Gold and Sunshine, Reminiscences of Early California. by James J. Ayers
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Gold and sunshine, reminiscences of early California. By James J. Ayers COL. JAMES J. AYERS GOLD AND SUNSHINE REMINISCENCES OF EARLY CALIFORNIA COLONEL JAMES J. AYERS ILLUSTRATIONS FROM THE COLLECTION OF CHARLES B. TURRILL BOSTON RICHARD G. BADGER THE GORHAM PRESS COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY RICHARD G. BADGER All Rights Reserved ©Cl.A659533 Made in the United States of America The Gorham Press, Boston, U. S. A. Oh, happy days, when youth's wild ways Knew every phase of harmless folly! Oh, blissful nights, whose fierce delights Defied gaunt-featured Melancholy! Gone are they all beyond recall, And I--a shade, a mere reflection-- Am forced to feed my spirit's greed Upon the husks of retrospection! --EUGENE FIELD. v Gold and sunshine, reminiscences of early California. By James J. Ayers http://www.loc.gov/resource/calbk.006 PREFACE For some time past I have had in contemplation to write a book, taking as the subject my experiences in California. A continuous residence of forty-seven years would furnish interesting material for such a book in almost any life. But as mine was cast in channels which threw me in contact with nearly all of the conspicuous figures who have given character and celebrity to our State, and placed me in the whirl of the many events which have given historical interest to California, much of which I saw and a part of which I was, I felt that to present those men and events to the present generation in the way that they appeared to me at the time and in the order of their occurrence, would be a work from which the general reader would derive instruction, the old Californian reminiscent pleasures, and the “tenderfoot” of to-day realize how difficult and beset with obstructions was the pathway of the “tenderfoot” of the argonautic period. I also felt that if I could convey in an attractive form a panoramic picture of my experiences in this State from the beginning, while it would not be a dry and formal history of the State, vi yet it would be a book of historical value to all who might consult it. Each life helps to make up the sum of all history, and there is none so obscure or isolated but that it would, if properly written, throw a ray of light upon some latent event of value to the historian. I have carefully avoided in this book the meretricious custom, which has too largely prevailed among those who have written about pioneer times, of degrading their publications to the level of a commercial medium by praising the successful survivors of the pioneers beyond their merit and exalting the names of some who were entitled to but scant recognition. Indeed, my general plan has been to let the living round out their career to the end unemblazoned, but to carefully rescue, as far as I could, from oblivion many who have gone over in undeserved obscurity to the majority. I have endeavored to recommend the volume to every intelligent reader, by making it sketchy, anecdotal, humorous, picturesque, descriptive and historical. If I have succeeded in this, I shall have accomplished the task I set for myself. Gold and sunshine, reminiscences of early California. By James J. Ayers http://www.loc.gov/resource/calbk.006 The history of California, before the influx of gold-seekers brought it prominently before the eyes of the world, may be told in a few words. Until April, 1769, Upper California was to the white man a terra incognita . It was known to exist, vii for its coast had been navigated at intervals by hardy explorers for over two hundred years. Cabrillo had skirted it some forty odd years after the discovery of the continent by Columbus. Francis Drake had brought his ships to anchor in a bay a few miles north of San Francisco in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and the Spanish galleons, making their yearly voyages to the Philippine Islands, had, on their return trips, regularly, for nearly two hundred years, raised the headlands at Cape Mendocino, and then, taking advantage of the northwest trade winds, had pursued their voyage to Acapulco; and it raises a grave doubt in the minds of geographers whether the Golden Gate could have existed at that time and escaped the accident of discovery by the explorer Drake, who anchored for weeks within fifteen miles of it, and eluded the research of the annual arrival within a few leagues of it of the Spanish galleons making the coast at Cape Mendocino for a long series of years. But during all this time absolutely nothing was known about the matchless country we now occupy. In April, 1769, the San Antonio sailed into the splendid harbor of San Diego. She had been sent out from Mexico and had a few friars on board, a detachment of soldiers and a handful of colonists. Juan Crespi, an intrepid friar, marched overland until in October he reached San Francisco Bay, viii which had before been unknown to civilized man. Then followed the expedition of Father Junipero Serra, who founded Missions from San Diego to Monterey. The domination of the Missions, of which there were twenty-one, lasted till 1822, when Mexico declared her independence from Spain. The Missions were in their most flourishing condition in 1814, when they had 24,611 Indians attached to them as neophytes; possessed 215,000 head of horned cattle, 135,000 sheep and 16,000 horses. They harvested that year 75,000 bushels of grain. After the Mexican flag had taken the place of the broad ensign of Spain in California, the Missions entered upon a career of rapid decadence. The rancheros and pobladores envied their wealth and coveted their lands, and in 1835 the Missions were secularized. Gold and sunshine, reminiscences of early California. By James J. Ayers http://www.loc.gov/resource/calbk.006 From that time down to the 7th of July, 1846, the political power of California was in the hands of the leading families of the province, and although Mexico exercised the right of sovereignty by sending out Governors to rule over her, yet the turbulence of her people resulted in a number of bloodless revolutions, pulling down unpopular Governors and exacting changes in that office from Mexico. There was a constant struggle going on between Monterey and Los Angeles to be recognized as the seat of government. When Commodore Sloat took possession of Monterey the power of the native Californians ix was virtually at an end, and the era of American authority over Upper California commenced. The discovery of gold by Marshall, on the 24th of January, 1848, opened to California a new era. One of the most wonderful migrations ever known set in from all parts of the Atlantic states when the news of the discovery slowly reached the populations east of the Mississippi. By sea and land they flocked in untold numbers to the new El Dorado, and all parts of the civilized world sent contributions of their people to California to seek for gold. At this point my story commences, and I hope it will prove as interesting to my readers as it has been a source of pleasurable employment to me, in my retreat among the orange groves of Azusa, to write it. JAMES J. AYERS. Azusa, Los Angeles County, Cal., 1896. xi CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. HO! FOR CALIFORNIA--THE BEGINNING OF A VOYAGE FILLED WITH ADVENTURE--A BLOW-UP AT SEA--GATHERING OF THE SHARKS-- CHANGE OF ROUTE--CROSSING THE CONTINENT ON FOOT--BUILDING A SHIP UNDER DIFFICULTIES--ARRIVAL AT REALEJO 11 II. A LONG AND TEDIOUS WAIT--OFF FOR CALIFORNIA AT LAST--A VOYAGE OF HARDSHIPS,SUFFERING,ELEMENTAL STORMS,THIRST, FAMINE AND OTHER THRILLING EVENTS 19 III. A GLIMPSE OF SAN Gold and sunshine, reminiscences of early California. By James J. Ayers http://www.loc.gov/resource/calbk.006 FRANCISCO IN '49 29 IV. HO, FOR THE MINES--FIGHTING MOSQUITOES--STOCKTON AS IT WAS--GENEROUS CUSTOM OF THE MERCHANTS--A DISAPPOINTED CROWD-- FIRST EXPERIENCE IN MINING--HOW WE MISSED A FORTUNE 38 V. THE CHILEAN WAR IN CALAVERAS COUNTY--A THRILLING CHAPTER OF UNWRITTEN HISTORY 46 VI. OBVIOUS OBSERVATIONS UPON THE BLOODY EPISODE 59 VII. CAMP LIFE IN THE WINTER OF '49--CARNEGIE'S FORERUNNER--A BORN TRADER--BEAN PIES AND A HORIZONTAL RAISE--HOW TO MILK A CAMP 64 VIII. ROVING MINERS AND THEORISTS FAILURES--AN ANDALUSIAN PROCESSION--AN EXCITING GAME OF MONTE--TAPPING THE BANK 70 IX. INCIDENTS OF A CAMP LIFE IN THE SPRING AND SUMMER OF '50--A FIERY MILESIAN CALLS DOWN A PUNCTILIOUS COLONEL-- A TIMID MAN FIGHTS TWO DESPERATE DUELS--IT REQUIRED MORE NERVE TO DECLINE THAN TO FIGHT 80 xii CHAPTER PAGE X. THE NUCLEUS OF A GREAT CITY--TWICE DESTROYED BY FIRE WITHIN A MONTH--A GLUT OF NEWSPAPERS--LOLA MONTEZ AND HER PETS--HOW A JOURNALIST WOOED, WON AND LOST HER--FROM A PALACE TO A NEW YORK TENEMENT HOUSE 90 XI. A LIVELY CHAPTER ON THE LIVELY INCIDENTS OF A LIVELY MINING TOWN--HOME-MADE THEATRICALS--WAR OF THE SIX NATIONS-- THE VALUE OF A HOME GUARD--A MURDER INTERLUDE--PATHETIC DEATH- BED SCENE 100 XII. REMARKABLE OUTCOME OF A DUEL--DUELS OUGHT TO BE FOUGHT ON EMPTY STOMACHS--CRYSTALLIZATION OF POLITICAL PARTIES-- DIVIDING ON SECTIONAL LINES--BRODERICK AND GWIN THE IDOLS OF THE NORTH AND SOUTH--HOW TO GET RID OF AN OBNOXIOUS HAT 112 XIII. A TRIP EAST--A GOOD PLACE TO “GO BROKE”--HOW AN OLD FRIEND INDUCED ME TO RETURN IN THE STEERAGE--AT THE HILL ONCE MORE--BABY YARROW AND THE OLD MINER--THE OPENING OF A GREAT MINE 123 XIV.