American telegraph. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1851-1851, 1851-08-27
SAN Fransi.co correspondence.

The writer of the following letter is young,
vigorous, enterprising, hoping, and well inclined
to take the world as it is. 1t may be proper Tor
us to say that he is one in whose word we would
place confidence under all circumstances. we
admit that the appearance OF some OF the state
ments contained in his letter call for this assur
ance.
"SAN FRANCISCO, July II, 1851.
"Health is blessing that every one enjoys
here; for if ever there was healthy spot on
earth believe this to be it. receive $3.50 a
month, and my expenses, board, lodging and
clothing come to $50 at most. send home
$3.50 each month. l will have paid 1908 in six
months from the time of my arrival here, which
is doing pretty well but had l about 81 500
or W, 900 would not want better chance to
make fortune. | had an opportunity last week
of purchasing house and lot, the title indis-
putable, for ST. 800, one-half cash and the bal
ance in six months with interest of three per
cent. month The house rents for $500 q
month, and would pay for itself in six months.
had no money, so had to give the chance to
friend. | can loan money on undoubted secu-
rity at eight per cent. q month, and sometimes
at twelve per cent. But the best plan is to buy
ground and water lots and rent them; they
always pay from one to two hundred per cent.
year in rent and perfectly secure, the rent
being payable monthly in advance My room
mate rented piece of ground, fifteen feet front,
by forty feet deep, for S160 a month, and put
up frame store for $3.50, and rented the whole
for 1915 month. You can form no idea OF
the wealth of some of our citizens. Capt. Folsom
of the army has a rental of $4S, 600 q month;
two years ago he was poor; he made 1t from re-
investing; his income will be at least Isl ,OOO, 900
year in two years. Property not paying at
least eight per cent month is looked upon as
unworthy to hold. Men having means makelarge
fortunes without knowing how. Mercantile az
fairs at present are dull, especially retailing.
The Jews are beginning to find out this is not
Jerusalem and are backing out, so as to give hon.
est people chance. Clothing is as cheap as in
New York. We have the finest beef in the
world, and any quantity Of it, In fact, every
thing in the provision line is not only plentiful,
but cheap, excepting butter, eggs, and barn
yard fowls. Wild fowls are plentiful at $24
to 1856 a dozen; eggs q to $3 do; butter
from 50 to Is cents per pound; carpenters
6 to $40 day bricklayers 10 to $l2 day ;
laborers from to SO, but living, except house
rent, cheap; wood SIG cord, and scarce at
that; and now, after man makes his pile, in
stead of going east let him stay here and in
Sonoma or Napa or San Jose valley, buy farm,
and all he would have to do would be to live a
life of enjoyment in the most delightful climate
this side of Eden and as for dying, that they
will not do, but dry up and blow away Some
of them own up to one hundred and twenty
years now, but believe they have forgotten to
keep count, for they look about the gills like q
superannuated turtle, so brown and wrinkled.
To give you On idea what a country it is, last
Sunday went to the Mission Of San Rafael and
there saw some trees that beat any thing you
can imagine one | measured the girdle of, and
1t measured forty eight feet, being perfectly
round and sound it would make a single board
OF fifteen and half feet wide, without the
bark: so it is with every thing in the country,
all on an extensive scale. The Committee of
Vigilance hung another man to-day, and are
now looking for four or five more; they swing
them the first place they come to that is handy;
they are now hunting for man known among
the sporting circles east as Belcher Kay; he is
bound to be killed before twenty-four hours
he has been connected with the most desperate
gang of Sydney convicts imaginable-mur-
derers, burglars, and incendiaries. The man
they hung yesterday made o clean breast of it,
and has implicated some lawyers, police officers,
and other gentry; and every thing he stated is
| true. The Vigilance Committee is composed of
FIVE or six hundred of the most wealthy and in
huential citizens, and has the approval of all
the rest but few of the criminal lawyers /
will send you paper with all the particulars.
Excuse me for stopping so abruptly, but there
Is a steamer coming in, and l must stop to at
tend to her."