Evening star., 1925-11-27
HISTORY Il: PACIFIC
MAIL LINERS ENDED
First Boat in as Took Horde
of Gold SeekerS-LaSt
Vessel Is Sold.
Bv the Associated Press.

Br the Associated Press.
SAN FRANCISCO. November 21.--
On a dull November day II years ago
& great Side.Whepl steamer, hor decks
teeminG with hungry, unkempt, but
rio1cusly JOYOUS. gold seekers. many
Of them h@G@,rd from tropical fever.
came through the Golden Gate and
anchored in tn" stream. the first
steam vessel la enter thS roadStead.
ON a sparkling F'all dav in 1925
trim fieI4l, craft load@u 10 the Plim-
soil mark with Il rich cargo was
warped into q towering dock on the
san Francisco water front and spun
down the house flag from her main
srork zor the 4aSf time.
These TWO events marked the be-
ginning and the end of the Pacific
Mail Steamship Company. oldest
steam water carrier on the continent,
with the exception Of the tunard,
and once credited with being the
greatest Of the worlds ocean trans
portation companies.
From the time that the California
paddled into the harbor until the
trim Sol.tn4 tied mp and handed over
her papers to hcr new owners the
history Of this company was Spiced
with romance and shadoWed deep ny
traScdE.
Hear of ~ Gold Find.
The California put 10 sea from New
York on October .. lS4h. win hapl'N
ro,,Dan,- hound for New Gran far
10 the south. where the Americas join
and for the oregon wilderness. While
she was on the way word came TO her
that gold had been discovered IN can
fornia The news brought on sort
of treasure madness TO the snip
company She moved swiftly down
the spanish main under throoplnS
boilers until she came TO the lsthmuS
of Panama There the treasure seek
ers lettS her in one eager horde.
Their hope was 10 get to Panama
and catch boat. there which would
get Them to the new GolConda before
The California arrived. They drfted
IN the. Chagres River III canoes
poled along Iazily by the coppery ma
lives who would stop for rest ut every
shady place. They choked the
boultier-lined trails that. had been
hlaZed out three centuries before pN
the Spanish conquerors bringing back
the treasures of the lnCaS ana the
aztics They fell and died of fever
and exhaustion when the trails gave
way 10 tangled jungle growth. A few
pitifu1 hundreds reached Panama at
last-to find no ship there
Many Dit VI ItNti-
Many dropped from the dread
Charcres fever while they waited.
other hundredSd Joined them from
other ships The California came III
sight at last.
But 800 could get aboard, and they
packed in tween decks, sweating,
swearing, but feverish with hope. The
others were left behind TO await other
craft or TO die.
A few weeks later the California,
her galley bare, her coal gone, but
her deVil-may-Care company sustained
by their great excitement, padded
Into the harbor of San Francisco.
capt. John Marshall. the skipper,
who curiouSly enough bore the name
of the discoverer of gold. led one
party into the hills and was lost to
history. Another. who fairly leaped
over the California's side, was VIII
liam Van Voorhees,, who later became
Secretary OF State of the United
States.
The California waited and waited
In the harbor. but her gold-mad crew
never returned. Some historians say
that tie crew of the second ship of
the line, the Oregon, was put in chains
after her arrival in San Francisco. SO
that it could not yield TO the siren
call from the ''digsiu's."
The history oil American finance
would not he complete without fire.
quent references to the Pacific Mail.
Established in 1917 In Neu York by
William II. Aspinwall and associates
on a capital liZation of 100000 and
with a mail subsidy Of 100000 annu-
ally from the Government, it had
reached the towering capitalization Of
$1,000, 600 by 1850.
Ties up at Rainbow's End.
The line was formed to institute
monthly mail service to the new ter
ritory opened up by the treaty of
peace between Mexico and the United
States Of .April 13, 1913, and vast un-
explored Oregon lands made available
by the Auglo-.tmerican treaty of the