Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-12-21
CALIFORNIA PIONEER BANKING.
Large Profits, but the Bankers Path
way Was Strevn With ThOrns.

way was Strewh 1nOrnSs
From the Overland Monthly.
In treating of the romantic period of the
Argoaauts, writers have touched but light
ly upon pioneer banking, a subject which
would have furnished many an interesting
chapter. This IS to be doubly regretted, be-
cause the business was of magnitude
hardly equaled in any other new country,
and because the records are today mainly
derived from personal "reminiscences, blot
ted and dmmed by the passage of time.
The old banks of San Francisco We're I'M
doubtedly marvels of the age. While lack
ing the Snowy exteriors and handsome fur
nishings of their modern successors. they
proved fully equal to the requirements Of
a day when gold was more Of a commodity
than it has ever since been. Statements of
immense deposits of gold in the ramshackle
buildings and the pot metal safes peculiar
to the times might seem exaggerated We're
they not amply proved by reliable statis-
tics.
If the profits were large in those days,
many and varied We're the vicissitudes of
the business. While as a rule the banker
of the period is generally supposed to have
rolled in luxury, his pathway was literally
strewn with thorns. 1t could hardly be
said that capital was cautious then. but it
certainly was timed to a degree which fire.
quently preciptated crisis short-lived as
a rule, but sufficiently threatening in its
aspect 10 cause general uHeaSlHeSS.
The dapositors among the mining commu-
nifty were inclined to be as tickle the
fortune which attended their search for
gold, and when not engaged in delving
among the gulches and ravines of the
higher Sierra, or along the banks and
beds of the Sacramento and its tributaries
they seem to have kept watchful eye
over the movements of the banker. An
apparently trivial event would suffice to
create suspicion, and that meant an i'm
mediate demand for whatever money was
on deposit, which had to be forthcoming
on short notice
There was no law then to protect the
banker by requiring formal application for
the withdrawal of deposits under special
classification. The drafts presented had
to be paid or the doors must be closed. In
the beginning of 1854. Adams & Co. were
subjected to most trying experience from
the most trivial cause Usually large ship
pers Of coin, the January steamer had de-
parted without their name appearing on
the manifest for some reason. A run i'm
mediately was commenced the bank
and before the first day had closed nearly
half a million in gold had been paid over
the counter to an excited crowd of deposi-
tors AS usual in such cases, the appar-
ent ease with which the sudden demand
was met, and the well-stocked trays of
gold behind the counters confronting Gus
toners, soon turned the tide, and a few
hours later the deposits were pouring back
again more rapidly even than they were
withdrawn.
This is only one instance of the kind
a community largely made UP Of men who
had followed the exciting and precarious
career of miners In comparatively wild
and UNEMPLOYED region, a life in Itself cal
culated to inspire ard foster a natural
feeling OF distrust in their surroundings.