WHERE ARE THE PIONEERS?--THE OVERLAND STAGE--PONY EXPRESS--THE SOUND
OF WAR--A WET WINTER--THE HOTEL ON THE ROAD--THE RAILROAD.
Upwards of ten years had now elapsed since our arrival in California.
The excitement in relation to gold mining has somewhat subsided, and
all human affairs seem to have become established upon a more permanent
basis. All residents, with but few exceptions, are now well pleased
with their adopted home, and intend to remain and grow up with the
country.
But how about the pioneers at this time? They were very numerous
throughout this portion of the mining region. In December, ’59, they
numbered in this county at least 25,000, a small portion of them only,
however, engaged in mining. And now, at the expiration only ten years,
I find upon investigation that there are not to exceed 600 in the
county remaining. A few are yet engaged in mining; many have left for
their Eastern homes, and some have crossed to the other side, while
many have fenced in tracts of land and are engaged in fruit raising.
But the great majority have scattered throughout the length and breadth
of the Pacific Slope, some to engage in agriculture or in stock raising
in the valleys below, and others entering into business of various
kinds in the Cities of San Francisco and Sacramento.
With the discovery of the silver mines in Nevada there ensues another
very important event: The overland stage, a boon to old-timers, for
they can now communicate with their friends in the East much quicker
and oftener than by water, is established, and which again in its
turn, as a means of rapid communication with the East, is superseded
by the pony express. The first arrival of the pony express occurred, I
think, in the fall of ’59. The wild mustang was ridden by Harry Rolf,
now a resident of Oakland, and he came flying through the city of
Placerville, on his way to Sacramento City, amid the waving of flags,
the firing of guns, and the hurrah of the multitude which lined the
sides of the road to witness the important event. But although we were
occupying a new and as yet an unsettled portion of the earth which we
had only recently occupied, yet the progressive spirit of the age, for
which our nation is noted, was not wanting, for in a very short time
these primitive means of transit and of communication with the East
were again in their turn thrust aside and superseded by the iron horse
and the telegraph. Soon came, also, the sound of war and strife between
the North and the South, and now the very important question which had
agitated the country for nearly a century was to be decided for all
time, viz., should the whole country be for freedom or for slavery?
There were many throughout the State who believed the latter to be
possible, but the sentiment was almost universal that we in California
would prevent, by all possible means, any attempt upon the part of
either side to involve the residents of the State in the conflict, and
all such attempts, therefore, were very effectually suppressed and
peace and quietness reigned throughout the State. There was, however, a
stage robbery which occurred upon the Virginia City road, a few miles
above Placerville. A large amount of silver bullion was stolen, and in
effecting the capture of the robbers one of the officers was killed,
his name being T. G. Caples. In their defense the robbers claimed
that they were commissioned officers, acting under orders from their
commanders of the Confederate Government; they were, consequently, not
outlaws or robbers, and demanded the rights and usages due to prisoners
of war. But unfortunately for them our judges did not take that view of
the case, and they were found guilty of highway robbery. One of them
(Poole) was found guilty also of murder and executed in Placerville in
the fall of ’63, if I am not mistaken.
The winter of ’61-’62 was a very wet one, and water therefore was
abundant throughout the mining regions, enabling the miners to work and
ground-sluice many good paying claims located above the ditches which
furnished the water for mining purposes below. Sacramento felt the
effects of this unusually rainy winter, for twice during the season was
the city flooded, causing great damage and loss.
A little incident resulting upon this flood in Sacramento is perhaps
worth relating, as it illustrates not only the uncertainty of
[Illustration: FROM THE FRYING PAN INTO THE FIRE.]
things generally, but also that each and every locality is subject in
its own way to certain events peculiar to the surrounding conditions.
A certain emigrant from the Fatherland, who lost all his earthly
possessions during the flood in Sacramento City, came to the conclusion
that he would in future make his dwelling place in some more elevated
locality, above the reach of the raging floods and at high water mark.
He therefore, in the fall of ’63, in accordance with this desire,
bought an old station or wayside hotel, located in the toll road a
few miles above Placerville. During the succeeding winter, our German
friend, with his family and a few others, were sitting around the big
stove one afternoon. It was storming heavily outside, and the landlord
was congratulating himself upon the fact that he was far above all
danger from the floods and earthquakes below, and that he had found at
last a safe home for his family. Just at this moment his wife jumped
from her chair, and exclaimed:
“Mine Gott! vat vas dat noise I hear?”
They all jumped to their feet, and none too soon, for at this instant,
the rear end of the room in which they were sitting fell in with a
crash, and a huge boulder went crashing through the house, taking in
its flight the stove, and, smashing through the front of the building
into the road, rolled away into the creek, some seventy-five yards
below.
To say that our German friend and the rest of them were astonished,
or astounded would hardly express it, for they were simply paralyzed.
After recovering his senses, he exclaimed, in the most solemn accents:
“Ach mine Gott! mine Gott! How vas dot den? Oh! mine grashus, vere ve
go next! I vas most drowned out mit dose vaters in Sagramento, vas
shaked all to bieces by dem earthquakes at San Francisco, und den I vas
gone up here, vare dem earthquakes or dem waters do not come at all,
vid mine family, und, but up here, mine grashus, dem mountains shust
come right through mine house und smash dem all to bieces. Mine Gott,
vare ve goes now to py oursellufs?”
His wife suggested that they had better go to San Francisco.
“Oh, mine grashus, no no. Dem earthquakes down dere vill shust shakes
mine head off righd avay, und gife mine families the shakes all ofer.
No I tink ve vill go pack to Shairmany, for we can find no blace to
life here in dot strange country. By von blace you vas shake all to
bieces by dem earthquake; den you go to anudder blace, und der vater
come und vash you all avay; den you vas find anudder blace, vare you
don’t see dem shakes or dem vaters, und den, py shiminy, dem hills is
all loose, und dey shust dumble down right ofer on to mine house. I
goes to Shairmany, mine frent, pooty quick; now don’t it?”
An event was now about to take place which was to change to a great
extent the future condition of our new home upon the Pacific Coast.
For although all were apparently content and well satisfied with our
relative position, yet there was a certain feeling of disconnection,
an impassable barrier between us and our old homesteads with the
pleasing associations connected with them; there were between us high
and lofty ranges of rugged mountains and barren plains that to many
were absolutely impassable, while yet by water the voyage to visit
friends and our Eastern friends was a long and tedious one; under such
circumstances it was evident that something yet was wanting which would
enable us to enjoy to the fullest extent the favorable conditions
afforded by a residence here in California, and this something which
all felt the necessity of was a rapid means of communication with our
former Eastern homes. The great event, therefore, to which I alluded
was the commencement, by a few energetic old-timers, of a railroad
across the mountains. In early days the possibility of a railroad
across the continent was often talked of among the miners, and those
who had traveled and prospected among the deep cañons and rugged cliffs
of the mountains were very strongly impressed with the conviction that
the building of a railroad across and over them would be a physical
impossibility; consequently, when all preparations were made for the
purpose, it was the general opinion among them that it was the wild
fancy of a few lunatics who were ignorant of railroads in general,
or what natural barriers and obstacles were to be encountered in the
building of this railroad in particular. Notwithstanding the protest
and prophetic warnings of the old mountaineers, the work was formally
commenced in Sacramento City in ’63, and the last (golden) spike driven
in ’68, which formed the connecting link between the two roads, making
a continuous line between the Atlantic and the Pacific Coasts. The
effect of this connection was at once apparent, for we now felt as
though we formed a part of the nation and under its protection; but
whether the iron rails had any effect upon the electric conditions of
the country (as was maintained by certain ones), causing atmospheric
changes here, is immaterial; at any rate, social conditions, which
heretofore had been unbalanced, were now properly adjusted, for,
instead of dwelling away off in some remote corner of the universe, in
a foreign land, as we imagined, separated entirely from intercourse
with higher conditions of existence by mountain ranges and barren
deserts, the iron rails had now broken down the barriers, and from this
point in our history we felt more at home. But what said the old miners
who had predicted all sorts of troubles, disasters, and failure of the
lunatics, the originators of the undertaking, after its successful
completion? “Well” (as one of them expressed himself--an Englishman),
“give a company of Americans the right of way and a subsidy, and blast
me yies if they wouldn’t run a tunnel through the earth and build a
railroad to China, yer know.”
An observation of Nature’s works shows us that the wise Creator,
in scattering upon the surface of our planet his treasures in the
form of gems and rich mineral ores, decided it best to give to such
portions of the surface as were the most barren and desolate, the most
rugged and mountainous, as well as the least attractive and unfit for
cultivation or civilization, the greatest amount of treasures in the
form of precious stones or valuable mineral ores as some compensation
for such defects, and an investigation of the earth’s surface shows
us that this is almost universally the case. But in the case of
California however, for some wise purpose, he saw fit to make one grand
exception; for although containing, as it does, some of the richest
mines in the world, yet it contains also some of the richest and most
valuable farming lands, the low, red hills in the mining regions, the
best adapted for the cultivation of the vine and all other varieties
of fruit. It contains, also, the largest trees, as well as the highest
waterfall in the world, the grandest scenery and the finest climate,
as well as many other advantages possessed by no other country. The
effects of this railroad connection with the East was to enable
thousands to make their homes here in this favored country, or to
travel through it for observation, with a design at some future time
of again returning to dwell amidst the orange groves, and to breathe
the pure air of this favored country, and, furthermore, to enable many
of the old pioneers, who had abandoned all hopes of ever being able to
visit the familiar scenes of their early days, to once more journey
towards the rising sun; to visit their early homes in the East without
fear of Indians, or starvation upon the desert plains, or of shipwreck
upon the water.