fluctuate wildly. The local agents of eastern firms were often
embarrassed and overwhelmed by the ill-timed consignments of goods. One
Boston firm was alleged to have sent out a whole shipload of women's
bonnets--to a community where a woman was one of the rarest sights to be
found! Not many shipments were as silly as this, but the fact remains
that a rumor of a shortage in any commodity would often be followed by
rush orders on clipper ships laden to the guards with that same article.
As a consequence the bottom fell out of the market completely, and the
unfortunate consignee found himself forced to auction off the goods much
below cost.

During the year 1854, the tide of prosperity began to ebb. A dry season
caused a cessation of mining in many parts of the mountains. Of course
it can be well understood that the immense prosperity of the city, the
prosperity that allowed it to recover from severe financial disease, had
its spring in the placer mines. A constant stream of fresh gold was
needed to shore up the tottering commercial structure. With the miners
out of the diggings, matters changed. The red-shirted digger of gold had
little idea of the value of money. Many of them knew only the difference
between having money and having none. They had to have credit, which
they promptly wasted. Extending credit to the miners made it necessary
that credit should also be extended to the sellers, and so on back.
Meanwhile the eastern shippers continued to pour goods into the flooded
market. An auction brought such cheap prices that they proved a
temptation even to an overstocked public. The gold to pay for purchases
went east, draining the country of bullion. One or two of the supposedly
respectable and polished citizens such as Talbot Green and "honest Harry
Meiggs" fell by the wayside. The confidence of the new community began
to be shaken. In 1854 came the crisis. Three hundred out of about a
thousand business houses shut down. Seventy-seven filed petitions in