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Show 410 APPENDIX. . Lutnber had fallen from $400 to $90 and $100 per 1,000 feet. Flour was down from $30 to $40, which it reached a few weeks previous, to $13 and $14 per sack. It is supposed that large sums in gold had accun1ulated in the mining districts, and the reports of a few p rsons who had found their way down fron1 some of the " diggins~~ were favourable. There was no scarcity 0f provisions in any part of the mini:ng districts .. The citv of Sacratnento had been flooded for three tl weeks previously. The streets were navigated by ho:ats ; and about 8, 000 to 10,000 of the inhabitants had left the town, and were living in tents pitched on a spit of dry land between the city and Sutter's Fort. The country around the city was one sea of water. ~"'or sixty miles below it, the eye rested on little else than water, within the range of the horizon, on both sides of the river. It was the same above the city. The destruction of property had been considerable. For twent•y miles, the banks of the Sacramento were strewn with the carcasses of drowned horned cattlf~; and t.he squatters all along its banks were confined to their houses, or rather cabins, or to a foot or two of mud by their doors. The scene of desolation defies description. The flood had caused a complete suspension of business in Sacramento ; and, what was more deplorable, an alnwst total suspension of payments. A con·espondent of one of the papers writes to this effect :- " The present state of matters in general stands sometl1ing in this way : many of the merchants in San Francisco have over-speculated in land, buildings, aJ?,d other promisin.q objects of profit. The dealers in the interior towns i1nitated the n1erchants ; but they not only speculated in land, but they also over-bougltt ~qoods, particularly lum her and flour, beyond their means. Now, the time of payment for tlw o·oods has arrived, and the immediate consequences are0 rnanifest enough. The dealer, because he added a speculative game of APPENDIX. 411 chance to his proper business, cannot pay the merchant ; the merchant cannot wait for his money, not so much because he sold on a term of credit which is expired, but because his speculations have absorbed his available resources. This sy tem will, it is much to be feared, in too many cases, reflect back upon the shippers, who had no hand in the game, althouO'h their property set the cards agoing. Amongst the merchants of this place there are exceptions to the rule, men who have confined their operations to their legitimate business of factors; but there are too many who did not do so ; and I anticipate ruinous consequences to themsP.lves, and losses to their shippers abroad, particularly in Chili and the Atlantic states. "The present pressure on the money-n1arket is increased by a renewed demand for land lots in the town of Benicia, which was allowed ' to waste its sweetness on the desert air' for the last eight months unnoticed. The site of this town is only thirty-five miles from San Francisco, across the Bay. It is now attempted to puff it into favour, as being a more eligible port than San Francisco. If the speculators had begun their operations before they allowed San Francisco to fill its port with a fleet of merchantmen unequalled out of Europe and the Atlantic state~ ; befor~ San Francisco became a large town, extendmg, as It now . d?es, over ~ space of three mil.es; and bef?re many rmlhons of dolhtrs were invested In property In the town ; and before lfL:rge sums were expended in improving its h.arbour- then Benicia mi<rht have been made something of; now { thini{ the attep1pt is too late.,, Ad vices to the 1st of February state that the wet weather had nearly put a stop to bt~sine s. The in~ndation of the Sacramento had subsided At Sononan camps much gold had been found, one entire piece weighing upwards of 2310. It ~as reported ~hat a piece of nearly 85Th had been picked up. '\ essels continued to arrive at the rate of from six to twelve each day. Prices for everything had ruled rather |