The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-12-08

in this closing decade of the century,
adults who landed on these Occidental
shores nearly fifty years ago should
not now be rapidly passing into the un..
the searchers Tor the golden fleece" were
in the bloom of early manhood. Few had
ached middle age. and scarcely one in q
thousand beyond the meridian of lie.
Arriving here between the ages of 20 and
80 years, they would, according to natures
memorable laws, end their earthly pilgrim
age at or before the three score and ten
years allotted to morta!s.
OF 100 senior members of the Pioneer
Society on the roster now living, thirty-six
were born in 1919, thirty-four in 1920,
thirty-five in 1921, forty-one in 1922, fifty
nine In 1923, fifty-two in 1924, fifty live in
1926 and fifty-f four in 1926.
The three Oldest drgonauts on the roll of
the survivors are Admiral Selfridge, born
in 1905; Captain John Short, in 1907, and
Francis Roland, in 1909.
None of these octoe enarians are inca paci-
tated, either mentally or physically, from
pursuing their daily avocations, and very
few of the men in the seventies" can be
classed among superannuated septua-
genarians.
Enured to toll and enduring unwonted
hardships and privations in the early DAYS,
these surviving adventures have neverthe-
unimpaired and, free from care and bodily
ailment. they pass the evening OF life in
serenity, fearlessly and unfalterngly
awaiting the summons of the Divine
Master to join the great majority in the
pale realms of shade beyond the silent
river.
To depict. very imperfectly may be- some
of the sketches and narrate incidents of we
olden time is the purpose of the writer of
ic m mr. nil N
lectures. published and delivered at fire.
quent intervals, have been embodied ex-
ceedingly interesting information in the
California experiences of the narrator.
And there was no sameness in the nara
tives. Each had history Of his own, and
thrilling tales to tell of suffefings endured
and fond anticipations un-ealized. In the
lives of gold-seekers during those print
tive days disappointed hopes and blasted
expectations were the rule, and success the
exception. If the varied experiences of
the pioneer miners in the mountains, the
merchants in the marts of trade. the me-
chanics In the workshops and the profess
sonal men in their respective avocations
could be given to the world through the
medium of the printing press, stories as
incredible as those of the Arabian Nights
and more exciting than the adventures of
CULVER would electrify the most phleg-
matte skeptics in Christendom.
AN EvENTFUL VOYAGE.
The writer trusts that it will not be
deemed presumption i'll him to revive in
this com munication personal reminis-
cences of his pioneer voyage to the Ell
Dorado of the Occident and subsequent
experiences in the land of Ophir. Just
prior to the exodus of the yam of the grand
army of gold-hunters the official news
reached the National capital. Simultane-
ously with its PRONUNCIATION the seaboard
cities were couvulsed with excitement
Rich and poor alike caught the yellow
fever. But the first tide swept off neither
the rich nor the poor. The wealthy could
afford to wait and the impecunious could
not get away. The merchant, the me-
chanlc. the manufacturer and the profess
sional man constituted the bulk of the
argonauts who paid the exorbitant passage
money. But these were speedily followed
by the enterprising farmers of the country,
both East and West, and the traders of the
thriving interior settlements.
In the van of the pioneer feet was the
Christoval Colon, she being one of the first
four vessels to sail from Gotham. On
January g. 1849, she started on her s'voyage
the craft bore the name of the Genoa navi-
gator. The skipper had an ominous sur
name also-Coffin. Aud when three DAYS
afterward in the gulf stream off Cape
Hatteras, that graveyard of seamen, the
gallant craft was dismasted in hurricane,
we felt that the only Coffin aboard would
go down with the rest OF us to Davy Jones'
locker "unknelled, uncoffined and un-
sung" But the stout ship came out of her
fight with old Neptune and Boreas right
side up after lying all night on her beam