SAJ^ FRA^'C1SC0 AND END OF JOURNEY, 533 



the captain inquired the cause. He was answered, 

 *' Everybody has gone northward, where the valleys 

 and mountains are of gold." Instantly upon hearing 

 this marvellous assertion his own crew joined the in- 

 numerable throng. 



The San Francisco Star of May 27, 1848, says: 



" Stores are closed and places of business vacated, a 

 large number of houses are tenantless, various kinds of 

 mechanical labor suspended or given up entirely, 

 and nowhere the pleasant hum of industry salutes the 

 ear as of late. * * Everything in San Francisco 

 wears a desolate and sombre look ; everywhere all is 

 dull, monotonous, dead.'^ 



Apparently the Californian of that day was thor- 

 oughly imbued with the saying of the Cyclops, "The 

 wise know nothing worth worshipping but wealth." 



The Pacific Mail Steamship Company was incor- 

 porated in 1847, to sail from New York to New 

 Orleans and Chagres, and from Panama to such Pacific 

 port as the Secretary of the Navy might designate. 

 Later, when the existence of gold in her mines made 

 California the cynosure of all eyes, San Francisco was 

 decided upon as the western terminus of the route. 



On October 6, 1848, the " California," the first ves- 

 sel of this line, steamed out of New York harbor, 

 with but a small number of passengers. As this ship 

 was intended for use on the Pacific coast alone, she 

 was obliged to take the tedious and perilous route 

 through the Strait of Magellan to reach her destina- 

 tion. Arriving at Panama, she found the Isthmus 

 apparently turned into pandemonium. The one time 

 dingy, sleepy city of Panama appeared to have fallen 

 entirely into the hands of the gold-seekers. Cholera 



