The Montana post. [volume] (Virginia City, Montana Territory [i.e. Mont.]) 1864-1869, 1865-01-21
San Francisco Correspondence.
sAN FRANCISCO, Dec. lS, 1864.

~-'-%t'SASNoS beCs 10, 1904.
FRIEND Posi-: again SIT down to write
lew lines to you poor fellows now ,biyer.
ing IN the blasts of northern winter hut
WI wnlie you are having hard freeze on tba
missouri waters, We here for the last tbrse
oays, mad what We call cold weather. that
rs, hard frost in the morning, and q g,Ie
OF WIND all the time. Ships have bscn
Jumping and pounding against vbarve,
ana performing perfectly wonderful fats
ot agility, and crinolne showing creat
1esire toreverse its most becoming posif;on
put once more "order reisns in Warsa,,s:;;
ana business can be peaceably nroceedss
with: But Oh, good Lord! business now
OF all kinds is in terrible state of decline
consumption has fastened its firm hold nm.
oh IL, and unless some DR.. Wistar or Aver
snail get up some Wild Cherry Balsam for
business, as well as lungs, fear the dis
| ease will be fatal. =. l.--
But some two or three letters ago, COM
msnced TO write you about the amusements
OF San Franciscans. Well next to horse.
racing comes riding out, and in the imme.
uiate vicinity of this city are so MANY
places OF entertainment that when one
wisnes TO expend ten or twenty dollars for
MS own pleasure, and the delectation of
that particular piece Of crinoline that takes
ms eye, the only trouble is to decide in
What direction to go-the Ocean House.
the Cllf House, Angolo's, the Willows,
&C., &c., &c.-!n short, so many Of them.
that there really can be no decision on the
part Of the male biped, and the taste or
fancy of the lady must decide the question.
Well we suppose she decides for this time
to go to the Cliff House. You procure a
buggy and start over the high hills in the
rear OF the city, passing by the beautiful
suburban residences of the rich men of
Frisco, and coming TO the plateau in the
rear Of the town, where n view of greater
beauty than often can be seen, is before
you. Before you, in the distance, is the
vast, blue expanss ofthe Pacific, dotted with
sails, and sparkling in the sunbcams. To
your right, the Golden Gate, with It's ten
miles OF straish. navigation, the further
shores rising into wild cliffs, and broken
chasms that speak it's volcanic oriSin-tbe
nearer side gently falling back from the
water, and covered with villas, private
| residences and manufactures while fur
| ther out, the regularly LAID cut grounds,
the rows of barracks, the lofty fag staff with
the glorious stars and stripes, and more
than all, the bright uniforms and dashing.
caparIsoned horses around, proclaim the
presidio, the great depot Of troops in Cal.
| lfornia, and beyond this, tue froWning bas.
tlons Of Fort Point, while in the channel.
and covering and guarding the whole, lies
the little giant Alcatraz--little, but as the
the Niger said of his pig, "dam olf."-
AS you go on you pass beautifully laid out
| grounds and fertile fields, where two wears
ago, nothing but sand hills existed, till at
the distance Of two miles, you pass the
Lone Mountain Cemetery the 6: Pere la
ChasSe," Of the Pacific. Here, amidst
| flowers and evcrgrecns rest the remains of
! thousands Of those who have come to this
country with high minded hopes, and ex-
! Pectations of wealth, and the anxious de-
sire to return to friends ut home, to pass
the sunset Of life with them. Alas they
have fallen in the struggle, and passed
from earth, but amid the beauties of this
place we may well think and hope that ssaf-
ter Life's titful fever, they sleep well.n Well
we go on and move through sand hills and
! brush, till suddenly we open upon q view
where the ocean seems laid out at your
feet, spreading in vast magnificence before
! us, a semcircle Of which the one extreme
is made Of the Southern point of the en-
trance to the harbor, and ON the high point
| just below the entrance stands the Cliff
House. Every luxury is there, both in the
eating or drinking line. Billiards, tenpins,
cards are the order of the day. but after
taking a lemonade, and ordering our din
ner, as we have a lady along we Of course
eschew the common "noisy and boisterous
amusements of the sterner sex, and ram
| bel around to view the scenery. You are
upon the shores of old ocean. 70 the left
stretches q long line of beautiful sand
beach, whore for miles you can ride on
| plain rs hard as though manufactured for
that end, where the long seas roll up their
line of silver foam making deep diapason
| of harmony that well attunes with the sub
blimity of the prosr ect befors you, broken.
at times, by the angry rush and clash of the
| billows IS they meet the IRON clad rocks of
the heads, Or dash in insane fury up
on the sides of Seal Rock. This peculiar
rock lies lies nearly in front of the house,
and at a short distance from the shore, and
| rises from the water to the height of
nearly fifty feet. The steep and slippery
sides are continually covered with seals,
literally. in heaps. They seem to have a
| peculiar affection for the place, and although
! almost in the immediate presence of crowds
who daily come to the Cliff House-they,
generally the most timid of animals, here
seem to feel themselves at home with man.
The proprietors do not allow them to be
shot at or disturbed in any way, and thsE
appear to appreciate the delicate attention.
But most of all, one can be alone with old
ocean, and appreciate fully Montgomery's
beautiful lines: 4r,-
GAN hail to thy ruins thy rocks and thy shores,
Thou wide rolling ocsan, all hail g a.
Now sparkling in sunbeams and dimpled with oars,
And now dark with the fresh morning gale"
No one, however lost to the finer feelings,
can come to its shores and the vast, illimit-
able expanse before him, and hear the deep,
solemn tones of its voice, without feeling
his own insigniieance in the scale Of being
and the sense Of pleasing sadness that
comes over him, is that which would best
prepare the heart toscomInuna with its
maker. But to him who has been born and
r,;sad ,nap its shorea and comes back after