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Show , , 154 NATIONAL ' "\-VAGON ROAD GUIDE. WHAT DO YOU CALL WAGES? Living among the mines, and acting as Secretary, Assistant Engineer and Superintendent of one of the most important. mining canals in· El Dorado County, or the State, and visiting from twenty to fifty companies of miners daily, of frorn three to five men to a company, and feelinO' an interest in the success of their operations, 0 . we would often inq u,ire, "Well boys, ho"v are y~u mak-ing it?" To ~hich, '\.Yith but few exceptions, we re-ceived this reply: " "Ve~l, making about wages." And the few exceptions were cornpanies thHt had just set in, and therefore did not know 'vhat they should make; but generally saying, " It prospects very welJ." Now it, is well kno\vn that vvhere min era nrc making large wages, and there is auy possiLle ~how of a continuance of the " lead " beyond the present litn.it of their clain1, that they are invariably rna~ing just about, or " hardly '\Vages," and this is all that you can get out of them, It became a query 'vith us to ascertain what they called "wages.'' For several days, therefore, ~e put the question direct, and to a great nu1n ber· of companies, and not one of them put " 'vages " at less than $3 50 per day, whilst a large Inajority would answer, " About four or five dollars." Now these wages were not procured from tunnel, hill, or hydraulic clairns, paying from ten to twenty dollars per day to the man, as many are; but ordinary placer, ravine, or1 surface diggings, and many of them upon ,. ' . APPENDIX. 155 grounds tha.t 1 had been once, and in some instances, thrice worked before. Now we would candidly ask, in what portion of the Eastern States, or the world elsewhere, can a man, who is not a mechanic or artizan~ and without a profession, and with less than a hundred dollars invested as capital, make from day to day anything like four, or even three ' dollars per day? Miners, in companies of four or more, say that they can and do board themselves well enough-buying one good pie a day to eat 'vith their dinners-for three dollars per week; but call it four, and strike a balance, and then tell us if it is any wonder that thousands are annually arriving among us, and that thousanas more, who have prematurely returned to the Atlantic States, are now '\vishing themselves back. In proof that there is a demand for labor in Califorat other employments than mining, we subjoin the follo, ving advertisements, taken from the daily newspapers of the e,ity of San Francisco, of different dates, in 1857, to which reference can· be made. Board in all cases is included, or given in addition to wages offered, except were the offer is by the day. WANTED-A Blacksmith ; $100 per month. A Wheelwright ; $100 per month. A :1\'Iiller; $65 per Inonth . WANTED-A Man and Wife to take charge of a country Hotel; $100. Four Men to work on a farm; $40 per month. WANTED-A Blacksmith, for the general work of a shop; wages, $80 per month. WANTED-A good Farm Hand; 'vagcs, $40. WANTED- A Rough Carpenter; wages, $2 50 per day. Also a Man to cook for 20 Men; $45. \ I |