| Title: | Impressions of California |
|---|---|
| ID | 3943 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | 1841-50/5(2) |
| Year | 1850 |
| Sender | unknown |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | chief mate of a ship |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | San Francisco, California, USA |
| Destination | Ireland |
| Recipient | unknown |
| Recipient Gender | male |
| Relationship | brothers |
| Source | The Belfast News-Letter, Friday, 15 February, 1850 |
| Archive | The Central Library, Belfast |
| Doc. No. | 101204 |
| Date | 15/02/1850 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | Document added by LT, 11:01:01. |
| Word Count | 393 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | CALIFORNIA. - Extract of a letter, dated San Francisco, 30th November, from the chief mate of a ship to his brother in Dublin:- " We arrived here from St. Blas on the 5th inst., and found about 300 vessels in port from all parts of the new and old world. I went ashore in the first boat with the captain. The houses are all built of wood, without any regard to regularity, but I understand a new code of rules is now under weigh [way?] for the purpose of compelling them to build in a more ship-shape manner, or Bristol fashion. As for the boggy thoroughfares they dignify with the name of streets, it is a physical impossibility to pass through them - the mud on average is about three feet deep. I missed my footing and became fixed in an infernal mud- hole - vain were my efforts to extricate myself and my shoes, and, after a long struggle, I was compelled to leave them behind and return to the boat barefooted. Gambling is carried on to a frightful extent, and land sharks are abundant. Every tenth or eleventh house is a gambling concern. An old friend of the captain's came on board the other day, and stated that in four months he had realized 9,000 dollars at the "diggings." He dined on shore that evening, brought his gold with him, got into a gambling house, and was cleared of every ounce of it. The next morning he asked the captain for money to buy a pickaxe and shovel to go back and work as a labourer where he had a short time before employed others to work for him. One fortunate scoundrel a few days ago won 70,000 dollars by the turn of a card, and 30,000 more by three cards. Provisions are an awful price. Potatoes and onions are a dollar a pound - now a large potato weighs a pound. What would one of our countrymen think of paying four shillings for a potato? Beef eighteen pence a pound. Butter five shillings a pound, and everything else in proportion. Prices are very fluctuating, and at present are very high. Clothing is also extremely dear - a pair of boots will cost twenty dollars, which I'd get at home for as many shillings. Labourers ashore receive from five to six dollars a day. Still it is a shocking place; I would not for all the gold in the mines spend three years here." |
