ELDORADO 165 



of dollars. The largest yield of gold ever produced in 

 the State in one year was in 1853, amounting to sixty- 

 five millions of dollars. The population at that time 

 was about 300,000. Many thousands left for "home" 

 with barely enough to pay their passage, broken in 

 health, never to return, while others, more fortunate, 

 went for their families to bring them to what they 

 termed "God's best country." Other thousands found 

 unknown graves in what to them was a strange land. 

 Throughout the first three years of the mining excite- 

 ment every article of trade had to be imported. Most 

 people believed that California was only a mining 

 country ; that nothing would grow upon the barren 

 soil without constant irrigation, so that imports in 

 1853 of San Francisco were over forty-five millions 

 dollars, over five million dollars of which was for flour 

 and meal, four million dollars for butter, and the same 

 amount for lumber. In the same year fifty-seven mill- 

 ion dollars in gold dust was exported. 



Up to 1849 navigation on the bay of San Francisco 

 and the Sacramento river was carried on exclusively 

 by small sailing craft. Before steamers arrived these 

 vessels found employment in carrying passengers to 

 Sacramento at twenty-five to forty dollars ; and ten to 

 twelve days would be occupied in making the trip. I 

 myself paid twenty-five dollars in 1854, self and wife, 

 for stateroom from San Francisco to Sacramento. It 

 was our wedding trip. In October, 1849, the first 

 steamboat, the "Pioneer," plied the waters of the Sac- 

 ramento. It was constructed of iron and shipped from. 

 Boston in pieces. Next came the little steamer "Mint." 

 These boats performed the trip from San Francisco to 

 Sacramento in half a dav. The fare was : Cabin, 



