efore left lasting impressions in my heart of courtesy and kindness.

By nine in the evening we had left the bay and our newly made friends
far behind and we were steaming toward California as fast as the
steamer could carry us. We had come nearly half the way and were
nearing Lower California when we encountered rough weather off Cape
Lucas. Oh, how the ship tossed and rolled. I thought morning never
would dawn. The wind was against us. The masts strained and creaked. I
really feared we would not reach California. The sea was rough nearly
all the time until we passed Santa Barbara, when it became calm and we
could once more feel that we might reach our destination. We had been
now three weeks on the way and we were longing for sight of land. We
strained our eyes daily, hoping to see the hills, but not until we had
come within two days of the Golden Gate did we see any sign of land.
Fog and distance prevented our distinguishing anything but an outline
of the shore, but as the fog lifted we saw more distinctly the hills,
and each hour brought us nearer to the long-looked-for harbor within
the Golden Gate. And yet we saw no city, only sand hills. We steamed
past Telegraph Hill, then we began to see here and there low wooden
buildings and tents and shacks. Was this then San Francisco? Oh, how
disappointed we were; there was no place to go. We remained on board
until the Stockton steamer arrived. There was no accommodation for
women anywhere. The steamer, American Eagle, came in about 1 o'clock,
and our things were transferred on board, and Captain Totten cared for
us as though we were his family and had everything arranged as far as
possible for our comfort. He explained to the river captain that we
were to be met in Stockton by father. But the captain also had
instructions from Rev. J.H. Woods not to expect father, who had been
ill in the mines, but we were to go to his home until father could
arrive from Scorpion Gulch, where he and brother had a store, and it
was slow travel with the six-mule "schooner," over hills and dusty
roads to Stockton.

It was quite a change from the great steamer Tennessee to the little
stern-wheel boat as it slowly puffed across the bay through Carquinez
straits and up the slough, turning and winding along, sometimes being
caught by a sharp turn in the stream and one or two stops on the sand
bars if the water was too low. We did not sleep much because
everything was so strange and small. We w