138 ELDORADO 



"Selling out" in line soon became a trade, and many 

 an impecunious person pocketed his ten or twenty dol- 

 lars three or four times a day by selling out and hitch- 

 ing on to the rear end of the line again. In some cases 

 over anxious individuals would take their position at 

 the window one or two days before the arrival of the 

 expected steamer, and remain there, only leaving 

 when forced to seek food and drink. Sometimes during 

 their brief absence from their post the steamer's 

 gun would fire and after a breakneck race of a few 

 minutes they would be forced to attach themselves to 

 the extreme end of a line a cjuarter or half a mile in 

 length. Great relief was experienced some years later 

 by the establishment of the "pony express,"' which car- 

 ried letters from the Missouri river to San Francisco 

 in twelve to fifteen days at 25 cents the half ounce. 



