ELDORADO 21 



South America. Later, when a few apples commenced 

 to arrive from Oregon, they sold readily for $1 apiece. 

 It was the memory of these hard experiences endured 

 by the early immigrants that formed the basis of the 

 organization of the Society of Pioneers, of whose ex- 

 periences those who have entered the state at a later 

 period have no adequate conception. 



Among those coming at an early date was a class 

 who might have regarded themselves as pioneers, 

 principally from Sydney, Australia, and other foreign 

 countries, and known as a dangerous and rowdy ele- 

 ment, but they soon disappeared before the advancing 

 civilization without leaving posterity or any evidence 

 of industrial enterprise. 



Most of the great enterprises that have placed Cali- 

 fornia in the front rank of the states of the Union 

 were originated and carried to completion by pioneer 

 brains and money. They were, and are today, the 

 mental and financial forces that control our great rail- 

 road systems, our extensive commerce, ovir manufac- 

 tures, and largely the banking business. . Two of the 

 greatest educational institutions of the world have been 

 established and endowed, at a cost of $40,000,000, 

 b\- pioneers who endured the hardships of the early 

 immigrants. With few exceptions the most important 

 and responsible positions in public life in the state, on 

 the bench, at the bar, in the L^nited States senate, are 

 and have been filled by Pioneers or Sons of the Golden 

 West. With one or two exceptions every governor of 

 California has been a pioneer. 



Two years after the discovery of gold by Marshall 

 while digging a mill race at Coloma, on the American 

 river, L like thousands of other young men, had the 



