THE ADVENTURES OF A FORTY-NINER.
AN HISTORIC DESCRIPTION OF CALIFORNIA, WITH EVENTS AND IDEAS OFSAN FRANCISCO AND ITS PEOPLE IN THOSE EARLY DAYS.
By DANIEL KNOWER.
1894
DEDICATED TO Colonel Jonathan Stevenson, Colonel John C.Freemont, and Captain John A. Sutter,
THE THREE PRE-EMINENT PIONEERS OF CALIFORNIA.
Table of Contents
THE CALIFORNIA PIONEERSOCIETY.
THE ADVENTURES OF AFORTY-NINER.
PREFACE.
The discovery of gold in California, in 1848, with its othermineral resources, including the Alamada quicksilver mine at SanJosé, which is an article of first necessity in working goldor silver ore; and the great silver mines of Nevada, in 1860, theComstock lode, in which, in ten years, from five to eight hundredmillions of gold and silver were taken out, a larger amount thanwas ever taken from one locality before, the Alamada quicksilvermine being the second most productive of any in the world, the onein Spain being the largest, said to be owned by the Rothschilds.Its effect upon the general prosperity and development of ourcountry has been immense, almost incalculable. Before thesediscoveries the amount of gold in the United States was estimatedat about seventy millions, now it is conceded to be seven hundredmillions. The Northern Pacific coast was then almost unpopulated.California a territory three times as large as New York and Oregonand the State of Washington, all now being cultivated andcontaining large and populous cities, and railroads connecting themwith the East. Why that country should have remained uninhabitedfor untold ages, where universal stillness must have prevailed asfar as human activity is concerned, is one of the unfathomablemysteries of nature. It is only one hundred and twenty-five yearssince the Bay of San Francisco was first discovered, one of thegrandest harbors in the world, being land-locked, extending thirtymiles, where al