The latest and most authentic intelligence from the Gold Regions of
California, is the most interesting and the best. The following letter
from Capt. Folsom, it will be seen, is of recent date; and on perusal
the reader will find it is pregnant with valuable facts:
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, Oct. 8th, 1848.
MY DEAR SIR:--The prices of labor here will create surprise in the
United States. Kannakas, or Sandwich Islanders, the worst of laborers,
are now employed constantly about town in storing and landing
merchandise at a dollar an hour each; and the most indifferent laborers
are hired by the week together at six or eight dollars per day.
Mechanics obtain, when employed by the day, eight or ten dollars per
day, and by the month about six. In a few days, as the sickly season is
over, I presume wages will advance, for most of the laboring classes
are returning to the mines.
I have just completed the repairs upon a government lighter,
preparatory to discharging the cargo of the transport ship Huntress. I
attempted to hire a lighter to effect this, but could not get one
capable of containing one hundred and twenty barrels manned by two men,
short of fifty dollars per day. I have had the master of the government
lighter employed for several days in getting a crew for her; and when
he offers $80 per month for sailors, he is laughed at, and told that a
man can get that amount at the mines in one day.
A few days since, I sent a wagon-master to employ some men to handle
stores in the public warehouse. After searching about the town in vain,
for several hours, he saw a man on the dock whom he felt sure of
getting, for the individual in question did not seem to be blessed with
a redundancy of this world's gear. He was wearing a slouched hat
without a crown, a dilapidated buckskin hunting shirt or frock, a very
uncleanly red woolen shirt, with pantaloons hanging in tatters, and his
feet had an apology for a covering in one old shoe, and one buckskin
moccasin, sadly the worse for wear and age. When asked if he wanted
employment, he replied in the affirmative; and as the young man was
proceeding to tell him what he wished to have him do, he was
interrupted with "It is not that kind of work, sir, that I want; (at
the same time taking a bag containing about _two quarts_ of gold dust
from his buckskin shirt,) I want to work in the mines, sir. Look here,
stranger, do you see this? This bag contains gold dust; and do you
suppose I am to make a d----d nigger of myself, handling boxes and
barrels for _eight or ten dollars per day?_ I should think not,
stranger!" And our friend left in a most contemptuous manner. Nor was
this a solitary instance of like conduct; they occur daily and hourly
in this village.
All sorts of labor is got at enormous rates of compensation. Common
clerks and salesmen in the stores about town often receive as high as
$2500 and their board. The clerk now in my office is a young boy, who,
until a few weeks since, was a _private of volunteers_, and I am now
paying him $1500 per annum. This will not appear high, when I tell you
that I have just seen upon his table a wash bill, made out and paid, at
the rate of eight dollars per dozen; and that almost every thing else
is at corresponding prices. The principal waiter in the hotel where I
board is paid $1,700 per year, and several others from $1,200 to
$1,500. I fortunately have an Indian boy, or I should be forced to
clean my own boots, for I could not employ a good body servant for the
full amount of my salary as a government officer. It will be impossible
for any army officer to live here upon his pay without becoming rapidly
impoverished, for his time is not his own to enter upon business; and
although he might have money, his opportunities for making it useful to
him are few, unless he invests it in real estate. Unless something is
done, I am unable to see how it is possible for officers, living upon
the salaries granted by law to military men, to support themselves in
this country.
I believe every army officer in California, with one or two exceptions,
would have resigned last summer, could they have done it and been free
at once to commence for themselves. But the war was not then
terminated, and no one could hope to communicate with Washington
correspondents, to get an answer in less than six, and perhaps ten
months. For some time last summer, (August and July,) the officers at
Monterey were entirely without servants; and the Governor (Col. Mason,)
actually took his turn in cooking for his mess. Unless some prompt
action is taken to pay both officers and men serving in this country,
in proportion to the unavoidable expenses to be incurred, the former
will resign and the latter will desert, and it will be impossible to
maintain a military force in California.
I look upon California as perhaps the richest mineral country on the
globe. I have written you at great length as to the gold, and since the
date of that letter other and richer mines have been discovered. Rich
silver mines are known to exist in various parts of the country, but
they are not worked. Quicksilver mines are found at innumerable places,
and many of them afford the richest ores. The new Almadin mine at Santa
Clara gives the richest ore of which we have any accounts. With very
imperfect machinery, it yields upward of fifty per cent, and the
proprietors are now working it, and are preparing to quadruple their
force. Iron, copper, lead, tin, sulphur, zinc, platinum, cobalt, &c.
are said to be found in abundance, and most of them are known to exist
in various sections of the country.
As an agricultural territory, its great disadvantage is a want of rain;
but this is by no means so great as has been represented. I believe
California can be made to produce as fine wheat, rye, oats, buckwheat,
barley, vegetables, and fruits, especially grapes, as any portion of
the world. Nothing that has been fairly tried has failed, and nearly
every thing has produced wonderfully. The portions of the soil which
are capable of cultivation are inconsiderable in comparison with the
whole area of the country; but the soil about this bay, and in many of
the large valleys, is equal to the wants of a dense population. It is
proverbially healthy, and with the exception of portions of the
Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys, no country ever had, at the same
period of its settlement, a more salubrious climate.
I think California affords means for the investment of capital such as
few other countries offer. Any person who could come in here now with
ready cash would be certain of doubling his money in a few months.
Large fortunes will be made here within the ensuing year, and I am told
that there are some hundreds of persons who have already made on an
average $25,000 each. Whole cargoes of goods are sold at an average of
about 150 per cent. clear profit, and ready pay in gold dust.
When I came to this place I expended a few hundred dollars in waste
lots, covered with bushes and sand hills. The chapter of events which
has followed is likely to make this property quite valuable, if I am
able to look after it. What cost me less than $800, I suppose I could
now sell for $8,000 or perhaps $10,000. It is this consideration which
makes me willing to return to a country where my salary is insufficient
for my support. If Congress does not increase the pay of officers
serving here, I should still be willing to return, in the expectation
that my private interests would justify a measure which would otherwise
be certain to impoverish me.
Something should be done here at once for the establishment of peace
and good order in the country. All law, both civil and military, is at
an end. Among the mines, and indeed in most parts of the country out of
the villages, no authority but that of the strongest exists, and
outrages of the most disgraceful nature are constantly occurring, and
the offenders go unpunished. There are now about twenty-five vessels in
this port, and I believe there is not one of them that has a crew to go
to sea. Frequently the sailors arm themselves, take the ship's boats,
and leave in the most open manner, defying both their officers and the
civil magistrates. These things are disgraceful to the country and the
flag, and while vessels have to pay port charges, duties, &c., their
owners ought to be protected. The tariff law of 1846 is now in force in
California.
We have not had an American man-of-war in this port for more than a
year, and all the naval resources of the United States on this coast
are concentrated at Monterey, which is not a harbor but an open
roadstead, and which has not one-tenth of the business on its waters
which is done in this bay. During the whole year that I was collector
of this port, there was not a gun mounted for commanding the entrance
of the port, and there was not a United States man-of-war in the
harbor. We were exacting a "military contribution," and we possessed
not the slightest means of preventing vessels from leaving in defiance
of our authority.
In a few months the line of ocean mail steamers will be in operation
from Panama to Oregon, and this port is to be a depot for coal, and of
course a stopping point in passing both ways. The starting of the line
of steamers on this coast is likely to be an undertaking of very great
difficulty, and at this time, such is its importance, with reference to
both Oregon and California, that its failure might be looked upon as a
national calamity. Still, unless some kind of protection is extended to
the shipping of this port, it is not at all improbable that it may fail
for want of the necessary laborers, as soon as the boats reach this
harbor. Indeed, it is altogether probable, unless some competent
authority is found here at the time to preserve order, that the crew
will quit in a body as soon as the first vessel arrives.
Every possible assistance should be extended to insure the success of
this company, and every reasonable latitude should be granted in the
execution of their contract. It is now uncertain if the steamers can
enter Columbia river at all times in the winter; and they may find it
necessary to run up to Paget's Sound. This would be a small
inconvenience in comparison to the loss of one of these vessels upon
the very dangerous bar at the mouth of the Columbia--an event not at
all improbable, if they enter that river in the winter.
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