Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1898-05-19
FED FORTY MINERS.
WHEN CALIFORNIA RESTAURANTS
CHARGED HIGH PRICES.
4 plate Of Boiled Cabbage Cost 80 Cents,
and EGGS Were as High AZ ~l Ench--sone
s.,. Great Hotels of San Fl ancisco In
Those BoOminE Days.

and Eggs Were as High as MI Each Some
of the Great Hotels of San Francisco In
Those Booming Days.
IT, life was not all "cakes and ale"
among tho forty miners; II among the vast
majority the daily menu was limited to
"slapiacks," "hard tack, coffee and
heans - occasionally diversified by an I'M
fortunate inck rabbit or quail, whose mis-
placed confidence in mankind brought
them too early to the pot Of the hardy
,,;par 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 tho luxuriously in.
c1ined were wont to seek habitation
whether for legitimate or Legitimate rea-
sons we need not now stop to inquire.
Onnortunity for self indulgence of appc
1ite WINS not wanting from the very begin.
ming of things provided, az already limited
at that good digestion, while waiting on
annette. was supplemented by sufficient
s,,nplv of "shekes' to give practical rein
| to it's indulgence Where the gambler
| tlourshed 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, 1t need not be
wondered at that no limit Of price pu,
upon the good things of life'' would pro.
vent men enjoying Them
Even among the adventurous and hardy
| "cold hunters the yearning for the flesh
pots which they had left behind them did
I not pass unassuaged when opportunity Of
| fercd. no matter though the rate to be paid
| therefor was one far beyond the bounds Of
| what they had been reared 10 believe was
/ more than the height Of extravaganza.
| Recalling II scene in illustration Of this
! fact, the writer may mention an incident
/ Of the month of July, 1919 Encamped
| with his companions upon the banks OF
/ the Sacramento where Sacramento City
was just beginning TO take on the sem
| bIance Of "a town in the stages Of embry-
! onic form, he witnessed the arrival Of a
! daring SPECTATOR who had come all the
way from the mission Of san Jose with il
/ wagon load of potatoes and onions for sale
! In less than so minutes every onion and
/ potato had found "A purchaser NJ the upset
/ price of 81 per pound willie the venture
/ some Spectator started back a richer but
/ probably no wiser man than he was when
! he conceived the profitable venture.
/ But 1t il the hotels and hostelries Of
/ San Francisco in 1919 and the carly fiftes
that this paper Is intcnde! t. recall, Ia the
/ belief that the wide contrast between the
cheap luxurious living Of today and the
I prices Of that early period may not he de
I void of general public interest. Perhaps
\ IN no other aspect nor from any other point
I Of view was the composite and cosnopoli.
tan character Of the population in san
/ Francisco ut that time more strikingly tx
empliiiod than through the national
! nomenclature Of the restaurants Of the day,
as well as the national personality Of their
euterprising proprietors.
If there was this wide variety of nation.
! ality of hotels and restaurants with their
/ concomitant Of varied national character,
! istics in cookery, there was singular
samencss in prices, no matter whence he
/ came or what the nationality of tho host
/ Theirs was n tariff for revenue only.
(which homo industries had to pay for ard
i against which there was no protection"
Notwithstanding the fact that there were
/ cattle in countless herds upon "a thousand
I hills in those days, though game was in
4 abundance and the waters tecmed with
! fish, yet all these common needs were not
/ yet brought to market in sufficient GUAM
( THY TO make them more than luxuries
OF vegetables there was practically none
/ To put it as writer in the ANNALS OF
! san Francisco" sententiously stated it.
/ In 1919 the announcements of real cab.
bage for dinner would have set half the
! population frantic with strangely stirred
appctites. The justification of this seem
! ingly 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 Hesperdcs" and a plate of cabbage cost
/ 80 cents In one sense at least cabbage
I heads" We're far less common in those DAYS
than they are now, saying nothing about
! the other slang sense of the expression
since nickel will buy awhole one sold at
retail big enough to feed d whole boarding
| house if fairly supplemented by its legiti-
mate ally, the toothsone corned beef
| The old adobe City Hall, which stood
/ on the southwest corner of Kearny and
| Clay streets, was the first hotel of protein
/ tious proportions and character erected in
/ San Francisco, 1t was built in 1876. In
! the days of its greatest glory-in 1S4o-its
bill Of fare embraced ducks and quail Mt
| from 50 to So each, salad from 81 to 50,
| anu eSSS lfUil 80 cents TO 81 each.
The Parker House, which stood on
| kearny street, where the new hall of Jus.
tice is, was built in 1889 by Robert A.
/ Parker. 1t was "A ~ story wooden build
/ ing, the lumber in its construction costing
| 5000 per 1000 feet. 1t went down in the
! first great fire of Dec. "a, 1S49, while I'M
der rental mainly to gamblers at SIS. 900 a
month. Rebuilt in the spring of 1850, it
went down once again, and finally, on
May 4, 1850, in the second great contlagra-
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 tiridas, Chinese
chowchows, American, English and 9th
err restaurants, at every one of which prices
were charged that would stagger the rich
and well kept habtues of the Palace of to-
day, the so called first stop hotels were
neither conspicuous in dimensions nor
numerous. Top 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 CLAW
street, opposite the middle of the old plaza,
and, although then regarded as an inspir-