Comfortable men in
the seaboard states, men of assured financial position, shrewd men of
affairs, these were not the least eager among the gold-rushers of 1849.
They may have thought that success in the search for gold would
demonstrate their superiority over common folk. Possibly, the
adventurous nature of the enterprise challenged that bit of the
national restlessness deep in their souls. Whatever the reason, these
solid men joined the race for fortune with as much, and more,
enthusiasm, than the "Pikes," as poor emigrants from Missouri and
Arkansas were called.
No
wagons or ox teams for the solid men! They were used to long voyages by
sea, rather than by land; and yet they were not taken in by the
flamboyant promises on the posters which advertised everywhere the
all-water route around Cape Horn. That was the safest route, by all
odds, but the solid men wanted a way to the golden country which would
be short, speedy and comfortable. Any intelligent man had only to look
at a map to know which was the only perfect route. Damme, sir, look
there! Only seventy-five miles across the Isthmus of Panama, from the
port of Chagres on the Atlantic side to Panama City on the Pacific
Ocean itself! Only seventy-five miles of inconvenience, and open at all
seasons of the year, mind you!
The
new mail-steamer service stood ready to take most of the difficulty out
of the trip. Through tickets were on sale: New York to Chagres by
steamer—the Isthmus—and then a connecting Pacific Mail steamer at
Panama City, waiting to whisk you directly up the coast to San
Francisco. Meanwhile, not a day went by but sailing ships left New
York and New Orleans for Chagres.. A rapid passage to the Isthmus might
make it worth a gold-seeker's while to take his chances on the
connection at Panama City. A fortunate man might save as much as two
weeks' time!
Others
among the solid men were attracted by the ease and safety of the routes
to California across Mexico. Some of them had served in the recent war
with that tumultuous republic. They flattered themselves that its
mountain trails were an open book to them. Without pausing to think
that the Mexicans might not welcome another visit from North Americans,
however pacific, they formed the inevitable "companies for mutual aid
and protection," shipped their heavy goods around Cape Horn, and in the
warm atmosphere of New York and Boston drawing-rooms planned to march
westward from Vera Cruz to Mexico City and thence to some port on the
western coast where a ship might be had for San Francisco.
A
few solid men hoped to steal a march on everyone else by heading across
Texas and northern Mexico, starting either from the mouth of the Rio
Grande, or from Corpus Christi, a little farther up the coast of the
Gulf of Mexico. They would take a ship at Mazatlan, or any other
convenient port on the Pacific Ocean side.
