The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 9, 1902, Page 6

P THE SUNDAY CALL. marked the Old Cat- a half-ho its philosc s when they luck. It's 2 evenin ¢ this dis- whe that luck e an’ then sor els unches like birds. ‘Whichever € f on a gent a Y be 1 from a > £ ex ce that. bu ~ be ¢ w c ck Black K r »od. Shove has to train for E v & ck; but it's when since throughout I've done c'reer—an thwarted a noble rooins two of my ni the time, My folks them ap m jest about big livin Sn in -bar of or harmony e ith the 0id cal fame, rum. Old with the you-all ‘nstru- light into her like a -a-bar Silver Cor- used to play in the woods. This yere Sni-a-bar commoonity is a mighty nervous neighborhood—an’ thar's folks whose word is above reproach who sends us notice they’ll shoot some if we don't; first we practices in the woods. But as time goes on, we improves; an’ at last we plays well enough so we don't scare children; an’ then them Bni-a-bar people consents to let us play now an’ then along the road. Of course, all of us virchewo- soes is locoed to do good work, so Sni-a- bar would get reconciled an’ recognize us as a commercial factor. * ‘At last it comes. Well do I recall the day of our first public appearance. It’s at a political meetin’ an’' everything, so far &s we'rs concerned, at leapt, depends on APTAIN DOMINGUEZ MARCUCCI is the ploneer boatbulilder of the Pa- cific Coast, and the first to establish 2 shipyard in Ban Francisco. Cap- tain Marcuoci is now retired from business and lives at his pleasant home, 2011 Golden Gate avenue. He is & well- preserved gentleman. nearing his seventy- fitth year, above the medium height, of strong build and compact frame and has s large head and mild, expressive eyes. His general features denote a man of en- ergy, strong will power and & determina- tion to succeed. In speaking of boatbuilding in the early @ays, the captain said: “The contrast be- tween then &nd now is very great and no @doubt it will seem amusing to shipbulld- ers of the present to know what kind of craft we had in those days. Before com- ing to Ban Francisco I had worked as an apprentice in the shipyard of Mathew Van Duzen at Philadelphia, who was a very good man—one of the best. I began 1p 1840, when I was 13 years of age. 1 was BOrn in Venezuela and came to Philadel- phia from that country. I arrived in San Francisco on September 18, 1845, on the steamer Oregon. She was built in New York, and was one of tive three steamers built for the Pacific Mail Steamship Com- pany—the Panama and the California be- ing the others, There came with me Ja- cob Albertson, & boatbuilder; Jacob Price and William Kendall, ship joiners; Hugh May, Joseph Alderman and Nat Thomp- son, engineers, and Captain Isaac Warren, I came out with the intention of esta lishing a shipyard here, and was employed to put together a small sternwheel steamer which had been bulit in sections in Phila- delphia and shipped here on ghe Oregon by George W. Aspinwall, brother of H. As- pinwall of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. The day after our arrival we janded the material of that steamer and began to put it together. My shipyard, as it may be called, was on the beach just south of Folsom street and east of Beale. Yes, the water came up to those streets in those days. “Well, to gét back 'to the first boat.” said the captain. “In about two months we had built that steamer—the first built the impression we-all makes. If we goes to a balk or a break-down, that “Sni-a- bgr Cornet Band's” got to go back an’ play in the woods. *‘It’s not needed that I tells you gents is plenty onige. Old Hickey Zets that perturbed he shifts me onto the big drum; an’ Catfish Edwards, yereto- fore the custodian of that instrument, is given the clost to break sna This play comes mighty ' my Beart; for I'm ambi- 1 states, an’ it galls my sical see myse'f goin’ backwards that I's the beginnin' of that bad luck no chance to duck the play, as Old Hickey's word is law, so buckles on the giant drum. jest turnin’ into the pienic where this yere meetin's bein’ ' I've got thoughts of nothin’ but —as we Imog an: s—an’ ele- ' e local opir of an’ concernin’ the meelodius merits of the band. We're Number 18" at the time, an’ I've eagle eye on the paper that tells to welt her; an' I'm shorely way at that instrument to beag I'm new to this yere big drum, r to succeed, I've got all 1 notes. It would 1 reserved at least But 1 don't; an’ so when we-all is in the very bone, an’ at what’s it's no on to call a erisis in our des- I walks straddle of a stump. An’ my fatal momentum, the drum on the stump an’ I rolls up on the That’s the sh; next day the Sil- Cornet Band by edict of the Sni me, an’ down by the postoffice gettin’ the weekly ver for my old gent. Thar's goin' tc be a gander-phillin' by torch light that over to Hickman's Mills, with:a at the heel of the -hunt. But I allowin’ to be present none. ‘I'm too deeply chagrined about my faflure with that big drum; an’ then ag'in, I'm ask’a girl to go. You-all most 1as missed noticin’ it a heap—for I freque forces ‘myse’'f to be gala an’ festivé in company—but jest the same, deep down onder amy belt, I'm bashful. An’ when I’ younger I'm worse. An’ I'm bashful Wpeshul of girls; I soon dis- covers that it's easier to face a gun than & girl, an’ that the glance of her eye is more terrifyin’ than the glimmer of-a bowie. That'¢ the way I feels.. It's'a fact; 1 remember a time when my moth- er, gettin’ plumb desp'rate over my hoo- mility, offers me a Morgan h it Id g0 co't a girl; on h o'casion' I feebiy urges that I'd rather walk a whole lot. ‘On the evenin’ of this yere dance an’ gander-pullin’ I'm pirootin’ about the Cen- ter as I tells you, when I meets up with Jule James; Jule bein’ the viliage belle. 'Goin’ to th dance?” ays Jule. 'No.” I “Whyever don't you gog}’ ks “Thar aint no girl weak-minded ugh to go with me,” I replies; “I makes a bid for two or- threey but gets This yere last is a biuff. “Which I reckons now,” says Jule, givin me a look, “if you'd acked me I'd been fool enough to go.” Of course, with that I'm treed; I couldnt fiicker, so I allows that if Jule'll caper back to the house I'll take her vet. “We-all gets back to my old gent's an’ I proceeds to hitch up a Dobbin hoss we has to a sidebar buggy. It's dark v, an’ we don’t go to the house, nor indulge in any ranikaboo uproar sbout it, as I figgers it's better not to notify the old gent. Not that he puts the kybosh on this yere enterprise; but he's powerful fond of talk, an’ his long suit is never wantin’ you to do whatever you're out to execoote ‘that ay. Wherefore, as 1 &in’t got no time for a jinWdebate with the old gent over technicalities, I puts a- “AS IS FREQUENT WITH ME,” SAYS DAN, ‘T Jule into the sidebar where it's standin' in the dark onder a shed; an’ then, hook- in’ up old Dobbin a heap surreptitious, I gathers the reins an” we goes softly p'int- in’ forth for Hickman’'s gander-pullin shindig. * ‘As we-all is sailin’ thoughtl=ssly along the trail Dobbin of a sudden ups and bolts. Sech bursts is omprecedented in the case of Dobbin—who's that sedate he's jest alive—an’ I'm shore amazed. But I yanks him up a lot an’ starts anew. It's twenty rods when Dobbin bolts ag’in. This time I hears a flutter an’ reaches ’round Jule some to see if her petticoats is whippin' the wheel. They ain’t; but Jule—who esteems said gesture in the nacher of a care: eemin’ to favor the idee,.I lets my arm stay ‘round. A mo- ment later an’ this yere viliain Dobbin bolts the third time, an’ as I've sort o' got my one arm tangled up with Jule a a heap, he lams into a oak tree. “‘It's then, when we-all is plum! halt, T does hear a flutter. At that down to investigate. Gen jedge of my horzor when I finds 'leven of my shawl-neck game chickens roostin’ on that sidebar’s reach! They’re thar when we pulls out. They've retired from tne world an’ it's care for the night an’, in our ignorance of themichicken’s domestic arrangements, we nacherally takes ’em with us.. Now an’ then, as we-all goes rockin' along, one of 'em gets jolted off. Then he'd hang by his chin an’ beat his wings; an’ it's these he makes to stay with the game that evolves ‘the flutterin’s I Jears. « <Jule—who don’t own chickens an’ who ain’t no patron of cockfights neither—is for settin’ the shawl-necks on the fence an’ pickin’ em up as we trails back from the gander-pullin’. o ver frenzied efforts’ “‘“As long as it's dark,, says Jule, “they’ll stay planted; an’ we rounds 'em up tee easy on our return.”’ “‘But I ain’t that plumb optimistic. I knows these chickens an’ they ain't so somnolent as all that. Besides it's a cinch a mink or a fox comes squanderin” ‘round an’ takes 'em in like gooseberries. ‘Leven shawl-necks! Why, it would be a pick-up for a fox! **“You're a fine Injun to take a girl to a dance!” says Jule at last, an’yshe's full of scorn. ’ * * “Injun or no Injun,” I retorts a heap sullen, “thar ain’t no gander-pullin’ goin’ to jestify me in abandonfn’ them 'leven shawl-necks, an’ me with a main to fight next month over on the Little Bloo!” *“ ‘At that I corrals the chickens an’ im- prisons ‘em in the r'ar of the side-bar, an’ goes a weavin' back for camp. I picks up three more shawl-necks where they OI'S PLL STRING MY CHIPS WITH CHEROKEE ” sets battin’ their he’pless eyes in the road, as I returns. ‘But I shore hears Jule's views of me as'a beau! They're hot enough to broil meat! Moreover, Jule tells all Sni-a-bar, an’ I'm at once a common scoff an’ jeer from the Kaw to the Gasconade. Jule's old pap washes out his rifie an’ signs a pledge to plug me if ever ag’in I puts my hand on his front gate. As I su'gests, it rooins my social c’reer in Sni-a-bar. 'While I'm ground like a toad that a-way beneath the harrow of this double setback of the drum an’ Jule, thar's a cir- cus shows up an’ pitches its merry tent at Spi-a-bar. I knows this caravan of yore—for I'm a master hand for shows in my yooth, an’ allers goes—an’ being by virchoo of my double troubles ready to plunge into dissipation mad an’ swirlin’ midst, I sa'nters down the moment them wagons shows up; an’ after that, while FIRST BOATBUILDER ON THE PACIFIC COAST in San Francisco or on the Pacific Coast— and she was the first to run on the bay from San Francisco to Stockton. Joseph Alderman put in the machinery, Price and Kendall built her cabin, Hugh May was the engineer and Isaac ‘Warren was cap- tain. This boat was named the Captain Sutter, in honor of the man who first dis- covered gold in California. She was 90 feet long, 18 feet beam and 6 feet hold. Bhe had a single engine, 13% inches bore and 43 feet stroke of piston, with an old- style firebox tpbular boiler. She was a 8ood, strong boat, but not very fast. The freight was carried in the hold, and the boat was always heavily loaded on the up. trip, but came back light, carrying“only passengers — miners from the diggings coming to town on business and pleasure. The charge was 330 for a ton of freight and the same for passengers, Miners from the ‘diggings’ paid their fare in gold dust, the purser keeping scales for weighing it. Iipald workmen in my shipyard $ a day, but the price soon afterward advanced 10 316 a day, but the work was good. We got our timber whefe we couid find it-some- times it floated down the bay and lodged at the ‘Long Whart,’ and later we went across Into the country and cut it with whipsaws, as there were no sawmills here in the first days of shipbuilding. ““The next work,” continued the cap- tain, “was the steamer El Dorado. She was. sent frem Philadelphia by the Pa- cific Mail Company., She sailed here, rigged as a three-masted schooner, com- ing_through the Straits of Magelian, and arrived in November, 1849. I put guards and a cabin on her, which had been made in Philadelphia, and, the machinery being placed, she was completed on the 1st of January, 185, and placed on the San Francisco and Stockton route. She had only one engine. Kdward Thomas was the first engineer and A. B. Rowley, who afterward built the Alyviso flour miil, was the second engineer. I do not remember the dimensions of this boat. My next boat was the keel of a small side-wheel steamer, sent out by the same company, and named the Georgiana. She was 78 feet long, 16 feet beam and 4% feet hold, The keel was laid on February 22, 1850. launched her with steam up and she started on her trial trip at once. The \ machinéry was put in by .George K. Glu- yas. She was named the Georgiana after the Georgiana Siough, which connects the acramento with the San Joaquin, because e was the first steamer that went through that slough from one river to the other. “The iirst. trip was made in April, 1850. During that season I bullt two sloops for freighting on those rivers, and later on T built two other sloops with water tanks in them, to supply the shipping with fresh water, Which was mainly obtained from Sausalito, there being many fresh springs in that vicinity. These sloops, our orig- inal water company, were named Clara and Emma. About the same time I aiso built the sloop Kittura for the Sacramento trade, and ip the fall of 1850 the Game Cock, a Hi_hl-drau ht stern-wheeler, to run up to French Camp, on a slough ot the San Joaquin. She was only sixty feet long, sixteen feet beam and three feet hold. 'She had no cabin. I built the sioop G. W. Aspinwall that year and two small freighting- sloops for Macondray & Co, “Other ship yards had béen established in this city and the harbor, rivers and the bays were well stocked with all sizes of craft to’suit the especial demands of the growing. commerce. ~ While the vessels were small, as you see by the descriptions I give, it was because of our lack of fa- cilities, and a¢ we had none of the im- proved machinery, of the Eastern yards I think we did well. “About this time.there was an oppost- tion line on the Sacramento route. and things. were very lively. The rate was $30 for a ton of freight and $30 for a pas- senger, and the boats had as much as they could do in both freight and pas- senger traffic, but the down trip was uspally light—only passengers, who were - coming from the mines on busiess ana pleasure—sometimes - more for pleasure. for they spent money freely in those gooa old days. Finally the rate war reducea the passenger charge to as low as $1,.and the same for a ton of frelght. But the ‘war' did not last long. The California Bteam Navigation Campnnz was formed in 1851, and bought all of the opposition steamers and consolidated them into one Jine. Captain W. H. Moore and Cap J. G. North owned a few steamers and these were the beginning of that company. )e members of this great company were chard Jessup, Captain James Whitney, Samuel Hensley, C. W. Gunnell, Captain James Blair, General James Reddington, Benjamin Hartshorne, Captain James Seymour and William Norris. Captain Blair was general manager and Mr. Nor- ris was secretary of the company. This combination, or trust, for it was a trust, controlled the entire shipping business of the country, and realized miilions of doi- lars. Yes, it was far more profitable than the most productive gold mines of those days of gold. “In 1850 and 1851 the bay and rivers wera full of boats,” continued the captain. ‘‘In 1551 I built the C. M. Webber, another steamer sent out in sections. A. B. Row- ley was engineer and Captaln Lamb was in’ charge. I then went to Philadelphia, leaving here in May, 1851, returning in November. Within the next few months I built for myseif and Captain Wiiliam Kohl a sioop for the Sacramento trade. We named her the Bianca. Captain John Hutton was commander. She was 70 feet long, 18 feet beam and 6 feet hold. I next built a_side-wheel steamer called the Uncle Sam for Captain Turnbull and shipped her to the Colorado River. She was the pioneer boat in that river. . He was a Government contractor, I believe. Early in 1853 [ built the Pike for Captain E. J. Weeks. She was bullt and launched in twénty-eight days. She was then taken to the site of W. T. Garratt's brass foun- dry, where her machinery was put in’' by Gordon & Stein, who then had & machine shop there. “1 then laid the keel for' a side-wheel steamer for: Charles Minturn, which was the first.ferry-boat built in San Fran- cisco. She was 120 feet long, 24 feet beam and 7 feet hold. George Coffee put in the machinery. The engine was low pressure. I launched her in sixty days from the day the keel was laid. She was strongly and well built, and though I paid $9 a day for laborers I could not to-day duplicate that boat for the same cost. She was named the Clinton andran as a ferry to Oak- land, going up fhe creek as far as San Antonfo. She lasted for many years and was as good work as I ever turned out. My next work was the Louisa Harker for John Ortley, for the Alviso trade. I also put up a dredge for Mr. Minturn, the machine being in use at Stockton um- til a few years ago and perhaps yet. My shipyard at that time was at the foot of Third street. In 1854 I bullt the Kate L. Heron for myself and others. We put her In the ‘Stockton trade; also the Flora Temple for myself and Charles Mc- Laughlin for the Sacramento trade. She ‘was 130 feet long, 28 feet beam and 7 feet deep. She was a side-wheeler with one engine. “In the same year,” continued Captain Marcucel, referring to his memoranda, “I changed the old brig Columbia into a steam propeller and towing boat for a man named Holmes, who called her the Abble Holmes. She was used for water- ing ships and stored water in tanks lo- cated at tne faet of Washington street. George K. Gluyas put in the machinery. About this time boat building became, dull, the rivers and bays being well sup- plied, and I went into the coal business, my office being on the south side of Mar- ket street, opposite Sansome. I did not succeed and sold out. In May, 1856, I de- cided to try my luck in mining and started out@or Shasta County, stopping at what was called Horsetown. I worked ar hydraulic mining for about two years with no success, and returned to San Francisco financially stranded and with one of my hands crippled from a prema- ture blast. ‘I then concluded that I knew nothing about mining and_would there- after work at a business I knew some- thing about,” said the captaln, smiling at the recollection of his sad experience. “In 1858, said the captain, “I went to work at the Government yard at Mare Island, on the old sloop-of-war St. Mary. Though I had met reverses I knew the only way was to go to Hard work again, which I have always done, and I have seen some discouraging times in my long career in this city. In the summer of 1858 1 quit working at Mare Island, and began again at San Francisco. Here I laid the keel for a sidewheel steamer 120 feet long, twenty-four feet deep and seven feet hold for Coffee & Risdon. She had two high pressure engines, fourteen inches bore, and two cylindrical tubular boilers. The engines were buiit in this city by Devoe & Dinsmore. She was named the Princess, and put in the Sacramento trade in_opposition to the California Steam Navigation Company. “I next built the Rambler, a sidewheel steamer of nearly the same dimensions, for Mr. Lunnerton. She was put in the Petaluma trade. She carried one single high pressure engine, of the same size as that of the Princess, and which was aiso built by Devoe & Dinsmore. In the early days of mining the principal freight was, of course, supplies for the mines, but by this time the kinds of freight had largely increased. E “In 1860, with my yard again at the foot of Third street, I built the lumber schooner Fannie, and, later, the barken- tine Monitor for the lumber trade, also the sternwheel steamer for Captain Mills for the upper Sacramento trade, and sev- eral barges for that trade, which was now being opened up with considerable activity. Another vessel was & side- wheeler for Pope & Talbot named. the Cyrus Walker. Captain Bullene put in the machinery and took her up to Puget Sound to tow logs to the lumber mills, which were then being established at points on the coast convenient to boat- buflding. I built in 1865 the Rellance for the :Alviso Transportation _Company, which was composed of James Lick, A. B. Rowley and others. She was a propeller, 120 feet long, twenty-six feet beam and nine feet deep, with one high-pressure engine. The engine and the two boliers were built In this city at_the Pacific Iron ‘Works. I next built the Pioneer, a stern- wheeler, for tne Sacramento trade. The engines were built by the Globe Iron Works at Stockton, and the boilers by the Coffee & Risdon Works Of this city. The Ploneer was built at the foot of Second street, on the Tichenor ways property, for I had then moved my shipyard to this point. In those days we moved our ship- yards to the most convenient point on the water frogt, or at any point where a man wanted a boat buiit. We had no modern machinery for launching a boat, and the launehing was done by workmen pulling at the fropes. In 1868 I built the Santa Claus for Goodall & Perkins—she was a propeller with twin screws, 130 feet long, thifty feet beam and ten feet hold. The engines were built by John Lockhead of this city. - “In the same year I built the Brisk for janker W. C. Raiston. Lockheadalso made the machinery, including a Lockhead pat- ent boiler, which was not a success. As there was not room enough to put in an ola-style boiler, I hauled her out, cut her in two in the middle and put in twenty- five feet to lengthen her. I then put in two tubular boilers, but—she was never very brisk and belied her name,” said the captain, smillng. “In 1869 1 built the Val. lejo for the California Pacific Raflroad Company to run.to Vallejo. She was a propeller, 130 feet long, 28 feet beam and that circus stays, folks who Wagits to see me, day or night, nacherally ha me to the show ““The outfit is one of them little jimcrow shows that stays @ mor by the end of the first w an’ the clown gets wropped up in each c ke brothers; wh one of the I fe he hosses an loes nigger we ses up with prior endoorin’ y entire I in’ the clown, that a-way, sech trivial consider tent ropes an’ so pears before the effulgent. homor of h a'quaintamce. It' t that leads to disaster. “«This yere merrymaker — who's a “ocund wight,’ as Colonel Sterett says— gets a heap drunk one evenin’ an’ sleeps out in the rain s makes him hoarse as bullffogs! He ain’t able to sing his song in the ring. It's jest before they yesins “Dan,” he croaks, plenty - dejected, «I wish you'd clown up an’ go In an’ sing that song.” « “This yere madrigal 1s easy; it's “Roll, Jurdan, Roll,” an’ T hears it so much at nigzer camp meetin’s an’ sim-lar distrac- tions of my yooth that I carols. it in my sleep. As the clown throws out his bluff. I considers awhile some ser'ous. I feels like mebby I've cut the trail of a cunnin’ fdee. When Jule an’ Old Hickey an’ the balance of them Sni-a-bar outcasts sees me in a clown’s yooniform, tyrannizin' about, n' songs an’ leadin’ up the war jig gen'ral, they’ll regret them opin- reely expresses an' take to standin’ about, hopin’ Il bow. Theyll regyard knowin’ me as & boon. With that, I tells the clown to be of good cheer; T'll shore render that lay, an’ his hoarse- ness won’t prove no set back to the gay- ety of nations. ““But I don’t sing the song none after all; an’ I don't pile up Jule an’ old HicKey si fons they so an’ them sports of Sni-a-bar neither in any all ‘round jumble of amazement at ny genius. “+“Of course, Dan,” says the ring- master when we're in the dressin’ room, “when the leapin’ begins you-all will go on with the others an’ do a somersault or two? % * “Shore!” I says ~ ‘I feels as co nt as a kangaroo, that a-way! Which I never does try it fone; but I figgers that all you has to do ts_hit the springboard ally, that springboard dc That's where I'm barkin’ at a knot! ““This yere leapin' com on the bill. I ain’t been in t tumblin’ business !s where I deeboo. I've got on a white with big red spots: an’ my flour. I'm as confident of ma a hit as a wet dog. I shore ailows that when Jule an’ old Hickey observes my graceful agility an’ then hears me', warble “Roll Jurdan, Roll,” T'll make 'em hang|their heads an’ wish they was dead. “ The tumblin’ is about to begin. The band's playin’, an’ all us athletes is ranged Injun file, along a piank down which we're to run. I'm the last chicken on the roost. At last it's my turn. “ ‘Even unto this day, it's a subject of contention in circus cirkles as to whers I hits that springboard. Soms claims I hits her too high Up; an’ some :ays too low. For myse’f, 'm plumb ignorunt om the pint. All I saveys is the fact. I files down the plank lke a antmopel I hewrs the skirl of the drums! I jumps an’ strikes the springboard! “It's at this juncture things goes queer. To my wonder I don’t turn ne fiipflap. It's like & draw shot In billlards 1 plants my mocassins on that sprin board; an’ then instead of going on an’ over & cayuse who's standin’ thar await- in’ sech events, I nacherally shoots baak- *ard about fifteen foot an’ lands in & cun- foosed an’ ondistinguishable heap. An’ as 1 strikes the plank, I shore smashes & brace of my ribs. ‘For a second I'm sort ¢ blurred in my intellects. Then I recovers; an’ as I'm bein’ steered back Into the dresin’ room by the fosterin’ hands of the ring- master sn’ my pard, the clown, over In the audience I hears Jule’s laugh as her old pap allows he’d shore give a hoss if T'd only busted my neck. Also, I catches a remark of old Hickey: “Which that Boggs boy allers was a ediotl’ says Old Hickey.' " ————— 8 feet hold. The machinery was bullt the Risdon Iron Works of this city. also built about the same time two treight barges for the same company. 1 also bullt at Stockton the Mary Garratt for the California Steam Nayigation Com~ pany. And now,” said Captaln Mar- cueet, “from this time, 1869 to 1577, I quit bolt building and was engaged in other business. In 1878 I left the city again for the East and went to-Venezuela to see my mother. Lreturned here in the early part of 1579, and at the request of W. T. Garratt took the position of superintend- ent of the California Steam Navigation Company’s line and subsequently became oDe of the directors and vice president of the company. I held this position for about two years, when, owing to & com- bination against’ Mr. Garratt's interests; Wwhich I represented, I was squeezed out. But very soon another comblnation w made, Mr. Garratt again got control an I was reinstated. ““Well,” continued the captain; “in 1889 tke California Steam Navigation Com- pany and the San Joaquin Improvement Company consolidated and formed the California Navigation and Improvement Company. In this new company I was given a subordinate position. The ne year this company bought out our inte est and I was again out of business,” sald the captain, smiling at the many changes of the current. .“In 1880 I made the plans for the Dauntiess and the Captain W eber for the Union Transportation Company of Stockton. This was my last boat work. “In December, 159, I was appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury to the pos tion of assistant inspector of hu steam vessels for the port of San cisco. I resigned this position on_the of January, 1%0, two years ago, becau of my advanced age. 1 will be 75 _yea old on the 28th day of April next. retired from all business, and, the take good care of myself, I feel th body is srowing weaker as age ad While my life has not been one adventures, 1 have had many but I never gave up. I always uron myself, belleving that by one must succeed. I have seen San cisco grow: from a small town to | ent size, and the boat building | increase from the primitive s h their crude materials, to its present dimensions. It is a long, glong time in one’s life,” concluded Capfpin Mareucei, chznging his musings of tNe past to th future, as he again referred to his retires ment from an active.and busy life. J. M. SCANLAND. I have '