Columbus Democrat., 1849-08-18

SaN hANCMCo, June 2Utn ~.
DEAR DocTOR;-iou no doubt expect letter
from me here, and description Of tho counlry.-.
! know this is useless, fer letters by the ihous.
and have been written from which you can learn
more than can write within the space Of sin.
| gle letter. was seven weeks on the Isihmtis
OF Panama and did not reach this place until tho
4ih inst My first feeling was one of dsappoint.
ment. Nature did not intend this place for q
great city, but circumstances, capital and ener-
| gy, may overcome the obstacles Of nature. Tho
northwest wind blows constantly and is exceed.
| ingly cold aud piercing have not for years
suffered so much from cold---sleep every night
under four blankets and cannot keep warm al that.
! The site OF the city is very much like thai of
Nicksburg, but more broken and mountainous.
In more respects than this have been reminded
OF Nicksburg since came here as appeared in
/ 1880. Speculation runs higher and the prices
o'properIy are far beyond any thing your CITY
ever saw, and il is almost incredible 10 hear the
rates OF wages, prices Of building materials, and
rents paid for houses. Houses not near 40 GOOD
nor larger than the one lived in, In Vicksburg.
rcnt for more than one hundred dollars a year
Such a house as the little office you used to occu.
py but not half SO comfortable or well bui., will
I
month. according to location. Laborers get from
six to sixteen dollars per day. mechanics from sir
teen TO twenty-five. Lumber, common weather
boardlag, three hundred and fifty 70 fyo hundred
dollars per thousand feet, and il has been einht
hundred dollars. Board five dollars ner day. re.
ry common houses two hundred and Gfy dolars
IL you stay month. Clerks from three hundred
dollars per month. Servants in boarding houses
one hundred and fifty dollars per month; sailors
the same. fCcn. M'Mackn with his hotel was
here he might socket hall million annually
You frequently hear OF a man making his thous.
and day. Some wonderful fortunes have been
made, but ] see no real prosperity hero, and there
will be mighty crash in this place before long.
and those who were really rich will lose all in
trying for too much, Tho real money makers
now are the Keepers. OF eating and boarding hou-
scs, grog shops and gambling houses You ney.
er saw gambling on such scale. They havo
the bes, rooms in town which are filed night and
day. Miners whose hands look as f they had
not been washed in six months are seen in those
houses betting from one to two hundred ounces At
time. Goods and provisions RE cheap and
will be lower. Hundreds OF thousands ofdolars
worth are lying Oh The leree and in open lots
without shelter Of protection, yet no one steals
them. Every house il ,his place, il crammed
full would not store wha; is now here and ON
the way. What ia to become OF these goods
when the rainy season sets inl and where are
the tens of thousands Of persons and emigrants
10 find shelter There il fearful loss and suffering
ahead.
As to the mines, you may believe all you hear.
Their productiycness cannot be calculated, and
the supply seem 10 be incxhaustbe. Here is
the only place have ever seen where labor has
the control of capitol. The hard hand and Stout
muse 10 tell against all inventions. All fnachin.
cry thus far has failed. The average yield to
the digger is about an ounce per day, altho' many
get much more. Wonderful stories are told Of
the amount gathered by individuals and compae.
nes, and many Of them true. saw boy, the
son of German, about eight years old, who
found what is called pocket, and gathered FIVE
hundred and twenty-eight dollars in one day.
Women aud children dig as well as the men,
All the companies formed in the United States
have thus far broken up, and combinations FORM
ed on the spot are the ony ones that gets along
well. 1t is intensity hot in the mines and much
sickness must be the result Of operations there
Doctors will reapa harvest this fall, lawyers az
ter awhile; now they are speculatng and digging
gold. As to agriculture, il is not thought Of
do not believe there is hundred acres, exclu-
sive Of gardens, in cultivation in the upper parto
the terrltoly. Ranches are abandoned; sherls OF
Of cattle and horses suffered TO run wild; owners,
herdsmen. women and children all 90 the mines.
There are near a hundred ships lying at anchor
in the harbor, abandoned by their officers and
crew. and hundreds more on their way will share
the same fate. The people are most indignant
at the course Of Congress, and will within ninety
days, have an organized State government, and
send Senators and Representatives TO Congress.
There is great disaflecton towards the Military
government, and nothing prevents an outbreak
but the prospect of a speedy State organization.
am going TO take thorough tour of examina-
ton through the mining district in company with
Gov. Shannon, Of Ohio, and Moses q. Leonard,
cx.member Of Congress from N Y.
am pleased with my visit and my prospects.
have not been seized with the money making
mania, nor will | be. Yours, truly.
WIN. NJ. GWIN.