California Romantic and Resourceful: A plea for the Collection, Preservation and Diffusion of Information Relating to Pacific Coast History — John Shaqi
California Romantic and Resourceful: A plea for the Collection, Preservation and Diffusion of Information Relating to Pacific Coast HistoryDavis, John Francis
History
California Romantic and Resourceful: A plea for the Collection, Preservation and Diffusion of Information Relating to Pacific Coast History
Davis, John Francis
Argüello y Morago, María de la Concepción Marcela, -1857; California -- History; California -- History -- Sources
"Lives she yet?" A deathlike silence fell on banquet, guests, and hall,
And a trembling figure rising fixed the awestruck gaze of all.
Two black eyes in darkened orbits gleamed beneath the nun's white
hood[17];
Black serge hid the wasted figure, bowed and stricken where it stood.
"Lives she yet?" Sir George repeated. All were hushed as Concha drew
Closer yet her nun's attire. "Senor, pardon, she died, too!"
[1] Pronounced Hoo-neep-ero, with the accent on the second syllable.
[2] The best pen-picture of San Francisco just before the discovery of
gold that I know of is that given by one who was an eye-witness: "At
that time (July, 1847), what is now called San Francisco was called
Yerba Buena. A naval officer, Lieutenant Washington A. Bartlett, its
first Alcalde, had caused it to be surveyed and laid out into blocks and
lots, which were being sold at sixteen dollars a lot of fifty varas
square; the understanding being that no single person could purchase of
the Alcalde more than one in-lot of fifty varas, and one out-lot of a
hundred varas. Folsom, however, got his clerks, orderlies, etc., to buy
lots, and they, for a small consideration, conveyed them to him, so that
he was nominally the owner of a good many lots. Lieutenant Halleck had
bought one of each kind, and so had Warner. Many naval officers had also
invested, and Captain Folsom advised me to buy some, but I felt actually
insulted that he should think me such a fool as to pay money for
property in such a horrid place as Yerba Buena, especially in his
quarter of the city, then called Happy Valley. At that day Montgomery
Street was, as now, the business street, extending from Jackson to
Sacramento, the water of the bay leaving barely room for a few houses on
its east side, and the public warehouses were on a sandy beach about
where the Bank of California now stands, viz., near the intersection of
Sansome and California streets . . . . . . . The population was
estimated at about four hundred, of whom Kanakas (natives of the
Sandwich Islands) formed the bulk."--Personal Memoirs of General W. T.
Sherman (Charles L. Webster & Co., New York, 1891), p. 61.
[3] United States vs. Castellero, 2 Black (67 U. S.), 17-371.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account