| Title: | Extracts From a Letter Dated San Francisco |
|---|---|
| ID | 3957 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | 1841-50/44 |
| Year | 1849 |
| Sender | unknown |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | merchant |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | San Francisco, California, USA |
| Destination | unknown |
| Recipient | unknown |
| Recipient Gender | unknown |
| Relationship | re trade |
| Source | The Belfast News-Letter, Friday, 8 March, 1850 |
| Archive | The Central Library, Belfast |
| Doc. No. | 101029 |
| Date | 31/12/1849 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | Document added by LT, 27:12:00. |
| Word Count | 1135 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | STATE OF CALIFORNIA. A highly interesting letter from California, giving one month's later intelligence respecting the condition of that region than any accounts hitherto received in this country, being dated " St. Francisco, Dec. 31, 1849" has appeared in the Times, and from it we make the following extracts:- Will you allow me to ask our Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs why he leaves us in this port without an English consul, our ships to get into trouble (owing to the seizure of goods under the administration of the United States Collector, for violating the revenue system, since California has been recognised as one of the States), their captains into ruinous lawsuits, which, in some cases, will end in the loss of their vessels, and our sailors to vagabonise about the country, abandoning their vessels, and this, too, in a port where we have a large fleet of merchantmen, without a single vessel of war of our nation to protect them? Surely, we could afford to pay a consul. To speak soberly, I do not know a port in the Pacific (and I know something of most of them), where the presence of a consul, and of an efficient one, is so much required. This is becoming not only one of the best, but a very extensive market for English manufactures; and I am informed, by parties competent to judge, that present appearances justify the hope that it will soon be the most extensive mart for English goods in the Pacific. I subjoin a short price current of such articles as will, I hope, be interesting to your English readers trading, or intending to trade, with this part of the world:- Coals, $35 is the safest quotation. Ale - $4 50c. to $5 per dozen wholesale. Bricks - $45 per 1,000; great demand. Blankets - Whitney assorted, $4 to $5 per pair. Coloured cotton shirts, $7 to $8 per doz. Merino drawers, - $22 per doz; woollen hoze [hose?] (grey) $7 to $8 per doz; Merino shirts, $27 to $28 per doz; Flushing trousers, $4 50c. per pair. Pea jackets and coats, $8 to $10 each; brogans [shoes?] (English), $24 to $28 per doz. Heavy boots, pegged, $20 per pair, for fair quality; ditto, pegged, superior quality, $40 to $60 per pair. Long fishing boots, well nailed, are worth $100 a pair. The streets of San Francisco are such sloughs and quagmires of mud, that good long thick boots to come over the knee are worth almost their weight in gold. Preserved meats, 25c. to 30c. per lb. Drugs abundant; no sales. Red and blue flannel shirts, $18 to $20 per dozen. Mackintosh waterproofs unsaleable. Prints - Fast colours, dark rich styles, $4 50c. to $5 per piece. Iron houses are very abundant, but in slight demand. Ready-made houses of all classes and of every material are abundant and unsaleable. The rage for them has completely died away; but building materials of iron and zinc would sell well. Druggets, and all sorts of common stuffs for floor covering, much in demand. Furniture - Good strong cottage, cheap and pretty, in great demand. Wines - Port and sherry, $12 to $15 per doz. All sorts, if really good, would sell at very remunerative prices. Office furniture wanted, and, if neat and ingeniously made, would sell very well. Chili [Chile?] flour sold lately as high as $45 per sack of 200lb. on shore. The price now is $26 to $28. Flour has been a splendid speculation lately. In three days it rose from $8 to $32 per sack of 200lb., and in a week was up to $45. A vessel came in from Chili [Chile?] when the rage was at its height. She cleared $50,000 gain to the shipper, made $10,000 commissions to the consignee, and returns in a few days with the gold dust, all returns realized. * * * Gold dust is very scarce, and eagerly enquired for to make up remittances for the steamer that leaves for Panama to-morrow. The value of "dust" is, at this moment, on a par with coin, i.e. worth $16 the ounce. * * * The progress of this place continues unabated. A few months ago, I stated the place to be but a collection of huts. I dread to describe the place as is now is; the change is so great that my account would be doubted. I have seen nothing out of London to compare with this activity. New Orleans is a place with which it may bear, perhaps, many points of comparison. * * * The prosperity of the country increases rapidly in all respects. Vast sums are drained off constantly, but then large amounts are constantly coming into the country. This is the most curious part of our system. Last month, $2,300,000 in gold dust was exported, and within the last week, $700,000 has arrived from various parts of the world, so that some considerable part of the progress of this place is paid for from foreign capital actually brought into the country. We had rather a serious fire on Monday last, which destroyed property to the value of $2,000,000. The loss has fallen chiefly upon American and Chilian settlers; 25 houses were burnt, and about two acres of ground laid bare. A week only has passed. At this time this day week the fire was consuming the house; at the present moment the ground is more than half covered with houses built and building since the fire on the scene of the conflagration. The energy of character displayed is wonderful. Whilst the fire was still burning one man, and he, too, one of the greatest sufferers, bargained for and bought lumber to rebuild his house, and before 6 o'clock of the same evening he had concluded - " signed, sealed, and delivered" - a contract with a builder to re-construct his house in 16 days, under a penalty. The house is now built up and roofed. The builder will save the penalty. Ships are continually arriving and departing. There is now no difficulty in procuring sailors. Wages have fallen to $30 and $35 a month. This port does not afford any encouragement to English ships for employment. There being no exports, they cannot get freights. They will be much better off, however, now that the trade is thrown open to them, as they can carry goods of any nation from any port they please to call at. The news from the mining districts is encouraging. In some of the " diggins" the work is not suspended, and now the miners are taking to work by means of quicksilver, and recover great quantities of gold hitherto lost by the rude system of washing. So soon as the rains cease, and the roads in the interior are open, the trade will revive with briskness. There is plenty of gold actually earned in the " diggins" to pay for all the accumulating wants of the miners. Emigration continues to pour in, and a large arrival of emigrants is expected from Europe and the Atlantic States. |
