The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 23, 1898, Page 13

liag from San Francisco to what 1s d stopping-place were enormously k’s expenses at any ordinary city h A at many housss all were helplessly moored along the s them. body had gone to th: 12 captains were ob.igea to mak could. H:nce the number of ships run SAW WOLVES AND COYOTES where MONTGOMERY ST. Now By JOHN WEAVER, Pioneer of "47. r, 184 Il IS . that their homes in the Fast and flocked to the thousands the Pacific: Slope My ks removed to Green Vall Zonoma Coun in 1850. There my irthood 5 yent. The mining ex- citement at its height, and ttention s pald to child- but little w ren. tverythi primitive, and f my time enjoyerd and playthings that the boys and g nong of the the children of to-day get. There wdles in California when I was a baby, and when one.day 1c were no ¢ the miners put me in an old mine cradle and rocked me I.thought min- ing was the greatest pleasure on earth. We lived in a three-room log cabin, and with other children I attended a school presided over by a middle-aged Irishman. The was of logs. 2ough boards formed the benches and ‘here were no desks. A shelf along the side of the room was where the child- ren did their writing. The teacher was an incessant smoker and had his pipe in his mouth all day long. The gold fever even had possession of the children. I remember on one oc- cazion thtee or four little companions and myself found some rich specimens of mica. We thought the glittering school Born at Sutters Mil!l, September 3, s at this Goat night there would pay a cost for on ater frant were built from the ves: vas simply impossible to get crew: As it was and usad f or hot daughters, was officer of the 3 On the little a kind of str child nt an envoy wich fuss had and tion had been paid t captain sent w e girl 1 wife or mother United State IONEER": 1846. + stuff gold and the whole afternoon labored in carrying p of it How e at night s were when f nd pronounc home tired we we crushed our spiri returned at night it “false” gold. The vis of cakes and candy that filled our heads during the afternoon soon filled and gave way to disappointment. I have witnessed the transformation of California into one of the brightest States in the sisterhood. I am the mother of five native sons and seven native daughters. Two others are dead. T also have two grand- children. So I have done my share toward populating the State. My hus- band, Robert M. Reid, died six years John Gregson, my father, still lives at Green Valley, Sonoma County, and is upward of 70 y, ago. s of age. The present Golden Jubilee tion is a fitting one for the h tury that has passed since ) made the discovery that brought tne world to California’s feet. It should be a grand reunion and serve to reunite the acquaintances and friendships formed by the sturdy pioneers in the early d&ys.’ MRS. R. M. REID, i, E (Nee Gregsin,) bra- If-cen- sels that to man npossible to repiace the crews dispase of their vessels the bzst way they ydging-houses, store- the occasion W ner of Kearny company was org aboard ship and wz nified X cisco was owned by my ste i3 were both built in this manner. houses ana general housing purposes. The jail and saloon in ths foreground M:ny of them remained on the shores while .\ the bay was filled in and houses built around them. Very ofren in excavating these old sir Setin MRS b vach er du; n bath tub, ented to him by fter whom th 1 let my sist 1 an old pinto k Mary to th s and hills in the background o In the distance is Lone Moun their in the mornin did so I took d into the grs the whole of ,the island was ablaze and made one of the grandest sights man ever n fi led in and is cov: d by blo COV00000LTDG of 2 Protest “ Subscriber’ Against the Gold Mania g in the Califorpian, o Mcy 24, 1848. o =3 itor—The gold mines up & :nto appear to be = siderableattention, and © are the principal topic of con- © versation in our now almost de- & serted town. few who re- £ The v mo whose p ices place them above need of a and 9 : few who are not =3 led or such as cannot O 1y their passa TH = s, sir, is to any o may not re E=1 this t =3 useful pu > chase such a farc fore the cur I comsider it your dut your voice against this thin hoped that Governor Mz 1 dispatch the volunte N€ of ction and send > infatuated people to their nd prevent others from homes going there. You 'BSCRIBER. © -~ O 5 A - < R=Regeg=g=2-R==g=ReF=F=FeF=Re T3 Kearny and Post stree 1 going to ride the pony nome, when father came up and took it st then three drunken In- dians cam along < rrelsome langua 1 found him the limb of a t defend himself and ran for the gun. When 1 returned the Indians mounted horses and rode away at a fast it. the 1 one to board the sloop and, boylike, before I irebrand and threw it In about five minutes witnessed. We made money, in now known as the C and the con but never within the last has th- town presented a less lifelike, more Darren app: present time, never so inactive, so void of stir as at present. for big buildings in the lower part of the city the laborers run across hulks oi | § d vessels of the famous flets of the early fifties. the picture are now crowded with build- n. All the foreground where the ships The sand HUNTERS TO THE COAST. HAT “necessity is wie mother of invention * w strated tian in the early history of San Francisco. in those days were houses. plenty. lay idle on the bay for days. made into hotels, boarding-houses, stores, tions. As it was, houses were scarce The crews of most of the ships deserted soon after re on account of violent attacks of gold fever, It was at this time that American geni <elf and turned the shipg into all sorts of habi S formed as they lay out in the bay, while others were towed ashore. The most notable of these oddities were the old ship never more cl Thz grear s d:sired inz this port ve port and assirted it N were transe e thev were rer habita- ollo, that was trans- and the vessels could not le ions. e of ik H saloons and any number of ot formed into a saloon, and the ship Panama, that was housed over and made to do duty as a church. was hardly recognizable. George D. Dorner fitted her up and transformed her until she me to go and T went. re leaving he presented me with $200 and a suit of clothing that cost about $100 ng in the Empire Saloon whe t large fire in San Fram- cisc e out in '49, 'om Maguirg had built a thre B n an fitted it up in grand style, on Kearny street. At 3 a. m. of the Saturday it s to be opened with appropriate »monies it caught fire and was >d to the ground, structures L next door and didn’t get to sleep until 2 in the morning. We were awakened by cries of fir Charley got out with A coat and myself with a pair of trou- It was a pretty narrow scratch, and don’t you forget it. ong with man and I slept I went home ain after this and was sent L mento, where my father had a 5 lot with a shanty on it during the s’ riot of 1 I witnessed the shooting of the Mayor during that riot. I went up there i the steamer Goldhunter and paid $35 for the trip. Afterward I went to the southern mines and mined from 1850 Luck fluctuated. My best on Indian Creek, about four from Murphys, in Calaveras County. My partner and I used to go to town of aturday night with a bag or eight inches long brimful ovisions and other ek and then go home on Monday . regularly as clock work. as We rode to town on an old mule, “Greaser fash- % in front and the other be- 1 entered the em what is have now a resident of r Tristed of San Jose and only ones I know of and myself living who s »d on Thomas H. Perkir v-two y s ago. No, perhaps T am mistaken. When I heard last of the little girl, Alta California about fi years ago, she in Kansas or 1yself hav erved ten n fireman. JOHN WEAVER. THE CALIFORNIA STAR. SAN FRANCISC0, SATURDAY, MAY 27, 1848 in 1848, when gold was disco father went overland to the mir EXPRES TO THE STATES: th t of us took Sam Brannan's y pove moide positive a mgements for stoop, in company with Captain How- &3, g rements J ard and a’family of the name of Ket- 9nother Lajpicssto lcave tiw p.ac: for Inde- tleman, the passage costing $16. It took Pr7 ence on th: 20:h of June wnex!, without six days to reach the place where f. . tustage on Leiters, 5) conts; Papers Sacramento is now located. Crossing 12, 2 San Pablo Bay it was very rough, and e . feared greatly that we should be §7We date the prosperity of San mped, but we reached Mars Island Francisco from the occupation of the and stayed there all night. EhGntr byt the STt Staien thriak uent hoisting of the flag, three years rance than at the CARDROOM OF THE FAMOUS EMPIRE SALOON, SAN FRANCISCO. our house had been built lot, and while it live on the wrong was being moved we Washington street, above Montgomery, in a small shanty. A drunken Indian came there one day, 1 upon mother's refusing him some- at he tried to brain her with nd was prevented only by the ppearance of & colored man kson, who gave the rascal a sound drubbing and “fired” him. The only trouble I have ever had in this State from '47 to the present time happened one day when I was sent after the horse, pastured in a little valley bounded by Dupont, Sut- the mines, but mother fell ill and we had to return. We tried it a second time, but made a failure. When we returned to the city father opened Brown's Hotel on Kearny street, the former one of that —name having changed hands and also its name to the City Hotel. After this I ran away from home and went to work for a man named Wal- ler, who kept a saloon and restaurant on the corner of Jackson and Kearny streets, where all the gamblers used to congregate. At the end of two months my mother came and begged me to return home. Waller advised The “latest accounts” from the Gold country are highly flattering. Over three hundred men are engaged ir washing Gold and numbers are con- tinually agriving from every part of the country. Gold has been found within three miles of Fort Sacramento, and parties who have penetrated and traversed the region in which it was originally found, give encouraging re- ports of its increase in quantity—undi- minished in purity. Extravagant prices are offered mechanical labor, wages of ten and twelve dollars - fon o per day are Te. HOW I HELPED TO RAISE THE . OLD BEAR FLAG BY HENRY FOWLER, '@ Pioneer of 1844, WAS born in St. Ciair County, 111, June 17, Eleven years later my family moved to Southwestern Missouri, and in March, 1843, my brother William, who at the age of eighty years, and healthy, still live: at San Ramon, this State, my fath and myself started for Oregon with ¢ ox and mule team. William had v ited Oregon two years previously, com- ing most of the way with General John Bidwell and party, and was thoroughly familiar with the route to be traveled arting with us were Peter H. Bur nett, later the first Governor of Califor- nia, and family, J Lindsay and Charley Applegate and faailies. Wil- liam Win William Hargrave and Captain G. P. Swift, the latter two members of the memorable Bear Flag party. Peter Burnett was captain of the party for a distance, when a divi- sion occurred, and William Fowler was installed as captain of our di on. D Whitman, then a noted missionary of ‘Walla Walla, who with his wife wa afterward killed by the Indians, joined our party at Platte River, being on his return from a visit to the ¥ We reached Oregon City after a dious journey, and there spent the win- ter of 1843-44 working for Dr. McLaugh- lin, who owned and laid out the town. In June, 1844, we started horseback and with packhor for California. With us from there were the well-known Kelseys, now deceased. The route traveled was very nearly that traversed by the railroad at the present time. It was difficult to get through, for there was scarcely a tr: anywhere and the wooded sections were badly infested by Indians. . We had, however, few skirmishes of a serious character. Fortune seemed to smile on us all the way, but it would have been otherwise had we not had some Hud- son Bay men for guides, who were dreaded by the Coast Indians at that time. At the Soda Springs near where is now Sissons, a short season was passed in camp. Here the members of the party grew fat on the finest biscuit ever tasted, the dough being both mixed and raised by the use of the car- bonated water. We finally trudged on and eventually pitched camp on Cache Creek, Yolo County, just below the cabin of William Gordon, who came here in the early '30's and who was the grandfather of Hon. Frank L. Coombs, now Speaker of the California Assem- bly. This was the first house seen since leaving the Chehalem Valley, Oregon. In the latter part of 44 our party moved over to old Sonoma, where the male members, including myself, work- ed for General Vallejo, completing his adobe houses. The following year my father and myself purchased the ranch at Calistoga now owned by Mrs. Le- iand Stanford. The property adjoined that of the noted Sam Brannan. We raised cattle and farmed in general. It was June 13, 1846, that Sonoma was captured, the Bear Flag raised and the Republic of California treated. General Fremont put “Stuttering” Merritt, an old hunter, at the head of the capturing party. Some thirty or more persons went with him, each armed with a s THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH From an not Tifie. 1use he Merritt was selected be- had been previously captured and maltreated by 1 and Salva: E s instructed by Fremont even to the language for the occasion. General Vallejo was rusheé upon and Merritt said: —ou are my pris e -4 Vallejo was dumfounded 1 then replied in br By what authority?” I'm the authority!” shouted Merritt. W—w— W—w —was your p—p—prisoner you t- ted me like now you' P—D—D! oner and T ou like a ham Lin- prison Tod was > Mexicans, but and hol while ken to Sutter’s Fort. aptured tly rescued. coln, garment taken from a clothes the flag at present rec e of fair material. B is in a different attitude, being in the nal just rising on his haunches, h both paws extended, while in this s on all four feet. The or still and worn in Pioneer Hall, San Fr should be adopted. Tt is and effaced, but the powc s together w i . Jacob P. 1« brother-in-law, release from Sutte n to the river near by red Bear flag floating on cisco; much r colol launch gave a kanaka $ to steal it fo and this and smont’s batt which had been len from th by Leese, were.taken by the latter and left with Jacob Snyder of Sonoma. What became of the Bear flag after that I do not know In July, 1846, F ont named him= self Governor of the new Calif public, and organized the ance. All of America to the Alliance exceptin: named Fallon, who declare i nd could pr was before 1848, active ¢ idn’ commence until then. T know that in 1844 Captain G. P. Swift and 1 Winte the Fowler im found along the Rl In 1848 William myself mined on the and its tributaries, and the 1 worked took out $2000. We with much success in * tend the Jubilee celeb part in the parade. e GAMBLED AWAY $7.000.000. The alleged attempt of the Prince of Monaco to “bleed” the Casino Com- pany has led to the publication of a pamphlet by a group of sharcholders full of interesting reading. Whileevery= body is aware that the Casino con- tributed largely to the revenue, few people knew that, besides the subsidy of the Prince, the establishment keeps up the judges, police, light . water, postoffice, clergy and charitable insti- tutions. Last season’s expenditure of the principality, apart from the mainte- nance of the Casino, which was §4,170,- 000, amounted to $750,000 of which sum the Prince had $250,000, the courts, pol- ice, ete., $100,000, clergy and schools, $45,000, charities $300,000, prizes for sports $55,000, and the postoffice and losses $10,000. The dividends on the shares absorbed $2,880,000, making a total revenue of $7,700,000, which the “fools of the world” left at the Mont? Carlo gambling tables. - IN SAN FRANGISCQ' Oid Puint.