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A Sensible Men. - { -We make the following ex'rac! from a letter in the Detroit Fre.» Ferrs. If .ill who write from California would apeak aa plainly, the number of “Cul.forma widow# would be much lea#.The strange advcnturca of Michigan men might till a volume in this prolific land of goldand excitement, but I hove notriiber time or -pace to devote t • the subject. Suffice lint they come in for their share of good and evil , : fortune—a# elsewhere.Tlu* rlimife and production* of this State are ■ | such, that a large population of producer# will I , soon occupy the vacant tillable laud',and living will be reduced to the ordm.iry standard i»f an Atlantic city, potatoes, barley and onion# are produced in abundance, and of a size to oston i61 a Michigan fanner. In fact, Cal fornu cntauia wit!,in herself the element# of a great | State, and if yno were here to witness the won-, ! deful energy with which things are driven . iliead. yon would become smatied of the in-* j evitable r suit. The at -ainer# come, loaded with enngran*#, or ndvcntureiB, [a# vpu pleise to call themj full of expectation of gold, that I am leai ful will never he r*blizetf,as mining is the great inducements, or rather its reward-, for liie undertaking of a hazardous and latiguinlt;r journey of .%iM»u attended by afinoai everys-n-jclistexposure that is possible to think or. g|„p. s fever, ague fever, and, last of all that scourge of the human race,Panama fever are but a few of the evils that accompany and fi*How in the tram of the ardent and eutliusi istic candid ite for California fame. Up-n their arrival they are led I • this point of the compass, and of that by I lie golden ktlt; tries of interested persons, until*I smg all confidence in pretended friends or enemies they turn, vc lien too late, towards their distant places with the exclamation, that if only hack, no earthly consideration should induce them to leave even the coinforts of a paor home, t., encoun'cr the hardships and uncertainties III a California life.The mining region is covered with mnumer-n able claims ol all kinds, and the young miner u.len !m.Is that, instead of the privilege of dig-0,1 his own account, as confidently expect -IU ed, lie has to pay for the value of the claim, and often realize nothing tor his labor. I have met turn that have been two and even three years in the mines without one cent in their pockets, and in di lit at that. One poor fellow, a doctor from Indiana, cried while he recounted the hardships and disappointment# of his three year * stay in the mountains. In view of the stab* ot things existing here, the uncertainty of success, the almost certainty of dis-ase, and in many cases of death, attendant upon the first exit of the enterprising citizens of our State, I would earnestly advi-e that no persons, having** any wny of living at home, should think of coining to California. The steamers carry over Semi-iiiontlily large amount# of gold ; but when you reflect that a large numbcrot p*rsons (say •200,000) are engaged in searching every canon, crevice and ravine in the gold region for the shining met I, that some must, as a natural cr.n-n- sequence, succeed, but still the great majority jc live and labor on, in the faint hope that fortune may turn up something to their advantage—that the //i/r, to use ttieir own language, may be made uj», and, once, the comforts of home be theirs. Youjinay think my picture somewhat overdrawn, and that the dark side isonly up, but my observations have been direct'd to the facts and not the ftnciful representations of those who may hive realized their expec'ations, to a certain extent. A great many came out here at a very early day, and made some money, upon which they returned—but, finding the every day transaction of the .Ulamtie St.,tea too slow lor them, have returned in full expectation of repeating the.r first success ; but I tell you two thirds of that class don't know the country ; on their return, as everything goes upon the high prcMirc principle, and a gulch or a hill assumes an entire new appearance in a few short months. A poor fellow told me that he had been back three months, and that $7,000 had gone in that time.The land commissioners have made, 1 believe, two or three abortive attempts at seres#-ira ion, but a# yet nothing has been done that looks lJc like a settlement at any distant day of the land titles of California. At present the whole available portion of the State is covered by conflict-m. | ing claim*—vexatious to the parties concerned, nt and highly detrimental to the agricultural intervals of the people.1 It i# confidently expected that Congress will c | never endorse large grants of land to individual#, as directly tending to a renewal here of the disturbances of the Livingston and Van Hens-selaer Manors of New York, as the safety and interest of the country consists in its establish-l-Ii ing small independent freeholders. I will write n, IV'*'* again in a few days, if 1 do not return.— i Your friend.DELOS DAVIS.•n»yd.nobets£*byerr»nI'llrelie
Newspaper Details
The Miners Express
Dubuque, Iowa, US
Wed, Mar 24, 1852
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Megan D.
CA 16 Apr 2022
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