The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1854-03-11
CALIFORNIA CoRREsPoN DENcE.
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL, Jan. %, "a

bdHbEAS
Dear Ser: Being ~ old resident OF Evans
vile, and, i'll this DrB.ressye aye, considered
an old Californian, presume no apology is
necessary from me for sending you lew
lines, although We not personally acquain-
ted. During period Of iodr years and halt
have seen about half dozen copies OF your
valuable paper, which Interested he very
much, as they served 10 keep me posted up in
regard 10 affairs AT home. Being in the
mines most of the time, and never staying
long in one place, have never received more
than half OF the ette rs sent me from home or
abroad.
This country is without parallel on the
face of the earth. San Francisco, city of
canvas tents pitched on the sand hills in 1919
six times destroyed by fre-is now not only
remarkable for the extent Of her commercial
transa ctions, but for the number as well as
the elegance and durability of the buildings.
both public and private, which have been
erected within the last two years.
! Sacramento, which was one year ago sub.
jected to two floods, and subsequently almost
utterly annihitated by fire, is now rebuilt,
more fouri-hng than ever, so that stranger
visiting the city would never suspect any
such catastrophe had ever befallen it.
Hills are cut down, valleys filled up and
buildings erected with celebrity which out
strips the fabulous performances of Aladdin
and his wonderful lamp. The stores and
warehouses are filled, the wharves are cover
ed with goods from the East and from the
West, from the North and from the South,
the contents of clipper ships, whose cargoes
are discharged by horse power or steam
power, as the case may be, presenting a
} strong contrast TO 1850, when it took from
six weeks to two months to discharge ves-
sci of six hundred tons by means of lighters,
and now they will discharge clipper ship of
two Thousand tons, after she has been haul
ed into her berth, in two days and a half
The country and the people are progress
sive. The hack driver and the carmen say,
progress, to their horses; and this morning as
| went down Stockton street, met youn g
lad with satchei on his shoulder-"where
are you going, my young man?" said |. "Pm
progressing to school, sir" he replied From
the millionaire to the beggar, they travel the
streets at railr' ad speed, and if on horeback
they ride full gallop-(N. B., there is city
ordinance sOmechere against running horses
in the thoroughfares, )-even the very women
i'd was after them. They. however, have
some excuse, for if they did not walk fast,
they would be run over, get knocked down
, or meet with some other casualty.
What was it that erected all these superb
edifces, and loaded these gems of the ocean.
these magnificent clipper ships! 1t was
gold, that substance which from time imme-
mortal has been the subject of animadvers on
and invective from the divine, the philoso-
pher and the morast. Gold is he right arm
of commerce as well as of war, and is more
necessary than much learning in this place,
as shall show you presently.
: There Is no place in the civilized world
where you can get the Injuries of life in such
variety. There are men whose sole business
5 is to cater for the wants of the inner and
outer man. The air, the earth and the water
, readily supply the one, and the wants of the
other are supplied by the foreign trade of
San Francisco. The markets are stored with
a du ks from the canvas-back down to the
2 mud hen, some six or eight varieties of geese,
, with all the different species of plover, deer,
antelope, Elk and bear meat, hares, rabbits,
q, ails, Sc, with fish of every kinG and very
fue flavor-some remarkable for their ap-
pearanre, particularly a species of the rock -.
d cod; they weigh from ten 10 fifteen pounds
The head and half the body is Jet black, the
: remainder of the body and the tail a bright
vermilion; the nose and mouth are almost
u square, and the jaws have teeth set about one
$ sixteenth OF an inch apart precisely similar in
: size and shape 10 the incisors in the mouth
q OF human being. One cannot DENY the
cheapness of articles in the market. Wild
geese at % cents; eight teal ducks for S CO.
aud elk, deer, &c. ID to 20 cents per pound
Board, however, is high as it was in 1850.
and "surgit amari aliquid," there's no sweet
e without bitter. In 1850, if you was without
money, you could get weeks board on
credit In any place; now yol might possibly
get one meal, with almost certainty Of be-
d ing assisted into the street a posteriori, and
e would defy you to get nights lodging OF
d the most ordinary kind without paying fifty
4 cents IN Advance. In many places, no mater
: how much baggage you might have, it would
make no difference. No money, no bed, and
II you lay out, you are equally certain CT be
ing surrounded by the police, aud accommo-
C dated with quarters for the remainder of the
s night in the basement Of the old jenny Lind
: Theatre, with the privilege of an interview
with his honor the Recorder in the morninc.
: who will fine You S5 90 for being poor. and
IN default OF payment, send you to Black
: Maria. 1t is much worse on the poor man
r here "a this time, than it was in the mines
during the time of the flood last winter. W hen
we had to soak farley and pound il to get
{ something to eat.
This city has at present between sixty and
. seventy thousand permanent residents, and
about one hundred thousand floating popula-
J, ton. There are thousands in this city who
, do not know where the next meal is to come
from, and many who know not where TO Law
their heads. The majority OF the rum shops
e will give you a glass of liquor where they
would not under any consideration give Won
. anything to eat. The other morning, on
Pacific street wharf, saw we'll dressed and
respectable looking young man walk up to