The daily Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1855, 1854-10-07
From California.

From California.
The following letter, written from Cali
fornia by DR.. JosEra SIMPSON, of the U.
S. Army, to his brother, in this city, con-
ttaining some information of interest in
relation to that country, has been kindly
handed to us for publication: .i ;s----
Fort HUMBOLDT, Cal, August ~, ,,54. :
My Dear Brother-It is just two months,
Yesterday, since we arrived at this port after
passage Of eleren days from SAT- Francisco
in small schooner. We are some 22O miles
north of San Francisco. Vessels, at this sea-
son of the year, 60 from here there in about
forty-eight hours but are much longer in re-
turning, in consequence of strong, northwest
Winds In the winter it is the reverse, as the
winds are then mostly from the south and
southwest. -.
This port is situated on bay of the same
name, which runs parallel to the coast, being
only separated from it by narrow strip of
land, varying from one half mile, to two or
three miles in breadth. The bay is about two
miles wide, and some fifteen or twenty in
length. The entrance is about two-thirds of
the way down towards its lower end. A bad
saInlbar makes it difficult for sailing vessels
except with certain winds, to enter A steam
tug, which is now in use here, obviates this
difficulty. ...
There are no less than four towns on the
bay: Humboldt City, nearly opposite the en-
trance; Bucksport, three miles above; Eureka,
three miles further up; and Uniontown ten
miles above Eureka. We are within few
hundred yards of Bucksport, on plateau
some thirty feet above the level of the town.
From our west windows, we look over the
bay, on the Pacific.
found the climate much cooler here than
l had anticipated. Nothing but wooden
clothing is worn. We have fire in one ROOM
night and morning, and sometimes throughout
the day. l have slept under couple of blan-
kets all the summer, and have not found them
too warm for comfort. We have good deal
of foggy weather, but the fog does not seem to
be as penetrating as at the East. In fact, it
is rather agreeable to me. AS l am a great
enemy to hot weather, this climate suits me
exactly. In the valleys back of us, and in the
interior of the State, the thermometer ranges
very high, At Fort Reading, the present
summer, it has been as high as lO4 degrees.
This post is garrisoned by two companies of
the 4th Infantry, Col. Buchanan in command
Capt. Judah and Lieut.. Hunt are the other
officers. Lieut.. Hunt is relieved from duty,
and expects to start for San Francisco to-
morrow. He goes on sick leave, and expects
to take trip, ola. Cape Horn, for the benefit
of his health. We will miss him very much.
f.
Money is very scarce here, yet we find every
thing at the very highest notch, as to price l
bought very Indifferent California horse the
other day, and had to give $40 for him. A
few days since l purchased COW for Sl30.
Some of my chickens I paid So piece for,
and some $3.50. Eggs cost Sl,5O per dozen !;
milk, twenty-five cents per quart, and other
things in proportion.
The lumber interest keeps up the small
towns on the bay. The country is covered
with very heavy growth of the tallest kind
of fir trees and tree which they here call
rcd wood, which resembles our cedar in color,
attans an enormous size ! am told by per-
sons who can be relied on, that there is a red
wood tree, about five miles from Eureka, that
measures eighty-six feet in circumference. I
stood, the other day, by some redwood saw
logs, and my chin just came to the top of
them. The wood is softer than white pine is
easily worked, and is very durable but bad
about splitting. The grain is so straight, that
the boards are very apt to split, when driving
nails in them.
Saw mills abound. There are no less than
ten steam mills Oh the bay, one of which has
sawed as much as $4,000 feet of boards in
twelve hours. Another can saw over 10000,
and so on. The saws are in gangs. Lumber
is now very low, and in very little demand.
This is the cause of the great scarcity of
money here.
I have plenty to do in the practice of my
profession, and it would be very lucrative, if
lumber were in greater demand. Accidents
are constantly happening to the loggers, and
men in the mills, and have had several surgi-
cal cases from these sources. There arc two
physicians herc-one at Bucksport, and the
other at Eureka. There is also third at
CJniontown; but that is so far off that have