Three years in California
Contributors: Cosgrave, George, 1870-1945.
Publisher: William Blackwood and Sons
Published: 1857
Place of publication: Edinburgh; London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 384
Subjects: California -- Gold discoveries; California -- Social life and customs
Other titles: The gold hunters
Notes: Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress Web site.
No known restrictions on publication.
Not by John Douglas Borthwick of Montreal, Can.
Table of contents: label: CHAPTER I
pagenum: 1
title: California fever in the States - The start - New York to Panama - Shipboard -Chagres - Crossing the Isthmus - The river - Cruces - Gorgona; label: CHAPTER II
pagenum: 26
title: Panama in July 1851 - Its architecture - Shops - Churches - Dirt - Diseases and diversions - Embark for San Francisco - Fever - Hard fare - Arrival; label: CHAPTER III
pagenum: 43
title: San Francisco - Appearance of the houses - Growth of the city - The Plaza - Ships in the streets - Living - Boot-blacks - Restaurants - Hotels; label: CHAPTER IV
pagenum: 65
title: Scarcity of labouring men - High wages - Want of social restraint - Intense rivalry in all pursuits - Disappointed hopes  Drunkenness - American style of drinking - The bars - Free luncheons - The barkeeper - Variety of national houses - The Chinese - Chinese stores and washermen - Theatres and gambling-rooms - Masquerades - "No weapons admitted" - Magnificent shops - Grading the streets - Steam Paddy - Raising houses - Cabs - Post-office - Fire - Fire companies - Mission Dolores - San Jose - Native Californians; label: CHAPTER V
pagenum: 94
title: Start for the Mines - The Sacramento River - American river-steamboats in California - Natural facilities for inland navigation, and promptness of the Americans in taking advantage of them - Sacramento City  Appearance of the houses - Street nomenclature - Staging - Four-and-twenty four-horse coaches start together - The plains - The scenery - The weather - The mountains - Mountain roads and American drivers - First sight of gold-digging - Arrival at Hangtown; label: CHAPTER VI
pagenum: 112
title: Hangtown - First impression of the "The Diggins" - Idea of a Mining Town - Gambling Houses - The Street - The Stores - Jew Slop-shops - The Jews: Their Peculiarities - Hangtown on a Sunday - Bowie-knives and Revolvers - Gold-deposits - Method of Washing - Long toms - Rockers - Prospecting - Middletown - Our Menage; label: CHAPTER VII
pagenum: 128
title: Digger Indians - Their Love of Dress - Their dogs - Their Food - Their Ingenuity - Indian Female Beauty, or Otherwise - "Hunting" The Indians, and Teaching Them Manners - Coon Hollow - Coyote Diggins - Coyotes - Weaver Creek - The Weather and the Climate - Chinamen - A Celestial "Muss."; label: CHAPTER VIII
pagenum: 146
title: The Missourians - Pike County: Their Appearance - Humanising Effects of California - Difference Between the Outward-Bound Californians and the Same Men on their Return home - The Accomplishments of the Missourians - A Phrenologer - A Jury of Miners - A Civil Suit - We Buy a Claim - A "Brush-House" - Rats: How to Circumvent Them - Rat-Shooting.; label: CHAPTER IX
pagenum: 161
title: Hangtown - Digging in the Houses - A Golden Vision - Slaves in California - Negroes - Caloma - First Discovery of Gold - Greenwood Valley - "The Illustrated News" - Middle Fork of the American River - A "Bar" - "Spanish Bar" - Nomenclature of the Mines - A Table D'Hote; label: CHAPTER X
pagenum: 175
title: The Grizzly-Bear House - It's Cuisine - An Illinois Warrior and the Mexican Campaign - A Bear-Hunter - Bear Stories - Grizzlies - Soft Pillows - "Ranches" - Wild Oats - Grasshoppers, and Grasshopper Paste - Arrival at Nevada City - Situation and General Appearance of the City - Supper at the Hotel de Paris - A Three-Decker - Richard III and Bombastes Furioso; label: CHAPTER XI
pagenum: 188
title: Pine-Trees - Sugar-Pines - Woodpeckers and Acorns - Quartz Veins - Coyote Diggings - Speculative Mining - Hiring Out - Average Yield of the Mines - Loafers - An Old Sailor on a Spree - Start for the Yuba - Vegetables - An Old Friend - "Packing" Mexican Packers and Pack-Mules; label: CHAPTER XII
pagenum: 199
title: Start for Foster's Bar - A Hard Road to Travel - Portrait-Painting - Flattering Likenesses - Foster's Bar - Sleeping Under Difficulties - Camping Out - Camp of a Flaming Company - Dangers of Sketching - Taken for a Highwayman, and Raised to the Rank of Colonel - A Long Journey for Nothing - A Soiree Musicale in the Forest; label: CHAPTER XIII
pagenum: 213
title: Start for Downieville - Scenery and Habitations on the Way - Downieville - The Houses, Saloons - Restaurants - Theatres - Concerts - "The Forks" - "Cape Horn"; label: CHAPTER XIV
pagenum: 222
title: Lynch Law - Necessity for Such an Institution in California - The Protection Afforded By It - It's Efficiency for the Prevention and Punishment of Crime - Summary Executions - Manner of Execution - Maladministration of Law in San Francisco - The Vigilance Committee - The Revolution of May 1956 - Statistics of Murders; label: CHAPTER XV
pagenum: 235
title: Rapid Growth of California - Amount of Labour Performed - Luxury and Hardship - A Ragged Man - The Flying Dutchman - Foppery in Rags - A Study - The Tower of Babel - Frenchmen - A "Keskydee" - "Dutchmen" - Climbing a Mountain - An Extensive View; label: CHAPTER XVI
pagenum: 250
title: Travelling Down the River - Mining Operations - The Florida House - A Hurdy-Gurdy Player - "Dead-Broke" - Wandering Habits of the Miners - Coin - Express Companies - Slate-range - A Camp -A "Pine-Log Crossing"; label: CHAPTER XVII
pagenum: 262
title: Mississippi Bar - A Chinese Camp - Chinese Miners: Their Mechanical Contrivances - The Chinese in California - The Rainy Season - A Flood in the River - Nevada City - Snow-storm - Starved Out - "Thrown-up" Dirt; label: CHAPTER XVIII
pagenum: 273
title: Start for San Francisco - A Journey - Flood - Marysville - The Plains Under Water - "Drowned Out" Squatters - Sacramento - Sailing in the Streets - Dead Rats - San Francisco - Changes since the Year Before - Fine Weather - The Climate; label: CHAPTER XIX
pagenum: 284
title: The Northern and Southern Mines - Spring - The Mines Inexhaustible - Produce of Gold - Jacksonville - A Pet Bear - Moquelumne Hill - The Population - The Houses - Indians: Their Ultimate Fate - A Bull-and-Bear Fight - Trapping Bears; label: CHAPTER XX
pagenum: 301
title: Want of Water - Canals - Engineering Difficulties - Volcano Diggings - Boiling Dirt - Northern and Southern Mines - Difference in Scenery, Gold and Inhabitants - Visit to a Cave - Whist and Chess - Mexican Horse-Thieves - Crossing the Moquelumne - Chilian Miners - An Indian Cavalcade; label: CHAPTER XXI
pagenum: 313
title: San Andres - A ragged camp - Mexicans Gambling-rooms - Music - A church - Throwing the lasso - Lynch law - An execution - Angel's Camp - Chinese - A ball - The Lancers" - The Highland Fling; label: CHAPTER XXII
pagenum: 323
title: Carson's Hill - Rich quartz mine - Mexican mode of working it - The quartz vein of California - Gold-deposits - The Stanislaus River - Ferries and bridges - Sonora - The houses and inhabitants - Hotels and restaurants - A knowing Chinaman - The police - Gentlemen's fashions; label: CHAPTER XXIII
pagenum: 334
title: A bull-fight - Riding the bull - Killing with the sword - A magician - Necromancy in the mines - Table Mountain - Shaw's Flats; label: CHAPTER XXIV
pagenum: 344
title: Fire in Sonora - Rapid progress of the fire, and total destruction of the town - The burned-out inhabitants - Deaths by fire - Rebuilding of the town; label: CHAPTER XXV
pagenum: 353
title: The Fourth of July - The procession - The celebration - The oration - A bull-fight - A lady bull-fighter - Natural bridges; label: CHAPTER XXVI
pagenum: 363
title: French miners - Their menage - Their capacity as miners - Frenchmen as colonists - Social equality in the mines - The reason of it - And the result; label: CHAPTER XXVII
pagenum: 375
title: The Stockton stage - The plains - San Francisco - Its progress - Improvement in style of living - Female influence - Extravagance - First settlement of California - Effective population - Americans as colonists - English in California - Modern discoveries of gold - Their consequences