532 OCEAN TO OCEAN ON HORSEBACK, 



Two weeks after Marshall first discovered the 

 precious metal, a bag of it was brought to the city for 

 aualysis, and one day early in May, 1848, "Samuel 

 Brennan, the Mormon leader, held a bottle of gold 

 dust in one hand, and jubilantly swinging his hat in 

 the other, passed through the streets of San Francisco 

 shouting, ' Gold ! Gold !! Gold ! !! from the American 

 River !'^' 



This started the enthusiasm, the fever, the madness 

 for gold. 



Carson writes his sensations when first looking upon 

 a well-filled bag of gold dust. He says: 



"A frenzy seized my soul, unbidden my legs per- 

 formed some entirely new movements of polka steps. 

 * * Houses were too small for me to stay in. I 

 was soon in the street in search of necessary outfits ; 

 piles of gold rose up before me at every step." 



All yielded more or less to the subtle influence of 

 the malady. Men hastened to arrange their affairs, 

 dissolving partnerships, disposing of real estate, and 

 converting other effects into ready means for de- 

 parture. 



Stores were rummaged for miners' tools. 



One man offered as high as fifty dollars for a shovel. 

 l>y the middle of June, San Francisco was without 

 male population. The once bustling little town looked 

 as if struck by a plague. Sessions of the town council 

 were at an end. There were no church services. 

 Stores were closed. Newspapers dropped out of exist- 

 ence. Merchandise lay unhandled on the docks. The 

 sailors deserted the ships that lay at anchor in the bay. 



One day a Peruvian bark came to anchor in the 

 port. Amazed at the desolation which he beheldj 



