The herald., 1898-04-05
HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Interesting Papers on Characters and
Events of Early Days

|
at the home of Miss Florence Durham
professor of history in the high school
| There was a good attendance of members
and friends. Several interesting papers
were read, the first of which was written
by Mrs. Laura Evertsen King, on The San
Gabriel Indians" In the early fifties. when
little girl. she passed} along the old
Mission road by the adobe, tule-thatched
houses of the remnant of this tribe. They
planted corn, beans, pumpkins, peas, chiles
and bright colored flowers, sat in the sun,
caught and sold mocking birds. She gave
sketches of old Gabriel, the choir at the
Mission and other prominent characters
among them.
II. ID. Barrows followed in sketch of the
life of Stephen C. Foster. recently de-
ceased, the first American alcalde OF Los
Angeles. Abiding to current reports at
the time of Mr. Fosters death, the writer
said that in justice to his family it should
be made known that he remained in the
city from choice, because, from long asso-
citation. he preferred it to the more quiet
life of the country, where his sons reside.
The paper summed up Mr.. Fosters char
acter thus:
~~~-
Gabriel, Stephen c. Foster was in many
respects remarkable man. Both these
men were scholars, and scholars who spend
their lives on the frontier are likely to de-
velop peculiarities. While both We're genial
and 'corriente,' as the Spanish say, with
their intimates, they were inclined to retl-
cence towards strangers and toward the
world in general. From this cause, prob
ably, they acquired the reputation with
some people of being eccentric. With
scholarly instincts. they may be said to
have lived lives apart from the ordinary
outward lives, as seen in their intercourse
with their fellows. 1 think this view ac-
counts sufficiently for any eccentricities
they may have seemed to exhibit
Prof. ]. NJ Quinn read third paper
entitled Some Famous Mining Rushes."
Mr. Quinn gave an entertaining history OF
the Gold Bluff excitement, one of the early
gold rushes of California, and of what
is within the memory of some of the resi-
dents of Los Angeles, the Kern river ex-
element, in the spring of 1855. The first
discoveries on the Kern river were in 1854,
but no excitement followed the first re-
port. But during the fall and winter ru-
N'AN
headwaters of the stream, and the stories
grew as they travelled. Many of the re-
ports of wonderful strikes We're purposely
maj nified by merchants and Dealers in
mining goods who were overstocked with
unstable goods.
at was the first rush that profited Los
Angeles Those We're hard times in the old
pueblo; business was dull and money was
scarce In January the rush began, and
it struck the pueblo like cyclone. Every
steamer down the coast was loaded to the
guards with Adventures for the mines,
and the sleepy old metropolis of the COW
counties found itself suddenly transformed
into a mining camp, From Stockton to
Kern river, a distance of 300 miles, the
road was crowded with men on foot, on
stages, on horseback, and every sort of
conveyance that would take them to the
new FL Dorado. In four months five or six
thousand men found their way into the
Kern river valley. There was gold there,
but not enough to go round. A few struck
it rich; the many struck nothing but hard
luck, and the rush out began.
After the wild frenzy of Kern river the
press of the state congratulated the public
PUSHES was past. Scarcely had the victims
of Kern river resumed work in the old
creeks and canyons they had deserted
when rumors of another rich strike came
and the Frazer river excitement began.
After Frazer river came Washoe, and the
tragic side Of Washoe stock gambling
has never been portrayed. The ruined
lives, the impoverished homes, the heart
aches, the wretchedness and the suicides
left in the wake of the bonanza kings
march to wealth are subjects upon which
no Californian cares to dwell"
Richard d. Faulkner, principal of the
Franklin grammar school of San Fran
cisco, was present, and spoke of school
history of California, in the interest of
which he is spending a week or ten days
in the south. Mr.. Faulkner and the we'll
known historian, Theodore Hittell, are
preparing series of history stories, each
complete in itself, but chronologically con-
nected. Mr.. Hittell is doing the writing
and Vouching for the historical accuracy.
and Mr. Faulkner is adapting it to the
school grades, the entire work being the
outgrowth of that done in his own school
in San Francisco. He came south with
the advance sheets OF the stories, to trv
them with the pupils of our schools, and
is mucH gratified with the appreciation
they received and the Intelligence of the
children.
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