The Kanzas news., 1859-02-12
Early Settlers of California.

/ 1HE ORTY TY-NIHERS.-FOOr tne most OF
them are, yet Heaven bless them all We
can tell them by their contempt for short
bis, by their independent bearing. by their
affection for check-shirts and long-legged
boots, and by hundred other indescribabe
characteristics, noticed only, perhaps, by
those who sat around the camp-fires of so,
! or toiled through the mirv streets of San
Francisco the winter of that and the proceed
ing year. They were the flower of the East
the embodiment of its courage, vigor, in :
telligenee and energy. They did not wait
| till the trail across the continent had been
made plain by the track of travel-until the
savages had been driven from the highway
until line of steamers had been estab-
lished for their ease and safety--until the
mountain passes had been explored-until
adventurers had returned to tell them that
dangers were few in the land of gold and
money plenty In whale-ships they set
sail, and in barks and schooners. With
the rife for their protection and the sinking
sun for their guide, they went out into the
wilderness, and made road of their own
between the oceans.
They found country here as wild as
their own romantic fancies, generous as the
great hearts that throbbed in their manly
bosoms, beautiful as the dream of poet,
rich in gold as the mind dare hope for
All had gold. Gold-gold-gold-there
was nothing but gold, and they learned 10
look at it Without lust. Why? Because
with purses full of it, they were without
society, without comforts, frequently with
they ceased to worship it. Their purses
and their doors were open to ALL and their
confidence in each other was without pre-
cedent, almost without limit. Credit was
freely given by the mountain merchant to
all who asked it, whether friend or stranger,
whether with money or without, and rarely
did the trader lose, for honor was more es-
teemed in California then than now, and gold
could not corrupt it. The earnings of
months were thrown upon the shelf in the
cabin. and left for days together. with no
one to guard, no one to watch them, for
those who came here in l849 were not rob-
bers, and theft was thing unknown.
Amidst such circumstances it was that
the early pioneers contracted habits of reck-
lessness and improvidence of which they
have never been able to correct themselves,
and which are so entirely inconsistent with
the accumulation of wealth. They acquir
ed fortunes rapidly, but in less time they
were squandered, and four-ffths of them
are to-day no richer than they were nine
years ago. Here and there We find one who
has saved his earnings. but the great major
ity of them are poor. To them, poverty is
no disgrace. They have not been idlers.
non-producers, gentlemen of pleasure
They encountered the dangers of the ocean
and the perils of the trackless wild, to make
a home for those who followed. Although
homeless themselves, they see cities reared
upon the gold they have dug; although
penniless, they behold world enriched by
their labors, and nation saved from bank
ruptey by their toll.
Many have gone to their eternal rest,
crushed by hardships, slain by hostile saw
ages, drowned in the mountain torrents,
killed by accident or design, or with wan
disease passing to another world from bed
of pine leaves in the lonely canons of the
Sierras. Such as still live, aud are poor,
are entitled to our respect and gratitude. for
they are the remnant of body of men,
whose equal, as whole, the world will new
er see again. May fortune smile upon them
once more. aud their path lie in pleasant
places.-San Francisco Golden Era.