158 ELDORADO 



State Fair. The old fort presents a newer and more 

 imposing appearance than it did in 1850. All honor to 

 the "native sons and daughters of the pioneers" who 

 have thus preserved it. 



It was in this little pioneer fort that the first an- 

 nouncement was made, on the 19th of January, 1848, 

 that sent an echo throughout the world, and drew to 

 California people from every part of the globe, pro- 

 ducing in so short a time scenes of unparralleled ex- 

 citement. From England, Germany, France, Russia. 

 vSpain, South America, and the Sandwich Islands came 

 the gold hunters. In the far east, across the broad 

 Pacific, the seal of national exclusiveness was broken 

 and there came a peculiar people from ancient Ca- 

 thay with their strange jargon, shaved crowns, and 

 solitary cues behind. This was a race whose primeval 

 order had never been disturbed by any other branch 

 of the human family. They brought their kettles, rice, 

 chop sticks, and heathen gods, and have ever since 

 lived their life of exclusiveness and racial isolation. 

 From Mexico came the miner, vaquero and desperado. 

 Ip from Chili and Peru came the speculator, gambler, 

 and courtesan. Over the Rock\- mountains came long 

 lines of emigrant trains, making their tedious march 

 over almost precipitous mountains crowned with 

 eternal snows, and arid deserts of alkali, leaving be- 

 hind them the new-made grave and the bleaching bones 

 of famished beasts to tell the sad story of their weary 

 journev and to mark the path for those who were to 

 follow. The few vessels that could find sailors to tnkc 

 them from the coast spread the news wherever thev 

 touched. The inhabitants of unfrequented islands of 

 the seas heard the welcome tidings of the land of gold. 



