The Sun.
London, England, 1851-05-20 00:00:00

LIFE IN CALIFORNIA.

We have been favoured with the following letter
from a young Englishman, who has lately visited
California :

Faramncoinstcho,
sinceCaliai
forlaa M
r,
rivaerdchinl4s.an
theAf
terthe differentttime
eanadndmloashtouimr ptobrattani
it
Frlatnciisiscon."Dnu'rleiaSnraginy that time I have been busily em-
Fnlzescl visitingn
California.
l
bad cost me to reach this country, I fully expected
a l
that nothing could repay me ; but I am agreeably
surprised, and consider that I am now amply re-
warded for all my troubles. Even as a commonplace
traveller, I find in California a wide field of interest.
The strange conglomeration of society; the practical
results of an experimental system of self-government;.
the peculiarities of a constitution, framed not so much
on the models of others as from individual causes
and local necessities, are things which no other
part of the world affords such perfect specimens
of as California. Political economists and funded
proprietors speculate on its immediate influences; while philosophers, on the other hand, prognosticating
its ultimate destiny, look upon this country as the means
of advancing civilisation and propagating Christianity
from the eastern to the western shores of the Pacific.
Without, however, indulging in any such lucubrations,
with which I have but small concern, 1 content myself
with the ordinary avocation of gratifying curiosity and
of being amused.
On entering the bay of San Francisco, the first object
that strikes one is the enormous mass of shipping. Lon-
don and Liverpool are of course beyond comparison, but
with the exception of these, and perhaps New York I
know of no other port which contains so great a number
of vessels. The town itself is equally remarkable.
When one reflects that eighteen months ago a few scat-
tered tents were the only habitations in the place, one
looks with amazement on the city, which is daily in-
creasing, and which already numbers over 30,000 in-
habitonts.
The site of the town is a steep sandy hill, but Yankee
ingenuity is rapidly removing this inconvenience by
levelling the hill and filling up the bay. The greater
number of the buildings are upon piers stretching
into the sea, and a lot of 80820 40 feet square of
"water surface" is worth about 5,000 dolls. In the
very centre of the town are several large ships, dis-
masted and roofed over. Their strange looking broad-
sides are decorated with the signs of different shops; and
as they form a portion of the regular street, one
wonders, at first, what eccentric characters have taken
the trouble to paint their houses with two black stories
and a white one in the middle. Already there are several
theatres, a French vaudeville, and one Italian Opera!
And notwithstanding the strong national propensity of
the people for business, one of the principal features of
San Francisco, and indeed of every town in California,
is the gambling houses. They are never closed and
they are always full. It would be difficult to
give you a correct idea of these infernal re-
gions, or to describe the strange scenes which daily
take place in them. Picture to yourself enormous rooms,
gaudily decorated, filled with some 400 or 500 people of
all classes, without distinction of age, rank, or sex.
" Mont 6," " Faro," " Rouge et Noir," are the favourites
among an endless variety of games. The tables are co-
vered with money, surmounted with ornamental lumps of
gold and bags of dust. At one end of the room is, of
course, a bar; at the other is a band. The
excitement of the play, the effects of the liquor,
the influence of the music, and, above all, the
confusion of languages is, as you may imagine,
what the Yankees call " some " Everybody is armed,
from the ruffian who transfers his treasures from
the mines to the gambler's table to the frail fair one who
relieves the gambler's pocket for the benefit of her own.
Four times since I have been here—l wonder that it has
happened no oftener—diff,rences of opinion, concerning,
no doubt, points of honour, have been summarily dis-
cussed and as summarily di tided in these places by vir-
tue of a " five-shooter." Three times out of the four
the survivor, experienced the pleasures of that prompt
decision which they had so warmly advocated. In less
than six hours after the quarrels the law of Judge Lynch
had done its work and order was again restored. Such
is life in a new country.
Leaving San Francisco, I took my passage in a
steamer to the city of Sacramento, a large town, about
150 miles up the river, which bears the same name and
situated at the extreme point of inland navigation. A
day or two at this place sufficed to disgust me with a re-
petition of the scenes I had witnessed in San Francisco.
Accordingly, by the first opportunity that offered I took
my departure for Marysville, which, from its vicinity to
the various branches of the Sacramento river, is the
grand depot for all the miners of the wet " digging " in
Northern California, and consequently a point of
interest to a sightseer. After spending a pleasant even-
ing with the editor of the Marysville Herald—who by-
the-bye happened to be a genuine cockney, serving the
city of Marysville in the several capacities of editor,
play-actor, concert-giver, and auctioneer—l started the
next morning for the "Forks of the Yuba." A few
hours' ride along the Spurs of the Sierra Neveda
brought me at last within sight of the gold hunters.
Two or three hundred men were at work upon
what had formerly been the bed of. the river. By
the law of mutual agreement each miner is en-
titled to a certain portion of this " bar," as it is
called, in which the gold is found. And as the precious
metal cannot in such diggings be separated from the soil
without the process of washing, the allotments are mea-
sured by 30 feet on the bank of the river and so far back
as the bed extends—thus giving to each man his fair
allowance of water. Generally speaking the original
possessors have long since made their fortunes and sold
their claims to others for large or small sums, according
to the richness of the soil. The result is that these
claims are now falling into the hands of small compa-
nies of three or four, who, in their turn, will sell them,
as immigration increases, to companies of six or eight,
and so on, till the individual gains are so small that the
price of labour falls and the capitalists become the sole
proprietors of the mines. Where three or four toge-
ther possess a " claim" each attends to his owe de-
partment of the labour—one loo,ens the soil, another
fills the barrow or cart, a third carries it to the
river, and the fourth washes it in the " rocker." If the
dust is very fine, quicksilver is afterwards used to col-
lect it from the black sand. Fur the most part the
mining is above ground—i. e., the depth of the soil is
seldom more than six feet above the rock. In some
places they are what they call " coyote digging ;"
these produce the same kind of dust, and are worked
like coal mines, having shafts sometimes as deep as 60
feet.

The average weight of gold made by each miner
throughout the " wet diggins," or diggins where water
is used for washing the gold, is nearly Itoz , or 7 dolls. a
day. To give you an instance, however, of the amount
of metal in the soil, which I had from a miner on the
spot:—Three Englishmen bought a " claim," 30 feet by
100 feet, for 1,400 dells. It had been twice before bought
and sold for considerable sums, each party who sold it
supposing it to be nearly exhau,ted. In three weeks
the Englishmen paid their 1,400 dolls., and cleared 13
dolls, a day besides for their trouble. This " claim,"
which is not, an unusually rich one, though perhaps it
has been more successfully worked. has produced in 18
months over 20 000 dolls., or 5,0001. worth of gold.
After all one had heard of the dissipated habits and
questionable characters of the miners, I was prepared to
" rough it" during my visits to the mines, and when I
found myself about to pass a night in a small tent
designated the " miners home," in which over 40
of these gentlemen were assembled to drink, board,
and lodge, I cannot say that I anticipated much plea-
sure in the prospect of sleeping four in a bed, or being
at the " rude mercy" of a " crowd" of which I was the
only one unarmed. But, strange to say, I never saw a
more orderly congregation, or such good behaviour in
such bad company; and the only thing that disturbed
my, peace was that one night the bunk iti which I slept,
not laeing.sufficiently strong to sappOrt its unusual bur-
den, yew' edin the middle, and deposited its contents on
the ground. I returned to San Prancisao, and thtmace I
went to the "dry diggins" in the south. The ,country
is here truly_ beautiful, and, unlike the plains in the
great valley of the Sacramento, is exceedingly fertile and
capable of producing unlimited resources. Evemin the
present drought its valleys are watered by frequent rivu-
lets, while throughout the arid nature of the soil, corn-
, bined with the uncertainty of the seasons, will prevent that
Paft of-CalifOrnia ever becoming agricultural. Its mi-
neral wealth* perhaps, the greatest in the world. 'The
stroy the'Pre
quart; rock, which is supposed to be the only permanent
'it:n.3 from which, gold will eventually be derived, ex-
ofuratrdiel. and south for more tbart:a degree and a half
the quicksilver mines, now rendering
from 3,oooibancl
• to 4,0001 b. of metal daily, . threaten to de-
sessing several
Mariposa, inTitr: monopoly of the Rothschilds. At
.district of the quarts, ha
society pos-
mchineriteas" have established, at a great ex-
pense,
.04 crushing the rock. They employ 30
men, whom they
the rate of 100 dollars each a
month. This somet; se
1,500 dolls. a day. This making a clear gain of
w6hrzw.you what is to be ex-
pected when capital sets to
Ptarzrortion of metal is
resent, the g ahe
in the country. It is
at
difficult to say what the average
to thewphrichopoirstiaolnl
tohfeqyuawrotztk;
taking only the richer
part,
represented by 15 or 20, and the quartz by 100, making
about one-fifth metal; and it is ascertained that
one-
fifteenth will pay. So much for statistics. T
• might en ter
more fully into de silt
I think th, or I mighat enlarge eon
asiderablyt y4d pretty
nearly°ng e eer:ol views;enough of t e one, and I know that you are better
where so much
able than lam to perform the rest for yourself. In du
limited space of a letter it is difficult,
may be said, to say what is interesting- and to leave un-
said what is not interesting; and more particularly in
writing to you it is no easy matter to make state-
ments which, however new to moat people, you most
probably are already conversant with. The interest,
however, which must be felt concerning California, and
the little that is at present known about it, must be my
(4'l3' apology for so great a trial on your patience.
Imagine how anxious I ern to hear some news, when I
toll
raZinnetrhi4cao,idand
you my last letter from England is more than nine
ohpaovsee returning relinquished
by the States instead.
On the 15th the idea of South
I leave this by steamer for Acapulco; from
that'paint'_l,rhall ride, through Mexico, and (D.V.)