Historical notes about first Express
in California and Northern California.
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The claim to the 1st Express in Calif. is made for C. L. Cady who announced a weekly service between S. Fr and Suller’s Fort in the CALIFORNIAN July 24, 1847, but it was short lived Soule’s Stat. Ms. 4. The first regular express is said to have been started by Ballou [Aavent Ms 1] for the southern mines, late in 1849, but Alex H. Todd shows in his Stat., in Miseel Stat Ms 21.8 that he began the business in July 1849 by regestering miners’ names at $1.00 each, and going down to S. Fr. for their mail and charging as much as $4.00 for delivering letters or papers in the southern camps. (?)
T. R. Hawley (# 80) claims the first organized express, advertised in Oct. 1849 as Wold & Co (# 198) and changed some time after to Hawley & Co which combined (?) Dec. 1850 [Alta Cal. July 10, 1866]
Ballou writes that after himself about Dec. 1849 Upman, formerly a messenger for Harden, the pioneer express man of the U.S., started a line between Sacramento & S Fr. Both were absorbed by Adams & Co whose manger D. H. Haskell had arrived on Oct 31st to found a branch house
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this restriction, the observance of economy in this respect, is important, otherwise one or two points might absorb all the means which couls arise in California for the support of mail service, leaving the others destitute. At present no more can be contemplated than semi-monthly or weekly transportation, by the cheapest mode of conveyance unless the same can be obtained at any favorable terms, within the yeild of the offices. You will bear in mind that no contract can be made for a longer period than four years, that the quarterly periods are for three months commencing on the 1st of January, 1st of April, 1st of July and 1st of October, and that arrangements, accounts and settlements should be made to conform to these divisions of time, unless the circumstances be such as to render it impossibly. On making some arrangements, you will immediately report the same to the Department at Washington, for such order and contracts as the Post Master General may make in the prmises, in the mean time giving a letter of authority to perform the duties required.
Whether the compensation is restricted to the proceeds of the office or not you will first determine in your own mind a limit for that compensation by the rate per mile per annum. Horseback conveyance of the mail on the present routes in the United States for weekly conveyance will vary from three to six dollars per mile per annum. There may be some few instances in the cotton growing regions where the wealh of the country is considerable, but the white population very sparse, where the compensation will rise perhaps as high as $10 per mile per annum for weekly horseback conveyance.
You will make the contracts at the lowest offers the competition will produce and not rise above the scale of prices indicated by the foregoing remark. The distance is to be counted but one way.
You will make provision in the contract that payment is not to be made until service is preformed and certified to and in every instance of omission there is to be an abatement of the price.
A proper supervision is to be established and maitained to insure performance or deduction in pay.
Aillian Nelson Esq., United States Consul at Panama will be the Mail Agent of the United States for the Pacific Mails. You will promptly advise him by the earliest opportunity of every office put in operation upon the coast, with those in the interior depending on them respectively for their supply, so that he may properly bag the mails for those places.
You will prepare before leaving the United States and take on with you an adequate supply of all the blanks needed by yourself and the Postmasters in California. Also mail keys, locks and bags of different kinds needed for that service. The iron locks and key belonging to it will be used for the interior mails, the brass lock and key for the mails conveyed by the Steam Packets. Hereafter, as the system enlarges in California, further discrimination in the mails may be made by placing the brass lock upon the most important interior routes. At present the iron lock is deemed sufficient.
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In the winter of 48 the rush began from the States, to Panama, and in the spring (???) the plains. It is estimated that 80,000 men reached the coast in 1849 about half of men coming overland, three fourths were Americans. There was no home life in California. In 1850 women numbered 8% of the population, but only 2% in the mining counties. The miners were an (???), (???), wandering, abnomally (???) body of men. Thousands would flock on unfounded rumors to new and distant (???) where many perish from disease and starvation The rest roaming in rags and poverty. Some were the (???) River fever of 1855 and the greater Fraser River rush of 1858 The (???) which took perhaps 20,000 men out of the State. Many (???) (???) cost one half of then population and since (???), all their population and it presipatated a real estate crash in San Fr that threatened temporary ruin.
The decade 1850 – 60 was also marked by the (???) (???) against Sonora and C.A.
The overland immigration from the U.S. began only about 1840
E. G. Buffum’s Six months in the gold mines London 1850
J. T. Brooks Four Months among the Gold Finders London 1849
G. G. Foster, Gold Regions of Califa N.Y. 1884
The name California was taken from Ordonez de Montalvo’s romance of (???) Las sergas de Esplandian Madrid 1510
The (???) Colorado River was discovered in 1540
1602 – 3 Sebastian Vincains discovered the sites of San Diego & Monterey
1769 San Fr. Bay was discovered
Between 1769 & 1823 20 (???) were (???) (?) (???) Jose Sarra