and thence down the Yuba to Feather and Sacramento rivers. 19 The route so far described, by way of the

19 Through Henness pass. A trail branched by Donner Lake along the north branch of the American. The most northern route, Lassen's, turned from the great bend of the Humboldt north-west to Goose Lake, there to swing southward by the Oregon trail along Pit River and Honey Lake into the Sacramento Valley. Hostile Indians, and snow, and greater extent of desert combined to give this the name of the Death Route, so that few followed it after the early part of 1849. Yreka Jour., Feb. 18, 1871. A branch from it struck across Upper Mud Lake toward Honey Lake. Below Truckee ran the Carson River route, turning south of Lake Tahoe through Johnson Pass and down the south fork of American River. A branch turned to the west fork of Walker River through Sonora pass and Sonora to Stockton. The main route from the east is well described in a little emigrant's guide-book published by J. E. Ware. After giving the intending emigrant instructions as to his outfit, estimates of expense, directions for forming camp, etc., the author follows the entire route from one camping-place or prominent point to the next, describes the intervening road and river crossings, points out where fuel and water can be obtained, and gives distances as well as he can. I. 1849 Ware set out for Cal., was taken ill east of Laramie, and heartlessly abandoned by his companions, and thus perished miserably. Delano says he was formerly from Galena, but known in St Louis as a writer.' Life on the Plains, 163. Alonzo Delano was born at Aurora, N. Y., July 2, 1806, and came to Cal. by the Lassen route in 1849, and of his journey published a minute account. After working in the placers for some time he went to S. F. and opened a produce store. In the autumn of 1851 he engaged in quartz-mining at Grass Valley, which was thenceforward his home. A year or two later he became superintendent of the Nevada Company's mill and mine, and then agent of Adams & Co.'s express and banking office. In Feb. 1855 he opened a banking-house of his own. In his position of agent for Adams & Co. at Grass Valley, he received orders to pay out no money either on public or private deposits, which orders he did not obey; but calling the depositors together, he read his instructions and said: 'Come, men, and get your deposits; you shall have what is yours so long as there is a dollar in the safe.' Five days later, on Feb. 20th, Delano opened a banking-house of his own; and so great was the confidence placed in his integrity that within 24 hours he received more money on deposit than he had ever held as agent for Adams & Co. From that time on he led a successful and honored career as a banker until the day of his death, which occurred at Grass Valley Sept. 8, 1874. For further particulars, see Grass Valley Foothill Tidings, Nov. 21, 1874; Grass Valley Union, Sept. 10, 1874; Truckee Republican, Sept. 10, 1874; Sta Bárbara Index, Sept. 24, 1874; Portland Bulletin, Oct. 7, 1874; S. F. Alta, Sept. 11, 1874. But it was as an author, not as a banker, that Delano was best known to the early Californians, and, by one of his books at least, to the wider world. This work, a vol. of some 400 pages, is an account of his journey overland to Cal., and embodies much information about early times in Cal., especially in the mining regions and small towns. Its title is: Life on the Plains and among the Diggings; being Scenes and Adventures of an Overland Journey to California: with Particular Incidents of the Route, Mistakes. and Sufferings of the Emigrants, the Indian Tribes, the Present and the Future of the Great West. Auburn, 1854, and N. Y., 1861. The portion relating to the journey was written as a journal, in which the incidents of each day, the kind of country passed through, and the probable distance accomplished were noted. What does not relate to the immigration is more sketchy, but still valuable and accurate. Although Delano's most ambitious book, it was not his first. During the earlier years of residence in his adopted country he contributed a number of short humorous sketches illustrative of Cal. life to the various periodicals. These fugitive pieces were collected and pub

Rocky Mountain South Pass and Humboldt River, known as the northern, received by far the largest proportion of travel; the next in importance, the southern, led from Independence by the caravan trail to Santa Fé, thence to deviate in different directions: by the old Spanish trail round the north banks of the Colorado, crossing Rio Vírgenes to Mojave River and desert, and through Cajon Pass to Los Angeles; by General Kearny's line of march through Arizona, along the Gila; by that of Colonel Cooke down the Rio Grande and westward across the Sonora table-land to Yuma. Others passed through Texas, Coahuila, and Chihuahua into Arizona, while not a few went by sea to Tampico and Vera Cruz, and thence across the continent to Mazatlan or other Mexican seaport to seek a steamer or sailing vessel, or even through Nicaragua, which soon sprang into prominence as a rival point of transit to the Isthmus. 20 Snow at least proving no

lished at Sacramento, in a volume of 112 pp., under the title of Penknife Sketches; or Chips of the Old Block; a series of original illustrated letters, written by one of California's pioneer miners, and dedicated to that class of her citizens by the author. Sac., 1853. A second edition, sixteenth thousand, was published in 1854, price one dollar. Like the cuts designed by Charles Nahl, which ornament this book, the humor of the author is of a rough and ready nature, but it is genial and withal graphic. The Sketches are the overflowing of a merry heart, which no hard times could depress, and through all their burlesque it is evident that the writer had a discerning and appreciative eye for the many strange phases which his new life presented. More famous humorists have arisen in California since the time of Old Block, his chosen nom de plume; but as the first of the tribe, so he was the most faithful in depicting life in the flush times. His California Sketch-Book is similar in nature to the Penknife Sketches. Besides his purely humorous pieces, Delano wrote a number of tales which appeared in the Hesperian and Hutchings' magazines, as well as some plays, which it is said were put upon the stage. See the Grass Valley Foothill Tidings, Nov. 21, 1874. In 1868 he published at S. F. The Central Pacific, or '49 and '69, by Old Block, a pamphlet of 24 Pp., comparing the modes of traversing the continent at the two dates mentioned.

20 The new Mexican routes have received full attention in the preceding volumes of this series, Hist. Cal., in connection with Hispano-Mexican intercourse between New Mexico and Cal., with trapper roamings and the march overland of U. S. troops in 1846-7. Taylor, Eldorado, 131, speaks of Yuma attacks on Arizona passengers. See also records and references in the Alta Cal., June 25, 1850, and other journals and dates, as in a preceding note; also Hayes' Life, MS., 69 et seq.; Id., in Misc. Hist. Pap., doc. 27, p. 35-6, 45, et seq.; Hayes' Emig. Notes, MS., 415, with list of his party; Id., Diary, MS., 56; Soulé's Stat., MS., 1 et seq.; Sayward's Stat., MS., 2-5; Perry's Travels, 14-69, and Woods' Sixteen Months, 3 et seq., recording troubles and exactions of Mexican trips via Mazatlan and San Blas. Sɔ in Overland, xv. 241-8, on

21

material obstruction along the more southerly routes, a fair proportion of emigrants from the United States had availed themselves of the outlet for an earlier start, and some 8,000 entered California from this quarter, including many Hispano-Americans, the latter pouring in, moreover, throughout the winter months by way of Sonora and Chihuahua.

The number of gold-seekers who reached California from all sources during the year 1849 can be estimated only approximately. The most generally accepted statement, by a committee of the California constitutional convention, places the population at the close of 1849 at 106,000, which, as compared with the census figure, six months later, of about 112,000, exclusive of Indians, appears excessive. But the census was taken under circumstances not favorable to accuracy, and the preceding estimate may be regarded as equally near the truth, although some of the details are questionable.23

22

the San Blas route. The steamer California took on board at Acapulco, in July 1849, a party of destitute Americans, assisted by the passengers. Santa Cruz Times, Feb. 26, 1870. Rondé met five unarmed Frenchmen hauling a hand wagon through Chihuahua. Charton, Tour du Monde, iv. 160; Southern Quart. Rev., xv. 224 et seq. In Sherwood's Guide, 57-8, is mentioned a fantastic balloon route by the 'patent aerial steam float' of R. Porter, to carry passengers at $100, including board and a precautionary return ticket; the trip to be made in four or five days!

21 The fear of Mexican hostility, the comparatively inferior knowledge of this route, and its apparent roundabout turn made it less popular, at least north of the southern states.

22 The total is 92,597 for all except three counties-Santa Clara, S. F., and Contra Costa, the returns for which were lost. U. S. Seventh Census, 966 et seq. Comparison with the state census of 1852 permits an estimate for these three of not over 19,500, whereof 16,500 were for S. F. town and county. The Annals of S. F., 244, assumes 20,000 or even 25,000; others vary between 7,000 and 20,000 for S. F. city at the close of 1849, and as a large number of miners and others were then wintering there, the population must have fallen greatly by the time of taking the census. In July and Aug. 1849 the city had only 5,000 or 6,000. The influx by sea during the first six months of 1850 is reported by the S. F. custom-house at 24,288, whereof 16,472 were Americans. U. S. Gov. Doc., 31st cong. 1st sess., H. Ex. Doc. 16, iv. 44-5. By deducting this figure and balancing departures with the influx from Mexico the total at the end of 1849 would be nearly 90,000.

23 For instance, the population at the end of 1848 is placed by the committee at 26,000, of whom 13,000 were Californians, 8,000 Americans, and 5,000 foreigners. I estimate from the archives the native Californian element at little over 7,500 at the same period; 8,000 Americans is an admis

I prefer, therefore, to place the number of white inhabitants at the close of 1849 at not over 100,000, accepting the estimated influx by sea of 39,000, of which about 23,000 were Americans, and 42,000 overland, of which 9,000 were from Mexico, 8,000 coming through New Mexico, and 25,000 by way of the South Pass and Humboldt River. Of this number a few thousand, especially Mexicans, returned the same year, leaving a population that approached 95,000.24

sible figure, including the Oregon influx, but 5,000 foreigners is somewhat excessive, as may be judged from my notes in preceding chapters on Mexican and other immigration. Indians are evidently excluded in all estimates. The other figures for the influx during 1849 appear near enough. They may be consulted as original or quoted estimates, among other works, in Mayer's Mex. Aztec, ii. 393; Stillman's Golden Fleece, 32; Hittell's Hist. S. F., 139-40.

24About half-way between the federal estimates and those of the convention. The tendency of the latter was naturally to give the highest reasonable figures, and the wonder is that it did not swell them with Indian totals. Such exciting episodes as the gold rush are moreover apt to produce exaggeration everywhere. Thus a widely accepted calculation, as reproduced in Cal. Past and Present, 146-7, reaches 200,000, based on Larkin's report of 46,000 arrived by July 1849, and on calculations from Laramie of 56,000 passing there. 'A still larger number' came by sea, say 100,000, all Americans,' so that nearly 200,000 arrived, and in 1850 there would be more than 500,000 new arrivals from the U. S. Even the Report, 15, of the govt agent, T. B. King, assumes loosely the arrival in 1849 of 80,000 Americans and 20,000 foreigners. U. S. Gov. Doc., 31st cong. 1st sess., H. Ex. Doc. 59, 7. And Hittell, Hist. S. F., 139-40, 155-6, so excessively cautious in some respects, not allowing over 8,000 inhabitants to S. F. in Nov. 1849, assigns 30,000 in June 1850 to three counties lacking in the census, of which about 25,000 must be meant for S. F., and so reaches a total of 122,000, while accepting the 100.000 estimate for 1849. The investigations of J. Coolidge of the Merchants' Exchange indicated arrivals at S. F. from March 31 to Dec. 31, 1849, of 30,675, excluding deserters; 12,237 coming from U. S. ports via Cape Horn, 6,000 via Panamá, 2,600 via San Blas and Mazatlan, the rest from other quarters. Figures in Niles' Reg., lxxxv. 113, 127, 288, give 3,547 passengers for Chagres by April 1849; overland influx, adds Sac. Record, Mar. 28, 1874, 'probably exceeded that by sea twofold.' In a letter to the St Louis Rep. of June 10, 1849, from Fort Kearny, it was said that 5,095 wagons had passed; about 1,000 more left behind, and many turning back daily. There are 5,000 or 6,000 wagons on the way. Alta Cal., Aug. 2, 1849. See also Placer Times, May 26, Oct. 13, 1849, etc. Kirkpatrick, Journal, MS., 14-16, states, on the other hand, that only 1,500 teams were supposed to be on the road between Platte ferry and Cal. during the latter half of June. The Santa Fé and South Pass arrivals embrace some Hispano-Americans and Oregonians. For further speculations on numbers I refer to Williams' Rec. Early Days, MS., 10; Barstow's Stat., MS., 13; Abbey's Trip, 5, 26, 56; S. F. Directory, 1852-3, 10-11, 15; Pioneer Arch., 182-3; Larkin's Doc., MS., vi. 203; Taylor's Eldorado, ii. cap. iv.; Simonin, Grand Ouest, 290; Janssens, Vida y Av., MS., 209–10; Annals S. F. 133, 244, 356, 484; Polynesian, vi. 74, 86-7; Sac. Directory, 1871, 36; Niles' Reg., 1xxv. 113, 127, 288, 320, 348, 383; Home Miss., xxii. 44; S. F. Pac. News, Dec. 22, 27, 1849; Apr. 30; May 2, 8, 21, 24, 1850; Alta Cal., July 2, Dec. 15, 1849; May 24, 1850; S. F. Herald, Nov. 15, 1850; Jan. 21, 1854; Boston Traveler, March 1850; St Louis Anzeiger, Apr. 1850; S. F. Bulletin,

The advance parties of the Rocky Mountain migration began to arrive in the Sacramento Valley toward the end of July, after which a steady stream came pouring in. They were bewildered and unsettled for a while under the novelty of their surroundings, for the rough flimsy camps and upturned, débris-strewn river banks, as if convulsed by nature, accorded little with the pictured paradise; but kind greeting and aid came from all sides to light up their haggard faces, and before the prospect of unfolding riches all past toil and danger faded like a gloomy dream. Even the cattle, broken in spirit, felt the reviving influence of the goal attained.25 To many the visions of wealth which began anew to haunt their fancy proved only a reflection of the lately mocking mirages of the desert, till sober thought and strength came to reveal other fields of labor, whence they might wrest more surely though slowly the fortune withheld by fickle chance. And here the overland immigrants as a mass had the advantage, coming as they did from the small towns, the villages, and the farms of the interior, or from the young settlements on the western frontier. Accustomed to a rugged and simple life, they craved less for excitement; and honest, industrious, thrifty, and selfreliant, they could readily fall back upon familiar toil and find a potent ally in the soil. A large proportion, indeed, had come to cast their lot in a western home. The emigrants by sea, on the other hand, speaking broadly and with all due regard to exceptions, were pioneers not so natural and befitting to an en

Apr. 6, 1868. Arrivals in 1850 will be considered later in connection with population.

25 Among the first comers was 'Jas S. Thomas from Platte City.' Burnett's Rec., MS., ii. 127. The first party of packers reached Sac. about July 18th; four wagons were there in Pleasant Valley, 100 miles above.' Alta Cal., Ang. 2, 1849. The hungry and sick received every care, despite the absorbing occupation of all and the high cost of food. Sutter aided hundreds. Used to open-air camping, many could not endure sleeping in a house for a long time. McCall, Great Cal. Trail, 1-85, left St Joseph May 5th; reached Ft Kearny May 29th; Ft Laramie June 18th; Green River July 10th; Humboldt River Aug. 10th; Truckee River Aug. 29th; and coming down by Johnson's Ranch, arrived at Sutter's Sept. 7th.