View of Salt Lake Valley and City—Tabernacle—History of the Mormons—Joe Smith—Came to Kirtland, Ohio—Brigham Young Converted—Located at Independence, Missouri—Located at Nauvoo, Illinois—Joe and Hiram Smith Killed—Emigrated to Council Bluffs—Came to Salt Lake—Trouble with the Government—Mormon Theology.
View of Salt Lake Valley and City—Tabernacle—History of the Mormons—Joe Smith—Came to Kirtland, Ohio—Brigham Young Converted—Located at Independence, Missouri—Located at Nauvoo, Illinois—Joe and Hiram Smith Killed—Emigrated to Council Bluffs—Came to Salt Lake—Trouble with the Government—Mormon Theology.
Winding down a deep gulch, through which runs a mountain-stream, we came out upon the plateau that overlooks the great Salt Lake Valley from the south. It is a scene of rare natural beauty. Beyond and across, the plain spreads out from five to ten miles, with pretty farm-houses and herds of cattle. To the north it was lost in the dim distance,—the whole flat almost as a floor and sparkling with irrigating canals, and walled upon either side by hills that mount to the snow-line, and out from which flow the cool, sparkling waters that make this once-desert valley blossom under the hand of industry.
The city, but a short way to the north, is regularly and handsomely laid out, with many fine buildings, and is filled with thick gardens oftrees and flowers that give it a fairy-land aspect. No internal city of the continent lies in such a field of beauty.
Water is conveyed from a mountain-stream down to the city by a canal; and bright, sparkling pools course freely and constantly down its paved gutters upon either side of every street, keeping the shade-trees alive and growing, supplying drink for animals and water for household purposes, and delightfully cooling the summer-air.
The trees, at the proper season, are almost always loaded with the finest fruit; and the soil is favorable to the small grains. Forty and fifty bushels of wheat to the acre is an ordinary crop; and it is said that overninetybushels have been raised.
No one seems poor. No beggar is seen in the streets. No prostitute lives here; and there are but few saloons in town. When a drunken man is seen, he is almost invariably a miner or a soldier. The people are far more civil and quiet than is usual in these western parts.
Great Salt Lake is a very great curiosity. It is about one hundred and forty miles long and from seventy to eighty wide, and is a vast collection of brine. The water seems to be saturated with salt to its utmost capacity of holding it in solution, indicating the neighborhood of great deposits of mineral salt. Where the wind dashes the water upon the beach the salt collects in such quantities as to be conveniently shoveled into carts for domestic use. It is also procured by evaporation—five bucketfuls of water leaving one of salt.
The lake encompasses several islands, with high, mountainous peaks, among the largest of which is Church Island, situated so near the eastern shore as to be accessible for grazing purposes, for which it is extensively used. The air is wonderfully pure and bright. Rain seldom falls in the valley, though storms occur in the mountains almost daily. A cloud comes up in the western hills, rolls along the crest and threatens the city with a deluge, but then breaks into wind and showers, and seems to run along the hill-tops and sail away eastward into the snowy range.
While delighted to find the people all apparently so well circumstanced, we were also amused at their many curious peculiarities. There is one block in the city called “Temple Block.” This is surrounded by a high and powerful stone wall. Inside of this wall stands the mighty granite temple (yet unfinished), and also the tabernacle. The tabernacle is built ofadobesmade from the blue clay from the mountain-foot. It is round, about eighty feet in diameter, with walls about thirty feet high. It is splendidly seated, and has a large gallery. There are large double doors all around, leaving columns of wall about ten feet between the doors. In warm weather these doors are all thrown open, and the building is a cool, delightful place. At one end stands the next to the largest pipe-organ in the world; next is a beautiful platform, which the band and choir of about seventy-five persons occupy; then comes the large, decorated, and comfortable chair in which the president sits; then the long sofa for the twelve apostles; then the pulpit for the ministers; and then comes the congregation, who usually throng the house. The choir is composed of cultured and beautiful singers; and sweeter music than I heard in that old tabernacle never met my ears. After the preaching is done and the songs are sung, the president arises and prophesies, and the apostles cry out, “Amen.” The fictitious Mormon Bible that they claim wasfound by Joe Smith in Mormon Hill has been changed and modified from time to time, and to-day they preach from nearly the same Bible as ours. They have services every Sabbath; and all finding it possible, from the tottering infant to the aged and gray, gather in to hear the word and listen to the prophecies. They take sacrament every Sabbath; but water is used instead of wine. I was in one of their thronged congregations when the cup went around, and when it reached me my delight at the thought of getting a good big swallow of old Mormon wine was blighted by a cup of something that I had been drinking ever since I was a drinker. Nevertheless, it went pretty well in warm weather. We happened to be there when the body of Rev. Joseph Stanley—a Mormon missionary who was killed in Georgia—arrived for interment, and we had the pleasure of hearing the services. The sixth chapter of the Revelation of St. John was read, and the text was taken from the thirty-fourth verse of the twenty-third chapter of St. Matthew. The remarks were all tinged with vindication; and the prophet indulged freely in threatening wrath upon their opposers. There were about fourteen thousand people present,and the strong language of the dignitaries excited them to such a degree that I tried to look just as much like a Mormon as possible.
There is a large church-building in which to store away the property belonging to the church; and from the poorest maiden at the wash-tub to the wealthiest merchant of the city, one tenth of everything that is made must be surrendered to the church. It is amusing to see how cheerfully the farmers trot off to the store-house with every tenth bushel of apples, or load of hay, or grain. This store is managed and run by the dignitaries, who dispose of the grains and fruits, and handle the silver and gold. And not being compelled to ever produce a balance-sheet, nor any account whatever, they have the funds entirely in their own fingers; and hence their fine mansions and flowery beds of ease. The poor ignorant dupes submit to all this, and appear to think that they are paving their way into heaven by lavishing luxuries upon their priesthood.
At the other end of the valley stands the city of Ogden, which is about half as large as Salt Lake City, and not nearly so beautiful. About one fifth of the persons here are not Mormons, while at the other end there are very few whodo not nestle in the folds of the church. The Central Pacific Railroad passes through Ogden, and sends off a branch called the Utah Central down to Salt Lake City.
The lake lies several miles from the city, and there are several fine bathing-houses on its shores. These are reached by narrow-gauge railroads; and during the bathing-season great loads of gleeful boys and girls can be seen most every evening riding down to the beach to bathe.
The rise of Mormondom has been so miraculous, and their superstitions are so curious and numerous, that a brief sketch of their career from the finding of the Bible by Joe Smith, together with a part of their theology, may be in place here, and will doubtless be interesting to many of my readers. The following is what, with care and pains, I have been able to collect from interviews, records, and other sources:
Joe Smith, jr., the putative father of Mormonism and the Church of Latter-day Saints, was born in Sharon, Windsor County, Vermont, December 13, 1805. When he was seventeen years old he found a curious stone in the dirt thrown from a well. It was the shape of a child’s foot, of a whitish, glassy appearance, though opaque, andresembling quartz. He thought a great deal of the stone, and asserted the gift and power with it at his eyes of revealing things past and things to come. The discoveries soon became too dazzling for his eyes in daylight, and he had to shade his vision by looking at the stone in his hat. There are fools in all ages; and Joe had his believers, who often came to him to find out where lost or stolen property was. He always charged; and though there was no reality in his pretentions, he succeeded in keeping the eyes of certain dupes covered. He would tell them where there was a large chest of money buried, and get them to digging, andhewould stand by with his stone; but every time, just as they were almost to the treasure, the enchantment would be broken by some one speaking, or otherwise, and though he never found any money, they still believed. He made his dupes believe that while he was engaged in secret prayer in the wilderness an angel appeared and told him that all his sins had been forgiven, and proclaiming further that all the religious denominations were believing false doctrines; that none of them were acceptable of God as of his church and kingdom; and also promising him that the true doctrineand fullness of the gospel should at some future time be revealed to him. He was told that the American Indians were a remnant of the Israelites; that their prophetic records regarding the last days were buried at a certain spot; that this spot was made known him, and him only, and that if he kept faithful he should be the chosen prophet to translate them to the world. A short time afterward he had another astonishing vision; and he was commanded, upon a secretly-fixed day and hour, to go alone to a certain spot revealed to him by anangel, and there take out of the earth a metallic book of great antiquity, which was of immortal importance to the world, and which he said was a record of mystic letters of the long-lost tribes of Israel; that no human being besides himself could see it and live, and that the power to translate it to the nations of the earth was given to him only as the chosen servant of God.
Smith’s dupes and relations gave the report a wide circulation; and accordingly, when the appointed hour came, assuming his practical air of mystery, he took in his hand his money-digging spade and a large napkin, and went off alone into the solitude of the forest. In threehours he returned with his sacred charge concealed within the folds of the napkin. He again warned his friends of the fatal consequences of looking at it, and a strong chest was procured and the charge kept under lock and key. He said that as he was digging for the treasure, he was confronted by ten thousand devils, gathered there with their menacing, sulphurous flame and smoke, to deter him from his purpose. The sacred treasure was never seen by mortal eyes save those of the anointed.
About the year 1826 it became expedient to have a new revelation. The veritable existence of the book was certified to by eleven witnesses of Smith’s own choosing; and wonderful stories and predictions followed in regard to the future light and destiny of the world. The spot from whence the book is said to have been taken is on the summit of a hill at Manchester, New York, which has ever since been called Mormon Hill. The book, after the new revelation, was represented by Smith and his echoes as consisting of metallic leaves or plates resembling gold, bound together by three rings running through one edge of them and opening like a book. Smith translated the book and a certain school-master did the writing; and the new Bible went to print in the summer of 1830.
Here was the organization of the first Mormon Church. Though great efforts and impositions had been practiced upon the people, the scheme was generally ridiculed and the converts were few and of the most ignorant of the race; and Smith coming to realize that a prophet was without honor in his own country, he, with his most fanatic followers, began to talk of going on a mission into the western country to convert the Lamanites (meaning the Indians). In the year 1830 or 1831 they started on their western expedition, stopping at Mentor, Ohio, where lived a few Mormon converts.
Near this place isKirtland, where they began a series of meetings; and one hundred persons were added to the fold in a short time. Kirtland, from about this period, became the head-quarters of the Mormons, where their church and colony were thoroughly organized and temporarily established.
The next interest was to disseminate to the people the newly-revealed latter-day religion. The system of missionary labor was put in active requisition. The cause was pressed with zealand effect. The trumpet of “the true gospel” was sounded to the gentiles. The superstitious and ignorant were captivated, and respectable men and women quaked amid the scenes. Conversions were multiplied and multitudes rushed into the new Zion as if believing the last days were at hand in sober verity. Thus was the Mormon Church matured and the colony of the saints speedily enlarged.
At length, finding himself surrounded and sustained by large and increasing numbers,—including some persons of ample pecuniary means,—Smith tried a bold venture upon their credulity in his own behalf. This was a revelation which he communicated to his disciples, to the effect that they should “immediately build a house for the prophet, in which he might live and translate.” It was in 1832 or 1833; and the command was cheerfully accepted and obeyed.
Another revelation, alike successful, shortly followed, commanding that “my chosen Joseph shall not labor for a living.” Though the impostor was scorned by intelligent people, his followers regarded him as almost deserving of adoration; and he was enabled to revel in whatever luxury was most agreeable to his vulgar tasteand ambition. His power was now next to omnipotent in Mormondom.
Brigham Young was converted and joined the Mormons at Kirtland in the year 1833. Like Smith, he was a native of Vermont, being his senior by four years. Brigham was shrewd, bold, and resolute, possessing an almost intuitive knowledge of men. He soon attracted the attention of his brethren, whom he swayed by his strong, electric will, and was recognized as a man born to rule. He was soon ordained one of the quorum of twelve apostles that had been organized. He preached with success; and from that day till his death his influence and power among the Mormons was resistless.
Smith was constantly receiving new revelations; and at length he discovered that those who had property were to pay all their surplus money into the hands of the bishop for the building of Zion, for the benefit of the priesthood, and to pay the debts of the presidency of the church. “And everafterthose who shall thus tithe shall pay one tenth of all their interests annually; and this shall be a standing law unto them forever for my holy priesthood, saith the Lord.” This revelation was also receivedand cheerfully obeyed. A temple was erected at Kirtland at a cost of fifty thousand dollars, by contributions in money and labor obtained from the saints through the resistless power of Smith’s revelation process.
Mormonism, however, became distasteful to the unconverted people of Ohio, and particularly disgusting to the inhabitants near Kirtland. People were familiar with the source and history of the golden-bible scheme, and scorned the impostor Smith beyond public tolerance. Smith now saw the necessity of another shift, and Jackson County, Missouri, was chosen for the new abode. A large tract of land was purchased here, and a town-site was laid out and called Independence. A division of the Mormons moved here, and the work of up-building was vigorously prosecuted in the year 1834. In 1836 the Mormon population consisted of about fifteen hundred, and the town was well advanced and business and printing-houses were established.
Trouble arose here again with the citizens outside of the church, and the saints were accused of stealing cattle and other property and of being connected with counterfeiting gangsand various other criminal offenses. A meeting of the surrounding citizens was called to consider the subject of ridding themselves of the source of their annoyance, and it was resolved to expel the Mormons from the state. Riotous scenes followed, and several persons were killed. The state militia was called out. Smith armed his followers and determined to resist any reprimand whatever. But they were too weak; and the Prophet Joseph and his brother Hiram, with some forty others of the party, were imprisoned in the county jail. This ended the struggle; and the Mormons finally agreed with the state authorities that they would permanently leave the state.
General Clark, commanding the militia in this affair, dispatched to Governor Boggs, in 1838, as follows: “There is no crime, from treason down to petit larceny, but these people, or a majority of them, have been guilty of; all, too, under the counsel of Joe Smith, jr., the prophet. They have societies formed under the most binding covenants and horrid oaths to plunder, burn, and murder, and divide the spoils for the use of the church.”
The governor answered that the ringleaders of the rebellion should be made an example of;and, if necessary to the public peace, the Mormons should be exterminated or expelled from the state.
The Mormons could no longer withstand the tide of opposition, and they concluded to quit Missouri with all haste. Their condition was now equal to the scattered tribes of their Babylonish ancestors, and before the close of the year 1839 they had all left Missouri,—some returning to Ohio; but the body, crossing the river into Illinois, established themselves in Hancock County, at a place which they called Nauvoo. In 1840 Nauvoo became the chief seat of Mormonism; and they were generally welcomed by the people of the surrounding country as persecuted exiles. Smith, seeing the sympathy in their behalf, took advantage of the situation and urged his doctrine; and vast numbers were converted.
Meantime Young and others had been sent as foreign missionaries to spread the gospel, and had received vivid encouragement in the East. In the year 1841 Young shipped several hundred of the faithful from Liverpool to New York, for the promised land; and organizations were left in England, Scotland, and Wales.
Nauvoo sprung up; Mormonism was more than itself again; and things went on smoothly. Smith had another vision, and was told that the saints should build for him a fine house. This command, like all other communications from the same source, was accepted as of heavenly authenticity. By his tithing process he had amassed a fortune estimated at a million of dollars; and he now reveled in luxury, played the gentleman, weighed two hundred and twenty pounds, had forty wives, and his children could not be enumerated with any accuracy.
The revelation in favor of polygamy, however, was for years withheld as a secret from all but thedignitariesof the church. This interpolation of polygamy into what had been received by the disciples of Mormonism as their established religious system caused great embarrassment in the church—for it was repugnant to the teachings of Smith’s own Bible; and being also by the law of Illinois declared bigamy, and punishable by heavy fine and imprisonment in the penitentiary, the trouble was still augmented. The Illinois people were intolerant and restive in view of the vices and criminalities in various forms ascribed to the latter-dayhypocrites. They were necessarily the sources of ill feeling and bitter hate between the communities, and from this time forward there was found no peace for the wicked. Charges of licentiousness, adultery, seduction, theft, dishonesty, and crimes in greater variety than ever were brought against the doomed leaders and their bigoted followers. Slander suits were commenced on one side and criminal proceedings were instituted on the other; and litigation followed litigationproandcon.
Attempts to arrest Smith and other dignitaries of the church were resisted by military power. The charge of treason was brought against the offending saints. Mormon defense against the Illinois authority was persisted in, and General Joe Smith, and his brother Hiram, at the head of the Nauvoo legion, opposed the state militia which had been called out to enforce obedience to the law. The aspect was threatening; and the governor, anxious to avoid the terrible slaughter impending, proposed to the Smiths a surrender as prisoners to the sheriff and the disbandment of the legion, as their only course of safety for their own lives and for their city. This proposal was at length acceded to—thegovernor promising them protection against violence from the excited populace on their way to the jail and during their imprisonment. Accordingly, the legal arrests were made; and the Smiths, with Elder John Taylor and Dr. Richards, were conveyed to the Carthage jail. Pursuant to the governor’s stipulation, the jail was placed under a military guard to protect the prisoners against the known existence of an avengeful feeling, particularly existing on the part of those whose domestic sanctums were alleged to have been invaded by the cruel doctrine of polygamy. The prisoners were in the jail but a few days when the guard was reduced by desertion, and in the afternoon of the 24th of June, 1844, the remnant of the guard were overpowered by a mob two hundred disguised and armed men, bent upon summary vengeance for their wrongs. The doors were burst open, the inmates were fired upon, and the Smiths were killed, Elder Taylor severely wounded, and Dr. Richards escaped to tell the tale.
Great excitement prevailed, and Nauvoo was in commotion. The governor hastened to the scene, and measures were taken to prevent a general attack. He was incensed because thepledge he gave to the prisoners had been violated, and told the Mormons to defend themselves in the best way until he could send them protection. But further violence was happily averted. The immediate effect upon the Mormons of this appalling assassination, was to throw a halo of glory around his character as a martyr who had sealed with his blood the truth of his divine pretensions. The soil of Mormonism had been fertilized by the blood of the Smiths, and a church founded in falsehood and hypocrisy has been strengthened, if not perpetuated, by its supporting influence. Indeed, it is rational to believe that but for the opportunity thus afforded to fasten in enslaved, superstitious minds the impression of “martyrdom” of their patron saint, Mormonism would ere this have had its everlasting fall.
Brigham Young was ambitious and very shrewd; and standing very high in the estimation of his people, he was now unanimously elected to the presidency of the church, and maintained a despotic sway. In the course of a year or two, the people of Illinois determined to drive the whole tribe from the state; and seeing the necessity, Young and his counsel decided tosend a company to seek a new home in the West. The emigration commenced in February, 1846, and in August they arrived at a selected place upon the unoccupied prairies near Council Bluffs. Here they remained in tents during the next winter. Here the news of the Mexican War reached them; and Young apprehending ultimate conflict with the Mexican authorities, deemed it essential to be on good terms with the United States. Quick to perceive his opportunity, he sent an agent to Washington to tender a battalion to the Government. It was accepted, and Young received twenty thousand dollars from the Government for his services.
Young, with a company of followers, then went upon another exploring expedition; and selecting Salt Lake valley for the location of their future Zion, the saints were all informed, and in the year 1847 four thousand Mormons arrived in the valley.
Young had not yet been accepted by the church as prophet, seer, and revelator, in the full celestial sense, as was the martyr Smith; and as soon as re-organization was secured, he called a meeting to consider the matter. He arose and solemnly professed communication with thespirit of Prophet Joseph; and going through with a series of impressive mimicries of his predecessor in his peculiar style of adroitness, he completely convinced his audience, and ever since this successful experiment it is believed that the mantle of Joseph fell upon Brigham; and by a vote he was declared the “Prophet of the Lord.”
Utah Territory was organized by act of Congress in the year 1850, and Young received the United States appointment of territorial governor for Utah. Large accessions of emigrants, sent forward by missionaries, rapidly increased the Mormon numbers in Salt Lake; and in the year 1853, the corner-stone of the temple at Salt Lake City was laid. About two thousand people were present, and the ceremonies were in the highest style of Mormon grandeur. Governor Young made the leading address on the occasion, saying that the saints were about to make their third attempt to build a temple to the Lord, and asking his followers to pay their tithes in cheerful promptitude, promising God’s blessing on them who do his will. He declared that the very ground where he stood had been revealed to him for seven years past as the place wherethe temple should stand. The building is an immense structure, and is calculated to seat eighteen thousand people. It is being built of granite taken from the mountain at the side of the valley, and is yet unfinished. It is a magnificent structure, of which the saints are very proud.
Soon anti-Mormons began to settle in the valleys east of the Sierra Nevada for the purposes of mining and stock-raising; and the Mormons becoming alarmed, determined to expel themvi et armis. Both parties armed and fortified themselves; but the Mormons soon saw their folly and gave up the scheme. Trouble is, however, continually brewing between the Mormons and anti-Mormons wherever they meet; and that they will never and can never live together in peace under one government is inevitable. The conflict that took place between them in Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, and Iowa, and is now going on in Utah, ought to be enough to convince any intelligent man of this fact. The Mormonsthemselvesacknowledge it; and so long as they adhere to their present belief,—that an absolute theocracy is the only government under which theycanandshouldlive,—theynever will be loyal to our government and countrymen; and hence their hostility to our institutions and people, and their inflexible devotion to their own. Their settlements lie in the great pathway which leads to the Pacific country, and they have been standing a lion in the path,—encouragingthe savages, if notaidingthem, in immigrant massacres. The Mormons had become so insolent that it was thought best in 1857 to send troops to Utah with the civil officers appointed to that territory.
In 1863, Stephen H. Harding was appointed governor of Utah. Congress passed an act to punish and prevent the practice of polygamy in the territories; and they, considering the act unconstitutional, refused to obey it as law. Governor Harding declaring in favor of the act, the pent-up fires of saintly wrath now broke forth. A meeting was again called, and in his enthusiastic way Young denounced Governor Harding as a black-hearted abolitionist, and asking his people if they would recognize him as theirgovernor. And being answered no, thathewas their governor, he said, “Yes, I am your governor; and if he attempt to interfere in my business, woe, woe be unto him.” A committeewas appointed to wait upon the governor and request him to resign his office and leave the territory. In reply, Harding said that as this was a land of prophecy, he too would prophesy. “If, while in the discharge of my duties, one drop of my blood be shed by your ministers of vengeance, it will beavenged; and not one stone noradobein this city will be left upon another, I have now done, and you understand me.”
No acts of violence followed, and terms of mutual conciliation were effected. This is Utah, and these are the Mormons. From year to year there is trouble; and at thepresent—Brigham Young having died several years ago—there is contention between the Government and the Nauvoo legion.
The theology of the saints is subject to change, by revelation, at the caprice of the prophet. The following is part of what they believe: There are many gods of both sexes; but to us there is but one God—the Father of mankind and Creator of the earth. God is in the form of man. He has a body of spiritual matter. He resides in the center of the earth, near the planet Kolob. This planet revolves on its axis once in a thousand of our years, and onerevolution of the Kolob is a day to the Almighty. The Holy Spirit is a subtile fluid like electricity, and pervades all space. By its agency all miracles—which are simply the effects of the operation of natural laws—are performed. The Holy Spirit is communicated by the laying on of hands of one of the authorized priesthood, and the recipient is then enabled to perform wonders according to his gift,—some having the gift of prophecy, some of healing, some of speaking in unknown tongues, etc. There are three heavens—the telestial, the terrestrial, and the celestial. The telestial and terrestrial heavens are to be occupied by the various classes of persons who have neither obeyed nor rejected the gospel. The celestial or highest heaven is reserved for those who received the testimony of Jesus and were baptized. The earth, as purified and refined after the second coming of Christ, is to be the final habitation of those entitled to the glories of the celestial kingdom. Jerusalem is to be rebuilt; and Zion, or the New Jerusalem, is to be built in Jackson County, Missouri, from whence the saints were expelled in 1833. There is a fourth class of persons, who shall go into everlasting punishment with the devil and hisangels. They are those who sin against the Holy Ghost. The gospel that all people must obey to gain a place in the celestial heaven is: First, they must believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and in his authorized priesthood; second, they must repent of their sins; third, they must be baptized by immersion for the remission of their sins; and fourth, they must receive the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. “God, having become nearly lost to man, revived his work by revealing himself to Joe Smith and conferring upon him the keys of everlasting priesthood, thus making him the mediator of the new dispensation, which is immediately to precede the second coming of Christ.” All those who recognize the divine authority of Smith and are baptized are the chosen people of God, who are to introduce the millennium and to reign with Christ a thousand years.
There are many secrets in the organization which the saints are sworn to keep under heavy penalty, it is said; but this is a sketch of them, and is as good and full an account as I am able to give to be consistent with my purpose.
We Leave Salt Lake—Reach the Sierra Nevada Slopes—Tunnels, Gorges, etc.—Reach California—Sacramento—San Francisco—Hotel Runners—Fruits—Palace Hotel—Chinese—Dennis Kearney and Party—De Young-Kalloch Tragedy—Chinese Bakers—California Climate—Ships—Golden Gate—Woodward Garden—Portland, Oregon—Washington Territory—Sail for Santa Barbara and Los Angeles—Prescott, Arizona—Meet General Fremont—Big Trees—Return to Ohio.
We Leave Salt Lake—Reach the Sierra Nevada Slopes—Tunnels, Gorges, etc.—Reach California—Sacramento—San Francisco—Hotel Runners—Fruits—Palace Hotel—Chinese—Dennis Kearney and Party—De Young-Kalloch Tragedy—Chinese Bakers—California Climate—Ships—Golden Gate—Woodward Garden—Portland, Oregon—Washington Territory—Sail for Santa Barbara and Los Angeles—Prescott, Arizona—Meet General Fremont—Big Trees—Return to Ohio.
We camped in Salt Lake valley nearly three weeks, and our stay had been so agreeable that it appeared to us but a day. We now concluded to sell our outfit and take passage on the train for California, the land of gold. The property was soon sold and tickets were purchased, and we stepped aboard. Our new team snorted and its breath curled gracefully upward, and we moved smoothly up the valley near the beach of the great salt sea. We had been toiling up the rocky sides and rolling down the barren slopes so long that we had become somewhat used to slow, plodding travel, and were delighted withthe ease and speed with which we were now winding our way toward the Pacific shores.
We soon passed out from between the towering, snow-capped walls, and crawling along the hill-sides we soon came upon a dry, sandy desert where ofttimes a spire of grass could not be seen for several miles. The little lakes and streamlets lay miles apart, and their brinks were all powdered with alkali while their waters were as bitter as the essence of gall. The whole face of the plain was covered with thick, spraddling sage-brush, which stood in the sands like saplings in a new forest; but not even the smallest animal or insect nestled or sung among the limbs. A strong puff of wind roars over the desert, and the sand rises in the air and looks like a great column of light colored smoke. Where the brush stand in thick clumps the sand lodges; and the brush sprouting out every year, the drift grows to a large mound. As we passed along they glistened in the bright sunlight on either side of the way.
There are section-houses built at the end of every division of the road, and large, powerful wind-pumps roll the water into the tanks from far below the burning sand. The section-handsstay in these houses; and their necessaries are brought them by the company. These hands are usually Chinamen; and passing them at noon they will be found seated in the sand around a pot of rice, greedily eating theironlyfood.
Near many of these tanks small parties of Indian squaws, girls, papooses, and some old men, of the Shoshone and Winnemucca tribes, were wallowing in the sand, with nothing but a few skins stretched over the tops of the brush to shelter them from the blazing orb; and when the engine stopped to take water these filthy creatures would run along each side of the train and ask for biscuits. Many travelers have their lunch along; and the beggars seldom fail to get their arms filled from the open windows.
When the train was in motion there was a breeze; but in every direction the heat curled and dangled upward from the scorching sands like rays from a fiery furnace. It was a dreary, lonesome ride; and we sat by the windows peering out over the little sand-mounds that rose in the distance until the pine-covered slopes of the Sierra Nevadas broke the monotony, and the breath of the mountain wafted through theopen car. How delightful to be among the pretty green trees again, and to get a draught from the clear, cool waters that roll out from the mountain-rocks where the little conies sport among the crags.
We had often heard of the great tunnels and snow-sheds, and the mighty fills along the Central Pacific line. We were now actuallyobservingthe famous pass-way; and there was no part of our journey that presented such a vast amount of interesting and beautiful scenery. Sometimes we would wind along the steep side of the mountain, far above the tops of the trees in the valley below; and to look out and see the crystal waters gush from the bluff and dash down over the rocky precipices and lash into foam among the pines is grand beyond mention.
Soon the conductor comes through the car, ordering all heads and arms to be drawn in and the windows and doors closed, and warning the passengers not to get frightened. Then a flutter goes through the car, and the timid breathe short and quick. What is to happen? All of a sudden the light is eclipsed, the timid females shriek wildly, and we are winding through the dark, narrow tunnel, far into the mountain. It isdark as midnight. The rolling of the car-wheels roars like thunder, and the smoke from the engine pours in through every crevice. At length we suddenly dart into the light again. A din of relief goes through the car, the windows are thrown up, and everybody is anxious to look back at the dismal tunnel. As the front cars are winding around the valleys and over the gorges, and the rear cars are coming out of the mountain, the train looks like a huge serpent crawling from its gloomy den. Now we come into a mighty cut, where the prints of the pick and shovel are seen in the hard earth, and the great walls on either side are left rough with the blast; and now we run over a fill, and the steady heads look out into the swimming space. These are the scenes for many miles; and when considering the immense amount of labor it must have required to pierce the mountains of rock and fill up the almost bottomless gorges, a person is forced to exclaim, “Wonderful, wonderful man!”
There are the most beautiful trees growing upon the slopes; and in spite of the efforts of the Government to save the timber upon its vacant lands, saw-mills are buzzing in almost every
[Image unavailable: Scene in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.]
gorge, and the finest lumber is shipped to the East and West. Fortunes have been made at this, and they are being made to-day in spite ofthe penalty. There are also numerous mines along the way. At some places the whole mountain appears to have been turned upside down, and the muddy waters slush down the rocky rifts.
Our train was heavily loaded, and two engines were required at some places to haul us up the mighty grades; and the puffing of the powerful, six-wheel drivers echoed loudly down the canons. Trains are compelled to run very slow here; and bands of robbers sometimes board them, and, under cover of revolvers and guns, rob the crew.
We at length left the Sierra Nevadas to the east and ran out upon the plains of California—the beautiful, level land of gold. We had now reached the famous wheat country,—where it is said single farmers sometimes raise ten and fifteen thousand acres,—and were sailing through the renowned delightful and healthy climate. As we rolled over the level plain, where we could see for many miles in any direction, the platforms and windows were crowded with persons all anxious to view the great California, whose veins are gold, and whose influence has lain many human bodies among the rifts and gulches of the bleak and lonely mountains.Much of the country is unfenced; and when otherwise, the fields usually contain many hundred acres. At many places along the track there are large uncovered platforms built up, and thousands of bushels of grain lay there in sacks ready for shipment. They say they never put their grain in barns, but thrash it in the fields and haul it to the platforms, sometimes leaving it there for several weeks and months before shipping; for there is no danger of rain until the wet season sets in. The grain is all headed.
The road being so level and straight, the train flew swiftly along; and we soon saw the spires and steeples of the capital city glittering in the distance. Coming into Sacramento the train stopped for refreshments; and before the wheels stopped rolling the cars were boarded by swarms of hotel-runners, who almost tried to force the passengers to go with them to their different hotels. Some of our comrades went along; but we had heard of the great numbers and extreme insolence of the runners of Sacramento and San Francisco, and from the looks of them they were but a gang of thieves, so we concluded to hunt our own hotels and tend to our ownbusiness.
Sacramento is a lovely place, with pretty, wide streets, many of which are made cool and delightful by large willows standing along either side, and whose green, limber branches meet above and droop over the way. The capitol is a large building, and in shape and color resembles the White House.
From here we again renewed our journey, and at last entered the city of Oakland, on the shore of the briny bay. The dry deserts and rugged mountains had been crossed, and we were finally looking upon the home of the tide, where the sea-gull sports upon the waves.
Frisco (San Francisco) lies across the bay—a distance of about eight miles—from Oakland, and there are large steam-ferries continually passing back and forth. We went aboard the ferry; and the trip was so pleasant that we thought we would like to cross the ocean. Several runners came over to Oakland to talk with the passengers as they crossed the bay; but on reaching the Frisco shore, I swear I never saw the like, and it would be impossible to describe the scene. There must have been seventy-five runners there from the different hotels, all anxious to take you to a good house. There weresometimes several from one house, and their busses were all backed up in a row. As soon as the ferry touched the wharf these fellows rushed wildly on board, crying out the name of their hotels and grabbing the luggage from the hands of the passengers, and endeavoring to drag them to their hacks. Sometimes a couple get hold of the person, and a couple get hold of his luggage, each wanting to take him and his property in different directions; and then there is a time. His clothes are sometimes torn almost off him, his satchel is torn to pieces, and he finds himself perfectly helpless in the hands of the mob; for if he lets go and goes to strike, some one will run off with his property. There is always a great crowd of people; and in the surging and crowding, and high excitement, many pockets are picked, and much luggage is lost by the owner not following the snatcher as he runs off for the hack. The boys run down each others hotels, one saying, “They don’t have anything but rotten fish to eat at that house;” another saying, “They have lousy beds at that house;” and another warning all persons not to go to either for they are robbers, and they will charge five dollars per day when they have you fast.Now, to see several of these fellows all pleading earnestly with a plain old conscientious farmer who takes everything for the truth is entirely too funny. He first looks at one and then at the other, not knowing which one to trust. We were well fixed; for some of us could carry the luggage while the others knocked down the runners. The better way is to get the name of some good hotel before you get there, and then look for the ’bus and make for it. In any case, persons should securely fasten their luggage to them with ropes.
The surface is level for a couple of hundred yards back from the bay, and it then ascends sharply to the top of a high ridge running parallel with the bay. The surface is barren, and the sand is deep and soft. On this level strip and against this steep, sandy hill stands the great city of San Francisco. The house-foundations are all laid deeply, to get below the sand; and the streets are all paved with several layers of round rocks, with nothing to smooth the surface. There is nearly always a pretty strong wind stirring, and the streets have to be kept perfectly clean. For this purpose large street-sweepers are drawn over the road by horsesevery day, and sprinkling is done besides. The riding and driving over these rocks is very disagreeable; and the horses do not usually last very long. To see them drawing their great loads up the steep hill-side, slipping, sliding, and straining every nerve, and sometimes falling upon their knees on the stones, is an ugly sight indeed. The large wholesale houses all have heavy trucks; and many of the finest teams I ever saw were hauling these trucks.
There is an immense quantity of the very largest and finest fruits raised in California every year. I believe I have seen as many grapes, pears, peaches, and melons in the streets of San Francisco in one day as there are raised in the State of Ohio in a whole year. I have seen several millions of fine melons lying in a single heap. There are several mammoth fruit-stores here, and hundreds of bushels, during the season, are daily loaded upon the ships for other countries. I might also add that, though California fruits are large and beautiful, much of it lacks the flavor of eastern fruits,—perhaps from the fact that during its growth it gets no rain but depends solely on the heavy dew for its nourishment.
There are street-cars on almost every street; and they are run up and down the incline by engines stationed at the top of the hill. It is very pleasant riding up and down here, and the cars are full on almost every trip.
Though there are some very large, fine buildings, the city is very ordinary on this score, there being also many little old shanties stuck here and there all through the place. The Palace Hotel is the finest building in the city, and is said to be the largest hotel in the world. It is built of beautiful polished stone, is seven stories high, contains seven hundred and twenty-five rooms, and takes up a whole square, fronting upon every side. In the center of the building there is a round space of about twenty yards in diameter running from the bottom to the top; and there are walks all around this from each story. Persons are let up and down here by elevators. There is a large, beautiful rockery all decorated with lovely flowers in the center of this space; and the clear, cool water from a pretty fountain is thrown high in the air and descends softly and refreshingly upon the tender roses and mossy rocks. There is a grand archway leading into this area from one of thestreets, and carriages are driven through this and around the beautiful rockery where the air is fragrant with the sweet breath of the flowers. Guests are thus lifted into and out of their carriages always in the dry. The house is in all respects aperfectstructure, and is furnished with the finest and most costly furniture. The rates are from five to ten dollars per day; though good boarding can be had in the city for from four to six dollars per week. Here is where General Grant and party put up when they reached San Francisco in their trip round the world. The other principal houses are the Baldwin, Franklin, Central Pacific, and Hotel Rhein.
There are great numbers of saloons, gambling-houses, and variety-shows, and whole gangs of the very lowest prostitutes in the city. A large proportion of the inhabitants are the rakings of many nations; and I feel very sure that there is not another city sitting upon the shores of the Pacific Ocean of more notorious lewdness and low vices than this place.
We heard much about the Chinese, and had seen a few; but here were thousands of them, of every shape and size. The business-houses oneach side of one of the streets for a half mile through the city are almost exclusively occupied by them. Their business ranges from the theater down to the poultry-pen. This street is called China Street.
Very few of the Chinamen have brought their wives over with them, and the females whoarehere are nearly all prostitutes; so the men do their own cooking and washing. They are nearly all good at this, however; and I have learned that they are taught to do this in their native land. It appears that none of them come to this country with the intention of staying, but intend only to make little fortunes and then take it back to China; and it is said that the bones of every deceased one are sent home for interment. They are therefore very economical, and live almost exclusively on rice and cooked fish. The former they have shipped from China by the wholesale, and the latter they catch themselves; so that grub costs them very little.
At meal-time groups of from six to twelve gather round a large pot of rice and a great dish of cooked fish and take their meals. Each person is provided with a cup, and two little sticks, about the size of a lead-pencil, whichthey hold in their fingers like a bone-rattler holds his bones. The rice is dipped into the cup and the cup is placed to the lips; and as they rake the rice into their mouths with the sticks it makes an observer think of playing the jew’s-harp. Now and then they reach over and clamp a piece of fish between the sticks. And they appear to relish this food as much as though it were the richest delicacy.
At night they gather in squads and crouch together upon the floor like hogs. They have but a few blankets for beds. By living in this way their expenses are consequently very light; and the poor, laboring white man is underbidden in his labor, while the slaving washer-woman is driven from her tub by this heathen competition.
The sorrowful consequences of Chinese competition can never be realized until once observed. Some say it is right,—that what one human lives on, another should be able to. But I say shame on the person who would ask, or even wish to see his fellow-man live as do these vile, filthy, heathen competitors. We boast of our land and Government as being the pride of the world, the asylum of the oppressed, the home for the weary, where labor is fairly rewarded, and where human happiness is not all drowned by the necessary cares of life. To ask this competition is to ask our laboring brothers to live as the subjects of the most wicked tyrant on the earth, and our poor sisters as she who comes down the foreign hill-side with a great load upon her head, knitting on the way. There are about fifty thousand in the city; and every ship from China brings more to the shore. It is needless to say that the laboring classes are indignant at the outrage, and that the city is constantly in the wildest commotion. In their part of the town they have dark secret excavations in the earth, entered by trap-doors and narrow passes, and in here are their opium-dens, and gambling-hells, and prostitution apartments. No ray of sunlight ever reaches these cells; and the fumes of filth and crime ooze out of the crevices like smoke from a kiln. There are some back streets in which it is not safe to travel after dark; and the air is contaminated with the most loathsome, contagious, and dangerous diseases. Some of these low places have been broken up by the police; but they have never been able to find half of them.
There are three political parties in California—the Republican, Democratic, and the Workingmen’s Party of California (W. P. C.)—the latter led by Dennis Kearney. We were there during the campaign of 1879, and more excitement I never saw. The only issue was the Chinese question; and each candidate would hop upon a wagon or store-box every night, and cry out, “Elect me, and the Chinese with their leprosy shall be driven from the state. Vote for me, and I will make hell a paradise,” etc., etc. The W. P. C. is composed of the vile dregs of almost every nation; and decency and manhood are not to be found in its ranks. Dennis Kearney is a rash, illiterate, blood-thirsty fiend, whose regular business is draying—an occupation he is only calculated for; and to see this mob parading the streets, with Chinamen stamped upon their banners in all horrible positions, shouting, profaning, and declaring open violence to the Chinese and all persons who speak for them, is enough to disgust man with his fellow-kindred. The question is worthy of agitation; but violence is not the instrument with which to cure the evils of a civilized world. Kearney is bold, rash, and ambitious; and these are the qualities admired by such people as belong to the W. P. C. It is wonderful, the influence this man has over his followers.
Most persons know about the DeYoung-Kalloch tragedy; and thetruthis as follows, for I was there and saw the shooting: DeYoung was the editor of theChronicle(a Republican paper), and I. M. Kalloch was a minister—a smart man, but one whose religion was as transient as the morning dew, and who, wishing a political benefit, stepped from the sacred altar into the polluted ranks of Kearney’s howling mob. He was nominated for mayor of the city, and went about agitating and encouraging his party to violence in the strongest language. He abused the leaders of other parties in bitter phrases; and upon one occasion referred to DeYoung as a lousy bastard, nursed and reared in the lap of a prostitute, and whose life was poison to San Francisco. DeYoung got to hear of the infamous charges made against his poor old mother, whose body was laid in the grave, and, unable to control his temper, he hired acoupeand negro to drive him to Kalloch’s house, and sent in for him to come out, saying that a lady wished to see him. As he came near thecoupe, DeYoung flung open the door and fired upon him, one ball passing into his body and another into his groins. He fell. But before DeYoung could finish his worka mob turned over thecoupeand jerked him out; and but for the brave police, he would have been mangled beyond recognition in a few minutes. DeYoung was bound over in bail of twenty thousand dollars, to answer the charge of shooting with intent to kill; but before he was tried he was killed by his victim’s son. I. M. Kalloch recovered from his wounds, and, having been elected, served the city as mayor.
DeYoung was murdered by young I. S. Kalloch as follows: One evening, a little after twilight,—after I. M. Kalloch was sound and well, and was tilling his office,—DeYoung came from his home and entered his office; but before he got behind the desk, I. S. Kalloch, who had been prowling around the building watching his opportunity, rushed through the door and fired upon his victim. His first two shots took slight effect; and DeYoung was behind his desk and had his own pistol raised when a third ball from his assailant entered his mouth and laid him dying upon the floor at the feet of his brother Michael. The murderer was seized and put in jail, and the Workingmen’s Party called a meeting at the Sand Lots and had a grand jollification over the result; and extravagant eulogiums were heapedupon young Kalloch, who was so brave and who served his party so well. He had his trial; and though clearly guilty of murder in the first degree, and deserving of blackest torture known to the law, he was acquitted on the ground of self-defense. His party was overjoyed at the result, and loading him in a carriage they pulled him by hand all over the city.
Charles DeYoung was a bitter partisan, and made use of extravagant language from the stump, but I. M. Kalloch was infinitely worse; and though the latter made a low, cowardly assault upon a poor old woman whose body was returning to the dust from whence it came, and should have been stoned from the stand, DeYoung was certainly not justified in his shooting at the time he did it, and should have been punished; but it was clearly not the part of the Kallochs, who came down out of the pulpit and placed themselves at the head of the ranks of an indecent mob, to administer it. Excitement was running high at the time DeYoung shot Kalloch, and the Chinese, knowing that they were the cause of the trouble, were daily expecting an outbreak. When the report of the pistol was heard, and people rushed to andfro, Chinatown was in a stir; and every little old back shed and kitchen-roof was covered with Chinamen with shot-guns and big rocks, fully expecting an attack, and determined to fight it out. Such jabbering one never heard. Terror reigned supreme, and mobs of indecent, beastly wretches ran through the streets crying for violence and mob-law. A meeting of the party was called to determine what to do; and in the afternoon several thousand people assembled at the Sand Lots—a couple of lots just outside the corporation, where the sand is very deep, and where the W. P. C.’s held their meetings. The assembly was addressed by several of the leaders. Whenever a man would get up and did not talk straight “hang,” he was jerked down and the mob would yell like tigers; but when a speaker would cry for blood, and pollute the very air with profanity, the hearts would beat quick and the eyes glisten. There were several guns and pistols glistening in the crowd, and for awhile things looked a little like hanging; and the party being in a majority in the city, it could have been accomplished. But about the time the resolution was to be adopted a dispatch was received from Kearney (who was away), asking themto wait until he arrived. By this time the jail was surrounded by a strong military guard, and the violence was not attempted.
Such is W. P. C., and such is the true history of the DeYoung-Kalloch troubles. I have, perhaps, dwelt longer upon this subject than I have been justified in doing; but I was so utterly disgusted with the beastly actions of these villains, and so fully impressed with the violence threatened to justice, and the danger into which a government is plunged where illiteracy takes the throne, that I could not refrain.
When it was known that the Grant party were to stop in the city, the citizens began to prepare for a grand reception. But Kearney called a meeting of his followers and denounced the Republican party in severest epithets. He called General Grant its leader, and denounced him as a tyrant who was seeking the power of the nation, and told his men not to turn out in the parade, but while they were marching through the streets they would meet at the Sand Lots and burn General Grant in effigy. The speech took great effect on the party, and it looked as though it would be hardly safe for the general to come to the city. Several of thegood, resolute citizens waited upon Kearney and told him that if he ever attempted to carry out his threats his body would be pierced with a thousand bullets. The warning was sufficient; and on the arrival of the party, Kearney and his minions were quiet; and the Republican party fired thirty salutes from the Sand Lots in honor of the greatest general on earth.
We were in the city on election-day; and such a time I never saw. The Ohio boys who talk of political excitement ought to have been there. There were eighty special police appointed, and on nearly every corner there was a fight. Three men were shot, several were wounded, and the station-houses were crowded. The W. P. C.’s carried the city, but the state went Republican.
The Chinese question is a cloud hanging over California; and what the result will be can not be told. Surely some modification of the Burlingame treaty is needed as badly as a protection tariff. There are about fifty thousand in the city of Frisco, and they are scattered in almost every city in the state. Large societies are organized, and all joiners pledge themselves not to employ Chinese labor; and though many join, some of the big employers work to their owninterests, and employ those who can be got the cheapest, be they Chinamen or not. Many of the large hotels and bakeries employ Chinese; and more beautiful bread, biscuits, and pies than they turn out were never seen. The secret of their success has been discovered, however, and they have been driven off in some places. They fill their mouth with warm water, and with a peculiarwhistthey blow it out in sprays as fine as the morning mist, over the dough while kneading. In this way the dough is worked and rolled in good order, and then placed in the oven. When it is of a delicate brown it is drawn out, a lump of butter is melted in the mouth and then blown over it, and the crust becomes soft as sponge. To persons with calloused stomachs, or to those who are ignorant of the process, it is perfectly delicious. As for us, we did not choose to eat spit, be it native or imported. The laundry-men dampen their clothes in the same way; and when several are at work in the same house they make almost as much noise as the cylinder-cocks on a steam-engine, and you can hear them clear out on the street.
California is noted for its beautiful, even climate. There are two seasons—the wet and thedry. The former sets in about November first and continues until about April first. During this season it rains almost every day, and the sun is hidden sometimes for several weeks at a time; and except in the mountains, it seldom gets cold. During the dry season there is no rain, and crops are nourished by the heavy dews. This is the reason corn does no good here. The summers are usually warm. The temperature has been known to reach 120°, and little birds have been seen to drop suffocated from the trees. The mornings and evenings of the warmest days are usually so cool, from the sea-breeze, that fire is comfortable and persons can sleep under a pair of blankets. It is usually about ten o’clock before fog clears away sufficient to let through the rays of the sun. Of course there is some difference between the climate of the northern and the southern parts of the state.
The ocean, to us, was the subject of great attraction; and we loved to sit upon a bluff at the beach and see the tide come rolling in and hear it roar as the briny spray was lashed up against the rocky shores and tossed back into foam, and see the multitudes of ships anchored in the bay, whose rigging looked like a vast net-work.
We saw ships here nearly five hundred feet long, which drew twenty-three feet of water and were twenty feet out of the water. To see these great ships going out and coming in is a grand sight indeed. As they plow through the water the brine is churned into foam and the waves roll several feet high behind them, and the surface is left disturbed far in the rear. It is pleasant to see a ship from a foreign port draw up to the wharf and hear the warm greetings of friends. The wharf is all lined with persons,—many anxious to see some one,—and when the planks are thrown out they rush on board; and to see the warm embraces and affectionate salutes of dear friends whom the briny waves rolled between for perhaps several years is enough to hurry the blood in one’s veins and lift his heart high in his bosom. But, on the other hand, oh! how sorrowful to see friends part. The ship is loaded and the time is set for starting; and persons taking passage gather on board; and their friends sit by their sides talking and telling messages to carry to friends beyond. The minutes fly like seconds, and the time comes nearer and nearer; and at length the orderis given to draw in the planks. Quivering lips are then touched and trembling hands are shaken, and with a sorrowful “Good-by” those not going rush ashore. The planks are drawn in, the moorings are cut loose, the great ship is hauled out into the open bay by a tug-boat, and when she is whirled about and her bow pointed toward the Golden Gate the cannon is fired, the great wheel begins to roll, and the great monster, looking like a planet upon the waves, moves gracefully away. Then comes the affecting scene. Friends stand upon the beach waving their handkerchiefs, and as they see the dearest on earth glide out of sight upon the treacherous waves vent is given to strongest grief, and heart-rending sighs waft out upon the ocean breeze.
I have witnessed some touching scenes, one of which I shall not soon forget. I was at the wharf when the great ship Australia was whirled about, her cannon discharged, and she started for the island from which she took her name; and I saw the scene. There was one aged woman whose only son was on board; and she stood upon the shore and sobbed as if her heart would break as he rode away. When the ship faded in the distance she fainted away and was carried off. Oh! what great necessity musthave forced that son abroad, or what a hard and cruel heart he must have had to grieve his poor old mother’s heart and drown her cries in the briny waves. How I thought of the great Washington, who gave up his voyage because of his good mother’s grief.
We were not satisfied with looking over the waters, but we were anxious to ride the waves. Accordingly we hired a plunger, about twenty feet long, with a mast about twelve feet high and a single sail; and though we were all greenhorns upon the waters, we pushed into the bay. We thought we would take a fish; so we got tackling, bought three fish-worms for twenty cents, and dragged our lines behind the boat. We started early in the morning when the wind was low and the tide was running out; and we sailed merrily away.
The Golden Gate is about six miles up the bay; and we glided among the tugs and schooners and around the great anchored steamers, and at length reached the gate. Here the bay narrows, and the entrance to the open sea is about half a mile wide. On either side the rough, barren bluffs rise several hundred feet high; and numbers of big government guns planted upon the crests look down over the gateway.
We launched out into the sea and for our first time rode upon the king of waters. The breeze was favorable, and we shot along until the beach was left in the dim distance. We then concluded we were far enough. As far as the eye could reach the waters idly tossed; and the mist hung over the sea like smoke over a burning prairie. The sea-gulls rocked upon the waves, the spirt-whales rose to the surface and blew the brine far into the air, and the dark sea-lions rose to utter their loud roars and then disappear again among the waves.
Our sail out was very pleasant; but the wind had now grown strong, and being directly against us on our return—with our little knowledge of sailing—we were in bad quarters. We tossed about, and several times came near upsetting. We had to jerk down the sail, and at length learned to manage the rudder and to zigzag the boat; and about twilight we glided back through the gate into the bay. The wind was now roaring over the sea, and the waves rolled and tossed and churned it into foam; and it seemed to me that every time we came down we were going clear under. We here turned with the breeze again, and shot down through