plendid strait, three or four miles in width, the island rock
of Alcatraz appears, gleaming white in the distance. At last we are
through the Golden Gate--fit name for such a magnificent portal to
the commerce of the Pacific. The Bay is crowded with the shipping of
the world, and the flags of all nations are fluttering in the
breeze.'[15] Before us lies the grand emporium of the Gold
Region--a city which has well nigh realized the extravagance of the
Arabian Nights Entertainments. As if by the touch of a magic wand,
what was five years ago a little Indian village is now a large and
flourishing city, which is increasing at a prodigious rate. From
every nation and people and clime, emigrants have been pressing to
it in pursuit of the precious metal. The golden sands of California,
with their brilliant glitter, have attracted thousands upon
thousands from every land--and there is now arising on the far
distant shores of the Pacific a great Empire destined to exert a
mighty influence in the affairs of the world. The glowing prospect
which the success of the first adventurers had created, soon drew to
her shores the energy and enterprise of the nations of both Europe
and America. 'Around the curving shore of the Bay and upon the sides
of three hills, which rise steeply from the water, the middle one
receding so as to form a bold amphitheatre, the town is planted and
seems scarcely yet to have taken root, for tents, canvass, plank,
mud and adobe houses are mingled together with the least apparent
attempt at order and durability.' However, the appearance of the
city is fast improving--for churches and schools and public
buildings are springing up on every side, and substantial edifices
are fast taking the place of the more temporary erections. The
sudden rush or so many people to one point, and many of them poorly
provided, combined with the abundance of the gold, caused provision,
rents, and labor to rise to enormous prices. A tent for instance,
called Eldorado, fifteen by twenty feet, occupied mostly by gamblers
brought the enormous yearly rent of $40,000. 'Miners' Bank,' used by
Wright & Co., brokers, about half the size of a fire-engine house,
was held at a rent of $75,000. A gentleman who wished to find a law
office, was shown a cellar in the earth, about twelve feet square
and six feet deep, which he could have at $250 _per month_. One of
the common soldiers at the battle of San Pasquale was reputed to be
among the milli