Q.David Bowers
To California by Sea
The first rush to California was by ship toward the end of 1848. Several vessels left in November. By December a stampede was in progress. Old schooners, transport steamers, and virtually any other vessel considered remotely seaworthy were pressed into service. Between December 14, 1848 and January, 1849, 61 ships with an average of 50 passengers each left Boston, Salem, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Norfolk.
Additional vessels left from Charleston, New Orleans, and other ports.
In the meantime interest in gold was fueled by President Polk's annual address in December 1848 and by the arrival of gold at the Philadelphia Mint in the same month.
The first deposit in 1848 of California gold was given to the Philadelphia Mint by David Garter on December 8th. Mint Director Robert M. Patterson reported that the deposit of 1,804.59 ounces assayed slightly over $18 per ounce.
On December 9th, the following day, 228 ounces averaging .894 fine were deposited at the Philadelphia Mint from gold sent by R. B. Mason, Jr., in California. This metal had been purchased at $10 per ounce by the quartermaster in California under the sanction of the acting governor, using money from a civil fund. This gold was transmitted from California with a letter dated August 17, 1848, via a messenger, Lt. L. Loeser. When Loeser arrived in New Orleans on November 24th, on his way to Washington, the Commercial Times of that city printed an account which attracted wide interest among citizens.
When Loeser subsequently arrived in the capital The Washington Union stated that:
We readily admit that the account so nearly approached the miraculous that we were relieved by the evidence of our own senses on the subject. The specimens have all the appearance of the native gold we had seen from the mines of North Carolina and Virginia; and we are informed that the Secretary will send the small chest of gold to the Mint, to be melted into coin and bars, and most of it to be subsequently fashioned into medals commemorative of the heroism and valor of our officers. Several of the other specimens he will retain for the present in the War Office as found in California in the form of lumps, scales, and sand; the last named being of different hues, from bright yellow to black, without much appearance of gold. However skeptical any man may have been, we defy him to doubt that if the quantity of such specimens as these be as great as has been represented, the value of gold in California must be greater than has been hitherto discovered in the old or new continent; and great as may be the immigration to this new El Dorado, the frugal and industrious will be amply repaid for their enterprise and toil.
Secretary of War W. L. Marcy wrote to Patterson, director of the Philadelphia Mint, concerning the first official government deposit of 228 ounces, which arrived on December 9th:
If the metal is found to be pure gold, as I doubt not that it will be, I request you to reserve enough of it for two medals ordered by Congress and not yet completed, and the remainder, with the exception of one or two small bars, I wish to have coined and sent with the bars to this department. As many may wish to procure specimens made with California gold, by exchanging other coin for it, I would suggest that it be made into quarter eagles with a distinguishing mark on each.
At the time, the smallest United States gold coin was the quarter eagle; the gold dollar was not introduced until the following year, 1849. The estimated 1,389 quarter eagles from the first government deposit were counterstamped on the reverse with the letters CAL., thus making them the first commemorative coins ever issued by a United States mint.
In February 1849 it was announced that 60 ships were going to sail from New York, 70 were destined to depart from Philadelphia and Boston, and 11 were scheduled from New Bedford. As months went on, sailing activity intensified. During the winter of 1849 and the spring of 1850 approximately 250 vessels left for California from the eastern ports of the United States. On one single day 45 ships arrived in San Francisco.
In April 1849 two of the November departures arrived in San Francisco; in June one arrived, in July 40, in August 43, and in September 66, after which the numbers declined, giving a total of 233 ships which arrived from American ports during a nine month period. During the same interval 316 vessels arrived from other ports, making a total of 549.
Sometimes the ships were in very poor condition, as, for instance, an old transport steamer used in the Mexican War which was resurrected during the 1849-1850 winter to service the route between New Orleans and Panama and which was described as being "so rotten and leaky that she wriggled and twisted like a willow basket. "
Temporary decks were often added to ships to accommodate tiers of shelving which served as bunks. Food was bad, and much deprivation was caused by thirst, scurvy, and starvation. In the early days passengers were often obtained under false pretenses. The ships which carried them were sometimes ill-provisioned. In other instances the captains were miserly with the food on hand, preferring to save whatever they could for resale at a profit in San Francisco. In 1849 the captains of two ships were overthrown by passengers. In each instance the captains proved to be drunkards, so no legal action followed.
On the other hand, the captains sometimes had their own complaints, as related by one:
No, no! Save me from a shipload of Yankee passengers, You will find that just as soon as they recover from their first seasickness they will hold a mass meeting on the quarterdeck;, without asking the captain's permission, and prescribe rules for the government of the ship; or perhaps they will depose the captain altogether and put in his place a popular sailor taken from before the mast, as their idea will be to run the vessel On democratic principles. So, excuse me from the command of a California passenger ship.
In their eagerness to get to California many gold seekers sailed from the east coast to Chagres or Colon to cross land at the Isthmus of Panama, in order to get another ship on the western coast to take them to San Francisco. Upon arriving on the eastern side, travelers would secure transportation across the narrow land by going up the Chagres River in canoes, pulled by natives or propelled by poles, to the head of navigation at Gorgona or Cruces. There they would proceed overland by pack animal if they were lucky, but often on foot, to the western shore. The swampy ground on the Atlantic side was disease ridden, and many died from illness. On the western side there would be many gold seekers, sometimes hundreds or thousands, waiting until passage came to take them northward to California. The interval was spent in riotous living, drinking, and merrymaking.