The miners' express. (Dubuque, Iowa) 1849-1854, 1849-12-05
.. From the Boston Courier.
A Golden Dream Of California.
THo Co}J,,, U;.,n,s ne 7 70 PoyIt-cH

Golden Dream OF California.
The Golden Nisions Of Life Realized.
The moment read in the newspaper about the
"carats finc," and the fifteen millions, flung
down my lap board and exclaimed, "Nature new
er meant me for a iourneyman tailor. Ill join
the Californians, and get gold by the bushels in
the pulling of a stitch No sooner said than
done. I caught up piece of chalk, and fell to
calculating how far the sale of my old shoes un-
der the hammer, would go towards raising the
three hundred dollars for the outfit, and how
much | should borrow to make up the sum-
| went to bed with the most glorious anticipa-
tons-gold, gold gold instead oflist, selvage and
remnant, filled the cavity of my pericranium.-
Instead of saying my prayers, | repeated the
words ''Sacramento, Amen as many times as
was able. They seemed equal to ''open Sc
same,' and worthy to become the Gave Maria
of all Gold Hunters. l was counting my ten
fingers to estimate how many pounds of the vir-
gin metal would buy me the best house in Beacon
street. when | fell asleep and dreamed dream.
And as John Bunyan says, 81 saw in my dream
and beheld' nine tailors of us that were gold bit
ten and gold smttcn, embark in huge clam
shell for California. stood aft and stcercd with
an enormous teaspoon, and Tom Bobbln kept
watch in the bows to look out for squalls We
had tair-weather sailing, not unusual in dreams.
Presently we made hcadland, and | saw flock
ofguls perched on a gigantic BARRIERS pole twen
ty leagues long. | knew this to be Cape Horn,
as well as if had been born at the tip end of
and Immediately shaped my course into the Pa
cific Ocean, giving the sails ''good full under
brisk s'sou wester''
In less time than you could stitch button hole
we made San Francisco light. What do you
think it was? A magnificent rainbow of solid
gold, spanning the bay like the legs ofthc Rho
dian Colossus. There could be no mistake in
the wind fall pno-pI tho shore n SbOIl
of porpoises came swimming around us, every
one with gold ring in his nose, gold epaulctte
Of the brigadicr size on both his fins, and huge
bob of gold lace at his tail. May | never ship
broadcloth again, but was ready to jump out of
my skin at the sight. However, this was cakes
and gingerbread 10 what followed.
A change came o 'er the spirit OF my dream, and
we were sailing up the Sacramento. The banks
were covered with trees full of golden pippins
the birds that sung among the branches were all
goldinchcs; the flowers that boomcd on the turf
were the brightest mariColds, and the very cell
grass of the Sacramento clam-atS, was nothing
less than geld thread! Whole herds Of golden
guinea pigs were running all along the shore,
squeakng for somebody to pick them up, and coin
them into circulating medium. Troops OF foxes
were scamp"ring over the hills, every one with
golden tail as long as the great comet. There was
not paltrv silver grey among them. All was
gold that gIistcncd "Now, exclaimed to my
self in ccstacy, ''this beats Ann street, and max
ing trousers
A change came DER tho spirit Of my dream.
Behold, We were among the ravincs of the Sierra
Nevada. The sky was full of golden clouds,
and it was raining gold thmbl"s as fast and thick
as if nature tempting all mankind to turn
tailors Bless my good luck! how scooped them
up with tin dppcr, and poured them into meal
bag was calculating that we got nine bushels
+o1I 7 c,,IJn,,, Of CI
by loud noise overhead, that sounded like the
clashing of cymbals. | looked up, and, to my
great establishment, espcd Il monstrous golden
goose, as big as the Old South Church, Tapping
his wings and flying from the top Of a mountain
directly towards me! Down he came, whop
before you could say, ''what's this: and cried out
IN as good English could be expected ola goose
''Gobblc, gobblc gobblc, come pluck my tcath
Crs!" We turned to without delay, and pulled
off his back and tail an immense heap Of feathers,
every one as big as cart wheel, and the real yell
low 'S1mon pure, as they say! fit to be sent to
the mint, without washing.
Was ever such magnificent luck before known
even in drcam' Butthorc was more to come
Scarce could my devoted thoughts rest on this
feather bed Of golden prospects, when suddenly
the earth began to runhl" and rock as if an earth
quake was at hand, and hey, presto! before you
could thread needle, up started out of the earth
as the State House dome, and as solid as can
non ball, twcnty-tour carats fine.
By the powers ofbuckram! my eyes were rca-
dy to start out of my head at the sight of such
wealth. We agreed to share it all among us and
each man fell straightWay to planning schemes
for spending his money. | determined to buy
all Beacon street for beginning. Bill Button
set his heart upon Dock Square and South Bos-
ton, where he meant to reign supreme, besides
purchasing all Down East upon speculation. Tom
3 ,bbn was to build castle on Fort Hill, and
lord it over India wharf and the adjacent parts in
addition to which he designed to have the whole
of Nova Scotia to raise his potatoes, if the British
Government would sell out, &c. Thus we divid-
ed the world!
In the midst of our wealth, however, we began
to feel terribly cold and hungry, but there was
nothing to cat except gold goose and cabbage
we ate, and ate, but were hungry as over
The metal lay terribly hard on our stomachs.
would have given Il mountain of gold for a beef
steak and rusty grdron; nay, solitary pigs
trottcr would have been hundred thousand dol
lars in the California provision market. But
there was no such thing to be had. 50 by the
force of sherc hunger and starvation, we fell to
and ate each other up like Kilkenny cats, and out
of nine taors, alone, like Jobs messenger, es-
capped to tell thee!
A change came DER the spirit OF my drcam.-
Mcthought had got back to Boston with all my
gold, and set up for nabob | had house in
the middle Of the Common: equal to the Palace Of
the Sun in Ovid's Mctamorphoses The foun-
tain spouted half ca gles and small change into
my chamber windows. My back yard was paw
ed with gold watches, that all the servants might
know when to wait on me. | ate and drank out
of gold, and so did my dog and cat breakfast
ed on buttered ten dollar bills, peppcrcd my Gu
cumbcrs with gold dust, and washed my hands in
aurum potaJIc My parlor was papered with