regon," and in
due course of time by the "Tennessee," the "Golden Gate," the
"Columbia," the "John L. Stephens," the "Sonora," the "Republic," the
"Northerner," the "Fremont," the "Tobago," the "St. Louis," and the
"Golden Age." From a small beginning that Company now has the finest
steam fleet in the United States, although the difficulties in forming
it were probably much greater than any of our other companies had to
contend with.

These steamers found nothing ready to receive them in the Pacific. The
Company was compelled to construct large workshops and foundries for
their repair, and now have at Benicia a large and excellent
establishment where they can easily construct a marine engine. They
had also to build their own Dry Dock; for that of the Government at
Mare Island was not ready until 1854. Theirs has ever been most useful
to the United States, as it furnished the only accommodations of that
class in the Pacific. They had also to make shore establishments at
Panama, San Francisco, and Astoria, which, with coal depots, etc.,
were extremely costly, owing to materials having to be transported so
far, and labor at the time being so high. The price of labor in
California at all times depends on the profits which can be made by
digging gold, and the prices paid for this species of labor have ever
been enormous. Beyond this most unusual price of labor along the
Pacific seaboard, the coals which they have used, whether from the
Eastern States or from England, have been invariably shipped around
Cape Horn, and have never cost less than twenty dollars per ton. For a
large portion of the time the Company had to pay thirty dollars per
ton for coal, and in one instance fifty dollars. Coal, like all other
provisions of the steamers, has generally been purchased from those
who sent it out on speculation, and took all the advantages of the
peculiar market. Twelve dollars per ton is a low price for freight to
California or Panama. In addition to this, the cost price of the coal,
the handling, the wastage, and the insurance, will amount to about
eight dollars per ton, making it never less than twenty dollars
delivered. I have frequently seen coals sell even in Rio de Janeiro,
which is but about one third of the distance from us, at eighteen to
twenty-four dollars per ton. The nine steamers running consume about
35,000 tons of coal annually. If the vessels transporting it be of
1,000 tons each, it will employ something near th