Both these companies now have lines from Los
Angeles to San Diego, and the Southern Pacific has a coast road the
length of the state, along which the scenery is of great beauty.
Indians
In the history of the state the most pathetic portion is that which
relates to the Indians. Bancroft says, "The California valley cannot
grace her annals with a single Indian war bordering upon respectability.
It can boast, however, a hundred or two of as brutal butcherings on the
part of our honest miners and brave pioneers as any area of equal extent
in our republic." Miners and settlers coming into the country would take
up the waters where the natives fished, the land where they hunted,
driving them back to rocky soil, where there was nothing but acorns and
roots to support life. As a result the poor, unhappy creatures, driven
by hunger, would steal the newcomers' horses and cattle. It is true that
the white men depended, in a great measure, upon their animals for the
support of their families; but they thought only of their own wrongs,
and would arm in strong parties, chase the wretched natives to their
homes, and tear down their miserable villages, killing the innocent and
guilty alike.
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