Getting Around San Francisco
Exploring San Francisco
"The town appeared to be nothing but a mud hole. . .Gambling here is an occupation, day or night, Sunday or any other time even beautiful women engage in these gamesbetting their last ounce"
Another said,
"I proceeded immediately to the post office, very anxious to hear something of the objects nearest my heartLetter after letter and paper after paper were handed out until the postage amounted to six dollars out of my scanty purse of twenty-seven, but had they cost the whole sum . . . I should have willingly paid it"
And yet another said,
"Money here goes like dirt; everything costs a dollar or dollars. What is considered a fortune at home is here mere pocket money. Today I purchased a single potato for 45 cents."
Shopping in San Francisco
"I saw a larger variety of the richest things of all kinds than I ever did before. Beautiful embroideries, silks & satins, carving in ivory, paintings by the ChineseI saw splendid jewelry too, one Pin for $2,000, one for $800, another for $600, Diamond bracelets, pins & rings, that is a grand place for a person to go who does not know how to dispose of his money."
Trading in San Francisco
"in less than a week [the toothpicks] were all gone at fifty cents a pack."
Of the watches, he frankly wrote,
"Now I must confess that these watches were of unequal value: some ran for ten minutes, some for a quarter of an hour, others for half a day, and a few even for a whole daymany would not run at all."
Workers Needed in San Francisco
"There was a great rush of hotel keepers and restaurateurs [looking] for cooks and waiters. They bid as high as three hundred dollars a month for my black cook, and the poor thing was fairly bewildered. She was beset on all sides, and came to me to know what she should do.
[Captain Coffin helped her select a place with one of the few men in town who had his family with him.]
"He agreed to give her one hundred dollars a month, with the promise of all his wife's cast-off clothing."
San Francisco Welcomes the Chinese
". . .the people of the Flowery Land were received like guests. . .and greeted with favor. Each treated the other with politeness. From far and near we came and were pleased."
