THE SETTLEMENT OF THE PACIFIC COAST.
=285. The Great Rush Westward.=--Shortly after the close of the
Revolution, long processions of emigrant wagons, with their white canvas
covers and their companies of hardy men and women, began to move
westward on all the main roads through New England, over the highways of
New York toward the lakes, over the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia,
and through the valley of the Ohio.
Thousands of thrifty settlers followed just behind the pioneers and
cleared the forests, bridged the streams, built villages, and tilled the
rich valleys. Thousands left their homes in the Carolinas and went over
the mountains to settle on the rich lands of Kentucky and Tennessee.
The hardships which these early settlers endured are beyond description.
It was one long hard struggle for food, shelter, and life itself. This
was only the beginning of that mighty stream of migration which flowed
for the next half century or more beyond the Mississippi, beyond the
Rocky Mountains, into the region of the extreme Northwest and to the
shores of the Pacific.
The story of the marvelous growth of our country beyond the Alleghanies
during the last hundred years reads more like a fairy tale than the
plain truth.
=286. Discovery of the Columbia River.=--In 1792 Captain Robert Gray of
Boston, in the ship Columbia, was coasting along the Pacific shores,
trading with the Indians for furs, when he discovered a broad and deep
stream, which he entered and sailed up for many miles, and named after
his vessel. The discovery of this great river produced momentous and
far-reaching results.
=287. The Purchase of Louisiana by President Jefferson.=--Now comes
another important event. Our pioneers, who wanted to push on still
farther, could not consistently cross the Mississippi River to stay
there; for all that country belonged to France. This entire region of
over a million square miles was then called Louisiana.
Our people were very anxious to obtain part of this land, because it
included New Orleans. The possession of it seemed necessary for our
growing commerce and for our future protection. Thomas Jefferson, then
President (1803), was on the point of attempting to buy of France enough
of this southern region to include the mouth of the river, when he
learned to his surprise that the French would be glad to sell us the
whole of that vast territory!
Napoleon was just then planning military operations on a great scale
against England, and he was in sore need of "the sinews of war"; so he
was glad to sell to this country this immense area for fifteen million
dollars.
The addition of the Louisiana territory more than doubled the area of
the United States.
=288. The Wonders revealed by the Lewis and Clarke Exploring
Expedition.=--The next year President Jefferson thought it best to learn
all about this wonderful addition to our territory, and so sent an
expedition, under Captains Lewis and Clarke, to explore it. They started
from St. Louis in May, 1804. What a remarkable journey it was!--more
than two thousand miles up the Missouri River to its source, then across
the Rocky Mountains, next down the Columbia River to the Pacific. They
were the first white men who ever explored this vast domain, having
traveled about six thousand miles.
On their return in September, 1806, they were welcomed with unbounded
joy. The stories of their perilous adventures sounded like a fairy
romance, and the book of their travels was read everywhere. The
explorers brought back word that the Indians had immense quantities of
valuable furs. Soon throngs of American hunters and trappers began to
roam over the vast plains and through the forests.
All the way from the Missouri River to the Pacific a chain of trading
posts, and stores for exchanging goods for furs were established. The
wagons of the fur-traders and the winding caravans of emigrants that
went under their protection soon made a pretty fair road. This was known
as the Oregon trail, and in time it became the principal northern
highway for Pacific travel.
=289. How Dr. Whitman saved Oregon to the Union.=--In 1836 a group of
young missionaries, two of them with their brides, went from New England
to Oregon, taking with them a wagon all the way from the Missouri to
their new homes on the Columbia River. One of these was a doctor by the
name of Marcus Whitman, whose labors and counsel became of great value
to the company.
After they had been settled in Oregon some years Dr. Whitman discovered,
one day in October, 1842, that the British were sending large bands of
settlers down into Oregon, apparently to crowd American emigrants out of
that rich country and to take complete possession.
"The country is ours! The United States is too late. England will have
Oregon and you cannot help it," exclaimed an English subject to him.
"I will see," was the doctor's quiet reply.
The moment Dr. Whitman heard this he became alarmed at the danger. If
the President at Washington could only be informed of the facts, the
threatened loss might be averted. The National Capital was three
thousand or more miles away; and yet to delay a year or two might mean
the seizure of all this rich country by the British.
How to inform the government at Washington was the question. Could he
himself do anything to save to his country this immense and valuable
region?--one man, in midwinter, and across a continent? The problem
haunted him--"Must I go?" He could not sleep. Difficult, almost
impossible, as would be the journey, yet he heard the clear call of
duty.
A firm and bold, resolve, quick as a flash, had taken hold of him. He
rode home in haste.
"I am going to Washington to lay bare this scheme," said he to his wife.
"I will bring settlers to Oregon."
"You cannot ever get there," exclaimed the young wife; "you will perish
on the way."
"I must go; Oregon must be saved," said Whitman.
=290. Whitman begins his Perilous Journey.=--Twenty-four hours later Dr.
Whitman, with one companion, and pack mules for the guide and their
supplies, started on horseback on the perilous undertaking.
Over mountain ranges, through deep gorges and rugged forests, now
drenched in storms, now buried in snow, and half famishing for
food--their sufferings cannot be described.
[Illustration: WHITMAN'S FAMOUS "RIDE FOR OREGON."]
They fed their horses on cotton-wood bark, while the men themselves
lived on mule and dog meat. Two or three times they were really lost in
the blinding snowstorms, and wandered about bewildered for days. Once
only, Whitman gave up in despair, and then, worn out and bewildered, he
knelt in the deep snow, and in a final prayer surrendered to God all
earthly hopes. Then the party sank down and awaited a snowy burial. They
were not, however, to die in the wilderness, but were rescued from
death almost as if by a miracle, and after untold hardships for three
months they reached St. Louis.
=291. Dr. Whitman succeeds in his Grand Mission.=--Dr. Whitman at last
arrived in Washington and convinced President Tyler and Daniel Webster,
his Secretary of State, of the great value of Oregon and its importance
to the Union. It is claimed that he thus saved to our nation, by his
famous "Ride for Oregon," that entire region of country now known as
Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, an area thirty-two times as large as the
state of Massachusetts.
This heroic patriot afterwards went through the Eastern States and told
the people of the wonders of the Pacific coast. He stirred up such an
interest that when, in the following June, he started back for Oregon he
had the satisfaction of leading a caravan of two hundred wagons, with
nearly a thousand people. After that, emigrants thronged every year in
larger and larger numbers, till the territory was soon beyond the danger
of British invasion.
The dispute as to which nation had a right to Oregon was at last settled
in 1846 by a treaty between the United States and England. By this
treaty the boundary line was fixed, and our rightful claim to the vast
Oregon country was confirmed for all time.
=292. California becomes One of the United States.=--During all these
years, while so many eyes were turned towards Oregon, few thought much
of California, for it then belonged to Mexico. The coast trade in hides
and furs and the inland immigration from the United States had slowly
changed the kind of population. Although it was still Mexican by name,
yet by 1846, besides the Spanish, Mexicans, and Indians, there were
about ten thousand other inhabitants, mostly American citizens. In that
year war was declared between the United States and Mexico. Then the
large body of Americans in California thought they had a right to
declare their independence of Mexico.
At just this time John C. Fremont, an army officer and a famous western
mountain explorer, was fortunately on the great plains, and was sent
with an army expedition to explore a new route to Oregon. Being informed
by special messenger of the war with Mexico, he changed his course and
went to California. When he arrived there his small but courageous band,
increased in number by patriotic residents and acting in harmony with
our fleet, soon secured the independence of this great state.
=293. The Discovery of Gold in California.=--It appears fortunate and even
providential that California came into our hands just when it did, for
shortly afterwards a most remarkable event occurred. Captain Sutter, an
early emigrant, had settled on the Sacramento River and built a sawmill.
In January, 1848, one of Sutter's laborers, by the name of Marshall,
while digging a ditch for the mill, found shiny pieces of yellow metal
which they suspected might be gold.
"I wonder what that yellow stuff is," said he. "I wonder if it is gold."
"I reckon it is brass," said one of his helpers.
"Let me try vinegar on it," said Marshall. It was tried and the vinegar
did not affect the "yellow stuff."
The men about the sawmill threw down their tools and went to work
searching for gold. Mr. Sutter laughed at the idea. But gold indeed it
was, and there was plenty of it!
=294. The Effect of this Great Discovery.=--The news spread. Soon
everybody about knew that pure gold was found and in wonderful
quantities. What a rush there was to the "diggings"! How all sorts of
people from all over the western coast crowded in! Doctors left their
sick, ministers their pulpits, traders their shops, mechanics their
tools, and farmers their fields, all half frantic with the desire to dig
their fortunes out of the golden sands of California.
When the news of the discovery of gold reached the East, many people
seemed to catch the contagion. Multitudes started at once for
California. Thousands came by long wagon trains over the dreary plains.
Hundreds died of starvation or were killed by Indians. Thousands went by
the Isthmus, other thousands by Cape Horn. Vast numbers came from
foreign countries. Even the crews and often the officers abandoned the
ships that brought crowds to the Pacific coast and started for the gold
"diggings."
=295. The Mad Rush to the Gold Regions.=--The rush to the gold fields
began in 1848, but became enormous in 1849. Those who went that year are
since called "Forty-niners." There were over eighty thousand of them!
The crowds that thronged the gold regions dug up the country for miles
around Sutter's mill. They tore up his beautiful valley and ruined his
farm. But they soon learned that gold was also to be found in larger
quantities along the streams, among the mountains, and in valleys.
Month by month new-comers swarmed in, and the excitement grew more
intense. Some found prizes, nuggets of solid gold as large as an acorn
or a walnut, and at times masses two or three pounds in weight. However
much gold a man found, he was wildly eager to get more.
A great deal of suffering ensued from the scarcity of food and the
enormous prices of everything needful. Potatoes sold for a dollar
apiece, eggs at the same price, wood at fifty dollars a cord, and flour
at a hundred dollars a barrel. Large butcher knives were found very
useful for digging, and brought thirty dollars each. A dose of the
cheapest medicine in an apothecary's shop cost five dollars, and a
physician's visit a hundred dollars. Unskilled laborers were paid
twenty-five dollars a day.
Money was not used at the mines, but in its place the ore itself, or
"dust," at about sixteen dollars an ounce. Miners carried small scales,
weighed their gold dust, and paid their bills with it.
At the rough log tavern: "What do you charge for dinner here?" "Half an
ounce."
At the wayside store: "What's the price of these boots?" "Three ounces."
=296. The Pony Express and its Remarkable History.=--San Francisco, being
the principal base of operations and the center of much of the immense
travel to and from the mines, grew in a few years from a cluster of
shanties to a large and wealthy city. The people of California now
demanded more frequent and more expeditious transmission of mail matter
than that by steamers and across the Isthmus.
It was finally decided to establish a horseback letter express between
St. Joseph, on the Missouri River, and San Francisco, about two thousand
miles. It was a daring and hazardous project. But the express began
business in April, 1860, and made the through trip in ten days. Only
letters were carried. The charge was five dollars each, afterwards
reduced one-half. The company had sixty hardy riders and four hundred
and twenty strong, fast horses, though it was nicknamed the "pony
express."
[Illustration: THE "PONY EXPRESS" RIDER.]
A rider started from each end of the journey at the same hour. There
were stations every twenty-five miles for keeping and changing horses.
On a postman's arrival at a station the bags were instantly slung on a
fresh horse (for never more than two minutes must be spent at a
station), and away went the new courier for the next station. The speed
was by and by increased, until the long run was made in only eight
days!
Ah! that was furious riding! What speed they made! In 1861 the pony
riders took President Lincoln's message through in one hundred and
eighty-five hours! It was dangerous riding too. Day and night, over
sandy plains and lofty mountains, on, on dashed these bold riders.
The "pony express" was worth to the nation a hundred times its cost.
Why? Because just at that time our Civil War was beginning to darken the
land, and the South was making desperate efforts to entice the vast
Pacific region to unite with the seceding states. This "pony express"
line proved to be the first strand of a strong cable to unite the East
and the West.
=297. More Rapid Means of Communication between the East and the Pacific
Coast urgently needed.=--For many years before 1860 there was talk of the
urgent need, and finally of the absolute necessity, of closer connection
between the old East and the new West. There were plenty of reasons for
a railroad; but in 1861 there came another overpowering reason that
eclipsed all others. The war for the Union had begun, and it was a
matter of supreme importance that the Pacific states should be saved in
the Union. No step could lead more surely toward this result than to
have a railroad for constant and swift travel.
=298. The Railroad over the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast rapidly
built.=--In 1863 the great work was begun. The government was wonderfully
generous and contributed money and land freely, for it was felt that the
railroad must be built as quickly as possible. The completion of the
gigantic undertaking in 1869 at Ogden, Utah, was gayly celebrated. Two
trains, loaded with passengers from New York and San Francisco,
approached each other at this place. The last rail was laid, the last
rivet clinched, the last spike, a spike of gold sent from California,
was driven, when the locomotives moved up and saluted, amid the cheers
of the enthusiastic throngs!
In seven years' time, from 1849 to 1856, the gold found in California
was worth nearly five hundred millions of dollars! Imagine the effect of
such an output of the precious metal upon the industries and commerce of
our country!
California is still rich in its gold, but it is still richer in its
wonderful climate and its marvelous scenery; in the wealth of its grain
fields; its sheep and cattle; its orange groves and its vineyards. These
make California the real El Dorado,--the real land of gold, and ensure
the prosperity and happiness of its people.