Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1897-10-09
FED FORTY MINERS.
WHEN CALIFORNIA RESTAURANTS
CHARGED HIGH PRICES.

A Plate Of Boiicd Cabbage Cost 80 Cents,
and Eggs Were as High as 81 Each Some
of the Great Hotels of San Francisco In
Those Booming Days.
II lifo was not all "cakes and ale''
among tho forty miners; if among the vast
majority the daily menu was limited to
"slapjacks," "hard tack 'scoffee and
beans, = occasionally diversified by an I'M
fortunate jack rabbit or quail, whose mis-.
placed confidence in mankind brought
them too early to the pot of the hardy
miner, neither was it entirely devoid of
Injuries in living for those whose appetites
were on par with their financial ability
to crafty them.
In San Francisco the luxuriously in
clined were wont to seek habitation,
whether for legitimate or Legitimate rea-
sons we need not now stop to inquire.
Opportunity for self indulgence of appe-
tite was not wanting from the very begin
ming of things provided, as already limited
at, that good digestion, while waiting ON
appetite, was supplemented by sufficient
supply of sshekels'' to give practical rein
to its indulgence. Where the gambler
fourished 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 pre-
vent men enjoying them.
Even among the adventurous and hardy
gold hunters" the yearning for the flesh
pots which they had left behind them did
not pass unassuaged when opportunity Of
fered, no matter though the rate to be paid
therefor was one far beyond the bounds of
what they had been reared to believe was
moro than the "height of extravaganza
Recalling a scene in illustration of this
fact, the writer may mention an incident
Of the month of July, 1S49 Encamped
with his companions upon the banks of
the Sacramento where Sacramento City
was just beginning to take on tho SEM
blance of town in the stages of embry-
onio form, he witnessed the arrival of
daring speculator who had come all the
way from the mission of San Jose with a
wagon load of potatoes and onions for sale.
In less than 80 minutes every onion and
potato had found purchaser at the upset
price Of 81 per pound, while the venture
some Spectator started back richer but
probably no wiser man than he was when
he conceived the profitable venture.
But it is the hotels and hostelries Of
San Francisco in 1S49 ard the early ffties
that this paper is intended to recall, in the
belief that the wide contrast between the
cheap luxurious living of today and tho
prices of that early period may not be de-
void of general public interest. Perhaps
IN no other aspect nor from any other point
of view was the composite and cosmopoli-
tan character of the population in San
Francisco at that time more strikingly ex-
empHled than through the national
nomenclature of the restaurants Of the day,
rs well as tho national personality of their
enterprising proprietors.
If there was this wide variety of nation
atty of hotels and restaurants, with their
concomitant of varied national character
istics in cookery, there was a singular
sameness IN prices, no matter whence he
came or what the nationality of the host.
Theirs was a tariff for revenue only,
(which homo industries had to pay for and
against which there was no protection.
Notwithstanding the fact that there were
cattle in countless herds upon ''a thousand
hills' in those days, though game was in
abundance and the waters teened with
fish, yet all these common needs were not
yet brought to market in sufficient GUAM
tity to make them more than luxuries.
Of vegetables there was practically none
To put it as a writer in the "Annals Of
San Francisco" sententiously stated it,
"In 1849 the announcement of real cab
bage for dinner would have set half the
population frantic with strangely stirred
appetites. The justification of this seem
ingly exaggerated remark will be found in
tho perusal Of some of the hotel bills of
fare OF that day, where the potato figures
CT hardly less value than "a golden apple
Of Hesperides" and plate of cabbage cost
81 cnnts. In one sense at least "cabbage
it@a;.s'' were far less common in those days
than they are now, saying nothing about
the other slang sense of the expression,
since nickel will buy whole one sold at
retail big enough to feed whole boarding
house if fairly supplemented by its legiti-
mate ally, the toothsome corned beef
The old adobe City Hall, which stood
on the southwest corner of Kearny and
Clay streets, was the first hotel of preten-
tious proportions and character erected in
San Francisco. 1t was built in 1916. In
the days of its greatest glory-in 1S49-its
bill of fare embraced ducks and quail at
from So to So each, salad from 81 to 50,
and eggs from rs cents to 81 each.
The Parker House, which stood on
Kearny street, where the new hall of JUS
tice is, was built in 1880 by Robert A.
Parker. It was az story wooden build
ing the lumber in It's construction costing
5000 per 1000 feet 1t went down in the
first great fire of Dec. "a, 1s49, while un-
der rental mainly to gamblers at SIS, 900
month. Rebuilt in the spring of 1850, it
wentAdown once again, and finally, on
May 4, 1850, in the second great confagra-
ton, that being the very day upon which
it was completed.
While the name was literally legion of
the italian osteries, German wirthschafts,
French carbarets, Spanish flridas, Chinese
ohowchows, American, English and 9TH
CIR restaurants, at every one of which prices
were charged that would stagger the rich
and well kept habitues of the Palace Of to-
day, the so called first stop hotels were
neither conspicuous in dimensions nor
numerous. ATOP high water mark was
supposed to have been reached when the
Ward House was built and opened in the
autumn OF 1S49. 1t was situated on Clay
street, opposite the middle of the old plaza,
and, although then regarded as an inspir-
ing and luxurious affair, would today
hardly pass muster for third rate beer
saloon. 1t was the fayorite place of resort
and indulgence for the elite of that day,
however. San Francisco Chronicle