An edition of Three Years in California (1857)

Three years in California

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Cover of: Three years in California by John David Borthwick, John David Borthwick
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Last edited by MARC Bot
August 18, 2022 | History
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An edition of Three Years in California (1857)

Three years in California

by

  • 1 Want to read

Edinburgh-born artist John David Borthwick (1825-c.1900) left New York for California in 1851, crossing the Isthmus at Chagres. In 1860, Borthwick returned to Britain, where his paintings were exhibited in several galleries including the Royal Academy. Three years in California (1857) focuses on his experiences mining gold and quartz at Hangtown, Foster's Bar, Downieville, Mississippi Bar, Jacksonville, and Carson's Hill. He devotes much attention to social life in the camps as well as mining techniques, describing crime, the Chinese and French and other ethnic groups, and holidays and public entertainments. Borthwick illustrated the book with eight of his own lithographs which are considered the most realistic of the period for California.

Publish Date
Publisher
William Blackwood and Sons
Language
English
Pages
384

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Previews available in: English

Subjects

exploring, gold mining, gold rush, mining, Zamorano 80, Gold discoveries, Social life and customs, Law, Frontier and pioneer life, Ethnic groups

Places

California, New York

Times

1851-1854

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Cover of: Three years in California
Three years in California
1857, William Blackwood and Sons
in English
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Book Details

Table of Contents

CHAPTER I. California fever in the States - The start - New York to Panama - Shipboard -Chagres - Crossing the Isthmus - The river - Cruces - Gorgona
Page 1
CHAPTER II. Panama in July 1851 - Its architecture - Shops - Churches - Dirt - Diseases and diversions - Embark for San Francisco - Fever - Hard fare - Arrival
Page 26
CHAPTER III. San Francisco - Appearance of the houses - Growth of the city - The Plaza - Ships in the streets - Living - Boot-blacks - Restaurants - Hotels
Page 43
CHAPTER IV. Scarcity of labouring men - High wages - Want of social restraint - Intense rivalry in all pursuits - Disappointed hopes Drunkenness - American style of drinking - The bars - Free luncheons - The barkeeper - Variety of national houses - The Chinese - Chinese stores and washermen - Theatres and gambling-rooms - Masquerades - "No weapons admitted" - Magnificent shops - Grading the streets - Steam Paddy - Raising houses - Cabs - Post-office - Fire - Fire companies - Mission Dolores - San Jose - Native Californians
Page 65
CHAPTER V. Start for the Mines - The Sacramento River - American river-steamboats in California - Natural facilities for inland navigation, and promptness of the Americans in taking advantage of them - Sacramento City Appearance of the houses - Street nomenclature - Staging - Four-and-twenty four-horse coaches start together - The plains - The scenery - The weather - The mountains - Mountain roads and American drivers - First sight of gold-digging - Arrival at Hangtown
Page 94
CHAPTER VI. Hangtown - First impression of the "The Diggins" - Idea of a Mining Town - Gambling Houses - The Street - The Stores - Jew Slop-shops - The Jews: Their Peculiarities - Hangtown on a Sunday - Bowie-knives and Revolvers - Gold-deposits - Method of Washing - Long toms - Rockers - Prospecting - Middletown - Our Menage
Page 112
CHAPTER VII. Digger Indians - Their Love of Dress - Their dogs - Their Food - Their Ingenuity - Indian Female Beauty, or Otherwise - "Hunting" The Indians, and Teaching Them Manners - Coon Hollow - Coyote Diggins - Coyotes - Weaver Creek - The Weather and the Climate - Chinamen - A Celestial "Muss."
Page 128
CHAPTER VIII. The Missourians - Pike County: Their Appearance - Humanising Effects of California - Difference Between the Outward-Bound Californians and the Same Men on their Return home - The Accomplishments of the Missourians - A Phrenologer - A Jury of Miners - A Civil Suit - We Buy a Claim - A "Brush-House" - Rats: How to Circumvent Them - Rat-Shooting.
Page 146
CHAPTER IX. Hangtown - Digging in the Houses - A Golden Vision - Slaves in California - Negroes - Caloma - First Discovery of Gold - Greenwood Valley - "The Illustrated News" - Middle Fork of the American River - A "Bar" - "Spanish Bar" - Nomenclature of the Mines - A Table D'Hote
Page 161
CHAPTER X. The Grizzly-Bear House - It's Cuisine - An Illinois Warrior and the Mexican Campaign - A Bear-Hunter - Bear Stories - Grizzlies - Soft Pillows - "Ranches" - Wild Oats - Grasshoppers, and Grasshopper Paste - Arrival at Nevada City - Situation and General Appearance of the City - Supper at the Hotel de Paris - A Three-Decker - Richard III and Bombastes Furioso
Page 175
CHAPTER XI. Pine-Trees - Sugar-Pines - Woodpeckers and Acorns - Quartz Veins - Coyote Diggings - Speculative Mining - Hiring Out - Average Yield of the Mines - Loafers - An Old Sailor on a Spree - Start for the Yuba - Vegetables - An Old Friend - "Packing" Mexican Packers and Pack-Mules
Page 188
CHAPTER XII. Start for Foster's Bar - A Hard Road to Travel - Portrait-Painting - Flattering Likenesses - Foster's Bar - Sleeping Under Difficulties - Camping Out - Camp of a Flaming Company - Dangers of Sketching - Taken for a Highwayman, and Raised to the Rank of Colonel - A Long Journey for Nothing - A Soiree Musicale in the Forest
Page 199
CHAPTER XIII. Start for Downieville - Scenery and Habitations on the Way - Downieville - The Houses, Saloons - Restaurants - Theatres - Concerts - "The Forks" - "Cape Horn"
Page 213
CHAPTER XIV. Lynch Law - Necessity for Such an Institution in California - The Protection Afforded By It - It's Efficiency for the Prevention and Punishment of Crime - Summary Executions - Manner of Execution - Maladministration of Law in San Francisco - The Vigilance Committee - The Revolution of May 1956 - Statistics of Murders
Page 222
CHAPTER XV. Rapid Growth of California - Amount of Labour Performed - Luxury and Hardship - A Ragged Man - The Flying Dutchman - Foppery in Rags - A Study - The Tower of Babel - Frenchmen - A "Keskydee" - "Dutchmen" - Climbing a Mountain - An Extensive View
Page 235
CHAPTER XVI. Travelling Down the River - Mining Operations - The Florida House - A Hurdy-Gurdy Player - "Dead-Broke" - Wandering Habits of the Miners - Coin - Express Companies - Slate-range - A Camp -A "Pine-Log Crossing"
Page 250
CHAPTER XVII. Mississippi Bar - A Chinese Camp - Chinese Miners: Their Mechanical Contrivances - The Chinese in California - The Rainy Season - A Flood in the River - Nevada City - Snow-storm - Starved Out - "Thrown-up" Dirt
Page 262
CHAPTER XVIII. Start for San Francisco - A Journey - Flood - Marysville - The Plains Under Water - "Drowned Out" Squatters - Sacramento - Sailing in the Streets - Dead Rats - San Francisco - Changes since the Year Before - Fine Weather - The Climate
Page 273
CHAPTER XIX. The Northern and Southern Mines - Spring - The Mines Inexhaustible - Produce of Gold - Jacksonville - A Pet Bear - Moquelumne Hill - The Population - The Houses - Indians: Their Ultimate Fate - A Bull-and-Bear Fight - Trapping Bears
Page 284
CHAPTER XX. Want of Water - Canals - Engineering Difficulties - Volcano Diggings - Boiling Dirt - Northern and Southern Mines - Difference in Scenery, Gold and Inhabitants - Visit to a Cave - Whist and Chess - Mexican Horse-Thieves - Crossing the Moquelumne - Chilian Miners - An Indian Cavalcade
Page 301
CHAPTER XXI. San Andres - A ragged camp - Mexicans Gambling-rooms - Music - A church - Throwing the lasso - Lynch law - An execution - Angel's Camp - Chinese - A ball - The Lancers" - The Highland Fling
Page 313
CHAPTER XXII. Carson's Hill - Rich quartz mine - Mexican mode of working it - The quartz vein of California - Gold-deposits - The Stanislaus River - Ferries and bridges - Sonora - The houses and inhabitants - Hotels and restaurants - A knowing Chinaman - The police - Gentlemen's fashions
Page 323
CHAPTER XXIII. A bull-fight - Riding the bull - Killing with the sword - A magician - Necromancy in the mines - Table Mountain - Shaw's Flats
Page 334
CHAPTER XXIV. Fire in Sonora - Rapid progress of the fire, and total destruction of the town - The burned-out inhabitants - Deaths by fire - Rebuilding of the town
Page 344
CHAPTER XXV. The Fourth of July - The procession - The celebration - The oration - A bull-fight - A lady bull-fighter - Natural bridges
Page 353
CHAPTER XXVI. French miners - Their menage - Their capacity as miners - Frenchmen as colonists - Social equality in the mines - The reason of it - And the result
Page 363
CHAPTER XXVII. The Stockton stage - The plains - San Francisco - Its progress - Improvement in style of living - Female influence - Extravagance - First settlement of California - Effective population - Americans as colonists - English in California - Modern discoveries of gold - Their consequences
Page 375

Edition Notes

Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress Web site.
No known restrictions on publication.
Not by John Douglas Borthwick of Montreal, Can.

Published in
Edinburgh, London
Other Titles
The gold hunters

Classifications

Library of Congress
F865 .B7

Contributors

Illustrator
John David Borthwick

The Physical Object

Pagination
vi p., 1 ¾., 384 p.
Number of pages
384

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL14014440M
Internet Archive
incalithreeyears00bortrich
LCCN
rc01002730
OCLC/WorldCat
6743862

Source records

Internet Archive item record
Internet Archive item record
Internet Archive item record
Internet Archive item record
Library of Congress MARC record

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August 18, 2022 Edited by MARC Bot normalize LCCNs
September 19, 2020 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
June 28, 2020 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
September 13, 2011 Edited by mikemccabe Edited without comment.
September 4, 2008 Created by ImportBot Imported from Internet Archive item record