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San Francisco June 30/49 [1849]
My Dear Uncle
Thinking perhaps you would like to hear from a dutiful (or undutiful I Know not which) Nephew of yours & from California. I will this evening endeavor to give you a little history of this, the so much talked of country. To tell you all would be impossible, but I will give you the latest news. And first I will tell you of the Mines. That the reports which you have heard are true, you may rest assured, and I will add that the half has not been told. For the last month the rivers have been so high "that it was difficult to work though the general average coin then was an ounce a day. Now the water is falling and they will reap a rich harvest. Yet, no one can Know, save by personal experience the hard labor and exposure which all have to undergo in working in the Mines. The rivers are formed by the melting of snow from the tops of the Mountains and you will readily imagine the water to be very cold. The Miners collect the sand in their pans and have to go into the water up to their Knees to wash it out. While a hot sun is pouring down and not a breath of air hardly stirring, for on either side there are high mountains." So they have to stand in water like ice while at their head the thermometer would range
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at 120°. Then at night they are exposed to cold damp dews and before morning they feel the want of two & even three pairs of blankets to Keep them warm. Such is the information which I have recieved from a friend of mine who has been to work the last two Months in the Mines, but has come down sick & worn out from the effects of it. "Yesterday I heard from a person who came down that they had found a new branch of the river, and that the diggers were collecting from 2 to 3 oz. a day each." He says they do not think of washing but pick up the real lumps. I cannot vouch for the truth of it, "not being personally acquainted with the man who told me," but as soon as the rivers are low and take their natural course, you may rest assured that you will hear the most astonishing reports from them, yet I fear twill be dearly bought "and many in digging for Gold, will dig their graves, as it must be very sickly" ... We have vessels which go up almost every day to Sacramento City and carry passengers Passage $16 and from there you have to go about 100 Miles before you get to the Mines. To the mill about 60 miles you can ride in a cart, for which the price is $40.
Every day we have arrivals from the Mines - persons who come down to spend their money which they have worked hard to collect "have a drink, Gamble and get rid of it and then go back again to work, perhaps
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to die" ... one of ^ the Miners went into a shop the other day bought a watch for $200. went to the door and took up a rock and broke it all to pieces to see what it was made of "so he said." They think nothing of losing a thousand in gambling in the evening, and I heard a gambler boasting the other morning that last night he won $5000. last night from the damned miners "so much for the morals of San Francisco" ... And now as regards business in San Francisco, Every thing looks dark. The speculation spirit up to its highest point and done up in real eastern style. New Cities are being laid out, and lots offered for sale ranging from 3.00 to $5000. according to persons who wish to purchase.
Lots in this city "for stores are selling at from $10,000. to 20,000. each but not many to be sold, at even those prices. Rents are enormous. To lease a lot say 20 by 60, the price would be from $800 to $1600. a Month, and then you have to build your own house. Lots since I arrived (which was 3 weeks ago last Monday) have risen 25%. A small house ... say 12 x 20 ... will rent at $300 a Month ^ or 3600 a year and I do not Know of one in the whole city to rent now. Never before did I ever hear of that. Money would not purchase a shelter for a man to sleep" but tis the fact here. The Parker House which is about 26 by 50, two stories rents now for Eighty thousand dollars a year and tis not furnished
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as yet, when it is done twill rent for one hundred & twenty thousand a year. The Billiard room with two small rooms from it rents for $36,000 a year, the whole house is full of Gamblers "so much for the Parker House of San Francisco" ... Perhaps you will hardly believe such a statement but tis a fact, and did I not know it to be such I would not write it, and now as regards living here, ... Board without a room is from $17 to $ 21 a week, ... at a Restaurant, they will charge you for a beefsteak ... Cup of Coffee & bread ... $1.50, and for a boiled egg $1. each "Provisions are cheap here, but the enormous rent and high price of labor makes any thing very dear. Flour is $7. a Pwt. [Pennyweight] ... yet I bought some yesterday for $6. ... Pork from 8 to $12 a Pwt. ... Beef at any price ... Pilot Bread is sold at $10. a hundred Doz ... the freight & landing charges of which would be $5. a hundred. Dry Goods are sold for any price, there are hundreds of thousands dollars worth stacked up here which would bring the cost of freight & charges. I saw an invoice of Hard ware which were bought for 75% less than the invoice price is here ... Took 1/4 of what it cost, not enough to pay freight" ... shovels which cost in the states $12. a dozen ... sold at Auction this week for $2. Clothing is as cheap as dirt. In fact they can hardly
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give it away. We have to pay $6 a dozen for washing shirts. and you can buy new ones for $8. a dozen and amidst all this "Uncle, I would say that the end has not yet come out of the whole fleet which has sailed from the States say between 4 & 500 vessels not more than 12 or 15 have as yet arrived, the rest are to come loaded down with Merchandise for this a California Market," there will more fortunes lost in California this year than made. There are about 80 ships mostly foreign vessels, now lying in port and cannot get away. the Crews have left and gone to the diggins ... "Captains Mates & Sailors command the highest pay. Captains from 500. to 1000. a month. Mates from 3 to 500. and sailors from 150 to 200. a month. Carpenters get from $12. to $14 a day, and scarce at that price, and I would advise all Carpenters to take their tools and start in fast, they had better sell their tools and buy them for 1/4 the price here. Tis impossible to get to [too] many Carpenters here, and for the next two years they will command high wages. But I would not advise young men to come, if they are making a good living at home. ... for here they are away from home