HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. 



95 



right, as I advanced, -were some stores and hotels, 

 and a confectioner's shop of remarkably neat and 

 clean appearance : these were all one story, wooden 

 buildings. One of the hotels was appropriately desig 

 nated as i The Colonnade.' It was kept by a volun 

 teer named Huxley, and differed from every similar 

 establishment in the town, inasmuch as the proprietor 

 allowed neither gambling nor drunkenness on his 

 premises. To this the * Gotham Saloon,' a little fur 

 ther on, offered a perfect contrast, for here there were 

 several monte rooms and a large bowling-alley, where 

 persons who had a taste for the latter amusement 

 might indulge in their favorite pastime for a dollar a 

 game. This saloon was likewise kept by two volun 

 teers, as was also the confectioner's by a fourth ; so 

 that three of the most noted houses in the town were 

 rented by men, who, a few months before, scarcely pos 

 sessed any thing save their enterprise and their indus 

 try, but who were now on the high road to opulence. 

 The more credit was due to them, and others of their 

 brethren whom fortune had similarly favored, because, 

 at first, they had deep-rooted prejudices to encounter, 

 which prudence and perseverance only could have 

 enabled them to overcome. 



"I came next to the Square, or l Plaza,' on one 

 side of which, and fronting it, stood the ' Miner's 

 Bank/ established by a Mr. Wright, a keen specula 

 tor, who had secured possession of a large extent of 

 landed property, which he was turning to the very 

 best account. On the left of the Plaza, I noticed a 

 spacious-looking wooden building, two stories high, 

 called the ' Parker House ;' but the handsome piazza 

 in front caused me to hesitate on the threshold ; for I 

 apprehended and not without reason that, even in 



