IV. LIFE AT HIGH SPEED 73 V. OFF FOR THE MINES 99 VI. LOOKING FOR GOLD 116 VII. INDIANS AND CHINAMEN 130 VIII. MINERS’ LAW 146 IX. GOLD IS WHERE YOU FIND IT 160 X. URSUS HORRIBILIS 173 XI. ON THE TRAIL 185 XII. SITTERS FOR PORTRAITS 195 XIII. ON THE WAY TO DOWNIEVILLE 208 XIV. THE REASON FOR LYNCH LAW 216 XV. GROWING OVER NIGHT 227 XVI. A BAND OF WANDERERS 241 XVII. CHINESE IN THE EARLY DAYS 252 XVIII. DOWN WITH THE FLOOD 262 XIX. A BULL AND BEAR FIGHT 271 XX. A MOUNTAIN OF GOLD 286 XXI. IN LIGHTER MOOD 297 XXII. SONORA AND THE MEXICANS 306 XXIII. BULL FIGHTING 316 XXIV. A CITY BURNED 325 XXV. THE DAY WE CELEBRATE 333 XXVI. FRENCHMEN IN THE MINES 342 XXVII. THE RESOURCEFUL AMERICANS 353 The Gold Hunters CHAPTER I ON TO THE GOLD FIELDS About the beginning of the year 1851, the rage for emigration to California from the United States was at its height. All sorts and conditions of men, old, young, and middle-aged, allured by the hope of acquiring sudden wealth, and fascinated with the adventure and excitement of a life in California, were relinquishing their existing pursuits and associations to commence a totally new existence in the land of gold. The rush of eager gold-hunters was so great that the Panama Steamship Company’s office in New York used to be perfectly mobbed for a day and a night previous to the day appointed for selling tickets for their steamers. Sailing vessels were despatched for Chagres almost daily, carrying crowds of passengers, while numbers went by the different routes through Mexico, and others chose the easier, but more tedious, passage round Cape Horn. The emigration from the Western States was naturally very large, the inhabitants being a class of men whose lives are spent in clearing the wild forests of the West, and gradually driving the Indian from his hunting-ground.