Personal reminiscences of early days in California, with other sketches : $b to which is added the story of his attempted assassination by a former associate on the supreme bench of the stateField, Stephen J. (Stephen Johnson)
History
Personal reminiscences of early days in California, with other sketches : $b to which is added the story of his attempted assassination by a former associate on the supreme bench of the state
Field, Stephen J. (Stephen Johnson)
Field, Stephen J. (Stephen Johnson), 1816-1899; Judges -- California -- Biography; Law -- Political aspects -- California; Lawyers -- California -- Biography; Mines and mineral resources -- California
The next morning I started out early with three dollars in my pocket.
I hunted, up a restaurant and ordered the cheapest breakfast I could
get. It cost me two dollars. A solitary dollar was, therefore, all the
money in the world I had left, but I was in no respect despondent over
my financial condition. It was a beautiful day, much like an Indian
Summer day in the East, but finer. There was something exhilarating
and exciting in the atmosphere which made everybody cheerful and
buoyant. As I walked along the streets, I met a great many persons
I had known in New York, and they all seemed to be in the highest
spirits. Every one in greeting me, said "It is a glorious country,"
or "Isn't it a glorious country?" or "Did you ever see a more
glorious country?" or something to that effect. In every case the word
"glorious" was sure to come out. There was something infectious in the
use of the word, or rather in the feeling, which made its use natural.
I had not been out many hours that morning before I caught the
infection; and though I had but a single dollar in my pocket and no
business whatever, and did not know where I was to get the next meal,
I found myself saying to everybody I met, "It is a glorious country."
The city presented an appearance which, to me, who had witnessed some
curious scenes in the course of my travels, was singularly strange
and wild. The Bay then washed what is now the east side of Montgomery
street, between Jackson and Sacramento streets; and the sides of
the hills sloping back from the water were covered with buildings of
various kinds, some just begun, a few completed,--all, however, of
the rudest sort, the greater number being merely canvas sheds. The
locality then called Happy Valley, where Mission and Howard streets
now are, between Market and Folsom streets, was occupied in a similar
way. The streets were filled with people, it seemed to me, from every
nation under Heaven, all wearing their peculiar costumes. The majority
of them were from the States; and each State had furnished specimens
of every type within its borders. Every country of Europe had its
representatives; and wanderers without a country were there in
great numbers. There were also Chilians, Sonorians, Kanakas from the
Sandwich Islands, and Chinese from Canton and Hong Kong. All seemed,
in hurrying to and fro, to be busily occupied and in a state of
pleasurable excitement. Everything needed for their wants; food,
clothing, and lodging-quarters, and everything required for
transportation and mining, were in urgent demand and obtained
extravagant prices. Yet no one seemed to complain of the charges made.
There was an apparent disdain of all attempts to cheapen articles
and reduce prices. News from the East was eagerly sought from all new
comers. Newspapers from New York were sold at a dollar apiece. I had a
bundle of them, and seeing the price paid for such papers, I gave them
to a fellow-passenger, telling him he might have half he could get for
them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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