The Republican journal., 1897-10-07
Hard Times in 40.
Experiences and Priysti0ns In Early California
Days.


The discovery of gold in large quanti-
ties in Alaska and the reports of large
finds have stimulated travel in that direc-
ton, and excitement similar to that
which prevailed in the United States when
gold was discovered in California, and in
England when the first reports came from
West. Mining and exploring expeditions
have already started and others are being
organized, says the New York Tribune.
New York, Philadelphia and Chicago
papers contain advertisements of ''pros-
pecting parties" which anyone may join by
paying an initiation fee of $500, and ad-
venturers are working their way toward
the Pacific coast with view to being near
the mines, if they cannot be in them.
There are many original ''forty- Miners
in various parts Of the United States, and
many cities have organizations where the
original gold hunters meet every year to
tell the SORES and relate the adventures
which made 'the days of 49'' the most i'm
portant in their careers. The expert
ences of these men are listened to with
renewed interest at this time. Many of
the white haired gold hunters Of the days
of 40 believe that the risks which men
take in going to the new gold fields are
as nothing compared with what they did
''way back in 49'
''No matter how hard they will have to
work. said one old man, ''the men who
go to Alaska will never have to put up
with what we had to in the days when
GOLD was first found in California. There
are railroads and the telegraph now, and
improvements of all kinds that bring peo-
pie near to civilization, no matter how far
away they may be, but in those days we
got on ship and went by way Of Aspin-
wall and Panama, with the chances four
out of ten that we should die of the fever;
or we went overland in a prairie schoon-
en-, with the chances about the same that
we should be killed by the Indians or
robbed by desperadoes. Once on the
| spot, we were cut off from our friends,
and there was no regularity about com
munication with the rest of the world.
California was world for itself, aud all
things considered, pretty tough world
at that, where everything except human
life, was high, where man had to have
his wits about him every minute and be
prepared to fight for his rights
TO prove the fact that everything was
high it was shown in old memorandum
books that when the roads to Sacramento
City were poor prices advanced in a
fabulous degree. Flour sold at 81 a
pound molasses and vinegar brought s.
a bottle-and small bottle at that-pota-
toes were quoted at $50 a pound and
other provisions in proportion. A shovel
was worth SIC, and a good pair Of heavy
boots were worth from $40 to $50.
''The chief article of food" said the
story teller, Sin those days was the Chill
ian bean, and such was it's value that in
time of scarcity huge nuggets of GOLD
We're given in exchange for a bag of beans.
Books and papers were at premium.
| There were few Bibles that had beer
brought by way of ''the Horn" but thai
was all. 1t became known that ''Farm
ers' Almanac bad been packed with
some stuff which arrived in camp. and il
was quickly bought at ridiculously higl
price. He who became the possessol
wrote after:
~ read the almanac through anc
through, forward and backward, side
ways and upside down, and by spring hao
acquired such knowledge of Astronomical
science that | could have located the sign.
of the Zodiac blind folded, stand on my
head and calculate an eclipse, foretell til,
condition of the weather for more than y
years ahead, and prognosticate the value
of popcorn, baked peanuts and chewing
gum crops for the whole time.'