uits and
vegetables. Across the bay white men farmed, and grapes, fruits,
vegetables and flowers of prodigious variety and monstrous dimensions
were grown. But Eastern men came to do the farming. The Californian who
himself was an "Argonaut," or whose father was an Argonaut, found no
attractions in the steady labor of farming.

There followed a period of depression, ascribed by many to the influx of
the Chinese and their effect upon the labor market, though the army of
the unemployed were as a rule unwilling to do the work their Celestial
rivals engaged in, that of truck farming, fruit raising, manual
household labor, wood cutting and the like. A heavy weight settled on
the city; business grew slack; the army of the unemployed, of ruined
speculators and moneyless newcomers grew steadily greater, and for an
era San Francisco saw its dark side.

But this was not a long duration. There was fast developing a new and
important business, resulting from the development of the real resources
of the State--the fruits, particularly the citrous fruits that grew
abundantly in the warm valley. Fortunes were made in oranges, lemons,
limes, grapes, almonds and pears. Raisins, whose size defied anything
heretofore known, were made from the huge grapes that grew in the San
Joaquin Valley. Sonoma sent its grapes to be made into wine. Capital
flowed in from every side. Eastern men in search of health, others in
search of wealth, came to the Golden State. No matter who came, where
they came from, or where they were going, they spent a few days, or
many, and some money, or much, in "'Frisco." The enterprise of the
second edition pioneers quickly transformed the State and city.

AGRICULTURE BRINGS NEW WEALTH.

Luxury was startling. San Francisco's mercantile community equaled the
best, the stores and shops were as beautiful as anywhere in the
world and proportionately as well patronized. Theatres, music halls,
restaurants, hotel bars and the like were ablaze with lights at night,
and patronized by a gay throng. Sutro's bath, near the Cliff House, was
a species of entertainment unequaled anywhere. The Presidio, as the army
post is still known, as in the Spanish nomenclature, gave its drills,
regarded as free exhibitions for the people. Golden Gate Park was an
endless daily picnic ground.

The crowds in the streets of San Francisco were noticeably well dressed
and usually gay, without that fixed, drawn, saturnine look noticeable
amon