' What a time of bustle followed! The sea was rough. Sue and I fell
over each other and the valises in our eagerness to get dressed. I,
being a boy, was out first. The sun was shining as though it was making
up for the days it was hidden from us. The water was blue and sparkling,
the air warm and delightful after the cold, foggy weather.
"We were steaming due east, and almost before I knew it we had passed
through Golden Gate and were in the quiet water of the bay. By the time
mother and Sue were on deck, we were nearing the wharf. I thought then
that San Francisco was rather disappointing in its looks, with its
unpainted houses of all kinds of architecture, and the streets like
washouts in the hills, but soon I learned to love it with a faithfulness
which was felt by many of the pioneers and will end only with life."
Such were some of the hardships and discomforts endured by those who
traveled to California by water during the period of the gold
excitement. Yet those who made the journey by land often suffered even
more.
The first immigrant train to California started in 1841.
It brought among its members a young man named Bidwell, afterward United
States representative from California.
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