, 1875-06-05
EARLY CALIFORNIA.
Yerba Buena before fhe Discovery el

1 Sherman 9 volume VI eisOuaA NSeniiniscences
It relates to his first residence in California,
which commenced in 1S4S:
At that time, what is now San Francisco
was called Yerba Buena. A naval officer,
Lieutenant Washington A. Bartlett, it frs;
alcalde, had caused it to be surveyed and laid
! out into blocks and lots, which were being
sold at SIC lot of fifty varas sluare the
understanding being that no single person
could purchase of the alcalde more than one
in-lot of fifty vatas, and one out-lot of one
hundred varss. Folsom, however, had got
his clerks, Orderiies, etc, to buy lots, and
| they, for q small consideration, conveyed
them TO him, so that he was nOminslly the
owner Of a good many lots. Lieutenant
Halleck had bought one of each kind, and
50 had Warner. Many naval officers lad
| also invested, and Captain Folsom advised
me to buy some, but felt actually insulted
that he should think me such fool as to pay
money for property in such horrid place as
Yerba Buena, especially ridiculing his quar-
ter of tbs city, then called Happy Valley.
| AT that day Montgomery street was, as now,
the business street, extending from jackson
TO Sacramento, the water of the bay leaving
barely room for a few business houses on its
east side; and the public wafehouses We're
! on sandy beach about where the Bank Of
California now stands, viz, near the inter
section of Ssrsome and California streets.
Along Montgomery were the stores of How
ard u Mellns. Frank Ward, Sherman &
Ruckle, Ross & Co, and there may be one
or two others. Around the Plaza were few
hnnc.S thar, h Ho+ol ,,l H.
Custom House, single-story adobes with tiled
roofs, and they were by far the most substan-
tial and best houses in the place. The pOpu-
lation was estimated at about four hundred,
cf whom Kanskas natives of the Sandwich
islands, formed the bulk.
The time passed rapidly away until the
spring of 1S4S, when the great discovery was
made which at once produced social and
financial revolution in California. The event
Is simply recorded by the author, without the
preliminary flourish Of trumpets which a
man of less common sense would not have
failed to sound forth on the occasion. /" / re-
member one day that two men, Americans,
came into the Office and inquired for the Gov
ernor- l asked their business, and one an
swered that they had Just eome down from
Captain Sutter on special business, and they
wanted to see Governor Mason in person.
After some time the Colonel came to his door
and called 10 me. | went in, and my atten-
tion was directed 10 series of papers un-
folded on his table, In which lay about half
an ounce of placer gold. Mason said TO me.
What is thisY' | touched it and examined
one or two of the large pieces, and asked,
is this gold ! Mason asked me if had ever
seen native gold. | answered that, in 1874
| WAS in Upper Georgia, and there saw some
native gold, but 1t was much finer than this,
and that it was in phials. or in transparent
quilts; but said that, if this were gold, i,
could be easily tested, first, by its malleabil'
| ity, and next by acids. | took a piece IL
my teeth, and the metallic luster was per.
| feet. l then called 10 the clerk, Baden, to
bring an axe and hatchet from the backyard.
| When these were brought, took the larges,
| piece and beat 1t Out ti4t, and beyond doub;
II was neral, and pure metal Still, We
| attached little Importance TO the fact, FOL
| gold was known to exist at San Fernando, al
the south, and Yet WAS not considered oi
much value"
1.-The winter of 1883 was a period ot
luUCuso dCtiEltl thEOuSuou6 CdiAiOIuln' Ut
rainy season was unfavorable TO the opera
tions Of gold mining, and was very hard
upon the thousands of hopeless men and wO
men who dwelt IN the mountains, and ever
Ill the towns Most of the natives and ole
inhabitants had returned 10 their ranches
and houses; yet there were not roofs enough
in The country to shelter the thousands wh'
had arrived by sea and by land. The new
| had gone forth to the whole civilized worlC
that gold in fabulous quantities was to b
had for the mere digging, and adventurer
came pouring in biindly to seek their fortune
without thought of house or food. Yerbs
! Buena had been converted into San Francisco
Sacramento City had been laid out, lois wer,
being rapidly sold, and the town was bein.
built up rs an entrepot TO mines. Stockton
also had been chosen as a convenient point TO
trading with the lower or southern mines
Captain Sutter was the sole proprietor OF tn
former, and Captain Charles Weber WAS tn
owner of the site of Stockton, which was e
yet known as French Camp"