The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1896-03-20
EARLY BANKS IN CALIFORNIA


the Argonauts writer's have touched
but lightly upon pioneer banking, a
subject which would have furnished |
many an interesting chapter. This is
to be double regretted, because Q
business was of magnitude hardly
equaled in any other new country, and
because the records are today mainly
derived from personal "reminiscences,
blotted aud dimmed by the passage of
time. The old banks of San Francisco
were undoubtedly marvels of the age.
While lacking the snowy exteriors and
handsome furnishings of their modern
successors, they proved fully equal to
the requirements of day when gold
was more Of commodity than it has
ever been since. Statements of i'm
mense deposits Of gold in the ram
shackle buildings and the pot metal
safes peculiar to the times might seem
exaggerated we're they not amply
proved by reliable statistics.
In new land where gold is king,
banking naturally flourishes. With
the accnmulations of metallic wealth,
depository must be provided for stor-
age and security. The miner, follow
ing some prolific lead in quartz or
gravel, cannot continually cache his
pile under the sole guardianship Of ma
ture. When opportunity offers his
treasure is transported to some safer
place, leaving its owner to pursue
his labor free from any other care. As
all the roads then led to the city by
the bay, San Francisco then became
the great banking center of all mining
districts. IF the profits we're large in
those days, many and varied were the
| vicissitudes Of the business. While, as
q rule, the banker of the period is sup
posed to have rolled in luxury, his
pathway was literally strewn with
thorns. It could hardly be said that
capital was cautious then, but it GER
tainly was timid to degree which fire.
quently precipitated crisis-short-
lived as a rule-but sufficiently threat
ening in it's aspect to cause general
uneasiness.
The depositors among the mining
community we're inclined to be as tickle
as the fortune which attended their
search for gold and when not engaged
in delving among the gulches and
ravines of the high Sierra or along the
banks and bed of the Sacramento and
It's tributaries they seemed to have kept
watchful eye over the movements Of
the banker. An apparently trivial
event would suffice to create suspicion
and that meant an immediate demand
for whatever money was on deposit,
which had to be forthcoming on short
notice. There was no law then to pro-
tect the banker by requiring formal
application for the withdrawal of de-
posts under special classification. The
drafts presented must be paid or the
doors must be closed.
In the beginning OF 1854 Adams &
90. we're subjected to most trying ex-
perience from the most trivial cause.
Usually large shippers Of coin, the
January steamer had departed without
their name appearing on the manifest
for some reason. A run Immediately
WAS commenced on the bank, and be-
fore the first day had closed nearly
100000 in gold had been paid over the
counter to an excited crowd of deposit
tors. As usual in such cases the ap-
parent ease with which the sudden de-
mand was met. and the well-stocked
trays of gold behind the counters con-
fronting customers, soon turned the
tide, and few hours later the deposits
were pouring back again even more
rapidly than they we're withdrawn.
This is only one instance of the kind,
quoted to show the nervous disposition
Of community largely made up of
men who had followed the exciting and
precarious career of miners in COM
paratively wild and unexplored region,
life in itself calculated. inspire and
foster natural feeling of distrust in
their surroundings.
It is little wonder that banking -four
ished in this golden era. Had the flow
of this glittering stream been checked
at the bay in those halcyon days, what
story might have remained to be told
of city, mistress of the waters,
greater. even in wealth and grandeur,
than Carthage of old. - Overland
Monthly.