hubert howe bancroft - Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History ...

104 FOREIGN COMMERCE.
so that flour and beef, which in March 1848 cost $4
and $2 per hundredweight, respectively, reached in
December $27 and $20, with pork at $60 a barrel.
By the middle of 1849 they were quoted at more than
double these rates. For certain articles, like eggs and
apples, $2 and $3 each were frequently demanded;
tacks, scales, cotton cloth, brought fancy prices. Saleratus,
which cost four cents a pound in the east, rose to
$16, as a substitute for baking-powder. Lumber cost
$600 per 100 feet, and a brick house could be estimated
at $1 for each brick. Common labor was $1
an hour; artisans received from $12 to $20 a day.
The cheapest boarding-house demanded $20 per week;
a drink cost fifty cents, and nothing less than this
amount could be offered for the slightest service, while
twenty-five cents was for a long time the smallest sum
recognized by traders.
Prices at the mines depended greatly on the nature
of the roads; for rains, floods, and mountain ridges
tended to raise the charges of the costly supply train,
and even to cut off communication for weeks at a
Even at Stockton, floor and potatoes rose at times to $1& a lb. RcmdotpJts
StaL, MS., 8. Yet here and at Sacramento rates ranged little above those at
S. F. On the Yuba during the winter most necessaries were $1 a lb., though
rising to $2 alb. for pork and $300 a barrel for flour. AUaCaL, Dec. 15,1849,
etc. And so at Coloma, where little, StaL, MS., 3-6, also obtained $16 a lb.
for powder; blankets 2 ounces of gold; boots the same. At the southern
mines prices rose to $40 for blankets and boots, liquor $20 a bottle or $2 a
drink, in Feb., on the Stanislaus. Bauer 1 * StaL, MS., 314-15; Buffum's Six
Mo., 96; SchencVs Via., MS., 15-20. American horses brought $500 to $600.
SaywariT* Pioneer, MS., 6. Yet this varied with the condition of arriving
overland trains. Coleman sold two yoke of oxen for $450. Via., MS., 141-2;
Boynton 9 * StaL, MS., 1. Saleiatus for bread $12 to $16 a lb. Low's Observ.,
MS., 3; Little's StaL, MS., 3. Additional references at the end of this chapter.
At the mines, and even at certain Sac saloons, drinks were $1. Articles
on the north branch of the American bring $5 a pound, writes the Pac News,
May 17, 1850; Cat Courier, Dec. 23, 1850, quotes flour on Feather River at
$2.40. Confirmation of above figures, with curious instances, may be found
in Fay's HisL Facts, MS., 3; Brown's Early Days, MS., 11; Connor's Early
CaL, MS., 2; Matthewson's Cal Aff.9 MS., 9-10; Utmhaw's Events, MS., 4-10;
SuttaiCs Exper., MS., 1, 10; McColhtm's Cal, 36, 64; NeaU's Vig., MS., 5, 13,
22; WiUctfs Per. Menu, MS., 99; Barstow's StaL, MS., 12; Boynton's StaL,
MS., 1; Armstrong's Exper., MS., 8, 11,13; Garniss 9 Early Days, MS., 10-17;
Miscel StaL, MS., 18; Dean's StaL, MS., 4; Dows Vig., MS., 2; Cokman's
Via., MS., 142-3, 150-5; Mayhe>v's Bee; Hancock's TJdrtien Tears, MS.,
118-35; Fernanda Cal, MS., 175; JansstWs Vida, MS., 205; KirkpatrkVs
Jour., MS., 32-4.