ch pay well, and in which a competency would be realised in a
moderate space of time, are abandoned because they do not produce gold
in bushels, as their owners hope to find the new mines to yield." And
in another letter, the same authority says:--"The excitement in the
interior is universal. I was up the country this week, and returned
only last night; so that I had an opportunity of judging for myself.
From every point of the compass squads of miners were to be seen making
for San Francisco to ship themselves off; and I heard of arrangements
having been completed for driving stock overland to meet the demands of
the new population congregating in the Puget Sound country. One man had
purchased a drove of mules, and another had speculated in 200
Californian horses, to supply the demand for `packing.' These two
`ventures' were to proceed overland in two days hence. The speculator
in horses had been at Fraser River, and returned convinced of the
judiciousness of his `spec.' He spoke of the overland trip with
enthusiasm; plenty of game and of grass, a fine climate, and no
molestation from Indians. As a natural result of all this emigration,
business in the interior is becoming much deranged. The operations of
the country merchants are checked; rents and the value of property in
the interior towns are diminishing. Some of the merchants are
`liquidating,' and some have already moved their business to San
Francisco, to take advantage of the business which must spring up
between that port and the north-west. All the movements made in
consequence of the new gold discovery have tended to benefit San
Francisco, and she will, no doubt, continue to derive great advantages
from the change. The increase of business will bring an increase of
immigration to the city, for there is every reason to believe, judging
from past experience, that a considerable proportion of the emigration
from Europe, the Atlantic States, and Australia, will rest here; that
the city will increase rapidly, and that an advance in the value of
property must ensue in consequence. The fact is, that there is now in
California so extensive an association of capital and labour engaged in
mining successfully, that, happen what may in other countries, the
`yield' here most continue to be very great. Companies of men who have
large amounts of money invested in mining of a variety of sorts, such as
`tunnelling,' `sluicing,' and `quartz crushing,' on a large sc