Chapter XXXIV: Appendix: No. 2

The following statement of the amount of California gold deposited at all the United States Mints, comprising those of Philadelphia, New Orleans, Charlotte, and Dahlonega, from the opening of the mines, or discovery of the metal, until the 30th of the month of September, 1851, is taken from the memoranda of Robt. Patterson, Esq., of Philadelphia, son of the late Director of the Mint.

+------------------+-------------+------------+----------+----------+-----------+
| |Philadelphia.|New Orleans.|Charlotte.|Dahlonega.| Total|
+------------------+-------------+------------+----------+----------+-----------+
|For the year 1848 | 44,177| 1,124| | | 45,301|
| " " " 1849 | 5,481,439| 669,921| | | 6,151,360|
| " " " 1850 | 31,667,505| 4,575,567| | 30,025| 36,273,097|
| 9 months of 1851 | 31,300,105| 6,310,462| 12,805| 70,925| 37,694,297|
| +-------------+------------+----------+----------+-----------+
| Totals| $68,493,226| $11,557,074| $12,805| $100,950|$80,164,055|
+------------------+-------------+------------+----------+----------+-----------+

The total production of California gold since its discovery is doubtless over one hundred millions of dollars in value, which, according to official data in my possession, is equal to nearly one half the total coinage of this country in gold, silver, and copper, since its separation from Great Britain. To the $80,164,055 received at the U. S. Mints, as shown above, must be added large amounts received here, and consumed by jewellers, dentists, &c.; considerable amounts shipped from San Francisco directly to other countries; the gold coinage and circulation in California itself, including the $50 pieces stamped by the U. S. Assayer; the shipments received here since the 1st of October, amounting, in New York alone, to about $5,000,000, and all the gold dust now in the hands of miners and merchants on the Pacific side. It will be a fair estimate, therefore, to set down the entire production, up to the close of 1851, at $120,000,000, at least.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Mühlenpfordt--Die Republik Mexico: Hanover, 1844, 2 vols.

[2] Ward, vol. 1, p. 7.

[3] Folsom's Mexico in 1842, p. 29.

[4] See maps and tables of areas of the several states of our Union accompanying the President's message of December, 1848.

[5] The high table land of Mexico which we have described, is said to owe its present form to the circumstance that an ancient system of valleys in a chain of granitic mountains, has been filled up to the height of many thousand feet with various volcanic products. Five active volcanos traverse Mexico from _west_ to _east_,--Tuxtla, Orizaba, Popocatepetl, Jorullo, and Colima. Jorulla which is in the centre of the great platform is no less than one hundred and twenty miles from the nearest ocean, which is an important circumstance, showing that proximity to the sea is not a necessary condition although certainly a very general characteristic of the position of active volcanos. If the line which connects these five volcanic vents in Mexico be prolonged westerly, it cuts the volcanic group in the Pacific called the group of Revilla-Gigedo.--Lyell's Geology, American edition, vol. I, p. 294.

[6] See Tschudi's Peru--American Edition, p. 80, and Mühlenpfordt--Die Republik Mejico, vol. 1;--Indians.

[7] It is just to Mexico to state that Cortina, in the article previously referred to, estimates the number of persons able to read and write, to be much larger; but his calculations are doubtless made with the partiality of a native, and are based on a limited observation of city life, the army and municipal prisons.

[8] The cholera ravaged Mexico this year, and consequently it would be unfair to use the deaths as a basis of calculation at that period.

[9] See Boletin No. 1, del Instituto Nacional de Geografia y Estadistica, Mejico, 1839.

[10] Ward's Mexico in 1827, vol. 1, p. 55.

[11] "_La propriété c'est le vol._" Prudhon.

[12] Humboldt, Essai Politique, Book iv., chap. ii.--Paris, 1811.

[13] See Humboldt's essay on the production of gold and silver in the Journal des Economistes for March, April and May, 1838.

[14] See Humboldt's Essay on Precious Metals, _ut antea_--in note--in the American translation, given in vol. iii., of the Banker's Magazine, p. 509.

[15] See Ranke: Fursten and Volker, vol. i., pp. 347, 355.

[16] Pet. Mart. Epist. lib. xxix., No. 556, 23d January, 1516.

[17] See M. Ternaux-Compans' Original Memoirs of the discovery of America--(Conquest of Mexico, p. 451)--Compans publishes in this, for the first time, an official list sent between 1522 and 1587 by the viceroys of New Spain to the mother country. The PESOS _of gold_, must be multiplied by a mean of eleven dollars and sixty-five cents in order to give their value in dollars. See Banker's Magazine, ut antea, p. 594, in note. See Prescott's History of the Conquest of Mexico, vol. i., 320. Raminez, in his notes on the Spanish translation of Prescott's History of the Conquest rates the _peso de oro_ at two dollars and ninety-three cents. This result is reached by a long financial calculation and course of reasoning. See La Conquista de Mejico, vol. ii., at p. 89 _of the notes_ at the end of the volume.

[18] This is Humboldt's estimate in the essay cited in this section. We think it rather too large, yet give it upon such high authority. See our general table of Mexican coinage.

[19] Ward's Mexico in 1827, vol. ii, p. 151.

[20] Ward, ut antea.

[21] See report of the Mexican Minister of Foreign Relations for 1846, at page 139, of _Documentos Justificativos_.

[22] These calculations are made in dollars, _reales_, or pieces of the value of 12-1/2 cents, and _medios_, or pieces of the value of 6-1/4 cents.

[23] The actual coinage of all the mints in the republic in 1844 amounted, in fact, to the sum of $13,732,861; but we assume $14,000,000 as a fair annual average for a period of several years.

[24] Zavala's Historia de las Revoluciones de Mejico. Tomo 1.

[25] The cultivation of cotton is a branch of agriculture of almost marvellous increase. Mr. Burke, a member of our congress, from South Carolina, in 1789, when speaking of southern agriculture, remarked that "cotton was likewise in _contemplation_." During the last quarter of the eighteenth century, when 7012 bags of the article were imported into Liverpool a perfect panic was produced by so unusual a supply, at present 150,000 bags may reach a single port without greatly affecting the price. In 1791 the whole United States produced only two millions of pounds, whilst in 1848, the Commissioner of Patents calculated the whole crop at 1,066,000,000 lbs.

[26] Whilst these pages are passing through the press information has been received from the Mexican gazettes that in 1846 there were sixty-two cotton factories for spinning and weaving, and five for manufacturing woollens;--that the first mentioned have been greatly improved by the introduction of the best kinds of machinery, and that two _new_ factories for woollens have been set in operation in the state of Mexico, which produce cloths and cassimeres that are eagerly purchased by the best classes. The cost of these fabrics is not mentioned, but it is probably fifty per cent. higher than if manufactured in the United States.

[27] Mejico in 1842 by del Rivero. Madrid, 1844.

[28] See Otero Cuestion Social y Politica de Mejico, pp. 38, 39, 43.

[29] Mexico as it Was and Is, p. 329.

[30] Rivero, Mejico in 1842, p. 130.

[31] Norman's Rambles in Yucatan, p. 32.

[32] ib. p. 91.

[33] Stephens' Travels in Yucatan, vol. 2, page 115.

[34] Forbes's California, p. 215.

[35] Zavala, Rev. de Mejico, vol. 1, pp. 14, 25.

[36] See Mayer's Mexico as it Was and as it Is, 1844; and the review of it by the Rev. Mr. Verot, in the United States Catholic Magazine for March, 1844: See also the reply entitled Romanism in Mexico, published in Baltimore in the same year.

[37] We trust that it will not be regarded as levity if we relate an anecdote which shows that the church _has_ contributed to the money if not to the wealth of the country, in years past, in a most unexampled manner. It will be recollected that in the historical part of this work there is an account of the mode in which a large revenue was derived by the government from the sale of Bulls issued by the church permitting the people a variety of indulgences and acts which, without the possession of such a document, were not allowed by the spiritual laws of Rome, or the temporal laws of Spain. Immense packages of these Bulls were found in the treasury after the revolution, and, when it became necessary for the government to issue a temporary _paper money_, the financiers of the nation thought it a wise stroke to make these Bulls at once a license of indulgence to the holder, and a security against counterfeiters. Accordingly they printed the government notes on the blank back of the Bulls, which had been sent from Spain to supply her revenue. One of these treasury notes, now before us, measures twelve inches in length by nine in breadth, and promises to pay two dollars. The Bull upon which it is printed is an indulgence, valued at "two coined silver reals," or, twenty-five cents, allowing the possessor to eat "wholesome meat, eggs and milk," during lent and on fast days.

[38] Mexico as it was and as it is, p. 269.

[39] See vol. 1, pages

[40] Lerdo, Consideraciones, &c., &c., p. 42.

[41] Lerdo, Consideraciones, p. 46, 47.

[42] Lerdo 43.--Cuevas's memoir of 1849, as Mexican Minister of Foreign and Domestic relations, p. 29 of American translation.

[43] It will scarcely be credited, but such is nevertheless the fact, that it was once seriously contemplated in Mexico to deny the right of sepulture to all strangers who were not Catholics, and that the point was only overruled by an ingenious liberalist, who contended that it was certainly healthier for the living Catholics that the dead _heretic_ should rot beneath the ground, than taint the atmosphere by decaying above it! The priests have constantly and violently opposed marriages between Mexicans and foreigners, unless they were Catholics.

[44] Bacalar, Campeché, Ichmul or Izamal, Isla de Carmen, Jequetchacan, Junoma, Lerma, Mama, Merida, Oxhuscab, Seyba, Playa, Sotula, Tizizimin, and Valladolid. These are the names of the Departments given by Mühlenpfordt: the first table is taken from Stephens.

[45] Our table of population on page 43 of this volume, adds about 10 per cent to this number to give the population estimated in 1850.

[46] See Senator Cass' speech, on the proposed occupation of Yucatan, in the Senate, May 10th, 1848, p. 7.

[47] See Stephens's Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan, vol. 2, chapter xxvi; and his Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, vol. 2, page 444.

[48] Transactions American Ethnological Society, vol. 1, page 104, and Stephens's Yucatan, vol. 1, page 434.

[49] This year was remarkable for its dryness and the loss of cattle on the coasts in consequence.

[50] In this year the observations include only ten months.

[51] It will be seen hereafter that expeditions subsequent to Humboldt's calculation give Popocatepetl a height of 17,884 feet.

[52] See Mosaico Mejicano.

[53] See Museo Mejicano, vol. 2, p. 465, for a plate of this temple.

[54] See Museo Mejicano, vol. 3d, p. 329, for lithographic sketches of the palace and temple, and their monuments. See also vol. 1st of the same work, p. 401; and vol. 3d id., p. 135, for descriptions of Zapotec remains; and vol. 1st id., p. 246, for an imperfect account of military remains, fortifications, &c. &c., near Guiengola, near Tehuantepec.

[55] This peak which is visible from Mexico, has been thus denominated in honor of Mr. William Glennie, who was the chief promoter of the expedition.

[56] See page 179, vol. I

[57] See chapter on the agriculture of Mexico for more extended notices of the character of the valley of Cuernavaca.

[58] Muhlenpfordt, vol. 2, p. 294.

[59] See also, "Mexico as it was and as it is"--p. 63, for a full account of the ceremonies of the Collegiate church, and of Archbishop Lorenzano's sermon, preached in 1760, confirming the miraculous history.

[60] The Indian not being able to point out the precise spot, a fountain gushed from the ground and indicated it.

[61] This armor and patent of nobility, were offered to the author of this work in 1842, before they were purchased by the government, for one hundred and forty dollars, and, at his recommendation, they were tendered, as a first choice, to the national authorities who bought them.

[62] The waters of the lake, it will be recollected, have fallen greatly since the conquest.

[63] The reader will find an interesting account in Spanish, of the residence of Nezahualcoyotl at Tescocingo, extracted from Ixtlilxochitl's history of the Chichimecas, in the third volume of Prescott's History of the Conquest of Mexico, page 430. The hill or mountain described in this section, is doubtless the same one referred to by the Indian historian; and it is to the Vandalism of Fray Zumarraga, the archbishop, that we are indebted for the destruction of one of the most graceful and elegant monuments of Indian civilization.

[64] See Scrope on Volcanoes, p. 267.

[65] Leonhard and Brown's Neues Jarbuch, 1835, p. 36. See Lyell's Geol., Am. Ed., 1 vol., p. 345.

[66] Mühlenpfordt.

[67] The writings of Clavigero, Solis, Bernal Dias, and others describe this mode of disposing of the bodies of those whose hearts had been torn out and offered to the idol.

[68] Ward assigns Catorcé an elevation of _over_ 7,760 feet. The statement given in the present work is on the more recent authority of Muhlenpfordt.

[69] Dr. Wislizenius's Memoir, &c., &c., 1848, p. 41.

[70] See Humboldt's Views of Nature, London edition, 1850, p. 208, and Dr. Wislizenius's Profiles of the country in his Memoir on New Mexico, &c., &c.

[71] See Dr. Wislizenius's Memoir, &c., &c. p. 141.

[72] We have used the full account given by Dr. Wislizenius, with but slight alterations of his language, because it is the most complete, consistent and satisfactory that we have encountered in our researches. We could neither improve its method or condense its matter. He is a close observer; an accurate thinker; an industrious traveller, and relates always from his personal observation.

[73] There are no negroes in New Mexico, and consequently neither _mulattos_ nor _zambos_. The fatal epidemic fever of a typhoid character that ravaged the whole province from 1837 to 1839, and the small pox in 1840, carried off nearly ten per cent. of the population.

[74] See Gregg's Commerce of the Prairies, vol. i., p. 113.

[75] See Gregg, vol. i., chapter vii.

[76] Gregg, vol. ii., p. 160.

[77] The roads by Gen. Kearney's and by Brevet Lieut. Col. Cooke's routes leave the Rio Grande for California some fifteen or twenty miles below the ford at Valverde; the former just opposite, and the latter below a point on the left bank of the river known as San Diego.

[78] See vol. ii., page 137.

[79] Forbes's California, p. 202.

[80] Gwin, Frémont, Wright and Gilbert: Memorial to Congress accompanying the Constitution of California, 12 March, 1850.

[81] See the admirable "Paper upon California" read by that accomplished scholar J. Morrison Harris, before the Maryland Historical Society in March 1849. It has been published and forms, in the estimation of competant judges, the best resumé and most philosophical disquisition upon California that has been hitherto issued from the press.

[82] See T. B. King's Report on California, Ex. Doc. No. 59, 31 Cong. 1st sess.

[83] See appendix at end of vol. for Meteorological Observations in California.

[84] See Debates on the California Convention: Appendix p. xx.

[85] See Senator Frémont's speech. Debates in Senate of U. States on Friday, 20th September, 1850.

[86] Article by the Hon. Professor Tucker, Hunt's Magazine, July, 1850, p. 25:--See Appendix No. 2.

[87] Fremont, a town laid out by Jonas Spect, on the west bank of the Sacramento river, opposite the mouth of Feather river; Vernon, east bank of the Feather river, at its confluence with the Sacramento; Boston, on the north bank of the Rio Americano, a few miles above its confluence with the Sacramento; Sacramento City, on the site of the celebrated Sutter's Fort; Sutter City, on the east bank of the Sacramento, a few miles below Sacramento City; Webster, on the east bank of Sacramento river, nine miles below Sacramento City; Suisun, on the west bank of the Rio Sacramento, 80 miles from San Francisco; Tuolumne City, at the head of navigation of the Tuolumne river; Stanislaus, on the north bank of the Stanislaus river; Stockton, situated on a slough, or sloughs, which contain the back waters formed by the junction of the Sacramento and San Joaquin; New York upon the Pacific, located at the mouth of the San Joaquin; Benecia, on the Straits of Carquinez, 35 miles from the ocean; Martinez, opposite Benecia; Napa, on the banks of the Napa creek, 40 miles north of San Francisco; Sonoma, in the valley of the same name, three miles from the Sonoma creek; St. Louis, on the Sonoma creek; San Rafael, on the north side of the Bay of San Francisco; Saucelito, on the Bay of San Francisco, at the entrance of the harbor.

[88] Report upon the land titles of California by W. Carey Jones--Washington 1850.