The fate of the Union did not depress Messrs. Howland and Aspinwall unduly. Those astute ship operators had the Golden Gate fitted
out at Webb's New York yard in plenty of time to replace the wrecked
vessel on the run between Panama City and San Francisco. As may be seen
above, the Golden Gate carried sail enough to justify the advertisements that the wind "would bring her to a safe port, should her machinery give out."
Meanwhile
foreign vessels continued to carry thousands of Frenchmen, Germans,
Englishmen, either direct to San Francisco or to American ports
wherefrom the overland routes might easily be reached. Despite the
Foreign Miners' Tax and other less legal obstructions put in the way of
European and South American enterprise— ("In general, California
justice favors the Americans at the expense of foreigners," as one
Frenchman put it) —the gold-seekers from afar were not a bit
discouraged.
