Notes of a Voyage to California Via Cape Horn, Together with Scenes in El Dorado, in the Years of 1849-'50
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Notes of a voyage to California via Cape Horn, together with scenes in El Dorado, in the years of 1849-'50. With an appendix containing reminiscences ... together with the articles of association and roll of members of "The associated pioneers of the territorial days of California." By Samuel C. Upham. With forty-five illustrations NOTES OF A VOYAGE TO CALIFORNIA VIA CAPE HORN, TOGETHER WITH SCENES IN EL DORADO, IN THE YEARS 1849-'50. WITH AN APPENDIX Containing Reminiscences of Pioneer Journalism in California—California Day at the Centennial Exhibition, Philadelphia, Sept. 9th, 1876—Re-Unions and Banquets of the Associated Pioneers of California, in New York, January 18th, 1877 and 1878—Celebration of Admission Day, at Long Branch, N. J., Sept. 8th, 1877— Reception to GENERAL JOHN C. FREMONT, Aug. 1st, 1878 and to Hon. PHILIP A. ROACH, June 19th, 1876—Dedication of the Lick Monument at Fredericksburg, Pa., April 22d, 1878— Notes of a voyage to California via Cape Horn, together with scenes in El Dorado, in the years of 1849-'50. With an appendix containing reminiscences ... together with the articles of association and roll of members of "The associated pioneers of the territorial days of California." By Samuel C. Upham. With forty-five illustrations http://www.loc.gov/resource/calbk.149 Extracts from the Manuscript Journal of the “KING's ORPHAN,” in the year 1843—Pioneer and Kindred Organizations; TOGETHER WITH THE ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION AND ROLL OF MEMBERS OF “THE ASSOCIATED PIONEERS OF THE TERRITORIAL DAYS OF CALIFORNIA.” By SAMUEL C. UPHAM. WITH FORTY-FIVE ILLUSTRATIONS. “ALL OF WHICH I SAW, AND PART OF WHICH I WAS.” PHILADELPHIA: PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR. 1878. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1878, by SAMUEL C. UPHAM, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. PRESS OF FRANKLIN PRINTING HOUSE, 38 HUDSON STREET. Notes of a voyage to California via Cape Horn, together with scenes in El Dorado, in the years of 1849-'50. With an appendix containing reminiscences ... together with the articles of association and roll of members of "The associated pioneers of the territorial days of California." By Samuel C. Upham. With forty-five illustrations http://www.loc.gov/resource/calbk.149 TO THE PIONEERS OF CALIFORNIA, WHO ENCOUNTERED DANGERS BY FLOOD AND FIELD, AND WHOSE BRAVE HEARTS AND WILLING HANDS HAVE CAUSED THE ARID PLAIN AND THE WILDERNESS TO “BLOSSOM AS THE ROSE,” THIS VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR. viii ACKNOWLEDGMENT. To his esteemed personal friends, MR. FRANCIS D. CLARK and HON. JEREMIAH SHERWOOD, of New York; MR. COLIN M. BOYD, MR. WILLIAM WINTER, HON. PHILIP A. ROACH and DANIEL NORCROSS, Esq., of San Francisco, for their efforts in behalf of this volume; to the HON. DEMAS STRONG, of Brooklyn, N.Y., for his proffer of pecuniary aid; to the proprietors of the Examiner and the Golden Era, of San Francisco; The Pioneer, of San José, and the News, of San Diego, Cal., who published in their respective journals the Prospectus of this book, and especially to the following-named gentlemen, who had the courage to read the manuscript, comprising six hundred closely-written pages, the author returns his grateful acknowledgments: Having been residents of California during the years 1849-'50, we cheerfully indorse the work written by Mr. Samuel C. Upham, of Philadelphia, and consider the volume in all respects a truthful Notes of a voyage to California via Cape Horn, together with scenes in El Dorado, in the years of 1849-'50. With an appendix containing reminiscences ... together with the articles of association and roll of members of "The associated pioneers of the territorial days of California." By Samuel C. Upham. With forty-five illustrations http://www.loc.gov/resource/calbk.149 and creditable history of that period in California, and of such a character as should especially interest all who formed a part of her population in those days of excitement and experience. H. G. GIBSON, Brevet Brig.-Gen'l, U.S.A., Fort Wadsworth, N.Y. THOS. W. SWEENY, “ “ “ 314 East 120th Street, N.Y. DEMAS STRONG, 67 Broadway, Brooklyn, E.D. JOHN SICKELS, 25 Pine Street, N.Y. EDWARD F. BURTON, Deputy Surveyor, Custom-House, N.Y. JOHN GAULT, 71 Broadway, N.Y. BEVERLY C. SANDERS, 71 Broadway, N.Y. W. C. ANNAN, 160 Fulton Street, N.Y. WM. M. WALTON, 19 Dey Street, N.Y. STEPHEN L. MERCHANT, 53 Broadway, N.Y. ROBERT W. DOWLING, 105th St. and Eleventh Ave., N.Y. A. T. GOODELL, 451 East 57th Street, N.Y. GEO. F. SNIFFEN, Sec'y Knickerbocker Life Ins. Co., N.Y. ix PREFACE. PREFACE—the last part of a book written and the first read. A book without a preface is like a coach without horses—an engine without steam. Notes of a voyage to California via Cape Horn, together with scenes in El Dorado, in the years of 1849-'50. With an appendix containing reminiscences ... together with the articles of association and roll of members of "The associated pioneers of the territorial days of California." By Samuel C. Upham. With forty-five illustrations http://www.loc.gov/resource/calbk.149 When the news of the discovery of gold in California reached the Atlantic States, in the summer of 1848, I held a somewhat lucrative situation in the counting-house of a mercantile firm in the city of Brotherly Love. The early reports were of so vague a character as scarcely to be credited by the most enthusiastic, and were pronounced by the skeptical as visionary—schemes gotten up by the powers at Washington to encourage emigration to California and Oregon. But when, in the fall of that year, the dispatches of Commodore Jones, Colonel Mason and Thomas O. Larkin were officially announced by President Polk's Cabinet, and their statements indorsed by the President himself, soon after, in his message to both Houses of Congress, the existence of the gold-mines of California was acknowledged a fixed fact, and thousands started at once for the new El Dorado, and among them the reader's humble servant. When I resigned the quill for “the pick and the spade,” it was my intention to have gone to California via the Isthmus of Panama, but on the eve of my departure, a communication appeared in the New York Herald, in which the writer depicted in such vivid colors the “hair-breadth 'scapes” by that route, that x I abandoned my original intention and engaged passage via Cape Horn. My time, during the two weeks prior to my departure, was mostly employed in making the necessary arrangements for the voyage. Expecting to remain at least one year in the gold-diggings, I purchased and shipped the requisite provisions for my subsistence during that time. I also stowed away in a large camp-chest, purchased expressly for that purpose, sundry dozens of flannel and “hickory” shirts, several pairs of inexpressibles, half a dozen hats, of the latest California styles, one of Krider's incomparable rifles, a six-shooter, with ammunition to match, and last, though not least, one of those indispensable articles in a new country—an Arkansas “tooth-pick.” As I was on the eve of starting, I added to my outfit a chest of medicine, accompanied by a book containing directions, which, if strictly adhered to, would cure all the ills which flesh is heir to. My mining implements consisted of a pick, spade and crowbar, a nest of sieves, a large tin pan and three patent gold-washers, each of a different pattern—first-class humbugs! I also purchased an India-rubber water-proof suit—which was anything else than what it purported to be—consisting of coat, cap, long boots and gauntlets, together with a tent of the same material, another proof of the old adage— a fool and his money are soon parted. But I was not alone in my folly. Many of my fellow-voyagers Notes of a voyage to California via Cape Horn, together with scenes in El Dorado, in the years of 1849-'50. With an appendix containing reminiscences ... together with the articles of association and roll of members of "The associated pioneers of the territorial days of California." By Samuel C. Upham. With forty-five illustrations http://www.loc.gov/resource/calbk.149 were equally burthened with “traps,” which, on their arrival in California, proved to be quite as useless. I do not claim for these Reminiscences any great literary merit, nor do I expect to “put money in my purse” by their publication. They have been written amid the hurly-burly of a busy mercantile life, from notes taken at the time the incidents treated of transpired—their principal merit being a narration of facts, not fancies. I have devoted considerable xi space to the early history of Sacamento City, where, during the spring and summer of 1850, I was engaged in the publication of the Sacramento Transcript, and from the columns of that journal I have made frequent drafts. Should the reader become weary of the monotony of the long sea-voyage, let him turn to the portrayal of scenes in Rio de Janeiro or Concepcion, or to the more stirring events in Sacramento City, during the Squatter riots in the month of August, 1850. In conclusion, permit me to say, should anything in this volume add to the hitherto unwritten history of California, my labor will not have been in vain; and I will also state, that throughout these pages my chief aim has been to “A round, unvarnished tale deliver, Nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice.” SAMUEL C.