Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1897-08-04
COSTLY FOOD FOR 4sERs.
High Prices That Prevailed in the California
Restaurants.

~Sohos oSSouiVhnttJ uiNoioihOt W III
unfortunate jack rabbit or quail whose
misplaced confidence in mankind
brought them too early to the pot OF
the hardy miners, neither was 1t en-
tirely devoid of luxuries in living for
those whose appetites were at par
with their financial ability to crafty
them.
In San Francisco the luxuriously in-
clined were won't to seek habitation,
whether for legitimate or illsgisimats
reasons we need not now stop to In
quire. Opportunity for self indulgence
of appetite was not wanting from the
very begging of things, provided. as
already limited at, that good digestion.
while waiting on appetite, was supple.
mented by sufficient supply of
"sheckels" to give practical rein to its
indulgence. Where the gambler flour.
ished in all his glory, and the CLINT and
glitter of gold passing from hand to
hand on all sides was too common to
excite observation or comment, it need
not be wondered at that no limit Of
price put upon the good things of
life" would prevent men from enjoying
them.
Even among the adventurous and
hardy "gold hunters, yearning for the
fleshpots. which they had left behind
them, did not pass unassuaged when
opportunity offered, no matter though
the rate to be paid therefore was one
far beyond the bounds of what they
had been reared to believe was more
than the "height of extravaganza.
Recalling scene in illustration Of
this fact, the writer may mention an in
cident of the month of July, 1s49. En-
camped with bis companions upon the
banks OF the Sacramento, where Sac.
ramento City was just beginning to
take on the semblence Of town in the
stages of embryonic form, he wit.
messed the arrival of daring specula-
tor, who had come all the way from
the Mission OF San Jose with wagon
load of potatoes and onions for sale.
In less than thirty minutes every onion
and potato had found purchaser at
the upset price of 81 per pound, while
the venturesome speculator started
back richer but probably no wiser
man than when he conceived the
profitable venture.
But 1t is of the hotels and hostelries
OF San Francisco in 1849 and the early
sos that this paper is intended to re-
call, in the belief that the wide con.
tract between the cheap luxurious liv
ing of today and the prices Of that
earlier period may not be devoid of
general public interest Perhaps In
no other aspect nor from any other
point of view was the composite and
cosmopolitan character Of the popula-
tion of San Francisco at that time
more strikingly exemplified than
through the national nomenclature OF
the restaurants of that day, as we'll
as the national personality of their en-
terprising proprietors.
If there was this wide variety of
nationality Of hotels and restaurants,
with their concomitants of varied ma
tional characteristics in cookery, there
was a singular sameness in prices, no
matter whence he came or what the
nationality Of the host. Theirs was
tariff for revenue only, (which home
industries had to pay for, and against
which there was no protection
Notwithstanding the fact that there
we're cattle in countless herds upon "a
thousand hills" in those days, though
game was in abundance and the water
teemed with fish, yet all these common
needs were not yet brought to market
in sufficient quantity to make them
other than luxuries. or vegetables
there was practically none. To put II
as writer in "Annals of San Francisco
sententiously stated II, 'In 1849 the
announ cement of a real cabbage for
dinner would have set half of the popu-
lation frantic with strangely stirred
appetites." The justification Of this
seemingly exaggerated remark will be
found In the perusal Of some Of the
hotel bills Of fare of that day, where
the potato figures of hardly less value
than "a golden apple Of Hesperides'
and plate Of cabbage costs 30 cents.
In one sense, at least. cabbage heads'
were far less common in those days
thnn they are now, saying nothing
about the other slang sense of the ex-
preston --since q. nickel will buy a
whole one sold at retail, big enough to
feed whole modern boarding house
II fairly supplemented by its legitimate
ally, the toothsome corned beef.
The old adobe "City Hail." which
stood on the southeast corner of Kear
ney and Clay streets, was the first hotel
of pretentious proportions and char
acter erected In San Francisco. Itwas
built in 1S46. In the days Of Its great
est glory--in 1S4o-its bill of fare em-
braced ducks and quail at from Ssto IS
each, salads at 81 to 80, and eggs from
10 cents to 81 each.
The Parker House, which stood on
Kearney street, where the new Hall
Of Justice is about being erected was
built in 1s4s.49. by Robert A. Parker
| II was two and half story wooden
building, the lumber in its construction
costing 5000 per 1000 feet. II went
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