started out in small boats to row to the north. Others attempted the
overland route. It may well be believed that the reaction from all this
disappointment and delay lifted the hearts of these argonauts when they
eventually sailed between the Golden Gates.

This confusion, of course, was worse at the beginning. Later the journey
was to some extent systematized. The Panama route subsequently became
the usual and fashionable way to travel. The ship companies learned how
to handle and treat their patrons. In fact, it was said that every
jewelry shop in San Francisco carried a large stock of fancy silver
speaking-trumpets because of the almost invariable habit of presenting
one of these to the captain of the ship by his grateful passengers. One
captain swore that he possessed eighteen of them!





CHAPTER VIII

THE DIGGINGS


The two streams of immigrants, by sea and overland, thus differed, on
the average, in kind. They also landed in the country at different
points. The overlanders were generally absorbed before they reached San
Francisco. They arrived first at Fort Sutter, whence they distributed
themselves; or perhaps they even stopped at one or another of the
diggings on their way in.