrying crowds of passengers, while numbers went by the different routes through Mexico, and others chose the easier, but more tedious, passage round Cape Horn.

The emigration from the Western States was naturally very large, the inhabitants being a class of men whose lives are spent in clearing the wild forests of the West, and gradually driving the Indian from his hunting-ground.

Of these western-frontier men it is often said, that they are never satisfied if there is any white man between them and sundown. They are constantly moving westward; for as the wild Indian is forced to retire before them, so they, in their turn, shrinking from the signs of civilization which their own labors cause to appear around them, have to plunge deeper into the forest, in search of that wild border-life which has such charms for all who have ever experienced it.

To men of this sort, the accounts of such a country as California, thousands of miles to the westward of them, were peculiarly attractive; and so great was the emigration, that many parts of the Western States were nearly depopulated. The route followed by these people was overland, across the plains, which was the most congenial to their tastes, and the most convenient for them, as, besides being already so far to the westward, they were also provided with the necessary wagons and oxen for the journey. For the sake of mutual protection against the Indians, they traveled in trains of a dozen or more wagons, carrying the women and children and provisions, accompanied by a proportionate number of men, some on horses or mules, and others on foot.

In May, 1851, I happened to be residing in New York, and was seized with the California fever. My preparations were very soon made, and a day or two afterwards I found myself on board a small barque about to sail for Chagres with a load of California emigrants. Our vessel was little more than two hundred tons, and was entirely devoted to the accommodation of passengers. The ballast was covered with a temporary deck, and the whole interior of the ship formed a saloon, round which were built three tiers of berths: a very rough extempore table and benches completed the furniture. There was no invidious distinction of cabin and steerage passengers--in fact, excepting the captain’s room, there was nothing which could be called a cabin in the ship. But all were in good spirits, and so much engrossed with thoughts of California that there was little disposition to grumble at the rough-and-ready style of our accommodation. For my own part, I knew I should have to rough it in California, and felt that I might just as well begin at once as wait till I got there.

We numbered about sixty passengers, and a nice assortment we were. The majority, of course, were Americans, and were from all parts of the Union; the rest were English, French, and German. We had representatives of nearly every trade, besides farmers, engineers, lawyers, doctors, merchants, and nondescript “young men.”