The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1896-03-05
EARLY BANKS IL CALIFORNIA.
Profits Were often Eaormsas, Rvt
so Were the kisks.

Profits Were often Ea0rmsus, HUt
So Were the kisks.
Oceriand Monthly. In treating of the
romantic period OF the Argonsuts, writer's
have touched but lightly upon pioneer
banking, a subject which would have
furnished many nm interesting chapter.
This is TO be ooubly regretted, because
the business was of magnitude hardly
equaled in any other new country, and
because the records are to-day mainly de-
rived from personal "reminiscences, blot
ted and dimmed by the passage Of time.
The old banks OF San Francisco were I'M
doubtedly marvels OF the age. While
lacking the SNOWY exteriors and hand
some furnishings OF their modern sue
cessors, they proved fully equal to the
requirements Of day when gold was
more of a commodity than it has ever
been since. Statements oi immense de-
posits Of gold in the ramshackle build
ings and the pot metal safes peculiar to
the times might seem exaggerated were
they not amply proven by reliable sta
tistics.
In a new land where gold is king bank
ing naturally flourishes. With the ac-
emulation OF metallic wealth deposit
tory must be provided for s,oraAe and Sc
curity. The miner following some pro-
life lead in quartz or gravel cannot con-
tinually cache his pile nnder the sole
guardianship OF nature. When oppor-
tunity offers his treasure is transported
to some safer place, leaving its owner to
pursue his labor free from any further
care. As all the roads then led to the
city by the bay, San Francisco became
the great banking center OF all the min
ing districts. If the profits we're large in
those days, many and varied were the
vicissitudes of the business. While, as a
rule, the banker of the period is supposed
to have rolled in luxury, his pathway
was literally s,rewn with thorns It
could hardly be said that capital was
cautious then, but il certainly was timid
to degree which frequently precipiiated
crisis, short-lived AS rnle, bnt suiii
GENTLY threatening in it's aspect to cause
general uneasiness.
The depositors among the mining COM
munity were inclined 10 be as tickle as
the fortune which attended their search
for gold, and, when not engaged in delv-
ing among the gulches ana ravines of the
higher Sierra, or along the banks and
beds OF the Sacramento and its tributa-
ries, they seemed to have kept watch
full eye over the movements of the bank
er. 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 protect the banker 10y re-
curing formal application for the with
drawal OF deposits under special C ASST.
cation. The drafts presented must he
paid or the doors must he closed.
In the beginning Of 1854 Adams & Co.
were subjected to most trying expert
ence from the most trivial cause. Usual.
ly large shippers of coin, the January
steamer had departed without their
name appearing on the manifest for s1me
reason. A run immediately was com
menced on the bank. and before the first
day had closed nearly 100000 ia gold
had been paid over the counter TO an
excited crowd of depositors. As usual in
such cases the apparent ease with which
the sudden demand Was met and the
well-stoeked trays OF gold behind the
counters confronting customers soon
turned the tide, and a few hours later the
deposits were pouring back sgain more
rapidly even than they were Withdrawn.
This is only one instance of the kind,
quoted to show the nervous disposition of
u community largely made up of men
who had followed the exciting and pre-
carious career Of miners in a compare
lively wild and unexplored region,
life in itself calculated to inspire
natural feeling OF distrust in their sur
ronndings.
1t is little wonder that banking flour
ished in this golden era. Had the flow
OF this glittering stream been checked at
the bay in those haleyon days what a
story might have remained to be told OF
city, mistress of the waters, greater
even in wealth and grander than Car
thage OF old.