Rate of Wages
Mode of procuring the Gold
Extent of Gold Region
Price of Provisions.
It will be seen, from the later accounts that each new report continues
to realize the wildest expectation. The following letter dated
Monterey, November 16th, is highly interesting--
"We can now call ourselves citizens of the United States. We have now
only to go by law, as we formerly went by custom; that is, when
Congress gives us a government and code. The old foreign residents of
California, having done very well ten or twenty years without law, care
but very little whether Congress pays early or late attention to the
subject. Those who have emigrated from the Atlantic States within the
last three or four years deem the subject an important one; I only call
it difficult. The carrying out a code of laws, under existing
circumstances, is far from being an easy task. The general Government
may appoint governors, secretaries, and other public functionaries; and
judges, marshals, collectors, etc., may accept offices with salaries of
3000 or 4000 dollars per annum; but how they are to obtain their petty
officers, at half these sums, remains to be seen. The pay of a member
of Congress will be accepted here by those alone who do not know enough
to better themselves. Mechanics can now get 10 to 16 dollars per day;
labourers on the wharfs or elsewhere, 5 to 10 dollars; clerks and
storekeepers, 1000 to 3000 dollars per annum--some engage to keep store
during their pleasure at 8 dollars per day, or 1 lb. or 1-1/2 lb. of
gold per month; cooks and stewards, 60 to 100 dollars per month. In
fact, labour of every description commands exorbitant prices.
"The Sandwich Islands, Oregon, and Lower California are fast parting
with their inhabitants, all bound for this coast, and thence to the
great 'placer' of the Sacramento Valley, where the digging and washing
of one man that does not produce 100 troy ounces of gold, 23 carats,
from the size of a half spangle to one pound in a month, sets the
digger to 'prospecting,' that is, looking for better grounds. Your
'Paisano' can point out many a man who has, for fifteen to twenty days
in succession, bagged up five to ten ounces of gold a-day. Our placer,
or gold region, now extends over 300 or 400 miles of country, embracing
all the creeks and branches on the east side of the river Sacramento
and one side of the San Joaquin. In my travels I have, when resting
under a tree and grazing my horse, seen pieces of pure gold taken from
crevices of the rocks or slate where we were stopping. On one occasion,
nooning or refreshing on the side of a stream entirely unknown to
diggers or 'prospectors,' or rather, if known not attended to, one of
my companions, while rolling in the sand, said, 'Give me a tin pan; why
should we not be cooking in gold sand?' He took a pan, filled it with
sand, washed it out, and produced in five minutes two or three dollars'
worth of gold, merely saying, as he threw both pan and gold on the
sand, 'I thought so.' Perhaps it is fair that your readers should
learn, that, however plenty the Sacramento Valley may afford gold, the
obtaining of it has its disadvantages. From the 1st of July to the 1st
of October, more or less, one half of the people will have fever and
ague, or intermittent fever. In the winter, it is too cold to work in
the water. Some work in the sand by washing from the surface in a
wooden bowl, or tin pan; some gouge it out from the rocks or slate; the
more lazy ones roll about and pick up the large pieces, leaving the
small gold for the next emigration. The extent of the gold region on
the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers extends a distance of 800 miles
in length by 100 in width. It embraces not only gold, but quantities of
quicksilver in almost general abundance. It is estimated that a small
population actively engaged in mining operations in that region could
export 100,000,000 dollars in gold in every year, and that an increased
population might increase that amount to 300,000,000 dollars annually.
You may believe me when I say that for some time to come California
will export, yearly, nearly or quite 500,000 ounces of gold, 22 to 24
carats fine; some pieces of that will weigh 16 lbs., very many 1 lb.
Many men who began last June to dig gold with a capital of 50 dollars
can now show 5000 to 15,000 dollars. I saw a man to-day making
purchases of dry goods, etc., for his family, lay on the counter a bag
of raw hide, well sewed up, containing 109 ounces. I observed, 'That is
a good way to pack gold dust.' He very innocently replied, 'All the
bags I brought down are that way; I like the size!' Five such bags in
New York would bring nearly 10,000 dollars. This man left his family
last August. Three months' digging and washing, producing four or five
bags, of 100 ounces each, is better than being mate of a vessel at 40
dollars per month, as the man formerly was. His companion, a Mexican,
who camped and worked with him, only had two or three cow-hide bags of
gold. In this tough, but true, golden tale, you must not imagine that
all men are equally successful. There are some who have done better,
even to 4000 dollars in a month; many 1000 dollars during the summer;
and others, who refused to join a company of gold-washers who had a
cheap-made machine, and receive one ounce per day, that returned to the
settlement with not a vest pocket-full of gold. Some left with only
sufficient to pay for a horse and saddle, and pay the physician six
ounces of gold for one ounce of quinine, calomel, and jalap in
proportion. An ounce of gold for advice given, six ounces a visit,
brings the fever and ague to be rather an expensive companion. A 'well'
man has his proportionate heavy expenses also, to reduce his piles or
bags of gold. Dry beef in the settlements, at 4 cents per lb., at the
Placer, 1 to 2 dollars per lb.; salt beef and pork, 50 to 100 dollars
per barrel; flour, 30 to 75 dollars per barrel; coffee, sugar, and
rice, 50 cents to 1 dollar per lb. As washing is 50 cents to 1 dollar a
garment, many prefer throwing away their used-up clothes to paying the
washerwoman; that is, if they intend returning to the settlements soon,
where they can purchase more. As to shaving, I have never seen a man at
the Placer who had time to perform that operation. They do not work on
Sundays, only brush up the tent, blow out the emery or fine black sand
from the week's work. Horses that can travel only one day, and from
that to a week, are from 100 to 300 dollars. Freight charge by launch
owners for three days' run, 5 dollars per barrel. Wagoners charge 50 to
100 dollars per load, 20 to 50 miles, on good road. Corn, barley, peas,
and beans, 10 dollars a-bushel. Common pistols, any price; powder and
lead very dear. I know a physician who, in San Francisco, purchased a
common made gold-washer at 20 or 30 dollars, made of 70 or 80 feet of
boards. At a great expense he boated it up to the first landing on the
Sacramento, and there met a wagoner bound to one of the diggings with
an empty wagon, distant about 50 miles. The wagoner would not take up
the machine under 100 dollars. The doctor had to consent, and bided his
time. June passed over, rich in gold; all on that creek did wonders,
when the wagoner fell sick, called on his friend the doctor, whose tent
was in sight; the doctor came, but would not administer the first dose
under the old sum of 100 dollars, which was agreed to, under a proviso
that the following doses should be furnished more moderate. When a
man's time is worth 100 dollars a-day, to use a spade and tin pan,
neither doctors nor wagoners can think much of a pound of gold, and you
may suppose merchants, traders, and pedlars are not slow to make their
fortunes in these golden times. In San Francisco there is more
merchandize sold now, monthly, than before in a year. Vessels after
vessels arrive, land their cargoes, dispose of them, and bag up the
dust and lay up the vessel, as the crew are soon among the missing. The
cleanest clear out is where the captain follows the crew. There are
many vessels in San Francisco that cannot weigh anchor, even with the
assistance of three or four neighbouring vessels. Supercargoes must
land cargo on arriving, or have no crew to do it for them. Some vessels
continue to go to sea, with small crews, at 50 dollars per month for
green hands. Old hands are too wise for them, and prefer digging an
ounce or two a-day, and drinking hock and champagne at half an ounce
a-bottle, and eating bad sea bread at 1 dollar per pound. I have seen a
captain of a vessel, who, by his old contract in the port whence he
sailed, was getting 60 dollars per month, paying his cook 75 dollars,
and offering 100 dollars per month for a steward; his former crew, even
to his mates, having gone a 'prospecting.' Uncle Sam's ships suffer a
little the same way, although they offer from 200 to 500 dollars for
the apprehension of a deserter. The Ohio, however, laid in the port of
Monterey about a month, and lost only 20 or 30 men. Colonel Stevenson's
regiment is disbanded, 99 out of 100 of whom have also gone 'prospecting,'
including the colonel, who arrived in Monterey last month, from his
last post, and was met by his men at the edge of the town, to escort
and cheer him into the town. The captains, etc., have bought up
country carts and oxen, turned drivers, and gone to the Placer. Our
worthy governor, Colonel of the 1st Dragoons, etc., having plenty of
carts, wagons, horses, and mules, with a few regulars left, has also
gone, but under better advantages, for the second or third time, to see
the Placer and the country, and have justice done to his countrymen or
himself. Commodore Jones, lately arrived in Monterey, supposed it to be
the capital, head-quarters, etc., but found not even the Governor left.
Where head-quarters are may be uncertain, whether in Monterey, Sutter's
Fort, or in a four-mule wagon travelling over the gold region. Now,
whether headquarters are freighted with munitions of war, etc., or
whether the cargo consists of blankets, shirts, etc., to clothe the
suffering Indians, for the paltry consideration of gold, no one cares
or knows; but the principle should be, that, if privates can or will be
off making their thousands, those who are better able should not go
goldless."
The _Washington Union_ contains a letter from Lieutenant Larkin, dated
Monterey, November 16, received at the State Department, containing
further confirmation of the previous despatches, public and private,
and far outstripping all other news in its exciting character. The gold
was increasing in size and quality daily. Lumps were found weighing
from one to two pounds. Several had been heard of weighing as high as
16 pounds, and one 25 pounds. Many men, who were poor in June, were
worth 30,000 dollars, by digging and trading with the Indians. 100
dollars a-day is the average amount realized daily, from July to
October. Half the diggers were sick with fevers, though not many deaths
had occurred among them. The Indians would readily give an ounce of
gold for a common calico shirt; others were selling for ten dollars
each in specie. The gold region extends over a track of 300 miles, and
it was not known that it did not extend 1000. A letter from Commodore
Jones states that many of the petty officers and men had deserted and
gone in search of the gold. He adds, the Indians were selling gold at
50 cents the ounce. Many vessels were deserted by captain, cook, and
seamen. The ship _Isaac Walton_ offered discharged soldiers 50 dollars
per month to go to Callao, which was refused. She was supplied by
government sailors. All the naval vessels on the coast were short of
hands. Nearly the whole of the 3rd Artillery had deserted. Provisions
were scarce and high; board, 4 dollars a-day; washing, 6 dollars
a-dozen. Merchants' clerks get from 2000 to 3000 dollars a-year.