River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1875-04-30
Going TO CaIiFOrnia--and Coming
Back Again.
BITTERLY DECEIVED.

baCh ABhih'
BITTERLY DECEIVED.
The tide Of emigration to California
this spring, says the Atchnon, Kansas,
Champion, astonishes every one, except
those who went. 1t is wholly unequalled
in the history Of the country, and as un.
accountable as unequalled. Why the
rush commenced is a mystery. How
everybody expected to live after they
reached the gold slope, is problem that
no one has ever been able to solve. And
yet in the month Of March $500 persons
pc ssed Kearney junction bound for San
Francisco, and of this number
over 1000 persons who had probably ex.
pended Their last dollar to pay railroad
fare. Gentlemen who have just returned
from San Francisco inform us that the
prospect Of making a living there is lit.
tie less than any other place they have
ever seen. Hundreds Of able bodied men,
who had spent their last dollar for trans
portation, are begging bread in the streets,
and sleeping in barns and outhouses. The
picture drawn is distressing in the ex.
IRENE, and affords an excellent illustra.
tration Of the old saying, "ai that gilt.
tiers is not gold" We are informed also,
that numbers who have tried the golden
experiment daily pass Kearney junction
on their way East. Most Of them are
dead broke and are aiming to "dead
peat their way home. They say they
have been bitterly deceived, and if they
can once reach the "old stamping
ground" again, they won't be very easily
induced to leave it. The golden bubble
has about bursted.
THE COLONY BUSINESS.
The Sacramento (Cal.) Union of the
TIN inst says: "There are strong ind-
cations that the colony business is being
very much overdonc in California at pres
ent, and as it cannot be oyerdone without
acting inluriousiy upon the whole region,
and without hurting the reputation of
the whole State and entaling loss upon
the best class Of emgrants, the attention
Of the public ought to be directed to the
situation. Colonization, when properly
and prudently and fairly carried out,
presents many obvious advantages to the
intending settlers, and there can be no
question that it is a capital method of
| filling up State But colonization, like
everything else that is originally genuine
and square, holds out so many induce.
ments to schemers that it is impossible it
should escape imitation with fraudulent
intent. Consequently it if not cause
for surprise that there should have
arisen class Of adventures and
spectators who have awaited themselves
of prctense of public spirit to push enter
prises of really undesirable character,
and who have in several instances pur.
chased bad lands for song, and sold
them for five and six prices to unsuspi-
cious emigrants. The southern counties
have naturally become the principal field
Of these
IMPOsTUREs,
and for the reason that the real advanta-
ges Of settlement in many parts of that
region are very great, while it is particu.
larly easy to show apparent evidences Of
the rapidity with which homes can be
made here. The fact, moreover, that
some bonafide colonies have been estab-
lished there, and that the purchasers
have every reason to be satisfied with
their investment, has served to help the
Lss-- .~io.,ias.o -lv usus ., adv upon ths
reputation of their neighbors, and use
1T TO entrap the unwary. Some of these
fraudulent schemes are bolstered up by
journals which have apparently come
into existence for no other purpose. These
necessarily, and with tedious and fulsome
asseverations, sound thcspraises of the
new colony; assert land not worth S. an
acre is worth 800; studiously conceal
facts of situation, of aridity, of soil, etc,
which if known would at once put an end
to all hopes of quilting the simple; and, in
fact, spread false information with i'm
pudence and persistence.
BUREAUS OF INFORMATION.
San Francisco telegram of the 22d
says, Meetings were held on Monday last
in this city and Sacramento, to organize
bureaus of information and labor ex.
changes, for the benefit of the present
great immigration. Committees were
appointed to collect funds for printing an
address to immigrants, and to comInuni.
cate with editors in the interior, with the
view Of establishing reliable bureaus Of
information concerning lands, their prices,
and the demand for labor