SONORA AND THE MEXICANS
From Angel’s Camp I went on a few miles to Carson’s Creek, on which
there was a small camp, lying at the foot of a hill, which was named
after the same man. On its summit a quartz vein cropped out in large
masses to the height of thirty or forty feet, looking at a distance like
the remains of a solid wall of fortification. It had only been worked a
few feet from the surface, but already an incredible amount of gold had
been taken out of it.
Every place in the mines had its traditions of wonderful events which
had occurred in the olden times; that is to say, as far back as
“’49”--for three years in such a fast country were equal to a century;
and at this place the tradition was, that, when the quartz vein was
first worked, the method adopted was to put in a blast, and, after the
explosion, to go round with handbaskets and pick up the pieces. I
believe this was only a slight exaggeration of the truth, for at this
particular part of the vein there had been found what is there called a
“pocket,” a spot not more than a few feet in extent, where lumps of gold
in unusual quantities lie imbedded in the rock. No systematic plan had
been followed in opening the mine with a view to the proper working of
it; but several irregular excavations had been made in the rock
wherever the miners had found the gold most plentiful. For nearly a year
it had not been worked at all, in consequence of several disputes as to
the ownership of the claims; and in the meantime the lawyers were the
only parties who were making anything out of it.
On the other side of the hill, however, was a claim on the same vein,
which was in undisputed possession of a company of Americans, who
employed a number of Mexicans to work it, under the direction of an
experienced old Mexican miner. They had three shafts sunk in the solid
rock, in a line with each other, to the depth of two hundred feet, from
which galleries extended at different points, where the gold-bearing
quartz was found in the greatest abundance. No ropes or windlasses were
used for descending the shafts; but at every thirty feet or so there was
a sort of step or platform, resting on which was a pole with a number of
notches cut all down one side of it; and the rock excavated in the
various parts of the mine was brought up in leathern sacks on the
shoulders of men who had to make the ascent by climbing a succession of
these poles. The quartz was then conveyed on pack-mules down to the
river by a circuitous trail, which had been cut on the steep side of the
mountain, and was there ground in the primitive Mexican style in
“rasters.” The whole operation seemed to be conducted at a most
unnecessary expenditure of labor; but the mine was rich, and, even
worked in this way, it yielded largely to the owners.
Numerous small wooden crosses were placed throughout the mine, in niches
cut in the rock for their reception, and each separate part of the mine
was named after a saint who was supposed to take those working in it
under his immediate protection. The day before I visited the place had
been some saint’s day, and the Mexicans, who of course had made a
holiday of it, had employed themselves in erecting, on the side of the
hill over the mine, a large cross, about ten feet high, and had
completely clothed it with the beautiful wild-flowers which grew around
in the greatest profusion. In fact, it was a gigantic cruciform nosegay,
the various colors of which were arranged with a great deal of taste.
This mine is on the great quartz vein which traverses the whole State of
California. It has a direction northeast and southwest, perfectly true
by compass; and from many points where an extensive view of the country
is obtained, it can be distinctly traced for a great distance as it
“crops out” here and there, running up a hillside like a colossal stone
wall, and then disappearing for many miles, till, true to its course, it
again shows itself crowning the summit of some conical-shaped mountain,
and appearing in the distant view like so many short white strokes, all
forming parts of the same straight line.
The general belief was that at one time all the gold in the country had
been imbedded in quartz, which, being decomposed by the action of the
elements, had set the gold at liberty, to be washed away with other
debris, and to find a resting-place for itself. Rich diggings were
frequently found in the neighborhood of quartz veins, but not invariably
so, for different local causes must have operated to assist the gold in
traveling from its original starting-point.
As a general rule, the richest diggings seemed to be in the rivers at
those points where the eddies gave the gold an opportunity of settling
down instead of being borne further along by the current, or in those
places on the highlands where, owing to the flatness of the surface or
the want of egress, the debris had been retained while the water ran
off; for the first idea one formed from the appearance of the mountains
was, that they had been very severely washed down, but that there had
been sufficient earth and debris to cover their nakedness, and to modify
the sharp angularity of their formation.
I crossed the Stanislaus--a large river, which does not at any part of
its course afford very rich diggings--by a ferry which was the property
of two or three Englishmen, who had lived for many years in the Sandwich
Islands. The force of the current was here very strong, and by an
ingenious contrivance was made available for working the ferry. A stout
cable was stretched across the river, and traversing on this were two
blocks, to which were made fast the head and stern of a large scow. By
lengthening the stern line, the scow assumed a diagonal position, and,
under the influence of the current and of the opposing force of the
cable, she traveled rapidly across the river, very much on the same
principle on which a ship holds her course with the wind abeam.
Ferries or bridges, on much-traveled roads, were very valuable property.
They were erected at those points on the rivers where the mountain on
each side offered a tolerably easy ascent, and where, in consequence, a
line of travel had commenced. But very frequently more easy routes were
found than the one first adopted; opposition ferries were then started,
and the public got the full benefit of the competition between the rival
proprietors, who sought to secure the traveling custom by improving the
roads which led to their respective ferries.
In opposition to this ferry on the Stanislaus, another had been started
a few miles down the river; so the Englishmen, in order to keep up the
value of their property and maintain the superiority of their route, had
made a good wagon-road, more than a mile in length, from the river to
the summit of the mountain.
After ascending by this road and traveling five or six miles over a
rolling country covered with magnificent oak trees, and in many places
fenced in and under cultivation, I arrived at Sonora, the largest town
of the southern mines. It consisted of a single street, extending for
upwards of a mile along a sort of hollow between gently sloping hills.
Most of the houses were of wood, a few were of canvas, and one or two
were solid buildings of sun-dried bricks. The lower end of the town was
very peculiar in appearance as compared with the prevailing style of
California architecture. Ornament seemed to have been as much consulted
as utility, and the different tastes of the French and Mexican builders
were very plainly seen in the high-peaked overhanging roofs, the
staircases outside the houses, the corridors round each story, and other
peculiarities; giving the houses--which were painted, moreover, buff and
pale blue--quite an old-fashioned air alongside of the staring white
rectangular fronts of the American houses. There was less pretence and
more honesty about them than about the American houses, for many of the
latter were all front, and gave the idea of a much better house than the
small rickety clapboard or canvas concern which was concealed behind it.
But these façades were useful as well as ornamental, and were intended
to support the large signs, which conveyed an immense deal of useful
information. Some small stores, in fact, seemed bursting with
intelligence, and were broken out all over with short spasmodic
sentences in English, French, Spanish, and German, covering all the
available space save the door, and presenting to the passer-by a large
amount of desultory reading as to the nature of the property within and
the price at which it could be bought. This, however, was not by any
means peculiar to Sonora--it was the general style of thing throughout
the country.
The Mexicans and the French also were very numerous, and there was an
extensive assortment of other Europeans from all quarters, all of whom,
save French, English, and “Eyetalians,” are in California classed under
the general denomination of Dutchmen, or more frequently “d--d
Dutchmen,” merely for the sake of euphony.
Sonora is situated in the center of an extremely rich mining country,
more densely populated than any other part of the mines. In the
neighborhood are a number of large villages, one of which, Columbia,
only two or three miles distant, was not much inferior in size to Sonora
itself. The place took its name from the men who first struck the
diggings and camped on the spot--a party of miners from the state of
Sonora in Mexico. The Mexicans discovered many of the richest diggings
in the country--not altogether, perhaps, through good luck, for they
had been gold-hunters all their lives, and may be supposed to have
derived some benefit from their experience. They seldom, however,
remained long in possession of rich diggings; never working with any
vigor, they spent most of their time in the passive enjoyment of their
cigaritas, or in playing monte, and were consequently very soon run over
and driven off the field by the rush of more industrious and resolute
men.
There were a considerable number of Mexicans to be seen at work round
Sonora, but the most of those living in the town seemed to do nothing
but bask in the sun and loaf about the gambling-rooms. How they managed
to live was not very apparent, but they can live where another man would
starve. I have no doubt they could subsist on cigaritas alone for
several days at a time.
I got very comfortable quarters in one of the French hotels, of which
there were several in the town, besides a number of good American
houses; German restaurants, where lager beer was drunk by the gallon;
Mexican fondas, which had an exceedingly greasy look about them; and
also a Chinese house, where everything was most scrupulously clean. In
this latter place a Chinese woman, dressed in European style, sat behind
the bar and served out drinkables to thirsty outside barbarians, while
three Chinamen entertained them with celestial music from a drum
something like the top of a skull covered with parchment and stuck upon
three sticks, a guitar like a long stick with a knob at the end of it,
and a sort of fiddle with two strings. I asked the Chinese landlord, who
spoke a little English, if the woman was his wife. “Oh, no,” he said,
very indignantly, “only hired woman--China woman; hired her for
show--that’s all.” Some of these Chinamen are pretty smart fellows, and
this was one of them. The novelty of the “show,” however, wore off in a
few days, and the Chinawoman disappeared--probably went to show herself
in other diggings.
One could live here in a way which seemed perfectly luxurious after
cruising about the mountains among the small out-of-the-way camps; for,
besides having a choice of good hotels, one could enjoy most of the
comforts and conveniences of ordinary life; even ice-creams and
sherry-cobblers were to be had, for snow was packed in on mules thirty
or forty miles from the Sierra Nevada, and no one took even a cocktail
without its being iced. But what struck me most as a sign of
civilization, was seeing a drunken man, who was kicking up a row in the
street, deliberately collared and walked off to the lock-up by a
policeman. I never saw such a thing before in the mines, where the
spectacle of drunken men rolling about the streets unmolested had become
so familiar to me that I was almost inclined to think it an infringement
of the individual liberty of the subject--or of the citizen, I should
say--not to allow this hog of a fellow to sober himself in the gutter,
or to drink himself into a state of quiescence if he felt so inclined.
This policeman represented the whole police force in his own proper
person, and truly he had no sinecure. He was not exactly like one of our
own blue-bottles; he was not such a stoical observer of passing events,
nor so shut out from all social intercourse with his fellow-men. There
was nothing to distinguish him from other citizens, except perhaps the
unusual size of his revolver and bowie-knife; and his official dignity
did not prevent him from mixing with the crowd and taking part in
whatever amusement was going on.
The people here dressed better than was usual in other parts of the
mines. On Sundays especially, when the town was thronged with miners, it
was quite gay with the bright colors of the various costumes. There were
numerous specimens of the genuine old miner to be met with--the miner of
’49, whose pride it was to be clothed in rags and patches; but the
prevailing fashion was to dress well; indeed there was a degree of
foppery about many of the swells, who were got up in a most gorgeous
manner. The weather was much too hot for any one to think of wearing a
coat, but the usual style of dress was such as to appear quite complete
without it; in fact, a coat would have concealed the most showy article
of dress, which was a rich silk handkerchief, scarlet, crimson, orange,
or some bright hue, tied loosely across the breast, and hanging over one
shoulder like a shoulder belt. Some men wore flowers, feathers, or
squirrel’s tails in their hats; occasionally the beard was worn plaited
and coiled up like a twist of tobacco, or was divided into three tails
hanging down to the waist. One man, of original ideas, who had very long
hair, brought it down on each side of the face, and tied it in a large
bow-knot under his chin; and many other eccentricities of this sort were
indulged in. The numbers of Mexican women with their white dresses and
sparkling black eyes were by no means an unpleasing addition to the
crowd, of which the Mexicans themselves formed a conspicuous part in
their variegated blankets and broad-brimmed hats. There were men in
_bonnets rouges_ and _bonnets bleus_, the cut of whose mustache and
beard was of itself sufficient to distinguish them as Frenchmen; while
here and there some forlorn individual exhibited himself in a black coat
and a stove-pipe hat, looking like a bird of evil omen among a flock of
such gay plumage.