wagons on hand was able to realize ten times
the price that was tendered for them before the boom. Many men who were
thus situated did not consider it advisable to throw away their chances
by accepting grave risks in search of gold, and many who stayed at home
and supplied the wants of those who went up country realized handsome
competences, and in some cases small fortunes.

That there was a good deal of lawlessness and violence is not to be
wondered at. It has been said that for every bona fide miner there was
at least one hanger-on or camp follower, who had no intention of doing
any digging or washing, but who was smart enough to realize that a
veritable thief's paradise would be built up by the hard workers.
Sometimes these men went to the trouble of digging tunnels under the
ground and into the tents of successful miners, frequently passing
through rich deposits of gold on the way. At other times they waylaid
wagons and coaches coming into San Francisco from the mining camps.
History tells us of the fights which ensued, and we have all heard of
the successful miners who were murdered while asleep at half-way houses,
and the result of their hard toil turned to base uses and vicious
purposes.

In San Francisco itself robbery and violence could not be suppressed. We
have all heard of the way in which the decent element finally got
together, formed special laws and executed offenders in short order. No
one of course approves lynch law in the abstract, but when the
circumstances of the case are taken into consideration, it is difficult
to condemn very severely the men who made it possible for San Francisco
to become a great and honored city.

The population of San Francisco to-day is about a third of a million. A
greater portion of its growth has been during the last quarter of a
century, and it was the first city in this country to lay cable conduits
and adopt a system of cable cars. For several years it had practically a
monopoly in this mode of street transportation, and, although
electricity has since provided an even more convenient motive power, San
Francisco will always be entitled to credit for the admirable missionary
work it did in this direction. At the present time, almost every portion
of the city and its beautiful parks can be reached easily by a system of
transportation as comfortable and rapid as it is inexpensive.

Among the wonders of San Francisco must be mentioned the Palace Hotel, a
structure of