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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.
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