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The Gold Hunters: A First-Hand Picture of Life in California Mining Camps in the Early Fifties
The Gold Hunters: A First-Hand Picture of Life in California Mining Camps in the Early Fifties
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The Gold Hunters: A First-Hand Picture of Life in California Mining Camps in the Early Fifties, written by John David Borthwick, and edited By Horace Kephart, was published in New York, in 1917.
Contents:
Introduction — Chapter I. On to the Gold Fields — Chapter II. Across the Isthmus — Chapter III. A City in the Making — Chapter IV. Life at High Speed — Chapter V. Off for the Mines — Chapter VI. Looking for Gold — Chapter VII. Indians and Chinamen — Chapter VIII. Miners' Law ' — Chapter IX. Gold is Where You Find It — Chapter X. Ursus Horribilis — Chapter XI. On the Trail — Chapter XII. Sitters for Portraits — Chapter XIII. On the Way to Downieville — Chapter XIV. The Reason for Lynch Law — Chapter XV. Growing Over Night — Chapter XVI. A Band of Wanderers — Chapter XVII. Chinese in the Early Days — Chapter XVIII. Down With the Flood — Chapter XIX. A Bull and Bear Fight — Chapter XX. A Mountain of Gold — Chapter XXI. In Lighter Mood — Chapter XXII. Sonora and the Mexicans — Chapter XXIII. Bull Fighting — Chapter XXIV. A City Burned — Chapter XXV. The Day We Celebrate — Chapter XXVI. Frenchmen in the Mines — Chapter XXVII. The Resourceful Americans
From Introduction:
...Gold mining, of course, was a gamble; while some "struck it rich" many others worked hard for nothing. So gambling was in the very air. And so long as common labor commanded at least five dollars a day, so long as ships by the hundred lay idle at their docks because sailors would rather take their chances in the mines than a steady wage of two or three hundred dollars a month, there was bound to be reckless extravagance and wild dissipation. Most of the miners were young men, too active, ebullient, vivacious, for quiet amusements in their hours of leisure. There was no home life nor anything to suggest it. In 1850 only two per cent, of the population of the mining counties were women, and probably most of these were of loose character. There was no standard of respectability to be lived up to. So long as a man did not interfere with the rights of others, he was perfectly free, if he chose, to go to the devil in his own way. Against the toil and hardships of the mining-field, against the gloom of disappointment or the wild elation of success, human nature demanded a counterpoise of some sort — and the only places in all the wide land where the miner could find comfort, luxury, gaiety, were the saloons and gambling-houses.
...There being no sheriffs or policemen worthy the name, every man went armed, prepared at an instant's notice to redress his own real or fancied grievances. Shootings and stabbings were frequent, though in much less number actually than such conditions might be expected to provoke — most men think twice before stirring up trouble in a company where everybody carries a loaded gun and knows how to use it.
...Yet when the first fever of excitement had passed away, when the richest placers were exhausted, when men settled down from prospecting and "rushes" to the steady work of mining on a business basis, it is wonderful how quickly the social order changed for the better. Miners returning to San Francisco after a year's absence scarcely recognized the place. Substantial buildings of brick and stone were replacing the tinder-boxes that had been swept away by one "great fire" after another—dressed granite for some of them was even imported from China! Streets that had been rubbish-heaps and quagmires were orderly and clean. A large number of respectable women had arrived in California, and their influence was immediately noticeable in the refinement of dress and decorum of the men. Places of rational amusement had sprung up — clubs, reading-rooms, theaters — which replaced in great measure the gambling-houses. In very many instances a quiet domestic life had supplanted the old-time roistering in saloons. Few, if any, cities ever showed such rapid progress in manners and morals as well as in material things.
...Many narratives have been published by men who participated in the stirring events of early California. From among them I have chosen, after long research, one written by a British artist, Mr. J. D. Borthwick, and issued in Edinburgh in 1857. The original book is now rare and sought for by collectors of western Americana. It is here reprinted in full, with certain errors corrected. I do not know of another story by an actual miner that is so well written and so true to that wonderful life in the Days of Gold.
Horace Kephart.
October, 1916.
Contents:
Introduction — Chapter I. On to the Gold Fields — Chapter II. Across the Isthmus — Chapter III. A City in the Making — Chapter IV. Life at High Speed — Chapter V. Off for the Mines — Chapter VI. Looking for Gold — Chapter VII. Indians and Chinamen — Chapter VIII. Miners' Law ' — Chapter IX. Gold is Where You Find It — Chapter X. Ursus Horribilis — Chapter XI. On the Trail — Chapter XII. Sitters for Portraits — Chapter XIII. On the Way to Downieville — Chapter XIV. The Reason for Lynch Law — Chapter XV. Growing Over Night — Chapter XVI. A Band of Wanderers — Chapter XVII. Chinese in the Early Days — Chapter XVIII. Down With the Flood — Chapter XIX. A Bull and Bear Fight — Chapter XX. A Mountain of Gold — Chapter XXI. In Lighter Mood — Chapter XXII. Sonora and the Mexicans — Chapter XXIII. Bull Fighting — Chapter XXIV. A City Burned — Chapter XXV. The Day We Celebrate — Chapter XXVI. Frenchmen in the Mines — Chapter XXVII. The Resourceful Americans
From Introduction:
...Gold mining, of course, was a gamble; while some "struck it rich" many others worked hard for nothing. So gambling was in the very air. And so long as common labor commanded at least five dollars a day, so long as ships by the hundred lay idle at their docks because sailors would rather take their chances in the mines than a steady wage of two or three hundred dollars a month, there was bound to be reckless extravagance and wild dissipation. Most of the miners were young men, too active, ebullient, vivacious, for quiet amusements in their hours of leisure. There was no home life nor anything to suggest it. In 1850 only two per cent, of the population of the mining counties were women, and probably most of these were of loose character. There was no standard of respectability to be lived up to. So long as a man did not interfere with the rights of others, he was perfectly free, if he chose, to go to the devil in his own way. Against the toil and hardships of the mining-field, against the gloom of disappointment or the wild elation of success, human nature demanded a counterpoise of some sort — and the only places in all the wide land where the miner could find comfort, luxury, gaiety, were the saloons and gambling-houses.
...There being no sheriffs or policemen worthy the name, every man went armed, prepared at an instant's notice to redress his own real or fancied grievances. Shootings and stabbings were frequent, though in much less number actually than such conditions might be expected to provoke — most men think twice before stirring up trouble in a company where everybody carries a loaded gun and knows how to use it.
...Yet when the first fever of excitement had passed away, when the richest placers were exhausted, when men settled down from prospecting and "rushes" to the steady work of mining on a business basis, it is wonderful how quickly the social order changed for the better. Miners returning to San Francisco after a year's absence scarcely recognized the place. Substantial buildings of brick and stone were replacing the tinder-boxes that had been swept away by one "great fire" after another—dressed granite for some of them was even imported from China! Streets that had been rubbish-heaps and quagmires were orderly and clean. A large number of respectable women had arrived in California, and their influence was immediately noticeable in the refinement of dress and decorum of the men. Places of rational amusement had sprung up — clubs, reading-rooms, theaters — which replaced in great measure the gambling-houses. In very many instances a quiet domestic life had supplanted the old-time roistering in saloons. Few, if any, cities ever showed such rapid progress in manners and morals as well as in material things.
...Many narratives have been published by men who participated in the stirring events of early California. From among them I have chosen, after long research, one written by a British artist, Mr. J. D. Borthwick, and issued in Edinburgh in 1857. The original book is now rare and sought for by collectors of western Americana. It is here reprinted in full, with certain errors corrected. I do not know of another story by an actual miner that is so well written and so true to that wonderful life in the Days of Gold.
Horace Kephart.
October, 1916.
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