SAN FRANCISCO BAY.
SAN FRANCISCO BAY.
SAN FRANCISCO BAY.
the bay, with the tide, like an arrow. We ran down among the other vessels at the harbor and were lashed up against their sides and tossed helplessly about until eight o’clock, when we came up to the shore. We had not caught a fish, and boat-riding had ceased to be pleasant.The owner was very anxious about his boat; for he said he had lost several boats by greenhorns taking them out and getting capsized and sinking them. God knows we were as anxious to bring the boat in safely as he was.
We had often thought and talked about swimming to the shore from wrecks on the ocean; but since we saw the waters we think swimming is but a faint hope; for when the breeze is so light that it is hardly noticeable the waters toss a foot high, and when the wind blows a little they roll several feet high, and at no time is the surface still and smooth.
The tide goes out every morning and comes in every evening; and it is delightful to sit upon the beach when the pale beams of the sinking sun are kissing the waves, and see it come rolling in. Ridges of water about three feet high, reaching from right to left as far as the eye can reach and about one hundred yards apart, chase each other to the shore; and as they strike upon the breakers the spray is lashed high against the rocky beach and roars like a forest hurricane. I have sat here for hours, lost in reflection; and the spell was only broken by the falling of the twilight veil.
There are persons here who make their living by fishing; and almost every day they set out for the mouth of the Sacramento River or the southern neck of the bay, and at night come back with their boats loaded with the most beautiful fish. I have seen sturgeon four feet long, and with heads as large as a man’s.
There is yet another place of which I must speak in connection with Frisco, and that is Woodward’s Garden, a place noted for its beauty and known by everybody for miles around. It is situated on a hill about a mile south of the city, and is surrounded by a high, strong fence and a thick growth of tall cedars. It contains about four acres, and is decorated with the most beautiful firs, cedars, and drooping willows; and great fountains toss their cool, sparkling waters high in the air and fall it into nice, large ponds, where sport almost all kinds of aquatic animals and fowls.
There are several pretty passes under the hills and some lovely caves through which course streamlets of clear, cool water. In the walls of these caves are arranged large glass cases through which the water bubbles and in which nestle, among pretty pieces of coral, the mostbeautiful fishes of all shapes and colors. Some have no eyes; and others have such curious shapes that it takes close observation to find the head or even to tell whether they are animate objects.
There are several fine, large buildings in the garden, and one of the finest museums I ever passed through. Birds of the most gaudy plumage, from every climate of the earth, sing and croak among the little trees in their fine, large cages, and the air was laded with their sweet, merry songs.
There is also an elegant theater, and lunchrooms; and there are several entertainments given here each week. On the whole, I suppose there is not a more beautiful, interesting, and instructive place on the continent. All persons visiting California should by all means go to see this great museum. Great crowds gather into the garden almost every day,—especially Sunday,—and the admission being twenty-five cents there must be thousands of dollars taken in every year; though it must also take a vast amount to keep up the place. There are so many subterranean passages and high, curious galleries that it takes a half day to examine all the beautiesand curiosities; and strangers will miss half them unless they hire a guide to take them through.
We had now traveled every street and fully acquainted ourselves with the great city of San Francisco, and had made excursions out through the country for miles around, so we determined to take a trip up to Oregon and Washington Territory to see the brag countries of the north-west.
There is great competition between these points; and though the regular fare is ten dollars, there was just then a big war between the ship-lines. While one was charging no fare, the other was transporting passengers free and boarding them besides. This was a very good time to go to Portland; so we boarded the steamer Oregon, which glided out upon the waters and steered for the north.
The distance is five hundred miles; and in four days we sailed into the mouth of the Columbia River. The river is very wide and deep here, and the current is very strong; but we steamed up to where the Willamette empties in from the south, and then cast anchor and in boats sailed down to Portland, and to Salem, the capital of the state.
The Willamette valley is a rich and beautiful country, and, I suppose, the greatest wheat-field on the continent. Much other grain is also raised. Low mountains hem the valley on either side, and the slopes are covered with the most beautiful large timber.
Portland and Salem are both pretty cities; and though small now, the rich Willamette soil promises to make them large and active cities in the future.
We now sailed back to the Columbia and up to Walla Walla, a little town on the Columbia shore in the eastern part of Washington Territory, where the Snake River brings in its waters. Here is also a beautiful, level, valley country, and settlers are rearing their cabins in every direction. Walla Walla has as glittering a prospect as any other upon the Pacific slope, though its day may be far in the future.
We had seen heavy forests, but Washington Territory beats anything on this score that we ever saw. The very richest soil is covered with trees from three to six feet over, and standing so closely together that a ray of sunshine scarcely ever gets through the tangled branches. What has been cleared proves to be very productive;but, oh, my! the clearing. Why, it would take a man nearly a life-time to clear himself a farm; for even when the trees are felled and burned, the great rooty stumps are so thick that no farming can be done until they are grubbed and blasted out. This will necessarily be slow work; but I prophesy for this country a bright future. There are numbers of saw-mills buzzing in the forests, and much of the finest lumber is shipped down to the coast cities; but timber being also good all along the Pacific slopes, the lumber business is not very profitable. There are many of the straightest, smoothest, and tallest saplings here that were ever seen, and great numbers are cut down every year for ship-masts.
Imported stock is bred here in great herds; and numbers of the very largest and finest horses are sold and sent out from here every year. The climate is the greatest drawback to the country. Like in California, there is a wet and a dry season; but the former lasts about six months or more, during which time it rains almost constantly, and settlers say the sun is hidden sometimes for several months. The streams then overflow, and persons can fish all over their farms—and some fine white salmonand other varieties are caught. Moss grows all over the roofs of the buildings, and hangs from the forest-limbs clear down to the ground. During this season persons do not pretend to do much but fish and float logs; but when the dry season sets in the weather is delightful, and it is as pretty a country to live in as lies between the oceans.
When we were ready to go south again we found that the Republican (one of the competitors between Portland and Frisco) had been wrecked, and the Oregon line was now charging its own rates; and the fare for our return was sufficient to make up for our free ride.
We ran out of the mouth of the Columbia, and had not gone far when we hove in sight of the stranded Republican, reeling upon the rocks. The wind was high, and the waves were lashing up against her sides; and she was heaving and groaning, while most of her rigging had been torn away by the gale. She proved a total wreck; and several lives were lost. There was great excitement about the matter, and the captain was strongly accused of being bought off by the other line, and purposely driving her awreck; for it was shown that on the night of the accident the wind was very high and the sea was rolling terribly, and the sailors pleaded with the captain to go ashore before dark, or else ran out farther on the ocean out of danger from the breakers. But he was heedless, and the consequence was that in the darkness of the night they were driven upon the bars.
Well, we ran down to the south, most of the time in sight of land, until we again reached Frisco, and from there we again embarked for Santa Barbara, on the southern coast of California, a distance of about two hundred miles.
We now reached the most delightful spot on earth, where winter never comes, but where the bright summer lasts the whole year round. The cool fall winds were now blowing in the central and northern states, and the bitter frosts were clipping the leaves from the forest-trees; but here the soft zephyrs were breathing calmly, and the tender foliage of the trees and plants was green and fresh as in the month of May, while the air was laded with the breath of the lovely flowers and delicious fruits. The rich oranges, lemons, and figs, which are considered such delicacies in the East, were here hanging upon the native bush, and we went forth and pluckedthem in all their natural beauty. How lovely! What a paragon of beauty! A life here would be but a continuous summer’s day.
The country around Los Angeles, which lies a little to the south, is a perfect Eden, and the city is a perfect gem; and persons seeking a peer for paradise, where December is pleasant as May, should journey to California and anchor in the sweet, sunny South, where the breath of heaven fans the shore.
From here we went down the Southern Pacific Railroad, and branched off to Prescott, the capital of Arizona. Here we met the great General John C. Fremont, the daring explorer who served the Government so nobly between the years 1842-8, by his exploits through the bleak, lonely mountains and wild lands of the savage, and whose talent the nation has felt and acknowledged. He was born in South Carolina in the year 1813, and though his great name was once in every mouth on the Atlantic slope, and even sung in the national campaign of 1856, the orient has almost forgotten her son and servant, whose lips have touched the waters of every river between the shores, and whose hairs have grown gray in her service; and far beyond the Mississippi he is to-day governing the dismal, desert territory of Arizona, his youth gone, glory flown, and naught but his insignificant gubernatorial salary to guard poverty from his door.
The climate here is intensely hot, and the surface is dry and sandy. General Fremont thinks that a portion of the territory could be flooded from the Pacific, and thereby be made productive; and his scheme has been presented to congress.
They were just building the Southern Pacific Railroad through here when we were there, and, from the intense heat and burning sands, it was found impossible to work at it except about three or four months in the year. The road is, however, now finished, and the Union Pacific has a rival in the route across the continent.
On our return back to Frisco we went up a branch of the Central Pacific, and ran out on the stage to the big trees upon the Sierra Nevada slopes. We had stood in the forests in Ohio, and looked up at the great oaks and called them mammoths; but great glory! here was a whole forest in a single tree. The trunks are from ten to fifteen feet in diameter, with summits reared so high that they appear to sweep the sky asthey are swayed to and fro by the upper currents; and away up among the spreading boughs nestle and scream the great eagles, looking like sparrows. The stage-route runs clear through the forest, and right by the largest trees, which rear their heads to the enormous height of three and four hundred feet, and right through the hollow trunk of the king of the forest, which fell in a storm some years ago. Some idea can be formed of the immensity of this tree when I tell you that the driver keeps his seat and a four-horse stage-coach runs lengthwise through its body with perfect ease. People are living in some of the trees, and have doors and windows cut out; and some very fair-looking two-story houses are made with these natural walls. Many of the trees have been felled, and it is found that all the largest are but shells. One was cut down, divided into sections, and taken to the Centennial. The most interesting part of our journey was the curling route among these towering Pacific monuments; and all tourists to the West, wishing to see the curiosities of the world, should not fail to ride out among the wonders upon the Sierra Nevada slopes.
We now returned to Frisco and prepared to return to Ohio. We sailed across the bay, and, taking a last long look over the tossing sea, we bid the waves good-by, and then rattled along over the iron trail of the Union Pacific, reaching home safe and sound, when the snow-flakes were flying in the wintry air of 1879. How unnatural all things appeared! Where are the great hills which used to almost barrier the public way? Why, the roads are almost smooth as a floor. Where are the big fields that it used to take days to plow, and the great forests through which we used to hunt? All appear but garden-spots, and fit for the spade instead of the plow; and the woods are too small for a home for even the squirrel or wood-chuck. All efforts to see the old homestead as in years gone by are vain. The towering peaks of the Rockies, and the steep, stony slopes of the Green Horns can not be banished from my mind, and the great world of level prairie is too fresh in my memory.
I have been home now some time; and to this day farms are but gardens and the hills are as clods. Like experience can only prove the effect. I have roamed through twenty states and territories, and have in a measure satisfied that desirewhich was the source of my boyish dreams. The adventure is but familiar talk, and the wild chase is but common exercise. But how much better am I off than he who is content without travel? I now onlyrealizehow wonderful is the world and its workings, and how much there is that I nevershallsee. Travel is prone to disturb content; and discontent is the greatest enemy to the human mind. Of course, this is directed to persons who travel to satisfy the mind; for they whom circumstances crowd from home show pluck and shrewdness in careful prospecting. I can assure you that I have seen a great deal, and much that I never wish to see again. And if in this brief work I have succeeded in giving my readers even a limited idea of the country through which I passed, I feel sure that they will relieve me of my responsible undertaking; for it is by far too much for these few pages.
Since I arrived from my tour through the West scarcely a day passes that there are not some persons, from almost every occupation and position in life, interrogating me as to the chances and prospects in the West. A general answer can not be given, for circumstances vary. Though I can not be as general and emphatic in my advice as was the great Horace Greeley when he said, “Young man, go west and grow up with the country,” Icansay from real experience and practical observations that forsometoward the Pacific there is wealth. I emphasize the word “some;” for there are dispositions that will never prosper in this noted, novel land.
It should be remembered that going west from Ohio is not going west from New York; for the splendid forests, the beautiful, rich valleys, and the great commercial advantages fade quickly before the emigrant when he leaves the Mississippi and marches toward the western sea. When the Missouri is once crossed, the great American stage is then entered upon, where the plays are different and numerous and where the shrewdest men are actors. Instead of the honest peasant, grubbing and planting by his little cabin in the dense forest, there are the trickster, the knave, the thief, each playing his faithful part. Business is all swept along by the wave of excitement,—as can be collected from the present work,—and under such circumstances there are very many who can not stand prosperity. Wages are always good. Money is usually made easy; and the result of such conditions is only too well known. Fine dress is not required, and money is plenty. For him who has enough control over himself to take advantage of the situation there is a glittering prospect. There are persons on the prairies and in the mountains to-day who are gathering money like leaves in autumn.
I have tried to describe the country as it is; and my readers of different occupations can draw conclusions and choose localities for themselves. But my advice to those who are comfortably nestling in the folds of civilization,where the church-bell strikes, where the school-houses dot the land, and where utter want is ever barred, is, Stay where you are; educate your children and be content with good. To those who have no money,—especially those who have families,—I will say, For God’s sake stay where help is near and charity abounds; for I assure you that I haveseenthedestitutein a strange land.
Of course, there are beautiful lands in parts of several states and territories, where good farms can be had, and where, some time in the future, the steeples of great cities will glitter in the sunlight. There is, undoubtedly, an opening here for the agriculturist; but emigrants must expect to find the country new, the facilities and accommodations scarce, and the neighbors poor. To be safe, they should always have sufficient capital to run them a year or two. I have known persons to drift west with the excitement and arrive in a splendid land without a cent, as though expecting to find bread upon the bushes, crops ready to harvest, and wealthy neighbors. The first year’s crop failed because of insects, drought, or some other peculiarity of the western prairie, and their condition was thenmore deplorable than the poorest from whence they came.
There are persons who make it a business to accommodate the unfortunate settlers with money; but the security is mortgage on property, and the interest is usually two per cent per month, or twenty-four per cent per year, and some are obliged to pay fifty per cent. Borrowed money never fails to produce a crop; but thesoilmayfail, and produce is also of poor sale. From this hint warning consultations can be drawn, and persons with families should take heed.
To the agriculturalist I can speak favorably of Kansas, Nebraska (page 40), and eastern Dakota; but should theIndian Territorybe opened to settlement (as it will soon be),thereis the place to fly, for it is acknowledged the hot-bed of the West. Emigrants will find it convenient if prepared with a mess-box as described (page 94). For cattle and sheep business on a big scale, go to Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico (page 168). For health-giving and delightful summer-resorts (and I might here add that there are thousands dying in the East to-day who would be hale and hearty in the West), I can speakhighly of Manitou Springs, Colorado (page 258-264), and also Las Vegas Hot Springs, New Mexico. The latter are twenty-two in number, and beautifully located about four miles above the pretty city of Las Vegas. They have an altitude of six thousand four hundred feet—the elevation which has made Colorado such a favorite resort for those affected with pulmonary complaints—with a decided advantage over some of the northern resorts as to latitude and health-giving climate. The character of the water is similar to that of the famous Hot Springs of Arkansas, as shown by the following chemical analysis made by Prof. Hayden, United States geologist:
This showing speaks volumes to those familiarwith thermal springs. Their waters are of a superior medicinal character. The climate is not bleak nor harsh in winter, and is very bracing and pleasant in summer. The plateau upon which they are located may be considered the great sanitarium in this country for lung-diseases. Prominent Boston gentlemen have purchased and improved the property; and every visitor is delighted.
Now, in conclusion, I will again assert that there are splendid opportunities for persons of most classes and occupations. But I almost hesitate to advise young men to go there (page 221); for, as was said, all is excitement. The society is bad, and vices are so numerous (202) that many persons will fall under such circumstances; and such a fall is grieving many a good parent to-day.
Work can be had on the prairie or in the mountains at any time in the summer-season; and wages are always good. But to succeed, you must be firm, resolve to resist the evils, and be not led astray. Take care of your earnings, and you can save money.
I have been as elaborate in my description as space will permit, and upon facts stated my readers may rely and base their actions. Whatever my ideas taken from this volume may be, I assure you that my chosen profession and peculiar situation are all that keep me from following the sun in his course to-morrow.
For I know full wellThat the future will tellThe advantages hiddenIn the now rude West.
For I know full wellThat the future will tellThe advantages hiddenIn the now rude West.
For I know full wellThat the future will tellThe advantages hiddenIn the now rude West.
THE END.