“At the office there was a little entrance, about eight feet square, and a little window into the store, where the goods were passed out. The clerk there was Doctor McLoughlin’s son, whom I had seen in Montreal. He knew me, and at once opened the door inside and asked me in. ‘Take all you need,’ he said, ‘and never mind the old man.’
“But I took only the amount of the order. But all the clothes were made for big fellows—a great deal too big for me. So I took cloth, and got it made up the best I could.”
AS TO EFFECT OF MINES ON BUSINESS, ETC.
“Gold dust was like dirt. Many believed it would never have any value. I have seen the Hudson’s Bay store at Oregon City take in a four-quart pan of dust in one day. They allowed $16 an ounce; but much of it was the fine Yuba and American River dust, worth $22 to $22.50 an ounce in London.
“But it was not the men who went to the mines, so much as those that stayed on their farms and raised produce, that got the dust.
“I remember when I was in San Francisco in ’49, I went into a French restaurant. I was sick, and only called for tea and toast and an egg. For the tea and toast I paid $1.25, and for the egg $2. The egg had come around the Horn, packed in salt, and was a chunk of salt. I could not eat it.
“But prices for Oregon stuff did not hold out many years. Great shipments were made from the East. Habits of living among the farmers were not much changed. We always had enough to live on, both before and after the mines broke out.”
Mr. Matthieu was well acquainted with Governor Abernethy, the first Governor of the Provisional Government, succeeding the executive committee. He describes Abernethy as “a fine looking man, of medium size; easy in manner and ways, and very light complexion.” He built the first brick store in Oregon City, with mud for mortar. In the great flood of ’62 it collapsed. He kept a large stock of goods, trading by three vessels with San Francisco. He was in partnership with Clark, and for a time with Robb, who invested his gold mine profits in the store.
The mason who built the store was——McAdam, who also built the brick Catholic church at Saint Paul.
Mr. Matthieu was also acquainted with Joseph Lane, the first Territorial Governor. He describes the old general as “a very nice man;” quick in his movements, military in manner and bearing; not tall, and “dry and thin,” and all nerves.