Omaha daily bee., 1897-07-04
COSTLY rooD ron ronry-NI>rns.
High Prices TINT Prevailed In CnI-
ifOrnin MCsInurInIs In Ihnsl

! COSTLY FOOD ron EoRTY-NINEns.
| High Prices thnt Prevailed In CnI-
| iforntn Restaurants In Those pays.
| If life was not all 'cakes and ale" among
! the i9ers; If among the vast majority the
| daily menu was limited to "sapiacls,"
| hard tack" coffee and beans" OCCASION
| ally diversified by ar unfortunate Jack rnh-
| bit or quail, whose misplaced confidence in
! mankind brought them too early To the pot
! of the hardy miner, neither was II entirely
devoid Of Injuries in living for those whose
cial ability to crafty them. '''>'' ''''''''
In san Francisco the luXuriously inclined
legitimate or lieetimate REASONS ''e' we need oi
! not stop to inquire: Opportunity for self
indulfonce of appetite, was not wanting from
| the very beginning of things, says the san
| Francisco Chronicle, provided as already
| hnted at: that good digestion, while waiting
! Cient supply of "shekcls'' to give practical
rein TO its Indulgence; Where the gambler
! on all sides was too common to excite OBJ
wondered at that no limit OF price put upon
| the good things of ltte' would prevent men
Even among the adventurous and hardy
| gold hurtcrs' the ycarnng for the flesh
| pots which they had left behind them. did
| not pass unassuaEei 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
more than the height of extravaganza"
Recalling a scene in Illustration of this
the month of July, ISIS Encamrcd with his
! companions upon the banks of the SaCra-
| mento, whore Sacramento city was lust be-
! ginning to take on the semblanCe of "A town
! in the stages of embryonic form, he wit
messed the arrival of a daring speculator VINO
/ had come al the way from the mission of
san Jose with a wagon load of potatoes and
onions for sale In less than thirty minutes
chaser at the upset price Of Of 81 per per aon"nd.
WIN. While the Eentpresome Speculation started
| Than when he conceived the protitlb.e ven
But it is of the hotels and hosteIrics of san
| Francisco in lSl9 ana the early sos that this
paper i9 intended to recall in the belief that
, GUS living Of today and the prices of that
| early period may not be devoid Of general
| nor from any other noint of view was the
! composite and cosmopolitan character of the
| national nomenclature Of the restaurants Of
IN that d&y as well as the national personality
ol tner enterpriSing proprietor
f ~ lntre was This WI va icty # nat onality
| cookerY there was a singular samencss in
prices, no matter whence he came or what
/ tariff for revenue only, which home indus
tres n, ma had to pay for, and against which there
Notwithstanding the fact that there were
| ratte IN countless herds upon "a thousand
| hills in those days. though game was in
| abundance ana the water tecrned with fish
| yer az these common needs were not yet
brought to market in sufficient quantity TO
| make them other than luXuries OF vege-
| tables there Were practically none To put
aS as writer in the Annals Of San Fran
"l,co Sententlou"ly stated il. In 1Si9 the
| encouragement Of a real cabbage for din
nor rnl would have set half of the population
| The justification of this seemingly exag-
gsrated remark will be found in the perusal
| day, where the potato figures of hardly
ntS ,SSS value man "a golden apple OF Hespe-
In one sense, at least, Cabbage heads,:
! were far less common in those days than
other slang sense Of the eXpression-since
2 nickel viii buy whole one sold at retail
Pig enough TO feed whole modern board
ing house # fairly supplemented by its
| Legitimate ally, the to2thsomc corned beef
The old adobe 'c.ty Han" which stood on
! the southwest corner of Kearny and clay
streets, was the first hotel of pretentiOus
ppropor,,ions and character erected in San
| days of its greatest glory-ln lSiS-its bin Of
! fare embraced ducks ana quail at from SO
to s. each, salads 81 to 81, and eggs from
The Parker house which stood on Kearny
rGT SHD hSn %Sr% lGf new IA OF JHS%e Us Is
| Itclert 4. Parker. II was two-and half
story @ wooden m hui ng dng the lumber in It's con.
down in the first great fire of December a.
Si.. while under rental mainly to gamblers
| 1850, 1t went down once again, and finally,
| On May T. 1850 in the second great cOnhaera-
!
was completed.
While Inc name was literally legion of the
| italian OstcrIes, German wrthHChafts.
| French carabcts Spanish hrdas. Chinese
chow-chows American Eng ish ana other
restaurnnts. ,,ta at ever one Of which prices
and Hell-keut hnbltuCe Of the palace Of to-
| day, the so-called first stop hotels were
| reiihcr comSpicuGus in Dimensions nor nu-
merops. TOP ,high-water" mark was, sup,
| Eoycd to have been reached when the Ward
h hguso was built ANA Opencd, in the autumn
| Of 1879. IT was situated on Clay street, OPP
| / site the middle Of the old .'aza. and al
| thoufh then regarded as an insgiring and
| luxurious affair. would today hardy pass for
| u third-rate beer saloon. II was the favOrte
| place of resort and indulgence for the elite
| OF that day, however.
FOrcIundcd Youth.
There Is a man in this town, says the New
| York Tel "ram, who came from Maine not
| long ago and took charge Of the Ice business
| of New York. lie found II no trouble AZ all.
| ara II rel eyed "a score 80 of men from
| being presidents and treasurers Of COM
| paniee.
The ice king began his business career
when he was freshman in college He
] vert to one of the New ENGLAND seats OF
I earning far from here. He had a lib