The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-06-07
The Mining Excitements of CnIi-
fOrHnfn

SAINT sketch OF the mining eXctements of Cali
fornia-
"The discovery of the Australian mines oc-
CURED in 1881, at the time when the California
diggings were still in a very productive condi-
tion-and very few. left this coast. About the
close of 1893 series of false letters I'm reUnrd TO
the opening of rich gold mines ON the headwaters
ot the Amazon, IN Peru, were published in the
Panama papers, and as il was supposed that they
were written In good faith and had some foun-
datlOn IN tact they were rCpublished by the
public Journals of California. They msled n
thousand men TO go to Callao, and on their ar
rival there they were astonished ton find that the
people in Peru had never heard of the new
diggings.
"The Kern river excitement, in the spring of
1853, surpassed everything that had preceded il.
In this case, as in several others which had pre-
ceded IT, number of false letters, written uu-
doubtedly with a deliberate purpose to deceive.
were published. The purpose was attained, for
not less than five thousand miners went to Kern
river, and ms many more had prepared TO follow
them. Men in every branch of employment
threw up thertbusiness,Or sold ont at "a sacrifice.
Labor rose in value, and many farms and mines
lay idle for the lack of labOrers. 1t looked for
time as though all other places were to be de-
serted for Kern river But i'm a few weeks
was known that there never had been any rich
diggngs in the valley of Kern river, and tina
the few claims which had paid were worked ont.
For nearly three years the miners Of ClliiOr.
MIA had comparative quiet, and then in the spring
of 1858 came the news that rich aurilcrous de.
posts had been discovered on the banks of Fraser
fNcT,ENlIlln Il hundred miles OF It's mouth.
The diggings were not extensive, but the gold
was fine, implying that had been carried by the
river a considerable distance, and the opinion
was formed from the analoges of California eX-
perience that there must be rich and extensive
placers in the upper part of the basin of the
stream. The Sacramento, the Feather, and the
San joaquin rivers never had any rich bars near
their mouths, and they are far from being so large
or so long as the Fraser. 1t was evident that the
gold or the bars near Yale had not come from
the neighboring hills, but had been brought
down by the current for a long distance.
''These facts justified the presumption. which,
however, was not verified, that the valley of the
Fraser must be richer in gold than that of the
Sacramento was in 1849; and this presumption
was the main cause of the Fraser fever. An
other cause was that the miners were spelling
for an excitement. Many of the rich placers
were exhausted. The live rivers, the guches.
and the shallow flats would longer pay for
white labor. The country was full of men who
could no longer earn the wages TO which they
had become accustomed, and they were unwill-
ing to come down to farming at thirty dollars
per month. They had become industrially des-
peTate. They ready TO go anywhere if
there was a reasonable hope of rich diggings
rather than submit to live without the high pay
and excitement which they had enjoyed for
years IN the Sacramento placeTs. Many of them
had become unfit for the placid and orderly
routine of the common labOrer in other cOun-
tries They were demorazed by prosperity.
"These men welcomed the rumors that new
California had been found in the basin of the
Fraser with Joy and enthusiasm. They would
not wait for the yerihcation ofthc rumors. They
would not allow others more confident than
themselves to go and take up all the good
claims. They started with little delay as
possible, and the people of Victoria. through
whose towns all the news came to San Fran
cisco, were amazed at the rush OF thousands of
Californians for dggings which had yielded little
gold and had been taken up far they were
known or accessible. The first notice of the
mines was published in March; on the Goth of
April the migration commenced, and in that
nf,,th 0a1V t1Irn n1t. in, Nav "a,
June, $500: and in the first ten days of July, six
thousand-eighteen thousand in all Nine
steamers and twenty sailing vessels were en-
gi.ged in the trade, the distance being only one
thousand miles by sea, and the breezes very
favorable to sailers. By the 9th of July more
than one voter in six had left the State and it
seemed probable that the migration would con-
tinue mt the same ratio. The mining counties.
having few homes, were the chief sufferers.
Some of them lost more than Il third of their
population. General bankruptcy stared them
in the face. Real estate lost from twenty-five
to seventy five per cent. of its market value.
The stages were unable to carry the passen-
gers bound for Fraser river as fast as they
applied.
chased their supplies and spent money here
while waiting for the vessels that were to carry
them off, suffered also. There was great de-
crease in the value of city lands Lots on Mont
gomery street, south of Bush, now worth $500
were offered for 500 per front foot. Several o
the wealthiest real estate owners made prepara
tions to hedge and save themselves from los:
here by buying lots in Victoria. Claims in the
mining districts in demand in March at $1,000
went begging in June for buyers at $780, and the
town property in the mountains suffered aL
equal depreciation. 1t seemed that the glory Of
California had departed But the Fraser fever
terminated more suddenly than it commenced
Though there were thousands of skilful miners
on Fraser river, up to the 10th of July less thar
100000 in dust had arrived in San Francisco
Their letters to their friends were not encourag
ing. They had been told before starting tina
the river was high with melting snow, and tina
the bars would not be accessible until low waite
should come with midsummer and they wer
willing to wait; but those bars aboV
high-water mark did not pay like tn,
high bars of the Yuba and Feather in 1S49
and there were no ravine diggings like those o
California. Some of the adventures had sue
ceeded in ascending the river several hundred
miles, but they found nothing that came up I,
their expectations. In Victoria there were eigh
thousand men without employment and many
of them without money. On the 10th of Jul.
there were not less than two thousand men il
San Francisco ready to sail for Fraser river
a and thousands of others in all parts of tn
State were preparing to start Notwithstanding
the lack of encouraging news but their inten
tions were changed within two days Th
steamer Brother Jonathan, which sailed iron
this port on the Sth of July, foundered at sea
and though this disaster proved nothing agains
Frazer river it was the shock was crystalline
the general idea previously entertained uncOr
sciously. that the rush had continued too long
The migration suddenly stopped; soon the ad
Venturers began to come back, and in fey
months they were nearly all at work in thei
old places; many of them cured OF their despt