The Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. Territory) 1849-1855, 1849-09-06
From the Galena Gazette.

read with interest:
SAN Francisco, June 6, 1S49.
am now in my tent on the bay--a trunk
for my seat and another for my desk. We
landed yesterday, only 10 days from Pana-
ma. For the first few days the weather was
warm-the balance of the trip as cold as
winter. We had to wear our blanket coats
and hug the chimneys, and were then chill
ed TO the bone. And what had to eat tn
keep soul and body together hardly dared
see or smell. But, that is all past, and,
thank God, 1 am we'll, and not down al
heart. Many who are coming in sailing
vessels will suffer awfully, and will not be
here for long time. We met one in dis
tress, which had been out of waier for sew
en- days. They had subsisied by boiling The
salt water in an iron pot, covered with seven
folds of flannel; when it got saturated they
strained it out. Their small boat with four
men went in search of water, but was not
heard of afterwards. We relieved the suf-
ferers, and parted from them with three
cheers. ChiIds, Hampstead and Montgom-
cry have not arrived; Bromley came in the
day before us, with a stock of goods from
Baltimore. We got short of coal in COM
ing up here, and had to burn spars, hunks,
dut CfCty VIC COuiu utlu duOut tbC
boat. You can form no idea what one has
to 60 through to see the elephant, and to
ride him may be death itself.
To-day the weather is delightful, but it
is the only fine day they have had for many
weeks. The wind blows the great part of
the year like young gale, and is very cold.
Up in the mines it is just the reverse; hot
air and no wind. From all can learn,
gold is all over the country in more or less
quantities. A man will get from half an
ounce to six ounces day, and at times, will
light upon 1t heavy; but all have got TO SUI
fer the severest privatlons and hardships.-.
have derived this from those who have
been at the mines. Tomorrow | leave for
Suffers, and if alive, | will hereafter give
you facts from experience.
DIR. Turner, from Fort Smelling, has an
Office here. 0. G. Pratt left four DAYS ago
for Oregon. He made some $4,000 here
in speculating, and In attending to the bust
ness of some friend at 500 per day. | am
told that Queen, formerly of Galena, has
made fortune. He is at some point on
the bay. Spectators here make the most
money.
San Francisco is handsomely situated, in
kind of amphitheatre, surrounded by hills
owe Hooking the bay. The site has a grad
ual ascent, and breaks off into hills. Every
thing is inflated. Lots % feet front and 65
deep sell for fifteen to twenty thousand dol
lars. One tavern rents for SIS, 900. A
friend OF mine yesterday rented one story
frame building, about Is by IS feet deep, as
yet unfinished, for 500 month, and was
offered 5 900 month the next morning!
Dry goods and clothing, pork and flour, are
low. One of our party bought barrel of
mess pork this morning for $40; flour 81
barrel. The town is full of goods, and
hundreds of tons more are coming. Board
Is from seventeen to twenty dollars a week,
without lodging; breakfast and supper one
dollar and fifty; dinner two dollars to three
dollars; liquor twenty-five cents a drink:
water one bit a tumber full Billiards one
dollar a game of half an hour long, if over
that time two dollars. The emigration has
hardly commenced, and what things are
coming to | cannot tell. This know, rents
and property will go up for a time, perhaps
for year or so, and then comes an awful
crash. Many towns are springing up on
the bay, some of which will be important
ones. Working men get ten to twelve dol
lars; clerks get one hundred and fifty to two
hundred dollars per month.
The mail has been opened to-day. The
crowd was so great that it was impossible
to get up to the window. wish three
fourths of the clothing and traps l have
here were back home again. We pay thIr-
~ dollars each for passage to Suffers Fort.
The cost of transportation from thence TO
the mines Is enormous. We intend, in a
measure, 10 be our own pack mules. The
storage on single trunk here Is three TO
four dollars per month. Onions and pota-
toes are fifty cents pound. \ gardener
could make his fortune here in two years
10 comparison with this place Galena, in its
early days, was now here. Ii is not pleas
ant place TO live in. Not 4 day passes, bot
ii is either windy, sandy, or cold enough to
Is worse than our sleet.
This is no place for lady TO enjoy her
self, though there are many here; some 80
went back to Panama on the California,
about t;so weeks ago. The buildings are
better than expected To find. The hotel
is larger than the American House. | am
by no means homesick, but cannot help
saying, feel keenly the sacrifices | have
made and the dangers that have encompass
me. Many are returning home-most Of
them have gold in more or less quantities.
Valparaiso is spoken Of by passengers who
came round Cape Horn as an earthly par
adise.
The winter has been very severe in the
mountains, and the show has been a long
time melting. Gold is every day picked up
ia small parcels in the streets of San Fran
cisco, where it has been dropped by Indians
or white men. Men as well as boys stoop
to pick it up. Captain Tyler picked up a
scale this afternoon as large as No. shot,
fiattened out. Two men came in from Or
egon to-day; they report they found gold the
entire route. Those coming here by Inde-
pendence, if they get here at all, will be in
good time to work the mines, as am in
formed that the best time for digging will
be in about two months. California may
be very. paradise Of country, when
see IL: but at present IL is like MANY other