Publication: THE NATIONAL ERA.
Date: August 22, 1850.
Title: CALIFORNIA CORRESPONDENCE. ----- SAN FRANCISCO.
Location: Washington, D.C. .
CALIFORNIA CORRESPONDENCE. -----
SAN FRANCISCO, June 30, 1850.
To the Editor of the National Era:
By the transient steamer which left for Panama on the 18th instant, you have, of course, ere this, been informed of the disastrous fire which occurred here on the 14th - the third fir within the space of seven months, and one which reduce to ashes a portion of the city which had escaped the two previous fires. The whole ground is again covered, however, and business there is lively as ever. Such is the energetic and enterprising character of our citizens, that misfortunes of this nature only create action with double vigor. .
In order to prevent a recurrence of these severe and terrible conflagrations, our citizens have united themselves into Engine and Hook and Ladder Companies, and there are already two large and effective engines ready for use, and five or six more have been ordered. Under the direction of the city authorities, an artesian well is now being bored in the main plaza, and three cisterns, each capable of holding 25,000 gallons of water, are nearly completed. Many of the houses lately erected upon the burnt ground are of brick. The common council have forbidden the erection of wooden houses over fifteen feet in height; and, with all these guards, we need have no fear of any conflagration so terrible as those which have lately visited us. .
Our citizens and the authorities have been in a snarl ever since the first organization of the Board of Aldermen. These disinterested, patriotic gentlemen commenced their labors by imposing a severe tax on every kind of industry, and voting to themselves the very moderate sum of $6000 per annum, for their services. This touched the people. Public meetings to remonstrate were held, and a committee appointed to present to the Board of Aldermen a series of resolutions adopted by a large mass meeting, in Portsmouth Square. The committee waited upon the Board, but only their chairman was allowed to enter within the bar. The resolutions were presented by him, and after some little discussion, their consideration was indefinitely postponed. This insulting course of the council called down a great deal of indignation, and finally the local tax bill has been entirely repealed, and the salary bill promises to meet the same fate. .
The fact is, that California is regarded by almost everybody who comes here as a great goose, out of whom feathers are to be plucked, and he who succeeds in getting the most is considered the best fellow. This is particularly exhibited in our governmental affairs; and where salaries are placed so enormously high, a corresponding system of taxation must be made to meet them. What think you of a Sate poll-tax of five dollars per annum, and a county of three? These we are paying now, and they are used for the purpose of supporting in office politicians, who generally will leave California as soon as they have made their "pile;" which, at present rates, will not be long. Poor California! from her conquest, to the present time, she has been lorded over by military and naval tyrants in epaulets; drained by her local officers, insulted and oppressed by the officials of the General Government, and utterly neglected by the mother that should have cherished her as her most worthy child. And yet, with all this, there is not found upon our whole continent a more loyal class of citizens than are those in California. True, we have amongst us Hotspurs, ambitious men, ready to build their own fame and fortune, if necessary, upon the ruins of our State, but an immense majority of our citizens are true to the core, and the cry of disunion has as yet, among us, received not a serious thought. .
The progress of vice in our city has been in a measure stayed by the enactment of an ordinance prohibiting gaming on the Sabbath; which is, I am glad to say, fully complied with. A petition has lately been extensively circulated and signed, praying the common council to cease licensing this system of robbery, and forbid it under severe penalties. I doubt very much whether, at present, this course is practicable. Our state of society is so peculiar, that laws, which in other cities are easily enforced, are here rendered dependent entirely upon public feeling. Here the gambler, who in the United States is looked upon almost with contempt, and who never presumes to speak to a respectable citizen in the street, here he is at the "top of the heap;" is the owner of many of our finest buildings, has great influence in our elections - is, in a word, one of the great aristocracy of money, the only aristocracy we know in California. To show you the facility with which money is raised here by this class of the community, I need only relate to you an incident of Col. Bryant, who is considered at the top of his profession. He came here about a year since, with some capital, and, in a few months amassed a fortune by gaming, his profits often being more than a thousand dollars a day. During our county election, he ran for the office of sheriff, in which he was defeated by the celebrated Col. Jack Hays. This election is said to have cost Bryant $30,000, and, in connection with a series of losses in real estate speculations, completely ruined him. He left here some six weeks since, with twenty-five dollars in his picket, proceeded to the Southern mines, and, by a series of successful gambling operations there, succeeded in returning here in one month and paying off about $25,000 of old debts, besides pocketing a handsome sum. .
One of the prettiest specimens of "getting round" a law has just been exhibited here. The Common Council passed an ordinance requiring that all bar-rooms should be closed at 12 o'clock midnight, under a sever penalty. As it said nothing bout what time they shall open, the landlords shut their doors at midnight and five minutes afterwards open for the next day. Our wise councilmen are about remodelling the bill. .
The news from the mines are very favorable, the collectors are generally succeeding well in enforcing the tax law in relation to foreign miners, altho' in the execution of their duties they meet with great difficulties. If some action is not soon taken by Congress in regard to us, I am satisfied that our next Legislature will either diminish the tax or entirely repeal the law. The miners generally are making from five to sixteen dollars per day, and the season is rapidly arriving when the waters will go down, which will make digging during the autumn months very profitable. A new placer has lately been discovered in the vicinity of what has been named "Gold Lake," high upon the Sacramento. One man who has wintered there is reported to have extracted over thirty thousand dollars. Thousands are rushing there, and there is a prospect of a great harvest. A company are working the quartz rock upon the Mariposa with distinguished success - making from twenty to fifty dollars a day to the hand. There has been but little sickness in the mines this year, and the sickly season is now nearly over. .
We are particularly blessed with newspapers here, if the blessing can be said to exist in the number of them. We have now three daily newspapers in active operation, and another, "The Pacific Courier," starts this morning. This latter is supposed to be the organ of the General Government in California. Another daily paper is to be started by Messrs. E.G. & W.A. Buffum, so that San Francisco will ere long be a decidedly literary town. .
The entire absence of any news of importance must be my plea for the shortness of this letter. I expect to leave for the "diggins" in a few days, and will then be able to communicate with you directly from the "seat of war." .
The California leaves tomorrow at noon, with 195 passengers and one million seven hundred and forty thousand dollars in gold dust. .
Yours, "HOMBRE."