1851(author’s collection).
California Gold Rush Journal
INTRODUCTION
1853 begins with relative prosperity and calm for San Franciscans. More and more families from the United States and its Western Territories arrive weekly to settle in California and improve their lot. Foreign immigration, especially Chinese, French and German, continues at a brisk pace despite the limited gold left to seekers working the river gravels. It’s not long before the economy starts to slide into recession. Big banks and express companies aren’t to big to fail.
Ships arrive weekly loaded with provisions and supplies for an economy that’s no longer booming. Oversupply of goods for sale leads to business failures; many competitors are forced to liquidate their stocks for pennies on the dollar by 1854. Many businesses are forced to close. Banks and express companies loaned heavily to mining companies, which can’t now repay their loans. This leads to the failure of Adams & Co., the large rival to Wells Fargo and Co., and other smaller banks and express companies follow suit. By the end of 1854 the whole state is in a severe recession.
Crime rises with the hard times. Once again, armed criminals, desperados, and bandits ply their trade openly and rule the streets of San Francisco by night. Murders go unpunished and efforts to rein in gambling and prostitution fail due to a culture of cronyism and bribery.
Southerners take advantage of the economic and political malaise gripping the state to advance their program to carve Southern California into a new state that allows slavery. California appears headed, like the nation, to a civil war over slavery once present and former slave owners are elected to key government and judicial offices in the state.
Our story begins with Pierre and Manon preparing to build and operate a bilingual nursery and grammar school in these unsettled times. Can Manon’s high-end French restaurant remain profitable in this unpredictable environment? Can Pierre’s ambitious projects succeed? Will the anti-immigrant venom of the Know-Nothing political forces in California, which is directed at African slaves, Catholics, and the Chinese, extend to the French and other immigrants? Must San Francisco’s merchants and businessmen resort to a second Committee of Vigilance to control the criminal element sowing havoc in the city? And so the story resumes in these turbulent times.
— Ken Salter Berkeley, California
California Gold Rush Journal
CHAPTER ONE
San Francisco — 1853
Our first challenge of the new year was to buy property on which we could build our bilingual pre-school and eventual grammar school. While Attorney Hawthorne handled the negotiations, it was hard slogging. Real estate prices throughout the city kept rising constantly. We thought naively we could get hill lots at the top of California or Washington Streets on the cheap as they were still mostly sand hills with difficult access in the rainy season. They would require additional expense clearing sand to build foundations on bedrock. We’d have to hire San Francisco’s notorious “Paddies,” the huge steam shovels the city used to push sand and rubble into the bay so the city could auction off new waterfront lots at astronomical prices to speculators and the new class of gold barons who threw their new-found wealth around like kids skipping pebbles across a pond.
Our efforts were complicated further in that these nouveau riche barons wouldn’t stoop to negotiate land prices in their hurry to build ostentatious brick mansions with commanding bay views. They thought by throwing their gold at land speculators and overpriced building contractors they’d achieve immediate social standing and respectability. In order to buy our three lots at prices we could afford, we had to sacrifice the stunning bay views and settle for viewless lots tucked behind the new mansions. If all went well, we’d have enough money to build our school as soon as the steep road up California Street was dry enough to allow carts laden with redwood timbers and other necessary building materials. Our new family residence would have to wait until the school was up and running. By building with redwood we ran the risk of complete loss in case of fire. Only newly built structures in brick & mortar with metal doors and windows were presently insurable against fire. We reasoned what we saved in insurance premiums could be spent digging a well and securing firefighting equipment. Our structures would not be near neighboring buildings and the only source of fire in the school would be wood stoves for heat. All food preparation would be in our restaurant. Our property would be fenced and gated and we’d have a permanent watchman on the premises. By using seasoned redwood, the construction would go quickly and be much cheaper than a masonry structure.
Manon had the bright idea to promote our school even before the start of construction. Gino placed ads for an “open house” meeting at our restaurant where parents could meet the teachers, examine the architect-drawn blue prints, discuss the prospectus and make a deposit to ensure their child would have a place in the inaugural class in September. About 25 couples answered our invitation. A quick survey of the arrivals indicated most were English-speaking parents. Once everyone was comfortably seated with a copy of our prospectus and a glass of wine, I turned the meeting over to Nelly.
Nelly was dressed very elegantly in a flowing wool skirt that just covered her boots, taffeta blouse, wool vest and jacket. Her hair was piled up in an fashionable chignon. Her metal-rimmed eyeglasses for reading rested on her bosom and were attached by velvet cords long enough for her to gesticulate using the glasses as props for emphasis as she addressed her audience.
“Thank you so much for joining us this evening. We’re very excited about the new school and I want to share some of the excitement with you,” she said in her crisp, private, East Coast boarding school accent. “How many of you understand French better than English?” She asked in mildly accented French. A smattering of hands were raised. “Good. As soon as I cover some of the main points and attractions of our curriculum in English, my colleague, Professor Monique Boudin, will cover them in French,” she said sweetly in French and pointed to Monique, who was dressed similarly to Nelly in the attire of an English school mistress. Monique acknowledged with a nod and a smile.
“So, let’s review the prospectus,” Nelly said holding a copy printed in both English and French in front of her and waiting for everyone to open the prospectus. “You will note that our curriculum is different from any other school’s offerings. We will teach literacy, fluency in English and French, and mathematics as core subjects, and as our students develop a facility in both languages, the curriculum will expand to include penmanship, music, drawing and sketching and critical thinking.” Nelly paused to survey the heads of her audience nodding affirmatively. She indicated to Monique
