The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-08-21

yailing in 1919 and 1850. You recognize that
though Suffer is In his grave and Marshall
sleeps well latter life's ftful fever" there
is terribly busy hunt for gold along the
principal rivers that have their birth ia the
Sierra Nevada. You recognize that gold,
like color or time. has only q relative exist
enee. Men go in search Of it either in the
abstract or the concrete form. Nature laid
up stores of IL in the placer mine and the
quartz rock, but there is just as much good
gold nowadays for the same amount Of
energy devoted to the wheat-feld aud the
potato or fruit ranch.
This is one reason why the Stockton
steamers are just now engaged In bitter
rivalry.
Look At Stockton steamer as it is setting
out from the Slough City and 1t is easy TO
see that the world will not go a-hungering
as 1t did In the days of gold. In those days.
when some men were digging $3.50 and $500
day out of the mines around lone and
MOkeiumne Hill and Auburn, their fellow
cOuntrymen were starving to death in
Europe and wheat was quoted at 81 for a
Quartern loaf.
Described in brief form the water trip
to Stockton from San Francisco on a hot day
In August Is suggestion of Dante's In
fernO. Virgil did not contract for 1.-THE of
the mlseries he endured. And yet il Is a
trip fnil OF incident, romance and glorious
suggestions, not uDmingled with a few rea-
sons why the farmer and rancher do u OF see
things exactly as party demagogues think
they ought to see them.
on board the steamers somewhere about
quarter TO ) o'clock. The vicinity of CLAW
and Jackson street wharves then grows
alive with men and women. The interest
doubles with each succeeding movement.
There are two steamers about TO start.
You paw your money and you has your
choice" There is a big whirr of stern
wheels, and soon both steamers are out in
the stream, and heading for San Pablo bay
For while they run neck and neck. II
there is nothing in it," If Ii is merely an
everyday race, the chances are that both
boats will jog along at nine-knot pace for
the next 40 miles, and the passengers will
be discussing merits of clam chOwder and
Chicken broth or apple pie or mince pie
while the race is going on. But mostly il is
case of brief repast and speedy appear
ance On deck-sOme going to observe, a few
sorrowfully to reflect
But swiftly as the sunshine bursts out of
the thnndercloud comes the transition from
cold sea breeze from the Pacific Ocean to
those balmy' Zephyrs that endure all the
way from the passage under the lee of
Angel Island right up San Pablo Bay, and
then to the hot airs that prevail ali the way
up the Sacramento and San Joaquin when
once the ocean breeze has lost its effect,
for candor compels the admission that by
night or by day the yoyager on the tidal
waters Of the Sacramento and the San
Joaquin finds things awfully hot. In the
days Of the EleusiDian mysteries the ne0-
water, and once the steamer has passed the
confluence OF the two streams the voyager
feels as II he was being tried by all the four
oTdeals, especially the fire.
Wiihal, the steamer ride from San Fran
cisco to Stockton and back is an experience
that VIII linger pleasantly among golden
memories of life. Mostly the sun goes down
just as the steamer enters Suisun Bay, and
the last rays Of light color the waters a
deep lavender hue, wonfrously beautiful 10
~
and MARTINEZ fash out. Presently the sea
breeze becomes fainter and fainter and the
air warmer and warmer. I'll, well into the
night the first call is made at Antioch. just
half way between the two cities. The San
Joaquin begins to contract now from wide
turb!d river to serpentine slOw-fowing
stream like the tabled Meander of old, and
once IN every hour or so a pause is made at
the landings on the banks. The scenery
changes rapidly as the Slough City is ap-
preached. and about ii miles from the end
of the journey the banks are beautifully
fringed with dropping willows and tall
tules and cattails. ghostly looking by night
and exquisitely green by day. The people
at these landings have the most picturesque
little cottages and fruit and pota to ranches
conceivable, and there is often quite an
aspect OF elegance and luxury about the
neat lawns, the trim fences and In the trim
yachts IN which the ranchers disport them
selves In their leisure hours. But the mos
quitoes are the drawback to this Eden, and
when the steamer is fairly In the narrows
leading ND TO Stockton Slough the voyager,
like the rancher, is at their mercy. The
mosquitoes of the San JOAQUIN are not
noisy. They sing not but oh, how they
bitel
In the first rays OF morning the sleeper In
the coy hunks Of the river steamer will
start TO find himself gazing at tens of thou
sands of sacks filed with wheat, barley and
-four that are to be conveyed to San Fran
cisco on the return journey for transporta-
tion to Europe. Immense as the burden
seems the gangs Of men ready at the dock
seem to handle the job as If the sacks were
handfuls of feathers. First the miscelIape-
Gus cargo brought up is gotten out all inside
of two hours and then the wheat and barley
sacks are piled up on the forecastle and in
the hold till the heaps rise half way to the
pilot-house and II seems as IL a halt must be
called at last In the broiling sun, and on
Thursday last the temperature in Stockton
was over 100 degrees, the grain-handlers trot
around with their burden hour after hour,
only pausing at broad MONDAY to throw
themselves among the sacks for q little
rest. BY o'clock the steamer Is ready
passengers, for the heat has never yet
affected the popularity Of the river route.
To these passengers the spectacle afforded
on the first 30 miles OF the way down Is so
beautiful and so varied that no words can
describe II. The quaint costumes OF the
Monaghan and Portuguese and Italian
iaborers on the ranches, the instant change
which bend of the river makes from DEATH
like stiffness to full activity. and the sense
OF coming suddenly on an oasis of life in a
desert OF utter solitude-these things, COM
bined with the far-distant line of the
Sierras, the grim, lonely crest Of Mount
Diabo, and the bright glow of the electric
lamps in the cabin of the steamer,
make up series of surprises and contrasts
not 10 DE conveyed to the mind In words. A
night ride on the San Joaquin is an ocean
voyage without Its terrors; a revelation in
color, form and chiaroseuro; strange MI