The Argonauts of California: being the reminiscenses of scenes and incidents that occurred in California in the early mining days

by Charles Warren Haskins

Around upon that flat yonder, by the spring, you can still see the outlines of a miner’s cabin. The lower part of the chimney is yet standing, and that great flat stone was the door step. That cabin was occupied in ’49 by a company of young men from Providence, R. I., who came around the Horn in the bark “Floyd.”

There at the foot of the hill, you can now see the remains of an old cabin built by some boys from New York City; while a little further down you can see the remains of an old chimney which was built of flat stones. This was occupied by the Russell, Chase and Gibbs boys, a delegation from Nantucket. Crossing the creek, and going up that ravine, you will see the remains of numerous cabins; the first one perched upon that bluff above was occupied by a few boys from Maine; another one further up, was the home of a company from Massachusetts. The latter came through the Straits of Magellan in a small schooner named the “Emily Bourne,” and the Captain was taken prisoner by the Indians at Patagonia, but finally escaped. The sites formerly occupied by the cabins of the old Forty-niners are undergoing great changes, for the grounds where many of them once stood are now being covered with fruit trees and vineyards.

Up on that rocky point now covered with grape vines was the site of a cabin occupied by Tompkins and three others, who were passengers in the ship “Areatas” from Boston. Just below them was located a cabin occupied by Rowland, Hayden and Moore, passengers in the schooner “John Alyne,” from Massachusetts. A walk up Oregon Ravine would bring to view upon the flat to the right, and upon the side hill beyond, the remains of numerous castles, built and occupied by the Forty-niners. One in particular, at the time of my visit among them, was yet standing; and for nearly twenty years this ancient edifice, erected at a great sacrifice of mental energy, and occupied by the writer and three others, passengers of the ship “America,” was desecrated to fowl purposes, being used for a hen roost.

Down there, below the spring near the creek, you can yet see the remains of an old chimney and a level spot, where in ’49 stood a cabin in which were domiciled three or four passengers who came from Panama in the good ship “Niantic,” the old hull of which is now lying beneath a large building at the corner of Clay and Sansome streets, San Francisco. A little further down on that gravel bench stood the cabin of a few of the boys who came out in the bark “Diamond,” the old hull of which was moored to the levee in Sacramento City for more than twenty years subsequently and used for a storehouse.

If you would follow that trail for a short distance up the ravine, you would see the remains of the chimneys, and a few old, decayed logs, all that now remain of two cabins, one sheltering a few young men from the State of Kentucky, the occupants of the other hailing from Indiana, and all of them fought under Taylor in the Mexican War. They came across the plains, arriving in Hangtown in September, ’49.

You see yonder, on that rocky point among the trees, the few decayed logs of an old cabin. You observe also that a portion of the old chimney is yet standing, for ’twas built of rocks, through which the nimble flap-jack often flew, to be caught again at the door. This cabin was occupied by a number of Boston boys who came around the Horn in ’49 in the staunch ship “Capital.”

A walk up through that cañon beyond will show you also the ruins of many pleasant homes, but in many cases only the sites which they occupied are visible. These were all occupied by gold seekers from the New England States, who had come around the Horn.

Upon that level spot to the right two men from Connecticut made their homes throughout the fall and winter of ’49-’50, with nothing to shelter them from the rain but an old wagon cover. They were industrious, out at work early in the morning, and generally the last to quit work at night. During the time which they worked in the mines, which was a little less than a year, they never struck what was termed a rich pay streak, but only what was termed an average paying claim or wages. Yet Scoville and Davenport, which were their names, took home with them in the fall of ’50 something like $11,000 apiece, as the express agent afterwards stated, thus proving that industry, even in mining, is the main thing in luck.

You observe away up that ravine a level spot now covered with trees. If you take the trouble to walk up that way, you would see a few old logs and the remains of an old chimney, being all that is left now of the once pleasant home of two young men from the city of Baltimore. They arrived here early in ’49, and found that ravine very rich. Starting for their native city in November of the same year, they took with them, as stated at the time, about $20,000 apiece, but in the course of a few weeks they returned to the mines, wiser perhaps, but poorer men, having spent their money, as one of them explained, in the study of natural history at one of the gorgeous and inviting gambling menageries in San Francisco. As I have before mentioned, they resided in that cabin for many years but finally left for other mines.