It will be perceived that the statistics which I have prepared of the profits of mining differs essentially from other published tables. I have only to say in defense of my own, that they are the result of the most careful observation and inquiry during sixteen months’ residence in the mines. They are furnished by individuals most of whom have given their names and residences in connection with the results of their labors. The table presents the average profits in their most favorable aspect, being furnished by a class of industrious and persevering miners. The winter averages of fifty-six miners in the best of the southern diggings is $3 26 for each day to each miner.
The summer averages were based upon the operations of mining companies located upon the most profitable bars of the Tuolumne, and furnished in every case but one by the secretaries of those companies. The table gives the result of thirty-five thousand eight hundred and seventy-six working days, which was bullion valued at $113,633 95, or an average of $3 16 for each day’s labor to each man.
Hon. T. Butler King, in his report to government, gives the average as $16 per diem. It is a question of some importance which of these is the correct estimate. Let us present the aggregate amount of gold taken out of all the California mines during the year, according to both estimates. According to that of Senator King, and allowing the year to have three hundred and thirteen working days, the one hundred thousand miners would give the sum total of $500,800,000, or over half a billion dollars yearly, while the average sum would be $5008 to each miner. The other estimate would average $1004 73, and present the total profits of the mines for the year as $100,473,000. One would think that the rest of the world should be satisfied with having picked from the pockets of this old California miser who has hoarded his treasures so long, nearly a hundred million of dollars in one year! Half a billion! that would be taking too much!
Not only is the digging of gold the most uncertain of all employments, it is also one in which science and all past experience are at fault. No rules can be given, no evidences furnished for finding the concealed veins or opening the rich deposits. The miner is not sure of his gold till he holds it in his hand, and then it seems very difficult for him to hold on to it. One of our coins is very properly denominated the eagle, since it seems endued with wings, and is so apt to fly away.
CHAPTER II.
VOYAGE TO CALIFORNIA.
On the 1st of February, 1849, we embarked, at the foot of Arch Street, Philadelphia, on board the barque Thomas Walters, under command of Captain Marshman, for Tampico, thence intending to cross Mexico, and, re-embarking at Mazatlan, to proceed up the Pacific coast to San Francisco. Our company consisted of about forty persons, known as the Camargo Company. There were among them men from all the professions and pursuits in life—young and old, grave and gay, married and unmarried.
After the usual amount of adventures, sea-sickness, and home-sickness, we arrived at Tampico on the 21st of February, where we were most happy to exchange the monotony, the junk and other salt provisions, and the green waves of a sea life, for the pleasing variety, the delicious fruits and vegetables, and the beautiful fields of a tropical climate.
We must take our readers with us, first to the theatre of Tampico, where we went, not as spectators, but as actors upon its boards. The first night after our arrival we appeared upon its stage, performing our parts in the celebrated farce, the California Gold Diggers—a play which has since been performed a thousand times, and with unabated interest. To explain myself, our quarters, while in the city, were in the old theatre, the various rooms of which we occupied as sleeping and eating apartments.
This city is pleasantly located upon an elevated promontory, being almost an island, having the River Panuco on the one side, and a lake upon the other. It contains about seven thousand inhabitants, many of whom are Americans. There are several large plazas or public squares, and some pleasant houses. The American consul, Captain Chase, took us to the spot where his heroic wife raised the American flag, and maintained it in spite of the threats of the Mexicans.
The furnishing of such a company as ours with all the horses and mules necessary for a journey of about eight hundred miles was not to be accomplished at once. On the morning of the 8th of March, and the fifteenth day after our arrival, we were mounted on “mustangs,” a small and hardy horse, peculiarly adapted to the mountains over which we were to travel, our provisions and clothing being on the backs of mules. All being ready, we slowly filed out from the hacienda of Mr. Laffler, a large farmer from Ohio, who was under contract to supply us with animals to Mazatlan. We had spent some days here preparing for the march, and amusing ourselves in spearing fish, and in shooting deer and alligators, being ourselves likewise the sport of innumerable swarms of musquitoes, ticks, fleas, and jiggers. This latter insect, though very small, is the occasion, at times, of great inconvenience and suffering. These tropical insects handled us so cruelly, that we were compelled to write, eat, and sleep with gloves. To avoid them at night, I encased myself in a bag, made of cotton, which I drew up over my whole body, then bringing it around my head. This arrangement proved so much to my advantage that I continued it during the whole time of my absence.